Author's Note: I had this in my email box today from Jesse Briceno who organized the fanfiction awards contest.
OMG... you sir are a god at fanfiction... i got the results and i have to say
you were amazing... you didnt do a thing and yet people voted for you like
your life depended on it... you have won the Naruto fanfiction choice awards
for "OVERALL BEST AUTHOR OF 2008-2009"
and "Naruto Fanfiction Legend"
this summer we are going to do a .net vs fanfiction
choice awards and you have been chosen to lead the .net
side...
congratulations...
You sir are the best over all author for .net in the
Naruto FF category
you will be mentioned at all future fanfiction panels around the U.S. your
work is amazing and i wish you the best of luck in the future...
and you have been entered into the "The Naruto Golden Summer 2009 Fanfiction
Awards"
I want to thank all of you who voted for me. You like me! You really, really like me!
Anyway, thanks, I'll try to not let my head swell too much.
Oh what the hell…
"I AM A GOLDEN KAMI!!" Jumps off roof into a pool below.
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Though horrified by the prospect Kushina knew she could not pass up this opportunity to effect much needed change. She looked at the Council members after recovering from her initial shock.
"So you want to make me Kazekage, huh? Fine, as my very first act I am formally establishing a Ninja Academy that will offer free instruction to any who have the potential to be ninja and are willing to learn."
The other Council members all looked at one another unhappily, but none of them actually objected.
"Also, I'll be changing some of the traditions involved with the office of Kazekage itself. I plan to get rid of that stupid screen and move in a desk and some chairs. From now on the audience chamber will be an office. There won't be any more kneeling or not being able to see a Kazekage's face, so I won't be wearing a veil either. People can show their respect with a simple bow, asking free people to kneel is shameful."
"But that is a sign of a Kazekage's elevated status!" Sulamon argued.
"Any Kage is only the leader of the village," Kushina argued. "Being Kazekage does not make you a kami walking the earth! You do not become a different flesh. When my husband was Hokage the bows and respectful words of his people were more than enough for him! He never expected anything more and neither will I."
Though frowning Sulamon bent his head in acknowledgement. "As the Kazekage wishes."
"And as for Konoha…"
XXXXXXXXXX
Later that day a very weary Kushina returned home with her amused brother. Together they gathered everyone together and related the bizarre events that took place. Everyone was shocked at the news. Except for Gaara for some reason.
"You will make an excellent Kazekage mother." He said and actually gave her a bow. "Suna is blessed to have you in charge."
Grinning Naruto bowed too. "Congratulations Kazekage–sama."
"Stop that!" Kushina said sharply. "Call me mom just like always. All of you, treat me like you always have." She glanced at Itachi. "You can call me Kazekage-sama."
He nodded and offered a polite bow. "As you wish Kazekage-sama."
"Ano, wha… what should I call you?" Hinata asked nervously as she pressed her index fingers together.
Kushina smiled at the little girl. "Just call me Kushina honey." Though tired she looked at Tsunade. "Tsunade, I need a word in private with you about something."
With the meeting over Naruto went over to Hinata and grabbed her hand. "Het Hinata-chan, want to see something pretty amazing?"
The casual way he held her hand made her face darken. "Su… sure Naruto-kun."
"Great!" He led her out of the house.
Kushina and Tsunade noticed the little scene and both smiled at it. "She is going to make him a wonderful wife some day." Kushina sighed happily.
"Only if she doesn't die from nervousness first," Tsunade commented with a smirk.
XXXXXXXXXX
As they were going out into the courtyard a purple haired kunoichi with a trench coat and mini skirt was wandering up the walk way. The slight stagger in her walk and the smell of sake told Naruto all he needed to know. As she walked towards them she didn't seem to notice that her coat was open a bit more than usual. Since she had a fishnet shirt on and no bra Naruto was getting quite an eyeful.
The tipsy woman wandered over to the two of them. "Hey brat, who's your little friend?"
Naruto frowned at her. "Anko this is Hyuuga Hinata, my fiancé. Hinata this is Mitarashi Anko. She used to be a leaf nin but she abandoned the village when Orochimaru returned to it."
"I am ple… pleased to meet you Anko-san." Hinata said with a bow.
Anko looked at the girl with a lopsided grin. "A polite Hyuuga? Who woulda ever thought? Better hold onto her brat she's cute and obviously crazy about you," Hinata went a deep shade of red. "I doubt you'd ever do better. Now is Kakashi here?"
Naruto nodded. "He's inside."
"Thanks brat." She playfully messed up his hair before wobbling inside.
"Is she Kakashi's girlfriend?" Hinata asked.
Naruto snorted at that. "No way! More like they're friends with benefits. She's just here for a booty call."
Hinata looked at him questioningly. "What's a booty call?"
Now it was Naruto's turn to become a deep red. "Ah, er, forget I said that. Anyway, want to see that thing I told you about?"
She nodded.
"Cool." He reached out and picked her up. He held her bridal style and began running full speed out of the estate and towards the cliff wall half a mile away.
"Eek! Naruto-kun! What are you doing?"
He simply smiled at her. She is just too cute when she panics. "Relax Hinata-chan; this is just the fastest way since the day is almost over."
When they reached the cliff Naruto simply began running straight up the sheer rock side as easily as he had run across open ground. Hinata was very impressed. She had recently mastered tree walking but the ease and speed with which Naruto was moving showed he thought nothing of it. As they began to race up the cliff she held on tightly.
"Naruto-kun, whe… where are we go… going?!"
"Just to the top of the cliff wall." He assured her.
As they neared the top he made a sudden leap that caused another, 'eek' to erupt out of her. He landed easily and then carefully set Hinata back on her feet.
"There, we got here just in time." He waved to the western horizon. "This is the best view in the whole desert."
Hinata looked out at the western desert. "Oh!" She said startled. "It's… it's beautiful!"
The sun was just setting and the whole sky was a mass of red and pink and glorious orange. The sands beneath seemed to be shining like gold.
"I'm glad you like it Hinata-chan," he told her with relief. "I know the desert must be very different from what you're used to. I just wanted to show you there are good things about it."
She looked over to him shyly. "I already know that Naruto-kun, you're here."
He was surprised when he felt his heart suddenly start beating faster. "Uhm, thanks."
They stood there for a few minutes in a comfortable silence looking at the sunset.
"Ah, Naruto-kun?" She asked nervously.
"Yeah?"
"I was just wondering, do you, ah want to be friends with benefits?"
"WHAT?!"
Hinata took a couple steps back; she was caught off guard by his reaction. "You don't want to?"
He stared at her. "Hinata-chan, do you, uhm, know what being friends with benefits means?"
"Well, not really, but we're already friends, so that would be a stronger friendship wouldn't it?"
"Well it would definitely be a much more interesting friendship."
"So you don't want to?" She asked sadly.
With an amused grin he put his arms around her and rubbed his cheek against hers. "That's for when we're older Hinata-chan. For right now let's just be best friends, o.k.? Hinata? Hinata-chan?"
That was when he noticed she had fainted as soon as he had started rubbing his cheek to hers. Looking to her he could only smile. You really are too cute Hinata-chan.
XXXXXXXXXX
Four Days Later
A large and silent crowd had gathered in the plaza outside the Tower. They had come to witness an event the likes of which Konoha had never before seen. In front of the Tower a temporary wooden scaffold had been set up fifteen feet above the ground. There was a chopping block and an ANBU with a black death mask on and a long sharp sword.
Five prisoners stood there, gagged and chained but standing proudly looking out into the sea of faces. They had come to their executions still wearing their traditional Hyuuga attire. As if to remind the crowd of just who they were.
There had been public executions in Konoha before. Criminals, captured spies, and the occasional traitor would meet this kind of end. But never before had five members of a respected clan been executed at the same time. And the fact they had confessed to treason made it even more incredible.
Another ANBU, this one with an eagle mask came forward and read from an open scroll. "You have confessed to the crimes of high treason and the plotted assassination of your lawful and just Hokage. As such you are sentenced to death, that sentence to be carried out immediately."
Two ANBU brought the first prisoner to the chopping block and instructed him to kneel and put his head down. The Hyuuga elder did so without any sort of struggle. He looked out calmly and remained dignified to the end. The blade cam down and took the man's head off in a single clean cut. His head rolled off the block and into a waiting basket as his blood sprayed out into the first few rows of spectators.
The crowd was silent through all of it. There were no shouts, no boos, no applause, they stood there in mute witness.
The other four died in short order and in a similar way. None of them struggled. All seemed determined to die with dignity intact. And through it all the huge crowd remained quiet.
With the executions complete the people slowly began drifting apart. Most of them remained quiet and kept their opinions to themselves.
Though not all of them…
"That was boring!" Zabuza complained as he shoveled some popcorn into his mouth. "These leaf ninja don't have a clue how to do public executions properly."
"Really Zabuza-sama?" Haku questioned. "I thought it went well."
Both of them had hitai-ites with snakes on them. When they had arrived they had learned of Orochimaru's death and feared they would be turned away or even arrested. Fortunately though the Hokage had chosen to keep the policies in place and not only were the bodyguards still around their numbers were increasing. Zabuza and Haku had been welcomed into their ranks.
Even more interesting, the Hokage had seemed intrigued by the suggestion that Konoha support Zabuza in becoming Mizukage.
XXXXXXXXXX
Flashback
"If you would aid me in gaining the throne of Bloody Mist I would give you my loyalty Hokage-sama," Zabuza said.
The Hokage had grinned thoughtfully and licked his lips. "Ku, ku, ku, you are an ambitious one eh Zabuza?" He looked at him consideringly. "Just how much support do you have in the village these days?"
"Many of the ninja there would eagerly rise up to help me if I were to return there with an army." Zabuza knew that was a flat out lie. He had never had that many supporters. After his failed coup the current Mizukage had rounded them all up and exterminated them. That was why he needed money, to buy new supporters.
"Is that so?" Fugaku teased. "Well, perhaps something could be arranged in the future. Though if I were to aid you I would need assurances of your loyalty."
"I will give you whatever you require of me!" Zabuza said instantly.
The Hokage had tilted his head a bit and sent a quick glance at Haku. "We will speak of this again in the future."
No agreement was reached and no promises made. But the meeting had given Zabuza his first real hope since fleeing Kiri.
XXXXXXXXXX
"That's only because you never saw executions back in Kiri!" Zabuza said. "They wouldn't have them out in the open. They'd be held in the arena and they would sell tickets. And they wouldn't just chop their heads off like that. They would open with some animal fights then maybe have some prisoners fight each other to the death. The executions would be the highlight, some would be dipped in tar and lit like a torch, some would be fed to the animals, or thrown in a pit filled with sharpened stakes or maybe torn apart. You would buy your ticket and make a day of it! Ah," he recalled fondly. "Good times."
"That's disgusting!" An angry woman's voice called out. Zabuza halted and turned around to see and angry girl about Haku's age glaring at him. She had on beige pants and a dark blue jacket with the Uchiha symbol on it. "Executions are about administering justice, not entertainment."
Zabuza looked at her and smiled with his sharpened teeth. "Can't they be about both? And the Kiri way the state actually makes a profit."
The young girl glowered at him, obviously not afraid in the least. "This isn't Kiri and we don't hold human life that cheaply."
"You sure?" Zabuza asked. "The lives of those five didn't seem worth much."
Haku reached out and touched his master's arm. "Zabuza-sama, please."
"Oh fine," Zabuza said and began wrapping bandages back around his mouth again. "The show's over anyway, let's go Haku." He walked away.
Haku turned to the young dark haired woman and bowed to her. "My apologies, Zabuza-sama can be a bit harsh at times. But he and I both wish to blend into this village and be accepted."
Uchiha Hisa nodded grudgingly at the polite, and kind of cute, boy. "I suppose it's all right, but he might want to be a bit more circumspect about such things."
"Of course," the boy said and then quickly left to follow his master.
Hisa watched him disappear in the dispersing crowd. What a cutie, and polite too. I wonder if I'll ever run into him again.
XXXXXXXXXX
Shikamaru had gone to the execution alone and watched in silence. As he headed back he did not share his thoughts. He well understood that what had just happened had been an object lesson to the clans, and not a subtle one. If I can do this to the Hyuuga I can do it to anyone. He was sure all the clans would understand that.
"Shikamaru!"
He turned around to see a dark haired woman he thought he recognized. "Shizune isn't it?" He asked.
She nodded. "Yes, it's good to meet you." She impulsively reached out to shake his hand. "My sensei and I knew your father; he was a very good man."
"Thank you." Shikamaru said carefully.
"Any way why don't you come to the hospital some time and I'll treat your high blood pressure? I work Monday through Saturday from noon until nine, just come in any time and ask for me." She walked away with a friendly wave. "Ja ne."
High blood pressure? He waved back without saying anything.
XXXXXXXXXX
He walked home in his usual disinterested manner. When he arrived he informed his mom he would be in his room until dinner was ready. He then slouched up the stairs to his room.
In his room he locked the door and put the curtains down over the window. Only then did he feel it was safe to read the note Shizune had slipped into his hand.
It read simply, 'I have a message from a friend.'
What friend? He thought. Hinata? Itachi? Her sensei Tsunade? Naruto even? One thing was obvious if she was slipping him notes and inventing a reason why they could meet it had to be important and dangerous. "Man this is really going to be troublesome."