Sealing Salientia - Chapter 2: Takeover - Author: PenSmoke

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, nor make any profit from writing this.

Previously on Sealing Salientia:
The ANBU Commander felt slightly hopeless. Trying to get Naruto safe from the council had proved incredibly difficult. Explaining to one of the Sannin that he wouldn't be able to mold chakra in his left hand ever again. Meaning that he couldn't use any ninja techniques or handseals. That was going to be even more difficult, nigh impossible.

Konoha
Late afternoon, October 11th, Year 65

By Log, he hated hospitals. The sterile smell of medicines and gauze that lingered in the stagnant air never cleared, no matter how many windows were open. The over-protective and under-competent civilian doctors that populated the place, giving orders to all the patients like they knew what was best for shinobi. The few medical ninjas in the building, always too busy practicing to care for any patients after the ninjutsu procedure had been applied. But, probably worse than all of it was the daunting aura of sad memories and death that clung to the confines of the facility, unable to be removed. Such memories haunted himself his and old teammate Tsunade to no end.

His left arm was wrapped in clean white linen bandages, covering the extremity below his bicep. He could feel his fingers suffocating inside the wrappings, contained much too tightly for his liking within the confines of the cloth. He flexed the muscles and stretched the tendons, trying to assess the damage. As far as he could tell, everything felt intact. He had been used as a test dummy by the slug sannin more times than he could count and knew what good healing felt like. This was quality work, even if there was still tenderness and a slight amount of pain that wouldn't have been there had his fellow Sannin performed the procedure.

Looking at the rest of his body, he noted that the remainder of the sealing matrix that hadn't been so inconsiderately chopped off was still visible. Resolving to get that mess cleaned up as soon as possible, he looked around for the easiest method. The less evidence of the duplicitous behavior, the better, in his mind. Spying a washbasin in the corner, he prepared to move. Standing up, he looked down to his previously trauma-free right arm and noted the collection of IV tubing and needles that now graced his forearm. With a grimace and a swift movement, the needles popped out of his skin. An alarm behind him blared out a warning, which was immediately silenced with a quick strike of the index finger. Tossing the tangle of now useless medical material down onto the bed he had just vacated, he made a couple of quick strides over to the sink. He turned on a small trickle of water and formed a couple of quick handseals to perform the standard D-rank water-based technique to clean off dirt and debris. It would work well enough to remove the sealing ink, as it had not been applied to the skin for very long and shouldn't have fully set yet.

When nothing happened, he grew quite confused. Thinking that perhaps old age was catching up to him and he had done the seals from memory incorrectly, he carefully formed them again, pushing the small amount of necessary chakra forward. Again, nothing happened. Becoming frustrated, he attempted a final time, pushing far more energy than should have been necessary. The small trickle of water continued down the drain, unabated.

The door being pushed open momentarily distracted him, as a slender young lady walked in. She featured shoulder-length light brown hair covered by a white coif and wearing a black, loose-fitting gown with a white apron over it. Circular frames accentuated emerald green eyes. Her overall frame was small, cresting not even up to Jiraiya's chin. As she craned her neck up to look at him, surprise evident in her expression, he guessed her to be about 20 years old. Immediately recognizing her as the medic-nin that had cared for him and recognizing an attractive female when he saw one, he adopted his trademark pose and persona.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was seeing red. That insolent Fugaku, betraying the entire trust placed on him by the former Hokage in an attempt for political gain. He should have known that it was coming. While the Uchiha head had always been polite and cordial to him during his tenure in a position of village leadership, rumblings of discontent started when Fugaku had been passed over for the title of Fourth Hokage. There had even been some isolated reports of talk of a coup d'état being called for by the fan-crested clan. While ultimately dismissed for lack of evidence, Hiruzen should have been able to piece together the picture to see that there was animosity brewing within the Sharingan-users.

An almost obsessive need to prove that the Uchiha were stronger than the rest of the general population had taken hold since Fugaku's oldest son entered freshly entered into the Ninja Academy. As a 6-year old, praise was already being heaped upon him as the best ninja in a generation. The boy seemingly excelled in every subject and already displayed up to chunin levels in certain areas. Fugaku had seemed to devote himself to pushing his oldest son to the extreme, once news of his abilities had reached the mainstream populace. Further evidence was his recent takeover of the clan head position from the previous clan head.

He stormed around the office that would no longer be his with a figurative cloud above his head, cradling the now asleep infant, trying to figure out if there was anything that he could do to stop this perversion of power transfer. The more he considered possibilities, the more he realized that the was practically nothing that he could do. Both the Shinobi and Civilian Councils had acted to put Fugaku into power and just about the only thing that he could do to reverse would be stopping it by force. Whilst he was the "God of Shinobi" and felt that he could take Fugaku in a full-on fight, if word got out to the daimyo that he was either figuratively or literally fighting against losing power, that would be the end of it. Konoha was still dependent on the Fire Country's daimyo for a multitude of factors and angering him through a despotic display of power and subverting the systems currently in place would just spell doom for any delay tactic that he may plan.

Abandoning that particular thought path, he focused on what needed to be done now. Once the Council concluded business, the newly appointed Hokage would be coming here to start the transition process. Seeing a young infant in the room that was identical to the one he had supposedly just killed would obviously give the ruse up, so he needed a quick solution. The most obvious of which was to pack everything up and leave. Formalities be damned, he wasn't going to stand on ceremony and wait around patiently to be discovered. He hadn't put anything of his back into the office yet, everything there was simply Minato's things, so there was nothing really left to pack up. He grabbed a couple of sealing scrolls from the desk and quickly sealed a bunch of Minato's personal effects into the array on the paper, positive that Jiraiya and Naruto would both find sentimental value to them later. Taking a last look around at a room that he had worked in for decades, he grabbed young Naruto and exited the office of the leader of the village via Shunshin.

A churning of leaves amongst an eddy of wind from displaced air later, both he and young Naruto ended up outside the Sarutobi complex, which had only suffered minor damage during the previous day's attack.

He would love to present Biwako with the babe and inform her that she could be a grandmother for a while, especially considering that she had been a midwife at the birth of the infant, but his wife was amongst the missing and presumed dead. Struggling with keeping his own emotions in check, he entered the clan complex, unlocking the security seal on the front door. Once inside, he pressed a small button set into the wood veneer along the doorframe on the inside of the house. That particular button had a direct link to the ANBU HQ and would alert the Commander that his presence was requested immediately. An emergency button, as it were.

Less than a minute later, the Commander appeared, being roused from his station and coming to aid the former Hokage as needed. Asking for the Commander to seek out Jiraiya and bring him back to the complex, he was left alone again with the baby and his thoughts on everything that had happened. Wandering into the living room, he started to sit down in the large sofa that was there, when the blonde in his arms began to stir and then whine and then cry. Hiruzen interpreted this as being hungry and was annoyed to realize he had nothing to feed the child with. As Naruto couldn't be seen by anyone outside of the three who already knew of the matter and he couldn't very well leave an infant alone, he sighed and resorted to the best solution available, try to distract the young child away from thoughts of being hungry. However, it was not to happen as Hiruzen spent the better part of the next hour silently begging for help.

Nono Yakushi wasn't sure what to expect from treating a living legend, but this certainly wasn't it. Hopping on one foot and hand extended, a crazed smile on his face, whipping his hair around and spouting nonsense about Mount Myoboku or not even having enemies in Heaven. Mysteriously, the introduction even had a theme song emanating out of nowhere as accompaniment, adding to the hilarity.

She couldn't help the chuckles that escaped her lips. The overall absurdity of the performance causing her to let loose soft, breathy giggles that spilled out of her like windchimes in the wind, a melodic sound lost too quickly to the dull sounds of a busy hospital.

The sound caused Jiraiya to look at her for a moment, at which point he pulled out a book and began scribbling furiously, while furtively glancing over the pages of the well-worn tome at her.

Deciding that the best course of action was to dive straight into the bad news, she started, "My sincerest apologies, Jiraiya-sama, you caught me by surprise with your display. I had heard the beeping and assumed that you were awake and needed to come in here to talk with you right away."

Knowing that this sort of behavior wasn't usual for medical ninja working at the hospital, she could immediately see the tension start to rise in his muscles. Trying to bravely plow ahead, she continued, "The procedure was mostly a success, we were able to re-attach your arm with minimal complications. You should find muscle movement slightly below normal for a few days while everything heals up, but it should physically be back to normal thereafter. However, there was one unexpected complication."

The summoner of toads that stood in front of her straightened up fully, making her aware of just how large the man actually was and she chose her next words as carefully as possible, trying not to anger the living legend in front of her.

"The chakra network in the severed arm was completely missing. We can normally connect the pathways up using a chakra filament that bridges any gaps in the system, but with your situation, there was nothing to bridge to. All the chakra network and tenketsu in your hand are gone. I'm so sorry, but you won't be able to mold chakra below your elbow." She completed the bad news and stood meekly in front of him, knowing that she was responsible for a great ninja of the Leaf now being unable to use any ninja techniques.

She dared not look up and make eye contact as she heard his breathing speed up and then slow down. She continued to avoid eye contact as she heard him mutter incoherently, only catching the phrases "red-eyed asshole" and "sealing dimension". She closed her eyes when she felt a calloused hand on her chin lifting her head up. She braced herself for the tirade that was sure to follow.

"That's okay, you did your best, right?" came the quiet response.

The tears came forth from her eyes, unbidden and unwanted. "I'm so sorry, Jiraiya-sama, I know you must be furious. I only wish that I..." Nono trailed off, unsure that she had heard the man in front of her correctly. She finished a moment later with a thought-provoking comment sure to show off her intellect. "Huh?"

Jiraiya looked down at her with a mixture of sadness and understanding. "You did your best, right?" he repeated.

Taken aback, she couldn't find the words to reply and mutely nodded her head in the affirmative.

Still cupping her chin with a firm but gentle grasp, he looked directly into her eyes, ensuring that his words were taken to the heart. "The great and gallant toad sage Jiraiya must never be known to make a beautiful woman such as yourself cry. You did your job to the best of your ability and that is all any Leaf shinobi can be expected to do. Never fear, the monk of Mount Myoboku shall rise again."

With that, the large man let go of her chin, walked to the window, opened it and jumped out to the ground below, disappearing with long ninja-enhanced jumps. She should have stopped him as he was still slated for further monitoring and recovery, but instead she numbly watched him vanish into the skyline of nearby buildings.

She walked out of the room, told the rest of the staff that she was done for the day and trod the path towards her home, all in a light daze at the unexpected turn of events.

Orochimaru had completed his storming out from the council chambers a few minutes ago and found himself back in the laboratory for his experiments shortly thereafter.

"I can't believe those idiots placed Fugaku in charge. He didn't even receive a single vote for Hokage when spineless sensei supported that 'Yellow Flash' over me." The snake-sannin spat dangerously, using a mocking sing-song tone when saying the moniker for the now deceased Hokage.

"Fool couldn't even find a way to stop the nine-tails without becoming a sacrificial lamb. If they had just let me through to get in, rather than insisting the man do it on his own, I could have stopped that beast and taken the power for myself." Muttering to himself had been a bad habit that he had for years, but he didn't care to stop it and the only person to make fun of him for it and live was his useless ex-teammate Jiraiya.

He started to gather flasks and equipment up to get a new experiment started, to see if there was any energy left at the battle site where the Kyuubi was sealed that he may be able to capture and use to bolster himself. He was no fool and while he wasn't able to see the Shinigami himself, he knew the handseals and recognized the Reaper Death Seal that Minato had used. Getting his hands on either remnant energy from the God of Death or the Kyuubi would be a great boon for his endeavors.

He would have to be a bit more careful though. Hiruzen had a soft spot for him and had mostly ignored what small activities he had been doing in the past. The whelp Minato had no political know-how and had been too wet behind the ears to even catch wind of what the serpentine man had been doing. But Fugaku was not the political newbie that Minato had been. The man knew all too well how to manipulate the system, clearly evident by how he had strong-armed the council into the Hokage title, even while Orochimaru himself had been there being put forth as a different nominee. Therefore, the snake summoner was going to have to cut back on the risks he had been more brazen in taking while he was certain of getting out of trouble or not being caught at all.

That was perfectly alright by him though. A snake worked best underground and in the shadows, undetected. He would get his science completed and end up fulfilling his own goals, Wicked Eye Uchiha not withstanding.

Jiraiya cursed under his breath on his path back to the Hokage Tower. He couldn't be mad at the poor girl for not being at a Tsunade-level capable of regenerating entire limbs. She was pretty and he could never stand to see a pretty woman cry, so he bit back all of the pain and frustration that he felt and put on a display for the medical kunoichi. The words were still genuine, he had meant everything he said, but the theatrics were just that, a bit of show to deflect from the painful truth.

Hokage tower back within sight, he was glad that pushing chakra to his legs was simple chakra manipulation done through the local tenketsu, without having to be molded via handseals. At least some aspects of shinobi wouldn't be lost to him. He pumped another small amount of energy to launch himself up on a trajectory that would arc him through the perpetually open Hokage chamber window, his preferred entry method.

Landing in the spacious office, he noted something that was unexpected. Or rather, it was what he didn't notice that was unexpected. Nobody occupied the venerable chambers, which was odd, considering that they had originally planned to meet back up there after the charade had finished. Figuring that it was possible the other members in the ring of secrecy were busy attending to other matters, he set about manually removing the blood and ink from his skin where it was visible as best as possible. After a few minutes of scrubbing using some alcohol from a flask he kept on him and a silent tear shed for the waste of good booze, he felt confident that enough of the visible markings were removed that it wouldn't be immediately visible to an onlooker, even a ninja.

Making himself comfortable, he plopped down onto the nearby sofa. Thinking to himself that he might as well put his time to good use, he withdrew his notebook. Gaining a slightly lecherous grin, he began writing out a scene involving a reasonable facsimile of the young lady he had just met as the young doctor involved with a patient. Inspiration could be found anywhere and the lovely ladies of Konoha were one thing he did often miss while out travelling.

A few minutes later, the opening of the door to the chamber was a welcome noise. Jiraiya quickly tucked one of his most prized possessions into his pocket within his robe and stood up to greet his sensei.

The door opening to reveal an Uchiha fan crest was definitely not what he had expected to see. When the face was revealed to be Fugaku Uchiha, flanked by Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, he knew something was terribly awry.

"Where is Sarutobi-sensei?" He asked in a clipped tone. He had never gotten along well with his teacher's former classmates and had little to no interaction with the Uchiha clan head 10 years his junior. "I was expecting to meet him here. And why are you wearing that?" Realization sunk in as he took in the man's robes and hat, as well as pieced together why the elders from the council would be accompanying him. "No. You didn't. Why did you? How could you?"

The man now wearing the Hokage's robe turned to address the Sannin, "Sarutobi-dono is no longer the Hokage. If you have business with him, it will not be found here. However, if you do find him, please inform him that he is needed to complete the transfer process."

Understanding that this was not a good time to pick a fight, the sage stalked to the window. Showing remarkable tact, he refrained from glowering at the newest Hokage and jumped out the open window, leaving the shutters flapping in the breeze from his departure.

Fugaku 'Wicked Eye' Uchiha walked calmly over to the window that had always seemed to remain open during the Third's reign. Looking out at the quickly disappearing form of Jiraiya of the Sannin, he smiled. This prestigious view of Konoha was his and only his now. He swung the panes closed, symbolically ending the era of Sarutobi.

AN: Shorter than the previous chapter, but it is just what I wrote today. I don't plan on giving this a regular update schedule, just adding to it when I feel like writing. Constructive Criticism welcome!