In Which:
A council is formed – Sakura creates a technique – Sasuke is promoted – The Konoha plan is modified and carried out.
The village of Sound was a hive of activity. Kabuto and Himoto had the villagers gathering food, clothing, firewood, water and other necessities and taking them into the network of tunnels that wound under the surface of the village and far beyond.
In the lull that followed Naruto's speech, the blond had taken charge of the lower level ninjas. He set the genin teams to fortifying and securing the walls as well as clearing out the tunnels so they would be ready for use at a moments notice. The chunins he had sent out into the forest to set as many interlocking traps as they could manage, reasoning that as soon as the other villages found out about the death of their leader, they would attack the vulnerable village.
All higher-level ninjas he had scooped up and whisked off to the round training ground that the academy students (few as they were in Sound) used for training. Slowly, from yelled comments, quiet observations, and fights that only Naruto's rather exasperated gaze kept from becoming physical, sensible plans emerged.
A council of ninja and civilians would be formed: Two representatives from the jonins, two from the secretive ANBU, and two from the villagers would be voted onto the council, which would manage the village's resources and decide the actions of the village on a large scale until a new Otokage was chosen. Several sidelong glances were sent to the oblivious Naruto as the ninja hashed out their plan of action. All of them had noticed the easy way the blond had taken charge, and the smoothness with which he calmed the crowd.
Many of them liked what they saw.
Sakura sighed in relief as the last razor wire slid easily into place, and nodded to the chunin on her left. He, too, sighed in relief, and signaled to the other six ninja in her area. The chunin had divided into mostly-even groups, and each group had taken an area of forest to trap. Her group was now done.
Time to train, then.
She rose from her spot in the undergrowth – now dusted with a powder that glowed neon green when it touched skin – and headed back towards the village. It was almost noon now, so Kabuto should be off his shift at the central building. Maybe he'd be willing to help her again...
She smiled at the thought.
The technique Naruto had suggested she create was coming along very, very well. The water technique that the blond had taught her had improved her already above average control to the point that she had defeated Himoto in a friendly spar by sending a tiny spark of her own chakra into the other female's fire technique, disrupting it so badly that the jutsu had blown up in Himoto's surprised face.
That new control, combined with the chakra strings technique, was going to prove deadly. She and Kabuto had figured out how to refine the strings, making them strong as steel and so thin and concentrated that they were invisible even to Sasuke's eyes. The invisible strings changed length at Sakura's will, always staying taut.
She had, using Kabuto as her guinea pig, figured out how to fuse her own chakra in the form of the strings with another person's chakra points. The other person could still think, speak, and understand his or her surroundings, but the result of the technique was basically a human puppet.
She was now working on controlling more than one person at a time, with Kabuto forming an obscure type of mizu bushin that possessed chakra points and Sakura struggling to contain three, four, even five of them as they fought her control. She grinned to herself as the central building came into view.
Weak little Sakura? Not any more.
"This isn't really useful anymore, is it?"
Naruto looked up from the pile of papers he was sorting to see Sasuke frowning at a mission file. "Eh?"
"The Konoha mission you got Orochimaru to approve. Considering the fact that he is no longer the leader of Sound, it's not really needed."
"Awwwww! But I put so much effort into making it! I got the schedule for all the patrols in Konoha for a month, and the location of some really cool secret entrances, and all kinds of ways to get around the protections on the filing rooms! Seems a shame to waste it..."
Kabuto, arms filled with rolls of bandages, paused in the doorway. "The information is still usable. Why don't you rewrite the mission to portray Sound in a better light, rather than just Orochimaru-sama?"
Sasuke, still peering at the mission outline in the dim light of the tiny filing room, nodded absent-mindedly and wandered out into the main room. Alone with the mountains of paperwork that Orochimaru's death and the subsequent reorganization of the village had generated, Naruto sighed.
Who thought he'd ever miss D-class missions?
For almost an hour, the blond worked in silence, checking each folder, filing it, and noting down it's new home on a long sheet of paper. The constant repetitive task lulled him into a state of such utter boredom that by the time thirty minutes had passed, Naruto was praying for a distraction. An explosion, an attack, a piece of moldy cheese thrown at his head, anything!
He got his wish in the form of a panting genin appearing in the doorway. "Uzumaki-san! The council's gone crazy!"
The blond blinked from his place on the ground, and thought of the people that now formed the council. The jonins on the council were Ikko and a lady who was a pyromaniac, the villagers were a half-mad 'prophet' and a woman with gambling problems worse than Tsunade's, and the ANBU...well, they were ANBU.
He gave the genin a blank look. "And?"
The boy looked puzzled for a moment, then smiled sheepishly. "I mean, crazier than usual. Um... the death threats sounded sincere and they were completely ignoring the buffet."
Naruto grinned. "They were ignoring food? Hah! That's bad enough to get me out of this stupid paperwork without Sakura-chan lecturing me! Sweet! Let's go!"
The walk to the council room was short but filled with Naruto's cheerful chatter and the rather awed genin's tentative interjections. They slowed as they came to the doors of the council room. Through the thick, solid oak doors they could hear the voices of the council. Even without words, the voices somehow conveyed an emotion fast approaching homicidal rage.
The poor genin paled, and all the good humor drained from Naruto's face. The council was supposed to lead the village and keep the peace, and they were shouting loud enough to be heard through the door and halfway down the hall? No wonder all the ninja they had passed on the way here had been tense! His faced darkened.
"Wait here." He told the genin quietly. "I'll take you back to your supervisor after I've sorted these idiots out."
Not waiting for an answer, Naruto opened the door quietly and slipped inside. It was chaos. The report files that the council should have been going over were on the floor, and the council itself was shouting across the banquet table at each other. The little old woman with the gambling problem was standing on her chair with her hands cupped around her mouth, trying to shout louder than Ikko, who was across from her. The rest of the council was in as bad or worse shape.
Naruto leaned back against the door and waited for them to notice him.
A minute later, they still hadn't noticed, and Ikko was about to come to blows with one of the ANBU. Naruto sighed softly, truly disappointed in the people in front of him, and cleared his throat pointedly.
Finally noticing him, the group didn't quiet, but instead directed all their shouting at him, trying to drown each other out. Naruto's eyes narrowed and his upper lip curled back in a contemptuous sneer. The expression was so out of place on the cheerful blonde's face that finally the council quieted.
Naruto pushed away from the door, which slid open slightly behind him unnoticed. He snorted aloud, glaring at the council.
"You," he snarled, "Are supposed to be the leaders of Sound. You are supposed to make the choices that will keep this village running. Instead, I find you squabbling like brats in the middle of the council room, with no regard for the people outside, the people looking to you for guidance! Villagers throwing things, ninja about to come to blows, even the ANBU loosing control! "
The male villager opened his mouth as if to protest, and Naruto cut him off with a vicious swipe of his hand, pointing at the wreckage of the room. "I don't want to hear excuses! You lot are acting like children, so I'll treat you like children. Clean up this room. I want everything neat. Then go to the academy barracks and choose rooms as far away from each other as possible and go to bed without supper."
This time it was Ikko who protested. "Hey, that's not – "
"Not what? Not fair? What about the people you're responsible for? Is it fair for you to forget your duty to them so you can bring personal differences into a council meeting? Is it fair for you to disregard the ninja outside this door who found their leaders about to attack each other? Life isn't fair, but considering the damage you children did, believe me, I am being as fair as I can stomach."
Literally white with rage, Naruto glared the council down. "Get cleaning."
Outside the thick oak door, the genin who had shown Naruto to the council room exchanged wide-eyed glances with several other low-level ninja who had joined him in listening in. Hearing someone approach the door from the other side, the others scattered back to the main administrative areas. The genin grinned to himself as he waited for Naruto to emerge. The story would be all over the village in minutes.
And he, for one, had a very good guess as to who the next Otokage would be.
Sasuke frowned thoughtfully as he made his way from the busy administrative sector of Sound towards the deserted homes in the second ring. Kabuto was right, the mission could be rewritten to make it useful again. It would be easy enough to tweak the changed text they had originally written to insert into various reports to put the ninjas of Sound in a better light. And the people of Konoha would be more than willing to see Orochimaru as the ultimate 'bad guy'.
Hmmm. He couldn't write out any specifics, as he didn't have the reports they would be altering, but there was the potential for some truly artistic changes. The ninjas of Sound would be 'reluctant to fight', and have to be 'goaded into a confrontation'. They would be 'quick to desert the fight' when Orochimaru retreated, and they would show only 'hesitant loyalty' to the snake sannin.
Oh, yes. He could work with this.
Under Naruto's watchful eye, the council had cleared the room of all the debris they had created, then shuffled out of the room in the direction of the ninja academy. The blond was the last to leave the room, smiling at the genin as he locked the door behind him.
"Sorry that took so long, but the idiots are sorted. I'm gonna sit in on council meetings from now on, 'cause that was just stupid. If they're gonna lead this village, they're going to show some common sense!" Muttering under his breath, Naruto followed the genin through the building and out towards the tunnels.
The tunnels had once been a network of natural caverns weaving in irregular patterns through the bedrock under the village. The judicious use of earth and fire jutsus had smoothed the walls of the many chambers and made them into an organized and well-protected sanctuary for the people of Sound. It was currently also home to a great many genin and their supervisors.
The genin walking beside Naruto tried desperately to muddle his snickers as the blond's names for various councilors went from embarrassing to ridiculous to downright foul. He was getting a mixture of scandalized and amused looks from the passing ninjas and villagers as well, since he didn't bother to keep his voice down. Finally, they passed into the entrance of the tunnels. The genin threw a glance over his shoulder.
From an oak tree, a girl of the same age grinned and gave him the thumbs-up. Naruto was distracted, and his mission was complete.
Ten minutes after Naruto had left the council room, and just as he was entering the tunnels, said room was slowly filling with people. They seated themselves wherever possible: the chairs, tables, and the ground were covered quickly. Some of the ninja gave up on finding a place on the ground and simply walked up the walls and sat on the ceiling.
Sasuke found a place in one corner, along with Sakura and Himoto. They greeted each other quietly, and turned towards the door. A panting girl leaned against the doorframe and announced to the packed room, "He's in the tunnels! We've got at least an hour."
There was a collective sigh, and a chunin stood at the front of the room.
"You know why we're here. We, as a group, represent every single group in Oto and all of you should have collected the votes from your respective groups. The votes will be placed in the box at the front of the room and one of the ANBU will count the votes for who will be our next Otokage. As a reminder, the candidates decided on yesterday were Yakushi Kabuto, Kazuki Kanna, Orimota Toshiro, and Uzumaki Naruto, all of which have been otherwise occupied for the duration of the vote and none of which know they were chosen. Votes for anyone else will not me counted. If everyone would please line up..."
Ok, for those of you who haven't seen my profile, I'm on vacation and have access to a computer twice a week for an hour if I'm lucky, which explains the length of tome it took me to update.
I'm getting back on the 6th, so there will be a new chapter that week, but I can't guarantee anything new before then. Sorry! Reviews are still read and welcomed! -Heliotropic