Disclaimer: I do not in ANY WAY own Naruto or Naruto: Shippuden.

A/N: Short but intense - I've been looking forward to this chapter for a while! Hope you all enjoy!

Also, please review!

"We should wait until morning to act." Hiruzen says to his Hokage. "We want to make sure the boy is far enough away."

"Yes. He'll be at his most dangerous when backed into a corner." The Fifth Hokage says to her sensei.

"Indeed he will be. They always are." Hiruzen speaks with experience.

To Be a Ninja (Chapter 29)-Revelations

Third-Person P.O.V.

"He what?" Tsunade can't believe what she just heard.

"Danzo kidnapped one of my most trusted Jonin, Hayate Gekko, and proceeded to steal donated Kyuubi chakra from the hospital labs and used it on Gekko without his consent. And it started to heal his illness." Sarutobi explains fully.

Tsunade is very confused. Danzo is still around? Hadn't Hiruzen taken care of that nuisance yet? And what's this about donated Kyuubi chakra? What the hell did that blonde brat get up to?

"Yes, Naruto donated some chakra for medical research after we learned that the Kyuubi was able to destroy Orochimaru's cursed seal." Jiraiya fills in the missing gaps.

"But that's not all. It turns out that Danzo has expanded ROOT much more than I was aware. Thanks to the infiltration of the ROOT compound and rescue of Hayate Gekko, we have learned that Danzo has been abducting children for years – some clan kids but mostly orphans. And we need to work together to take care of him." Hiruzen continues to fill Tsunade in.

"So that's why I'm here. Politics. You can't stay Hokage after word of what happens to Danzo gets out to everyone." Tsunade scoffs, and Hiruzen only shakes his head.

Then what else could it be?

"That is incorrect. After my encounter with Orochimaru at the Chuunin Exams, I have been weakened. I can no longer fulfill my duty to the village as Hokage. I couldn't care less about the political fallout. I'm too old to care." Hiruzen counters.

"But there's more, Tsunade." Jiraiya adds.

"Unfortunately, he is correct. Kakashi Hatake came bearing more information. We believe that he is correct with his suspicion that it was in fact Danzo who let Orochimaru into the village. There is evidence that ROOT set up the explosive seals around the village to weaken us. We suspect that he was trying to assassinate me in order to take the Hokage title." Hiruzen says, and Tsunade is enraged.

"WHAT?! I'LL KILL HIM RIGHT NOW!" Tsunade yells in anger. It turns out the little blonde kid was right – she does care about her team and would regret if she wasn't there to help them.

"No, not right now. But soon. We need to get Naruto out of the village first." Sarutobi states, having planned to kill Danzo the moment Kakashi brought Hayate in.

"Naruto? Why?"

"Naruto's being hunted by a group known as Akatsuki. They are after all the tailed beasts – two of their members attacked Naruto and other genin teams before the Chuunin Exams. Orochimaru revealed to him that he used to be part of Akatsuki, but how much of that is true or not we aren't sure. But either way, Naruto is a target. Danzo will no doubt use him as a bargaining chip if he had access to him. At the very least, Naruto is a supply of Kyuubi chakra. At the worst, Naruto is bounty." Jiraiya explains.

"I wouldn't put it above Danzo to capture Naruto and hand him off if it would get him some kind of power from Akatsuki. We know too little about them still." Hiruzen adds.

"And just how do you plan on getting the kid out of here?" Tsunade asks, because this whole thing sounds ridiculous.

"Well we need to get him far away, and safe. The only one who could keep him safe from Akatsuki and without rising any suspicion is me. And I still want to train him – I suggest taking him to Whirlpool. I've been wanting to take him there for a while, actually. And he could learn so much there." Jiraiya suggests, and Hiruzen chuckles.

"It would be good for him to go to where his ancestors came from. Lord knows I know nothing about his clan that I could tell him. Alright. Jiraiya and Naruto are to head to Whirpool." Hiruzen makes official. Then Hiruzen gazes to the window.

"Speaking of Naruto, it looks like a shadow clone is coming to us."


"Sensei...why THE HELL didn't you start with this?" Tsunade screams at her sensei.

Because, as it turns out, the Hiruzen Sarutobi she was speaking to in his office was a shadow clone the whole time.

"Because there's nothing anyone could do. Orochimaru stuck a sword through my spine and paralyzed me. No healer could fix it." Sarutobi admits.

This is why Sarutobi hasn't spoken to the village in any official capacity. He can't let anyone know that he was been weakened to such a state. He has to have a shadow clone take care of his basic needs – eating, bathing, clothing. Sarutobi's just fortunate enough he can make a shadow clone without any hand seals. That's how he was able to give the Chuunin their promotions, how he met Naruto and Jiraiya for their mission briefing.

Sarutobi is in his household, being guarded by his son and some guards he knows he could trust. When these people are needed elsewhere, they make a shadow clone – Asuma did that when he meets his team and the other teams.

If Danzo knew he was like this – paralyzed and defenseless - Sarutobi would be dead already. As good as Sarutobi is, there's no way his shadow clone can fight off Danzo and who knows how many ROOT agents. Even his guard can't fight them all off.

"So that's another reason why I'm here. You need me to fight Danzo with your shadow clones, as Jiraiya will be off with the brat distracting him." Tsunade puts two and two together.

"Precisely."

"Where the hell's your alcohol? I need a hard drink." Tsunade groans out.


"So when we infiltrate ROOT's base, what will happen?" Tsunade asks.

"Kakashi pointed out where were several booby traps and protective seals. Be prepared for alarms to go off and for everyone to attack us. Danzo's followers follow him and only him – they were raised and brainwashed and know nothing else. It's imperative that we keep their loss of life to as little as we can. I believe they can be rehabilitated." Hiruzen explains.

"If he's dead, they'll have nobody to follow." Tsunade follows.

"Yes, but we're not killing him yet. We're capturing and incapacitating him so Inoichi Yamanaka and Ibiki Morino can interrogate and learn everything he knows. If he was working with Orochimaru, and researching the effects of Kyuubi chakra, who knows what else he was working on." Jiraiya adds.

"That's fine by me. Just let me have some time with him before we do make the kill, right? I want to give him some hell." Tsunade says, not above torturing. Just because she's a medic doesn't mean she's a doctor.

(She knows Nawaki and Dan would be against torture, but Tsunade finds it to be a decent source of catharsis and stress relief, personally.)

"You don't get to have all the fun. Maybe we can do it together?" Jiraiya teases, and for once Tsunade agrees with her old teammate. It might be nice to have some teamwork again...


Their infiltration went smoothly, or as much as could have been hoped.

Therer were booby staps, but Hiruzen and Tsunade are smart enough that they never even had to slow down because of them. And when they got to Danzo...well, they had more help in the forms of Katsuyu and Enma.

Danzo put up a fight, but against Hiruzen and Tsunade - along with their summons, he never stood a chance. And ROOT wouldn't dare to go against the Hokage in front of him, and that's something Danzo didn't account for.

They swiftly sent him off to interrogation by Hiruzen's most trusted agents of T&I...

...And Hiruzen is glad he kept Tsunade away from the debriefing that Inoichi gave him. And Inoichi and Ibiki are sworn to secrecy about everything until they are given the all-clear. But what he was told?

Hiruzen can't believe it...

Danzo...he's the reason there was unrest in the Uchiha Clan. Danzo put in into their mind that there would never be an Uchiha as Hokage.

It was all Danzo. He planned it all from the beginning.

He's the reason Itachi was forced to do what he did. He's the reason poor Sasuke's life was put through the grinder. He's the reason Konoha not only lost the police force but many, many good shinobi.

All because he wanted Sharingan.

Sharingan. So he could undo a 'fatal error.' Sharingan that go blind while changing reality.

Sickening.

And Kakashi's initial suspicion was indeed right. Danzo fully intended for Orochimaru to kill Sarutobi so he could be Hokage. And he would have succeeded too, but Hinata Hyuuga was in the right place at the right time to sense Orochimaru's subjects that led to the downfall of the whole entire plan.

And the worst part about that is that Sarutobi's advisors...they knew about the plan. They didn't support Danzo and his plan to assassinate the Hokage, but they weren't against it either.

At best, they were indifferent. At worst, they were hoping for Sarutobi to die and be able to stay blameless themselves.

Sarutobi's shadow clone was able to take care of them swiftly and dispose of the bodies. They got too complacent in their old age and didn't know what was going on before they were swiftly beheaded.

The blood was more annoying to clean than anything...

Jiraiya and Tsunade can't say they regret them dying either. Those two old bags were in the way long before Tsunade ever left the village.

And then Hiruzen found out even more. It turns out that Danzo used a modified version of Orochimaru's cursed seal to mark all of his ROOT agents with a silencing seal. Luckily, the geniuses that they are in their fields, Jiraiya and Tsunade were able to get rid of those seals from everyone. They were much simpler than the snake's Curse Mark – Danzo was not a seal master...

Few of the liberated ROOT agents were adults. They pledged their full loyalty to the Hokage now that Danzo was out of power and no longer controlling them – and Tsunade and Hiruzen believe them. They are still being put on probation, but they will be valuable assets to the village now.

But too many of them were children. Children who were losing their emotions little by little every day. Being liberated, they had such a rush of emotion and uncertainty. They were homeless, with no family.

It was the least Hiruzen could do to set them up in the orphan apartments with a monthly welfare stipend. At least until they can figure out something more to help the poor kids. He also set them up with counselors and therapists that Inoichi recommends to help them recover from their trauma.

Then there's all the other things that Danzo was part of. The disappearance and murder of Shisui Uchiha, the recruitment and brainwashing of Kabuto Yakushi to be Orochimaru's apprentice (Kabuto has now been officially added into Konoha's BINGO book), part of the plot to help kill the Kazakage.

Danzo used Hayate to test the healing powers of Kyuubi chakra to use on himself, to see if they can restore any of his numerous sharingan. And he knew he could eventually sell it or use it in some other way for even more power as well.

But it's now clear to Hiruzen that even after all the years he's lived, after everything he's experienced...he's still so naiive. He's made too many mistakes in his life, and he never learned from older mistakes.

Hiruzen Sarutobi admits to himself that he really was too arrogant and trusting...exactly what Danzo told him.

And he knows that after all this is done, he will have to tell Tsunade everything. Because there is too much that he is still hiding from the next Hokage.


"I know that there were trying times in the village lately. We lost many good men and women, but they died protecting everyone in this village and the ideals we uphold. And I must do the same. To be able to protect my village, I must be able to admit when I am no longer capable doing the task, and to entrust the position on someone else." Hiruzen announces to the crowd that he summoned to the square in front of the Hokage Tower.

(In reality it's a shadow clone. He's still being guarded elsewhere, while his guards have their own shadow clones in the crowd.)

People start whispering and mumbling everywhere.

"And, so I present to you all Tsunade Senju, the Fifth Hokage!" Hiruzen names, and Tsunade walks out in her own Hokage robes.

Hiruzen takes the red hat off his head, and gives it to Tsunade. She puts it on her head, and it's official. The coronation of the Fifth Hokage is complete.

"As your Hokage, I pledge to protect this village! I plan to improve this village – to make life better for everyone here! We will continue to be known as the strongest of the hidden villages, and we will never back down!" Tsunade gives her speech, and everyone cheers.

All the shinobi and civilians alike cheer for their Lady.

(And spread around, the Chuunin, genin, and sensei of Teams 7, 8, 10, and Gai all realize just what Naruto's secret mission with Jiraiya was about now.)

When the crowd clears, Tsunade and Hiruzen walk back into Tsunade's office with Jiraiya already there waiting.

Putting up privacy seals, Hiruzen speaks.

"As Hokage, there are some things you need to know." Jiraiya is listening because, as far as both Hiruzen and Tsunade are concerned, he's basically co-Hokage, just without the hat.

"There's more? Goddamn it sensei, you really need to stop keeping things from us!" Tsunade groans, but the news she hears changes everything.

After this meeting, they send out a message.


Out there with a group of mercenaries, a black-haired shinobi – alone in the world – gets a message.

A message to come back.

It's what he's been hoping for for years...but he's also never dreaded something so much.

He immediately burns the message, and feels his hair blowing in the wind for a few calm, hopeful, seconds.

But he follows orders, and gets out of there. But he also begins to go to Iwa on a detour first.

Because if he's going home, then they're both going home.

A/N: And with its titular chapter, the 'Revelations' arc is complete! Things in the sequel will definitely be different now with everything that happened in this chapter. And we finally got the resolution to Kakashi's chapter from before!

And the next and final arc of this story will be the 'Journey to Whirlpool' arc, so this is most likely the last time we'll see much of Konoha until the sequel.

This chapter was tough to write. I had the ideas planned out, but trying to get a decent chapter-length was very difficult (I still think this chapter is a bit too short). And I'm still not entirely planned out with the sequel yet, so trying to do set-ups for something I'm not sure of is difficult as well. xD

The final section of this chapter is probably obvious as to whom it's referring to, but just in case I won't say anything. Especially because there will be something unexpected later with it. ;)

Thank you all for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Stay tuned next week for Chapter 30!

Also, don't forget to review!