Hyuuga Hokage
By
TheGraey1
Chapter 11
xxxxx
Hinata asked Homura for the truth concerning the Uchiha Massacre. Homura sighed, got out of his chair and tried to exit the tent.
"Where are you going?" asked Hinata.
Homura ignored the question.
"Kakashi-san," said Hinata.
Kakashi moved between Homura and the tent flap. "Out of my way," said Homura.
"Sorry but I'm answerable to her now," said Kakashi.
"Stupid girl," muttered Homura.
"Hey, watch your mouth! Don't ever insult Hinata-sama like that!" snapped Naruto with unusual anger and not realizing it was the yet unrevealed truth about Hinata's love confession.
"What are you going to do? Attack me like the demon you are?" sneered Homura.
"Oh no," said Sakura.
Naruto surprised everyone by not giving into the taunt. Instead he closed his eyes and took a calming breath and began to think like Hinata taught him. "You don't want the truth about the massacre to get out. You'd rather be hurt before saying the truth."
'Very good Naruto-kun,' thought Hinata.
"Homura-san, what did I say about secrets a few minutes ago?" asked Hinata.
"Do what you will," was the reply that was a challenge. Homura heard about Hinata's purging of the spies and informants within the village in order to prevent outside forces from learning the truth about the village's destruction.
Hinata carefully studied Homura. Kakakshi and now Sakura blocked the way out. What is the old man hiding. Homura turned to Hinata and formed hand seals.
"Don't!" yelled Kakashi recognizing the seals from his one thousand copied jutsus.
The ground right beneath Hinata raised up. Hinata's training kicked in and jumped out of the chair. The chair tipped over as a small mound of earth rose up. Sakura and Kakashi gripped Homura's wrists to prevent him from doing anything else. An ANBU entered the tent.
"The sensor felt chakra usage. Is everyone all right?" asked the ANBU.
"Everyone is okay. Homura used a jutsu against the Hokage. Get him out of here," said Kakashi.
Hinata looked at the raised earth. Just a slight bulge to tip her chair over. A joke Naruto would have done years ago if he had the ability. She turned her gaze to Homura who was being restrained. The questions came to Hinata. Why would Homura commit a blatant act that would cost him everything instead of revealing the truth? In Ame and Kiri he would be killed on the spot. The other two Hidden Villages would torture then throw him a deep hole. In Kohona the fate of the person who committed the action is left to the Hokage. The yet unanswered question is why Homura would commit the most heinous of actions that lead to-
"Stop," ordered Hinata.
Hinata walked over to Homura. "You would choose dishonor over letting the truth be known?" she asked.
"Yes," said Homura.
Hinata slapped Homura. "Not while I am Hokage. There are two things ninja are to never compromise. Their honor and their soul," said Hinata. "Let him go."
"He attacked you," asked Kakashi.
"He wants this to happen and I will not let it," said Hinata.
"Typical softness of your generation. No wonder we got razed to the ground," snorted Homura with contempt.
"It is too late Homura-san. No matter what you say or do will not have the affect you desire. Your only option to commit ritual suicide and you do not have a suicidal bone in your body. There is torture but you will let your body give out letting whoever torture you do what you cannot," said Hinata.
"Please. . .just drop the matter. Live your lives and forget the past," pleaded Homura.
"For almost a decade Neji-san believed my father handed his father over to Kumo on purpose. At any point Hiashi-san could have told Neji the truth. It took Neji-san almost killing me and Naruto-san getting dragged into the mess to get the truth out. I cannot shake the feeling that the same thing is happening now with the Uchiha Massacre. As I said earlier there are some secrets based on guilt and shame. It is clear to me that the Uchiha Massacre is that kind of secret. Look at the pain and misery it has caused Naruto-san and Sakura-san. They need to know the truth so they can begin to heal some of the hurt and pain they have gone through. I need to know so I will know what to do when the subject of Sasuke-san comes up at the Kage Summit," said Hinata.
"You do not know what you are requesting," said Homura.
"How can I decide either way if I do not have the information?" asked Hinata.
"Ignorance is bliss. Take the bliss of not knowing and drop the matter," said Homura.
"Ignorance is also willful stupidity," pointed out Hinata.
Homura opened his mouth to retort then stopped. Hinata thoroughly defeated him. No matter what he said or did Hinata would out maneuver him. Homura lowered his head and the two words nobody ever heard left his mouth. "I'm scared."
"You're scared of the truth of the massacre?" asked Naruto.
Homura walked over to the table and sat down.
"Keep your hands on the table," warned Kakashi.
Homura nodded and obeyed. "Kohona has certain liberties and freedoms that other Hidden Villages do not," he said.
"What do you mean?" asked Sakura after taking her own seat at the table.
"Naruto called Hiruzen, Old Man and Tsunade, Granny. What do you think would happen to him if he lived in another Hidden Village and gave those Kage a nickname," said Homura.
"Greatly punished or even killed," said Hianta.
"What does this have to do with the massacre?" asked Naruto.
"Like I said, Kohona has a lot more freedoms and liberties including speaking out against the Hokage. It is a right that has limits though," answered Homura.
"So did they mouth off too many times or somethin'?" asked Naruto.
"They planned a coup and were within hours of doing it," said Homrua.
Gasps followed by a long silence filled the tent.
"Sensei. . .did you know. You were in ANBU," asked Sakura.
"I wasn't in the village when it happened," said Kakashi.
"Neither were Asuma, Gai, Ikibi, Anko, and a few others. None of the clan leaders knew," added Homura.
"People who would've jumped into the fray to try and stop Itachi," said Kakashi.
"You were far enough away to be too late to interfere and close enough to be called back in case something went wrong," explained Homura.
"Why did the Uchiha feel they had to do a coup?" asked Hinata.
"Its better to start at the beginning with Hashirama and Madara. As you all remember from your history lessons, Hashirama and Madara had their battle at the Valley of the End. It was a battle between two powerful rivals who felt their ideals were best for Kohona. What was not taught is that Madara wanted very loudly to be the new Hokage and was causing a rift between the Uchiha and everyone else. The Uchiha who had enough of the fighting and foolish rivalries with everyone else felt they had no choice and impeached Madara," answered Homura.
"Im. . .peached?" asked Sakura.
"Its a way of legally removing a leader like a Kage or even a Clan Leader," explained Hinata. "Up till this moment I have never heard of any clan leader being impeached. Maybe it happened at some points during the Age of Endless Wars but never during this era."
"Even the Hokage?" asked Naruto with a gulp.
"Everyone is answerable to someone. Not even the Daiymos are immune," said Homura.
"I heard about what happened to the previous Wind Daiymo," said Sakura. "Although that was more an assassination than an impeachment."
"Huh?" asked Naruto.
"Ask Gaara-san about it the next time you see him," said Hinata.
"Please don't encourage Naruto to poke that particular Bijuu," sighed Kakashi. "Officially the Wind Daiymo got lost and died in the middle of that massive desert. Everyone who knows what he did by contracting work outside of Wind Country which led Gaara' father, the previous Kazekage, to become desperate and turn Gaara into a living weapon while aligning with Orochimaru. That Daiymo ticked off the whole country with his antics."
"Madara did not take being impeached very well and felt betrayed by his own people. He did not gain any favors with the populace either. Unlike Naruto whose reputation was bad growing up for reasons beyond his control, Madara ruined his own reputation. He felt his last chance for any legitimacy and power was to challenge Hashirama for the Hokage position. You know the rest concerning that fight," continued Homura.
"What those statues symbolizes is a lie," grumbled Naruto.
"You want to be Hokage then you better get used to propaganda," said Homura.
"Damn it!" yelled Naruto while slamming a fist on a table. "The more I hear about being Hokage the more I question whether I want it or not!"
"Do not worry about such things. They are actions of absolute last resort," said Hinata. "Homura-san, continue."
"For a short while things settled down inside the village. Tobirama-sensei became Hokage and to be honest he never liked the Uchiha. I think Madara's actions reinforced Tomirama's dislike that affected him all his life," said Homura.
"Uh oh," muttered Naruto remembering the years growing up being hated by everyone.
"There were small signs that Tobirama discriminated against the Uchiha. Missions that had high payouts and fame were never given to capable Uchiha. The Uchiha were moved further away from the high business areas of the village. Even the Uchiha Military Police was a way to keep a close eye on them. Then a few decades later there was the Kyuubi attack," said Homura.
"What does that have to do with it?" asked Naruto.
"When an Uchiha locks a person in a genjutsu in a way that's beyond normal the target's eyes will take the shape of the Sharingan," said Homura.
"You're suggesting that an Uchiha caused that attack and it wasn't a random thing?" asked Naruto.
"The point is that the Uchiha were blamed whether it was a single Uchiha, the whole clan, or someone who had an implanted Sharingan," said Homura. "The only reason things were not worse was because the majority of people heaped their hatred onto Naruto."
"Makes sense in hindsight. When I walked around town and saw Uchiha nobody gave them dirty looks like they did Naruto later when we became a team," said Sakura.
"Hiruzen did a lot to heal the rifts between the Uchiha and the villagers," explained Homura. "For awhile things were starting to look up. But one day and out of the blue unreasonable demands by Fugaku were made. While he made a lot of good points he was never one for patience. I dare say he was worse than Hiashi."
"How was Itachi seen by everyone before the massacre?" asked Hinata. Her eyes were closed and in thought.
"He was highly respected by the ninjas and the villagers loved him," said Kakashi.
"And from what I have heard he was incredibly powerful," continued Hinata.
"Understatement," said Sakura and Naruto at the same time.
"He had the capacity to be Hokage," said Hinata opening her eyes. "It does not make sense. Yes Fugaku-san made my father look tame when it came to patience however he was not a fool from what I remember of my parents dealings with him."
"What are you getting at?" asked Sakura.
"I believe the Uchiha felt they were being left in the dirt as it were because of past events. Maybe they believed they were being denied important positions of power. . .like the Hokage," answered Hinata.
"If not for everything that happened Itachi would be on the short list of succession," admitted Homura.
"Certainly Fugaku-san would have seen that possibility," said Hinata. "Naruto-san, what do you think?"
"So the Uchiha had it rough like I did. Yet like me things started to look up for them when the Sandaime became Hokage. Was Fugaku-san crazy for power like Orochimaru or some of the whacko members of Akatsuki?" asked Naruto.
Everyone but Hinata looked at Naruto with raised eyebrows and mouths partly open. "What's wrong?" asked Naruto.
"You're. . .you're thinking!" said Sakura.
"I have been explaining and teaching Naruto-san things about being the Hokage. . .things he should have been taught by now," said Hinata narrowing her eyes at Kakashi.
"Akatsuki among other threats that would've gotten him hurt, captured, and killed," said Kakashi.
Hinata almost retorted but stopped herself. "Anyway about Naruto-san's question."
"Nobody, including Itachi, never saw Fugaku act in a manner that destructive," said Homura.
"That's the issue," asked Naruto. "Why not wait for the day for Itachi to become Hokage or become clan leader? Hinata-sama and the Sandaime both drilled one thing into my fool thick skull is that there is no shortcuts to becoming the Hokage. The same can be said for any leadership position. Didn't Fugaku-san know that being a clan leader?"
"Yes. He should have known that Itachi was the key," said Hinata. "So why did he not. . .Danzo. . .Shisui's eye.."
"Danzo did not make things easy. There is one problem. The rift between the clan and village was reaching the tipping point Danzo did not have the eye," said Homura.
"Orochimaru? But that doesn't track. What would he gain by killing off the Uchiha besides weakening the village?" asked Sakura.
"Not Orochimaru. He was always hot for power and things like the Byakugan and Sharingan fit the bill. He would not risk losing all those eyes if he wanted to wipe out the Uchiha," said Kakashi. "Naruto is suggesting an outside influence that caused Fugaku to lose reason. . . .hey, what about Tobi?"
"That masked bas. . .er, Tobi!" snapped Naruto.
"I think we're looking for a boogie-man to blame every bad thing that's happened to us," said Homura. "Next we'll blame. . .who were those people you fought at Wave?"
"Haku and Zazuba who were hired to assassinate our client," said Sakura.
"True. It could something as simple as Fugaku as finally losing it," said Kakashi.
"I think. . .uh-oh. . .," said Naruto as his voice trailed off. His body went stiff and his eyes wide.
"Naruto-san, what's wrong?" asked Hinata.
"A lost memory is coming back to him," said Sakura.
"Son of the bitch!" yelled Naruto out the blue. He shot out his chair and began pacing and anger growing on his face. "That masked rat bastard son of a bitch is the reason!"
Hinata went to stop him and Sakura stopped her. "Don't. Let him go through the motions. He'll calm down "
"H. . .he made a mess of everything!" yelled Naruto.
He continued pacing back and forth for a minute. He finally calmed down. Shaking he sat down. "Sorry Hinata-sama. It hit me so hard," said Naruto.
"What did you remember?" asked Sakura.
"Its crazy. Even crazier than what we're used to," said Naruto. "I saw the Yondaime fighting Tobi. I don't know how or why but I have one of the Yondaime's memories cause it ain't mine. He's fighting Tobi. Its during the Fox's attack on the village. The Yondaime demands to know why Tobi is attacking the village with the Kyuubi. . .the Yondaime wondered if Tobi is Madara Uchiha!"
"I. . .I often felt that Kyuubi's attack wasn't random," said Homura. Of course he knew about Kushina's pregnancy and being the previous Host for the Nine Tails. He just thought Kushina lost control which was an idea he had issues with. When an adult Uzumaki like Kushina or Mito became a Host for any of the Bijuu they locked it down tight. According to Mito a pregnant Host will lose forty to fifty percent of the 'prison's' strength during birth. Until Kushina an Uzumaki Host never lost complete control during birth.
"The stories I heard made it sound like Kyuubi magically appeared and attacked. I realized that Bijuu aren't subtle at all when I saw Gaara transform during the Chunin Exams and later experiences with Naruto," said Sakura.
"He must have implanted the memory as a message or warning as he sealed the Fox into Naruto-san," said Hinata.
"He always did things that nobody else would've thought of," said Kakashi.
"What disturbs me is that Minato believed that Tobi is in truth Madara," said Homura.
"Didn't you meet Madara once or twice?" asked Naruto.
"How old do you think I am?" snapped Homura. "I was born thirty years after Hashimara and Madara fought!"
"We are getting off track. Why was the truth of the massacre hidden?" asked Hinata. She activated her Byakugan and turned her gaze to Homura. Hinata looked less like a kind young woman or someone who possess her parent's traits and more like a visage of death. "The truth now."
"There was a fear concerning our rights. We were afraid Kohonaites from all walks of life would become too afraid to speak their minds within reason. People become paralyzed with fear of speaking the truth out of fear of reprisal when the Hokage needs the truth the most," said Homura.
"That's. . .that's!" yelled Naruto trying to swear, wanting to swear, like never before.
"Go ahead and say it. You have permission this one time," said Hinata
"Complete bullshit!" screamed Naruto. "You kept the truth from Sasuke and for what? So he could go out and kill his own brother!?"
Homura just shook head. "We really spoiled your generation," he sighed.
"Spoiled!" snapped Sakura. "You must have seen or heard a different Chunin Exam! The one I remember had Neji trying kill Hinata and everything that happened because of the lies Neji thought was the truth! Naruto being lied to for most of his life! Sasuke ending on the side of some of the worst people on the planet for the same reasons!"
"Neji's attitude at the time verses the attitudes of Yagura, the Ame Kage known as the Salamander, and Gaara's Father," said Homura. "Yagura's bloodlimit purges were the stuff of nightmares. He murdered people in ways that were beyond the pale. From crucifixions to slow painful dissolution of the body on the cellular level thanks to the Bijuu he had. Intelligence sources all over the continent figured he was under a powerful genjutsu. They also agreed that his crimes were of his own hand and which had nothing to do with the genjutsu. The Salamander of Ame. A man who went completely insane and paranoid to the point of killing his own family including his newborn triplets. I don't need to remind you of what the previous Kazekage did to the current one. The citizens they were supposed to protect instead paralyzed with fear. Fear of speaking out when their Kage blatantly crossed the line. A fear that spread outside of the Hidden Villages into the rest of the country. A fear so potent that even the country's Daiymo became afraid of speaking out or acting against those corrupt Kages. That is what we were afraid of!"
"Naruto, Hinata and a couple of other have suffered but I won't for a second pretend that their suffering was the worst in the world," continued Homura. "Also get off your damn high summons when it comes to keeping secrets for the wrong reasons. Tell us Naruto, was it worth almost destroying Sakura's arm because she was in the dark about you being the Kyuubi Host? Or Sakura not telling you about Sasuke's cursed seal? They convinced Kakashi to not tell you. He still had to tell Hiruzen and as an Elder I get the same information the Hokage does. The price of keeping that secret ended up being one of your lungs. You can sit there and rant and rave that I and others screwed the jutsu but don't you dare act as if you're innocent for doing exact same thing."
"I won't ever be like that," said Naruto.
"Neither will I," added Hinata.
"Thus said a Sarutobi, a Namikaze, and three Senju," snorted Homura. "Six months to a year later they changed their minds. I was wrong earlier. You're not spoiled. Just naive to the point of outright ignorance and stupidity. Hinata, you're smarter than this so stop it. Naurto, you're still so innocent about being a ninja that it pisses me off. Hinata, its best he finds out now then later because if he doesn't know what the job is about then he'll never get it."
"I know and I have been teaching Naruto-san," said Hinata with defiance.
"Then quit stalling and tell him the full truth. The sooner you get it out of the way the better. He still has that fairy tale attitude that being a ninja is about saving the innocent and killing the bad guys," advised Homura.
"No, I don't," said Naruto.
Yes, you do," said Kakashi.
"Wave, Akatsuki, the village that hated me," said Naruto.
"This has nothing to do with those things," said Hinata. "It is a matter for later."
"What will you do with the truth?" Homura asked Hinata.
"For now nothing. The village has too much to worry about as it is. As for Sasuke-san. . .provided he did not nothing illegal," said Hinata.
"We can use the truth to convince him to come back," said Sakura.
"I hope so," said Naruto.
"This is enough for now," said Hinata. "Everyone go back to their duties. We will stick to the plan of getting the full truth of Sasuke-san's actions at the Hokage Summit."
"I need to check in with the patrol leaders," said Kakashi.
Homura simply left and Sakura told Hinata she will have an updated report on Sai and Shikaku by the end of the day. Kakshi stopped at the entrance. "Hinata. . .if you want I can convene a Jounin Council and have a vote within a hour."
"And what argument will you use to get no votes?" asked Hinata.
"That you're too young and too inexperienced," said Kakashi.
"The current Kazekage is younger than me and I united the Hyuuga," sighed Hinata. "Thank you anyway."
"I need to go for a walk. Want to come with me?" Hinata asked Naruto.
"Yeah, I guess. Didn't think it'd be this bad and its only your second day," said Naruto.
'And Homura was right. . .I have to tell the truth to Naruto before the mission requests start coming in. . .or I could wait until then. . .except. . I do not want to be the one to tell him. I am being cowardly and I cannot shake the feeling the unspoken and unwritten rule of being a leader is going to happen,' thought Hinata.
To be continued. . .
Author's Notes – First of all Carlosxvx's review. As I've stated right in Chapter 1, the argument to pick Hinata(besides the conspiracy to unover Danzo's stolen sharingan without either of them realizing it) was based on the fact that she is politically savvy and kept her clan from completely falling apart. Her physical strength/battle capacity had nothing to do with it. As Tsunade said in the very first chapter is, "We have plenty of ninja who are strong. What we need is someone to keep Kohona united." Tsunade also expected Hinata to refuse the job after Danzo got exposed yet Shikaku who was supposed to convince Hinata to step down without any regrets against her personal honor or nindo instead was put out of commission.
As for Danzo, Kakashi, Gai, and Naruto becoming the temporary Hokage, you have read the manga right? Danzo is a scumball who did all the sh!tty things he did for personal gain/power. Tsunade told Shikaku(or was it the other way arouond?) in CANON that Naruto 'was not ready for the position'. In a sense this is part of the plot for Part 1 of the story. That Naruto is clearly not ready to be Hokage and some very good reasons have been given and will be given. As for Gai being Hokage. . .you're joking right? I like Gai as much as the next person but I don't think he'd do a good job as Hokage. First of all there's that Peter Pan Syndrome he suffers from which can negatively affect negotiations. There's the oftimes parodies or stories of having Gai being Hokage(the main one being Lee's Springtime of Youth Manga).
Finally Hinata's strength doesn't lay in the physical but in the political. However I'm not going to write her as Mary Stu. In this chapter I had no problem having Homura flat out saying that Hinata is wrong and that she is holding back on telling Naruto things concerning being the Hokage.
