"Talking"

'Thinking'

Jutsu/ Bijuu/ Summons

Flashbacks and Setting

Chapter 3: The Aftermath

The next day

The Konoha ruling council gathered the next morning for a council meeting to assess the situation, and to make plans moving forward. The clan heads took their seat, a few new faces amongst their number, and a few faces missing. All had some degree of injury on them. The 10 civilian council members took their seat on the opposite side of the U-shaped table, and the 3 elders of Konoha took their place at a separate table that was to the left of the Hokage's seat, which remained empty, at the head of the U-shaped table.

"Where's Hokage-sama?" a council member asked another. The clan heads also wondered the same thing, looking around to see if anyone knew anything. He was never late to meetings. "Quiet!" the Sandaime ordered, as he entered the council meeting room. He walked over to the Hokage's seat in his old Hokage robes, and took a seat.

"Sandaime-sama, where is the Yondaime?" Nara Shikaku asked the former Hokage. "The Yondaime and his wife passed away last night fighting the Kyuubi." Hiruzen sadly informed a shocked council.

"It can't be… Minato-sama… dead?" The council members could not hide their shock and sadness. Their village lie in ruins, and their powerful and beloved leader was gone, never to return.

"With the death of the Yondaime, I will be taking the hat as the Hokage again, until I find a worthy successor. Any objections?" None had any objections, realizing they needed strong leadership who had the experience they needed to get this village through this crisis.

All except Shimura Danzo, Hiruzen's old teammate from back in the 2nd shinobi war. He had always thought he would be a better Hokage for the village, considering himself the only person who knew and was able to do the hard things that needed to be done to keep Konoha at the top of the pecking order. His old teammate was too soft.

He kept his opinion to himself however, knowing it would be unwise to have a succession crisis compounding to the already dangerous situation that lied ahead for Konoha. Despite being unpopular amongst many of the shinobi for being shady, even by shinobi standards, and for being a warmonger, nobody would deny the man's love for Konoha.

"So how bad are our losses?" Hiruzen asked, trying to assess the situation.

"We've lost around 20 percent of our shinobi forces. A majority of them being Jonin. The Senju clan was also wiped out." Shikaku reported with regret, explaining why the Senju seat remained empty.

"The Shodaime and Nidaime's clan… wiped out…" several civilian councilmembers sighed in disbelief.

"Their sacrifice was what bought us time to organize any kind of defense. The Kyuubi appeared right in their compound and hit them first. They fought valiantly, and led our defense until Sandaime-sama appeared." Shikaku reported.

Next a civilian councilman gave their report. "The civilian and industrial sector of the village was also hit hard. We've lost a majority of our workshops, and our manufacturing capacity is running at 10 percent until we can get emergency repairs in, which would still only raise it to around 30 percent after 2 weeks of repair." Another council member gave their report. "Not as many as shinobi, but there have been many civilian deaths as well, many of them skilled workers and important pieces of our administrative and economic system. Half our businesses are closed."

A different civilian councilman gave a report on the damages done to the infrastructure. "Thousands of homes were destroyed. The academy and hospital are also badly damaged. The village walls are surprisingly unharmed, but the damages done to our roads, water and electric systems, and overall infrastructure is honestly catastrophic. I'd estimate the damages to be around 500 billion Ryo at the least."

Shikaku added to the depressing report. "With many of our shinobi dead and injured, our capacity to carry out missions will be reduced to about 70 percent of what we are normally able to do."

"Unacceptable. We must present a strong face to the world." Hiruzen told the council.

"We can't afford to look weak and tempt and attack on the village while we are vulnerable. Moreover, we need the revenue from missions to repair and rebuild our village. Missions must be carried out at the same capacity. The rest period in between missions will be reduced for the time being. Any retired Jonin and Chunin that are still capable should be "encouraged" to come out of retirement. All available Genin will only receive missions regarding the rebuilding of the village."

The council nodded in agreement. They couldn't appear to be weak right now and they needed every single last Ryo they could get their hands on, and even more. The shinobi would need to endure for the sake of their village.

"Hokage-sama," a councilman asked. "Even if we use all the money in the emergency funds and even empty our treasury, AND receive generous donations from each clan, we will still be short at least 200 billion Ryo. People will be sleeping in makeshift tents without running water or electricity for at least a year before we can provide them with new homes, and this is assuming we prioritize homes first. If not, they might have to wait up to 3 years."

Hiruzen could feel a massive headache coming his way. The village was, to put it simply, in deep shit. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose to deal with the pain, but also to think about what to do next.

"What happened to the Kyuubi, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked. The Sandaime's headache worsened.

"Didn't the Yondaime kill the beast?" a civilian council member asked. "The Kyuubi is a mass of sentient, malevolent chakra. One cannot simply kill such a creature." Danzo corrected the civilian council members.

"The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi away. We are safe from the beast once more." Hiruzen stated, trying to be as vague as possible about where it was sealed.

"Where, or should I say, who was the Kyuubi sealed into, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked. Of course, that slimy bandaged old rival of the Sandaime would bring it back into focus.

The Sandaime opened his eyes and took a pause to gather his thoughts as he looked at the council. "The Yondaime sealed the Kyuubi into his own child."

"You mean Naruto-kun is the new jinchuuriki?" Uchiha Fugaku asked. He had always liked the boy. He had been a good friend to his son, and seemed to be the only person who could make his son Itachi act his age. Kushina had been best friends with his wife Mikoto, and visited with Naruto often. Being the son of the Yondaime as well, he was a well-known and well-liked face in the Uchiha compound.

"Inu! Bring in the children." Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered. Kakashi escorted in the two orphans of the Yondaime. Naruto carrying Narumi in his arms. They hadn't been able to separate the older boy from his sister ever since they brought them back to the village. Naruto kept his mouth shut, remembering his father's advice on staying silent and keeping your ears open, and to never reveal your stance or your cards until you were ready to reveal it.

"Uzumaki Kushina gave birth to a daughter last night. Namikaze-Uzumaki Narumi. She is the new jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi." The old Sarutobi reluctantly revealed. There was a brief silence as the members of the council took in the news, before chaos ensued.

"What will we do if the Kyuubi breaks free again? We don't have the Yondaime anymore." "That 'THING' killed the Senju clan! We must get revenge!" "We must kill the jinchuuriki so the beast can never escape again!" "The beast is unstable! We must lock up the Kyuubi brat so it never sees the light of day!" "What are we doing keeping a ticking time bomb in our own village? Who knows when it'll escape again?" callous comments were thrown around the council room, driven by fear and desire for vengeance on what they saw was responsible for their losses.

"That foreign Uzumaki bitch is responsible for all of this! I knew she was trouble when she seduced our beloved Yondaime!" A certain pink-haired councilwoman yelled out in a shrill voice.

Civilian and Shinobi alike had suffered terrible losses, and fears for their safety and madness at their loss clouded their better judgement. The shinobi side of the council were able to keep a slightly more level head, but they knew the true power of the Kyuubi, which spurred many of them to make their own hurtful suggestions, fearing for the worst. Each assumed they suffered the worst losses and disregarded the presence of the two children who had just lost their parents before their very eyes, the night before.

"SILENCE!" The Sandaime yelled out in a booming voice which was reinforced by chakra. He also released a pulse of powerful killing intent which added to the effect of silencing everyone.

"The Yondaime sacrificed his own life to save this village and this is how you treat his legacy? He wanted his daughter to be seen as a hero who protects the village from the Kyuubi, not as some trash to dispose!" The old man's hands were shaking with fury.

"Now, unless someone has any real suggestions on what should be done regarding this matter, I want to hear no more. Any talks of killing the child will be met with lashes and imprisonment." The old Hokage put his foot down on the topic.

Calmer, more crafty minds began to work at full pace. Kill the jinchuuriki? Those fools. Why get rid of such a powerful asset? Surely, they couldn't see past their own noses if they couldn't see the opportunities the child provided.

A quiet, yet firm voice cut through the silence following the Hokage's display of fury.

"I'll be responsible for the child." Everyone turned to look at the owner of the voice. "I'll take care of the child and train her." Shimura Danzo continued.

"So you can train her as one of your mindless weapons? I don't think so." Hiruzen was quick to dismiss that idea.

"A weapon of the village, a shield of the village, a guardian of the village. Does it matter what we call it? These are matters of semantics. Like it or not, she is a jinchuuriki, and has potential to be one of our strongest assets. Other villages all have jinchuuriki's as weapons and deterrents. Even that little backwater town of Takigakure, who has the gall to call themselves a village." Danzo pointed out.

The sitting in for the new Sarutobi clan head and son of the Sandaime, Sarutobi Asuma, spoke up. "Konoha never needed a jinchuuriki as a weapon in the past to be seen as the strongest village."

"Konoha never had this kind of death and destruction wreaked on her home soil before. Konoha never lost 20 percent of their experienced shinobi force overnight before, and Konoha never lost their strongest shinobi without any clear successors before either. We are in a state of unprecedented danger, and we need all the "assets" and deterrents we can get." Danzo pointed out.

Many of the civilian council members agreed with Danzo's points. The shinobi knew there was some truth to what he was saying, but they also knew the real motives and implications behind his logic. Each of them had lost members of their clan to be inducted into his secret ROOT ANBU, who had all personality and emotions wiped, and were made to be blindly loyal to Danzo.

"Don't think we are unaware of how you train your subordinates, Danzo. The training methods you use will be more detrimental for a case like Narumi, who will need to learn how to be in tune with her emotions. No. She will grow up as a normal child, not as a weapon." The Sandaime rejected Danzo's "offer".

Gaining the jinchuuriki was most likely a move to strengthen his own position in the village. The girl would be useless as an asset for the next 10 years at least, and that was the period of greatest danger for the village. It was a move for power masked behind a thin veneer of urgency, and many of the smarter or more insightful clan heads knew it. Two, or more, could play that game.

"Hokage-sama, perhaps she could be adopted by the Uchiha clan? She'll have a safe environment to grow up as a normal child, with a family. Her mother was a close friend of my wife, and the Uchiha clan can guarantee her safety and training." The Uchiha clan head suggested.

Though he was somewhat fond of Naruto, he had no such feelings for the jinchuuriki. She was however, a valuable asset as Danzo pointed out, and any clan who had control of the Kyuubi would become that much more powerful and influential in the village.

His rival, Hyuuga Hiashi, was quick to shut down his suggestion. "Adopt the girl as an Uchiha? Who's to say this isn't simply a ploy to bind the girl to your clan so you can control her and the Kyuubi? Don't think nobody noticed the projection of the Sharingan on the Kyuubi's eyes either." Fugaku growled at the accusation.

"No. The girl cannot be adopted by any clan. She is one of the last of her clan in any case. She should be under the custody of the village, until at least her brother is of age, or reaches Chuunin status." Hiashi stated.

The two now most powerful clans divided the council into 2 camps. One side was for the adoption of the Kyuubi jinchuuriki, while the other side agreed that the girl should be under the custody of the village.

With the accusation of controlling the Kyuubi, and the "coincidental" demise of their rival clan, the Senju clan, many began to see the Uchiha as being suspicious. Even if the girl was to be adopted, the Uchiha were out of the running for adoption of the girl.

With the position of adopting the girl now seen as a move for power due to Danzo and Fugaku's bid for her custody, many of the shinobi clans were deterred from adopting her, and voted for the second option. The girl would be under custody of the village.

"It's decided then. The girl will be raised by the village as a normal girl until she decides to become a shinobi." Hiruzen concluded. He had hoped she would be adopted by Jiraiya or another clan that had her best interest at heart, but the discussion had taken a bad turn when the Uchiha brought up the adoption first. Perhaps he should have had the Sarutobi clan adopt her. It was too late now however. Hiruzen glanced over to Jiraiya in disappointment, both at the toad sage, and at himself.

Jiraiya was present at the meeting in the capacity as an observer, an honor he was given for his reputation as one of the legendary Sannin, and for his long, illustrious service to the village. He wasn't there to be an active participant in the discussions that take place. However, that hadn't stopped him in the past from giving his own two-cents, quite strongly at times.

He was uncharacteristically quiet today as his mind was elsewhere. He couldn't help but dwell on the death of his student. Minato was supposed to be the child of prophecy. The chosen one. Even if he didn't always like to admit it publicly, he knew, and was secretly proud of the fact, that Minato was stronger than him. The villagers loved him, and he loved the village. He was the perfect Hokage. And now he was dead.

Another reason the toad sage took his blonde student's death so hard was because he felt he could have helped if he had been earlier. Narumi was born 3 days earlier than scheduled. Jiraiya had assumed he had plenty of time on his way back to the village. He stopped by Tanzaku Gai, a notorious gambling village, which was also known for other pleasures it offered, namely women and alcohol.

Flashback

He had stopped by to get some info from his contact in his spy network who was stationed at a brothel. Since he was there already, he decided to have a little fun before heading to Konoha. He had plenty of time after all. A little fun wouldn't hurt anyone. He spent a little over a day at the town of pleasure, enjoying himself until later that night when he woke up next to his companion for the night when he had a terrible dream.

He came outside for some fresh air and to clear his head when he faintly sensed a massive amount of vile chakra, and saw thick plumes of smoke from the direction of Konoha. His heart fell to his stomach as he tried to hurry over to Konoha. For some reason he was unable to summon Gamabunta, who would have been able to get him over to Konoha the fastest. So, he did his best to get over to Konoha as fast as he could on his own.

By the time he arrived to Konoha, the death and destruction in the village was shockingly obvious. He could see the academy he had studied in with its roof caved in, half the building collapsed. He could see the park where he had tried to woo Tsunade many times before, scorched, and the tree he liked to write his book under, completely ripped from the ground by the roots. Dead bodies, some of them familiar faces, were strewn around like leaves in Autumn. He was taking in the damage done to his village when he saw his sensei, Sarutobi Hiruzen, rushing by him with small squad of ANBU, searching desperately for something.

"Sensei! What in Kami's name is going on here?" Jiraiya asked as he fell into line in a run behind the Sarutobi. "The Kyuubi! It's broken loose from Kushina's seal! Minato teleported it way from the village, but I fear what he's planning to do!" Hiruzen yelled back as he continued to run.

"I'll use my sage mode to sense where he is!" Jiraiya shouted as he summoned the toad sages, Fukasaku and Shima. "Ma! Pa! The Kyuubi broke loose! I don't have time to explain more. I need to go into sage mode so I can find Minato!" Jiraiya told the toad sages in desperation.

"Got it Jiraiya-chan!" They yelled as the fused to his shoulders and began taking in nature chakra. Jiraiya underwent his sage transformation, small changes taking place such as growing warts on his nose or having red lines appear under his eyes. In his sage mode he was able to locate and lead the Sandaime and his squad to the grove where Minato was.

He arrived just in time to see the life leave his student's eyes, blood splattered everywhere. His were fixed on his student. He could see all the details, blood dripping from Minato's young, handsome face, a massive hole in his torso spilling out his organs. His tunnel vision preventing from seeing the children who just lost everything.

When he finally noticed Naruto and Narumi, all he could see was a miniature carbon copy of his dear student. Covered in blood and grim look on his face. Jiraiya couldn't see the boy who was scared and needed to be comforted. All he saw was the face of Minato staring at him with contempt, disappointed that he came so late. Too late to make a difference. He and Hiruzen knew the death reaper seal as well. It should have been one of them to make the sacrifice. Now his student was gone, and all he had was his fake copy, who only served to remind him of his loss and failures.

End Flashback

The Sandaime waited briefly, looking at his student to see if he had anything to add. Jiraiya merely kept his gaze outside the window, oblivious to all that went around him. Oblivious to his sensei's gaze, hoping the Sannin would speak up and claim his status as godfather. Oblivious to the look of desperation on Naruto's face. He was too caught up in his own problems.

The meeting ended a couple hours after, with everyone going to take care of their own responsibilities and try to salvage their village from the destruction it faced. The Sandaime would have, and wanted to do more for his successor's orphans, but the village was in a really, really bad position. He had too much on his mind right now, and forgot about the two kids. Jiraiya couldn't handle being in the village and left as quickly as he could. It was just too much pain for him. Soon the council meeting room was empty, save for 2 people.

Naruto collapsed onto the floor on his butt, with Narumi in his arms. The people his father said would look out for him abandoned them in their own grief. He couldn't believe the way the people talked about getting rid of his last remaining family member. He couldn't believe how they didn't see her as a person, a baby, but as a demon, and the people who didn't see her as a demon simply saw her as an asset to be used. The people who used to buy him treats and smile at him, the same people who used to look up to his father like he was Kami's gift, now turned their backs on his children.

In truth, the council members saw a lot of Minato in Naruto and saw him as the Yondaime's legacy, he even looked just like him. They liked him and saw a lot of potential to be great in him. Nobody really said anything bad about him and even discussed ways they could support the Yondaime's heir.

Naruto, however, couldn't understand the duplicity, the two-faced nature of the council. To him, turning your back on Narumi meant turning your back on him. What made him so different from his sister? His hair color? Being a boy? No. Him and Narumi were in this together. If he got to live in a mansion, so would she. If she was sent to an orphanage, he would share her fate.

His rose-tinted view of the village and the world was broken after that meeting. His trust would be hard to earn, and near-impossible to regain once broken. He would make the arrogant council who decided the fate of his sister with such callousness, see that they messed up. As for that self-centered, perverted, and utterly unreliable old fool who dared to call himself Naruto's godfather? If he didn't want to be a part of the lives of Naruto and Narumi, then so be it. Naruto would oblige him.

*Author's Note*

Thanks for reading my story! It's my first time writing anything since high school, so any reviews and ratings would be much appreciated!

I have a basic story in my head already, up to the Chunin exams and some parts of the ending as well, but I'm still coming up with things as I write this story.

As such, your input would be much appreciated for some parts. (your input might not be reflected in my story necessarily, but it will definitely give me new ideas, and give the story new directions to explore)

One of the things I was debating on was the pairing for Naruto. He is 7 years older than he is in canon, so the candidates for pairing are going to be a little older, and won't include anyone from the Konoha 12.

I'm mainly considering Shizune, but there other options I've been considering as well. If you would take your valuable time to vote, it would mean a lot to me.

Here are the options:

Shizune

Samui

Mei Terumi

Anko

Tsunami (Inari's mom)

Ryuuzetsu (that one girl from Hozuki prison)

OC (Tsukkuyo from Gintama)

Other (your suggestions)

It'll be a few chapters before Naruto is ready to date anyone so the vote will be up for a while. But at the moment I'm leaning heavily towards Shizune, and little towards Mei. If you could let me know why you think a certain pairing is good or why one is bad, it would help me make my decision as well.

I'd also appreciate your suggestions on what Narumi's elemental affinity or affinities should be.

Also I went back and read through my previous 2 chapters and fixed grammar or spelling mistakes, and added a few small details, so feel free to re-read it if you want to, but they're not really big changes.

Thanks again for your time and attention! Until next time!

*PS* I'm not sure if this is a requirement, but a lot of Authors seem to do this so, NO. I don't own Naruto.