Chapter 6: Mirror
If it hadn't been for Naruto, who he took care of since she was a babe, he wouldn't even consider this option.
She suggested for Uchiha Shisui to become his successor.
(Hiruzen wanted to see his sensei's, the Nidaime, grave to see if he was rolling after Naruto dropped the figurative bomb. His mentor wasn't shy at admitting his rather biased opinion about the Uchiha, and he proved it by giving them the authority to manage the Police Force all by themselves; something Hiruzen could see that it was one main factor as to why the Uchiha was being prejudiced against. He himself was influenced, along with his teammates and Danzou, who had greatly idolized the man.)
Naruto didn't know this, but just being a Jinchuuriki, her words held power. In addition to that, he raised her since she was a babe. Of course, he held an attachment to her, and he treated her like she was his grand-daughter.
He had always known that Naruto was out-spoken like her mother was but he thought she at least took after her father a little bit when he saw that Naruto was more thoughtful than her mother was. But he had found out that day, to his utter dismay, that she used words as her mother used hers.
Which meant, they used theirs carelessly.
"Make Minato the Yondaime and I will stay in Konoha until the war ends!"
Kushina had said that, hadn't she? When Kushina wanted to join the war again for the first time in two years, simply because one of her husband's students was killed in action. He refused, of course, and it resulted in Minato having the backing of a Jinchuuriki to become the one of the candidates for the Yondaime position.
Orochimaru didn't have it. Minato did.
Hiruzen chose the one who was trusted by the Jinchuuriki.
(Albeit, it was not that simple. Orochimaru proved to be not fit to be Hokage when he turned reclusive, and he had developed a somewhat disturbingly ambiguous moral when he had not been looking).
When he thought of Uchiha Shisui, he also thought of Uchiha Kagami, who was the only Uchiha in the Nidaime's Guard Platoon back in the First Great Ninja War.
Not many know of this, but Kagami was his close friend. Kagami was even in his council, which only contains his old teammates now before he died at 25 years of age.
Now that he knew what Danzou was capable of, it might be possible that Danzou stole Kagami's eye/eyes because Kagami's death was when he did a mission with Danzou. The despicable man always kept an eye on Kagami's descendants, including Shisui. That might be how Danzou knew that Kagami's bloodline had strong Sharingan.
Once Shisui dropped the 'Kotoamatsukami' bomb on him and his advisors, it was just a matter of time before Danzou tried to have it, itching to have the power himself with the excuse that he could protect Shisui's eyes better than the owner himself.
No matter how morbid it was, many people were thankful that Danzou had finally met his demise.
If he were honest, himself included.
"Hokage?!" Jiraiya glanced over to Hiruzen's side. "That brat?" he pointed at the sheepish-looking Shisui who was standing beside Hiruzen. "Why?" asked Jiraiya, sounding almost desperate.
Hiruzen sighed tiredly and responded, "Jiraiya, surely you understand I can't keep doing this job forever, right?"
"But that doesn't mean you can dump the job to an Uchiha brat!" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, and said, "If you are that desperate, you can make Tsunade the Godaime since she's in the village! Or, or, Minato's brat Kakashi! Or your own son! Anyone, even Gai!"
Shisui scratched the back of his head, taken aback Jiraiya's reaction. "Err, Jiraiya-sama, are you that opposed at the idea of me being the Godaime?" Jiraiya responded with a deep frown written across his face, making Shisui raised his hands and said, "I'll take that as a yes." Shisui was thankful he was not near the man when Jiraiya shot a glare at him, the man is intimidating with that height.
Hiruzen paused from his activity, which were paperwork and puffing out smokes from his mouth, when a brilliant idea entered his mind.
"Well, he has the backing of someone important. In fact, he has it In the same manner as Minato."
Jiraiya stood still for a few seconds and then he loudly uttered, "What the hell?!" Jiraiya knew that Kushina was the one who prompted Minato of receiving the Hokage position, so he was put off when he thought of his student's daughter... and the boy in front of him, together. Jiraiya was slack-jawed, didn't want to believe it.
Bewildered but feeling honored, Shisui closed his eyes, pondering on his current situation. He, yet again, blamed this on Naruto. He lamented how she was so persuasive that it convinced him to consider taking this job. Now, the only thing he wanted was the ground to swallow him whole with the way Jiraiya staring at him with an unreadable look on his face.
"You're pulling my leg." Jiraiya frowned as he put his hands on his hips.
"I quite confidently do not, dear student of mine." There was a mischievous smile on Hiruzen's face, and Shisui couldn't help but wonder if he could pull that off if he was as old as the man.
Jiraiya seemingly gave in after a few minutes of intense staring between him and the Sandaime, a silent conversation between them. He turned and looked at Shisui in the eyes with a fake smile.
"We need to talk."
Shisui wanted to run but the door to the room was locked with fūinjutsu.
He knew what this was. Icha-icha paradise, the unholy book Kakashi-san loved to shove into everyone's faces, including his own subordinates. His mind was in denial as he stared at Jiraiya who brought this upon him.
"Even Kakashi was better than this. Seriously, you're 15, learn to live a bit, you brat."
'By being a pervert is living?' Shisui begged to differ. He would sooner drown himself again than to do that, especially with Itachi and Naruto around (Mikoto-san would give him the talk again if she knew, but he shoved that thought deep inside his mind). They would kill him.
"Thank you Jiraiya-sama, but I don't... need this," he gritted out, feeling tired out of sudden. His hand was still holding the book given to him and he wanted to burn it. Fast.
"Oh, you do. How could I possibly let my future leader without a proper sex education?" The smile on Jiraiya's face didn't reach his eyes. Shisui narrowed his eyes, wondering what made the man so opposed at the idea of him being the next Hokage. "I know that look of yours, brat. I'm opposed because you are a bargaining chip for your clan to get their place back. A Hokage should put their village first and here you are, your clan's puppet to do their bidding."
At that, Shisui disagreed. Vehemently.
"No, Jiraiya-san. I love my village and clan equally," he stated with his shoulders tensed in seething anger at what Jiraiya was saying. "Perhaps, someone else is a better choice, that I agree. But with this, an actual peace can be achieved throughout the village. I'm a jōnin of Konohagakure, and I swear an oath to protect it until my last breath."
The air grew colder and colder, their chakra running wild in the air, and then-
"You pass!" Jiraiya exclaimed, he winked and gave Shisui a thumbs up.
At the unexpected statement, Shisui gawked awkwardly.
"This is a test?!"
"Hmm, what do you think?" At the ambiguous response, Shisui sighed tiredly. He didn't know how to react to this. "What do you expect, brat? I don't know you, like, at all. Sensei just up and declares you his successor, I can't just accept it and be 'oh, okay'. That's not really my thing."
While dubiously eyeing the giant man, Shisui slowly nodded in understanding. After all, Jiraiya's mentor is the current Hokage and his student was also one. His standing alone gave him a leeway to enter and leave the village as his please, being one to protect Konoha from its shadow. Someone who actually fitted his ninja way... ironically. Because no one knew what Jiraiya was doing, a few speculated that he just wanted to sleep with every woman he came across the elemental countries, but that was not quite true. After all, the majority of Jiraiya's spies were from Geisha houses.
Shisui knew that from Hiruzen, of course. There was no documents about it, secretion and all.
Overall, Jiraiya was one of the most loyal shinobi to Konoha out of the Legendary Sannin, even if he didn't show it.
Shisui respected that.
"Oh, by the way, I put an honesty seal on you. So you might be low on chakra right now."
He took it back, Shisui didn't hold an ounce of respect for the man at all.
Author's Note: This was after when Hiruzen informed Jiraiya of his choice, which is three years before Naruto's graduation. Phew. The next chapter is about the new Team 7!
Oh yeah, in this chapter, Shisui went from using -sama to -san to address Jiraiya, because he's not as polite as Kakashi. And the fact that he was offended by Jiraiya's attitude toward him made him use the -san honorific instead, even though he used -sama when they first met.
-Tonegawa Rie