Note: I read somewhere that the Third Hokage's wife Biwako was supposedly killed during the Kyuubi's attack, but I don't remember reading this in the manga and I'm pretty sure she's never appeared or been mentioned in the anime. I hope you'll all forgive me as I didn't realise this when I put her in, honestly! She's such an incidental character in the actual manga but so essential to my story that I'm hoping people wont mind. Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned it as no one has pulled me up on it but I'm an honest sort and don't mind admitting my mistakes!
Additionally, I don't know if anyone has seen the fairly recent anime filler titled 'Kakashi Love Song' and made the connection with the last chapter of this story, but if not I feel the need to point it out...! Kakashi's terrible mission to kill the Key Daimyo which I mentioned in Chapter 8 might just be the reason he found himself in the Key Country and met the spy from the Hidden Lock Village who features in the anime episode, telling her about his cloud-watching to give her hope.
Also, as I'm sure you're all aware, Naruto is owned by Masashi Kishimoto.
Chapter 9 - The Hokage's Enlightenment
Hiruzen yawned and stretched out his stiff limbs, noticing several cracks and creaks as he did so. Damn he felt old this morning! He didn't know how much longer he could keep on with this Hokage lark. He had so been looking forward to his retirement, and had loved the year he had managed to snatch of free time to himself before he had been sadly forced to return to the job.
Perhaps he'd have another go at persuading Jiraiya. He really was the best candidate, and the fact that he was an unwilling leader made him a pretty safe option to Hiruzen, and Jiraiya certainly wasn't the type to seek out power for its own sake, or to abuse the title for his own ends. As much as he had always seen Orochimaru as his most gifted student - he really didn't like to use the word 'favourite' when it came to his students - Hiruzen could plainly see that the lad's obsession for power had led him astray and made him totally unsuitable for the role of Hokage. It wasn't just a title to add to a collection for Hiruzen or for the three who had come before and after him, and as much as he loved Orochimaru and held out hope - many said it was a fool's hope - that he would change his outlook sooner rather than later, he was not fool enough to entrust Konoha to him.
After washing his face and slipping into a royal blue yukata the Third Hokage decided to go and find his wife, who was always up before him these days, and get some breakfast before heading to his office. He didn't bother to get in early any more as he trusted his aids and knew he would be summoned soon enough if there was any trouble he needed to worry about...
Hiruzen cut himself off in his thoughts.
"Soon enough... What am I saying! I'm Hokage for goodness sake, I'm responsible for a whole Shinobi Village and I'm carrying on as though I'm deputy manager of a dango stand!"
Hiruzen shook his head and slumped. He knew for the sake of the Village he had to either get back to being a serious leader again or give up the position. He dearly longed for the latter, if only there was someone ready who he was willing to hand the reigns to. Minato had really been too young, he recalled, but at that point Hiruzen had been keen enough to get out that as soon as he had felt the young man to be ready he had named him as his successor. He often wondered if it was a mistake now, and felt that if he had held off taking retirement for another year he would have been the one whose duty it was to die for his village, and MInato may well have been out on another mission, as many jounin were at the time of the Kyuubi's attack, so he wouldn't have had to make the ultimate sacrifice. Of course, Hiruzen did not realistically think he would have been able to stop the Kyuubi himself, so the Village would most likely have been destroyed if it were not for Minato. But there was no point in getting bogged down in his regrets, of which he had many. He had to start acting as the leader he was and dedicate himself fully to his work once again, as he had done during his first term as Hokage.
He sighed deeply, feeling the weight of responsibility and guilt sit heavily on his bent shoulders. As much as Hiruzen wanted Jiraiya to take over and thought he would make a fantastic leader for Konoha, he didn't quite feel it was fair to pass the burdens of the office on to his student. Although he didn't doubt that Jiraiya could handle it, Hiruzen's conscience told him to keep going as long as he could so as not to put undue pressure on the younger generation.
Running a hand through his grey hair and checking that the belt fastening his robe was securely tied, Hiruzen stepped out of his bedroom and headed down the hall in search of breakfast.
As he closed the door behind himself he spotted his wife standing outside the living room, with a smile on her lips and tear streaks on her cheeks. He could hear a deep, hearty laugh that sounded suspiciously like Jiraiya's coming from behind the door accompanied by the quieter, higher-pitched laughter of a young boy.
He looked at his wife curiously but she put her finger to her lips as she cleared her throat gently to alert the two inside that they could expect company before she pushed the door aside and went in.
Hiruzen followed closely behind, and just as he had expected there was Jiraiya, looking the same as ever, sitting on the floor trying to rein in his rambunctious laughter. But it was to his great surprise to see that the other 'laugher' in the room was Kakashi. The last thing he had expected to find was that sad, tired child almost rolling about the floor with laughter, and the sight warmed his heart and made him smile. The touching image had truly brightened his day and it reinforced for him the knowledge that Jiraiya would make a fantastic Hokage. He had the power to inspire others and to infuse them with his confidence and joy of life.
He had been meaning to speak to Jiraiya and now seemed as good a time as any, he thought, so he greeted Kakashi briefly and nodded to his wife as a signal he knew she would understand. She smiled back at him a little and then walked over and picked up the baby's basket, gesturing to Kakashi to follow her. Hiruzen loved his wife dearly and liked that she always understood what his little gestures and looks were intended to mean without the need for words. She read people very well indeed, and this had made her the perfect partner to take along to ceremonial functions when he had to act as Konoha's ambassador to other countries and villages.
It seemed that Kakashi had a similar gift for intuition, for he shot a quick, knowing glance at the Hokage then back at Biwako before he got up without a word and bowed to Jiraiya.
"Thank you for your company, Jiraiya-sama", he said formally, still bowing low at the waist, "I look forward to our next meeting with great anticipation".
Hiruzen watched him curiously. He was so formal. Wherever did he learn this odd formality? He supposed the kid had received no real teaching on manners and how to behave except that which he had been taught so that he could fit in on missions and at functions where foreign dignitaries would be present. Kakashi was naturally a respectful kid, so it made sense that he wouldn't know how else to address someone to show his respect besides being formal. Hiruzen found something about this very sad indeed, and the way the kid seemed to sway on his feet concerned him as well, but Biwako would take care of him. And he had just been laughing with Jiraiya, hadn't he?
Hiruzen nodded to Kakashi as he passed, and the kid paused and, for the precise number of seconds to infer the maximum of respect without looking as though he were ridiculing the custom, he faced the Hokage, feet together and head bowed military style.
"Hokage-sama" he said quietly, before following Biwako from the room.
Hiruzen stared at the spot Kakashi had stood in for a moment after they had left, just gathering his thoughts before opening his entreaty to Jiraiya. But he left it a little too long and his student spoke before him.
"Hiruzen. I have a few questions for you", he said darkly, all traces of amusement gone from his broad, kindly face. "And I need you to be completely honest with me, no bullshit, alright?"
HIruzen knew that tone. It was the tone Jiraiya used on the rare occasions he was deadly serious about something. It was a tone usually reserved for the battlefield and his enemies, and it was the tone he had used when he had made his views on the Shinobi system known to his sensei and the Elders. Hiruzen knew Jiraiya had something serious to say, and guessed that, given the timing, it had something to do with Kakashi.
He was right, although he had no idea of what he was about to be accused of. He nodded his consent and bade Jiraiya continue.
Jiraiya asked the Hokage whether he had known about the types of missions Kakashi had been sent on, and when he had solemnly declared that he had no knowledge and would not have sanctioned such a mission Jiraiya admonished him for not keeping a firmer grip on the Council of Elders and those who sought to control ANBU from the shadows.
Hiruzen was horrified at the mission Kakashi had told Jiraiya about. He would not have accepted a mission to assassinate the Feudal Lord of another country full stop, whether or not the shinobi sent to fulfill it was of age or not because of the massive ramifications being caught would have for the Village. To send Kakashi of all people was particularly foolish, he thought, as he already had a reputation and was very easily recognisable from his Bingo Book pictures. His skills aside, if he had been recognised and someone had made the link back to Konoha it would have meant war and that was not a risk either he or Minato would have been willing to take.
HIruzen's mind played over the possibilities this threw up. Kakashi had been sent on the mission as an ANBU agent, but who had given it to him? ANBU squads received their missions directly from the Hokage, and there was no way Kakashi could have been fooled by a henge no matter how well-executed, especially not with his always-on sharingan eye.
So that meant that a trusted ANBU commander had assigned him the mission, and this brought with it the implication that the assassination of the Key Daimyo was only the tip of the iceberg. It was likely that many more dangerous and risky missions had been accepted by somebody on behalf of the Village, and had been handed out to ANBU agents. Either that or... Hiruzen was loath to consider the other possibility that ran through his mind, it was just too disturbing.
But still, the possibility existed that someone had not been accepting missions on Konoha's behalf, but had actually been sending ANBU agents out on missions for their own purposes, whatever those might be. Starting another war seemed to be the only likely outcome of that sort of behaviour. Who would do something like that and why? Konoha had only just emerged from a long war and was still recovering from the Kyuubi incident so why would anyone want further conflict? Was there an enemy spy in the upper echelons of ANBU? Or was there someone close to the top of the chain of command who wanted power so desperately they would do anything to get it, even plunging their own Village into a war it could not afford to fight?
Hiruzen divulged all of his thoughts to Jiraiya, feeling that he needed someone he could trust on side to help him investigate this. Kakashi would need to be questioned further about the whys and wherefores of his mission and any other orders which had not come directly from the Hokage. Kakashi would be a useful agent to use to question other ANBU who had doubtless been asked to carry out missions in the past year or so by someone other then the Hokage.
Jiraiya of course agreed to help out, as Hiruzen knew he would, but the ribbing did not stop there. Jiraiya had a lot more, and Hiruzen knew that he deserved it, although he didn't agree with all that his student had to say.
"I have to ask why child as bright and talented as Kakashi is illiterate and has received so little support from the Village, both general and financial. He's obviously had to work to earn everything he has. Not to mention the small fact that he has been left to bring up a baby alone without a ryo of aid from the Village. And not just any baby, but the son of the former Hokage which has the Kyuubi sealed inside of it. The lack of care is disgusting, quite frankly. As a man known for compassion, and with a family of your own, I would have thought that you would have taken better care of the orphans of this Village. They are just about grudgingly given a grotty little apartment if they have absolutely no where else to go, but from there on out they get nothing."
Hiruzen sighed. He knew Jiraiya did not follow his thinking on this, but he wanted to have another go at explaining his point of view.
"Jiraiya-kun, you are talking about the orphans who are already either graduated shinobi or who are past their second year in the Academy. The other orphans who are not soldiers of this Village live in the children's home and are provided for and schooled there. A shinobi, be he a child or not, is first and foremost a soldier, a tool of his Village. It is a sad state of affairs, but coddling soldiers does not bring any benefits in the long run. Kakashi, for example, had already been a graduated shinobi for three years and a chunin for two of those when he was orphaned. Yes, it is sad, but to learn independence and self-sufficiency is important for these kids. See how much stronger Kakashi is than say, my own son Asuma, a young shinobi with a caring family around him. Asuma has been held back by us, and although it is unintentional on both our part and his, even though we are a shinobi clan we can't help but treat Asuma like a child and not like a soldier when he is at home. It would actually suit the Village better if all Academy students were moved out of their family homes and given their own accommodations, but we just don't have the funding and we would receive far fewer recruits if we did do that, so it is just fantasy. And looking after Naruto is something Kakashi volunteered to do as a part of his duty to the Village. It is going far above and beyond what is expected, of course, and I didn't fulfill my promise to support him as I should have done, and I will never be able to cast off the guilt I feel for that, but he is a shinobi. A combatant and servant of his Village. That is his path and that is the life he lives."
Jiraiya managed to sit quietly until Hiruzen was finished speaking, but the Hokage knew he would not accept what he had said. He had heard the views of his student many times, and in fact his own heart agreed with Jiraiya. Just his head could not see a way to reconcile Jiraiya's ideals with the best interests of Konoha.
"Sarutobi-sensei, you know my views. Kakashi and many others like him did not choose their path. Can a four year old choose to become a shinobi? Does he truly know what it means to give everything he is, his life, his heart, his soul, his very self, to his Village? Does he understand life and death, and what it is to pledge his life in servitude? I did not know. Tsunade and Orochimaru did not know. Kakashi did not know. After us, you swore never to let kids graduate and go out to fight at younger that eight years of age, which is still too young. But another war came and more kids were sent out against the enemy as if they were worth no more than a new shipment of kunai or shuriken. And Kakashi has been nothing but an exceptional shinobi for nearly ten years now. Surely there must be some reward or respite for someone who has shown such dedication for so long. And what excuse can there be for his lack of basic schooling? Surely that makes him a liability on missions if anything? And it is not Kakashi's duty to take care of the Kyuubi and its vessel! That responsibility falls to the Village, and as its leader, to you, Sarutobi-sensei. You say you feel guilty and damn right you should! And you shouldn't just feel guilty for what Kakashi has been through either. We are all lucky that the seal held. You left what is, to put it bluntly, an untested experiment in chakra sealing in the sole care of a kid who, no matter how smart he is, knows jack shit about sealing a Tailed Beast, and then somehow forgot all about it!"
Jiraiya stared at him intensely, accusingly, and Hiruzen hung his head. He had not thought about that side of the situation. He must be losing it to have missed such an important aspect of what he had done. This just served to prove how well-suited Jiraiya was to being Hokage. He could after all see past his soft-hearted view to the bigger picture and the consequences for Konoha.
For all his bluster and chaff about how kids were left to fend for themselves to better protect the Village, Hiruzen had been so caught up in managing the Villagers' reactions to the sealing of the Kyuubi and with getting Naruto out of sight as quickly as he could, that he hadn't properly considered the safety of the Village. The Fourth Hokage's seal could have failed at any time, and it still could. The baby should have been kept under the constant surveillance of experts. He felt so stupid. He was such a fool. He had grown arrogant and complacent in the role of Hokage and did not feel he could go on doing it.
So the Third Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen swallowed his pride and bowed low before his student Jiraiya.
"Jiraiya, you are completely right and I beg you, will you accept the position of Hokage and become my successor? I'm not thinking straight any more, as you have just demonstrated, and my actions are endangering the Village. You are the only candidate that I would trust with Konoha, and right now you see the big picture far more clearly than I do."
Jiraiya looked away our of the open screens to the courtyard garden and sighed, shaking his head, Hiruzen knew what he was going to say and that he would not get to retire just yet.
"I can't believe you're backing out old man!. You've made a mistake, face up to it and carry on. I would make a terrible Hokage. I have ideas on a few things, but I'm a dreadful diplomat and the Elders don't like me. Besides, I have no interest in remaining in Konoha. I've done my time in the Village, I can better serve Konoha in other ways by keeping an eye on the world outside. Right now I have an interest here, so I'll stay a couple of days and help investigate this ANBU problem, but then I'm taking Kakashi and getting out of here. He's an interesting kid and I like him. He has the makings of a fine future Hokage if he gets out of ANBU, gets a life and avoids becoming a cold killing machine. I can't bear to see that kind of potential wasted. If he stays where he is I can see him becoming the best assassin Konoha has ever seen until he is either assassinated by someone better and more ruthless or becomes a missing nin and sets about destroying the Village. He's already in enough Bingo Books to be sought after by rogue groups if he ever decides to quit the Village, and do you really want most of Konoha's jutsu in enemy hands?"
Hiruzen was silent. He hadn't thought of that possibility. But then he hadn't thought Orochimaru capable of such cruelty as human experimentation until he had seen it for himself. Perhaps he was to naive,
"A ninja must retain his or her compassion, as it is an important aspect of both his work and his life. A ninja cannot have a life if he becomes cold and hardened to death, and there will never be peace in the Shinobi World if it is full of men and women who are purely shinobi and are not men first and foremost."
Like Kakashi... Hiruzen remembered his thoughts on the boy, and how he had been both disturbed and proud that he was nothing but a shinobi. But now he felt sick at the part of himself which had been proud. He still felt he had to make an argument, for although some things may be morally questionable, they were necessary for the good of the many.
"But Jiraiya-kun, a shinobi is a tool of war, not so different from a shuriken as you made the comparison earlier. Although we are notionally independent and equal in status to our countries' feudal lords, us Hidden Villages are essentially the armies of our respective countries, as well as armies for hire for smaller countries without their own shinobi forces, as of course you are aware. If there were no wars or conflicts between Daimyo, there would be no need for shinobi, but without the constantly-mobilised armies the shinobi villages provide it would take too long for the smaller countries to raise a fighting force should conflict ever occur. This would leave them vulnerable to invasion by the larger countries and would ultimately cause more bloodshed. Any Lord bent on expansion would have no qualms about killing any and all who looked like opposition in the conquered nation. This could lead to there being one large empire or republic in which a single leader or group would rule over all, or we could see a return to a situation where clans would be constantly vying for power. In either case, the majority would no doubt be more oppressed than they are under the present system and freedom would become a thing of the past."
Jiraiya looked frustrated and responded rather harshly.
"Hiruzen-san, what of the freedom of those born within a shinobi village? What of those born into a shinobi family and trained from birth to become a fighter? Surely this is tantamount to slavery? There is no escape for these poor souls except the honourable death their village expects of them. We talk with disgust of the practices in the Hidden Mist where children are pitted against children to fight to the death but are we that different? There, ten-year-olds fight each other to find the strongest. Here, we send five-year-olds into battle against our enemies to kill or be killed. To me, both are a repugnant as each other and there is no difference other than we pretend that we are compassionate while the Mist do not hide their practices."
With a sad sigh, Hiruzen's shoulders sagged and his ageing body seemed to slump even more where he knelt on a cushion.
"I do not pretend the system we have is ideal, but then I have never been an idealist like you are, Jiraiya-kun. Some must always sacrifice their freedom so that others can enjoy theirs, and it is better this way, where the few give up their freedom and their lives so the majority can live in relative freedom and peace."
Jiraiya was not done yet, and Hiruzen could tell he was not going to quit either. He had always been like this, an idealist and first and foremost a compassionate man as well as a brilliant ninja, and Hiruzen could not bring himself to stop his student's flow. He had ignored Jiraiya as a boy to focus too much on Orochimaru and he was trying to make up for it now in his own way by at least hearing the boy out.
"I'm not talking about people giving up their freedom. I have no problem with that. I am talking about children - people who have never known freedom. Even here in Konoha, the most liberal of all the shinobi villages, children are born to be ninja. There is no choice for them. "
Hiruzen smiled slightly. He understood Jiraiya's argument and even agreed but could not see a way to change it.
"Jiraiya-kun, I know what you are saying is right, but even Minato-kun could not change the views of the Daimyo, the Elders and the Clan Leaders. They might just listen to you if you were Hokage..."
Jiraiya just shook his head and continued more quietly;
"This is not just me being a woolly liberal. We are the most liberal Hidden Village by far and the most powerful too. If you look at the correlation between relative freedom and power in the Hidden Villages it is pretty direct. And if you look at the number of missing or rogue nin a Village has and compare that to the level of freedom you come out with precisely the opposite trend. We need to give our shinobi the freedom to be people too, and to feel that we appreciate their loyalty and hard work. Take Kakashi as an example. He is brilliant, there is no doubt about that, but do you think he feels that the Village appreciates him and values him as a person? I would say he is too blindly loyal to consider that question, but that has been largely down to Minato and in the future he may realise the truth. And that truth is that the Village does not care about him but will continue to use his skills until he becomes obsolete or is killed.
An average shinobi will be quite happy to stay in the Village and play his part, even if he is under appreciated, for he will not usually feel that way. An exceptional shinobi who is not appreciated and knows that he has a power that is sought after elsewhere may leave seeking greater power, greater appreciation of his power, or revenge on the village which used but did not appreciate him, or a combination of all three. I'm not saying that will happen with Kakashi, he's loyal to a fault and he seems totally honest and straight-up, but if, for example, his village wont even teach him to read and a rogue group gets wind of that, the temptation will be there and he may inadvertantly be lured in with a promise and then used against his will against Konoha or our allies. I can't bear for that to happen to him. I don't even want to take the chance, both for his sake and ours."
Hiruzen was quite stunned at the depth of Jiraiya's analysis. "Jiraiya-kun, I can no longer see the wood for the trees, so to speak. I have been here too long. I think all of your travels have opened you up to seeing the wider picture..."
Before he could get to the nub of it, Jiraiya cut him off again.
"Sarutobi-sensei, I cannot be Hokage. Tsunade is more suited to the job than I am as she is a far better diplomat and strategist. I am going to find her now, if she's in the Village, and I'll mention it to her, although I can guess her answer won't be too different from mine, so I suggest you have a word with Kakashi, and please let him know that I'll be back here to collect him in three days time."
Jiraiya stood and Hiruzen thought he might just walk out when he stopped and turned. Jiraiya never could stay mad long, as he believed that life was too short to leave someone he cared about on a bad note.
"Sarutobi-sensei, you have been a great Hokage and you have always done what you thought was right. I admire you for that, and I believe in you."
And with that Jiraiya grinned and left. Hiruzen shook his head and couldn't help but smile. Jiraiya had a lot of ideals and could become heated very quickly, but he did not hold grudges and he refused to stay angry at someone once he had said his piece. That was what made him such a bad diplomat, but was also what would make him a great village leader in Hiruzen's book. But he had known he would refuse all along. But Kakashi now, there was an interesting prospect. He had to admit the kid had shown great initiative and endurance in taking care of Naruto, and he was certainly already a decent diplomat, not to mention being pretty well-known in the Konoha and beyond. He decided he would have to keep a closer eye on him from now on, and perhaps when he was a little older he would enlist him as a personal guard and unofficial advisor as he had done with Minato years earlier.
Note: I apologise for the length of this chapter and for the rather heavy political content and lack of forward-movement. If it reads more like an essay than a story I'm sorry, and please let me know if you feel it is detracting from the rest.
Hiruzen may or may not be right at the beginning of the chapter in his interpretations of the illicit ANBU missions, but we shall see...
I wasn't going to take this story down a political route, and was planning to write a separate story as I do love the politics of Naruto, but it just seemed to come out...
I have no idea if Jiraiya and the Third ever disagreed about policy, or even what the Third's policies really were, although he obviously didn't put anything in place to look after orphans, given Naruto's situation at the start of the manga/anime, where he shows Kakashi to Naruto's apartment and looks at it as though he has no responsibility for his well-being at all, as well as the tiny, grotty places Sasuke (you'd think he would have inherited something from his family so where did it all go...? The Village coffers no doubt to be 'taken care of' until he came of age or more likely dead...) and Kakashi live in (assuming Kakashi has never moved and why would he since he is rarely home anyway?).
And I loved the idea of the whole Danzo-as-Hokage thing. I really wanted him to be a totalitarian Hokage so that we could see everyone forming an underground resistance, probably led by Shikaku and Kakashi, as it would be an interesting test of character for all Naruto's age group to see who was prepared to stand against Danzo.
If anyone is interested in reading any great fan stories about Konoha under Danzo, check out "Scarlet Scroll" by SilverShine and "Shadowplay" by Eldr-Fire (not complete and abandoned for now, but what is there is a very good read).
I don't usually write this much and have been trying to avoid adding masses of notes so far, but something strange has come over me today...! Sorry if this annoys you, I will try not to do it again.
Lastly, so many thanks to everyone who has added this to favourites or alert lists, and to those who have reviewed. I love you all and really hope that this chapter doesn't put you off!
Kakashi will go off with Jiraiya soon to learn to read I promise, but before then I have a couple more chapters to go, maybe one scene with Kakashi and Biwako where we get his reflections on his talk with Jiraiya, some investigation of the ANBU situation and a training field scene with Jiraiya testing Kakashi's skills before they leave. I do have most of it planned out, honestly! I'm not really winging it...!
See you around. 'You' x
