Aljan Moonfire does not Naruto or any other recognizable references.

Prologue (II) – The Consequences

His first, quiet steps into the room were greeted with a slow subsiding of the chatter that had previously filled it. He slowly made his way to the middle of the room and turned to face the council members that had already gathered there.

The room itself was large and circular in shape, and designed specifically for meetings like the one about to take place. The seats of the council members were arranged in a tiered semicircle around the room. The main double doors of the room then divided that same semicircle into two sections. Across from the semi-circle of seats was a long, oppositely curved desk, and behind that a comfortable chair, perfectly positioned to have a clear view of every other seat in the room. This final seat was also directly across from the doors.

To the left of the doors sat the civilian council, taking up the middle and far back rows. The front row before them lay empty, the seats of the Go-Ikenban unfilled for now as Minato's advisors – his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, and his genin teammates, Hanajima Saki and Shoki Ryuga – had all died over the course of the Kyuubi attack.

To right of the doors, the full Shinobi and Clan councils were seated, the Clan heads seated towards the front and slowly merging with the rest of the Shinobi Council in the back. As two of the Clan Heads (Uchiha Fugaku and Nara Shikaku) also held positions on the Shinobi Council it had been decided that it was most expedient that the two councils sit together years ago.

He slowly took them all in as they grew silent under his solemn, powerful stare. He, much like many of the other shinobi in the room, had not had time to change since the fighting ended, and stood steadfastly in his battle armor, only the helmet missing. He blinked slowly, and finally began to speak, "The Fourth Hokage," he said gravely, "is dead."

The shinobi in room, already aware of this, bowed their heads sadly in acknowledgement of this fact. Some of the civilians, also aware, followed suit. Those who weren't aware were either stunned into complete, unmoving silence, or, in one case, burst into quiet tears.

"He sacrificed himself," he continued, "in order to singlehandedly defeat the monster that appeared on our very doorstep early yesterday evening – the Kyuubi no Yoko." He was quiet for a moment more.

"How is that possible?" the question inevitably came. Nara Shikaku, for once looking to be completely awake and on point, continued to voice his thoughts. "The Bijuu are only incredibly dense masses of chakra, it's supposed to be impossible to kill one of them; let alone the most powerful of them, the Kyuubi no Yoko."

The shinobi around him nodded or, failing that, agreed inwardly. Even the civilian council, on hearing this, turned to Sarutobi for a clearer explanation.

"I never said that he killed the Kyuubi," the Sandaime stated in response.

One of the civilian representatives lurched to their feet at that, panic overtaking his thoughts, "Are you saying that the Kyuubi is still out there?! That it could attack us again at any time?!"

Before the rest of the council could jump to any further conclusions, Sarutobi raised his voice once more to speak further, "I did not say that either!" he declared harshly. He turned his eyes to the still standing man, "Settle down and allow me to finish." He paused then to make sure no one was going to say anything else before continuing to explain, "Minato-kun gave his life to defeat the Kyuubi by sealing it away, where it can no longer harm any of this village."

This time it was the Uchiha clan head, Fugaku, who was the one to make the connection. He voiced the thought slowly, and almost reluctantly, "But, the Bijuu cannot be sealed into anything but…" he trailed off then, but as he spoke some of the other ninja there came to the same realization. Anything, but a human.

"Yes," Sarutobi nodded. "There is now a new Kyuubi Jinchuuriki."

Seeing the confusion on the faces of those unfamiliar with the Sealing Arts, he elaborated further on just what a Jinchuuriki – a human sacrifice – was. A human, with a demon sealed within them.

By this point the civilian council was divided into two states of mind – those stunned into silence by the explanation, and those who were actively resisting the urge to protest verbally the unbelievable bombshells their former Hokage was so rapidly dropping on them. While almost equally stunned by this final revelation in particular, the shinobi members of the council had no difficulty believing it, knowing well the sealing genius of their now deceased leader.

"But we must put that aside for now," The Sandaime interrupted their thoughts, bringing their attention back to him. "There are other matters that must be immediately discussed. At the moment, we have no leader – no Hokage to lead us through the reconstruction and whatever may follow it. This is the main reason why I asked you all to gather here at the same time. We must decide on a new one as soon as possible…"

.-.

As he entered his former – now new, he supposed – office, the now reinstated Third Hokage sighed tiredly, before turning his head slightly to address someone who didn't appear to be there at all to the naked eye. "Kurohyou."

A cloaked Anbu with wearing a panther mask appeared seamlessly in a kneeling position at his side, head bowed. "Hokage-sama."

Sarutobi blinked tiredly and said, "Bring me the child."

"Hai." The Anbu vanished as soundlessly as he had appeared.

After Kurohyou left, the Third slowly rounded the desk, taking in once more the small changes his successor had made to the room. The desk was in a slightly different position. A new book shelf had taken up residence on the far wall and looked to be nearly jam-packed with books and scrolls on sealing and jutsu creation. On stopping beside the comfortable looking chair behind the old desk, he looked up to meet the eyes of his student's student in a small portrait that now hung next to his own on the wall beside the door.

Sarutobi rested a gentle hand on the familiar wood and finally let out a long sigh before murmuring softly, "Minato-kun, I…"

He cut himself off then, eyes snapping to the side where, not a moment later, Kurohyou reappeared with another Anbu in tow – this one slightly shorter, wearing an owl mask, and gently cradling what looked to be a bundle of white cloth in their arms. Sarutobi raised brow in inquiry.

Kurohyou gave a stiff bow and said, just as tautly, "She insisted."

The Third turned his gaze to the other Anbu. The owl-masked figured just gave the impression of raising a brow right back and turning a pointed look on the rigid figure beside her. Sarutobi suddenly and clearly came to the realization that Kurohyou likely wouldn't have a clue of what to do with an infant even if he'd actually had one himself. He got a clear feeling of rolled eyes too, though the female Anbu still didn't say anything.

The Hokage sighed. "I see." Still, he dismissed the sudden insight almost immediately and instead turned his attention to the small white bundle. He held his hands out to it and said, "If you would, Fukurou."

Fukurou quickly approached her superior and gently shifted the fragile bundle into the man's arms before silently backing away. Peering down into the folds of white cloth, Sarutobi quickly discovered the reason why the normally more talkative Anbu had been so abnormally silent. Noriko's small, peaceful face, poking slightly out of the soft blanket, clearly showed that the child was fast asleep.

Sarutobi gently shifted the girl enough to free one of his arms briefly and made a silent gesture of dismissal to the two Anbu. They vanished from sight as he turned back to the desk and rounded it once more, this time to actually take a seat in the chair behind it.

Staring down at the soft blond curls of Noriko's sparse hair, the Third sighed once more. Things had not gone as smoothly as he had hoped they would earlier. Even after he had managed to get the council members off of the subject of her in order to reinstate him, they had still managed to come back around to the subject a couple more times before he dismissed them for the night.

It was clear, at the very least, that the majority was very unhappy about the Fourth's decision to re-imprison the Kyuubi – not that most of them actually knew that it was, indeed, a re-imprisonment. As soon as the words had come out of his mouth (despite the confidence with which he had said them) he had begun to second guess the decision to tell the council about her. Previously, only the Go-Ikenban, the Daimyo, and the Hokage himself had known of the existence of Konoha's Jinchuuriki.

Now, the main councils all knew of it and he was already beginning to regret telling them, despite one of his first orders being on the secrecy needed. Noriko's Jinchuuriki status was now an S-ranked secret, and he only hoped that it was enough to protect her.

His thoughts were then interrupted by a soft knock on the door. At his inquiring response, his secretary (who doubled as extra security, as she was, in fact, an Anbu herself) poked her head in the door. "There is someone here who wishes to meet with you, Hokage-sama."

He raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Ah…" the woman said, "…Shimura Danzo-sama, sir." She had been the Yondaime's secretary too, and knew very well that Danzo's visits were never particularly welcome.

Sarutobi gave an inward groan but said, "…send him in then."

A moment later the ex-Anbu commander entered with an exaggerated limp, leaning on the cane Sarutobi was perfectly aware was mostly unneeded and held a concealed blade. In a glance, the Third registered at least twenty other places for potential hidden weapons.

Sarutobi was perfectly aware of how dangerous Danzo was, more so than many others might believe. He had practically grown up with the other man after all, and they had been rivals in almost everything since they were very young. And you didn't get to be as old as they were in this profession without being either very skilled or very lucky – or both.

He knew Danzo was very dangerous. But unlike many (his most perverted student especially) he was also aware of how useful the other man was. Danzo was also aware of his own uses, and utilized them in turn to get what he wanted or needed. It was an almost game that had been going on between them for decades, and it seemed it was about to resume, and resume dramatically.

When Danzo's eyes immediately homed in on the blonde child in his arms, Sarutobi began to regret having her sent for, slightly.

Danzo narrowed his eyes. "That's the Jinchuuriki then." Despite the fact that it should have been a question, it didn't sound at all like one.

Sarutobi sighed inwardly, unwilling to show any weakness to his old rival. Outwardly, he merely held the girl closer to himself and gave a slight nod, saying, "Her name is Noriko," at the same time. He held Danzo's single eye strongly as he did this, and saw the derision that tinged it slightly. The Hokage knew it was for what Danzo considered 'unnecessary sentiment'. Anyone else would have seen nothing in the other old man's nearly emotionless gaze.

Danzo ignored the Third's response and shifted his regard back to the infant. "What do you intend to do?" he asked. Though the question was vague enough that it could have referred to anything (and Sarutobi contemplated explaining his thoughts on what to do about their currently decimated forest around the front gate, just to be contrary), Sarutobi knew he was referring to his successor's child – not that the man before him knew of that connection. Yet, anyway.

The Hokage glanced down at the small girl and said, "I want her to grow as normally as is possible," he began. Ignoring the growing contempt in Danzo's gaze at his words, he continued, "I will task my daughter with her care through her infancy, and then have her transferred to the orphanage. When she is old enough to enter the academy, she will be given her own apartment. After that, it is up to her." He finished.

Danzo snorted and ground his cane into the floor in irritation, "That child could become one of the most powerful ninja this village has ever seen, and you want to completely neglect giving her any early training?" he retorted incredulously.

Sarutobi narrowed his eyes in return, "I will never neglect this child, but I refuse to turn her into an emotionless child solider - as I am sure you would urge me to."

"Trained early, that girl could become immensely powerful, especially with the weapon she contains," Danzo almost snarled back. "Of course I would encourage her early advancement; that you would waste such potential is a ridiculous oversight on your part, Sarutobi! "

"Enough!" the Third Hokage growled, slamming his free hand onto the desk with a resounding crack as he rose to his feet, "I will hear no more of this – I have already made my decision!"

Danzo reigned himself in, and shook his head. "You will regret this, Sarutobi, I assure you. She needs to be trained early! And if you would hand her training over to me, she would be even stronger than she would be otherwise."

The Third, forcibly calming himself said in return, "I disagree," with an icy immovability. "And regardless, I will never give you free reign over her training."

"You will regret this." Danzo repeated, his teeth grinding almost audibly.

.

"I regret many things Danzo," he said resignedly, his eyes glancing behind his old adversary to run over the portrait of his recently deceased successor in particular, "and I'm sure I'll come to regret many more; but I do not think I will ever regret not handing her over to you." His gaze returned to meet Danzo's as he concluded his statement.

Danzo returned the stare for a moment before, reading Sarutobi's determination in it, finally subsiding. The Third, seeing the unvoiced withdrawal in his old rival's gaze, asked, "Was there anything else, Danzo?"

Danzo shook his head, "Nothing that cannot be covered during the meeting tomorrow."

"You are dismissed, then." Sarutobi commanded.

Danzo gave a shallow bow that verged dangerously on mockery and swiftly removed himself from the room.

The Hokage did not relax for a few more moments, but when he did, his gaze immediately came down to rest on the somehow still sleeping face of his newest charge. His eyes softened further as he began to speak. "Somehow, even decades later, we still find it impossible to have a civil conversation face to face," he whispered to the tiny girl. "I can only hope that someday you encounter a similar rival to push you forward."

Thoughts remaining on the short conversation that had just ended, Sarutobi grimaced. In some ways, Danzo did have a point. Even now, as small and helpless as she was, he could see the potential in her to be great. And if he trained her early, she could reach her peak that much sooner… But he refused to ruin the innocence of his successor's child any sooner than was strictly necessary.

He suppressed his worries with an iron will; right now he didn't have time to worry about this – there was so much more to be taken care of.

"Fukurou." The owl masked Anbu appeared again and he rose to hand the girl off to her again. "Take her to my daughter – tell her to care for her until I come to explain. Your whole squad will guard her on rotation with Kurohyou's," he commanded, thinking slightly of man that had just left his office, but also of other threats. At his name, the panther masked Anbu appeared as well.

"Hai." Fukurou and Kurohyou said quietly at the same time. They vanished then, one after the other, in successive swirls of leaves. Certain that the child will be well looked after now, he returned to his desk and the small mountain of paperwork that seemed to have appeared on it while his back was turned.

He groaned audibly this time, but sat down and quickly began to read over the first report.

.-.

"Excuse me." the softly uttered statement – one that should have been a question, but wasn't – was terrifying in its coldness.

Sarutobi was quite certain that he had never been angrier in his life. On further reflection, he withdrew the statement, remembering a couple of time where he had, in fact been more livid. Still, the point remained.

He was furious – and with good reason.

"Repeat what you just said – clearly." The Third ordered, rising slowly to his feet.

Quailing beneath the coldly furious glare of his superior, the masked Anbu slowly stood. Gulping as quietly as he could, the young, darkly cloaked man could only think on how much he hated playing the messenger – especially when the message was universally bad news.

"Directly after leaving the meeting the night before last, civilian council member Jiroumu returned to his home to share the news of your reinstatement and the sacrifice of Uzumaki Noriko with his family. His family then proceeded to spread the news throughout their acquaintances. The rumors have continued to spread since. At this point, there is almost no way, that we can see, to stem the tide. We await your orders." The Anbu slowly said, coming very close to flinching several times as the old Hokage's killing intent continued to rise though out his report.

The intelligence division had done their best to put a stop to the rumors, arresting anyone who seemed to have the remotest knowledge of Noriko's…situation – but it had quickly become obvious that there was almost no way to make the people disbelieve what they had already heard. It retrospect, it became obvious the outright arresting of the perpetrators had not done anything to help situation.

Sarutobi scowled.

The Third stood from his position behind his desk and quickly moved toward the Council Room, the rather shell-shocked Anbu trailing behind. "What have they done with the initial instigator?"

Snapping once more to attention the man adjusted his sheep mask as unobtrusively as he could and replied, "He was taken to Ibiki."

"And?"

"There seems to have been no underlying motive besides malice towards the Container and her…resident."

Sarutobi's scowl deepened and he gave a sharp nod. "Tell Ibiki I will be down soon to confirm. First though, I have to deal with the rest of the council." Shoving the doors of the Council Room open, the God of Shinobi left his subordinate to follow his orders.

.-.

Four Months Later…

Carefully lowering himself into the chair behind the Hokage's desk, Sarutobi sighed harshly, allowing the heavy sound to resound audibly throughout the room. Leaning forward, he allowed himself a brief moment of weakness as he pinched the bridge of his nose with careful fingers in a futile attempt to lessen his pounding headache.

Eventually The Third opened his eyes and raised his gaze to meet the serious eyes of the Fourth Hokage for a moment, remembering the meeting he had just escaped from. He sighed again and then spoke aloud to the silent photo, "You would be so disappointed in this village, Minato-kun. I know I am. I want to protect her as much as I can – but I suppose this is all I can do. My hands have been tied. I…am so sorry."

Blinking harshly, he shook his head, cursing not only the villagers, but also himself. He had made so many mistakes in dealing with this, and he could only wonder at the kinds of consequences that would follow.

It had taken months to deal with even the most minor of the consequences of the attack – and none of those consequences could really be considered minor. The sheer destruction that the Kyuubi Attack had caused was far from limited to just the physical, even if the losses in that area remained significant. The damage to their infrastructure and trade, the losses suffered by the shinobi forces, the absolute pummeling the reputation of the village had taken in the eyes of the world, especially with the loss of the Fourth Hokage… It all had to be dealt with, and Noriko's problematic circumstances were just the cherry atop the whole awful sundae.

Of course, as Noriko's situation was the focus of the meeting he had just returned from, it was where the majority of his attention rested at the moment. Things had only gotten worse on that front as the months passed. When he had had the councilman executed publicly for violating the S-class secret, he had explained the situation and the law to the rest of the village.

Over fifty more people had had to be executed for violating the law since, and it seemed that things were just going downhill from there. Despite become more quiet about it, the civilians were almost universally against Noriko for slew of reasons – fear of her, of the beast she carried, of it being released; hate directed at the Kyuubi and taken out on her; some even (despite his careful explanations) still believed her to be the actual human form of the nine-tailed fox, and nothing he could say could change their minds. The willful ignorance was about to drive him clear around the bend.

However, he knew that the rest of the civilian council was more subtle with their dealings, if only through necessity. Because of the guards he had around the child twenty-four/seven, he had made it almost impossible for frontal actions to succeed. He would have to keep an eye out for them, but as he honestly had no idea what they might decide to do, it would be very difficult.

He almost wanted to scream at them that they were doing this to their beloved hero's child – Minato had been practically deified by the majority of the village in the months since the attack – but he knew that would just make things even worse. After all, Minato had had many enemies, both outside and inside the village that would take any chance they could to get back at him, even if he was now dead. It might even end up turning some of his much needed shinobi support against both him and the child - and that must be avoided at all costs.

On top of all this, of course, since he couldn't reveal her heritage to the council without grave consequences, Noriko was considered a technical civilian – and thus under the care of those that hated her most. He would soon have to send her to a public orphanage instead of keeping her with him for a bit longer, as he had first intended.

And, all of his students were out of the village at this point so he couldn't even entrust her upbringing to one of them instead.

"I am too old for this," he murmured, sighing once more. He then turned his attention back to his desk, and, picking up a pen, began to get to work. Even now, there was still so much to do…

Author's Note

And, the next part. Enjoy.