(First Revision Posted 11-16-15)

Author's Note: One small thing before you read this chapter. If you've been reading my story for a while now, you'll need to know that I removed Kushina from the ramen stand section of the last chapter. I had initially made the meeting between Mito and Kushina an assumed event, but realized its importance later on. She didn't play a role other than sitting there eating ramen anyway. If this story was only brought to your attention by the addition of this chapter, then you will not know what I'm talking about.

Read on and enjoy.

The Growth of the Village Hidden in the Leaves

A Naruto Fan fiction

Chapter 7 – Reveal

Mito walked down the street with Hiashi and Minato in the Anbu garb she had been given. Some of the civilians were giving her funny looks, and it took her a while to realize that it was because Anbu were almost never seen in public, or at all actually.

She didn't want to speak with so many people nearby, afraid someone might recognize her voice. She suspected the Hokage wouldn't be pleased if people figured out she was back before he had the chance to figure things out.

Instead of speaking, she made a hand signal for her teammates to follow, and jumped up onto the roof. They followed close behind as they moved towards their usual training ground for their first morning team exercise in a long time.

She landed on a roof with a crunch and she realized with a mild amount of horror that she'd broken a tile. She'd been roof jumping for a few years now and she'd never broken one before.

She recalled Tsunade telling her that she was heavier than before back when they'd met in the temple. She hadn't put much thought into it except for a healthy dose of denial until now.

Mito was horrified to hear what sounded like a chortle come from Minato. She turned and gave him her best death glare through the badger mask she was wearing. He seemed to get the hint not to say anything.

Mito's attention was drawn to the crowd below, where the people were avoiding a person like a sea of fish around a predator. Except the predator in this case was a familiar girl with red hair. What was shocking was the input her new senses were giving her. She'd sensed the strong chakra moving around the village previously, but had figured it was just a jonin with a ton of chakra. Instead it was her best friend Kushina.

Minato had noticed the girl as well, and Mito was a little happy to see the sad expression on his face at the reaction the people of Konoha gave her Uzumaki relative. She was glad to see Minato felt the same as herself when it came to that matter. But now everything seemed a little different. When before she'd just seen a girl whom the villagers shunned for no apparent reason, now to her new senses it was a chakra monster walking among ants.

She did a quick survey of the village to confirm her suspicions. When she was done she realized Kushina had the biggest chakra reserve of anyone in the village, surpassing the Hokage by almost 25%. Of course she'd known Kushina had a large chakra reserve, but not to this extent.

Still, with as large as Kushina's chakra pool was, it was almost like it was just a layer hiding something bigger below. She could tell something else was there, but not much more than that. Something was preventing her from sensing any further.

Putting those thoughts to the side, she jumped down into the street, which was on the opposite side she and her teammates had jumped up from. She made her way to Kushina and the girl noticeably cheered up at the sight of Minato, barely sparing Mito and Hiashi a glance.

"Hi Minato." She said happily, no trace of her previous expression or feelings.

"Hey Kushina," Minato replied. There was a little bit of an awkward moment, like the two wanted to say more but didn't feel comfortable doing so in their present company.

"Are you on your way to train as well?" Kushina asked, sounding like it was a generic fallback line. She gave the disguised Mito and Hiashi a look.

"Yeah, but doesn't your team usually meet up at 8? You still have more than an hour," Minato asked curiously. Kushina looked at the ground and blushed a tiny amount, something Mito realized, as a fellow ginger, wouldn't have shown for anyone of normal skin complexion.

"Well I just thought I'd go for a walk beforehand." Kushina gave Mito another look, not realizing the mischievous smile that was on the other side of the mask.

She was ready to get Kushina back with their usual prank exchange. Maybe Tsunade was right and coming back from the dead was a little too harsh, but it would all be fine by the end of the day.

Mito made the hand sign for [Follow], gave Minato a look, and jumped back onto the roof, with more finesse, and resumed her run to the training ground.

Kushina looked a little sad, she apparently thought their meeting was over, except Minato grabbed her hand and motioned for her to come with them. She looked down at his hand and was happy. This wasn't the first time they'd made skin contact, but it was the first time Minato had initiated it so casually.

Hiashi just rolled his eyes and went ahead, catching up to Mito quickly.

Mito smiled happily at the sight of Minato and Kushina. She'd known the girl had a bit of a crush on her teammate, but it seemed things had progressed a little while she'd been gone. She could sense Hiashi right behind her, with Minato and Kushina a little further back side by side.

Her smile faded away when she felt another person keeping pace in the shadows a few streets parallel to them. It was hard to tell, but the chakra seemed a bit familiar. She recognized the now familiar distortion that came with Anbu. The cloaks they wore, the same she wore now, were supposed to block sensors from detecting the Hokage's agents. Except to Mito's Senjutsu senses it merely faded them like she was looking through frosted glass.

She disregarded it after a few moments, she supposed it would make sense that the Hokage would be keeping an eye on her. She didn't blame him. She also ignored the whispers shared between Minato and Kushina, one of which was the red head inquiring about the addition of the badger Anbu. Luckily for Mito's prank, Minato just gave a vague, uninformative answer.

They arrived at the training ground and Mito stopped and turned to the other three as they came to a stop as well. She thought about the best way to reveal herself to Kushina when she remembered that if the Anbu saw her reveal her identity, he or she would probably report it back to the Hokage. She looked in the Anbu's general direction as she pondered, and wasn't too surprised to notice the spike of surprise in the Anbu's chakra as she looked in its direction.

What did surprise her was the hasty retreat they made shortly after, heading back into the village. Was she really not supposed to know the person was there? She specifically remembered having explained to the Hokage that she was a sensor now. It was a bit suspicious, but worked out for what she was about to do anyway.

She motioned to her teammates and Kushina to come closer. Kushina seemed a little wary, but acted as if she were following orders. Mito didn't have much of a plan for this prank, she would get the surprise she wanted out of her friend one way or another, it was best not to antagonize her first. Not too much anyway. Mito cleared her throat and spoke through the voice distortion seal in the mask.

"You pranked me a while ago and I haven't had a chance to get you back for it until now. Are you ready?" Mito asked ominously.

Kushina looked even more nervous than before, but didn't respond.

Mito reached up and gripped her hood and mask slowly. She could see the disbelief on Kushina's face when she realized the Anbu was about to reveal her identity.

Mito quickly pulled the mask and hood down, revealing her face to her longtime friend.

Kushina's face morphed from mild surprise to a flurry of shocked emotions Mito didn't have time to recognize. A few seconds went by and Kushina still didn't say anything, just looking stunned.

At the lack of any verbal reaction Mito threw her arms to the side in a display of showmanship and yelled, "guess who's back!"

Kushina recoiled, but instead of responding she looked to Minato, then even to Hiashi. Neither seemed to know how to react towards Mito's actions either, but they obviously weren't feeling the same emotions as Kushina.

Mito let her arms fall to her sides and her smile faded at the undesired response.

"Come on Kushina, it's me. Mito." This time she said it a bit more gently, starting to think that maybe Tsunade was right after all.

"Mito?" Kushina asked finally, taking a small step towards the other red head. "Is it really you?"

"You want me to prove it?" Mito asked skeptically.

Kushina didn't answer, not knowing what to say and her common sense wasn't allowing her to believe this was really Mito.

Mito sighed. "Fine then. You've been shy around me for a long time but before I left on that mission we had gone to the hot spring together."

Kushina's face smoothed a little bit, but it apparently wasn't enough. Mito smiled as she continued.

"That's when I figured out you have a mole on your butt right here," she said, motioning to the spot on her own butt, "and a birthmark righ-".

Kushina's face quickly transformed from uncertainty to rage and she flew forward and covered Mito's mouth and pulling her hand away from the region she had been about to indicate. Her face was a bright red.

"I told you never to tell anyone!" She yelled, slowly lowering her hand from Mito's grin. Just as quickly as her previous emotional change, Kushina went from anger to tears. She surrounded Mito in a hug and cried quietly.

"Yeah… Well you kinda made me," Mito said kindly as she put her arms around the other girl, slowly stroking Kushina's back as she cried.

After a minute of this Kushina leaned back and inspected Mito's face more closely.

"Your even more pale than before," Kushina said, she frowned a little bit and placed a hand on Mito's cheek.

Mito resisted pulling the girl's hand away.

"How are you alive?" Kushina asked gently. "And why is your skin so smooth and perfect… and your eyes?" She asked a little less gently. Mito smiled back at her.

"Why? Are you jealous by any chance?" She asked playfully. Kushina thought over her response for a few moments.

"Answer my original question first," she said.

"How am I alive?" Mito reiterated. "Well that's an S-rank secret actually, but I think I'll be able to tell you eventually." Kushina frowned at this but didn't push.

"And your skin and eyes?" She asked skeptically.

"That's because I got a new body," Mito said in a matter of fact manner. She noticed Hiashi shaking his head in the background and Minato frowning slightly. "Ah, and I guess that would be part of the S-rank secret I wasn't supposed to say anything about." Mito looked a little sheepish now. "Don't worry though. The Hokage told me to tell my teammates, which I did, so I'll ask if I can give you the details next time I see him.

"What do you mean you got a new body?" Kushina pressed. Mito took a moment to think of how much she should reveal before answering.

"Well you were at my funeral right?" Mito asked. Kushina nodded. "Well what they buried really was me, but due to some of those details I can't tell you yet, I now have a new body. The thought of her old body rotting in a grave went through her head for a moment, sending a shiver up her spine.

Kushina had a quizzical look on her face, like she had a question but didn't know how to phrase it. Mito interrupted her before she had the chance.

"I have a question about your body though," Mito asked. Kushina blushed and looked back at the boys, both of whom quickly avoided eye contact.

"I think we should go somewhere else," Kushina said. Mito nodded and motioned for them to move to the side.

"We're going to start training," Minato said as he and Hiashi moved in the opposite direction.

When they were a safe distance away Kushina crossed her arms and asked, "This better not be about the birthmark." Mito chuckled and shook her head in the negative.

"No, it's about your chakra," she said. Mito was surprised at the guarded expression Kushina put on at the statement.

"What about it?" the other red head asked carefully.

"Well, I guess I'm going to have to reveal another portion of that S-rank secret after all. I'm trusting you not to tell anyone I've told you these things okay?" Kushina uncrossed her arms and nodded.

"You can always trust me Mito," Kushina said seriously. Mito smiled back at her in response.

"I know I can, that's why I told you that other stuff already. Well since I got my new body I've become a sensor, a pretty good one if I say so myself," Mito said proudly. "And one thing I noticed about you today that I've never realized before is just how much chakra you have." Kushina took on the guarded look again, but Mito continued. "It's a ridiculous amount, more than anyone else in the village, even the Hokage. But I noticed something else, it's like below your chakra is another, even larger chakra, but I can't really tell more than that for some reason."

At the last few words Kushina's expression went from guarded to a little scared. She looked at the ground and didn't say anything. This only verified to Mito that Kushina did know something about her condition after all.

Kushina looked over to where Minato and Hiashi were sparring before taking a breath.

"I want to tell you Mito, but I'm afraid you won't want to be my friend anymore after I do."

"What?" Mito asked incredulously. "Why the heck wouldn't I want to be your friend anymore?" She asked.

"Because once people find out, they usually treat me differently." Kushina said, looking at Mito's feet. Mito recalled how she'd seen almost everyone in the village avoiding Kushina like she had the plague. She'd always figured it was just because Kushina was a foreign trained ninja and they didn't trust her. She tried to think back to before she and Kushina had really gotten to know each other. She didn't remember anyone treating her like that in the beginning, but until her Grandma Mito died, Kushina had always spent all her time by the elder Uzumaki. They had almost been inseparable, and it hadn't been until grandma Mito died that Kushina had finally begun to open up.

She had always had that timid demeanor in the beginning, like Kushina was afraid that Mito would reject her friendship. It was very similar, if not identical, to how Kushina was acting now.

"Does this have to do with my grandma's death?" Mito asked slowly. Kushina looked up quickly and stared her in the eyes, trying to see what Mito was thinking.

"It does, I suppose," she said carefully. Mito was thinking hard; she knew she was missing something obvious. Her grandma had always been reclusive, and it had been a surprise when she had begun to teach Kushina, or whatever it was they did all those months together cooped up in that house on the edge of the Senju compound.

Some of those memories were foggier than they should have been, it had only been a few years ago after all. She tried to recall some events further back, but it felt like the further back she tried to recall, the foggier the memories became. One of the memories she had thought back to often was a speech her uncle Tobirama had given when she was very young, the one that had convinced her to become a ninja and protect the village with her life if needed.

The speech still went through her head, she'd replayed it hundreds of times over the years after all, but the actual memory of her uncle telling it to her was hardly there, she could barely even remember his face.

Before she could delve into the problems with her memory any further, Kushina waved her hand in front of Mito's face to get her attention.

"You look like you were thinking too hard. you didn't break anything did you?" Kushina asked with a smile, though it was obvious to Mito that it was covering the discomfort she'd been feeling a few moments ago.

"What?" Mito asked, getting her mind back on track. "Ah, no, I don't think so anyway." Kushina looked a little concerned at the answer

"Are you feeling okay Mito?" She asked more seriously. Mito just nodded and looked Kushina in the eyes.

"I'll admit I got a little lost there, but don't try and change the subject. I don't remember exactly what we were saying, but the point I want to get across is this: No matter what you think, what the other villagers think about you, I promise that nothing will ever change how I feel about you." Mito stepped forward and embraced the other girl in a hug, and this time it was Kushina who slowly raised her arms to hug back.

"You promise?" Kushina asked nervously. Mito pulled them apart and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm a little insulted you even need to ask, but yeah, I promise. Plus, I've got a completely different fricken body here, and you're the one afraid that you'll be thought of differently? Just think of what people will say about me when it eventually gets out that I'm back from the dead. Unless you do think differently of me?"

"No!" Kushina said firmly, shaking her head. "Don't think that. I can tell you're still the same Mito I knew before on the inside, even if you're not on the outside." This last line seemed to solidify Kushina's growing resolve.

"I'm glad to hear it," Mito said with a soft smile. She hadn't really thought of it until now, but in the background she supposed she had been afraid of what Kushina's reaction would be. She'd been a little hurt by Hiashi's outburst in the Hokage's office, but it wasn't really a soft spot to her. She knew the people that mattered would accept her, and the ones who didn't accept her didn't matter.

"Well, do you know what a Jinchūriki is?" Kushina asked. Mito nodded.

"Of course, my grandma was one after all," Mito answered. "She had the Kyuubi inside of her."

A look of realization crossed Kushina's face before she asked, "And you never thought ill of her because of that?"

"Of course not, she had been a Jinchūriki since before I was born after all."

Kushina shook her head at this, all the remaining worry draining from her face. "I feel like an idiot," she said.

"Why," Mito asked, wondering what her grandma had to do with this.

"Because I'm the Jinchūriki for the Kyuubi now, and for some reason I never thought to ask how you felt about your grandma being the Kyuubi's host before me." Mito was a little confused at this, but then comprehension dawned upon her. She smacked herself on the forehead.

"You're the one who feels like an idiot? No Kushina, that title definitely belongs to me in this case. At first I was trying to figure out why no one told me, and it's because the answer is fricken obvious." She lowered her hand from her forehead and looked at Kushina with a warm smile. "Though I will admit it was stupid of you to think that this would change anything between us."

Kushina smiled back at Mito and they both suddenly began laughing, catching the attention of the two boys on the other side of the field, who just shared a quizzical look.


Hiruzen sighed as he watched two S-rank secrets get revealed through his crystal ball. There wasn't even much consideration towards the fact they were meant to remain secrets. At least Kushina had the right to tell others of her status as a Jinchūriki. He supposed Mito had the right to reveal the amount she had, he was just grateful she at least was considerate enough to her leader to hold most of it back.

He would give her permission to reveal everything to the young Uzumaki in time, he'd already had an emergency meeting with the council the night before and had explained the situation to them. Needless to say that all of them were shocked, with the exception of Danzo of course. He had explained everything to the man in private before the meeting and the fact that Mito was back from the dead put Tsunade's betrayal in the background. Until Danzo brought it back up again anyway.

He had made it clear that nothing was to be done about Senju Mito, and in the end the council respected his wishes. Because of that demand however, they were against doing the same for his student Tsunade.

She was now on mission probation and would be force to take on a genin team to occupy her time and demonstrate her loyalty to the village. Of course betrayal should have had more consequences after all, but to Tsunade this was a punishment, to the rest of the village it was a sign of trust.

Many of the council knew she would never cause the village harm, only abandon it. But to some the two were the same.

Tsunade had been pushing to get a medic on every genin team since her creation of the Konoha Medical Corps. The council had denied her request on the grounds that doing so would reduce the overall combat effectiveness of a third of their future ninja, a loss they felt couldn't be afforded.

While their sentiments may not be false, Hiruzen himself had read enough reports that indicated that a medic on every team would, without a doubt, reduce the mortality rate on missions even further. Many bright ninjas had died due to lack of medical attention after a battle, and he knew it would be worth it in the long run. It was just making sure they lasted long enough to reach that point.

Of course there had been genin teams with a member who dabbled in medicine and medical jutsu, but they were few and far between. The ones with great potential usually were transferred to the Medical Corps, where they would help at the hospital and be assigned to missions of their own. Any who stayed in the field didn't usually become proficient enough with medical jutsu until after they'd lost a few comrades, and which was usually well into their chunnin careers.

This was Tsunade's chance to personally train a genin in her arts and to prove the value of the team arrangements she herself had suggested.

She had never taken a team nor an apprentice before, and Hiruzen was both interested to see how she would perform, and pitied whichever of her genin was talented enough to learn his female student's valuable skill set.

His thoughts were interrupted by one of his Anbu appearing before him.

"Sir, here is the list of academy students recommended for early graduation," the Anbu said. Hiruzen nodded in acknowledgment and the Anbu disappeared.

Of course the list was shorter than expected, there were only four names and they had all been pointed out to him previously. Now it was just up to Tsunade to pick which three she wanted to train.

He had another meeting later today to discuss the details in regards to securing the area around the temple that Mito's revival centered around. Of course since it was in rice country most of it would be taken care of by Danzo. It couldn't be known that ninja from fire nation were securing areas in another country without a request from said country to do so.

The political tension between the countries was already high enough to trigger the Second Ninja war. Though many might already say that the second war had already started years ago with the number of skirmishes between the countries. In Hiruzen's opinion, compared to the First Ninja war, these "battles" were just shows of power before the real war began.

It was during one of these battles that his students had been recognized as the Densetsu no Sannin by Hanzō the Salamander after all.

It had also brought Hatake Sakumo's skills to light as an assassination expert. The man may not be a power house like the Sannin, but he had never failed to take a target's head, granting him the moniker of Konoha's White Fang. Of course Hiruzen had never ordered the man to assassinate another Kage, for such an action would surely ignite the current state of the war into an inferno.

It was only the overwhelming force of the Sannin, himself, and the fear of Konoha's White Fang, that had stopped any major assault against their country.

Hiruzen desperately wanted to diffuse the building war, but it was the Fire and Lightning nations own prosperity, with Fire barely the superior, that was causing jealousy in the other nations. Then there was Lightning's own motive, to be known as the strongest and the desire to rule over more land than they had the power to control.

The only other country that didn't appear to want war was Wind Country. The reason they pursued it is because they were the ones most desperate.

Once the initial battles had started, trade between the countries became almost nonexistent. While many were able to remain self-sufficient for a while, trade was the main staple for a country which had a plentiful number of mines, but almost no food production.

Konoha and Suna were trying to forge an alliance, but neither of their shared border countries, River and Rain, were having any of it.

To add to the increasing number of problems, Konoha's only true ally, Whirlpool country, was requesting aid. Apparently they feared Water and Lightning were forming an alliance with the intention to destroy Konoha's greatest partner.

The partnership between Konoha and Uzushiogakure had been renewed in recent years by Kushina's presence, and her new status as Jinchūriki of the Kyuubi with the death of the previous host, Uzumaki Mito. Because of this, Hiruzen was honor bound to send aid. His greatest fear was that this was a ruse, with the intention not being an assault on the ridiculously fortified Uzushiogakure, but the weakening of Konoha leading up to a joint assault by several enemy nations.

Either way, he needed to come to a decision soon. He didn't doubt the council would vote to abandon Whirlpool and Uzu, but Hiruzen couldn't bear the guilt if it led to their greatest ally's destruction. Not to mention Kushina's reaction to such a scenario.

Hiruzen leaned back and placed the forgotten crystal ball back in its drawer, and taking out some tobacco to sooth his nerves. Maybe what he needed now was a walk through the village, that always made him feel a little better. It was times like this he wished he was still following orders instead of giving them.


Orochimaru read over the results of Mito's most recent test results. To say they were intriguing was an understatement. The potential the girl had in her blood, or sap as it was more similar too, was astounding.

He had spent the last few years analyzing the only sample of Senju Hashirama's DNA he could get ahold of, and it had progressed his research quite a bit more than just analyzing the living trees left behind after the First Hokage's death. With those factors alone, Orochimaru suspected he'd be able to create a Wood Release user within the decade. He didn't doubt that many of his experiments would result in failure, but they would be necessary to ultimately achieve success.

Tsunade's DNA on the other hand, was relatively useless. The traits in Hashirama's DNA that gave him an affinity for Wood Release, and a likely affinity to natural energy, wasn't present in the other Senju. This had included Mito as well, before her revival.

Now though, with her new body, Mito was a reservoir of valuable information. The small sample of her pseudo saliva was enough to accelerate his plans to create a Wood Release user by several years at the very least. He might be able to create a viable user after only losing ten of his test subjects.

He only regretted that the greatest chance of success by far was creating a genetically modified human from scratch, something that would take time, but he had the resources to create eight simultaneously.

If he could get a greater sample from Mito it could even lead him to answer more questions about natural energy itself. None of the fools even realized yet that the girl was capable of Wood Release herself.

He had been thinking of visiting the Great Snake Sage in order to understand the nature of such energy, but such would surely come at a high price.

He could go recover a greater sample immediately from the girl, but he didn't have enough bases far enough from Konoha to be able to continue his research, as such an action would most likely result in his need to flee the village. He also needed to start collecting followers for his future plans in creating a ninja village of his own.

Then there was Danzo. The man knew of many of his machinations, even helped a little. But this line of research would need to be kept secret from the man. The efforts to avoid detection would almost surely be what slowed his plans the most.

He estimated that he would have a combat ready Wood Release user, if not several, in eleven years. By then he would have made a move against Mito and created enough resources to sustain his own ninja village, so he would probably be out of the village of his own will within eight.

All the long terms plans were good and well, but it was Orochimaru's contingency plans that needed reworking.

The part of this that was the most exciting was still just theory, but it was a mouthwatering one. He had already replaced Danzo's arm with one created using Hashirama's cells, with the future intention of implanting Sharingan into it.

Orochimaru was still a few years away from mastering the ability to transfer his soul into another body. If he could steal Mito's body, or use it as a template to create one of his own, it would be highly likely he could implant fully functional Sharingan to replace whatever eyes grew naturally. He would have to monitor her more closely, but he even suspected such a body would live forever, if not only several lifetimes.

All of these ideas were out of his reach at the moment though. The soul transfer, the senjutsu body creation, even obtaining a large sample from the girl herself.

There was one place though where he might be able to collect information on all three. The place where the same outcome he desired had happened to Mito. The temple in the Land of Noodles, and more importantly, the tree that stood within it.

The problem was getting there, except that might not be a big of a problem as expected with Tsunade's return and probation. Hiruzen had been keeping his students near home for fear of an attack against the village, and the White Fang out in the field to remind the other nations how deadly just one Konoha ninja could be.

Except Sakumo was back in the village now, on leave for the first time in almost two years. Jiraiya's team wasn't going anywhere for the next couple weeks until Mito was back in full control of her faculties. Tsunade would be in the village for even longer, it would probably be three or four months at least until her genin were ready to go out into the field, and even longer before she could take or lead missions of her own without them.

He suspected he'd be sent out on a mission soon, one that would hopefully give him time to stop by the temple. The only problem with that is there was almost no chance of being sent to the land of Noodles or Tea, nothing significant enough to earn the attention of a Sannin was happening there. His only real chance would be if he was sent to Water Country, none of the other countries were even close, and such a diversion would surely be noticed.


Hiashi could tell from the look the Hyūga gate guards gave him that he would be summoned by the Clan Head. He had honestly been surprised it hadn't happened before now.

"Hiashi-san," one of the branch members said, giving a respectful bow.

"Yes?" Hiashi inquired, already knowing what the man was about to say.

"You have been summoned by the Elder Council, they wait for you in the main meeting hall."

Hiashi nodded, acknowledging the summons.

This was a little more unexpected, he had thought only the Clan Head would have any questions. He made his way straight to the meeting hall. If it had only been the head, it would be expected that he would clean himself up before their meeting. He knew the council would be displeased he hadn't done so, but he also knew they would be even more displeased if they had to wait any longer.

He walked with the confidence and decorum of a man observed by a dozen sets of judging eyes, for he surely was being watched at this moment.

He stopped outside the meeting hall and waited to be granted permission to enter. He could hear the voices inside, and they certainly knew he was out here. But it was their habit to make everyone wait on them, not the other way around.

Finally, the door slid open by the hands of a branch member. She bowed before him as she opened the door. He didn't acknowledge her, only entering the room with his head high.

The twelve clan elders were arranged in a U shape on the far side of the room, with the Clan Head, his mother, seated at the center.

Hiashi's father had been the Clan Head until a few years ago, but his mother had replaced him after his death. The cause of death had never been announced, and Hiashi had never seen the body himself. It wasn't even in the grave the family payed their respects over.

His mother had quickly taken control of the clan, against the wishes of the elders because of her gender. She had put down an iron fist and demonstrated her skills, both political and physical, and has since proved herself worthy of the title of Clan Head.

He reached the thin piece of cloth that marked where he would kneel. He did so and made a formal bow to the elder council and clan head. He didn't raise his head from the floor until his mother spoke, which she waited almost a minute to do.

"Yesterday I was in a meeting with the Hokage, and the other clan heads," Hyūga Haruka added their presence as an afterthought. "He informed me of the return of the Senju, as well as the cover up that will be known by the rest of the village."

Hiashi just looked ahead, not directly at the clan head, but a space in the air between them. He didn't say anything, as he hadn't yet been asked a question. Speaking now would be out of bounds.

"What Hiruzen refused to give was the details surrounding Senju Mito's revival," Haruka continued. "As well as Senju Tsunade's retrieval of her younger sister. You will enlighten us of these facts now."

Hiashi nodded, indicating that he understood and would comply. He felt it would be a personal betrayal of Mito's, and the Hokage's trust to be telling them the facts that the village leader himself had kept private. But nothing came before the clan, especially when it came to the Hyūga. Sarutobi Hiruzen surely knew this, and he suspected Mito did as well.

"You may speak," the Clan Head said, after determining that Hiashi would not attempt to deceive her or the Elder Council.

Hiashi told them everything. Starting with what he believed were the relevant details of their mission. Mito's initial contact with the tree, and her poor health after, his suspicion that she had died while in contact with the tree, and the man Jugo and what part he had played.

The Clan Head already knew most of this, but did not interrupt.

He continued to relay what Mito had told Team 7 herself. Her experience within the tree, the creation of a new body and the validation by Senju Tsunade that the girl was, in fact, Senju Mito in spirit and memory at least.

He told them what he knew of her abilities, including the increased strength she displayed this afternoon during training. He also explained that while her potential was far greater than what it had been previously, she was still less than she had been before due to her lack of control over her new body and chakra.

He explained what he knew about natural energy and its relation to Mito, and how it had completely replaced her human chakra. He had verified this afternoon his suspicions of the effectiveness of the gentle fist against her, which was none at all.

Mutters went around the room at this, which Hiashi had known would happen. That is why he saved that detail until last.

Haruka did not speak with the rest of the Elder Council, only listened to their words.

Hiashi put all his concentration into looking at that spot in the air between himself and his mother. Despite being in the room with them, he was expected not to listen to them until he was spoken to directly. Some words he could not block out, such as the name of his teammate and her clan.

After a few minutes the muttering died down and Haruka looked away from the oldest council member seated to her right. She made eye contact with Hiashi and he began listening once again.

"It has been reasoned that the Senju clan may make a comeback after all, in spite of their drastically reduced numbers over the years."

Hiashi felt he wasn't going to like what was coming next. He had been expecting a direct order without explanation. Not an opinion. His mother never gave opinions during formal meetings, whether her own or the council's. Whenever an opinion was given in this room, it was only because one of the councilmen could not keep it to themselves.

"It would be beneficial for the Hyūga to play a part in the revival of the Senju's power in Konoha," Haruka said sternly. Her next words were spoken regally and it was clear that it was an order. "You, my heir, Hyūga Hiashi, will court Senju Mito and bind our clans together."

Hiashi had been suspecting this with every word his mother had spoken, but couldn't help the widening of his eyes in a display of surprise. At the lack of acknowledgment, the smallest, but most condescending of smiles twitched on his mother's face.

"You know what this entails, do you not?" She asked. Hiashi gulped and slowly nodded, before remembering he needed to verbally reply to the order.

"I do, and I will perform the duty as it is expected of me." If it wasn't a phrase he had spoken dozens of times before, he was certain he would have stuttered.

"It is good that you do," Haruka said, this time purposely letting the smile show on her face. It wasn't in happiness over his response, or eventuality of his success. No, her smile was at Hiashi's discomfort that he was greatly trying to hide. "Then you are dismissed."

Hiashi bowed again and moved out of the room without faltering. Even after the door to the council room closed he did not show his feelings. Even once he made it to his room and prepared for bed, he did not let any of them show.

No actions in or around the Hyūga compound were unseen, and it wouldn't be until he left the compound in the morning that he would let his true emotions, as mellow as they were, be visible.

For the first time since joining team 7, he was not looking forward to seeing them in the morning.


Author's Note:

Alright, there are two things I want to talk about in regards to this chapter.

The first is the response to Mito's return. In a ninja village such an event as someone returning from the dead would be highly suspicious, and I've tried to portray that with the older ninja, but I feel having Tsunade be the one to discover and verify who she is holds quite a bit of credit. Especially since she found Mito in the condition that she had. As for the younger ninja, while paranoid, they don't have the experience that the older ones have. Youth and naivety go hand in hand, and I play on that a bit.

Second is about the Hokage's crystal ball. I got this idea from another fanfiction, I can't remember which. The idea is that the crystal balls vision is tied into the barrier seals(which is like a dome) around the village so he can see anything that can be seen from the sphere itself. If someone is hiding in the forest of death, the idea is that the foliage is too thick to see much. This is also why it cannot see into any dwellings. I don't mind OP characters and items, as long as they have an explanation, even if it has one that I havn't made clear in the story itself. OP for the sake of OPness is what I don't like. If you have any questions don't be afraid to send me a PM.

You might also notice that some of the first historical changes are visible, such as the state of the second ninja war, and the perlude to the desruction of Uzu(which may or may not happen). I will admit that part of this is because I screwed up the timeline in my head, but that's part of why I've labeled this as an AU story since the beginning.

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