"What madness is this?" Danzo cried. "I thought all shinobi were forbidden to leave the village. You two, if I am not mistaken you are Yamato and Kakashi. You are breaking the law of not only the Hidden Leaf Village, but all the rest of the Villages. I should have you put in jail with a death sentence right away, but I am interested in what you have to say."
"We apologize for our bad timing but-"
"No, your timing isn't bad Kakashi. It is horrific! I was about to send out the order to kill the scoundrel Sasuke."
"That's just it Hokage sir." Kakashi winced as he said the word Hokage. "These shinobi have information that might change your mind."
"There is a strange chakra being emitted from the one on your back," Danzo said coldly. His one eye bore into Kakashi's. "Unbind them. I would like to see their faces. Right now I don't know who these shinobi are.
Kakashi couldn't deny the Hokage. He carefully walked over to Yamato and unwrapped Sakura's bindings. Danzo still kept his eye on Kakashi. Slowly, Kakashi reached behind him and lifted the struggling Naruto in front of him. Kakashi started with the legs. Once those were unwrapped, Kakashi went for the torso then the head.
"Wait!" Sakura cried. "I'll tell you everything."
"No," Danzo ordered. "You are a leaf shinobi and I am curious to see who the other one is."
Again, Kakashi began to unwrap Naruto's head. Just as Naruto's cheeks were visible, Danzo shouted out.
"What! How dare you bring the nine-tailed host to this council?" There were mutters and gasps from the Kages and their escorts.
"He shouldn't be here."
"How could the Leaf Village allow this?"
"Should we trust their village anymore?"
"Is this really Kakashi? The Kakashi that was almost elected as the Hokage. What has the Hidden Leaf Village come to?"
"Wait, Danzo!" Yamato bellowed.
"That's Hokage to you! Seize Them!!!!"
"Stoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooop!!!!" Naruto's cry was heard by everyone at the council who all went silent. Naruto was breathing heavily and a few people cowered back as if Naruto would transform into his eight tailed form on the spot. "You don't know what it's like to lose a friend and then to have everyone want to kill him. Sasuke was like a brother to me! I won't let you hurt him! Just give me one more chance. One more try. I will bring him back. I'll change his mind. You'll see. If I fail, then you can do what you want with Sasuke. Heck, you can do whatever you want with me too! You can kill me if you want, because I know, that deep inside, Sasuke is still my friend. He may even be part of an organization that wants me for its evil plans, but I won't give up on him! Never! I'll bring him back from Akatsuki! Just give me one more chance. Please. Hokage."
Naruto is really pushing it for Sasuke… Yamato thought.
Sakura stared at Naruto. Naruto…
"Don't worry Naruto," Danzo said. He had calmed down a bit, but anger was still written all over his face. "I know exactly how you feel… because…
…the same thing happened to me.
...
…
"So you're not going to go easy huh?" Sasuke laughed. "Suigetsu, I'll put you in charge of Karin and Juugo. I can't waste my time on these fools. Who knows what Danzo is plotting now? I want to kill him more than anyone else. More than I wanted to kill Itachi."
"Yes Sasuke," Suigetsu replied.
"Why does he get to be in charge?" Karin complained. "I think-"
Juugo interrupted her. "Sasuke knows best."
"Hey!" Karui yelled. "I won't let you leave! We have a battle to fight."
"Sorry," Sasuke replied. "But it's already too late." Sasuke's body wavered a little, and then dispersed into the air.
"Shit it was a clone!"
"Ha ha ha," Suigetsu laughed. "It's useless. Sasuke is probably at the meeting by now. Are you going to give chase, fight me, or just stand there with a shocked expression like what you're doing right now?"
Karui and Omoi retreated into the forest just to be stopped by a wall of shadowy tentacles.
"What?" Omoi cried as the vine-like tentacles wrapped around the two of them.
Zetsu flew at them, his entire arm bearing the resemblance of a misty, black tentacle. At the tip was a plant-like mouth, similar to the one that his head is inside of. Zetsu had an insane smile on his usually blank face as he charged at Omoi and Karui. He was about to hit them when-
Zakon kyuu!
Light engulfed the entire area. The tentacles exploded into bubbles of darkness and Zetsu cried with pain as his arm shrunk to the size of a twig. The blinding light knocked everyone back. Juugo managed to catch Zetsu, but he screamed and dropped Zetsu. Zetsu was on fire.
All trees in a half a mile radius had been destroyed, flattening out the battlefield. Karui and Omoi stood, panting, on one side of the field. They watched Suigetsu put out Zetsu's fire on the other side of the field.
"What was that?" Zetsu groaned.
"That was our light style jutsu." Omoi replied.
"Light style?"
"It is a combinational element." Omoi explained. "I have wind natured chakra. Karui has fire natured chakra. If we combine our attacks, it becomes light. Your dark tentacles …whatever they are, don't stand a chance against our light. The light seeks out and destroys darkness."
Meanwhile at the Meeting
"I used to be a normal Hidden Lead shinobi," Danzo told his quiet audience. "I graduated from the academy, just like everyone else. I became a genin, then a chunin. By the time I had become a jonin, my life took a turn for the worst. For my whole life, I was best friends with Uchiha Hiame. That's when he left the village in search of power. He went off and joined a band of power hungry ninja who experimented with mixing different jutsus."
Just like Sasuke… Naruto thought.
"The Third Hokage, who was Hokage at the time before the Fourth, suspected that Hiame would leave. He gave Hiame an invisible tracking tattoo the night before he left. Anbu followed close behind Hiame and found out the secret location of the illegal ninjas. Soon after, an order was sent out to destroy the entire band of ninja. Hiame was to be killed too because he was a missing-nin just like your best friend Sasuke."
"But," Naruto began. "Why did they want to kill the band of ninjas? Why were they illegal?"
"Why, you ask. Simply because they felt that the experiments were too dangerous. In fact, they found out that if all the different jutsu elements were combined in a certain way, then it would cause a bomb that might have destroyed the entire country. The Hokage wasn't sure if this was real or not. Even if a huge bomb was created, that doesn't mean that someone would actually use it. It would be suicide. Anyway, I tried to persuade the Third to call off the insane order to kill, but there was no hope. No hope at all. Just like there is no hope for you right now. Talking to the Third was like talking into a dead phone. I interrupted the Hokage in the middle of an important meeting with the Council of Elders. I had put all the guards to sleep with genjutsu, and that was a criminal offence. The third Hokage felt sorry for me so instead of prison, I got to work for Root. Got isn't the right word. The Root is torture; I would rather be in jail. That old coot ruined my life. Naturally, I wanted revenge. I rose to the top of Root but it was still no good at all. I had no hope of getting my revenge. No hope at all. Just like there is no hope of you getting your revenge once I put you in Root!"
Danzo let out a coarse, deep laugh that pierced through Naruto's soul. "Now that I'm Hokage, I have control over the village! Too bad the Third isn't here to watch the Terminus take over! Now, I feel pity so I will kill you all. Everyone at this meeting will die!" Another laugh echoed throughout the woods.
"I don't know what the Terminus is, or what you're planning to do, but I'll be the one killing everyone, including you Danzo!" Sasuke landed at the center of the council and drew his sword.