-Konoha Clan Meeting Hall-

The discussions about new laws and old laws had finally ceased, marking what would normally be the end of the biweekly meeting of Clan Heads. Although tedious, Hiruzen knew the value of these discussions in preventing unrest and keeping the various clans under control. They needed a place to regularly voice their opinion to the Hokage, and it gave them hope in influencing the politics and policies of the village. It also served as an excellent ground to establish market dealings with other clans, as well as planning out the intermingling of the clan heirs.

But Hiruzen's age was getting to him, it had gradually become harder to focus during the meetings, and at every one he would fantasize about retiring once more. This meeting however, he found himself easily able to focus during. Not out of a renewed vigor, but instead due to the mission he was to complete by the end of the meeting.

Clearing his throat, the moderator spoke, "Well then, if no one else has an object to discuss during today's meeting, I will officially close this day's biweekly meeting…"

Coughing, Hiruzen interrupted the moderator before he could finish.

"Yes, honorable Hokage-sama?"

The attention of the various clan leaders was now on him. Used to the pressure from years of service as Hokage, Hiruzen calmly spoke.

"I believe that we should discuss young Uzumaki Naruto's pranks being that every clan was involved in yesterday's mayhem, including my own."

Several clan leaders nodded their heads at Hiruzen's suggestion.

Hiruzen thought to himself that the clan leaders nodding their heads along to his suggestion must be thinking, 'The old bat finally says something relevant to my clan.' Internally laughing at his joke, Hiruzen waited for the moderator to carry out the vote on whether to discuss the topic at the day's meeting. It was more of a formality really, as it would be political suicide to vote against discussing a topic brought up by the Hokage.

The moderator waited a moment for the vote to occur, before announcing, "By my count, it seems the vote was unanimous. Well then, let the discussion of Uzumaki Naruto's pranks on the clans begin."

The Kurama clan head was the first to speak out, "I for one think the boy should be punished for his actions. He is a genin now, is he not? Such behavior is not very becoming of a ninja of Konoha, as fresh as he may be."

Another clan head responded, "Are you sure that's your own opinion talking? Or is it just that you are afraid of your wife's reaction if you don't speak out against the boy?"

Several clan heads laughed at the obvious joke, shortly quieting down to let the discussion continue.

Next the Inabe clan head spoke, "Honestly, regardless of our opinions as the heads of our clans, what matters is what our clansmen think. My clan, for one, was furious over yesterday's spectacle, and as their spokesman, I am forced to vote for punishing the boy."

That was a point the majority of the clan heads could agree with, it was their job to seek punishment for the boy.

"Furthermore, I fear that if we do not punish the boy in some way, our clansmen may take it into their own hands. While I can stop them from physically harming the boy, that won't stop them from finding others way to hurt him or interfere with his duties as a shinobi."

The momentum of the meeting was tilting towards the punishment of Naruto, something Hiruzen did not want to see happen. His objective in the meeting that day was to protect the young boy, and it was looking increasingly unlikely that that would happen.

An unexpected helper soon came to Hiruzen's aid and completely flipped the meeting's momentum on its head. That helper came in the form of Hyuuga Hiashi.

"I, for one, would like to see the young boy's talents used to benefit the village."

Instantly, all murmurs and discussions went silent, the second most powerful man in the village had spoken out in favor of Naruto, much to the surprise of all the clan heads gathered, Hiruzen included. Hiashi was a serious man and seemed the type to possess a zero-tolerance policy when it came to such foolish actions such as pranks. It made one curious, what did he see that the other clan heads had overlooked.

The Kurama clan head, ever outspoken, naturally asked, "What do you mean? What talents? Pranking people and getting off scot-free?"

Smugness in his eyes, Hiashi continued, "Well for one, although this cannot be confirmed to be directly linked to the boy and his pranks, one of my younger clansmen had been having trouble activating his Byakugan for the first time."

Pausing for a moment, as if to draw out the suspense, "That is, until he attempted to activate it after having participated in the chase of the Uzumaki boy."

Gasps of shock thundered from around the room, the information was shocking to the point of disrupting the clan heads level heads. The strongest clan in Konoha could potentially be able to activate their famed dojustu through…chasing a freshly graduated genin? It was unbelievable. And naturally there were voices who spoke out against the idea.

"That could just be a coincidence, don't you Hyuuga train since childhood to activate your Byakugan? Its probably just the accumulated effort of your clansmen finally coalescing, allowing them to break through at long last!"

Hiruzen thought to himself, 'Be that as it may. The possibility that something about Naruto and his chases acting as a catalyst in activating dojutsu is critical for the village to look into. The possibility alone should be enough for him to avoid any punishment.'

Mood improving, Hiruzen continued listening, ready to jump in if the discussion once again turned against his young protégé.

His worry, however, was not needed, as soon Akimichi Choza spoke up.

"While not fully credible, the possibility should still be looked into, and that should be enough for the boy to avoid any punishment. However, more importantly than that possibility, is the tangible talents that the boy possesses."

Cooperating with his longtime friend, Yamanaka Inoichi followed up, "Yes, I agree. The boy clearly displays an almost unnatural level of talent in escaping pursuits, subterfuge, and trapping."

And the final blow of the trio, the Jonin Commander of Konoha, Nara Shikaku continued, "Can someone explain how a mere genin sneaks into every clan compound, including the Hyuuga's, and sets up various pranks, which could have been traps, all whilst completely avoiding detection?"

That thought process got the clan heads thinking, and sweating. How did the boy do it? In one day no less.

If that weren't enough, the Kurama clan head unintentionally piled on when he muttered, "Didn't all those pranks go off at the same time as well? What if they had been traps? Half the clan ninja in the village would be dead or injured…"

Suddenly the room was silent again, and as the Kurama clan head raised his head to see why, he found himself at the center of attention. Realizing that he had accidentally spoken aloud, he used the opportunity created by his blunder to continue speaking, hoping to garner some form of reputation.

"The end result is that the boy is dangerous, even ignoring his role as you-know-what. It remains to be seen whether the threat he poses will be towards other villages…or ourselves."

It was time for Hiruzen to speak up before the conversation once more turned against Naruto.

"I have no doubt in my mind, as Hokage, that the boy will not turn his back on Konoha."

The attention of the room once more turned towards the Hokage, who had been silent the entire meeting, save for introducing the current topic of discussion.

"Lord Hokage, how can you be sure? We've already established the boy's talents in the field of subterfuge, it is not a stretch to say he would be able to hide his intentions."

The Kurama clan head, as young as he was, had been rather vocal in the day's meeting. Already, he had spoken out against Naruto not once, but twice. Hiruzen was not surprised, the young clan head had only risen to his position following the Nine-tails attack.

Once more, however, an unforeseen ally spoke in favor of Naruto.

"At the very least, the Uzumaki has never been observed retaliating against his fellow villager, despite being the subject of all manners of abuse during each chase following one of his pranks."

"Hiashi?" Hiruzen questioned, clearly hinting for him to continue.

"Ignoring previous chases, in the one that occurred yesterday, I have heard from my clansmen that the boy had been seen bleeding from his head. Evidently, someone had found it acceptable to injure the boy, even so, the boy still employed non-aggressive methods of escaping capture. As far as I am aware, none of those who pursued him had so much as a bruise."

Once again, the Hyuuga clan leader had brought up a point no one had thought of, or at least, mentioned. It left the various clan heads lost in thought, trying to remember a case that would disprove what was said.

Hiruzen saw his opportunity and pressed his advantage.

"Based on reports from the Anbu, Naruto has endured the jeers and harassment from the village for years now. And while he has fought back in some cases, it was not anything lethal, with him losing most, if not all, of those fights. In reality, the worst thing he's done is his pranks."

With the two most powerful men in the room having now directly spoken for his rather lack of aggression, the clan heads stopped trying to think of a way to refute the point. Even the Kurama clan head was silent.

The silence was broken by the Inabe clan head, "Well then, let's suppose the boy is totally loyal to the village, why don't we then use him for the talents he has displayed?"

"The boy is too young to participate in the sabotage and subterfuge efforts of the village!"

The Inabe clan head answered, "You're thinking in the wrong direction, what if we use him not to exploit the weaknesses of other villages, but instead to improve on the weaknesses of our own? He could, at the very least, point out the ways he entered each one of our clan compounds undetected, allowing us to fix those gaps in our defenses."

Voices broke out, as various clan heads began to speak over one another, arguing about who would get to employ the boy's services first.

"Silence!" Hiruzen shouted, silencing the room, "The village will employ young Naruto as a counter-infiltration specialist, and those who wish to see their clan compounds defenses tightened will have to go through the village to hire his services."

There was a pause, before he continued, "Am I clear? No one is to directly bother the boy and interfere with his duties."

The room chorused a "Yes, Lord Hokage."

Hiruzen kept pushing, "Now, if we will continue the matter at hand. Hiashi mentioned possible improvements in one of his clan members following yesterday's chase. Can any clan head think of anything similar regarding the members of their clan?"

Each clan leader began to comb through their memories, searching for anything that jumped out at them.

The Kurama clan head was the first one to speak up, surprisingly, in favor of Naruto.

"As much as I hate to admit it, comparing the response of my clansmen each time we've been pranked, there is a noticeable improvement in one aspect. Speed of mobilization."

The Inabe clan head nodded along, "I'm in agreement, while I cannot speak for other clans, my clansmen have improved in a similar manner. From the first prank, to yesterday's, my clansmen time spent to mobilize in pursuit of the boy has almost halved."

Every clan head began to nod along, as their clans too, had improved in that aspect. They also all understood the importance, if an invasion were to occur, this response time could save the village a lot of hurt.

"I have something else to add," the Ishida clan head spoke, "My son, who is a genin and regularly participates in the pursuit of the Uzumaki boy, holds the record for the fastest capture of Tora."

That was shocking news, Tora was practically a ninja cat, having escaped its owner so many times, that it was considered an expert in avoiding detection and evading pursuit. For that reason, the mission to capture Tora was considered a high-value one by the village, as it trained genins teamwork and capture skills.

It seemed like Naruto could serve a similar purpose, in training his pursuers, except to an even higher degree than that of Tora.

"It seems that it is important that these chases continue to happen, the question is, how do we continue them, while lowering the aggression pointed towards the boy?"

Inoichi had asked a difficult question. Several minutes passed with no clear answers given.

Sensing that more time would not help, at least, not more time in the meeting hall, Hiruzen moved to conclude the meeting, "Perhaps, that is a question for us clan heads to think about between now and the next meeting? We've already spent plenty of time talking about young Naruto and his escapades. It could also be a question that requires us to discuss with our clansmen to find a solution."

Agreement spread throughout the hall, as the mediator once again, concluded the meeting, only this time, no one interrupted him.

A smiling Hiruzen left the meeting hall to return home, thinking to himself, 'Maybe your dreams aren't so farfetched, Naruto. It seems like those who are influential in the village are slowly coming to support you, even if they don't realize it yet.'


Author's Note: Quite enjoyed writing this chapter, although it was a bit difficult, I find it hard to write a lot of dialogue. If you skipped over or skimmed most of this chapter, you should probably go back and read it, as it sets up important plot points that will be built on later.