Warning: I do not own RWBY, that belongs to Oum & Rooster Teeth. Nor Naruto that is shonen and his creator.
It's been months since Temari last saw her missed the warm sun, the dry air, and cool nights of the desert. konoha was to ... plain for her, that was it, it was to calm, to foreign for her. For months the blonde girl has been trap in her cell, no matter how nice you made it a cell was a cell, and more then once she had wondered what went so wrong?
Maybe it started when her father had the bright idea of shoving a demon into here youngest brother making him go insane. Gods know how many times she wondered what was going through his head, they shouldn't be trying to control those monster they should finding a way to kill those bijuu! Abominations, all of them.
Or maybe it started when their daimyo decided it was a great idea to bankrupt their own ninja village, or maybe agreeing to even invading konoha in the first place. The only reason she had known of the attack was because of their roles.
If their was one good thing out of this it was her youngest brother retaining his sanity. No longer she had to watch the brief moments of lucidity, whatever the new hokage did saved gaara and because of that she was grateful. Outside of that she has been hearing what little news comes to her.
One of them being the invasion of her home, the guards saw no reason to hide and happily gloated it in her and her team's face.
As she mused to herself the door opened as her guards ordered her to follow. They grabbed her shoulder as they appeared before the hokages personal office, she could see the rest of her siblings and sensei too. As the doors open Naruto Uzumaki greeted them.
"Ah! Please come in I have been hoping we can have chat. Tell me, have things been fine?" the hokage asked as tea sets floated waiting for them to take it.
"Your hospitality has been gracious as always my lord" Baki bowed as his team followed suit.
"I hope so, I can understand that some may have vented their frustration towards you. If they have then you have my sincere apologies, however, I am not here for small talk I'm afraid. No doubt you are all curious about your village ..." Seeing their silence he continued "... Well, your village has fallen and those in command have been executed and hanged."
Temari felt as if someone punched her in the gut, she knew this was going to happen and even prepared herself for it but hearing made all those efforts worthless. She saw kankuro fare no better as he struggled to keep his emotions in check, her sensei and younger brother were harder to read. "My lord, how long did our people last?"
"In a single night your village fell. Ignoring your assassinated kage it seems your village truly did put everything they had into assaulting our village. We found only rookies and veteran to old to serve" he answered.
She looked to her sensei and shock as the man took a deep breath. Were they that weak after all!? "Temari, after the loss of missions from the previous daimyo your father was forced to make some difficult decisions. The academy was cut drastically then even pre-wartimes and we could not pay for a good portion of our soldiers ... Gods, a quarter of the men fought on promises from the village. It was miracle that we even were able to produce so many genin during your years."
That certainly put things in perspective for temari. She always knew her village suffered the lack of missions, but for it to be that bad it was horrifying for her. How in the world were they still considered a major power, was it her father's gold release or was something more illicit?
"... My lord, what happened the lady Chiyo?" Kankuro spoke out.
"She is dead, I am sorry" seeing the broken look on his face "If it brings any consideration she died helping end the war before anymore had to die."
The boy was close to tears at the news but nodded as his sister tried to comfort the boy "However, I did not come to only bring bad news. Me and your new daimyo have decided to allow Suna to live, abit in a far weaker state. On top of that the daimyo is willing to allow your sensei to return back to help in the reconstruction efforts"
"What about my students, are they to stay here?" Baki asked.
"They will stay here until the reconstruction efforts are finished" naruto stated "However, I am not cruel and I'm willing to give your students more freedoms as long as they stay here. You three will be allowed to walk around the village under guard, while you may not be allowed to train you still can use our libraries for civilian purposes."
"What about gaara? With him holding Shukaku ... are you going to keep him prisoner?" Temari demanded to know.
"Technically Gaara is under konoha's control and I cannot give him back to suna after such an attack. However, I will not force gaara to become a weapon of this village I do want to give a choice in what he wants to do. As for returning home, I'm sure konoha won't be against 'loaning' him to your village in the future" Naruto offered.
...
"... I don't know if I want to stay as a shinobi" Gaara spoke. His siblings and sensei looked shocked while the hokage looked curious.
"Oh? And what brought this?" Naruto asked.
"All my life I have been used a weapon, my father saw me nothing as a tool that he could use and throw away. Even shukaku was meant to be another power for me to use, until a few months ago I always believe my life will be nothing but satisfy shukaku and prove my own existence until the village finally killed me. But after the attack ... I'm finally free" gaara explained.
He knew that if his father or the elders were alive they would try to do everything in their power to get their weapon back. But with them dead it felt like a heavy burden lifted off of him. That and his powers, he thought that after shukaku was sealed his powers would return back to him.
It didn't
His ultimate defense was gone, no longer did the sand move on its on he can still control using his chakra but it required more than it ever did. It felt odd for him, for well ... forever he had always relied on his sand to act for him and now that was gone. On one hand he was angry at the lost of his power one of the they few things that defined him.
And on the other he was relieved, one of the last things that defined his past was gone.
"My powers are not what they used to be and I doubt I could ever reach the same levels as I did, neither do I have the desire to. Naruto Uzumaki, you freed me from burdens I thought would never leave me and for once in my life ... I want to chose my own fate. I never was born with the choice of being anything else than a monster, but now I do and I want to see what this world holds for me" he explained.
"To simply put it, I'm done with the shinobi world"
The hokage leaned back looking intrigued by the boys choice. Gaara was not wrong that he didn't have a choice in being a weapon, it was a sad fate for jinchuriki and one he was forced to. Admittedly the old man tried to make his life as decent as possible but had filled his head with stories of the past kages and their exploits.
Basic manipulation 101
Not that he held it against him, look at him and his creation of the hunters. Telling kids that training themselves to throw their bodies into the endless meat grinder that was the grimm and saying it was a noble path. Still, the immortal always tried to give everyone a choice in what they want to do, it was the least he could do for his creations. And he made a promise to the boy's mother to give him a better life.
Taking out a clean scroll he began writing as he handed the scroll to his guard "If that is the choice gaara then very well. From one jinchuriki to another I will have my men give you supplies and books on various different subjects and fields. Study, explore, and see what interest you the most gaara. Find a future that you want and never let it go"
"Thank you my lord" the redhead bowed, surprised that naruto would even be helping him.
Naruto motioned them to leave and once they did he started to relax, right until his guards decided to speak up. "My lord, is it wise to allow gaara to walk around konoha even with guards? People still have yet to forgive him for his crimes."
"Do not worry so much boar, gaara is no threat to the village the seals prevent him using any of shukaku's power and should he try anything they will seal away his chakra. As for the people, I believe that most people should at least have the right towards a second chance. Gaara did not choose to be a monster, he was only the reflection of suna's brutal methods" said Naruto.
"I doubt people will see it that way"
"And people once doubted I was anything else but the kyuubi. But look at us now" the immortal retorted "The opinions of people are fickle and are open the change, with determination and strength I can see gaara gaining forgiveness both from the village and himself. But if on the off chance it fails then we can safely move him to small village were he can live the rest of his life comfortably."
The immortal could feel the ANBU was unsure of his words but nodded regardless. Seeing that issue dealt with the man sighed as began taking a note from the pile of paperwork. The work of a hokage was never done.
xxx
"And that is the last of paperwork!" Naruto leaned back in his chair in relief. Dear god why did the old man never tell him about all the paperwork that came with the job. Seriously if he knew this he would've gone with badass shinobi instead of this, even with eons of experience it hardly made the situation any better!
Relaxing a bit he swirled his chair and admired the setting sun. They should put great sightseeing place as one of the hokage's benefits, seeing the glow of the sun shine over konoha was calming and had a certain level of memorizing to it. It reminded him much of beacon.
...
Beacon ... was it still standing, has it fallen to Salem, or was under the control of someone else? Those thoughts muddied his thoughts but as there was nothing he could do. For all he could know 1000 years have passed and humanity has defeated Salem. That or a second has passed and everyone is still panicking.
Getting up from his seat he made his way to the Hokage's valut where the greatest and most forbidden jutsus were kept. However his sights were set one particular scroll.
The Scroll of Seals. Opening the scroll his eyes skimmed over the various techniques as they narrowed the one he wanted.
The Dead Demon Consuming Seal
He opened the scroll and read its contents
xxx Team 7 xxx
"I never thought I would hear that my own little students would turn down the chance of receiving a promotion. Any other genin would kill for a personal promotion like yours" said Kakashi as he dodged a kick from Sakura.
"And not everyone needs to be forced to take the hokage mantle" Sasuke answered back. Firing a dust round he propelled himself straight to kakashi as the man blocked the attack and the two of them began to trade blows.
"Being hokage is not a glamorous job, personally I'm glad that the this war ended as fast as it did. All those stacks of paper, count me out" the man shaked his head at the amount of work he already needed to do when Naruto left for Suna. Punching Sasuke in the gut the ground underneath rumbled as it crumbled and grabbed his feet.
He saw Sakura charge a fireball and threw at him. His hands clapped together as he merged with the earth and appearing up in front of Sasuke. Kakashi slammed his knee into the boys face and replaced himself with a small pebble close to Sakura, before the girl could even cry out a kunai was aimed at her throat.
"Ma ma, I think that will be enough for today. I rather not burn my jacket or book, those aren't cheap you know, still you both did a rather good job a far cry from when you two started" Kakashi praised "Sasuke, you seem to finally understand the importance of teamwork and if I heard right about your little bout with Itachi you also learned to expand your horizons on combat skills. Sakura, you aren't the same green rookie as before, outside of aura and those neat crystals of yours I think your the one who has progressed the most here!"
"There's still room for improvement sensei, that's the reason why me and sakura denied our promotion. By staying as Genin we'll have more time to focus on growing in strength. Only after we have improved far enough will we become chunin" said Sasuke as his aura glowed and the bruises around him vanished.
"Fair enough reason. So, you think Naruto can give us regular guys that fancy aura yet?" Kakashi asked. If it wasn't all the jonin pestering him it was his own curiosity.
"He said that the last of the agreements are being finalized and soon we can start sharing aura" sakura answered.
"I see well that is all well and good. Oh! Before you leave I should inform we will be having a new teammate, since your still genin and our team is one man short the hokage has personally assigned a new member for team 7. He will be attending our next meeting" Kakashi said as he vanished in a pummel of smoke.
...
"So what do you think will be the next part of Naruto's plan?" Sakura wondered aloud as her arm glowed and the minor bruising slowly vanished "We have control of the hokage seat, I guess our next step would be going to Remnant."
"Probably, however we still have to deal with the other nations and the rest of the fire nations before going back" Sasuke stated "As we prepare this world for Salem and her grimm the other nations will not just sit back, they will want to take this technology for themselves. But that is what we expected, the real worry for me is the local nobility."
"Local nobility?"
"Yeah, I can't help but be reminded of something my father once said to me. That Shinobi and Nobility never go well with each other. Ever since the election I've been going over some old notes my father and other clan members used to have ... and I did not like what I saw. My father was right that nobility and konoha haven't always had the best relations. I think the biggest comes from our special freedoms"
Konoha special freedoms
Unlike in other parts of the fire nation where the Daimyo and nobilities powers were law konoha was able to circumnavigate that thanks the first and second hokages. Instead the people of konoha were exempt or paid reduced taxes from a range of different taxes, their people given more personal freedoms, and the ability to punish nobility and other high ranking members in their own courts unless the Daimyo personally says so.
Because of that many dissidents have been known to move to konoha to escape the daimyo laws to different degrees of success and to the ire of the nobility. It was an arguing point between the village and nation that no one was able to agree on, not even the fourth hokage was able to work with nobility on the issue. With konoha gain more strength and power the tension between the two domestic powers could increase, the last thing they needed was Konoha to become like Kiri.
"Because of our unique freedoms the nobility has always looked at us as adversaries and threats to their own power. With naruto's plan I fear that we may start butting heads with them. Every hokage has before Naruto" Sasuke voiced his worries.
"You don't think there would be civil war!?"
"... Maybe not now, they may side with us to strength the fire nation and I bet giving aura will sooth their fears for a bit. But I fear it will be only a matter of time before tensions rise again. We can only hope Ozpin has a plan to deal with it" sasuke replied.
The two of them fell to awkward silence as the two processed the potential of civil conflict in their own home nation.
Sakura was the one that broke it "Look, it doesn't matter right now. You said it yourself that tensions are low right now, maybe Ozpin foresaw this. If anyone can handle this issue in a peaceful manner it would be him, he has over centuries of knowledge and experience in this kind of stuff. Let Ozpin focus on that matter and help him where ever we can. I think right now we should focus on ourselves and training ourselves to better help him."
"I can work with that" Sasuke agreed "So what do you think he has planned for us?"
"Something crazy, maybe another way to beat us into the ground and claim it as training" she joked as she pulled out her last dust crystal "But enough about him. I want to test some new ideas I have with lighting dust"
Sasuke readied his blade and gun "If you can catch me that is"
The two smirked before charging at each other.
Hey guys, me again. Yeah I haven't talked much and for my own reasons but they are not important. The reason I am writing here is that I wanted to inform you that we are starting to enter the second phase of this story.
The first phase of this story was always focused on Naruto and Ozpin as they grow stronger and reach the title of hokage, giving them access to the villages resources to help them get back to remnant. That is now done.
In the second phase I am going to pulling away from focusing on Naruto and yes you heard me right on there. Instead we will be focusing on the other rookies and everyone else in konoha as they deal with being under Ozma's new regime and all conquencese and booms it offers. Not only that we will start looking at how the other villages are reacting to konoha as well as other groups such as our favorite mercenary group.
Naruto will still have a role and will be an important part but for the most of the next phase he will be acting as more of a teacher or leader and less of the main character. That role will be taken by Sasuke, Sakura, and the rest of the rookies.
I'd figure I give the warning ahead of time before everyone starts spamming me why is naruto not in this fic more or that 'I thought this fic is all about naruto, I didn't want to read about sasuke or anyone else!'
So yeah I just wanted to get that out of the way beforehand. And that is all, peace!
6/12/21*
Hey guys, I wanted to inform you something else that I know a lot of you may be pissed off at. So Like with a different fate I'm kinda of looking at making a new story.
Again really sorry but I've been playing a lot of mass effect, destiny, and other games that got my imagination going. On top of that I've kind of lost steam for RWBY as the series, at the moment I just don't have the same joy as I previously did with the series as well as a lack of interest. But I am not abandoning this story that I promise you all I will come back to it just right now I am a little burned out.
I personally don't want to write stories when I don't have the enthusiasm to go with it as it takes far longer to write and the quality is not up to par. I don't a set story that I want to do now as I am still split with two types of stories that my be interesting and I have not decided on which yet.
One is a MHA x Mass Effect
The other is Destiny x Mass Effect
Again I am not a hundred percent sure which is it going to be as I will take time to pre-write both.
But as a little teaser for the MHA x Mass Effect one
"I'm Commander Midoriya and this is my favorite store in the Citadel"