Bridges and Pillars
Chapter 10: Change the Fates
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In the war-field between Kumo's Jinchūriki and Konohagakure's sealing experts, Tsunade and a dozen medical jonin tended to their injured comrades. Anbu agents appeared, raising hell with the Jinchūriki who currently was playing guard with their Hyūga clan heiress. The young three-year-old was currently suspended in the air with a tentacle, crying profusely for her father. The four other Kumo ninjas were trying hard to retreat with their Jinchūriki and Hyūga-heiress, that is to say, that the Anbu agents were struggling against the jonin team of five.
"You're surrounded!" Tsunade shouted, stepping forward with a scowl on her face. "Release the girl and we'll let you go!"
"Tch, you expect us to believe that?!" one of the masked Jonin snarled back. "We're at war, you blonde bimbo!"
"He's mine," Tsunade snarled to her comrades, none of which were willing to stand in her way. The young Jinchūriki host, currently warped in his demon's protective demonic-chakra cloak, readied three of his chakra tails for a demonic beast ball. "Guh, retreat!" Tsunade ordered, slapping her hands together for the release of her seal and charging ahead as distraction. The masked Jonin charged her as well but before they could clash, just as the young Jinchūriki was about to unleash its nightmarish jutsu, a thousand roots burst from the earth. The young Jinchūriki shrieked as the roots wrapped around it, lashing it down so that its chest was bared to the world and its face was pointed at the sky. The tentacle wrapped around the three-year-old bent oddly away from its main body, the tentacle tried to tighten on the toddler but its strength was sapped away by the roots that restrained its movement.
"LEAF HURRICANE!" It was instinctive on their part, the words screamed through the air alerting them to a familiar Taijutsu family. Everyone ducked, expecting horrible winds to descend upon them but the wind wasn't what came. Blazing golden flames burst through the air, spreading like a boiling blanket of liquid gold to coat the masked Kumo-nin.
Those dumb asses! "Get out of here!" Tsunade's voice cracked as she changed direction, desperately twisting to dash for the children she knew where close by. She watched in a mixture of terror and wonder as those golden flames began to flicker away, revealing the young Uchiha clan heir looking panicked that his targeted kumo-nin was left unharmed behind the smoldering mud wall. The golden flames of the young Uchiha clan heir weren't enough to push the jonin closest to the seven-year-old back. She believed, for one heart-stopping moment, that she wasn't going to make it in time.
Then like a burst of gun powder to a candle flame, the golden flames swirled like a living blanket, turned jade green and re-converged upon the kumo nin. She's heard those cries before, a handful of times, always during field surgeries when she was out of medications to knock out or numb her patients. But this scream, this scream was different. This was a man being burned alive without anything to save him and he knew he was dying. Tsunade watched as those few Kumo-nin who changed direction converged upon the young clan heir, elemental ninjutsu flaring around like fireworks.
"BASTARDS!" Tsunade's scream echoed through the air, reflecting the pulsations of the seal on her forehead.
"Itachi!" A flourish of red sleeves, jade light swarmed around thin pale fingers, long rose-gold waves fluttering like butterfly wings. In a second the elemental attacks fell flat, the young seven-year-old boy with storm blue eyes replaced his friend.
Where did Itachi go? Tsunade thought as she dashed towards the sweat-faced young boy.
"The hell?!"
"What was that?!"
"You stupid boy!" Tsunade screamed, twisting in her dash to skid into a defensive position before Itsuki. "You're not your mother! Get out of here!"
"But!"
"You're not ready to be here!" A leaf-jonin snapped angrily, "Look at yourself! That one technique whipped you out!" Tsunade looked over her shoulder to see Itachi pull Itsuki over one shoulder, a part of her was happy to see the clan heir again. At least his location was known now.
"Ah, he's a Hattori!" one of the Kumo-nin shouted, snatching Tsunade's attention instantly.
"I thought they were whipped out?!"
"One must've survived."
"Tch, forget the girl, we have to kill him!"
"Get out of here!" Tsunade snarled, inky black lines crawling down her face. "We'll buy you time!"
"Kill the last Hattori! We mustn't let them revive!"
"So not happening!" Tsunade snapped, throwing a fist into the ground.
"Itsuki!"
"We're here!" A hundred wolves howled in anger and down came an army of very angry Inuzuka clan members; of course their Uchiha comrades were beside them. Tsunade blocked a flurry of weapons before looking over her shoulder again, staring wide-eyed at Hana and Itachi, both with singed hair and burned skin but the little wolf-girl was cradling the crying Hyūga heiress.
"Retreat now!" Tsunade ordered, smirking to herself as she snatched a kunai aimed for her head and blocked another volley of weapons. "We'll cover you!"
"Aunty!" Itsuki protested but he grunted as Itachi, or maybe it was one of the leaf-nin, pushed him away. "We… We'll send back up!"
"Hah," Tsunade crushed one fist into her open palm, smirking viciously at the group of Kumo-nin before her. "Now that the brat is out of the way, we don't have to hold back!" she could feel her seal burning across her skin. she was not about to let that Jinchūriki off for harming the children in her care.
"Tch, retreat!" the Jinchūriki shouted, flaying eight limbs as a distraction.
It hurts, Hinata cried out in pain as the scarlet limb tightened on her, the bag that was supposed to be protecting her from the demonic chakra of the beast began sizzling around her chest and arms. How long has this fight been happening? This repetitive fight and retreat situation was making her nauseous. Her cries for her father were falling on deaf ears.
Won't someone save me? Hinata thought before screaming as the limb holding her up suddenly thrashed.
Where's daddy? Hinata cried loudly as the limb jerked her about.
He promised to protect me!
I want daddy!
I wanna go home!
I'm scared! It hurts!
Hinata opened her eyes, her vision exceeding her expectation with a black and white view, the humans she could see now outlined in blue veins with small blue dots every few inches apart. She could see some of those people had a small green dot near their foreheads where their headbands sat; those people stood furthest from her. She couldn't see their faces but she could see their chakra networks and she knew they were running low on energy. Two sides of her mind, the desperate to hope and the hopeless, began to rage a war inside her mind.
Why isn't anyone saving me? Because they're tiered.
They won't abandon me will they? Of course they will, they're too tired to keep fighting.
Daddy said he'll always save me. Do you see him here?
Daddy said no one will hurt me. What do you feel now?
I want to go home. No one will save you now.
I want to go home. They're clearly losing this fight.
I want to go home. No one can save you now.
I want to go home. That second voice was silent now, Hinata stared at the Jonin of her village, staring into what she assumed to be their very tiered eyes.
I want to go home. She watched as a wave of jade light suddenly began filling the area, rising up from the earth like rising waters.
I want to go home. She watched as that jade glowing water pulsed and shifted, turning into thick roots that wrapped around the monster trying to steal her.
I want to go home. She remembered her reasons for going home, not for her father nor for her elder brother. But because there was someone waiting for her.
I want to go home. The girl who always looked at them as if she were seeing faces that weren't there.
I want to go home. The girl with short pink hair, watery jade eyes, and a sad smile.
I want to go home. The girl who always watched over them when they slept.
I want to go home! SO SAVE YOURSELF!
Hinata bit her lip and summoned that ever-present blue glow she's always known. She forced it to touch her fingertips, she forced it to sharpen into the pencil point Sakura had once smacked her with and crushed two tiny fingers into the big ball of orange in the scarlet hued-chakra mass surrounding her. The bag burst apart in the angry orange mass and she moved faster than she ever thought she could, crushing tiny white hands glowing blue against every orange-ball she saw. She never noticed her body falling, if anything she used the whipping orange tails to her advantage, shutting down every orange-ball that dared to near her. Somewhere behind her she saw the familiar face of a friend, saw the thick rope sailing towards her person. Hinata smiled as she twisted in the flaying about limbs, using one as a launching pad to leap her tiny body closer to the person she knew was a friend.
"NOW!" Hinata shouted as she grabbed that rope and held tight, habitually closing her eyes despite her vision never failing as everything continued to spin. The person on the other end of the rope leaped off the branch, using their weight to swing Hinata into the air and away from an orange glowing limb of demonic chakra.
"Got ya!" she crashed into another body, warm arms enveloped her, the smell of autumn leaves and spices filling her nose.
"Anee!" Hinata cried immediately into the warm neck of her savior.
"Let's go!" Hana shouted, leaping away just in time to avoid a thrashing orange tentacle.
"We should regroup with Itsuki!"
"Right!"
Hinata blocked everything else out, biting her lip harshly to stifle her crying as her friends ran away from the thrashing orange monster. She was so focused on not making any noise that she never noticed when they grabbed Itsuki and retreated from the battlefield. It was only when she smelt the damp earth and felt the coolness of shade that Hinata dared to look at her saviors. Hana looked injured with smoking hair and burns mixed with bruises on every bit of revealed skin. Itachi was carrying Itsuki over his back, his teeth sank into his bottom lip hard enough to produce a small trail of red. Itsuki looked tiered, covered in burns and bruises, black lines beneath his normally dancing blue eyes made him look as if he were poisoned. Hinata knew he wasn't but the look of his tiered but smiling face made her feel as if he were dying.
"Quite grinding your teeth Itachi," Hana ordered softly, "you'll wake her."
Do they think I'm asleep? Hinata thought, then realized that they didn't know about her Byakugan. It was still active because she was still scared, thus she could see every inch of them.
"I," It was the first time she ever heard Itachi's voice shake. She's always known him to be calm and steady, like an old oak tree, tolerant to everything that was thrust upon him with an air of expectation and acceptance. "I couldn't do anything. I was useless."
"Don't say that," Hana whispered. "We never would've made it that far if it weren't for you."
"My grand fireball failed," Itachi hissed. "Some genius. I couldn't even protect my friends."
"We never would've noticed she was gone if it hadn't been for you," Hana replied. "We both thought she was with uncle Hiashi but she wasn't. We followed you because we trusted you and guess what? You were right. She was taken from us and if it wasn't for you, we never would've been able to save her."
"You guys are hurt," Itachi said through gritted teeth. "I didn't see that bomb. I couldn't counter that lightning Jutsu. I couldn't do anything. Itsuki had to save me. You saved Hinata."
"Hah, no I didn't," Hana chuckled in an empty way Hinata had never heard before. "Hinata-chan saved herself. I got the chance to save her because you threw that rope at her. Don't you see Itachi? We never could've done this without you. If it were just Itsuki and me, do you think we'd be back at the Hokage mountain by now? Do you seriously think I'd be able to carry both Hinata and Itsuki? I would've been forced to leave Itsuki and retreat with Hinata. The same can't be said for you though."
"What do you mean?" Itachi asked
"Did you not notice?" Hana asked, her voice sounding surprised but amused. "Itachi, your eyes were glowing red throughout the entire fight. Even if Itsuki and I weren't there, I have no doubt that you would've found a way to save Hinata on your own. Don't sell yourself so short."
"But," Itachi whispered the word, regret and pain seemed to echo in his voice. "I… I couldn't protect anyone. Everyone had to protect me."
"Those guys were Jonin of course they'd go out of their way to protect us," Hana chuckled. "In their eyes, we're just stupid kids."
"You weren't alone Itachi," Itsuki's voice was soft and weak, putting cold frightened shivers up Hinata's spine. "You'll never be alone. We're at your side."
"Shut up Itsuki," Itachi's voice sounded strange like he was choking on air. "Get your rest. We'll see Sakura-chan soon." Itsuki hummed in acceptance, closing his eyes again and taking deep steady breaths.
When they got to the chamber, they found a panicked Hiashi franticly questioning the guard. Hiashi immediately took Hinata from Hana and ushered the children into the room. He didn't say anything to them, other than to stay close to him, before taking the farthest corner from the door. One of the genin moved to help Itsuki into the corner beside Hiashi, sparing a nod of greeting with Itachi before escorting the exhausted seven-year-old. Hana lifted Kiba and Sakura from their place on the floor while Itachi lifted Sasuke. They both stopped to stare at the floor for a moment, surprised with the small indents in the floor, looking like tiny imprints of fingers. Sharing confused looks, they both stood up and moved to sit close to Hiashi, who was sitting in the corner with Hinata cradled against his chest. Itsuki sat against the corner and Hana gently set Sakura down in his lap before taking her seat to his left while Itachi sat to Itsuki's right.
"Anii?" Sakura's voice was drowsy, sounding as if she had been asleep for some time.
"Hi Imoto," Itsuki smiled weakly at her, "I kept my promise." He slumped against the wall, his arms strong enough to keep her laying against his chest. Sakura stared at her brother before snuggling against him, her hands turning into tiny white fists against his shoulders.
"Su-p-id," Sakura whimpered into his chest. "No sleep-y."
"He'll wake up Sakura-chan," Hana reassured, snuggling herself in as close as she could to Itsuki's side. "We're just," She stopped to yawn, "Super tiered." She closed her eyes and leaned her head against Itsuki's shoulder, Kiba cradled against her chest.
"Don't cry now Sakura-chan," Itachi whispered, mirroring Hana's posture on Itsuki's other side, "We'll be okay." But his voice quivered and his body shook and everything about him just screamed that nothing was okay and nothing was going to be okay. Sakura whimpered in her brother's embrace, bracing her forehead against his chest as she shivered violently.
"Sakura-chan?" Hiashi called gently, "Thank you for noticing Hinata's disappearance." The little girl didn't say anything and when he turned to look down on the three seven-year-olds cradling their younger counterparts he found himself staring at something amazing. Criss-crossing across their pale skin were thick black lines pulsing with a purple outline. He'd seen those marks before, several dozen times on a clan well known for their chakra-control.
"Silly girl," Hiashi smiled at the unconscious pinkett, "I could've told you, they'd be okay." He could see that Sakura had activated her hundred hands seal, most likely unconsciously, to heal her elder brother. It sprouted from her body beneath her tiny white fists to wrap around Itsuki's larger and defiantly wounded body. From where Itachi and Hana touched Itsuki, the black lines sprouted and covered their body, stretching out onto Kiba and Sasuke from where they were held by their elder siblings. He had no doubt that the three children would survive this attack without a scar to recall the memory.
Like mother like daughter, I suppose, Hiashi thought with a heavy sigh.
"I'm so glad you're safe," Hiashi whispered, tightening his hold on Hinata.
"Seriously big brother, we shouldn't have done that," a teenage boy looking like a brick wall grunted from his hospital bed. "I don't care how much that man was paying us to attack that village. That was a hell-a stupid idea."
"But from it we learned that the Hattori-clan still exists," the Raikage sighed.
"I don't think so," the teenager replied. "Tsunade-hime said that the boy wasn't his mother. Maybe he's the son of 'Hakumo'."
"Really?" The Raikage questioned in surprise, "I didn't know she got married… damn, who would be her husband? That blasted yellow flash?"
"Wherever there was one, you were bound to find the other," the teenager replied with a thoughtful look. "Maybe?"
"We'll have to tread cautiously now," the Raikage sighed heavily. "Damn, I was hoping to use this opportunity to weaken Konohagakure but it seems like they only got stronger."
"Maybe we should've taken that peace-treaty seriously," the teenager replied. "There's no way they'll consider peace with us now." The Raikage sighed heavily in agreement.
We don't have the forces to do another attack like that, the Raikage thought as he left the hospital. It was a big gamble to accept that mission. I should've known that it was going to flop.
The meeting room was full of people, clan heads and Village Councilmembers alike, each shouting fire at each other and cursing Kumo. It looked like a complete mess to the Hokage, who was listening and hoping for a solution to an end of the war.
"For Kumo to be so desperate as to send in their Jinchūriki!"
"They had no intention to uphold the peace-treaty!"
"This was all planned ahead of time!"
"We cannot allow this kind of mistake to happen again! We need the next batch of soldiers!"
"We can't just forcefully graduate the next generation," Hiruzen's voice cut through the angry voices like a whip. "I refuse to send children to the battlefront."
"We don't need to forcefully graduate all of the academy children," the one-eyed councilmember suggested.
"Danzo," Hiruzen's voice was low with warning.
"Just the three brats, I mean children, who infiltrated Kumo's ranks and took back the Hyūga heiress without detection."
"They. Are. Seven," Hiruzen snarled.
"We won't need them on the war-front," Homura suggested thoughtfully.
"The Inuzuka clan excel at tracking while the Uchiha are good at infiltration," Koharu thought aloud.
"The Uchiha clan would be proud of our heir's sudden graduation," Mikoto started slowly, "but—"
"See, even his parent's agree," Danzo interrupted
"He's only seven," Mikoto finished her sentence only to be ignored.
"My Hana is the clan heiress—"
"So is Itachi," Danzo waved dismissively.
"Excuse you," Tsume snarled angrily.
"If you'll excuse me?" Everyone turned to the polite voice at the end of the table, many snapping their mouths shut at the sight of the blonde woman standing tall beside Tsunade. "If I can have everyone's attention for a moment, please don't interrupt me."
"You are neither a clan head nor a prominent member of the Shinobi-ranks," Danzo scoffed at her. "You have no voice here."
"No, but I am," Tsunade smacked her hand on the table, spiderweb cracks scrawling across the pale wood. "I, Tsunade Senju, Heiress of the Senju clan, Head of the hospital, member of the Sanin and our current Hokage's apprentice, give my right to speak to Mebuki Haruno, the one and ONLY surviving clan member of the Hattori clan!" Tsunade leaned forward with a vicious smirk, "Is that enough 'prestige' for you old man? Or should I also point out that since she's the only remaining member of the Hattori clan, she's also the designated clan head?"
"Tch," Danzo scowled and turned away from their end of the table.
"I'm sorry for interrupting everyone but I spoke with my husband about this matter last night and—"
"Your husband is a civilian, what would he know of shinobi matters?" Homura interrupted.
"Kizashi is from a civilian noble family," Mebuki answered, "his father is directly responsible for the current war and the attack on our village."
"What?" Hiruzen straightened in his seat with wide eyes. no, wait, he recalled Kizashi saying something similar years ago; back when he had first met the boy. At the time he had dismissed it, not believing that a civilian was responsible for the war of shinobi nations.
"Hokage-sama, I'm sorry but what other reason would Kumo have for attacking us? Who would give them so much courage to send so many ninjas to kidnap one little girl?" Mebuki questioned, "Sorry Hiashi," she looked at her former classmate apologetically.
"What you said makes sense," Hiashi agreed, "I remember what Kizashi used to say about his father. That man is sick in the head."
"That's an understatement," Hizashi spoke from just behind his brother. "The man murdered his wife for hiring a retired cripple chunin." Hiashi nodded in agreement, which only prompted everyone else to start whispering in surprise and bewilderment.
"So what does this mean?" Koharu questioned. "Kizashi Haruno's father has enough power and influence to start wars?"
"And the power to end them," Mebuki agreed easily, startling everyone else. "The thing about the Haruno family is that while everyone in the family has pink hair, only the males pass on the trait. Females, as my husband so delicately described them, are nothing more than copier machines. Any and every child born from a female Haruno ends up as a perfect copy of their father. As such they use their daughters, the few born into their family, as bargaining chips with other nobles. Because the Haruno family is more proficient in the men producing other males, it's rather rare for them to have a female daughter."
"Wait I don't understand something," Homura interrupted. "Decades ago we went to see the daimyo and we saw plenty of women with pink hair and even a few of the ministers had pink hair as well."
"The women were the Haruno-born Concubines of the Daimyo," Mebuki answered, "The men are the direct decedents of the Haruno-line. Like I said, only the males have pink-haired offspring. The women are just copier machines. There isn't a single female-Haruno that has a descendent that looks like them. Their physical traits are only passed on through the male line. More than just a few of those ministers you saw or met have a relation to the Haruno tree. Be it mother, grandmother, or great grandmother."
"So it's impossible to mix bloodlines with them," Hiashi frowned.
"Let's put it this way if you had given a female-Hyūga to Kizashi to wed, you'd end up with a pink-haired blind diplomat. However, if my daughter, Sakura, were to marry someone with a bloodline the child produced would not show any physical characteristics that matched Sakura. The child would be a literal clone of their father."
"With a bloodline like that—"
"How did they stay out of the bloodline-wars?"
"To produce an offspring that is so perfectly pure of a single bloodline with no mixing of anything else."
"That's how the Haruno family became the biggest and most widespread civilian noble family the five nations have," Mebuki interrupted the chatter. "They practice Polygamy, with each male having at least five wives. Any daughters born into the Haruno family are trained in diplomatic relations, mathematics, geography, ranged and weaponless combat. This allows the Haruno-females a leading edge against other concubines in the harems of the imperial palace."
"Wait what?" Homura stood up, her dark eyes wide. "Are you telling me what I think you're saying?"
"The Haruno family doesn't ever have to worry about battles for the Daimyo seat because every single female born to them has always married a prince or the Daimyo directly," Mebuki confirmed. "That's why what my husband told me last night was alarming and why I asked for Tsunade-sama's assistance for this meeting." The older blonde nodded in agreement, smirking in triumph at the elders who all shared wiry looks.
"I believe that because Kizashi had a daughter, one his father is currently lacking, that the head of the Haruno family actually backed the Kumo invasion," Mebuki informed everyone with a solemn expression. "His first and eldest son is mentally unstable and kills anything female that he sees. His father's concubines, his sisters, even the maids of his home. With his unstable mentality, the likely hood of a stable heir being produced from him is not high. As for Kizashi, the second and youngest son, he's disowned, currently crippled and lacking any power or connection with or over the civilian population. However, unlike his first son, his second son already has two children. One son and one daughter. Both of whom can be groomed for succession of the family and marriage to the next Daimyo."
"I don't understand something," Mikoto spoke up. "Kizashi, disowned or not, is still a Haruno and the second son at that. Why would his father go to Kumo, our enemy, and higher them to attack the very village housing his son?"
"Regardless of being disowned," Fugaku frowned. "Wouldn't the Haruno family head worry for his mentally-sound son's physical health? Promoting an attack on his son's home seems unethical and, frankly, cause for concern. Wouldn't Kizashi's father be concerned for his health?"
"Not in the least," Mebuki answered with a heavy sigh. "If anything, Kizashi's and my death's would actually be a gain for him, as he would be the only remaining relative our children would have left. He would be able to sell my daughter into the royal family as an imperial bloodline copier machine and keep my son as his successor to the family."
"So both of your children would live long lives yes?" Danzo questioned dully, clearly not understanding the problem.
"My daughter would be drugged and raped any time she wasn't pregnant," Mebuki simplified with a disgusted look on her face. Her words prompted scowls and snarling from the other females in the room, Homura included. "If she wasn't outright killed by the other concubines. As for my son, he would be in a similar boat. Used only to create another heir for the family, one the current family head can raise specifically for inheritance."
"I thought Kizashi had an elder brother?" Hiruzen questioned slowly. "Should he not be an heir and be able to produce an heir?"
"From what little I know of him, he does not sound as if he's capable of being a clan head," Mebuki answered. "perhaps his father saw this as well. His eldest son is not sound of mind, he's so mentally unstable that he killed off his father's concubines, sisters, nieces, and female servants of the house."
"What does he have against women?" Tsume asked with a frown.
"He's a serial killer with a leash," the Hyūga-twins spoke at the same time, mirrored frowns on their faces.
"Exactly," Mebuki nodded at the twins, "As such, the head of the Haruno family doesn't have any females to use as a bargaining chip. Thus his position in the imperial family is weakening with every year that passes."
"But you have a Haruno-daughter," Hiruzen hummed in understanding. "And an intelligent one at that."
"That's right," Tsunade agreed with a frown on her face. "At four months most babies begin practicing standing up and taking steps but she started walking in half that time. She also started speaking sentences at nine months, when others her age were just figuring out word association."
"You believe Kizashi's father would go so far just for a proper heir?" Hiruzen asked seriously.
"I don't think his eldest son is capable of producing an heir himself and with the way he is, it's too much of a risk to think that the child wouldn't come out just like him." Mebuki answered.
"Mebuki-chan has a point," Tsume nodded in agreement. "I'm still concerned about his motives though. Are you sure the Haruno family are just normal civilians?"
"Hm," Mebuki frowned at the tabletop, thinking deeply. "Kizashi was permitted to learn unarmed combat but that was because he was supposed to act as his elder brother's guard when he became clan head. But the way everything turned out…"
"It's possible Kizashi's father doesn't see either son as a protentional clan head," Hiruzen frowned in thought. "So he's set his sight on your children. A daughter he can sell for more power and a son he can get a new and manipulative puppet from."
"So why don't we just kill Kizashi's dad?" Shikaku asked, "There's bound to be a bounty on his head right? We could collect that while we're at it."
"If he wasn't the Daimyo's right-hand man, you'd have a point," Mebuki frowned. "However, killing him just might make this war with Kumo worsen. It won't be just the militaria fighting it out, it'll bring the civilians into the war as well."
"We could avoid that problem by seating Kizashi as the next family head," Danzo suggested. "We just kill off the immanent heir as well."
"Then it would be painfully obvious that Kizashi was behind it and they would execute him." Mebuki scoffed. "in case you haven't noticed, the Daimyo favors is thirty-seventh concubine right now, Shioriko Haruno. She's Kizashi's aunt and she won't take her brother's death lying down."
"We can't act rashly," Hiruzen frowned. "Killing Kizashi's father would be a great opportunity. However, the immanent heir right now is mentally unstable. Kizashi is disowned. If we took out both Kizashi's father and elder brother, he would not be allowed to take the seat of clan head and would actually be blamed for our actions. Which would result in his death."
"I have no qualms with injecting a slow poison," Tsunade said seriously. "I can make it look like it was old age for the dad and give the heir AIDs. He'll die in the next winter if he's careless enough."
"And without proper authorities-figure to direct him, he'll never get the proper medication to help him live longer!" Tsume grinned from her seat. "it's evil but he deserves it!"
"Are we seriously discussing the assignation, as a village, of two civilians?" Danzo asked
"These two civilians prompted an attack on our village," Tsunade snarled. "Damn straight we're planning this shit! My pride as a leaf-nin just got bruised!"
"Perhaps killing off the Daimyo's right hand isn't a wise choice," Homura spoke slowly. "At least not right now. A sudden death will make our nation upheaval. We'll need to manipulate the minister's to weaken the Haruno-family-head's influence. When the Daimyo isn't as reliant on the man, we should be able to get rid of him relatively easily."
"Whoa! Hold up!" Kohaku shouted, straightening in his seat. "We're a militaria! Our sole purpose is the protection of the country! Everything else is unnecessary! If the Daimyo finds out about this meeting, it could be considered treason! We could end up like Wind country at best or have our Hokage executed at worst!"
"How is my death worse than if our nation ends up like wind country?" Hiruzen questioned dully
"We don't have a replacement for you!" Kohaku snapped angrily, "and we were just attacked by Kumo! If you die now, or any time soon, the other countries will attack us as well! Then the land of fire won't exist anymore!"
"Kiss our Daimyo goodbye," Homura sighed in agreement.
"So what, we do nothing?" Tsunade asked, "this man who claims loyalty to our Daimyo has gone behind the Daimyo's back, colluded with the enemy, and attacked his own nation. He's a traitor and traitors are executed." Tsunade stressed, her baby-doll face morphed into a look of anger.
"What evidence do we have though?" Fugaku asked suddenly, frowning deeply at the table with narrowed black eyes. "All we have right now is theories, opinions and guesses. If we bring any of this to the Daimyo, those involved could be called traitors and get executed."
"Hm," Hiruzen sighed and leaned back in his chair thoughtfully. "We'll let the Haruno matter settle for now. We're not tasked with internal affairs, we're tasked with the nation's safety. That is most important. An attack on Kizashi's father would only bring more damage to our country in one way or another. It's best to shelf that problem for now. We should focus now on the war with Kumo. The Haruno family can be dealt with later."
"Yes sir,"
"I still think an early promotion is—"
"Do my words fall on deaf ears?" Hiruzen scowled at his former teammates, "I said that no child belongs on the war-front!"
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have a nice day in this chaotic time :)