Chapter Five
A/N: Here we come to the main plotline of this story…the Hokage's increasingly desperate efforts to find a successor. While he slapped down Wind, Rice, and Lightning Countries last chapter…he also created a lot of resentment and anger…which he or his successor will eventually need to pay for. Lots of fun stuff planned for the future, as you can imagine.
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The ANBU stood, unmoving, in front of the Hokage.
"Rat, you have a difficult, but important task."
"Yes, Lord Hokage. How may I serve?"
Sarutobi sighed. "Senju Tsunade has been absent from the village for nearly six years. Her agreement with me is that she is required to return for one month every five years, at a minimum. I wish for you to…remind her of this obligation. I believe she is in the western part of Fire Country. Can you perform this task?"
Rat nodded, but his head did not bounce back up.
"You have something to say?"
"I will be glad to give the Slug Mistress the message, but I would…request that you write the message. I believe she will give it more credence if it came from you."
"Very likely." Sarutobi's aged hand began scratching away on a fresh scroll. His words were less diplomatic than what he'd asked Rat to relay. He also added a warning about harming the messenger.
Sarutobi would see his student in less than four weeks or else he would send Jiraiya out, when he returned, to bring the woman forcibly back to the village in chains.
He was tired of her shenanigans, tired of her apathy.
She was a powerful kunoichi and did nothing. She had been gifted with a legendary facility healing people and did nothing with it. She was a horrible gambler and did nothing but dump money down a bottomless pit. She was a walking wreck…and Sarutobi was done humoring her.
For the longest time, he hoped she'd come to her senses and return voluntarily. Had she done so, he might have even tried to convince her to take the position of Godaime Hokage.
But…now…he had less humor about this mess.
He finished his harshly worded message, signed and stamped it, and then passed it to Rat.
"If she resists accepting the scroll or becomes angry, just leave. Your job is just to deliver the message. If she looks like she is about to punch you, she likely is. She might be a legend, but she has terrible control over her emotions. Get out of her way. I will expect a personal report when you return. If it takes longer than four weeks to locate her, discontinue your search. Questions?"
The ANBU shook his head.
"Thank you and good luck."
"I am sure I will need it, Lord Hokage."
After the ANBU left, Sarutobi sighed again. "You might need every bit of luck…. I hate this, all of this. Tsunade; Jiraiya…I trained the best and they turn out mentally weak and corrupt, not the way Orochimaru was, but in different ways. I am too old to be Hokage, but I cannot even give the job away. Everyone turns me down…."
He shoved the anger down.
He went back to his pile of paperwork. The report on the Raikage made Sarutobi curse his infirmity. He had threatened a lot at that 'peace' conference, but it would have been a challenge to do the things he'd promised. But…he should still have ended that horrible ninja's life.
He had two jinchuuriki in his village, one the brother of the previous Raikage. And he was involved in the Hyuuga massacre, it was now confirmed. Also, it was possible he had a young Hyuuga male child.
This poor Hinata child seemed broken in so many ways…and there wasn't any way to undo it. Hyuuga pride had taken them from Konoha; arrogance had kept them from forming an 'inferior' new alliance; and the shroud of mystery with which they operated had permitted Hidden Cloud to slaughter all of refugees except for Hinata and perhaps a few other children.
He marked the scroll "Read, No Action."
Perhaps he'd be able… No, why was he trying to kid himself? He needed to stall and allow a successor into this office. That person…would deal with this Raikage.
He had purchased, at a potentially heavy cost, two or three years of 'peace' from Lightning and Wind Countries. But as they managed to cobble together new finances, they would be back…and horribly angry.
He felt like he had just spent Konohamaru's trust fund in order to do this…and in a way, he had. People of his generation would be dealing with the mess Sarutobi had just created…for a few years' breathing room.
The old man didn't kid himself. While Orochimaru had planned an invasion, Sarutobi's harsh response had just planted the seeds for the Fourth Great Shinobi War. It would percolate for a while, but eventually the fully brewed mess would return like a wave trying to crush everything.
He tried to put that out of mind, but it didn't want to go.
Especially when Sarutobi finally realized – for sure – that Jiraiya was truly unfit to become Hokage. That first mission report scroll had brought the hairs on the back of Sarutobi's neck up as if he were in the presence of the Shinigami himself.
Jiraiya earned one point in his favor: the report was so negative and brutal, Jiraiya earned a point for honesty.
But…the contents of that report alone were enough to keep Sarutobi from ever asking Jiraiya to be Hokage again.
To be so irresponsible…when he knew Naruto was being hunted…to take thirty minutes to track down so much chakra usage…to be out in some bar floozy's apartment massaging her feet and painting her toe nails after taking his pleasure with her…to force a chuunin to outwit two S-ranked kidnappers. There was no excuse.
Sarutobi was seriously considering summoning Enma next time Jiraiya appeared before him…and giving only the instruction, "Make sure he lives, Monkey King. I don't care how many weeks he spends in the hospital."
He reached into his desk…and his hand almost stopped at that horrifying scroll Jiraiya had sent him. Instead, he willed it to another scroll.
He pulled it out and unrolled it.
It contained the names, in order, of who should be approached as Hokage should Sarutobi die before he'd formally appointed his successor.
He drew a line through Jiraiya's name. Tsunade's name hadn't been on this scroll for some time.
Hatake Kakashi's name was here…only for his relative strength. As a leader and administrator, Sarutobi would be better off leaving his village to be run by his monkey summons…or perhaps the slugs.
Uzuki Yuugao's name was here. While she had power, and had proven her leadership chops in the ANBU, she was also too brittle to take the position of Hokage.
There were the names of a few has-beens, caretakers should the worst happen. People like his former teammates, some of the few who hadn't betrayed the village's Kyuubi secrets all those years ago.
Then…horror of all horrors…Maito Gai. He was strong. He possessed a powerful summoning contract, the turtles. He was an excellent teacher, one of the best of the jounin-sensei corps. But his personality…it was almost an immediate disqualifer. Good to motivate the troops, perhaps, but unlikely to earn respect from fellow Kages and Daimyos he would have to work with.
The last name on the list had been added a few months ago, before he'd even made the young man's legacy public. Namikaze Naruto. Of all of these, he wasn't the strongest…yet…and he wasn't the wisest or the most diplomatic. But, even at his young age, he was probably the best choice.
Still, if Sarutobi died tomorrow, Naruto would never be given the position. He was too young. And he had the Akatsuki on his tail…which would be a huge distraction from running the village. With a likely war on the horizon, well the Hidden Leaf needed a full time Hokage.
He had been in this office, off and on, for more than forty years.
Now…he really couldn't even give it away. There was no one qualified in the way that Minato was…or that Jiraiya or even Orochimaru at one time were. All had been battle tested…all were feared by the enemy…and well respected by the military corps here. But Orochimaru had been too twisted…and Jiraiya too brittle…and Minato, while strong, had been too willing to throw his body and his life at a problem while leaving his village almost completely vulnerable in his absence.
The Hokage thought about scribbling a few more names. Perhaps Yamanaka Inoichi? He was strong and could think. Or perhaps….
No. He no longer felt like it was really his choice. He had held out so long looking for a perfect candidate that he no longer felt like he was approaching this rationally.
He needed a more neutral opinion…if he could even find someone to take this pestilent job…
His mind stopped in that moment. A neutral opinion…of people who wanted this job….
A horrible, wonderful, disturbing, superb idea formed in his aged, crafty mind. It was almost too clever for words.
He reached for a fresh scroll to begin jotting down notes. There were a lot of holes in this initial idea, but if he could resolve them…if…then this might be the answer to all his problems.
To have public acclaim for the Godaime…to have him feared by enemies…and respected by the ninja corps…and as well prepared for the war soon to come.
It was crazy, but it might just work.
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Naruto was sick to his stomach. Not because he was on a boat or because he was dizzy or ill. No…he had his eyes opened wide because of this 'training exercise' Jiraiya had sent him on.
At present Naruto was lifting a box and carrying it from a dock to an empty section of a warehouse.
He, in his 'dumb guy' disguise, now worked for the Gato Corporation's Warehouse #117.
This building dealt with trade goods mostly, but Naruto's chakra-enhanced senses detected illegal drugs in some of the boxes.
That didn't bother him.
No, it was the bits of gossip he overheard. The times when the women would be coming in. The times when the next shipments of servants would be leaving.
He dropped the box into the warehouse and took a break. The breakroom was where he did his best investigation: the gossipy thugs who worked here loved bragging about what they knew, what they'd heard, or what they'd just made up.
Naruto poured some saki into his tea, which was apparently a popular thing to do in Wave Country, then he sat down, grunted, and sipped slowly. That was how most of the thugs interacted. Silence and perhaps grunting. A few who knew each other would gossip like old women during their breaks. That's what Naruto wanted to hear.
"You can't go against the oyabun of the boats. He's got a nukenin from Mist on each one, they say. Costs a lot but it keeps pirates away as well as thieves," one thug said, apparently disappointed to point out a huge hole in another thug's plans.
"Blast," a dumber looking thug responded. "We took jobs here just so we could get close to the boats. All the best stuff is gone by the time we're called in. I want the primo stuff…."
"Well, the good stuff gets handed off to the oyabun of the ports usually. Do we have anyone in there?"
"No. Not hiring right now. The oyabun of the warehouses needs a lot of strong backs, but the port authorities operate and charge their taxes and levies with a small number of idiots, with a powerful nukenin for backup."
"This is just a mess. I don't want to carry about sacks of flour or sake or even the watered down drugs they sell to people on the streets. I want the pure stuff…."
Naruto finished his sake, stumbled to his feet, and wandered back into the warehouse to continue his 'job.'
Over the next half hour, he sketched out what he knew. Three bosses divided up Gato: one for the boats, one for the ports and taxation of all non-Gato boats, and one for warehousing of goods and distribution of street-quality drugs. Handling three bosses was harder than just one, of course.
Naruto spent the rest of the day trying to piece together a plan…a plan to end Gato's control of Wave from beyond the grave. Not only did it need to be smashed, but it needed to be obliterated so that it couldn't reform.
Naruto had only four more days before he and Jiraiya had to escort the kiss ass diplomat back to Fire Country. Not much time to plan out this much chaos.
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Hyuuga Hinata walked into the Konoha Ninja Academy. It was strange being here, a place where she could learn. She had spent the last week getting to know all the surviving Hyuuga in Konoha, but each new person made her think of her missing son.
She didn't even know his name.
She walked over to the oldest person in the main hall and said, "Excuse me. I was looking for the Administrator's office."
The young man – no, ninja, he had a forehead protector on – smiled at her and pointed down one of the halls. "Just at the end of that hall, Miss."
Hinata smiled a bit and then headed down the hall. Learning to smile – learning the reasons why someone would want to smile – had been awkward. It still hurt her muscles to hold a smile for any length of time.
She knocked on the door a few moments later and was invited inside. The aging man, a Jonin if she understood how the various ninja ranks tended to dress, stood up and pointed to a chair.
"Thank you," Hinata said.
"I had a note from the Hokage. I understand you wish to become a ninja?"
"Yes."
"You are Hyuuga. Do you have any experience molding chakra?"
Hinata nodded. She had learned something that basic long before her parents were murdered.
"Good. Sometimes young men and women who decide to become ninja after they enter puberty…sometimes they no longer have the ability to unlock their chakra. But you started early."
Hinata tried to smile, but it really felt uncomfortable. This administrator didn't seem to be asking questions. Was he expecting her to talk about herself?
"You are a bit on the old side to be placed in a first year class. The Hokage approved permitting you a tutor, as well, so that's what we'll do."
Hinata nodded. "I understand. How long do you think it will take me to become proficient?"
"A lifetime," the jounin said, smiling. "Sorry, it's a little joke. A ninja continues to learn until the second he dies…or else he dies at a very young age. How fast you progress is up to you. If you're dedicated, I suppose I will see you again in a year or so for the genin examinations held once a year. If not, it might well take you longer."
"I see. Might I meet with my tutor today?"
"Yes. I have a chuunin who's trying for jounin soon, so he's off standard rotation. Umino Iruka is a very gifted teacher, I think you'll find."
Hinata made to stand before the jounin waved her back into her seat.
"I had one more question. I ask this of all the students I talk with: why do you want to be a ninja?"
Hinata blinked. "You don't have to worry about my motivation. I will learn as much as this Umino Iruka can teach me. Someone important to me was kidnapped from me. I wish to have the strength to help get him back."
The jounin stared into Hinata's unnerving eyes for a few moments, then nodded. "I see. Thank you for your directness. I will walk you to Iruka's office."
"I appreciate that."
Until Hinata arrived at the chuunin's office, she didn't speak. She had an odd presence when she was silent, an unnerving presence. Umino Iruka picked up on it immediately.
Hinata was going to be a tough nut to crack. But he vowed to try.
"Have a seat, young lady. We'll start your first lesson right now, if you're willing?"
"I would like nothing better."
In her mind, Hinata kept telling herself 'I will find my son. I will find a way.'
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Itachi stood inside a partially destroyed, hardened bunker underneath a few acres of rice fields. He was sifting through the rubble of the part of Hidden Sound he had just damaged.
Many of the places he'd read from Kabuto's memories were manned by the Hidden Leaf now, but they hadn't found all of these places, the very worst ones.
This one had been a perverse sort of hospital.
Instead of making sick people better, it made reasonably healthy people ill in order to attempt to heal them. What little Itachi had seen indicated there was a massive failure rate in what they attempted to do.
He spent hours investigating the place. The spot where the Uchiha 'materials' had once been kept was empty. Someone had moved them outside of Kabuto's presence, even though he was a chief researcher for the Snake Bastard.
Kabuto's mind had given Itachi the location of relatively few other research locations. One of them had been under Leaf control; there were two others outside Rice Country that Itachi hadn't traveled to. But he needed to find and destroy what Orochimaru had stolen from his clan.
Then…then…what came next?
He involuntarily blinked a few times during this moment of confusion. He didn't know. He'd been so focused for so long on vengeance; he just wasn't sure what came next.
The anger welled up inside him again. His Mangekyo Sharingan flashed into rapid movement. Orochimaru was dead, taken from him, from his rightful justice.
Was there anyone else as guilty? Was that old bastard Jiraiya an accomplice…by allowing the Snake Sannin to survive a desertion? What about the entirety of the Hidden Leaf Village? They had created and trained that monster. Did they deserve to perish in flames?
His Sharingan stopped and the red in his eye reverted to black. The tears of blood dripped down his face, but Itachi didn't bother to wipe them clean.
He didn't notice them.
He was thinking about his next avocation: to judge whether the Hidden Leaf deserved to burn for creating and not stopping their Snake Sannin. Itachi couldn't destroy Orochimaru any longer, but he could destroy the village that created such a monster.
He moved through the broken tunnels. He began placing high-intensity explosive notes in critical places. After he finished his inspection, he'd reduce the place to a hole in the ground.
There were a few other places like this…then it was time to head into the Leaf.
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Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped onto the floor of the arena in Konoha proper. Only Konoha shinobi were present at this time. He'd repeat this speech in less than an hour for any and all comers in the 'other' Konoha arena, the one created to handle the Sound/Sand invasion.
He still thought the plan was a bit crazy, but he had no better options. All of the most powerful remaining Konoha shinobi were unfit for high office, especially his alcoholic student Tsunade. All of the good administrative minds, such as Yamanaka Inoichi, were nowhere near Kage-level in terms of their ninja skills.
He had to do this.
Jiraiya had written that he was a fool for doing this – as the Hokage had decided to permit a small number of people to comment before dropping this bomb. Naruto, however, seemed enthused about the idea. Perhaps that should be equally troubling. The boy would, no doubt, attempt to participate.
"Good morning, shinobi of the Leaf. I am sorry to drag all of you away from your assignments, but this message is very important. I wish for all of you to hear it directly from me. No second hand nonsense.
"As most of you should be able to see, I am an old, old man." This line got a bit of nervous laughter, as the Hokage had intended.
"I have decided on a process for selecting my successor, my second successor, unfortunately. As the Hidden Leaf village upholds the most democratic traditions of any of the Hidden Villages, I have settled on a general plebiscite for selecting the Godaime Hokage…."
That got people talking. No one had ever done anything like that. It sounded so odd in a military dictatorship to extol the virtues of democracy…but ninjas always were a bit schizophrenic.
"As with any offer, there are rules. Let's start with the people who will have their names on the ballot. They have the next six months to decide whether to come forward. Then each person will submit him- or herself to a series of six public challenges I have designed, one each month for six months. About one year from today's date, the names of those who have passed the six challenges will appear on a ballot.
"Now, let's talk about who may vote. All Konoha-based ninja and civilians over the age of twelve may go through the qualification process to vote. All one need do is attend each of the six public challenges. Each person who goes to all six will be entitled to vote. People who attend five of the six challenges – or fewer – will not be permitted to vote."
Voices called out questions or tried to. Sarutobi raised his hand to silence them.
"Hold on. There will be time for questions in the coming days and weeks. Right now, I would like to talk a bit about the public challenges and then spend a moment talking about why I'm selecting my successor in this manner. I'm sure most of your questions fall in those two buckets, anyway.
"Each challenge will test some aspect of being Hokage as I understand the role. Some of the challenges are mental; others are physical; some have many tactical solutions, some can be completed only through the use of a single correct strategic framework. Any person entering and passing the first challenge may proceed to the second or drop out. No questions asked.
"The subject of the first challenge, by the way, is wisdom. While the Hokage must be powerful, he or she must also possess a keen, well-honed mind. He or she must know what to do in unexpected or perilous situations. I leave the rest to your imaginations for now.
"As to why I have decided to throw the succession open to the public, let me be blunt. All four of the Hokages to this point have risen to prominence because of war. Thankfully, the world has been reasonably quiet this past decade. None of our younger ninja have had the opportunity to make reputations for themselves. Whoever I select as my replacement must have the backing of the ninja and the civilian population. People must know that the Godaime is strong enough to protect everyone. What better way than to allow all of you the chance to see the would-be Godaime candidates prove themselves and make their names famous. It is better this tournament than another war, I think.
"Now, I have said my peace on this matter. The paperwork to become a declared candidate will be available in the Hokage Tower starting tomorrow afternoon. I ask all of you to remain while I head off to deliver this speech to the general public. To keep you from leaving and gossiping before I'm ready for it, I have asked Morino Ibiki, the head of our Ninja Fitness Program, to tell you about this year's qualification courses."
The groan was loud. No one liked tests, especially ones run by Ibiki. But ninja were supposed to be discrete and yet they were some of the biggest gossips. So, he had to keep them busy until he could deliver this news to the civilians.
Hopefully Ibiki would work them all over very well. Too many people were getting injured on missions lately. Carelessness, perhaps, or dereliction in training.
Whatever the reason, it had to stop.
The Hokage was halfway across the village, jumping from roof to roof, when he realized a snag in his whole plan. Konohamaru, his precious grandson, would no doubt demand to enter the tournament.
"Blast!"
The way the rules were written, anyone could enter. The Hokage would not change them now, not even to protect Konohamaru from himself.
'I'll have to let him enter if he asks. I hope his mother forgives me in the next life.'
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Naruto decided today was his last day working at Warehouse #117. He had two days until he had to leave, but he couldn't stand being close to this corruption any longer.
The plan was a rough one, but it should suffice. At four o'clock, all hands were requested to be ready to offload ships. That meant around three o'clock a whole lot of ships would be clogging up the main strait between Fire and Wave.
Naruto left a Shadow Clone in place when he set off on his mission. The key was the boats. If there were no transportation, there would be no monopoly and no way to import and export the most valuable illegalities: women and drugs.
Naruto created another Shadow Clone and sent it off to the Port Office. As he ran to the southwestern tip of the island, he peeled off Shadow Clones every few minutes. All of them quickly disappeared off the road.
He did stop at one innocuous building far from the water. He took thirty minutes to saturate it in explosive notes. After all, the thugs had gossiped back and forth about this building and what happened here in the late evening hours. It was the greatest club in Wave, even if it looked abandoned now.
All the thugs in the warehouse professed to going. Most claimed they had seen the various oyabun here too on a regular basis. A club where rival leaders felt comfortable was probably some sort of neutral ground, perhaps even a nerve center.
Naruto finished his rigging and left a Shadow Clone illusioned as a tree branch.
What Naruto planned wasn't one big attack. No, he planned something far different. He was planning to create a massive act of God, untraceable back to shinobi…followed up by a clear signal that ninja were involved and displeased.
It was the mystery surrounding shinobi that terrified non-shinobi enemies. They could do abnormal things. Naruto planned to up the mystery factor ten fold.
He arrived at the foot of a massive, incomplete bridge and waited. The bridge should have been a thing of beauty, but now it was rusting away in spots. Someone had poured a lot of love into its incomplete construction. Had Gato stopped it? Used his Mist nukenin to frighten off or kill the workers?
Why were ninja always just a little too late to solve problems?
Naruto tried to clear his mind. He reverted to one of the chakra control exercises that were almost second nature to him now. He walked over to the bridge and began to 'climb' it without actually touching it. Sure he moved his arms and legs correctly, but he didn't come within an inch of the metal. His arms and legs moving were just for show in case anyone happened to catch a glimpse of him. A guy climbing a bridge is a lot less odd than a guy floating in the air.
While it calmed his nerves and centered his mind, all this upward movement came from exerting control over the air. It was the best exercise he and the Hokage had yet developed for him to use. He made it up and back down three times before the ships he was looking for became visible in the light fog.
Half the trick of being a good ninja was waiting for the right moment. Naruto was by nature impatient, but he held still for twenty long minutes.
Then he unleashed chaos. He thickened the air behind the sails of the ancient boat sailing west. A moment later it went from fifteen knots an hour to fifty. It plowed straight into a modern, metal, gleaming boat likely carrying tons of drugs to Gato Corporation warehouses.
A few moments later another ship appeared out of the fog, a virtual convoy on the seas designed to keep pirates at pay. An artificial gust of wind hit this boat, too. The force almost grounded the boat onto the pilings where the bridge would never be finished on the Fire Country side. The boat didn't reach dry earth, but it did run over the thick concrete footings that were waiting for a bridge to use them.
A few moments later a gust of wind hit the semi-grounded boat and caused it to capsize. The rolling motion against the concrete footing tore a three foot gash from port to stern along the boat's hull.
For the next thirty minutes, Naruto used the fog to help him destroy a fleet of Gato ships. He used only direct wind manipulation; he used no ninjutsu, nothing with his chakra signature attached to it. The shinobi who would eventually come to investigate this 'strange occurrence' would find nothing pointing to a ninja's hand.
By the time Naruto left, the entire Gato convoy was wrecked. Eighteen vessels in all. The strait was almost totally packed from Fire to Wave with tightly compacted metal. Naruto could easily hop along this new 'bridge' without getting his feet wet.
Naruto hid himself along the shore waiting to see who would be coming to check on the delayed boats. This point right here was the place where most foul-ups happened, or so the thugs at Warehouse #117 reported.
According to those unreliable sources, more than a dozen vessels had been wrecked here in the last decade. That was why it was a perfect place to put a bridge. It was actually fairly dangerous to cross this spot in a boat.
Too bad only ninja would be able to leap well enough to use the new 'Great Naruto Bridge' constructed from drug runners' broken boats.
At six o'clock a group arrived to see where the ships were. Naruto immediately picked out the cocky guy in charge. He would be following this group back…likely to the boating oyabun's base of operations.
The angered group showed up at a run down warehouse on the northern stretch of the main island a little before eight. This was headquarters.
Naruto stealthily ghosted around the facility laying explosive notes. A little before ten two more groups of people showed up. Two people seemed to be more important than anyone else: probably the rival oyabun.
As the clock struck midnight, nearly a hundred sets of explosions rocked the quiet night. The warehouse with the three oyabuns inside was gone. A shadow clone stationed near the club used by the various thugs dispelled; the club was destroyed. Clone after clone dispelled and the memories flowed.
The last one he received: Warehouse #117 was history.
He began walking like a civilian would back to the hotel where he and Jiraiya were staying. He pondered over what he'd done in this past week. He had killed for the first time, killed a lot. He didn't feel bad…now. But it might take some time for reality to set in. It felt more like a service than anything. The more time he had spent with the thugs in Warehouse #117, the more he appreciated the assignment Jiraiya had given him.
The Toad Sage would likely have much to say about how Naruto had accomplished his task…but it was clear it was done. It was a bloody affair, but there was no way to take out three rival power bases cleanly. At least the two-pronged plan had netted up the main leaders: a 'natural disaster' happens that causes the rivals to get together where they can be cleanly assassinated en masse.
Naruto paused before opening his hotel door. There was someone inside. He had become especially careful of hotels since meeting Kisame and Tobi. A closer sensing, using the air inside the room, revealed it to be his hairy sensei. Naruto opened the door and walked inside.
"I heard it all the way over here. You don't do things by half measures, do you, kid?"
"I'm not a kid," Naruto snapped. "I am also tired. Unless…."
"Okay. Okay. I'll go investigate in the morning, but I have few doubts you were thorough. Full debrief tomorrow?"
"Sounds great."
"Good job, ki…err, Naruto. You've earned a good technique from me. How about an Earth Style? Maybe Swamp of the Underworld. A kid like you needs more wide area techniques, I'd say."
"Really?" Naruto's flagging adrenaline spiked for a moment.
"We can start tomorrow. Sleep in. I'll be by at ten." The door closed quietly behind the senior ninja.
"Night," Naruto said, before his exhausted body almost crumpled into the bed.
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"Tobi thinks tournaments are fun. Can we go? Tobi wants to see all the happy people!"
Pain tried to keep his temper as an angry Uchiha Madara kept spouting off nonsense about the Sandaime Hokage's crazy plans for succession.
That Madara had been denied that position, that it was now open to the public – it made him positively livid.
Kakuzu looked at Pain for some help. No one but Pain seemed to know how to deal with Tobi…and Pain was at a loss here.
Kisame finally got bored of Tobi's ranting and asked, "Is there anyway we can turn this to our advantage? Our true goal is to create a little peace through better violence. This will be a very public forum, undoubtedly with a lot of spies, assassins, and others around. A good time to frame up Mist for killing the Hokage or something?"
Pain quirked his head to the left as he pondered.
"…Tobi likes red things. Blood dripping off a kunai is just too pretty…."
Pain shook his head. "I will think on it. I do not think we will have the power we wish at our disposal by then. We might have collected one or two bijous in that timeframe, but we won't have enough to really put the plan into effect, even if this fool Sarutobi has given us a great opportunity."
The little orange-masked ninja slammed his hands on the sides of his chair. "Tobi will enter the tournament! Yes, Tobi will be most powerful Hokage!" By the time he finished shouting, he was standing on his feet jumping up and down.
Pain sighed. Hidan was behaving himself for once so why did Tobi go off and stay off the deep end? Kakuzu looked like he was trying to determine if there was any value in murdering Tobi.
"We will send observers," Pain announced. "If this tournament allows us to advance our agenda in some way, we will use it. Otherwise, we will have Kisame and Tobi use the chaos around the tournament to secure the Nine Tails for us."
"Oh, yes! So many pretty tails. All red, too! Tobi will have Nine Tails when he's Hokage!"
The meeting ended shortly thereafter.