Hokage's Legacy 12

See previous chapters for disclosure I own nothing.

It had only taken Tsunade and Shizune a couple of days to reach Konoha as Tsunade insisted that they would rest once they had reached the village. It took only one day of rest for Tsunade to return to a hundred percent and that day just so happened to be the first day classes would resume at the academy. As the Hokage prepared to have Naruto sent directly to his office after he arrived in class the leader was in for the surprise of his life when he read the previous day's report that one of his students had returned to the village.

Believing this was a good sign that his student had finally overcome her grief the leader was excited to see his former student and catch up. Just as the leader had expected as soon as classes were set to begin Naruto had reported to his office however he had never expected him to do so via Shunshin. Before the leader could even process his surprise of the event he went on guard as his doors were busted in by what he would say was the most terrifying being he had ever witnessed and that was a truly pissed off Woman. Sarutobi was known to preach to the village the will of Fire but he never would have thought the day would come when he wished he could forget about it as the raging fire in Tsunade's eyes spoke volumes for the trouble the village would be in.

Surprise seemed to be the emotion of the day as it was clearly written all over the latest occupant of the rooms face as she whispered out Naruto and how. The clone simply turned around and said that the Shunshin had brought him to his limit before he dispersed in a cloud of smoke. Now the two remaining members of the room were even further shocked by this occurrence as neither was aware that he knew the jutsu and one for knowing how long the jutsu had been maintained. Sarutobi was the first to come out of his stupor and ask what had caused the return of his wayward student and her response caused the man to pale at the implications of such action. After Tsunade mentioned that he had run into her grandson on the road and that he said that he was leaving his home village to be free of the hate and violence Sarutobi finally realized he was too late in saving the Yondime's Legacy as he was already gone. Turning to his student he proceeded to ask why she didn't stop him and the response he got sent a chill down his spine.

Tsunade informed her sensei that she had tried to convince Naruto to travel with her as his apprentice but he declined stating he didn't want the hunter nin after them and that he knew once word was out of his escape Danzo would send his Ne after him in hopes of using him as one of his own. These revelations startled the Hokage as he was amazed at the knowledge that Naruto divulged in a single encounter with Tsunade as well as how well he knew and understood the politics of the village to the extent that he mention he knew unless the village could he was beyond civilian in standing or the village chose to pursue all those who had abandoned the village they could not send pursuit teams after him or else answer to the fire diamyo himself and explain why they had chosen to track down an unaccompanied civilian with hunter nin. While still tempting the Hokage let it go as he knew if the diamyo were to hear how the village's greatest hero and sole heir to the founding clan of the village was treated change would be inevitable and true marshal law would be brought down by the diamyo himself.

Hoping to change topics quickly before his student once again chose to leave the village Sarutobi asked his student what her plans were and her response not only startled the man but relieved him as he knew his time was up. Tsunade said she was there to correct the mistakes made by those in power and return the village to what her grandfather and Uncle had envisioned when they founded the village. Believing that Tsunade was his current best choice of successor Sarutobi agreed with a small sense of fear as it was clear the Woman had a mission and that mission was pain to any and all who had done wrong to her family and their wishes. The biggest target for this anger had to be the civilian counsel and the current advisors as it was obvious they had been abusing their powers granted to them either from the second or his own actions in their creations. Not only was Tsunade demanding leadership of the Village she expected to take his place by the end of the week so as to fully demonstrate her will and command over the village.

As the day was coming to a close Anbu had been dispatched to inform all counsel members of a meeting to take place the next day and that attendance would be mandatory. The purpose of this meeting was vague but two people knew what it pertained to and that was one leader would be stepping down again as another laid claim to what her family had built and finally assumed the position that was rightfully hers to begin with. In the Senju manor plans were being drawn up and change was on the horizon. While the village was always considered to be a ninja village today that would be made abundantly clear once Tsunade took command of her army and cleaned out all of the rotten roots. The first aspect of her plan was a complete separation of committees as the civilian counsel would lose nearly all the power they had accumulated over the years and would soon be taking over the majority of the paperwork created by them as they had expected the ninja and Hokage to take care of everything. Not only would the counsel loose this power they would also have to submit all request for changes and document expenditures made as well as provide proof of a need or advantage taken by all accounts. Essentially she was going to give the counsel a small budget and then use them as a filter of civilian requests so that only the truly important one's made it to her desk. Following behind this action was the complete abolishment of the advisors to the Hokage as it was never in the law books or drafting of the village that they would exist as that was the job of the Ninja counsel created by her great-uncle and the second Hokage. These two acts alone would be because for a major uprising but Tsunade would not let those that persecuted and hindered the growth of her grandson goes un punished as she had every intention of notifying the diamyo of what she was doing and why. As morning broke the Horizon and the future Hokage had yet to take a break from her plans Shizune could be seen staring sleepy eyed at her master and wonder what she was up to.

Finally breaking from her work Tsunade noticed her apprentice was finally awake and decided to set her plan into motion and have her deliver the paperwork needed to set her changes into motion for the village as Tsunade wanted to be sure that one she could trust the messenger as well as ensure the diamyo could be certain that the sender of the letter was in fact her as he was well aware that Tsunade had once claimed after healing the man's wife and daughter of illness that she would never take the title of Hokage or return to the village that had destroyed her family. Realizing this thought only further infuriated the last of the Senju by name at least as she realized the village was not the cause of this but it was in fact at least partially her fault for leaving and not questioning the advisors who told her that Naruto had died during the sealing along with Minato thus driving the woman from the village and away from her family. Stopping this train of thought for the moment Tsunade motioned for Shizune to enter and asked her to take the letter on the table and deliver it to the Diamyo immediately and to await a response before returning to the village. Shock was the only emotion that Tsunade registered in Shizune's face as realization dawned that they would be staying in Konoha and she still had no idea why. Taking the letter and securing it in one of her inner pockets Shizune bowed to Tsunade before exiting the estate to make a quick departure toward the capital.

With Shizune out of the manor Tsunade returned to her thoughts on the punishment that would befall the advisors and Danzo for their treachery towards her and the village. The sadistic grin that eventually made its way across Tsunade's face would rival the grin of her former teammate and traitor to the village in Orochimaru should he see the day when he could overlook the village as he destroyed his home while possessing a sharigan. This grin was so sadistic that even members of the I&T department would cringe in fear as the methods of torture were far beyond anything they would have ever dreamed up and this included the methods that were thought up by Anko as she contemplated her revenge on her former mentor and master in Orochimaru. Tsunade was becoming almost antsy as she knew her apprentice would be returning to the village by the end of the week when her instatement to the position of Hokage would be made public as well as the changes she wished to bring forth as the village would finally be reminded of the leadership brought forth by its founding fathers as well as that which Minato had set to instate and use to further improve the village's strength.

The council meeting was set to begin and what the counsel thought to be only one missing member was actually two as the empty seat next to the Hokage's would indicate the civilian counsel was busy discussing the apparent absence of the village pariah as no one had seen him since the semester break in the academy and very few pranks had been made causing many to worry as to what the demon was up to now. All conversation came to an immediate stop as soon as the leader and his guest entered the room and the advisors paled at the meaning of the return of Tsunade as they were aware that she had been made the godmother of Naruto but nothing else and was the cause for them informing her that he was dead so that they could take him and train him to be the village's ultimate weapon. The grin on Tsunade's face spoke volumes for acting abilities as on the outside she appeared happy but internally she was ready to tear apart the advisors as a warning to anyone who would attempt to cross her in the future as well as remind everyone of her strength. However, Tsunade knew she needed to act the part of a happy individual until after the vote as she knew thanks to the changes made before the third was reinstated the counsel needed to vote on all candidates that is until she makes her changes once in power.

After taking his seat Sarutobi called the meeting to a start and motioned to Tsunade that he felt his time as leader had come to an end and was happy to announce that Tsunade had accepted his invitation to return to the village and take his seat and lead the village as the next. Shock could be seen on all the faces of the ninja counsel as they were well aware that the blonde believed the positioned to be cursed and that she had once said only a fool would willing accept the title and position. Despite being shocked by the turn of events they were happy as they knew how strong she was and they believed the village was in need of a younger leader who could still strike fear in the enemies as well as ensure the confidence the village needed in their own leaders strength. What was shocking to most be that the vote had not been unanimous as three individual had chosen to vote against the change as they were sure that it would mean their demise. With the majority vote in favor the counsel was in agreement that they would start the paperwork and by the end of the week it would be official and Tsunade would be the new Hokage.

Kumo

While getting into lightning country hadn't been all that difficult Naruto and his clones were finding it exponentially more difficult to sneak into Kumo as the guards were definitely more aware then the guards in Konoha as well as the village didn't seem to have any gaps in its defenses like Konoha did. Naruto was beginning to wonder if he would ever make it in when he decided that it was imperative that he continued to learn and that in order for him to master all the elements like he was planning he would need to visit all the villages at some point so that he could gain access to their libraries and study exactly how to master the element of each village. While he had the methods from Konoha he was certain that in order to truly master each element the key to doing so laid in each village as he believed that at one time the master of a given element would have had to either have ties to that region or gained mastery through a method similar to how he was planning by forcing his body to adapt and join said element to his chakra nature like most Jounin would do in the hopes of gaining a second element however, Naruto was planning to gain all the elements.

Naruto was finally too frustrated to continue his seemingly aimless attempts of entry and elected to just go through the front gate like all the other visitors do and apply for citizenship as well as entry into the academy. While this had not been his original plan of entry it was a suitable second option as he had doubted that he would have gained easy access to the library like he had done in Konoha and as such would have to join the academy to gain access. Now the problem he faced was does he show his true self or should he create some sort of mask to hide behind like he had done in Konoha to avoid persecution. While he knew the stupid mask wouldn't work in this case he wasn't sure he wanted Kumo to truly see him as a strong as he really was so that when he left they wouldn't pursue him as a missing nin or threat the village secrets and security. The threat he would posses to village secrets in his mind posed a greater threat then he deemed any village security as he believed given enough time and patients anyone could locate and exploit them without any internal knowledge of a village.

Next chapter Academy in Kumo and changes to Konoha.