I do not own Naruto.

Raven landed heavily on the ground, panting. All training ceased.

"Danzo. Lynx is-"

He coughed and clutched at his side.

"Sakura," Naruto said, "heal him. Get him talking first."

"Y-yes. Sasuke?" She didn't ask any more after a sharp hand motion from the ANBU.

Sai was still for the moment, but Yamato had already moved to stand beside him, just in case.

"Raven, report."

"We don't know what happened. Hare signaled that she and Lynx were following a suspicious person. An hour later Frog responded to a call for assistance. Lynx was already dead, and Hare only managed to say, 'Danzo.' When Frog, Bat and I went to investigate, Danzo's guards attacked us. Bat held them off. I came to you. Frog went to Tsunade."

Naruto glanced at Kakashi, who bowed shallowly. Yamato did the same and said, "At your command, Prince."

"Sai, where is your loyalty?"

"With Konoha."

"We're all Konoha here," Naruto snapped.

Sakura gasped, "Naruto-"

"I'll obey my team leader."

"Then you'll follow Naruto's orders," Kakashi said firmly. "Where do you want us, Prince?"

"Danzo will be attempting to go to ground, and we have the best team to find him. Raven, where was he heading?"

"East. Outside the village, we thought."

"Sai?"

"There are three locations in that direction, only one outside the walls."

"Lead us there. Raven, leave a summon to keep in contact and go to the Hokage."

"I'll send the Fifth a summon."

"Acceptable. Sai, go."

And then they were off.

-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-/-\-

Team Kakashi, along with Raven, stood in the Hokage's office. Only Sakura looked contrite.

Naruto stood in the center, Kakashi at his right and Raven to the left.

"Care to explain what you thought you were doing, brat?"

"Acting on available information to neutralize a threat to Konoha," Naruto said mildly.

"You took my shinobi out from under me in a time of crisis!"

Sakura winced.

"I apologize, Hokage-sama. That was not my intent."

"Then what was your intent?"

"To neutraliza-"

"A threat to Konoha. Yeah, yeah. That doesn't explain why my ANBU went to you for orders!"

"That I am… not sure of, Baa-chan. I assume they wanted me informed so that I could react appropriately. But the ANBU are loyal to the Hokage first. They should have gone to you."

"She's not our Hokage," Raven grumbled, just loud enough to be clear.

"Excuse me?"

"With all due respect, Tsunade-sama. Naruto was the Third's successor, and everyone knew it."

"You weren't even a jounin when the Third was alive," Tsunade growled.

"That's true, but our senpais' conviction is enough for most of the younger ones." Raven tilted his head toward Naruto. "Working with the legendary Prince against ROOT will have solidified that, and brought the others around."

"'Legendary Prince'?" Tsunade questioned.

"Our nickname for him," Yamato admitted. "I don't know quite where it started, but we couldn't call him Hokage, and 'Naruto-sama' isn't subtle."

"So you agree with Raven's assessment?"

Yamato paled. "Somewhat? We know Naruto isn't Hokage yet, and usually everyone would defer to you. But we've worked under Prince's orders before, and we trust him to get us through a crisis. You. Well. You've sent chuunin to do ANBU work."

"It feels like there's another ROOT in the village," Tsunade said coldly.

"No," Sai stated. "Naruto is nothing like Danzo."

"He commands a group of elite ninja who are loyal to him first and the Hokage second."

Yamato looked at Kakashi pleadingly.

"They are loyal to Naruto because they trust him. That is a very rare thing for ANBU," Kakashi said. "They trust him to know best, to do the right thing for the village, and to protect them. The Third cultivated that trust intentionally, and worked with Naruto in leading the ANBU. You could do the same, Tsunade-sama."

The fifth surveyed them. "Sakura? Care to weigh in? Are you also going to reveal a hidden loyalty to this brat?"

Sakura glanced at Naruto, who smiled gently back. She straightened her spine. "He's my teammate, shishou. I don't think he's a traitor. But he isn't my Hokage yet."

"Yet."

Sakura winced.

"All of you, leave. I want to talk to Naruto. Alone."

Yamato, Sakura, and Sai shuffled out. Raven waited until they were gone and took off his mask.

"I don't think you two comprehend the meaning of alone."

"They won't talk, Baa-chan," Naruto assured her, stepping forward and taking a seat. "Allow them their over-protectiveness. If you exile me they'll be the ones coming with."

"The rest of your ANBU wouldn't defend you?"

"Maybe, if I made them choose," Naruto admitted. "But it'd break most of them. Lynx was the only one who really would have fought your orders, and she's gone now."

Tsunade sighed. "What would you do, as missing-nin?"

Naruto leaned back and considered it. "We'd go after the Akatsuki, I think. It'd be more dangerous without the village to back us up, but on the other hand, as free agents we would have better luck gaining Itachi's loyalty, and I think Kisame would come with him. That would give us the start of a power base strong enough to accumulate more allies. Akatsuki's response would determine the time scale we'd work on from there. A new Hidden Village might rise, who knows?"

"Optimistic."

"Of course. Hope for the best; prepare for the worst."

"What do you want me to do here, Naruto? We just saw first-hand the effects of divided loyalties."

"As Sai said, I'm not Danzo. My policies are very similar to yours. A bit less ruthless, a bit more trusting, but similar. And I've never had the need to directly state such things, so the ANBU will only act according to my wishes if the situation is ambiguous and they judge trying it my way to be an acceptable risk. Which you would want anyway, am I right? And when you're ready to retire I'll take the hat and we won't have to worry about it anymore."

"And the next time there's a crisis? I can't have my authority undermined."

Kakashi cleared his throat softly, easily ignored.

"Can Kakashi weigh in?" Naruto requested immediately.

Tsunade waved her permission.

"Setting aside that it was on Naruto's orders, there was nothing amiss with today's response. If you sanctioned Naruto to have authority in such situations, then your own could not be undermined."

"And I'm sure that would go over so well with the regular forces."

"Shikaku would agree," Naruto pointed out. The former Bat was not as enthralled by Naruto as most, but he was still loyal. "And if he is willing, Chouza and Inoichi will as well. The rest of the former ANBU will have no objections. Gai will follow Kakashi's lead, and Asuma and Kurenai will go along with them. With that you would have the leaders as well as enough momentum among the jounin."

"The Hyuuga will fight it."

Naruto blinked. "Er. You know Hiashi used to be Rabbit, right? He's practically my uncle. I'd say big brother but that'd be weird 'cause of Neji."

"You're serious."

"Jiji made sure I wouldn't get refused the hat. Even the Council will have to hand it over with every shinobi supporting me."

"That devious old man."

"And he taught me for almost a decade," Naruto chirped.

"Now I understand why there was no backlash over you and the Hatake."

Naruto snorted. "Voyeurs."

"I did not need to know that," Sasuke muttered.

"Alright, brat. Go get some sleep. We'll work out the details tomorrow."