Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto
Chapter 9
Naruto tiredly entered his new home, too exhausted from the effort of shopping after training all afternoon to even turn on the lights. A suspicious creaking sound that came from above his top floor dwelling made the boy freeze as he set the bags on the counter. Someone was walking across the roof, and it definitely was not Dog. This person felt different. He couldn't explain how he knew, but this person just felt strong. This can't be good.
Grabbing a kunai out of his hip pouch, Naruto slid backwards into the shadows of the short hallway. He slowed his breathing, focusing his thoughts inwards and senses outward, just like he did every time a threat appeared.
Hinata's dad had once asked him how he had learned to "suppress his chakra" as he called it, after the boy had once again successfully snuck into the compound, but Naruto had no idea. He just did? It was something that seemed to come instinctually from the years of hiding from angry villagers and nasty bullies. If he really concentrated, he could even kind of sense people, or really, their presence, or maybe it was their chakra? Whatever the hell it was, he couldn't do all the time, just if he was really focused on them.
Each person had a different feeling, and some of them had become familiar over the years. He knew that Dog was always popping up here and there to check on him because sometimes, when he really felt alone and reached out with his mind, he felt him there. Dog's feeling was tense, like a tightly pulled string of a bow with an arrow nocked and ready to loose. Plus he smelled like, well, dogs. Jiji was simple, his felt like a big warm campfire, comforting but dangerous if it got out of control. Nowadays he could add Neji and Hizashi to the list. They felt a lot alike, steady, like a kunai carefully balanced on a fingertip. Sensing Hinata was almost automatic it was so easy, he barely even had to try. But yet she was the hardest to describe. She was as ever changing as water, constantly shifting form, states, and flow. Sometimes she was serene as a pool, other times she boiled and crashed like the ocean waves.
This person however, the one who had now moved to his window, seemed enormous, bigger than even Jiji, they were impossible to ignore. Naruto crouched motionless in the closet. Think small, think invisible, feel everything...
A dark figure, just blacker than the night sky, was jiggling the latch on the window. He heard a faint twang and a small smile curled upon his mouth. Wait for it, wait for it...
BAM! CRASH! "OOF!"
"Gotcha, you bastard! That's what you get for breaking into my home!" screamed the tiny berserker, bursting from his hiding place and brandishing his weapon with deadly intent. He swung the kunai at the intruder, nearly slashing their clothing, when suddenly his little body was enveloped by multiple prickly white ropes that wrapped around his arms and legs, leaving him bound, from neck to foot, wriggling on the apartment floor.
"Let go of me!" he growled while thrashing within the tightening vines of white that seemed to be alive. "This is my house! Jiji said I could stay here, and I wasn't bothering nobody! So let me out of this...this...is this hair?" Looking closer at the masses of what indeed appeared to be strands of ridiculously long white hair, Naruto's eyes slowly traced his bindings back to the source of his frustration.
The cloud of flour that had exploded from the pouch, carefully strung up in the window trap, was still swirling about the room as the perpetrator stepped forward and sneezed with ferocity.
"Damnit brat, next time you set traps for your window, make them blow the mess outside instead of blasting the guy into your apartment. Now you have hell of a mess in here, and do not expect me to clean this all up. For Kami's sake you nearly ruined my clothes with that kunai! I didn't even know you were in here." Wait, what? The intruder realized, I...didn't even feel him...
The lights flicked on and Naruto got his first clear view of the owner of the impressive presence he felt. The small boy ceased his struggling and stared at the older man who was bending over to right the small table that had been blown sideways with his sudden entrance. Everything about him seemed massive compared to the tiny dwelling with its young tenant. He was taller than Hinata's father, a huge scroll was strapped across his back, his clothes were bright red and green, long red streaks traced down his cheeks like the tracks of bloody tears, his geta were stupid tall (how did he even walk in those?), and that crazy mane of hair was, well, smothering him. Literally.
Naruto blinked in bewilderment. "Who, the hell are you?"
Instead of just answering like a normal person, the stranger grinned devilishly and instantly struck a dramatic pose as he raised his voice so loud Naruto cringed lest the neighbors hear and report him to the landlord. Again.
"I am the man who has no enemies in the North, South, East or West! Not even in the heavens! I am one of the Sannin! The White Haired Frog Tamer! Even a crying baby would-OI!" Somewhere in between the kabuki theater poses and whipping his hair around, the increasingly creepy old man had been smacked in the back of his head with a balloon filled with neon orange paint. The room went silent, only the splat, splat, splat, of the dripping paint could be heard.
"Huh," Naruto murmured as he stepped out of the receding pile of hair and squinted back at the window. "Looks like that trap still needs some fine tuning, the paint should have hit you before the flour."
The big ninja's left eye was twitching. Choosing the higher road, the man sighed dejectedly and turned to kick off his geta in the direction of the front door and set his large scroll down, all the while mumbling about disrespectful brats. Naruto giggled a bit at the annoyed visitor, who no longer seemed very threatening with the orange paint in his hair. Plus he hadn't tried to hurt Naruto yet, or destroy the rest of the apartment, so he didn't seem too bad so far. He watched the man stick his whole head under the faucet of the sink, grumbling about the bright paint ruining his distinguished look. Not very intimidating is he?
"You're a frog tamer? Are you part of circus or something?" Naruto asked as he moved to reset his window trap, this time double checking the timing on the wire triggers.
"Circus?! I am The Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku! The only entertaining I do is through my world renowned works of literary art, BEHOLD!" The man whipped out several books and thrust them into Naruto's face as he turned around. The short boy squinted at the titles and scrunched his nose in distaste.
"Ji-rai-ya" he read at the bottom of the cover. "Ugh, you some kind of pervert or something? I've seen these books, all the peeping toms I practice my traps on have them, they're stupid." Naruto gave the reddening man a flat look and crossed his arms. "You're just a pervy-sage."
"Hmph. You're just too little to appreciate the art that is contained within these pages," the ninja huffed and plopped down onto one of the cushions by the low table. "This is no way to treat your godfather after everything I've done for you."
That got Naruto's attention. "Godfather? I have a godfather?" The boy was instantly sitting at Jiraiya's knee, puppy dog eyes on full blast. "You mean, you're here to take care of me?"
Jiraiya's heart cracked a little at the desperate desire for affection that swam in those blue eyes. The look was so reminiscent of the one Minato would give him whenever he tried to beg a new jutsu out of Jiraiya, that even the seasoned shinobi couldn't help but let his annoyance slip away and smile at the beaming boy in front of him. He ruffled the crazy blond hair that practically screamed 'Namikaze' and wondered who the hell could ever raise a hand against this child?
"Yes and no, brat. I am a super important Shinobi of Konoha, and I'm rarely ever here, so I can't live with you." That pout should be illegal. "But when Sarutobi-Sensei told me how the orphanage wasn't working out, I decided it was high time I stepped up and helped out my one and only godson. So you're welcome, gaki. That was one hell of a way to show your appreciation," Jiraiya chuckled despite the scolding of his words and marveled at the way Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Kami, its like looking at a clone of his father.
Now that he was unmolested, the Sannin took in the tiny apartment. It wasn't much, but it was close to the Hokage tower and easy to keep under surveillance. Down a short hallway the door to the bedroom was open and he could see the futon had clean blankets, there were a few bags of groceries on the kitchen counter and another door in the back seemed to be the bathroom. He knew there was a second, smaller bedroom at the end of the hallway, Jiraya had insisted on the extra sleeping space for when he came into the village. If he was going to be paying for this place he might as well sleep here too. Plus it would give the kid room for a future library, which Jiraya planned to supply. It was spartan, but it was perfect for one young boy.
Refocusing his attention on the bouncing kid who had began to babble on and on about anything and everything in his life, the older man grinned. He had thought about Minato's boy quite often while maintaining the web of his spy network, but had trusted the village to take care of the child who had played no small part in saving them all from the rampaging kyuubi. But things hadn't worked out that way, and when Sarutobi-sensei had notified him of Danzo's attempt to lure the boy into his "secret foundation", Jiraiya hadn't hesitated to step in. Now as he watched Naruto reenact a spar he had with some Hyuga child, Jiraiya's only regret was not having come back sooner.
"Calm down gaki, you need to take a breath now and again," he grabbed Naruto's arm before he nearly collided with the wall while demonstrating his version of the kaiten. "Come here, I have some things I wanted to give you myself before I have to go." Jiraiya pulled out two books and a brown bag. Naruto grimaced, "uh, I don't want any of your pervy books Ero-sennin, Hinata-hime would kill me."
Jiraiya growled at the demeaning nickname and rolled his eyes, the poor kid was already whipped by some girl. "Like I said, you're too young for my great art, but these are books that once belonged to your father, and I thought you might like them as well."
Naruto couldn't tear his eyes away from the two small volumes that were laid on the table before him as he slowly sank down to his knees on the other cushion. His heart was pounding and his palms were starting to sweat. "You knew my father," he whispered, and reached out with trembling fingers to trace the kanji of the titles. Tales of a Gutsy Ninja, and An Introduction to Fuuinjutsu.
"I cannot tell you much right now, even giving you these books is a bit risky, so keep them to yourself, but he and your mother loved you greatly. They died so that you could live to become a strong shinobi like them, who would safeguard the village they loved. They entrusted you to me and Sarutobi-sensei, and I'm sorry that we have not been able to shield you from all the hate that is out there. I wish I could stay, but I have a job that is pertinent to the protection of the village as well. So I have this to give you in the mean time," Jiraiya pushed the brown paper bag towards the shell shocked boy, who reached for it robotically. Small hands pulled out a bright green wallet shaped like a frog. Opening it's wide mouthlike clasp to look inside Naruto's eyes bulged "I'm rich!" he gasped in awe.
The Sannin barked out a loud laugh at the overreaction to the modest sum he had given the boy. It was enough for a month's worth of food, and a bit extra for some new clothes and school supplies. "Don't spend it all in one place, brat. That stuff doesn't grow on trees. And once you become a genin you can start buying some of your own things, got it? Maybe that girlfriend of yours can help you find some decent clothes for the academy. It starts next week right?"
Jiraiya paused and his brow furrowed. Naruto was still staring down at the table where the gifts rested, bangs hanging over his eyes, and sniffles were starting to punctuate his breaths. Perhaps he had revealed too much?Maybe it would have been better to leave the young child unaware of what he was missing, sparing him the hurt of realizing how much he had lost? But life had dealt so harshly with kid already, surely some small bit of parental affection, even if given posthumusly, was deserved? Jiraiya was scratching his chin in thought when Naruto suddenly glomped the hardened shinobi in a hug that was unexpectedly strong for his small size.
"Thank you Ero-sennin!" tears dampened the front of his red haori from where the muffled declaration emerged. "I promise, I'll do my best, and never give up, and become Hokage someday and make you and my parents super proud, dattebayo!" Jiraiya was startled by the unexpected embrace and more so by the verbal tic. Apparently he has some of Kushina in him as well. Patting the boy on the back a few times he then gently set him on his feet and moved to stand as well.
"You better brat!" He couldn't resist mussing up that crazy mop of hair one more time, and smirked when Naruto tried to wipe his eyes and bat away the large hand at the same time. "Because I'd hate to hear that my godson was some sort of rebellious prankster instead of an unshakable shinobi." The boy had the decency to blush at the gentle reprimand. Jiraiya laughed easily as he started to head for the window, paused, and turned to exit through the front door instead. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!
"I have to get to the bath house before they close," he said over his shoulder as he unlocked the door, "maybe I can do a little research. Take it easy brat, and try to stay out of tro-" Jiraiya's words faded as he swung the door open to see the scrawling graffiti that said "demon spawn must die" in dripping red paint down the front of the wooden panels. Quickly shifting his body so that the threatening message was blocked from the boy's eyes, the Sannin lowered his voice to a serious tone. "Naruto, always keep this locked no matter what. And double check your traps before you go to sleep, understand?" The boy wilted a little but set his mouth in a show of forced bravery while hugging his books and giving a small nod.
Shutting the door firmly behind him, Jiraiya used a quick water jutsu to erase the malicious message before jumping across a few rooftops to where he saw a familiar pug.
"Did he see them?" he addressed the canine as he landed in a crouch.
"Hai, Kakashi is taking care of them now."
Jiraiya grunted in approval before reaching into his pack and tossing the dog a small piece of jerky. The ninken woofed a quick thanks and the Sannin tensed to leap away towards the direction of the bathhouses. Sarutobi-sensei had mentioned that he had officially pulled the Copy Ninja from his suicidal stint in ANBU, using the excuse that he was in need of jonin sensei for genin teams as a cover for Kakashi to be in the village more often and help watch out for Naruto. He knew the Hokage was trying to do his best to ensure the boy was taken care of, while at the same time not drawing too much attention to him. But humans could be quite cruel to their fellow man, and in a ninja village, one could never be too careful.
"Tell Kakashi that if he ever needs any assistance, I would be more than happy lend a hand, or send a toad or two in my place." Not waiting for an answer, the Legendary Sannin pushed chakra to his legs and turned his thoughts back to the sensual promises of the bathhouse and all the glorious potential research it contained.
Sasuke glared out the window, wishing he was allowed to practice his fire jutsu on the crowd of fawning girls that were swarming around him like a pack of hungry wolves. Two banshees in particular seemed to be having an epic falling out over the ridiculous prize of who would get to sit by him. He hoped if they escalated to point of ripping out each other's pink and blond hair, he would be forgiven for taking some aggressively evasive maneuvers.
He did not have time for their crap. He didn't have time for any of this bullshit. Everyday that passed with Itachi freely walking the earth was a blasphemy upon his honor as an Uchiha. He would never forgive his brother for all the blood that he had spilled. And he would never forget those final words.
"Foolish little brother. Behold, the work of a genius. Witness the repercussions that power has brought upon our mighty clan. See what my wrath can accomplish. Do you want to kill me? I dare you. I dare you to even try. To bring yourself to hate me more than I hate the Uchiha. None of them compare to me, as I have proven on this, their judgment day. So come at me. Do your worst. Let us weigh ourselves on the scales of justice and see which is left wanting. Show me how well you can aspire to be my shadow. Bring the best of Konoha to join you and rise up against me. And on that day we will fight, and truly test our abilities."
At the time, Sasuke had been too petrified to do more than stare in horror as his older brother's sharp eyes started to swirl, spinning beyond the familiar three tomoe of the clan bloodline to an unrecognizable pattern. With heavy footsteps that left bloody tracks in his wake, the scarily young murderer had smoothly wiped the bodily fluids of their family from his sword in a long swipe across the thigh of his pants. Kneeling before him in a way that blocked the view of the lifeless bodies of his parents, black eyes locked onto red, and Sasuke knew no more.
The Yamanaka that had visited him the next day in the hospital had told Sasuke he was lucky, that the jutsu used on him had the potential to leave him comatose for weeks and tortured for a lifetime. Instead, all that the newly orphaned Uchiha was left with, was the echo of That Man's words, and the infuriating blackness of a missing memory. There was nothing lucky about a massacre. They didn't understand.
The ache of the loss was visceral, constant, and elusive. First he had tried to just shut the world out, curl up and die in hopes of rejoining his family. But Itachi's words were like an indelible curse, ever reverberating in his mind. Taunting him. Haunting him. Sasuke would not find rest until he had avenged his people.
So he started to train.
With access to the entirety of the cumulative jutsu, weapons, and library of generations of Uchiha Shinobi, Sasuke had been completely overwhelmed. But he refused to admit even the slightest defeat, refused to ask for help, to show anything that could be seen as weakness when it came to proving his worth as the future Avenger of the Uchiha.
As time passed, he bore his moniker "The Last Uchiha" with the same bitter pride that came to be his constant, and only, companion. But as long as That Man drew breath, he would push himself to make it true. With his entrance into the academy, he was prepared to take his next step in achieving his ultimate goal.
And these stupid bitches were soooooo throwing off his groove.
He had been trying really hard not to pay attention to their intense squabbling, but it appeared that the pink haired one had bested the rest of the rabid hoard and settled herself into the seat next to him. He swore he could feel her shooting hearts at the back of his head with her eyes. Ugh.
Thank Kami the teacher strode into the classroom at this moment and started introducing himself and launching into a well rehearsed spiel on what it meant to be a shinobi. Sasuke tuned out, not caring about anything but his own reasons for pursuing the life of a ninja, when suddenly the window next to him burst open and he was sprawling across the floor in a tangle of screaming orange and yellow appendages.
Sucking air into smashed lungs, Sasuke gave the perpetrator his deadliest glare as the new boy bounced up to his feet and casually reached out a hand as if high impact collisions from death defying heights was a daily occurrence in his life.
"Sorry 'bout that! I misjudged the window a bit, heh heh. Need a hand up?" A whisker framed smile that was so big it caused the kid's eyes to squint shut was the blond's unfazed response to Sasuke's attempt at frying him where he stood with an dirty scowl. He angrily ignored the offer of assistance and got to his feet with as much dignity as he could muster.
"Naruto! You're late! Get in a seat and so help me if you disrupt this class again I'll have you cleaning the chalkboard all through lunch!" Apparently the teacher was familiar with the troublemaker already. Pouting at being rebuked by the words of the instructor and the actions of the Uchiha, Naruto tried to salvage a bit of the awkward situation when he turned back to the unintentional victim of his abrupt entrance and said, "Um, you ok? No hard feelings, it was an accident, dattebayo."
Sasuke glanced impassively over his shoulder as he went back to his seat next to the furious pink haired girl who looked ready to eat his assailant alive. In a dismissively flat tone he answered, "Whatever...dobe."
"OI! That's not my name bastard! I told you I was sorr-"
"Naruto-kun!" The familiar voice had him stopping mid sentence and whipping his head up to the back row where a small girl in a puffy jacket was timidly waving at him to come sit down. Completely forgetting his righteous indignation the boy bounced back to the blushing girl's side and happily slid into the seat next to her, flashing her a contrite smile while rubbing the back of his head.
The young chunin who was attempting to establish himself as a respectable educator of young minds, sighed and asked Kami again why karma was so cruel as to give him the village's unpredictable prankster who contained the demonic bane of all human existence within him as a student. He would have to add sake to his shopping list. Lots, and lots, of sake.
"Alright, as I was saying, My name is Umino Iruka and I will be your shinobi academy sensei..."
The council meeting had just ended and the last clan head filed out, but Hiruzen's advisors remained rooted to their seats. Obviously they had something weighing in their minds.
"Don't keep an old man waiting. Homura has a curfew these days I'm sure," the Hokage joked as he settled once more onto his chair, so much for making it home at a decent hour tonight.
"Hiruzen, we have serious matters to discuss," his former teammate leveled a look at the old shinobi that clearly said he was not in the mood for light banter. "Off the record."
Barely restraining from rolling his eyes at the perpetual killjoy, the guy is almost worse than Danzo these days, Hiruzen pulled his pipe out and began to pack it with sweet tobacco. "I'm listening."
"The boy is getting older. He needs more than just the academy to train him properly for his purpose." The advisor adjusted his glasses with a stern look, his constant intensity made even his valid points seem somewhat overdramatic in Hiruzen's eyes.
This again, he sighs internally. How many times must they debate this?
"I agree, but I will not hand him over to Danzo and his ROOT, which I am still curious as to how you secure your funding, Shimura?" The Hokage had begun to suspect that it was not only 'training' that he conducted from the shadows. "You saw what he did to Itachi, and the boy wasn't even part of his program. And as a result we have nearly lost an entire clan because of his war-minded planning. There are other ways..."
"For one so concerned with avoiding fighting, you were quick to create a conflict by removing the civilian council, a non shinobi group, from our governing," the old war hawk cut in, obviously still annoyed at losing is playing chips.
The shallow accusation was a weak argument, meant only to belittle the Hokage and his decisions, while attempting to reestablish the mummified rival's own sense of control which he desperately seemed to need for his own ego's fulfillment.
"Have a little faith in your Hokage, old friend," Hiruzen tried to cajole the glaring man, and the others as well. "I am not as shortsighted as I may seem. Be patient with an old man. Perhaps my wisdom has yet to fully unfold? Tobirama-sensei did choose me for a reason, and I promise you, everyday I look at his portrait hanging in my office, along with those of the other Hokages who have died before me, and consider what they would think if they saw the village now."
"And banishing half of the council wasn't solely to just help you sleep at night?" Koharu cut in. She did not always appreciate change, even if it held the promise of better days ahead. The drastic move Hiruzen had made rattled her, and she did not appreciate the feeling.
"Do not be so two faced," he half growled, starting to lose his patience and abandoning any attempts at keeping the tone of the conversation light. "All of you were guilty of manipulating them like puppets behind the scenes. By providing them with a committee away from us and our motives, they have gained more independence than ever over their own decisions and concerns. My lack of paperwork is just a bonus. The civilians and the shinobi are intrinsically symbiotic at this moment in time. And I believe we each will progress further by having a separation of ninja and state."
The two elders shot Danzō a look, urging him with their eyes to back them up. Without acknowledging them, he did speak. "Their motives aside, the civilians were not wrong about the issue regarding the boy. He needs special treatment. I can provide—"
"Last I checked the boy was doing just fine. You are aware that he does have a godfather, correct? Perhaps you would like to take up your request with him? I'm sure he would love to sit down and chat with you." Hiruzen covered his smirk by biting down on the stem of his pipe and inhaling deeply. It was no secret that Jiraiya hated the Old War Hawk's guts. It was a decades old grudge that started with a suspiciously close partnership between Danzo and the now missing nin and Sannin, Orochimaru. To this day, the Toad Sage would refuse to be in the same room as Danzo, and purposefully created his spy network to function completely separate from the man's underground dealings, while keeping a watchful eye on his movements.
Danzō gripped his cane tighter and Homura quickly intervened to keep the situation under control. Seeing that the current method of attack was going no where, he tried to redirect the conversation.
"Saru," the use of the old nickname was meant to smooth any overly ruffled feathers, "you cannot just make these decisions that involve the whole village on a whim, they take careful consideration. Just think, without the support of the civilians, our funding for missions will disappear! The latest request from the new civilian committee is to reestablish the police force. Themselves! Who will hire us?" The poorly hidden smug smile on the man's face was not fooling the Hokage, and his annoyance began to shift to frank frustration.
"Where have you been for the last 30 years! Of course I think! I am not called The Professor for nothing. You are the ones who cannot read the situation clearly. We are the only hidden village in the Land of Fire. I highly doubt the Daimyo, greedy bastard that he can be, will be accepting of people hiring ninja of other villages to do the work of his own people. Our costs are not exorbitant, and we are not so hidden that our own countrymen cannot gain access to us. The separation of civilian and ninja councils that can coexist alongside one another, will allow each entity to more clearly focus on issues within their own realms. The police force was originally the brainchild of Tobirama-sensei himself, unless you have forgotten. His hope was that it would make the Uchiha feel more involved in the running of the village by tending to its needs. I see no reason why this could not be the case with the civilians as well. After all, they harbor no delusions of grandeur such as the ones that seemed to thrive amongst the clan leaders of the Uchiha, only a misguided sense of self preservation that focused around an innocent child as the scapegoat. The split between our groups was bound to happen. The issue of Naruto was simply the straw that broke the camel's back."
"But what if they raise taxes out of spite?" Koharu snapped, unwilling to cede her point despite his lengthy rebuttal.
Hiruzen waved his pipe in the air with exasperation. "Should it come to such petty behavior then we can raise our mission prices. It is called inflation. It is an unfortunate economic norm amongst most developing countries." Can we just end this already? he brooded internally.
"What about the hospital and the academy? They are supported by civilian taxes as well as mission earnings," Homura refused to back down.
They were grasping at straws now, so Hiruzen pushed back. "This is because both institutions serve shinobi and civilians alike! As veterans the shinobi will continue to receive their medical treatments for free. The civilians already have a choice to send their children to the ninja academy or the mainstream education system. The same goes for any of the children of shinobi who chose not to pursue the life of a ninja. Besides, most clans educate their children at home in their family's techniques well before they reach the academy. The ninja academy is simply a place that offers us a way to ensure equal opportunity to those not receiving extra tutelage, and also evaluate each child's true readiness for the harsh realities of being a ninja. The Daimyo's father himself signed an agreement with Tobirama-sensei to support the academy and ensure the high quality of shinobi protecting his realm."
"Hiruzen," Koharu implored, finally saying the words that had been robbing her of sleep, "The numbers will drop! What will happen if they cease to require our services altogether? The entire shinobi way of life will cease to exist!" The dramatic declaration only underlined the mountain that she had made out of a molehill.
Hiruzen would not allow himself to face palm. He would not. He was the Hokage damnit.
"Then our people will bend their swords onto plowshares and finally live in peace. The day to day existence of killing, fighting, and war is perpetuated upon our children by our very own machinations. The first, second, third great ninja wars, who started them? Civilians? No, it was us! And the civilians were the ones caught in our crosshairs. Have you forgotten the reason behind the creation of the hidden villages? Sensei and his brother wanted to end the fighting."
Danzō had heard enough, he leaned forward to plant his cane on the floor before angrily rising to his feet. Using his height to loom intimidatingly over his rival, he spoke his own predictions.
"Your designs for peace will be our downfall, Hiruzen. There is no such thing as utopia in this world. There will always be a need for shinobi. And what will happen in that hour of need, when we are not there?"
The Professor chuckles softly, some things would never change. "Yes, unfortunately you are correct. But have faith in our children, old friend. The Will of Fire is about protection, not power. Cooperation, not control. Quality, not quantity. That will be the shinobi of the future, one who can see past the flashy jutsu, past revenge, past greed, and use their strength to foster bonds that protect and connect instead of tear apart. Children like Naruto-kun, who you would argue should be locked down within the village and trained as a weapon of mass destruction. I refuse to have him be some sort of "red button" that can be launched at will. He is a human, with an inner strength beyond that of the demon he carries."
Looking at the faces of his teammates, his advisors, Hiruzen recalls the conversation he had with Jiraiya, when his former student told him about the Great Toad's vision of the Child of Prophecy. The two men had been in complete agreement that the uniquely gifted and supremely unpredictable boy, who could see people for what they were and face down hatred with a smiling force of will that was unshakable, had more than enough potential to fulfill the divine revelation.
With Danzo's seething silent departure from the informal meeting, the other two take their leave as well. But compared to his brooding anger, they carry more a feeling of frustration, and if they dared admit, admiration for their old comrade and the stubborn way he clung to his ideals.
Watching the door finally close behind them, Hiruzen sags into his chair and takes a long pull from his pipe. Perhaps he should send that Nara Shikaku a box of tobacco as a thank you for his "trouble" in hounding out the details for the constitution that outlined the division of ninja and state. The man was lazy as hell, but a clearly logical thinker with no hidden agendas.
A Hokage was entitled to seek opinions outside of the advisors, was he not? For indeed, an intelligent man knew when he needed help, and a truely wise man, knew who to ask.
A/N: I posted chapter 10 on 11/3/20, but for some reason I can only see it uploaded on the app, not the website. I've tried a couple different things but it seems some people can see it and some cannot? It must have something to do with FFN?
In any case, I've posted this story with all the updates onto AO3, same username, same title.
Thank you so much for reading!