Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto
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'Person thinking'
"Person talking"
"Jinchuriki talking inside his head with Bijuu"
'Bijuu thinking'
"Bijuu talking"
"Bijuu talking inside jinchurki's head"
Chapter 15 – Whispers in the dark
'No matter what I do, I always seem to fail him…'
Such was the thought crossing Hiruzen's mind as he looked through his office window towards the Shinobi Academy. Slowly, he turned his sight towards the couch where Naruto sat not four days before and felt haunted by the look of dejection that crossed the boy's face. When he told him about his inability to continue teaching him fuinjutsu and that his visits would be cut short to once per month from then on, he could see Naruto's eyes lose a bit of the light he was so used to seeing in them. With a heavy heart, he then looked at the report sitting on his desk and his eyes hardened. Trouble was brewing in the Village Hidden in the Leaf and he had to begrudgingly accept that he needed that extra time to receive the reports and address the situation.
The one silver lining for the old man was that he knew about Naruto's ability to access his chakra, as well as his current level of strength. Knowing that he was now able to protect himself from civilians and that shinobi would think twice before trying to act against him after what he did to that rogue ANBU courtesy of Ibiki, the head of the Torture and Interrogation Unit (T&I), he felt comfortable cancelling the guard detail assigned to protect Naruto. And it couldn't have come at a better time, because he really needed those resources to monitor the new situation at hand.
Five days earlier
Fugaku Uchiha was not happy. His fellow council members called him power hungry, but he really wasn't. His main concern, as always, was the prosperity of his clan and the security of the village. In truth, when it came to overall village leadership philosophy, he leaned much more towards the Senju line of thinking than he did Uchiha, but as clan head, he had to keep up appearances. His clan was a prideful one after all. Alas, he could not deny that his clan's frustrations were well-founded. Ever since the Kyuubi incident from 7 years prior, people started looking at the Uchiha clan even more suspiciously than they did prior to that incident. Yes, it was clear that somehow, someone, controlled the Kyuubi using the Sharingan. There were too many eye witness accounts to deny it. But who did so? With no clear scapegoat at hand, the blame fell on the entire clan. The culprit was, after all, one of their own, and the clan proved incapable of cleaning up its own mess. The decision to keep the Uchiha's on the outskirts of the village during the attack only made them look even more complicit. Not long after that, the clan was pushed to the outskirts of the village in an enclosed compound 'for the protection of the clan against potential aggressors' if the council was to be believed. With all the ANBU patrolling the area, it was akin to house arrest. The Uchiha clan, the strongest clan in Konoha one of its founding clans, relegated to something only a little better than prisoners in their own home! Preposterous! It certainly didn't help their reputation that, in their frustration with how they were treated, the Uchiha police officers started acting particularly aggressive towards their charges. He tried to calm them down, but then his clan members retaliated against him by accusing him of weakness and poor leadership.
'This is such a mess. If I try to keep things peaceful, I face mutiny. If I give in to the clan's demands, at best, we face civil war, which in turn results in the destruction of Konoha. At worst, the clan goes extinct. Pride comes before the fall indeed. Sigh… Well, one way or another, a decision must be made. I guess tonight's clan gathering is as good a time as any to decide on our course of action and plan accordingly.' mused Fugaku siting at his office.
Later that evening, Fugaku made his way to the Nakano Shrine in the Uchiha district. In the main hall, beneath the seventh tatami mat from the far right, he opened a trap door and made his way down the stairs, where the rest of the clan was waiting for him. The muttering stopped when he made his entrance. They made room for him so he can take his seat in front of his clansmen. For a moment, Fugaku scanned the crowd in silence. Steeling himself, he broke the silence.
"Fellow Uchiha, as you are well aware, our clan has suffered a series of slights over the past several years that cannot be overlooked. It has come to my attention that a good number of you are strongly considering opting to execute a coup d'état with the hope that we would be able to improve our position and influence within the village.
This is a decision that I cannot make by myself for the entire clan. As such, I will submit it to a majority vote. Before we do that however, I must warn you that such an action carries the risk of bringing our clan to extinction should we fail. There is also the possibility that we may face civil war between our clan and the factions loyal to the previous leadership within the village. Such an internal conflict may result in us triggering the Fourth Shinobi War, because I have no doubt that other Shinobi villages will want to take advantage of the unrest within our walls and destroy us like they have tried thrice already. If you are prepared to put your life on the line, as well as that of your families and the entirety of the Land of Fire, then and only then you should agree with this course of action. The alternative course of action is to open a dialog with the Third Hokage, like I had attempted and almost succeeded with the Fourth not long before his death, in order to improve our standing within the village via more diplomatic means."
At this point the crowd murmured undecidedly. It was clear that not all of them took into consideration what the ramifications of such a choice may be. Fugaku was internally quite happy that they were not as trigger-happy as they first appeared. Prideful yes. Foolhardy never.
One of the clan elders pondered for a while after which he intervened "Why not follow both courses of action at the same time? Have Itachi-kun and Shisui-kun gather information on the council and their movements so we can plan for the coup. In the meantime, attempt the negotiations, though I highly doubt they will be fruitful. Not with rats like Danzo still lurking about. This will also show the rest of the clans that we did not do things rashly and that we showed good will before we chose to resort to more extreme measures."
Another clan elder, perking up at the idea, developed it a bit further. "Yes, six months should be enough to attempt to reach an understanding with the Hokage. This should also be sufficient time to gather the intel required for our operations."
The gathered clan members murmured in agreement.
Fugaku then asked the elders "What do you propose regarding terms of negotiation?"
A third elder answered "Fugaku Uchiha to be named Godaime Hokage. Public apology for the slander against the Uchihas concerning the Kyuubi attack. Removal of all ANBU surveillance of the clan. Permission to move back to the compound in the middle of the village. One permanent position on the Hokage's elder council for an Uchiha member."
The fourth and final clan elder added his two cents "These are reasonable terms. After all, Fugaku is a hero of the Third Shinobi War, with feats on par with the Yondaime Hokage. He also possesses greater visual prowess than anyone else in the clan at present. There is a reason he received the moniker 'Wicked Eyes Uchiha'. It is also very clear that the Sandaime is well past his prime so this is a great opportunity to choose a successor. I doubt the permanent Uchiha council member position would go through but that is hardly a priority for us."
Fugaku then spoke "Should I become Godaime Hokage, my wife Mikoto will take my place as clan head until Itachi comes of age. She was an accomplished jonin with renown in the Third Shinobi War before assuming her duties in our household fulltime. Moreover, she has assisted me in many of my duties as clan head, seeing as I had to split my attention between the clan and my responsibilities as the head of the Konoha Police Department. Speaking of which, the Konoha Police Department will be led by my second in command, Uchiha Hiraku should we succeed in this endeavor."
The gathering then murmured in agreement. Fugaku's proposals were more than reasonable.
"It seems we have a clear plan and there is no more need for a vote. Let us proceed as discussed. If there are no other concerns, this meeting is adjourned."
Itachi and Shisui were invited to partake in the meeting, given their renown. Both knew that this plan was suicide. As they made their way out of the shrine, they shared a glance, silently agreeing that the Hokage had to know and that they needed to get things settled before the situation got out of hand.
Present Day
A henge'd Naruto was enjoying a stroll by the river that traverses Konohagakure. Seeing the sunset's reflection in the river became one of his favorite pastimes ever since spring rolled around. As he was walking, he decided it would be a good idea to pester his furry friend a little.
"Hey, Kurama, you up?"
Annoyed, the tailed-beast responded "…What do you want, human?"
"Not much, just wanted to know how you were doing."
"…You just left the mindscape 10 minutes ago, Naruto. If you have nothing relevant to say, I will return to my nap."
"Hehe, the fuinjutsu studies really kicked your butt didn't they?"
"Are you trying to turn 'being irritable' into a hobby, boy?"
"This is payback for what you did to me when we first tried the partial possession."
"And you were judging for holding grudges against the Uchihas..."
"Well, you still didn't tell me why you're so hateful towards them, so it's kinda hard not to, ya know."
After a short break, Naruto broke the silence again. "I'm really happy that you're my study partner in fuinjutsu Kurama. All that difficult theory was super easy to understand once we started exchanging ideas. So, I guess, what I wanted to say was thanks for being there for me. It means a lot."
Naruto felt Kurama nod as he rested his head back on his paws.
"You know, we never really tried to see how far you can extend your sensing range after you unlocked your chakra. With our focus on refining your control over direction and shape, as well as filtering signatures and aura analysis, we completely disregarded range extension. This might be a good time to see how far you can reach at the moment and resume this type of training."
"Huh, wow, I don't know how we forgot about it, but you're right. And there are very few people around here right now so there's very little chance I will be overwhelmed. Alright, let's do this!"
Naruto stopped at a wooden dock by the river and faked looking at the sunset. He focused on stretching his sensing range as much as he could. To his surprise, he realized he could reach as far as 500 meters above ground as compared to his 200 meter limit two months prior. He then attempted to focus his sensing underground. He realized he could now extend his range to about 150 meters underground, compared to his previous record of 50 meters. He then started to look for signatures in his underground sensing bubble, expecting to find moles and maybe worms. What he found instead however, spooked him. At around the 75 meter mark, there were 32 auras either resting or wondering about, that felt like they belonged to humans, but they felt… empty. These people felt devoid of any emotion, as if they were indifferent to the outcome of their choices. They felt like real-life human tools. It made Naruto's stomach turn, and his preservation instincts told him to book it out of there like his life depended on it.
Naruto got up from the dock and ran as quickly as his legs allowed it, until he reached one of his henge hiding spots. He took a short break to catch his breath. Only now did he realize his entire body was shaking.
'Jiji needs to know.' With that thought in mind, Naruto straightened up and ran as fast as he could in the direction of the Hokage's office.