Naruto – Legacy of the Yondaime Hokage
Chapter 9 – Enter the Village Council, Sinister plots
Disclaimer – I don't own Naruto. Naruto is the property Masashi Kishimoto. This is just a story using his characters and I'm not looking to make any money out of this.
"Demon/Inner Sakura" talking/thinking
"Flashbacks"
"Normal"
Warnings – Strong (though not invincibly strong), smart Naruto, Major OOC and possible Lemons (unsure at this point)
Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed the sides of his head as he listened to the constant arguing of the two sides of the Village Council. It had been a day after the incident in the Ninja Academy involving Uchiha Sasuke and Akito and many of the students of the academy had threatened to walk out if Naruto was punished for an incident that he was clearly innocent of and the fault was clearly that of the Uchiha heir. Needless to say, the Civilian Council did not see it like that and Hiruzen knew that they would seek to punish Naruto anyway even if they did know the truth. Unfortunately for the power-hungry civilians, the heirs of most of the Shinobi Council had been involved and were the ringleaders of this walkout and unfortunately, they feared that they may not get their way this time as it would have serious ramifications if Sasuke got off scot-free like he had done in the past.
"I'm seriously getting too old for this," Hiruzen muttered with a sigh.
The Village Council had been an idea of the Shodai, Senju Hashirama in the beginning and was originally supposed to be a temporary arrangement to help get things established during the village's founding and the first generation of civilians had been rather decent and level-headed people. However, the problems started when their successors took up their positions and unlike the previous generation, they were corrupt, greedy and wanted more and more power and by then, it was getting to the point where the Village Council was no longer needed. However, the Civilian Council didn't agree with this and had dug deep, creating laws and regulations to ensure that it would be impossible for the Hokage to disband the Council. The Shinobi Council had done the same thing, but unlike the civilians, they had done it to counter the civilians and limit their control as the civilians had believed that the Hokage would disband the Shinobi Council and that would leave them in power, but that was not the case and shocking still, the civilians discovered that the Hokage had helped the Shinobi Council. However, the civilians did have the support of the Uchiha Clan, who had been in charge of the Konoha Keimu Butai. In fact, it had been the Uchiha Clan that helped the Civilian Council in their quest to ensure their survival.
The village of Konohagakure no Sato was originally founded through an alliance between the Senju and Uchiha clans, who had been rivals for as long as anyone could remember. Before that, ninja were just mercenaries belonging to individual clans and hired by various daimyos to do work for them. The two most powerful clans were the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan also know as the Mori no Senju Ichizoku due to their Mokuton jutsu that dwelled in Hi no Kuni. Their rivalry was well known among the daimyos, so much so that whenever a daimyo hired one clan, their enemies would hire the other to counter them. It finally reached a point where the Senju Clan had had enough of all the fighting and Hashirama approached the Uchiha Clan with a proposal of an alliance to end the fighting, something that the Uchiha with the exception of their leader, Uchiha Madara agreed to.
Madara however had been very distrustful of the Senju and suspected that their proposal was a ruse in an attempt by the Senju to seize control of the Uchiha and oppress them, but he was outvoted and only went along with the alliance because he felt he had no other choice and between the two clans and the many clans they had conquered, the village of Konohagakure no Sato was formed. However, when Hashirama was chosen as Hokage, it only served to fuel Madara's fears and he tried rallying support to oppose Hashirama, but the Uchiha Clan believed him to be power-hungry and greedy since they believed he had stolen his brother, Izuna's eyes in his quest for power; something that Madara denied and claimed that Izuna did willingly, though there was no proof to prove or disprove either claim. Afterwards, Madara had fled and came back years later to destroy the village and he and Hashirama fought in an area on the border between Hi no Kuni and Ta no Kuni that became known as the Shumatsu no Tani where Madara managed to summon the Kyuubi no Yoko and his Sharingan was so powerful that he somehow managed to control the Kyuubi, but Hashirama was able to use his Mokuton jutsu to defeat both it and Madara, as there was also something about his Chakra that enabled him to subdue the Bijuu and Madara was believed to have died. Also two statues were erected in the Shumatsu no Tani, one on either side of the border with Hashirama's in Hi no Kuni and Madara's in Ta no Kuni in memory of the battle.
However, afterwards, many in the village who knew the truth about the village's founding had started to distrust the Uchiha, believing them to be in league with Madara despite their dismissal of him. It didn't help that many of the Uchiha Clan had massive superiority complexes and only served to fuel suspicions. The civilians didn't know the truth and were ignorant to the whole affair, which was why the Uchiha had the support of the civilian populace. When Senju Tobirama, Hashirama's younger brother became Hokage, he had founded the Konoha Keimu Butai and gave it to the Uchiha Clan as a token of trust and reassurance, but some in the Uchiha, especially one Uchiha Setsuna suspected that it was a ruse and shared Madara's original fears of how the Senju were trying to oppress the Uchiha and control them. He and some others believed that this act of good faith was really means of distancing the Uchiha from the Hokage position, though what the truth was, was only known by Tobirama himself and by then, the Senju had already established their superiority, causing the Uchiha who believed that they were being oppressed to grudgingly accept the way things stood.
The Uchiha had a seat on the Shinobi Council, which was currently being filled by Shimura Danzo, Hiruzen's old rival and leader of ANBU ROOT until Uchiha Sasuke came of age in which he could take it up. Anyway, the Uchiha and the Civilian Council had helped one another out in the past and the Civilian Council were diehard supporters of the Uchiha, as proven in the past when they saved Sasuke from repercussions for his actions. To Hiruzen, the tension between the two sides of the Council was a lot like the old Senju/Uchiha rivalry with the civilians being the Uchiha and the shinobi being the Senju.
The two sides of the Council had been at loggerheads since the second generation of civilians took up their seats on the Council. The Civilian Council were just greedy and the Shinobi Council were there to stop them from becoming too powerful, though in the past, the civilians had been content to let the Uchiha Clan rule over them, but after the massacre, they had started trying to gain more and more power for themselves. Hiruzen suspected that they were planning on doing away the Hokage position altogether or at the very least make someone that they could easily manipulate the Hokage, which he suspected was what they were planning to do with Sasuke. Have Sasuke as their puppet Hokage. He'd be in charge in name only and the Civilian Council would be the ones pulling the strings. He suspected that that was why they had pampered him and gave him everything he demanded. They were hoping he'd warm up to them and that it would make it easier for them to manipulate them.
"I say we put the demon to death!" a random member of the Civilian Council shouted, "It's clearly corrupting our children's mind."
"You will do no such thing!" Yamanaka Inoichi shouted back, "As I understand it, Naruto-san never said anything that suggested that he was ordering them along."
"Yes, I do believe that credit for that should be given to my son," Nara Shikaku spoke up.
"And my son as well," Aburame Shibi added stoically.
"Who's to say the demon has to speak in order to give orders," another member of the Civilian shot back, "He could be issuing orders telepathically."
Hiruzen once again shook his head. This was another thing that troubled him. The Civilian Council were so adamantly opposed to Naruto's presence in the village and had tried numerous times to have him executed. In fact, every Council Meeting was flooded with their cries for the "demon's" demise. However, the majority Shinobi Council had protested and managed to stop their attempts. However, the Civilian Council were determined to be rid of Naruto; not because of the fact that he contained the Kyuubi no Yoko; that was just a ruse.
It was a well known fact that the Yondaime and Naruto's father, Namikaze Minato had made an awful lot of enemies in his time, which was why he had kept the village and Naruto himself in the dark about his heritage as he knew that if Minato's enemies discovered that he had a son, they could potentially target him for revenge. Unfortunately, it could not protect Naruto from all of Minato's enemies as Minato had made enemies within the village as well; most if not all of the Civilian Council to be exact. They were all aware of Naruto's heritage and they all secretly loathed and despised the Yondaime with a passion. The reasons were simply, Minato was a strong individual who was able stop them and put an end to most of their activities and downsizing their power, not to mention, he fell in love with an outsider from Uzu no Kuni, Uzumaki Kushina, whom many of them despised for being part of the old Uzumaki Clan.
Uzu no Kuni was now in ruins, but before it fell, the ninja of Uzu proved to be a major headache to Konoha, especially the Uzumaki Clan and the Civilian Council had found that the majority of their finances that was supposed to go into their various projects, most of which went towards furthering their own power and influence within the village had been redirected to replenishing the village's lost resources, something the Civilian Council held the Uzumaki Clan in contempt for and a fact that their village leader was falling in love with the last of them was something that infuriated them.
Kushina was a refugee fleeing from her homeland and who had come to Konoha at the age of five. Unfortunately, her father had stayed behind in Uzu no Kuni and the trip to Konoha had resulted in the death of her mother and so, Kushina was all alone. So, she became a Konoha-nin, though many of the Civilian Council had demanded that she be executed for her heritage. However, Hiruzen and the Shinobi Council stopped it and had managed to get the civilians to at least tolerate Kushina.
Needless to say, they were still not happy. Another reason why they hated Minato was because he had found a solution in finally disbanding the Village Council. Basically, he planned on replacing the Civilian Council members with more level-headed and decent people who would help him abolish the laws that had been put in place to prevent the council's disintegration. However, before he could go through with this plan, the Kyuubi attacked and all of those whom he selected to replace the civilians on the council had all coincidentally become victims of the Kyuubi. However, Hiruzen suspected that the Civilian Council had had them assassinated and had used the Kyuubi's attack as a cover. They probably viewed the Kyuubi as a godsend for them. Anyone turned up dead afterwards, the people would assume that it was the Kyuubi's fault. Hiruzen also had reason to suspect that before hand, the Civilian Council had been planning to assassinate Minato and his family, which meant that Naruto's life could possibly have been in danger anyway regardless of the circumstances.
What the Civilian Council were after, he suspected were the Namikaze Clan's assets. By village law, if all members of a clan die out then the clan's assets and resources go to the Village Council and Hiruzen suspected that was what the Civilian Council was after. Naruto was the only obstacle in their way and unfortunately, they had the perfect excuse to do away with him. Once Naruto was out of the way, they would undoubtably seize all of Minato's assets and use them to further their own power and Hiruzen knew that if Naruto died, there was nothing he could do to stop them.
He knew that they would have preferred Uchiha Fugaku as the Hokage and Fugaku had put his name him for consideration along with Minato and Hiruzen's own student and one of the Densetsu no Sannin, Orochimaru, who had since turned traitor and whose location was currently unknown. However, where as Hiruzen considered both Orochimaru and Minato, he had totally ignored Fugaku due to his attitude of superiority and even with the support of the Civilian Council, Fugaku was immediately eliminated as Hiruzen felt that he was too ambitious and that his ambitions could have potentially dangerous consequences for the entire village and it didn't help matters that Fugaku absolutely despised Minato as well for no other reason other than he was stronger than him and he was capable of performing jutsu that the Sharingan could not copy; something the Uchiha considered a blasphemous crime against their clan.
"Naruto-san is not a demon!" Inuzuka Tsume barked furiously, glaring at the Civilian Council members, "He's the son of the late Yondaime Hokage."
"You lie!" a woman on the civilian side practically spat with venom in her voice, "There's no way that vermin's the son of our late Hokage. The Kyuubi just assumed a human form similar to the Yondaime to mock us and now he's harmed the Uchiha heir."
"That was my daughter," Hyuga Hiashi spoke up as he stood up, "And she did it in self-defence. Uchiha-san was totally out of line and yet, you still defend him; disgraceful."
In truth, Hiashi was rather proud of Hinata, even though he didn't outwardly show it. He had known about Hinata's friendship with Naruto these past two years he found himself rather thankful to Naruto. It was because of him that Hinata's confidence and performance improved. He had known about Hinata's reluctance to hurt her sparring partners and had tried to reassure her. Unfortunately, being the strict authoritarian that he was, it had only served to destroy Hinata's fighting spirit and he suspected that the Hyuga Council, especially his uncle, Senkei had a hand in Hinata's inferiority complex as well. It got so bad that he had seriously considered replacing Hinata with her sister as clan heiress since Hanabi had grown to surpass her sister, though now, Hinata had surpassed Hanabi. He may not show it, but in truth he cared deeply for his daughters since their mother, Sayuki died in child birth after Hanabi was born. The decision to replace Hinata with Hanabi had been based on Hinata's inferiority complex. He knew that if she had become Clan Head, then the Hyuga Council would take advantage of her, making her nothing more than a puppet.
Like Hinata, he also desired to end the division in the clan, though he'd never admit it. He saw the bitterness that the branch houses held for the Main Household and knew that if something wasn't done, the Hyuga Clan would eventually erupt into civil war. Oh course, the Main Household had ways to keep the branch members in line, but Hiashi was no fool. He knew that they would eventually find ways round those and render them useless. The Hyuga Council believed that those measures were absolute and that nothing could overcome them and they enjoyed rubbing it in the branch members' faces. It was like they were saying, "We own you and there's nothing you can do about it".
"Foolish idiots," he thought with a frown, "Even the most foolproof seals in the world have their weaknesses. Ultimately, everything does."
Hinata wanted to end the division and so did he and thanks to Naruto, Hinata was becoming more confident and was able to successfully stand up to and hold her own against the Hyuga Council, impressing some and enraging others. He knew there were those who did not want to end the division and he suspected Senkei being the most prominent of them and he vowed that he would deal with them when the time came.
He was especially impressed with Hinata's performance against the Uchiha heir. Not only had she managed to free herself from his grip, but she was able to retaliate and render him unconscious and managed to dodge the Uchiha Clan's famous Gokakyu no Jutsu. He was definitely proud of her. Not only did she defeat her opponent, but her opponent was an Uchiha who believed that he was above even the gods.
He never really liked Uchiha Sasuke that much and it wasn't just because he was an Uchiha. Sasuke seriously had superiority issues, believing that he could do anything and get away with it and the fact that the Civilian Council helped facilitate and possibly even encourage this behaviour disgusted him. How could they be so delusional as to let the Uchiha off when it was pretty clear to everyone that he was in the wrong? This time, he knew they had an excuse. Naruto was involved and he knew that they saw it as a perfect opportunity to do away with him, but unfortunately for them, the majority of the Shinobi Council's children were involved as well and they sided with Naruto, which put them in a predicament in which they knew that Sasuke could not get out of this one unscathed; though that didn't stop them from trying.
"She was probably under the Kyuubi's influence!" another civilian shouted.
"I beg to differ, reports say that Uchiha-san acted first," Hiashi countered with a stern look as the councilman who had spoken.
Hiruzen shook his head. These people were so determined to have Naruto put to death, they'd say anything just to try and justify there claims.
"Kushina-chan, just what happened to you?" he thought as a look of sorrow washed over his face, "If you were here, I think you would have been able to sort them all out."
That was a mystery. Many people believed that Kushina had died in child birth eight years ago. Many people believed that both Kushina and her child had both died, unaware that the child was Naruto, but those assumptions were false. The truth was that Kushina survived and had taken care of Naruto for the first few days of his life and from what Hiruzen had seen, she absolutely adored her son and did not think of him as the Kyuubi incarnated in human form. However, four days later, Kushina had mysteriously vanished leaving Naruto alone in the apartment she had moved into since her wedding with Minato was conducted in secret with hardly anyone knowing that they were married and couldn't move into the Namikaze Estate as many people would ask questions. Anyway, Hiruzen found it strange. All of Kushina's possessions were still there, so he found it highly unlikely that Kushina had abandoned Naruto and yet, there had been no reports of her leaving the village and her body had not yet been recovered. It was as if she had vanished off the face of the Earth and until he had proof that said otherwise, he had had no choice but to declare Uzumaki Kushina dead.
He undoubtably suspected foul play. Minato had made a lot of enemies, that was true, but so had Kushina. The majority of the Civilian Council despised her and Danzo had initially wanted Naruto to be used as a weapon, something that Kushina was viciously opposed to and Hiruzen knew that Danzo was not one to let things lie. He and Danzo had been friends in the beginning and at first, their rivalry had been relatively friendly, but over time, their rivalry had become more and more bitter and once Hiruzen was appointed Sandaime Hokage, Danzo eventually started up his ROOT organisation and had been at loggerheads ever since. It wasn't hard for him to assume that Danzo had Kushina done away with just to get her out of the way so he could get Naruto. Danzo was the sort of man that would get what he wanted no matter what, even if he had to go behind everyone else's backs and resort to foul play to do so. However, unfortunately, like with the suspected assassination plot against the Yondaime before the Kyuubi's attack and the Civilian Council trying to get their hands on Minato's assets along with the suspected assassinations of those who Minato was planning on replacing the Civilian Council members with, he couldn't prove it and he could do nothing without proof. The Yondaime was a popular figure among the village populace, but was despised by many of the village's civilian politicians. It was sad; Hiruzen knew that he was unable to prove anything.
Shimura Danzo sat to Hiruzen's left along with Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu; Hiruzen's two advisors as well as former teammates who were trained by Senju Tobirama, the Nidaime Hokage. Unlike the Civilian Council as well as Hiruzen's two advisors, Danzo did not want Naruto dead. He wanted him to be brought into his ROOT program and brainwashed into a weapon, though the Civilian Council were fun to manipulate as Danzo agreed with them on mostly everything aside from Naruto and Sasuke.
As for Homura and Koharu, like the Civilian Council, they wanted Naruto dead for pretty much the same reasons, though they both knew of his heritage and like the Civilian Council had despised Kushina; believing her to have seduced and brainwashed the Yondaime into falling in love with her and they had not been told about Minato and Kushina's wedding and believed that they had not gotten married, so as far as they were concerned, Naruto was illegitimate and a bastard and therefore did not qualify as heir to the Namikaze Estate. However, unlike the Civilian Council, they both despised Kushina because she was an outsider and felt that she had gotten too close to Konoha's government and the way they saw it; outsiders were not allowed positions of power within the village and believed that Kushina had a hypnotic influence over the Yondaime. Not that it mattered; they'd probably see Naruto as Minato's illegitimate son even if they had known about the wedding due to Kushina's foreigner status.
What they feared was Konoha falling under the influence of foreign powers and believed Kushina was using Konoha as a means to rebuild her clan and establish Uzumaki rule, fears that were heightened due to the Civilian Council's hatred of her due to her clan depleting Konoha's resources and their finances being redirected to replenish them.
However, Danzo had manipulated things behind the scenes and was able to convince the Civilian Council to belay Naruto's demise, but the other thing that worried him about the Civilian Council was Sasuke. He knew the Civilian Council only humbled him because they hoped that they could make Sasuke Hokage and manipulate him into becoming their puppet. However, Danzo was no fool. He knew that Sasuke couldn't be manipulated. He was too consumed in his own hatred and delusions to be manipulated and that worried him. He would have been all for that plan had Sasuke been someone that they could easily manipulate. Danzo wanted to become Hokage himself and if he couldn't become Hokage, he'd be content to have the person who was Hokage listen to him and carry out his orders. Danzo preferred working behind the scenes anyway. The advantage in that is that he didn't draw attention to himself.
Unfortunately, Sasuke was too unstable and volatile and Danzo knew that eventually the Civilian Council would eventually run out of things to give the Uchiha heir and that it would not be enough for Sasuke and he'd demand more and once he discovered that the village was incapable of providing him with what he wanted, Danzo knew that Sasuke would undoubtably leave and betray the village and that worried him.
"Damn you Itachi," he muttered under his breath in a furious tone, "You should have killed him along with all the others. I fear that your plan has worked too well."
Many people believed that Itachi was a traitor who massacred his clan and fled, but the truth was, his criminal status and betrayal had been a ruse. In truth, Itachi had massacred the Uchiha Clan on Hiruzen's orders, though it was something that Hiruzen only ordered because Danzo, Homura and Koharu put him in the position where he had no other alternative.
For those who knew the truth about the village's founding, tensions between them and the Uchiha Clan had been running high ever since Madara's battle with Hashirama and Setsuna's failed rebellion. There always existed a distrust between the Uchiha and those who knew the truth and when Fugaku's nomination for Yondaime Hokage had been ignored, it had really infuriated him to no end and it was only made worse by the fact that Minato was indeed stronger than Fugaku and could perform jutsu immune to the Sharingan's copying abilities. That had enraged Fugaku to no end. He believed that there was nothing that Sharingan can't accomplish and the fact that Minato had proven him wrong was something he just couldn't accept. He felt that Minato was mocking the entire Uchiha just by being alive.
It had been a known fact that Fugaku and Minato never really saw eye to eye, which was a same since their wives, Mikoto and Kushina got on very well with one another. Fugaku did indeed have many arguments with Minato; the last of which ended with Fugaku storming out the room screaming on how he was going to raise the village to the ground before the Kyuubi attacked and when it did attack, many believed that it was Fugaku making good on his threat as Madara had been able to control the Kyuubi and they believed that the Uchiha had the ability to control it. Many of them blamed the Uchiha for the Kyuubi attack and it led to the Uchiha being evicted and moved to an isolated part of the village so that they could be kept under surveillance.
Needless to say, this had enraged Fugaku and he decided to instigate a coup and had Itachi implanted in the ANBU as a spy. However, Itachi had betrayed them and sold out his clan to Hiruzen. Danzo knew that Itachi had been traumatised by war since he was four-years-old and he knew that a coup would have been the catalyst for the Fourth Great Shinobi War, as it would have led to civil war within Konoha and afterwards, Konoha's enemies, including Iwagakure no Sato would take Konoha's weakened state as an invitation to attack.
Hiruzen had first tried negotiating with Fugaku, but Fugaku's hatred was so strong that he would settle for nothing less than all-out war. When confronted with the scenario that he could potentially start the Fourth Great Shinobi War, Fugaku had said that that was part of his plan and that he was planning on overthrowing the Fire Daimyo himself so he could use Hi no Kuni as a base in a campaign to conquer the whole world and establish the Uchiha Clan's superiority that he felt they had been denied since Konoha's founding.
Despite his failure, Hiruzen kept trying, but unfortunately, time was running out and Hiruzen eventually, with a heavy heart ordered Itachi to eradicate everyone in his clan, but unfortunately, Itachi had been unable to kill his brother and had come up with the idea of a ruse, as he ad intended for Sasuke to redeem the Uchiha Clan. Itachi would make Sasuke hate him and train to get his revenge in the hopes that Sasuke would be viewed as a hero after he'd killed him and the Uchiha Clan's past would be forgotten.
Danzo groaned as he remembered Itachi threatening him; saying that if he harmed Sasuke in any way, he'd go public with his mission and give all of Konoha's secrets that he knew of to its enemies and to Danzo's shock, Itachi had Hiruzen's approval to do so, probably as an act of revenge for him placing him in the position that forced him to order Itachi to massacre his clan.
Since then, Danzo had had his ROOT keep an eye on Sasuke and unfortunately, their reports were troubling. Sasuke was turning out to be a miniature version of his father, perhaps even worse. He had this delusion that everyone should bow down and worship him and the fact that the village was giving him everything he wanted only fuelled the flames. Sasuke was obsessed with revenge and hung onto his hatred and from what his subordinates had reported, it appeared as if he also held on to the hatred he had acquired for others, fusing them together. In any case, it was clear that Itachi's plan had worked too well and instead of redeeming the Uchiha Clan, with the road Sasuke was going down right now, it seemed as if he was going to end up incriminating the Uchiha Clan even more. He had that Uchiha trait in which they believed that they were above everyone else and couldn't stand being proven wrong.
Danzo couldn't help but notice the irony when he was told that Sasuke was looking to "put Naruto in his place". Fugaku and Minato had a similar relationship; especially when Fugaku would try and provoke Minato into a fight and Minato refused to humble him. He also couldn't help but notice the irony when he heard that Sasuke had threatened to kill the Hyuga heiress and she ended up beating him. Fugaku had tried something similar with Kushina and it had ended up being the biggest mistake of his life as Kushina and retaliated and Danzo's hands involuntarily flew over his crotch as he remembered that Fugaku had narrowly avoided getting castrated. Hell hath no fury than a woman scorned and Fugaku was lucky to escape with his reproductive system in tact, though not undamaged, though the damage hadn't been permanent.
In any case, this posed a problem. Danzo knew that Sasuke was unstable and Naruto had undoubtably made things worse and there lay the problem. Danzo had plans for Naruto that involved him being alive and yet, he was involuntarily pushing the Uchiha heir further and further into darkness and making the possibility of him betraying the village more and more believable, though Danzo knew that Sasuke didn't consider himself loyal to Konoha. In his mind, Konoha should be loyal to him and Danzo knew that eventually the knowledge that he was wrong was going to drive Sasuke away and Naruto could potentially guarantee that it would be sooner rather than later and unfortunately, he could not kill Sasuke as he knew that Itachi would make good on his threat if he discovered that anything had happened to Sasuke.
However, he already thought up of a plan to at least appease the Civilian Council for now. In the past, Danzo had always managed to appease them and get Naruto off the hook; albeit for his own personal ambitions since he was in their good graces and many blindly looked up to him. In was a well known fact that Jinchuriki were mostly viewed as weapons by their respective villages and only used as trump cards. Many had similar treatment as to what Naruto had while growing up, the only difference between them and Naruto was the Bijuu sealed in Naruto had attacked the village before being sealed inside its host and since it had killed a lot of people; the majority of the village were too blinded by their grief over the loss of their loved ones and their rage at the Kyuubi for killing them that they failed to see the benefits that Naruto could provide for the village in future. Of course, there were others who wanted Naruto dead for other reasons, like those who saw him as an obstacle between them and his father's assets.
Danzo was not so foolish. The Kyuubi was the strongest of the nine Bijuu and so, if Naruto was trained properly, then Konoha could have the ultimate trump card; the strongest of the Jinchuriki and that suited Danzo's plans perfectly. However, despite Danzo's wishes to see Konoha the greatest of the five main hidden villages, he had wanted Naruto as his own personal weapon and not Konoha's, since he felt only he should be allowed to control Naruto as Konoha's future leader and unfortunately for him, Hiruzen had blocked all his past attempts at recruiting Naruto into ROOT. Hiruzen was a major obstacle in his way, but he knew better than to try and assassinate his former friend. Hiruzen was smart and knew that he still operated his ROOT organisation despite the fact he had disbanded it. Danzo feared that if he did make a move, then Hiruzen would have the proof he needed to have him incarcerated, if not executed as Danzo knew that his actions would be seen as treason.
The only reason ROOT still existed was because when Hiruzen disbanded it, the majority of its members were not too happy about it and remained fiercely loyal to their leader and so Danzo kept the organisation running in secret, though Hiruzen knew about it, but was powerless to do anything due to the fact he could not prove it, plus Danzo knew that his old ex-friend was keeping a close eye on him; waiting for him to slip up and give him something he could use to expose him to the public and Danzo knew that Hiruzen fully anticipated an assassination attempt and Danzo knew better than to challenge the old Hokage. He may no longer be in his prime, but Danzo knew that Hiruzen was still quite powerful and he also knew that in a fight that Hiruzen was stronger than he was… at least for the time being.
Anyway, listening to the heated arguments, Danzo knew that things had to be wrapped up quickly, otherwise it could come to blows, since this time, the Shinobi Council were quite adamant in their stance and would not relent, even an inch. Luckily, he had already formulated the perfect plan to both get Naruto off the hook, while at the same time, appeasing the Civilian Council with regards to Sasuke.
"Enough!" he stated sternly as he glared throughout the room, causing everyone present to stop and stare at him, "It's pretty clear that we're faced with a predicament here. The students are quite adamant in their stance that if the boy is punished, then they will walk out and we'd have lost many promising ninja."
"Who the hell cares?" one arrogant civilian dismissed smugly, "This village is great enough with the ninja it already has. There's no need to add any more to the roster."
"Also, it's clear from witness statement from the heirs of our esteemed Shinobi Council as well as quite a few onlookers that Uchiha Sasuke was the one who made the first move," Danzo went on, ignoring the councilman's snide remark, "So what I propose is this. Uzumaki Naruto will not receive any form of punishment…"
"WHAT!" many of the civilians shouted in outrage, shooting Danzo looks of disbelief, but he just returned those looks with a glare out of his left visible eye.
"Let me finish," he stated in a tone that let the council members know that he was not in the mood for backtalk before clearly his throat, "As I was saying, we will not be punishing Uzumaki Naruto and we won't punish Uchiha Sasuke either."
This caused many eyes to widen and Hiruzen gave his old rival and former friend a rather suspicious stare.
"Just what are you planning Danzo?" he thought, trying to figure out what it was that his ex-friend was up to as he knew that Danzo hardly ever interfered in matters such as this unless he was hoping to gain something out of it.
"However, I have noticed that over the years, young Sasuke has become more and more violent and volatile," Danzo went on, looking around the room as he grabbed everyone's attention, "He's becoming more and more unpredictable and he clearly has issues with authority."
"Well, duh, he's the last Uchiha and he's obviously looking for revenge against his traitorous brother," a smug woman among the civilians stated.
"If only you knew," Danzo thought to himself with a sigh.
"Anyway, I can't help but notice that this behaviour has gotten worse as of late; to the point where he attacks his own classmates and future comrades," he went on without giving the woman a glance, "So what I propose it to have him undergo psychological therapy sessions with the Yamanaka Clan."
"Over my dead body," Inoichi protested furiously, shaking his head with a stern look on his face, "Therapy won't do jack-shit for that little bastard. Maybe if he had been sent to us not long after the massacre, we could've done something, but it's too late now. He's too far gone."
"You dare insult the last of the Uchiha you insensitive fool," a man on the civilian side remarked, "The boy lost his entire family overnight. You'd do well to have more sensitivity Yamanaka-san."
"I'm well aware of that," Inoichi replied with a sigh, "But he's been left to his own devices for too long and need I remind you that you and the rest of the Civilian Council have done nothing about it except bow down and kiss his feet at the drop of a hat and give him everything he's basically demanded, which… by the way is a factor in his current state. Maybe if you had been thinking with your brains and not caught up in your own delusional fantasies, he could have come to us a lot earlier and we could have helped him then, but no; it's too late."
"I'm afraid you have no say in this Yamanaka-san," Danzo commented with a strange look in his eyes as he stared at the Yamanaka patriarch, "Would you rather leave him to his own devices and have him potentially betray the village later?"
Inoichi glared at the old warhawk as he realised that Danzo had a point. Leaving Sasuke alone could be even worse. He knew about Sasuke from what Ino had told him over the years and Sasuke's cruel treatment of Naruto. He had to admit that when Ino had still been a loyal fangirl of Sasuke's, he had been at his wits end, fearing what the arrogant Uchiha would do to his little princess, fearing that he would one day force himself upon her. In that respect, he was thankful to Naruto, as it had been through him that Ino had been enlightened as to the Uchiha bastard's true colours, which Inoichi summed up as, arrogant, self-absorbed, delusional and someone who would rather force himself on women just to prove that he was stronger than them. He found himself glad that Ino had become wise to Sasuke since he knew that if Ino had brought him home, saying that he was her boyfriend, he would've probably suffered a stroke.
"Enough!" Hiruzen shouted out, grabbing everyone's attention, "As much as I hate to say it, I have to agree with Danzo's idea since he does bring up valid points."
Inoichi's eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth to protest.
"However," Hiruzen went on before Inoichi could get a word out, "Uchiha Sasuke will be put on probation and Inoichi-san will report any progress to me. If there is no progress within the week, then Uchiha Sasuke will be dealt with."
That silenced Inoichi's protests immediately as it wasn't a total loss. Sure, he would have therapy sessions with the bastard Uchiha, but if there was no progress then he would be punished for his actions. That satisfied him greatly.
The Civilian Council seemed content with this since Sasuke in therapy could possibly be used to their advantage and make it easier to manipulate him. That was what Danzo had been counting on. He had played off the Civilian Council's ambitions and brought up valid points that they had been very much aware of, but had ignored in the past. By mentioning potential consequences, plus the fact that it was him that had said it, as the Civilian Council looked up to him, it was easy to get them to agree to it and who knows, the therapy may work, though Danzo was not one to take chances as he knew that Inoichi was probably right in how it was too late for the Uchiha heir. However, for now, he decided to go along with the Civilian Council's plans as he could not do anything else. However, he would still have Sasuke monitored and should he show signs that he was planning on betraying the village, Danzo would have him dealt with, though he needed to find a way to get Itachi off his back before hand.
As for Naruto, he'd leave him alone for now. He had so many friends now that Danzo knew that it would be impossible for an opportunity to recruit him to come along in the near future. However, he would not give up. He would have Naruto one way or another. He had noticed two years previously that Naruto had befriended three girls, who consisted of the Yamanaka and Hyuga heiresses and Haruno Takeshi's daughter. Takeshi had been the best friend and right hand man of the Yondaime as well as an excellent kenjutsu master. In fact when both Minato and Takeshi graduated from the academy, Takeshi had been Minato's close second in terms of power.
"And his daughter's friends with Minato's son," the old warhawk thought evilly with a grin as he looked over at Haruno Fuhei, who filled in for late husband on the Shinobi Council, perhaps one of few on the Shinobi Council who hated Naruto, "This could prove useful to me."
The Harunos weren't a big shinobi clan; in fact, they weren't much of a clan at all with most of them being civilians. However, a few of them were ninjas and they had enough influence within the village to earn a seat on the Shinobi Council and their influence was brought to new heights when the Yondaime came to power. Many of the Civilian Council believed that Takeshi and his family only gained this boost because the Yondaime had been playing favourites since they had both been friends since before their graduation. However, Danzo knew better. Takeshi wasn't just good at kenjutsu, but he was also a great tactician, good at coming up with seemingly impossible strategies and when it came to helping run the village, Takeshi proved himself as an excellent advisor since he looked over situations and was able to recognise mistakes and ways to improve on the situation. Heck, Danzo doubted if the village would have been able to prosper if Minato had chosen Takeshi out of favouritism. Minato did listen to others and carrying out their ideas, sometimes even over Takeshi's own. No, it was not favouritism or anything like it. Takeshi was just extraordinarily smart, though Danzo had to wonder if it was because of his big forehead, which his daughter had inherited and Sakura also proved to be rather smart just like her father, though she did not inherit her father's love for kenjutsu and was particularly good with genjutsu; like her mother.
"Perhaps I can use those three to help my plans for the boy," he thought as he pondered him options, "They could prove useful in helping me manipulate him."
He knew that he had to tread very carefully here. Two of the girls were clan heiresses and the last one's mother was fiercely protective of her daughter. Despite Haruno Fuhei's apparent hatred for Naruto and her daughter's friendship with him, for some reason, Fuhei had done absolutely nothing about it. She had given up trying to discourage her daughter's association long ago and allowed Sakura to do as she pleased, though she would not let her bring the boy into her home. It stunned Danzo as to why, though he had a guess that it was because Fuhei feared being alone since the loss of her husband and Sakura was all she had left.
As for Ino and Hinata, Danzo knew that the former Yamanaka matriarch, Yamanaka Shiori had divorced Inoichi after he made his views on the matter apparent and since then, the Yamanaka patriarch had been rather protective of his daughter in much the same way Fuhei was of Sakura, though unlike Fuhei, he had welcomed Naruto into his home and even encouraged his daughter to bring him. Danzo knew that he wouldn't have any major issues with her. One of the members of his ROOT was himself, a Yamanaka and that would possibly make things easier.
As for Hinata, Danzo knew that using her would be the greatest challenge as she was a member of the Hyuga Clan and its heiress and he knew that unlike the Harunos and Yamanaka Clan, the Hyuga Clan had a massive amount of influence within the village and did not take kindly to their clan members being used for other people's gains, especially when those members happened to be part of the Main Household and to make matters worse, Hinata was their heiress and despite Hiashi's cold exterior and constant denials, Danzo knew that the Hyuga patriarch cared deeply for his daughter and that the Hyuga Clan were more than capable of dealing with ROOT if it came to war. The Hyuga Clan was perhaps the most frightening clan in all of Konoha and even Danzo himself feared their wrath for if you rubbed the Hyuga Clan the wrong way, it didn't matter who you were; even if you were the Hokage, if you upset the Hyuga Clan, the only thing that was certain was that you're life would get a lot more hellish; that is assuming they didn't kill you. Hinata would be the most difficult to deal with and Danzo knew he had to tread cautiously as he knew that if he upset her father, then his only hope for survival would be to fake his own death and get as far away from Konoha as he could get.
The woman sat in the room with her hands clasped in front of her as she rested her elbows on the desk in front of her as she looked around the room, listening to the heated arguments and how Danzo came up with a solution to calm down those power-hungry fools on the civilian side. Send the Uchiha to therapy; that was a good one. Like that would work. Like Inoichi had said, too much time had already passed and now it was probably too late for him. The therapy may be effective in downplaying his behaviour, but it would not change him. Not that she cared for the foolish avenger or anything; she was just interested in him due to his association with Naruto.
"I swear, every time I lay eyes on that disgusting little rat, I see you laughing in my face, mocking my very existence like you always did Uzu-mesu," she thought with seething fury boiling within her, "Damn you, damn you to Hell. You took everything from me."
Outwardly though, she displayed a posture of calm neutrality. Sure, at those meetings she put in her two cents against Naruto, but she never did anything too extreme. She didn't want to draw suspicion upon herself. Sure, the Sandaime had dismissed the incident two years previously in which she tried to push Naruto down the path of revenge since everything had led to a dead end, but she knew that being too forceful would draw too much unwanted attention that she just could not afford. She knew the value of patience and if she wanted to get rid of Naruto, then she'd just have to be patient.
However, she feared that someone else may end up beating her to the punch and manage kill Naruto before she had a chance to set her plans in motion, which was why she took an interest in Sasuke, as she knew that Sasuke was undoubtably looking to kill Naruto to satisfy his injured pride. Having someone else kill Naruto before she could was something that she just could not accept. Naruto was hers to kill. It was her job to rid the world of the Uzu-mesu's legacy, though if she wasn't the one to kill Naruto then she'd be content if Naruto died as a result of her plans; otherwise she absolutely despised the idea of someone else managing to do what she believed was her duty. However, she knew that she could do nothing about it other than bide her time and hope that he would remain alive long enough for her to set her plans in motion.
Danzo would be a problem, as she knew that he wanted Naruto as a weapon, but she already had the means to deal with him. She had met with Danzo countless times in the past, but she had always worn a disguise so he would not know her true identity. She had been the one who had enlisted ROOT's help in getting rid of the Uzu-mesu, after all. She had a hold over Danzo and she was prepared in case he did manage to uncover her true identity as she knew that with the resources he had at his disposal, it would be pretty easy for him to uncover her identity. It didn't worry her though. If he did uncover her identity and turn up looking for her, she'd just have all the information she had acquired of his past misdeeds and foul play made public. She already had measures in place to ensure that that information would get into the public domain should anything happen to her. If Danzo succeeded in eliminating her, then she'd have the last laugh as the information she possessed would make it into the public domain anyway.
"Crippled old fool," she thought, giving the old warhawk a brief glance, "Vengeance will be mine, even if I have to burn this village down to the ground, I will eradiate all traces of that woman's bloodline."
She knew that she would undoubtably have to wait years before her plans yielded results. After all, being a former kunoichi, sometimes while on missions, she sometimes had to wait for long periods of time before the tree bore the fruits of her labour. However, she also knew that there was a possibility that her plan could fail in which case; she needed to think up of a contingency plan. She had to be prepared for all possibilities and that included those that would cause her plans to fail and she needed to find ways to turn those potential failures around and turn them into success.
"I may need to wait a little longer than I thought," she mused to herself, "Those three bothersome girls and now the bothersome heirs of most of the shinobi clans have indeed thrown a wretch into the works, I may be forced to initialise plan B."
Now that was risky, for her "plan B" would definitely be seen as treason if she was caught and she knew that she would face a harsh penalty if she was caught. However, she didn't care. If the village had been smart, they would have risen up; overthrown the Sandaime and then deal with Naruto themselves, but many were too afraid of the Sandaime to even attempt it. The woman saw them all as weak and if her plans resulted in Konoha's destruction… well, she felt that the populace deserved it for being too weak to overthrow the old coot and have him executed for his support of the "demon brat".
The Civilian Council, whom she knew were only after the Namikaze Clan's assets and resources, were too afraid to try it. The Sandaime had been a powerful shinobi in his prime, but did they not see that he was an old man and not as strong as he used to be? If they would all band together, there was no way the old man could defeat them all. Didn't they all realise that; obviously not. She could not stand such weakness. Of course, she knew better than to challenge the Sandaime herself. He was still quite powerful for his age and the woman knew she'd lose. However, she believed that he could be overpowered with sheer numbers. A village too weak to overthrow a leader who was against their beliefs, in her mind didn't deserve to exist and so, she did not care if her plans resulted in Konoha's destruction as she had already made arrangements with Iwa to let her and her daughter stay in their village should Konoha fall.
Meanwhile, Sakura was currently at Konoha's main library, which was owned by her aunt, Haruno Kori, her late father's little sister. Shikamaru and Shino were both accompanying her as she sat at a desk with Shikamaru and Shino standing behind her as they were all reading a book about war… or more specifically, the section of the book that explained Jinchuriki.
"Okay, so Jinchuriki are people that have had Bijuu sealed inside them since they were babies," Sakura said as she read the book with both Shikamaru and Shino looking on behind her, "The Bijuu must be sealed within the person before their chakra coils fully develop otherwise the process may end up killing them. Those who become Jinchuriki will initially be able to tap into the Bijuu's chakra, as the Bijuu's chakra merges with that of their host and become crafted into the host's keirakurei that should they be separated, the host dies, the Bijuu will still live."
"And you think that Naruto-san may be the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko," Shino stated, stoic as ever, though Sakura and Shikamaru both knew that he was curious.
"Well yeah," Sakura commented with a nod, "Naruto-kun's birthday in 10th October and being eight-years old, his date of birth falls on the exact same day that the Kyuubi attacked the village."
"Also, the treatment Naruto's endured for most of his life, plus the screams of words like monster and demon are more clues," Shikamaru went on, picking up where Sakura left off, "Plus, I read somewhere that, being beings of pure chakra, no mortal can kill even the weakest of the Bijuu, the Ichibi no Tanuki also known as Shukaku. So the Yondaime was unable to kill the Kyuubi."
"And he sealed the Kyuubi inside Naruto-kun as another way of defeating it," Sakura finished, feeling a bit angry; angry at the Yondaime for condemning Naruto to such a harsh and hateful life, "I realise he probably believed that he had no other choice, but he could have made better arrangements for Naruto-kun and just why did he choose Naruto-kun anyway?"
"I don't know," Shikamaru said with a sigh, "But I do know that many Jinchuriki are viewed as weapons and many suffer the same kind of treatment that Naruto suffered and many end up becoming dehumanised machines because of it. Some are driven insane and become every bit as monsters as the one sealed inside them."
"Naruto-kun's not a monster!" Sakura stated loudly, glaring at the Nara heir, "He may have one sealed inside him, but that's not his fault. It's not like he asked to have that monstrosity sealed inside him. The Kyuubi killed my father and Ino-chan's uncle, not Naruto-kun."
"My apologies," Shikamaru said in an apologetic tone, "I never meant to imply that he was. When a bomb is sealed in a box, the box is still a box; not the device inside it. I was just commenting on what happened to Jinchuriki in the past."
Sakura nodded, calming herself down.
"I'm sorry I snapped," she apologised with a sigh, "It's just that Naruto-kun doesn't know about it and I frightened on what would happen if he found out."
"Quite," Shino stated simply, "Though one thing bothers me. If Jinchuriki are mostly viewed as weapons, then why are the villagers trying to kill Naruto-san? The Kyuubi is the strongest of the Bijuu. Wouldn't they see him more of a benefit to the village?"
"You have to remember that the Kyuubi killed an awful lot of people; many who had loved ones within the village," Shikamaru pointed out simply, "The people are probably blinded by their grief and rage to see that. They see the monster that attacked the village and killed their loved ones and as far as they're concerned, getting their revenge is more important than any benefit having the Jinchuriki of the Kyuubi no Yoko as an asset could ever be."
"I see," Shino said, shaking his head, "It's sad though. Naruto-san's done nothing wrong and the villagers are all punishing him for crimes that the beast inside him committed and even if that wasn't the case, he would have probably been made into a weapon."
"That won't happen," Sakura stated with fierce determination in her eyes, "Naruto-kun's just a boy, plain and simply; not a weapon to be used as a trump card when all else fails and not the Kyuubi no Yoko itself. I hate the Kyuubi for killing my father, but I don't hate Naruto-kun. He's just its prison."
Shikamaru and Shino both nodded in agreement.
"Though I still wonder why the Yondaime chose Naruto-kun," Sakura went on in wonder, "Why would he just up and lift a random child to defeat the Kyuubi and what about Naruto-kun's parents? Were they killed as well or did they abandon him?"
"Have you seen pictures of the Yondaime?" Shino asked, seeming out of the blue, causing the other two to look at him with questioning looks.
"Come on, I said have either of you seen any pictures of the Yondaime?" the Aburame heir asked again, giving them both a serious stare.
"Of course we have," Shikamaru spoke up as he looked over at the wall to his left where a picture of the late Yondaime hung, "There's his picture right there, though I don't see what…"
He stopped as he noticed the picture and Sakura also noticed it and both studied the picture closely and their eyes widened in shock.
"T-t-that's Naruto-kun," Sakura said with an expression of pure disbelief.
Shikamaru nodded as he studied Shino and from the looks of it, Shino had noticed the picture long before they did.
"Gee, Naruto resembles the Yondaime," Shikamaru said in disbelief, "Just how the Hell did I miss that?"
He was supposed to be a genius, when he put his mind to it and yet he had completely overlooked Naruto's resemblance to the Yondaime, perhaps in part; due to his laziness.
"Troublesome," he muttered to himself.
"If that's true, then that means that…" Sakura started to say before trailing off, though she to was at a loss to explain how she could have overlooked Naruto's resemblance to the Yondaime.
"Yondaime-sama was probably Naruto-san's father," Shino finished for her.
"But wait, the Yondaime never married," Sakura pointed out as she remembered in their history class when they were covering the Yondaime's life that there was no mention of him getting married.
"Well, if he did get married, then the wedding was probably conducted in secret," Shikamaru summarised with a hard look on his face, "Don't forget, the Yondaime made an awful lot of enemies, especially in Iwagakure during the last Great War. If they discovered that he had settled down and started a family, they may target his loved ones just to get to him."
Sakura nodded, knowing that that was true. The Yondaime had made a lot of enemies, especially in Iwa since he had single-handedly decimated their entire army in a short space of time. It wouldn't be surprising if Iwa was still sore over their loss. She knew that whenever Konoha hosted the Chunin Exams, Iwa did not send any of their genin to participate and the same with Iwa; Konoha did not send any of their genin to participate whenever Iwa hosted the exam… well they had done the first two or three times, but none of their genins came back alive; apparently all having perished during the exam and their had been reports of unofficial fights to the death between Iwa-nin and Konoha-nin whenever one of the other hidden villages hosted the Chunin exams.
It made sense why Naruto's heritage was covered up. Sakura guessed that many of the villagers were too consumed in their anger and hate to notice the resemblance between Naruto and his father or if they did, they probably mistakenly believed that the Kyuubi had assumed a human form similar to the Yondaime in order to mock them. It only served to increase her newfound hatred of the Yondaime. How could he do that to his own son? Of course, she knew that he had no other choice and probably did what he felt was right, but what she was angry about with the arrangements he had set in place and what of Naruto's mother? Had she died in child birth or did she abandon him, believing what the rest of the villagers believed? In any case, she found herself rather angry at the whole situation. The Yondaime should have made better arrangements to ensure his son's future.
Standing up, she closed the book she and the two boys had been reading and walked over to the bookshelves and put it back where she had got it and then made her way towards the exit.
"Let's go," she said to Shikamaru and Shino in a stern tone that told them that she was in no mood for arguments.
The two boys followed suit as they both struggled to get their heads round the revelations that had just discovered.
Unbeknownst to them, Haruno Kori watched them go, having overheard their either conversation. Needless to say, she found herself absolutely infuriated at them for what they discovered.
"Curse them, they know too much," she cursed under her breath.
Kori was a rather stunningly beautiful woman with a rather fine body with waist-length reddish brown hair; much like her brother's and cold cruel dark ice-blue eyes. She wore a pair of black sandals, a long reddish pink skirt and a light pink blouse with the white Haruno Family O emblem on the back identifying her as a Haruno and like her brother and niece, she had a rather wide forehead; a Haruno Family trait.
"Damn it Fuhei, how could you let that daughter of yours socialise with that repulsive vermin that should never have been born in the first place?" she ranted on quietly as she marched over to the bookshelves where Sakura had been and grabbed the book Sakura had been reading; furiously pulling it off the shelf and then she turned and glared furiously at the picture of the Yondaime that the Aburame heir had noticed and then she let out a loud scream and threw the book at the picture.
"You should have been mine Minato-teme and yet you chose that Uzumaki slut over me when I have more beauty in the tip of my pinkie toe than that whore could ever possibly hope to have in her entire body."
That summed up Takeshi's little sister pretty much. Despite her beauty, she was as evil and as nasty as they came; a gold digger only interested in marrying men for their status and wealth and she absolutely had a deep loathing hatred her brother, who had cut her off from the family inheritance.
Anyone that knew Haruno Kori would know that she had a rather extreme obsession for money and power. They were her soul mates. In the past, she had pretty much thrown her money away, spending it on this, that and the next thing and Takeshi had started to see this as a problem and had feared that she would run the Haruno Family into bankruptcy and so had cut her off financially.
Infuriated and enraged over this, Kori had started to sell herself off in the hopes of getting into a clan in order to continue her spending habits. However, none of her clients who were in clans were particularly interested in her, which infuriated her. To them, it was nothing more than a one-night stand and that was that. The money she had gained was good, but she found herself spending it relatively quickly.
However, eventually, her brother's best friend became Hokage and she knew that if she could get in with the Hokage, she could have access to the village treasury, which would be monumental for her spending habits. However, like most of the others, Minato wasn't interested, though she blamed that on her brother, since she knew that he must've told Minato about her habits and to make matters worse, Minato already had someone in his life, though she didn't see what was so special about the woman and to top it off, she was an outsider and in Kori's mind, outsiders had no business in the affairs of the natives and even more infuriating still; Kushina had been Takeshi's teammate; thus she blamed her brother for bringing them together; believing that Takeshi had played matchmaker.
It was a well-known fact that Minato had a fanclub of girls, but when Kushina entered the picture, she had scared most of them off. Only a few persisted and they were all beaten back. That infuriated her. Kushina was a kunoichi and Kori herself was a civilian. She hated it; hated how she was powerless to challenge Kushina and she heard that she and her brother had died, she had actually celebrated, especially Takeshi's death since she blamed him for the whole thing and believed that he had been out to ruin her life.
She had married since then, though she refused to change her surname. Her husband was a banker on the Civilian Council in charge of the biggest bank in Konoha, which she took advantage of; stealing money from customers' accounts and spending it while using money laundering to cover her tracks. Because of her husband's influence, she had been able to get the top job at the library, which was officially under the Haruno Family's control.
However, she found that she wanted more and she still desired to get in with a clan so she could plunder their finances for her own ends, though, now that she was married, she knew that it would almost be impossible. However, when she heard that her niece had developed an interest in Uchiha Sasuke, she saw an opportunity. The Uchiha Clan were the richest and most powerful clan in all of Konoha before the massacre that left the village with only Sasuke. She had planned on encouraging Sakura to force Sasuke to marry her in the hopes that she would allow her to have access to the Uchiha Clan's finances.
Unfortunately for her, her insufferable sister-in-law, who was really protective of her little girl knew about her and her habits and had kept Sakura away from her.
"You won't corrupt my musume-chan with all your disgusting habits," Fuhei had told her, "Takeshi-kun warned me about you and how you seem to enjoy plundering people into bankruptcy. I won't have Sakura-chan following in your misguided footsteps."
Her face twisted into an expression of pure hatred as she remembered that encounter well.
"The nerve of that woman," she thought to herself furiously, "How dare she; HOW DARE SHE!"
Fuhei actually had the nerve to accuse her of bankrupting people. No one she had taken advantage of in the past had ended up bankrupt, had they? Though, she had a sneaking feeling that that was because no one had kept her around long enough for her to plunder their finances. However, she was too angry and full of herself to realise this.
It went without saying that Kori absolutely despised her sister-in-law as in her mind; she was nothing short of a female version of her brother. Like Takeshi, Fuhei had taken steps to ensure that the Haruno Family's finances were out of her reach and what infuriated Kori the most was that Fuhei wasn't even related to the Haruno Family by blood. Like Kushina, she had been an outsider, though she had hailed from Fuyu no Kuni and from what she had heard, she had come to Konoha seeking protection, though from what she did not know; neither did she care. The fact was that someone who had married into the family and who wasn't a Haruno by blood was in charge of the family; as per Takeshi's wishes.
Needless to say, it infuriated her. Even from beyond the grave, her brother still managed to torment her and having an outsider as the head of the family was something Kori considered an insult. She should be head of the Haruno Family, not her sister-in-law. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. Fuhei was a former kunoichi and highly trained. She knew that to take Fuhei on would be suicidal and unfortunately, it was too late for her to start training in the ninja arts. One really had to train from a really young age in order to be an effective ninja. For her, life seemed so unfair. She could never defeat her sister-in-law, therefore never gaining the position of Haruno Family Head and Naruto was nothing more than a reminder of her failure to seduce the Yondaime.
She hated Naruto for that; that his very existence was because, as she saw it, her failure to get in with the Hokage; not because of the Kyuubi, though it did serve as a good excuse. In fact, in many ways she was rather thankful to the Kyuubi for getting rid of her brother and quite possibly Kushina as well. It was just that Naruto was the spitting image of his father and therefore served as a reminder of her failure and it didn't help matters that her niece had befriended him and given up on the Uchiha heir because of him. It was like Takeshi, Minato and Kushina were all mocking her, laughing in her face.
Glaring again at the picture of Minato, she huffed.
Now three children, one of which was her niece now knew the truth and she couldn't help but wonder where that would leave them in the Sandaime found out. Sakura may be that woman's daughter, but unlike that woman, she was related by blood to the Haruno Family and if the Sandaime decided to have her silenced just for not only knowing about the Kyuubi, but Naruto's true lineage then she valuable asset in her quest for more and more money. Of course, having said that, Kori knew that Fuhei had no doubt warned Sakura of her and her habits and desire for money. She would have to find some way to get past Fuhei and talk to Sakura.
Suddenly, just then her face lit up in an evil smile as she just thought of something.
"Oh I'm so evil," she laughed to herself, "Just why didn't I think of this before?"
Naruto was the Yondaime's son and therefore the heir to the Namikaze Estate and all its assets. Assuming that the Sandaime did not decide to have Sakura and those other two silenced, she could use Naruto and Sakura to her advantage. She knew that Naruto had driven a wedge between Fuhei and Sakura. They hardly ever talked to one another anymore unless it was unavoidable and Kori knew that Fuhei was only keeping Sakura around due to her fear of loneliness. She knew that Fuhei still loved her daughter, but Sakura was becoming more and more distant from her mother. She remembered the last time she saw Fuhei; her hair had been an absolute mess as if someone had messed it up and she also looked tired and rather distraught. She figured that with Sakura becoming more and more distant from her mother, she could swoop in and talk her into forcing herself on Naruto so that she could give her access to the Namikaze Clan's finances. Sakura was already Naruto's friend, so that would be easier and then she would take her revenge against her sister-in-law for carrying out her brother's wishes.
"Just you wait Yuki-mesu," she thought to herself evilly, "I'll be back on top once again and then I'm going to ruin you and the ironic thing is; your precious Sakura-chan's going to help me. The reminder of my past failure just became useful to me."
Of course, she knew that she'd have to be patient. Naruto didn't know of his heritage yet. She couldn't jump the gun, since she knew that things could go wrong, but she'd have to hope that nothing happened. Sakura and Naruto were key to getting her life back on track and where she believed she belonged.
Glossary
Hi no Kuni – Land of Fire
Ta no Kuni – Land of Rice Fields
Uzu no Kuni – Land of Whirlpools
Fuyu no Kuni – Land of Winter
Iwagakure no Sato – Village Hidden in the Rocks
Iwagakure – Hidden Rock
Iwa – Rock
Shumatsu no Tani – Valley of the End
Mori no Senju Ichizoku – Senju Clan of the Forest
Konoha Keimu Butai – Leaf Military Police Force
Konoha-nin – Leaf Ninja
Iwa-nin – Rock Ninja
Ichibi no Tanuki – One-Tailed Racoon Dog
Yuki-mesu – Snow bitch
Daimyo – Feudal Lord
Author's notes – That was a rather long chapter. Now that I've got everything established, we can move into canon now and I can guarantee you that it won't be carbon-copy anime scenes (Naruto isn't the idiot the manga and anime portray him as in the beginning and Sakura doesn't bash his brains whenever she feels like it). As for Sasuke, therapy was the best I could come up with. Like Inoichi, Danzo and the woman predict, it won't work, but it will teach Sasuke to be patient and he won't act up again until after he's experienced the power of Orochimaru's curse mark, though he will start to feel furious at Naruto before hand. I've read fics about how the civilian council only want Naruto out of the way so they can claim Minato's assets for themselves and also, I read a lot of fics that have Danzo as Sasuke's diehard supporter when in canon, it was Danzo who wanted to kill Sasuke for his betrayal, so I decided to go for something in between. Danzo will play ball with the civilian council for the time being, but if Sasuke acts up, he'll have him dealt with and the woman is someone to watch out for. As I said before, her identity will remain secret until near the end and as for Kori. Well, since Hinata has family issues with Senkei planning her death, I felt that Sakura and Ino needed some familial problems, though I can tell you now that Sakura won't go for her aunt's idea. As for Ino's scenario, I do have something planned for her family, though that will be for later. Also Sakura, Shino and Shikamaru wont reveal what they're discovered as they feel that Naruto's not ready to know that, though all of the Rookie Nine (include Mr I think I'm better than everyone else) will discover the truth a lot sooner and for Sasuke; it'll only add to his hatred for Naruto. Also, last chapter I recall mention that Sakura wouldn't have the courage to fallow through on her decision to kill Sasuke and that she's stop at the last second and in the latest manga chapter, she did just that. In truth, I was half-expecting Karin to try and kill her once she'd healed her. Maybe now that Naruto's seen Sasuke, he can put his own personal feelings aside and deal with Sasuke instead of trying to reason with him since I believe that Sasuke's beyond any help. Well, at least Naruto became smart enough to know that Sakura didn't mean it when she said she loved him. If she had said something like that before the time-skip, he probably would have believed it. Also I want to ask you guys something. Do you think I should have Kushina alive or dead? I know that if Kishimoto decides to focus on Kushina's background, what I put in this chapter concerning her will be contradicted, but hey, the same can be said for Sakura's parents, so should I have a living Kushina who believes Naruto to be dead?