Authors Note: This is the first "real" chapter of "Others", as I have not received any responses on which path to take, I will choose one and if I receive overwhelming response in favor of another path, I will rewrite or, more likely, I will create a new story. So without further ado let us begin, this first chapter will mainly be an introduction to the changes from what we all know, and some characterization on Naruto's part.
Italics-thoughts
Chapter 1: Beginnings
Konoha 8 a.m.
Naruto walked out the yelling out "Good bye!" to his mother as he went, he plastered a small, polite, smile on his face as he made his way to the Hokage tower .Waving hello to the civilians he passed and inclining his head in respect to the shinobi jumping across the rooftops, he wondered why he simply did not shunshin to his destination. But once again Danzo-sama's voice echoed in his head reminding him that 'the 'prince of Konoha' should be seen, so as to keep morale as high as possible', 'still' he thought, the corners of his mouth dipping, ever so slightly, 'Can I not go to fundraising events instead, there are certainly enough going on'. Yes that was true enough, he decided, putting an extra spring in his step, after all even in peace one must be prepared for war, those were the first's teachings after all.
Madara Uchiha, even after becoming Hokage, believed in a strong war machine even if funds must be, 'borrowed'. After following his advisors, Hashirama, advice to give the newly rising hidden villages threw the elemental nations into a world war, and began the first of many publicity disasters for the Senju clan, Konoha became heavily militaristic. Although Madara would not live past the First Shinobi World War, often referred to as the 1st SWW, his younger brother and successor Izuna, however, would set up specific clauses in the village charter to give more powers to the Hokage in the event of an war, including nationalizing of all weapons smiths, to make sure the frontline troops would never be unsupplied.
'A sound plan to keep Konoha safe from outside threats,' Naruto thought as he passed a family restaurant, returning a polite wave with the owner, 'however, simple control of the military would equate permanent power…hmm an interesting thought' he concluded with a smirk that was bordering on impish. Perhaps if his first couple plans did not work that would be a sufficient back-up, if he added some tweaking to it.
Although this is one of Izuna's most famous actions, it was certainly not the only thing that earned him the title 'the organizer', instead what he would also do would be to reorganize the districts in the village, setting the clan compounds the farthest north, beside the Senju who are to the south, the markets and crafts shops in the center by the Hokage tower, rebuilt after the Suna siege of Konoha, and the civilian quarters in the south, to create a unusable area for invaders. This created a divide between the civilians and the clans, the civilians claiming the clans were merely thinking of their own safety while the clans claimed the civilians should be glad to give so freely for the sake of the village. But Izuna also remedied this conflict, creating Konoha's first professional shinobi academy, before this shinobi were trained by way of apprenticeship which discriminated heavily away from civilians, and set it in the civilian quarter, open to all. Unfortunately Kami decided Izuna would not grow into retirement, as during one of his final negotiations with two other great villages, Suna, in an attempt to destroy the talks, assassinated Izuna in his sleep, luckily before leaving for the talks Izuna had declared his successor to the head council of Konoha.
'A very freighting man, if Danzo-sama's tales are correct.' He thought with the smallest of shivers running down his spine. 'Tales say his Sharingan was at a level far beyond the three-tome form' Naruto thought with no small interest, perhaps he should investigate further into a stronger Doujutsu than the Sharingan.
His heir was, rather than a clan member, his student, Danzo Shimura, Danzo is known for his improvement of the military itself. One of the many reforms was, during wartime, squads would be expanded to include a Chunin for better protection. But the first reform was to create 'branches' in the Anbu black ops, this was mainly to justify the creation of the ROOT program. The ROOT program was in order to pacify the new Hokage's paranoia against the Senju clan, ROOTs main objective was to observe the entire goings on of the Senjus and determine if they were treasonous or not, all other missions were secondary. Thus ROOT became the most skill diverse branch as they need to be able to tell if any technique would be used against the Hokage, the Senju were not called the clan of one thousand skills for nothing, and became the elite of the elite, the ones all Anbu strive to be. One of his most infamous actions was instigating a war between his puppet regime of Ame and Kusa, with the ROOT being sent as adjutants to Ame, leading to the third SWW, the second occurring after Izuna's death.
'One of Danzo-sama's lesser thought out plans, seeing as how weak that generation of rookies had been' Naruto pondered as he waved to the owners of his mother's favorite Soba stand the Ichiraku family. 'However it did catapult Konoha to the top position in the hidden villages.'
After the war, Danzo decided to resign and leave the village to the next generation, leading to the installation of the war hero Minato Namikaze. Minato's reforms were all done very soon after his appointment, using the memories of the war to his advantage, thus earning the name 'the flash'. One of which was to lower the restriction on foreign immigration, which became very useful when the great bloodline exodus from Kiri occurred bringing in many new clans. He also implemented what he called Konoha's 'perfect defense', a series of tunnels running all across Hi-no-Kuni allowing for quick transportation of men and goods to any front, an idea borrowed from the Sannin Orochimaru. Of course the first time this would be implemented would be the Kyuubi attack on the night the fourth died.
'Yes'he thought with a smile 'the 'mighty Kyuubi' sealed by a mere mortal into and infants body' he chuckled as he thought of the absurdity of it all. The previous containers had been well into their lives when it was given to them, but he received it mere hours after his birth, 'well, not all of it at least' he had only received the yin half of its chakra. His attention was drawn away by two women being escorted by teams of Genin, foreign Genin, he noted. The two women were stark contrasts of one another, One was wearing a light green outfit, had a darker skin color, green eyes, from what he could tell from her glancing over every so often, and light grey hair, Mabui, his brain added a name to the face, ambassador from Kumogakure. The other had a light red outfit, with a pale complexion, pink eyes and black hair, Kurotsuchi, he realized soon after he had finished his inspection, ambassador from Iwagakure.
Of course while it was normally odd to see two foreign diplomats go by un-guarded, under the circumstances it would have been an insult. Izuna's last mission had been to broker an alliance with both, but was not finished before his death. After fighting together as unofficial allies in the 2nd SWW, the Triple Alliance of Sovereign Shinobi States, often referred to as the Triple Alliance, was finalized on the anniversary of Izuna's birth. Each of the three states had begun to specialize to better the alliance, Konoha became the war major, producing top-notch commanders and troops, becoming the body of the alliance. Iwa specialized in diplomacy able to strike a fair deal, for the alliance, with nearly anyone, becoming the face of the alliance. Kumo became the traders, able to 'convince' any merchant to conduct business with the alliance, becoming the veins and arteries for the alliance. There was even talk of introducing Takigakure into the fold. 'Perhaps that is why they are here,' Naruto wondered to himself, as he nodded politely to both women as he passed by, 'it would be quite the decision' he concluded.
As he came out of his ponderings, he realized he was almost at the Hokage tower, deciding to quickly check his appearance before meeting with the reinstated Third Hokage. A glass pane in a store allowed him this chance, his black shinobi sandals were shined enough to seem new, his black cargo pants had no holes in them, and his dark red shirt was lint free. He decided he was presentable and step through to his leaders office.
And a completely new journey.
Authors Note: Not so much to put here, next chapter we will be introduced to the 'other' rookie eleven. Please give any reviews, even to just say 'I hate it'.
So until next time, stay classy internet.