The Missing Hokage

10: Tsunade's Law

The week and a half between arriving at Otafuku Gai and needing to set off for Neck Country and their next mission passed quickly for Team Hokage—plus two. Apart from the initial ruckus of Team Gai arriving and departing again, the rest of the time spent in their new base of operations for Fire Country passed quietly. That's not to say nothing got done though.

It was on the third day since Tenten had been added to the group that her turn on the chore roster came up. While she had gotten along well with everyone since agreeing to stay, the only person she'd really gotten close to was Hinata. The slightly younger kunoichi had desperately needed a girl her own age to talk to, and while Shizune, Anko, and Tsunade were all understanding they just couldn't relate to her as well as Tenten could. The bun-haired girl found herself quickly opening up to the Hyuuga in spite of whatever initial reticence she may have had. After all, Tenten really had no acquaintances her own age aside from her teammates, and certainly no female friends her own age. And as much as she respected and even loved her teammates to some extent, they weren't what she would really call friends. Lee was easy enough to get along with, if you ignored his more annoying tendencies, but they had nothing in common. Neji... well, she doubted the Hyuuga prodigy had any friends, and if he did then she and Lee weren't. He saw them as teammates and respected their skills, but it didn't go further than that.

Tenten nearly dropped the spatula she was using to break up and stir eggs when someone opened the refrigerator behind her. Turning around enough to see who had startled her, she rolled her eyes when she found Naruto drinking from the milk carton. "Morning," the blond greeted around a yawn, padding silently across the floor to peer at the eggs Tenten was working on. "Your eggs are burning."

Quickly cutting the fire off under the eggs, Tenten brushed them out of the pan and onto a plate. "Thanks." She fixed herself and Naruto a plate each of toast, eggs, and sausage and sat down, passing the blond the plate. She again rolled her eyes at him as he immediately dug in. "Eat slower, you'll enjoy it more."

Naruto paused, looking up at her quizzically, a bit of egg stuck to the side of his mouth. "What's wrong with the way I eat?" he asked, eventually noticing the egg and poking his tongue out to snag it before it fell off. "You're the third person to say that this week."

Tenten sighed. "Look, I know you're an orphan like me, but come on. They taught us table manners before we even got into the academy."

"When did they do that?"

"At meal time?" Tenten suggested, something about the blond's line of questioning striking her as odd.

Naruto shrugged. "I almost never ate with the other kids and when I did they tried to steal my food."

Tenten frowned, thinking back to her time before the academy. She knew that she and Naruto had been placed into the same orphanage, but she had rarely seen the blond around—especially at meal times. Giving up trying to recall a time she didn't particularly like, she decided to focus on the present. "Well, it's something you should know. It's pretty simple, mostly common sense really. Don't eat fast, don't make a mess of the table or yourself, don't chew with your mouth open, don't talk with your mouth full, keep your elbows off the table... stuff like that," she said, counting off each point on her fingers.

Sitting up straighter, the boy pulled his elbows off the table. "Why does it matter?"

"Because if you're with a group of people and you're the only one doing it, you make us look bad. Besides, it's kind of gross. You're not too bad though. Lee and the Akimichi kid are both worse." Thinking for a minute, Tenten grinned. "I have an idea. Think of it like any other thing you should do as a ninja. Be aware of your surroundings and try your best to blend in with those around you," she almost smirked. If the boy took her advice, then he'd wind up mimicking a group composed—at the moment—entirely of females and would be up to what most considered normal in no time.

"Yeah, but I don't see how it could be useful."

Tenten's smile faltered. Giving the boy's unasked question a moment of thought, she replied, "It's useful for diplomatic situations, in case you ever need to share a meal with someone of higher status." Deciding to try another route, she added, "Besides, girls like a guy who doesn't eat like a pig."

The blond nodded and the pair decided to hold off continuing their conversation as Anko made her way into the kitchen and turned on the coffee pot, followed shortly after by Tsunade. "This looks good," Tsunade commented on breakfast once she'd downed half her first cup, making herself a plate and sitting down at the table.

Anko smirked, making her own plate and sitting next to Tsunade. Taking a bit of the eggs, she waited until Tsunade did as well and swallowed. "Mmm, chicken menses," she grinned, drawing laughter from the younger two when Tsunade nearly choked on her eggs, though Naruto had no idea what the word 'menses' meant.

"I hate you."

A short while late, Tenten found herself outside with a Naruto—presumably the real one since he was doing his morning workout while a multitude of clones practiced various chakra control exercises. Tenten could have sworn she even saw a group of Narutos standing around a fire. The pair found themselves temporarily at a loss for conversation, which Tenten found odd since as long as she'd known of him, Naruto had always been a loud and very talkative person. Deciding that would be a good enough conversation opener, she brought it up. "You're awfully quiet."

"Hmm?" Naruto asked, rolling his head back to glance at her as he performed what would be the last in a long line of sit-ups. "Just thinking."

"What about?"

The blond shrugged, starting a set of leg stretches. "I have to go back to Konoha soon." Seeing her raise an eyebrow in question, Naruto explained. "I summoned Enma for the first time last night—the boss of the monkey summoning scroll. He was kind of pissed," Naruto grinned, scratching at his cheek. "Apparently that was a family scroll and we weren't supposed to sign it. He said he'd transfer our signatures over to the main scroll, but since we didn't bother to ask before we all signed only one of us would be allowed to summon him. And he made me promise to give the scroll back to Konohamaru when he gets older."

"But everyone else can summon everything but the boss, right?" Tenten asked, getting a nod in answer. "Well, then it's no big loss as long as one of you can summon him, right? There's only one boss to call most of the time, from what I've heard, and not everyone has the chakra for it anyway."

"I guess you're right. I didn't think about it that way," the blond grinned. "So have you signed one?"

Tenten shook her head. "Nope. Gai-sensei wouldn't let us sign his contract since Lee wouldn't be able to use it, and they're pretty rare. Most people with one don't want to share them. Really, you guys are kind of weird that way."

"So what do you do anyway?"

"Ranged fire support," Tenten answered simply before elaborating. "I'm pretty good with throwing weapons. I don't have any family techniques or anything, so I decided to go into weapons since there's a lot you can do with them and not many people specialize in them. You name it and I can probably hit a bulls-eye with it."

"So what are the scrolls for?" he asked, pointing to a pair of large scrolls Tenten usually carried. "Wait, didn't you use them for some technique in the chuunin exam?"

Tenten nodded. "They're really just storage scrolls I made with lots of weapons packed into them."

"You made them?" he asked, getting a nod. "Anko's trying to teach me sealing, but she hasn't covered storage scrolls yet. Can you teach me?"

Tenten shrugged. Remembering one of Tsunade's rules, she grinned and asked, "What'll you trade for it?"

"Kage bunshin?"

"Well, it is a jonin-level technique," Tenten nodded. "But I doubt I have the chakra to do it more than twice. What good is it to me?"

Thinking for a moment, Naruto grinned. "I could tell you, but it'd be more fun to show you," he said, standing and creating a clone. Both pulled out a pair of shuriken and flung them at a tree. All four of the projectiles hit their mark and Naruto dismissed the clone, and thus its weapons, leaving a pair of shuriken stuck in the tree and a pair of gouges where shuriken had been before they'd disappeared.

"Wait, it duplicates everything on your person?" Tenten asked, getting a nod from the blond. As the possibilities ran through her mind, she giggled quietly. "Oh, that is awesome. You've got yourself a deal."

"Hey wait," the boy asked some time later, after they'd gone to get a blank set of scrolls and some ink and a brush. "If the scrolls you use are just normally storage scrolls, how did you get them to hover? And you did it too."

Tenten grinned, pulling out several kunai and holding them out. "I throw these with the scrolls," she said, allowing the blond to handle them. Each kunai had a length of wire wrapped around the handle.

"So it's a wire trick?" the boy asked, getting a nod. "What about the rest of the stuff? Don't they get tangled?"

Tenten shook her head. "I use chakra strings for those. I would use chakra strings for everything, but I'm not good enough to support my own weight and throw stuff at the same time yet."

"Could you teach me that too?" the blond asked hopefully.

Tenten nodded. "Sure. But what am I going to get out of it? I'm essentially teaching you everything I know and while I don't have a problem sharing, I don't like the idea of someone knowing everything about my art that I do."

"I don't know. What do you want?"

Tenten gave the question some thought before shrugging. "I can't decide. How about we just say you owe me one for now?" she asked, getting a nod in answer. "So, let me see how that's coming," she said, looking over at the seal diagram the blond was drawing.

The blond frowned at it as he looked it over himself, waving to a Hinata as she can inside and rummaged through the refrigerator for a jug of ice water. "Would be better if my brushwork didn't suck. I keep smearing crap. That's mostly what Anko's been teaching me, since she says there's no point in going further if I can't even write the seals properly."

Looking over his shoulder as she drank, Hinata frowned at the paper. "Does the amount of ink you use matter? Or the width of the lines used to make the seals?"

Tenten shook her head. "No, not really. It's a seal, it's going to do its thing regardless of how much ink you put into it usually. Some seals require a blood sacrifice, but it doesn't effect the actual drawn seals unless they have to be written in blood and a certain amount of it is required. Why?"

"So why use a brush?"

Tenten and Naruto both blinked. "Because... that's the way its supposed to be done?" Tenten asked, not sure herself.

"That might work," Naruto mumbled. After a moment, he grinned and disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

"What the hell?" Tenten asked, nearly jumping from her seat. "How long have I been talking to a clone?"

Hinata shrugged. "It's hard to tell. There isn't much of a difference between the clones and the original, as far as I can tell. There is no loss of intelligence or personality shift between the clones and the original and the only way to really tell them apart is to jolt one enough to disperse it."

Another Naruto came running into the kitchen, ducking past the two kunoichi and into a room they'd decided to turn into an office close by. Rummaging through a desk, he came up with a pen. "Ah ha!" Running back towards the kitchen, he sat down quickly and began to re-draw the seals Tenten had showed him. Several minutes later, he looked up and asked, "Well?"

Tenten leaned in to inspect the seal and nodded. "It looks normal, if a little small. Let's test it," she suggested, pulling out a kunai and setting it within the sealing circle—which Naruto had widened by simply using the ink to draw a larger circle from the main seal outward. "Why did you put in this part anyway?"

Naruto shrugged. "I thought the seal might be too small, and since it's all ink anyway I just connected it to the parts that mattered and made it bigger than the seal itself."

Channeling chakra into the small seal, Tenten was surprised to see the kunai—and the enlarged sealing circle—vanish. A moment later, she applied more chakra to the seal and the kunai reappeared. "Oh man, this is awesome. Why didn't anyone think of this before?"

Naruto shrugged. "It's probably some sort of tradition or something."

Behind the pair, Hinata smiled and carried the water back outside. It was good to see that they were getting along so well. Handing the water to Tsunade, she went back to her endurance training while the clone with Tsunade practiced trying to make her chakra pulse.

Later in the week, Tsunade and Shizune gathered Naruto and Hinata together and decided to test what they'd learned so far. After easily proving they had learned and retained everything they'd been taught or read from various books, Tsunade tested Naruto's chakra control before turning to Shizune. "What do you think?"

"Passable," Shizune nodded. "It's a lot better than it was. You might even be able to try to learn some of the basic jutsu that you weren't able to before because they required more control, like bunshin."

Naruto rolled his eyes. "Why would I want to learn the basic version? I already know kage bunshin."

Resisting the urge to trounce the blond, Tsunade created a kage bunshin of her own followed by a regular bunshin. Both stood in front of the pair of trees and the woman flung a pair of shuriken at them. The kage bunshin exploded into smoke while the shuriken passed through the regular bunshin, leaving it undisturbed. "See? Kage bunshin are useful, but they're easy to destroy and once they're gone, you've left with no clone. Bunshin are just an illusion, a genin-level genjutsu. They'll stay around even if hit with weapons and other jutsu. Mix the two in a crowd and they'd be more effective than they are now. Have your clones use kawarimi to switch with something and leave a normal bunshin in place and they'd stop getting destroyed as fast."

Naruto grinned. "Guess I'm learning that next."

"Actually, no," Shizune shook her head. "At least not from us. We've got something else in mind Naruto-kun."

"It's time to move on to the next phase in your medical training. Both of you create a pair of clones. One set of you will be learning a new medical jutsu, one set of you will be learning a technique from the forbidden scroll, and the other set will be working on my strength technique. Since you've already got the basics down, you can help with that part Hinata."

The two chuunin nodded, each creating a pair of clones as Tsunade and Shizune did the same, the three groups scattering across their property. One of the groups headed across what qualified as their back yard to a small stream. "You're going to be learning two new medical techniques. The first is fairly easy and builds on what you've already learned from the diagnostic jutsu. You'll take a leaf and use your chakra to separate out the chlorophyll from it."

"The stuff that makes it green?" Naruto asked, getting nods from the kunoichi.

Shizune continued explaining the technique where Tsunade had left off. "There isn't really any specific jutsu for this—it's all chakra control. You use the diagnostic jutsu to search for chlorophyll and then use chakra to remove the pigmentation without damaging the leaf. Once you get that, you can move on to identifying and separating out other things. Eventually, we'll teach you how to identify and remove poisons using this technique."

"What else are we going to be learning?" Hinata asked, almost as anxious as Naruto to move on to the next part of their training.

Tsunade smirked. "How to revive a fish."

Naruto blinked. "Huh?"

Rolling her eyes, Tsunade dipped her hand into the stream and came up with a small fish. She dropped it onto the ground and waited until it stopped flopping and started suffocating. Kneeling, she extended a small field of green chakra from her hands and the fish started moving again. Picking it up, she quickly dropped it back into the stream and it swam off. "It's a lot harder than it looks. There's a lot of theory behind it and usually months of study on the 'spark of life' and such. Normally, that would be a test in and of itself, trying to figure out what it requires to resuscitate someone or something, but since you've gotten this far I think it'll go by faster if we just explain how it's done instead of letting you try to figure it out on your own."

Hinata, who had been watching with her Byakugan active, nodded. "Are there any seals to it?"

Shizune shook her head. "There aren't, it's another case of raw chakra manipulation."

Grinning, Naruto plucked a fish from the stream and dropped it in front of them. "Show me again."

Across the property from the group at the stream, another group stood in front of a cluster of trees. "So, what kind of jutsu are we going to learn?" Naruto asked, a wide grin on his face.

"Shuriken Kage Bunshin," Tsunade answered.

"What? That's cheap! I already know kage bunshin," the blond complained.

"But do you know how to clone projectiles, Naruto-kun?" Hinata asked, drawing the boy's attention.

Naruto nodded, creating a kage bunshin and having it throw a kunai before dispersing both. "See? Same thing."

Shizune shook her head. "No, it isn't," she denied, pulling out a kunai of her own and throwing it. She brought her hands together into a few seals and the kunai replicated into ten of itself before they struck the trees.

"Teach me," Naruto grinned, immediately seeing just how useful this particular variant of kage bunshin could be. If he were carrying twenty kunai on his person and created a hundred clones, together they would have two thousand kunai. But with this, each of those two thousand kunai could be replicated into hundreds of copies, raising their numbers exponentially. It could turn a barrage of thrown weapons into a solid wall of them.

Seeing Naruto ready to jump right into learning the technique without knowing anything about it, Hinata asked, "How much chakra does it use? And why was it in the Forbidden Scroll?"

"Not nearly as much as regular kage bunshin," answered Tsunade. "Per replication, it's pretty small. About what it takes to make a normal bunshin. It was restricted because too many ninja were trying to spam it against enemy ninja in large numbers. Even if it doesn't take much chakra to use, the more you create the more chakra you use. They either died of chakra exhaustion or were killed by enemy ninja because they didn't have enough chakra to fight back."

"Well, then we just won't make that mistake," Naruto shrugged.

Back in Konoha, things were more hectic than ever. There had been a massive public outcry over the council's most recently passed law and several of the village kunoichi and civilian women were still very displeased and nearly ready to take up arms. There had also been a massive public celebration by the single men of the village, so Jiraiya took that as a win. And as he'd hoped, the council was powerless to do anything about it at the moment, since he had appeared publicly and argued 'on their behalf' in favor of the law.

It was a busy week for Jiraiya. Hyuuga Neji and Rock Lee returned from their mission to report success and that their teammate Tenten had agreed to stay with Tsunade's group, or as Jiraiya had begun to call them after receiving Neji's report and reading the bit about what Tsunade'd had carved onto their hitai-ate, 'Tsunade's Independents' or just 'The Jiei.' A messenger bird from Iruka reported that he would back by the end of the week. Kurenai reported one positive civilian recruit, but had yet to make a move on her other hopeful.

On the last day of that week, several important events took place. Early that morning, Hyuuga Hiashi and the Hyuuga Elder Council summoned a small group of active-duty Branch-House Hyuuga to their meeting chambers. Among them was Neji.

Once all of the branch-house members were kneeling before the gathered elders, Hiashi spoke. "My informants tell me that your team made contact with Tsunade's group of traitors. Was my daughter among them?"

"I can not answer that question, Hyuuga-sama."

"Answer the question, you impudent little brat," one of the elders demanded testily.

Neji shook his head. "I can not. I am under orders from Hokage-sama not to speak of the matter. If your informants were able to gather the information they claim, then surely they must be able to tell you more than I."

Hiashi waved his hand towards the Hyuuga who had threatened the boy, his hands already coming up into the seal that would activate the Caged Bird seal. "There is no need for that. If he has been ordered not to speak of it, then we are not to force him to."

"Loyalty to the clan comes before loyalty to the village or the Hokage, you know that Hiashi," another of the elders sneered.

Hiashi shook is head, not pointing out that those words would be enough to have that particular council member imprisoned for conspiracy to commit treason. "It doesn't matter. Our information tells me they are in Otafuku Gai. You will lead a team to retrieve my daughter and bring her before this council so that we may apply the Caged Bird seal and officially instate Hanabi as the heir to the clan."

Dismissed, the gathered branch members left the elders' chambers, packing what few supplies they felt they would need and setting out for Otafuku Gai. Had they left by the south gate, they would have passed Iruka on his return from his meeting with the Fire Lord. Making his way up to the Hokage's office, Iruka was let in as soon as the secretary outside announced his arrival.

Jiraiya took the documents Iruka offered him and waved for the chuunin to have a seat. "How did it go?" he asked, wanting to get Iruka's opinion on the matter before he read anything.

"I don't remember the exact wording," Iruka sighed, taking a sip of water from a glass the secretary brought in. "But the general gist of what he had to say was that he was displeased that the council would attempt to throw his name around on a matter he had not been made aware of in an attempt to strong-arm the leader of his ninja forces. However, he also wishes to express that he trusts those elected to the office of Councilor and therefore supports their order of banishment."

"Fucking idiot," Jiraiya groaned.

Iruka nodded in agreement. "He did also say that anything approved by Tsunade before she left was still legal and pointed out that her law banning certain seals could be upheld and enforced without conflicting with the law allowing the clans to govern themselves."

This was very good news for Jiraiya. "Excellent. Yamato," he called, waving towards a corner where Tenzou/Yamato had been standing guard. "That group I asked for?"

"Awaiting your orders, Hokage-sama," Yamato reported.

Jiraiya stood, placing the folder Iruka had brought him onto his desk. "Iruka, take the rest of the day off. Show up here Monday morning."

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Iruka nodded, leaving the office as Jiraiya dismissed him.

Turning back to Tenzou, Jiraiya said, "Who do you trust most in that group?"

"Yuugao, sir," Tenzou answered quickly.

"Thought so," the sannin nodded. "I want the two of you with me. Everyone else is to follow. We're going to go pay the Hyuuga a visit. Unless I'm mistaken, they should still be in a meeting."

The sannin left the office while Tenzou went to pass along his orders. Jiraiya was rejoined by Tenzou and Yuugao at the gates to the Hyuuga complex. Ignoring the guards, they made their way inside towards where Jiraiya knew the Hyuuga Elders' meeting chamber to be. They found the building separated from the main complex that made up the rest of the Hyuuga's living quarters. Jiraiya signaled the remaining ANBU to circle the building and cut off any escape routes while he, Tenzou, and Yuugao made their way up to the entrance.

"I'm sorry, Hokage-sama. The Elders are in a meeting and do not wish to be disturbed," a branch-family Hyuuga announced quietly, barring the group's path.

"And that's the problem," Jiraiya said, rolling his eyes. "The hitai-ate you wear—who does it symbolize loyalty to?"

"Konohagakure and our Hokage," the Hyuuga answered.

"Then why do you attempt to block my path?" the sannin asked.

"I have been ordered—"

"By who?" the sannin interrupted. "I don't recall giving any such orders. As a ninja of Konoha, you take your orders from me. Not the village council, not your clan head or elders. Now, stand aside. I need to remind the people inside just who they work for."

Jiraiya waited until the branch-house Hyuuga stood aside before throwing open the doors and marching in, flanked on either side by Tenzou and Yuugao. "What is the meaning of this, Jiraiya?" one of the Hyuuga elders demanded—coincidentally enough, the same one who had been perfectly willing to punish Neji for following the Hokage's orders earlier that day.

Yuugao disappeared from beside Jiraiya, reappearing beside the elder with her blade drawn and pressed firmly to his neck. "You will address Hokage-sama with the proper respect," the masked kunoichi warned quietly.

"Don't bother getting up," Jiraiya grinned, shooting a glance towards several of the elders who looked ready to bolt. "This will only take a moment of your time."

"What would you discuss with the Hyuuga, Hokage-sama?" Hiashi asked, perturbed at having their meeting interrupted but seeing the situation for what it was. His eyes narrowed in preparation to activate the Byakugan.

"Ah, none of that," Jiraiya warned. "You have no need to use those eyes."

Ignoring his warning, one of the Hyuuga expanded their sight. "We are surrounded!" she growled, standing and moving into a defensive position, joined by many of the others.

Jiraiya sighed and shook his head. "You see, that's what I came here to talk about. You have a bad habit of either ignoring what I say or trying to find a way to go against it. Not just me, but every Hokage since the First. Frankly, I'm getting a little bit tired of it. They may have put up with that bullshit, but I'm not going to. The law laid down by Shodai does give you the right to govern yourselves, but it does not give you the right to disobey my orders. Some of you seem to believe some silly notion that your orders can supersede my own inside of your own clan."

"And your ANBU?" Hiashi, who had remained seated along with the elder still on the edge of Yuugao's blade, asked.

"That's another thing. As the leader of this village, it is my place to give orders. As my subordinates, it is your place to follow them—not to question them. Now sit down, all of you." Seeing that they remained standing, Jiraiya sighed. "See, this is what I was talking about. I just gave you an order and you openly defy it. That alone is enough to bring you in on charges of treason."

"You wouldn't dare!" one of the standing elders growled. "Konoha can not spare the loss to her forces."

Jiraiya nodded. "You're right. I can't spare to lose ninja." He gave them a moment to look smug for pointing that out before bringing up a point of his own. "It's a good thing you're just a bunch of wrinkled-up, useless old bastards."

"How dare—"

"Shut up," the sannin growled out. "Now I realize a charge of treason would be pretty damn difficult to prove, so that's only part of why I'm here. No, I'm here to enforce Tsunade's Law."

"And that would be...?" Hiashi asked, raising an eyebrow. He was well aware of the law Jiraiya was referring to, however it would never gain the Fire Lord's approval as it conflicted with the law established by Shodai to allow the clans to govern themselves as part of the deal the Shodai had made to convince the large clans to join and stay with Konoha.

"Tell me Hiashi, can the seal placed on the branch house members be removed?"

"No. Even if it could, this council would not."

"I see," Jiraiya nodded. "Then by order of the Hokage, you are all under arrest for violation of Godaime's Law."

"It's not a law! The Fire Lord has not approved it," the councilor who was still under Yuugao's blade pointed out, reaching one hand out to attempt to remove the blade at his neck.

"Oh, that? I got that in this morning," Jiraiya grinned, causing several of the elders to pale. "Now, how did the rest of that law go..."

"It's not possible. The Fire Lord would never—"

"Oh right, public execution," Jiraiya nodded, silencing their protests. "Thing is, it didn't exactly say when the sentence was to be carried out." Rubbing his chin in thought for a moment, Jiraiya shrugged. "Oh well, guess I've got some leeway on that."

"You wouldn't—" the councilor on the floor started, then shut up seeing Jiraiya's glare.

"To make this public though, someone would have to witness it," Jiraiya murmured, turning his attention towards Hiashi. "You'll do." Shifting his eyes towards where Yuugao knelt watching him for orders, Jiraiya nodded. "Kill them all, leave Hiashi."

"Hai, Hokage-sama." Any further protests or attempts to weasel out were cut off, literally, when Yuugao brought her blade down—cleanly severing the fingers that had been trying to remove her blade and slicing through the side of the councilor's neck. The rest of the elders, seeing one of their own fall, took up defensive positions and prepared to rush their way from the room. They were halted when the floor around their feet burst upward, trees and vines wrapping around their limbs and holding them in place. Several were crushed by the sudden plant growth, though two managed to get off a kaiten and free themselves. Yuugao ignored the spin and channeled chakra into her blade. Approaching one of the Hyuuga, she studied the technique for a moment before ramming her blade into the side of the sphere. The spinning came to an immediate halt as blood sprayed across half the room, the wounded Hyuuga cradling the stumps of his hands—cut off between the wrist and first knuckle—against his stomach. His screams stopped when Yuugao's sword punched through his throat and out the back of his head. Seeing her temporarily distracted, the last Hyuuga bolted towards the door, intent on forcing her way past Jiraiya and Tenzou. A rasengan stopped her progress and ended her life, leaving a bloody paste of what had once been her head.

Letting the technique disperse, Jiraiya turned towards Hiashi as the last elder's body dropped behind him. "You will turn over all documents pertaining to the Caged Bird seal to my office. You will not make copies of those documents or allow copies of them to be made. You will not show them to anyone but me. If you attempt to use the seal against one of the Hyuuga, I'll have your hands cut off. If any of the main-branch Hyuuga attempt to use the seal to harm one of those with it, I'll do the same. If even one of them kills a single member of the branch-house, I'll blind every last one of the main-branch Hyuuga. You will abolish the main and branch houses and fix the shit your clan has allowed itself to fall into since Shodai brought you to Konoha. If I catch wind of bullshit like this again, I'll pull out your eyes and feed them to my toads—maybe do it one at a time so you can watch the first one. You understand?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama," Hiashi bowed. "And what of my daughter?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "You've only got one. What about her?"

"Nothing," Hiashi shook his head, understanding Jiraiya's implications. As Tenzou and Yuugao sealed the bodies into scrolls, Hiashi asked, "Why are they doing that? Will they not be buried in the clan cemetery?"

"No," Jiraiya answered. "Their bodies will be burned. They will not receive headstones or markers. As of today, they never even existed." Seeing Hiashi nod, Jiraiya dismissed him. Once Yuugao and Tenzou were done, Jiraiya took the scrolls and dismissed the other ANBU as they made their way back towards the tower. "You two did good."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," they said at the same time.

"Do we have positive confirmation of the identities of all of Danzou's Root operatives?" Jiraiya asked.

Yuugao shook her head. "No, Hokage-sama. I have managed to gather what I believe to be most of them, but I am sure there are at least a dozen more than I do not know of."

Jiraiya nodded. "That's fine. Yuugao, I have a job for you."

"Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"Head out to Otafuku Gai. Find Tsunade's group and shadow them. If you spot another Root member watching them, take him or her out. If you are discovered, do not attempt to fight them and tell Tsunade I sent you."

"And what of Danzou?"

Jiraiya shrugged. "He'll probably figure out something's up eventually. I'm going to be dealing with the rest of Root while you're gone. If you're attacked, go to Tsunade for help." Seeing that she was dismissed, Yuugao saluted and disappeared in a shunshin. Jiraiya turned his attention towards Tenzou. "I think it's time we got some of those higher-ranked missions done. The village could use the cash. What do you think?"

"All of our regular jonin are either out on high-ranked missions or have been on too many recently to be reliable for any more any time soon."

"Yeah, you're right. Those guys need a break," Jiraiya nodded. "You wouldn't happen to know where I could find a group of jonin that haven't been deployed on anything recently would you?"

Behind his mask, Tenzou grinned. "I just might."

Author's Notes: Not too happy with most of this chapter. It felt like it was missing something, really. Next chapter isn't written yet, so probably no update next saturday.

On sword vs kaiten: It's a technique that expels chakra around the body while the user spins. The spin throws off most physical attacks and jutsu. The problem with the technique is that it's vulnerable a couple of different ways. It is not a perfect defense, but it is a good one. The user can't expel chakra for too long or they'll run out. At the top and bottom of the technique, the sphere it creates will be weaker while it will be stronger at the sides. Smash the shit out of it with something—a huge earth technique, for instance—and it won't stand as that's a case of there being just too much mass to deflect, it's physics. Like any technique, it can be overpowered if the user can't put out as much chakra as the person attacking—Kakashi's Raikiri/Chidori could probably cut right through one if he put more chakra into the attack. Kaiten kind of cheats the more-chakra thing, since it's using spin to deflect attacks, not outright stop them, but against some things that just won't matter. And in Yuugao's case, she uses a sword. Put enough force behind two feet or more of steel coated in chakra and direct it against a technique designed to deflect larger techniques not designed to focus on a single point of about an inch (about the width of a normal katana or similar blade), it'll punch right through. And hands make a prime and easy target to shut it down for good. I'll probably mention it again later in the story. If you don't agree, sorry, but I like it.

Noticed a few errors still in the chapter after, fixed them after posting. If you're seeing this, then you've got the fixed version.