It has been over a month since my last update. Getting through 3 holidays, 5 birthdays in immediate family and an entire weekend ruined thanks to the city inspector not liking my lack of yard maintenance means my writing takes a back seat to life. Now, on with the story.
Four Candidates but No Hokage
Four days after the Invasion, the people of Konoha gathered for a mass burial ceremony. The combined death toll to Konoha crept higher as medics still tried to save the lives many of the worst wounded. The grieving would stretch on for months but this needed to be done now.
Nearly all of the off duty ninja attended the morning service for the Third and the fallen ninja forces. A smaller ceremony was planned in the late afternoon for those who were on duty during the morning ceremony. The threat of rain did not keep any away. Rows of ninja waited in silence as the priest said the prayers for the dead. After that, the line of ninja filed past the altar to lay a flower or to merely bow before leaving in their own thoughts.
Naruto could only watch the low clouds from his hospital bed. He had attempted to make shadow clones to carry him to the ceremony but his chakra had not even begun to recover as yet and he knocked himself out in exhaustion. All he could do was make his own prayers when the time for the ceremony came.
Hinata stood beside her father as Neji stood on Hiashi's other side. Hiashi had walked out of the hospital against medical advice for the ceremony and he was not the only one who had done so. He would return afterwards but the Hyuuga leader felt his place was with the clan not in a comfortable hospital bed. The seven year old Hanabi stood with her grandmother behind the other and the remainder of the Hyuuga behind them. Hiashi would occasionally steady himself by placing his hand on Neji's shoulder and Hinata would touch her hand to her father's side. The clan pretended not to notice the pale green glow that came from Hinata's hand every time she reached out but Hiashi would then regain his stance and remove his hand from Neji.
Sakura managed to stand near the front as the lesser of Tsunade's apprentices. In the small group she knew were Tsunade, Shizune, and Jiraiya. Various elders and retired ninja surrounded the front group along with the Asuma and Konohamaru, the son and grandson of the Third. Few spoke but the sound of Konohamaru's tears said enough for everyone.
"We need to elect a new Hokage as soon as possible," said one elder in the Tower meeting room later that day. The clan heads in attendance all nodded in agreement. A number of people not affiliated with clans but powerful nonetheless were also in attendance. Sarutobi's former teammates presided over the meeting as senior elders.
"We have a number of candidates already in mind," began Homura. "First in mind are the remaining Sannin, Tsunade and Jiraiya. Both are well known in the Elemental Countries and would project a strong message to the other villages that we remain an eminent village."
"There is also Hatake Kakashi, student of the Fourth. He has a strong reputation and would be able to serve for many more years than the Sannin," said another clan leader.
"The notes by the Third indicate Morino Ibiki could be a potential candidate."
"Danzo-sama has much respect and could serve well as Hokage."
"No, Danzo is good in his area of expertise but as he is crippled, the other nations would think we are weakened."
The meeting dragged on for another hour with no other names being put forward that more than half could agree on. The nominations had a moment of comedy when someone brought up Naruto as a possible candidate. The clan leader who did so told everyone that the boy had potential and he does desire the position. Homura simply pushed that joke aside by merely saying, "Too young and still a genin."
Morino Ibiki was sitting in the chair before the elders wondering why he was even being bothered right now.
"I have no desire to be Hokage or anything beyond my position in Intelligence. I will admit that I know how people's minds work better than most. However, that does not make me a good candidate as a public figure. I use fear not leadership to do my job. You need a good public face to inspire the village, not one that frightens small children. I am better as the Boogy Man than the Hokage."
Kakashi was three hours late for his interview. He looked at the empty meeting room and went home.
Tsunade sent a message back that she was busy in the hospital right now and could not be bothered.
Jiraiya was asked to come to the panel after the negotiations but he never arrived. He was eventually located peeping at the hot springs.
The various parts of the leadership of Konoha remained separated at the present time. Ibiki ran defense and intelligence. Kakashi dealt with the ninja. Tsunade continued running the medical corps. Jiraiya was handling political things. A week passed with nothing being done about choosing a Hokage. Cleanup in Konoha was proceeding according to what needed doing. Buildings that could be repaired were starting to get fixed. Wreckage was being cleared. Life went on.
Naruto was getting VERY sick of milk. Every two hours he was brought a large glass of it and had to drink it down while the nurse looked on. He tried to get out of it but they would always send in the same red headed aide to get him to drink when he refused. The power of that pout was truly remarkable.
A week after having awakened in the hospital had been tiresome for the hyperactive blonde. The nurses were telling him his legs were improving but never said much more than that. Tsunade was more forthcoming on information but not by much.
"Stop bugging me about when you are getting out of here, gaki! You are in here for at least another month. The bone fragments are still floating in your feet and ankles. The chakra treatments we have been able to give you are pushing them back into place each time and hoping they fuse together like they should. Your leg bones are doing much better than the feet. All the fractures there are set correctly and healing faster than anything I have ever seen before."
Sakura passed by several times a day trailing behind Shizune and Hinata was trying to spend a few minutes each day with him as well. Anko had only stopped by once since he had been awakened but he understood that. He missed Jiraiya. The old coot had not been by since the first morning.
His only mistake up to this point had been in stating his boredom to Shizune. After the next visit from the doctor, he found himself with a pile of school texts to study, medicine, history, tactical theory, botany. A book on origami had given him the idea to fold the pages of other books into decorative pop ups which earned him a bonk on the head.
Naruto just leaned back when no one was there and tried to relax. The pain had at least faded to a dull throbbing ache and itching sensation. He picked up another book and stared at the pages for a while. He had nothing better to do.
Anko sighed as she looked down the prisoner list. The initial interrogations were over and the picture they painted was ugly. Many of the Sound forces captured were actually conditioned to believe in Orochimaru in a fanatical way. She found few who did not. Those few had been moved to the separate facility in the old police jail with the Sand captives. Strangely enough, the most informative prisoner had been the genin the Inuzuka boy, Kiba, had brought in. She had survived some ritual Orochimaru had planned and it had broken her conditioning. She sighed at how being betrayed by the person you loved would do that to a person.
The hour struck on the clock near her and the first load of genin prisoners were being shipped out to the Daimyo's prison mines. She did not like doing that but the Daimyo had been adamant about the prisoners. All the genin being sent out had killed civilians and so fell to the Daimyo's justice. They were simply criminals in his eyes, not prisoners of war. The few higher level ninja captured would go a more thorough interrogation before any bounties or missing status rewards would be collected.
Anko looked ahead to getting back to training again. Maybe she could take the brats out on a field survival mission once Naruto was back on his feet; a nice relaxing C Rank vacation. Yeah, that sounded nice. Maybe bring along Iruka so she could play tease the chunin. She sighed again. Before any of that could happen, she needed to deal with all the prisoners one way or another. Once they had a Hokage again.
Jiraiya rubbed his tired eyes as the diplomats finally reached an agreement. Full scale war had been averted with the Sand Village formally surrendering to the Leaf. The gruesome discovery of the Kazakage and his entourage in the desert was the deciding factor. Judging by the state of the bodies, the deaths had been more than six months before. That made it known the ninja of the Sand Village had clearly been manipulated for some time. The best part was the fact the Sand had only captured a pair of teams missing from the western forest before the attack. That would make the exchange for the dead Kazekage's children go much easier for the Sand.
Now he only had to worry about the old farts and the clan heads. They were clearly trying to make Jiraiya the de-facto Hokage because of the past week of negotiating on behalf of Konoha. The Daimyo had stated a preference of one of the Sannin to succeed old Sarutobi. This was bad for Jiraiya as the man preferred the Toad Sennin over the Slug Princess. Jiraiya knew if the Daimyo came out and asked him to be Hokage; he would likely cave in and accept.
Granted, a part of him desired the recognition. For most of his early years, he had been even worse as a ninja than his current apprentice. Once he finally reached his adult growth is when things changed for him. His teen years behind him and the constant need to adjust his skills to match his steadily growing body allowed him to move ahead. Jiraiya had been a solid chunin as a teen but seeing Tsunade and Orochimaru reach jonin status before him had hurt him badly. His actions in his desire to catch up had not been pretty and he still regretted some of those reckless actions to this day.
When Sensei had offered the trio the most coveted summoning contracts in Konoha, he had jumped at the chance. The contracts already matched their respective personalities quite clearly. But the Toad Boss, Gamabunta, had nearly rejected Jiraiya as a summoner. The massive toad was not impressed by the white haired young man in the least. It took a month of grueling and degrading work satisfying the demands of a dozen lesser toads to even reach the point when Gamabunta would return. The Toad Boss could not doubt the commitment or the drive of the future Toad Sage and finally accepted Jiraiya as a summoner.
Their relationship had been tricky since then but the toads had seen the true Jiraiya underneath the façade he showed the world. Naturally, they always messed with him simply to get a reaction from the man. In spite of the intentional disrespect many toads showed him, the white haired man never wavered in his commitment to the toads.
He would need to pass the contract on soon and would have to get Naruto to meet Gamabunta and see if the blonde matched his father in earning the respect of the Toads.
Sasuke lay back on his cot. Without his own house to live in, he was forced to stay in the dormitory like a commoner. He had managed to recover a few of his things from the wreckage but not nearly enough. All that survived of the legacy of his clan was the underground areas; the jutsu vault and the hidden meeting area in the family shrine. Talk was that the village would condemn the entire compound and pay him some filthy lucre for what the Uchiha once prized. One more item to add to his List.
His treatment since the Invasion had been poor to say the least. Random villagers had disrespected him that afternoon calling him 'Uke-chan' and laughed at the match he had with the Loser in the finals. The curse seal pulsed inside of its containment as his thoughts raged into the night.
Kin sat in her jail cell and just stared at the wall. Her chakra was slowly returning to its normal levels after her experience. She was not looking forward to prison. But she knew that was her likely destination. She could remember all the things she had done for Orochimaru but it was almost like watching someone else do those things as well. The interrogator had said she was conditioned and that the shock of Master's; no not Master; Orochimaru's betrayal had broken it.
At least she was not in the shelter prison with the head cases. Some of the others in the jail had talked about how some of the head cases in the shelter were plotting to escape and return to Orochimaru. Her eyes drooped closed as she realized; if he had not betrayed her, she would be doing the same.
One aspect of the shelter jail she was wishing she could get was the gym shorts and tank top. They sounded infinitely better than the neon pink jumpsuits she and all of her fellow jail detainees were wearing. The males had tried to tear off the sleeves to look more macho but the one man who managed it was taken out and returned in a dark green spandex unitard. The next day he begged for the pink jumpsuit back.
"Tsuchi, you have a visitor," called out the guard.
'Great, another interrogation session,' Kin thought as she got up and followed the guard.
The guard opened a different door than Kin was used to and pointed inside, "Station number 2."
Kin entered the room and saw a long room with a glass or plastic wall down the middle and several stations where people in jail could talk with people from outside. A familiar boy about her age sat at station 2.
She sat in silence and waited. "Hi, I um wanted to see if you were doing all right," he said lamely.
"Uh, hi. You were in the Exams, right?"
"Yes, I'm Inuzuka Kiba. I, um, found you the other day."
"Oh."
"I guess you don't remember that. You were kind of out of things. I wanted to check on you sooner but most prisoners are not allowed visitors. My mom got me clearance to visit since you were in with the 'good' prisoners."
"'Good' prisoners?"
'Yeah, ones that might be able to be rehabilitated. Even have the chance to join Konoha if things work out."
Kin looked down before saying, "Um, Kiba, I'm not exactly a 'good' person. During the Exams, I helped cripple and kill as many other genin as I could."
Kiba nodded, "I understand that. But everyone went into that Exam knowing it could happen. There was a chance of the same thing happening to anyone in that thing. But all the people in here, like you, are not hard core Orochimaru followers and also did not hurt or kill any civilians during the Invasion."
In a soft voice Kin said, "I was hard core until a few days ago. Maybe I should just let them take me to prison and let me rot."
"No, you are better than that."
"NO I'M NOT! A FEW DAYS AGO I WOULD HAVE KILLED ANYONE HERE AND LIKED IT IF HE ASKED ME TO! I WOULD..." Kin paused her rant as she realized she was crying. "I would have died for him; willingly died for him. I almost did but he lied to me about it. I would have fought for him because he cared about me. He makes you feel special, feel wanted. He draws you in until you give him everything. Then he uses you up. There are rumors of secret experiments. You saw the arms of my former teammate; metal tubes in his arms to make wind and sound. He is one of the lucky ones. Curse seals to make you one of his 'elite' but all they really do is bind you tighter to him. Now, I just want to see him destroyed. Him and everything he built. I can't do that from a prison cell so I have nothing left but anger and hope someone else does it for me."
Kiba sat in silence for a moment before responding, "You know something? If you were as bad as all that, you would not have cried like you did when I found you. There is something inside of you he has not touched yet."
Before Kiba could continue a guard approached, "Time is up."
Both teens nodded and Kin was lead out of the room. Kiba watched her leave and then walked to his door. Morino Ibiki was waiting on the other side for him.
"Did you get what you wanted out of that, Sir?" Kiba asked in a soft tone.
Ibiki nodded, "You were right. She is salvageable. Good job spotting that when you brought her in the other day. Your last words to her will help. Something positive in her mind."
"What is going to happen to her Sir?
"A bit more de-programming but she did most of the work herself in that case. 'Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned; nor hell a fury like a woman scorned.' Hate is a powerful motivator as long as she does not get too caught up in it she might work out for our side."
Kiba just nodded. He didn't understand what Ibiki had just said but he had done what he could and maybe he could sleep tonight without dreaming of long dark hair.
Hinata went through the katas of her Flowing Fist variant of Gentle Fist in the repaired training ground. Her motions were fluid but her thoughts were not. The Main Building would be repaired before another week passed but she was pleased with the progress the Clan was making so far. The survivors were showing signs of life again as the wounded were returning from the hospital. The Third War had left a large age gap in the Clan. Neji and Hinata had been among the first children born after that war. With the deaths of so many ninja the makeup of the Clan was greatly altered. Now, nearly one third of all Hyuuga were younger than she was. Barely a dozen were older than her but under adult age. An overwhelming majority of the adults now remaining were either too old or physically unfit for ninja duty.
The message was clear once she thought about it. The power of the Hyuuga was severely diminished until the children could mature. To remain a power in Konoha, the Hyuuga would have to change.
One point going well was that the Clan members seeking instructions were looking directly at her now instead of Grandmother. She was not comfortable with leadership but time and experience would fix that. Father would remain in the hospital until the Main Building was repaired or a medic could heal his side completely. His gesture at the funeral was inspired but really not good for his overall recovery. Her limited medical jutsu had at least kept him from making himself any worse. It would be good when Father got back however. She loved training with her team and as acting leader for the Clan she could not do that.
Hinata stopped to laugh for a moment as she realized her thought. She was actually looking forward to Anko-sensei's workouts. Yup, she was getting as crazy as her mentor. The sound of the gate to the training area snapped her chain of thoughts. She finished off her workout and turned to see what else had come up during the past hour.
Tsunade gingerly sat in her office chair after another long day of work. The medical corps had been working overtime hours for more than a week now but had something to show for it. A good portion of the wounded had been discharged and the shelter clinic closed down. Only the worst of the original wounded remained in the hospital. She sighed as she knew a majority of those would never leave the hospital under their own power again. The only upside she could find today was no one had died from their wounds. She wanted so badly to crawl into a sake bottle and get plastered but she had a few more duties to go through today.
Naruto was causing problems for everyone as was normal for him. The boy simply had too much energy and his being forced to lie still was the source of all their problems. But, the boy was healing faster than even she dreamed was possible. The major bones in his legs were almost half healed already and the bones in his feet were all being repaired so quickly it seemed like magic. She shuddered at what they might look like if she had not gone with the original suggestion of forcing all the bone fragments into proper placement with chakra. If his healing kept up at this rate, he would be allowed out of bed in two more weeks.
Sakura was her other problem. Her junior apprentice was moody with all the medical work she had been subject to since the Invasion. Maybe a few days out in the training fields would improve the mood of both Master and apprentice. Hitting something was always a good release for tension and depression. She made a note to schedule a morning of physical training for both of them before the week was out.
Tsunade glanced at her window and spoke out, "You know Jiraiya, you might be considered a legendary ninja but either come in or haul your butt away from my window."
The window slid open and the white haired teammate of hers climbed into the office. "How is it no one but you can sense me when I am under that jutsu?" he grumbled.
"Because I know you, you lecher. Plus you have been using it around me for nearly forty years so I am familiar with sensing it. What do you want?"
Jiraiya looked seriously at Tsunade, "I just came from the Daimyo. He has officially stated a preference for the Fifth. He wants one of us to take it and that we should decide it between ourselves."
"Well then, you should look good in that ugly hat, Jiraiya," Tsunade said as she leaned back in her chair.
"I don't want the job, Tsunade," Jiraiya replied. "You have the respect of the ninja in Konoha, I don't. They see me as strong and as the Toad Sage but they also see me as the Great Pervert. They are more familiar with my writing than my abilities as a ninja."
The tone Jiraiya used surprised Tsunade. He had not sounded like that since the day she made jonin and he hadn't. He sounded almost defeated.
Jiraiya continued, "Yes, I am a friend to many daimyos and have a lot of connections through my spy network but people don't look at that. After the Invasion, the ninja saw you standing up to the Sand as a leader. I was passed out and half drowned. You're the granddaughter of the First and practically royalty to this village. I am just some kid who was dead last in the Academy and always playing catch-up to my better teammates."
Tsunade decided she had heard enough. In a soft voice she said, "Jiraiya." When he stopped on his depressing rant she stood up and walked over to him. She lifted his lowered chin and looked deep into his eyes.
Jiraiya never even saw the slap coming.
After pulling himself out of the wall Jiraiya shook his head to clear it some as Tsunade waited with arms crossed under her voluminous breasts. "I hope that fixed your little pity party, Jiraiya. You are a lot more than what you are painting yourself as you goof. Yes, I was better than you as a teenager. Once we got past our teen years, you were the one whose hard work kept you improving. I hate to admit it but overall, you are better than I am. Granted, you could have trouble bandaging a paper cut but in every other area, you have me beaten.
Jiraiya was shocked to hear that admission from Tsunade.
"To top it all off, your teacher was a Hokage. Your student was a Hokage. Your new student will likely be Hokage one day. No one else in this village knows more about being a Hokage right now than you do. Well, outside of sensei's secretary but I don't think she wants the job."
Both Sannin laughed at Tsunade's joke
"So; this in Konoha? It doesn't look like much at all, Itachi," said the blue skinned Kisame.
"It was at one time, Kisame. Now please keep your sword under control. It keeps sucking in the chakra I am using on our genjutsu." Itachi made a few hand signs and Kisame's skin color seemed to fade to a simple pale. "I need us to look like normal civilians until we capture our prize."
Next Chapter: A Hokage Rises
Review Notes:
Yes, the omake bit did use the line from The Incredibles about monologues. That is one thing that always bothered me in Naruto; the long bouts of storytelling during fight scenes.
I would like to thank Tgun and Madamag for their detailed reviews. I appreciate reviews that point out my flaws in a constructive manner. I believe I am lucky that I have only had one flame since I began writing my story. I get more from honest critical reviews than I do from positive ones because I find out weaknesses in my stories. Early reviewers pointed perceived Sasuke flaws straying from canon but I had mapped out his decline early on and have kept him consistent in his slide into madness.
I have spent little time with side characters before the Invasion part of the story mainly because the team had little contact with them. Most will fall into the background again and reappear when needed but I have been trying to show that the whole attack had a wide effect on Konoha and it will continue on even if I am not chronicling it in each chapter.
In an attempt to slow comments on my characterization of Orochimaru I will write out my idea of what he is like in my story. I have him seen in dual fashions.
He attracts those seeking power. His reputation with the criminal elements bring those looking for power to seek him out. The ones who want what he offers and are willing to pay the price to get it. He seeks out clans bypassed or turned down by Villages to add to his Sound and intimidates the ones who don't join willingly.
He has the charisma to lure in the unsuspecting in the same fashion a cult leader does. Once he has snared in the innocent, he bends them to his will in he same fashion that a cult does. Brainwashing, drugs, and deprivation are the least of his crimes there before he moves them into his bases. I have Kin being one in this category. The brainwashing makes 'true believer' fanatics out of the victims who in turn lure in more to continue the process. I had Charles Manson in mind when I added this idea to his character.
Parting Shot:
The size of Konoha's ninja forces are a very debatable number. Canon has it as being 'in the thousands' when it describes the Kages. Named individuals and such only account for under 100 but you see nameless chunin and ANBU liberally strewn about in the manga and anime as bodies. It is hard to convince people that there has to be more than 9 genin coming out of the Academy to replace those losses. Most also seem to take what Kakashi said about a 66 percent failure rate as being absolute and not some sort of mind game.
My view in this is that the main characters and teams are all part of the same platoon in military terms. A military platoon has roughly 30 to 50 soldiers and contains several individual squads. The canon facts about the named characters fit this definition easily. Using that definition, you will not have much interaction between the 'named' characters and other outside their platoon as this does not normally happen on a day to day basis in the military.
My own story estimates would put post-Invasion Konoha entire active military forces at roughly one thousand to eleven hundred. This is down from my idea of them having more or less fifteen hundred at the story beginning. Reserves and retired ninja adding another on thousand giving a completely mobilized Konoha as having about a brigade sized formation in war.