Sorry for the delay, school and all that. Hope you enjoy! ^_^

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. No own, no sue.

Chapter 7: The Trip Into Town

The journey to Konoha was long, but they finally made it to the gates.

Before they were too close, Hiranor pulled Gaara and Sakura aside. "Alright, I will need you two to stay with me, as I am sure you will not be given pleasant glances what with Gaara being a Jinjuriki and all. Now just remember that if anything happens I will be right here. I will protect you if the worst should happen, but I hope the villagers act sensibly." He smiled at them fondly, "Now, remember, before I am willing to take my people any closer to this village I need to make sure that it is safe. So Gaara and Sakura I need you two to stay behind with the villagers until I say it is okay, alright?" They both nodded. Good. Wish me luck."

With that he walked away his hand in the air signaling his farewell. They looked at each other worriedly. They knew that he was strong, seeing as how he was the Kazankage and all, but they couldn't help it. After all they didn't know what the village was like having spent a year in isolation from the rest of the world.

_A Fiery Passion_

Hiranor walked up to the gates at a leisurely pace, making it seem that he was just an ordinary traveler, even though he was really quite stunned at how beautiful Konoha looked. When he passed the gates, two guards appeared in front of him. "Hello there, welcome to Konoha, the village hidden in the leaves. We noticed that you came alone. Are you in some kind of trouble? Need a job done?" the first guard started to pester him.

"Kotetsu, leave the young man alone, I am sure that if he had need of our services he would have asked right away. Besides, he just got here, give him some space."

Kotetsu sighed, "Fine. Have it your way Izumo." He looked back at Hiranor. "Well, I hope you enjoy your time here in Konoha." He paused for a moment. "You wouldn't happen to be a ninja would you?" watching for any sign of deception.

Hiranor laughed, which startled the two guards. "Me, a ninja? Hahaha. That has got to be the funniest thing I have ever heard."

Kotetsu and Izumo looked at him equally confused. "What's so funny about it?"

Tagerasu shook his head, "Well, you see, I am the son of a very old clan, but if you must know they stopped teaching ninjutsu over a hundred years ago." It wasn't a lie, his clan DID stop teaching ninjutsu, however that did not mean that they stopped teaching. "And while I am sure you have many questions you would like to ask me, I must be on my way. I have never been here before and I would like to see what this village looked like.

As he was walking down the main street of the village he heard a couple people talking. He inconspicuously made his way closer to hear them better.

"…get rid of that thing."

"Well, I hope they do because I won't feel safe until that thing is gone."

Hiranor popped up behind them. "What thing?"

"GAH!" Both the men that were talking jumped five feet in the air. When they landed back down, the chubby one of the two said, "Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack." Holding his heart and panting frantically.

The Kyudaime Kazankage bowed deeply. "My sincerest apologies. I was simply curious about what you were talking about."

"Oh, we were just talking about how the council is going to get rid of the demon child and let us live our lives in peace."

At the mention of demon child, Hiranor couldn't help but shake with rage, but the other two apparently didn't notice as they continued on. "Yeah, that Uzumaki brat will finally be gone and we won't have a demon on the loose anymore."

At that point Hiranor snapped. He lunged at the two men and hit them both so hard that they flew backwards and slammed into the wall behind them. Everything stopped. Everyone around the three stopped and stared, wondering what set this guy off. Two leaf village Shinobi poofed next to Hiranor and pushed him to the ground.

One of them had a monkey mask covering his face, the other had a wolf. "Alright stranger that is as far as you go. You are coming with us to see our Hokage and she will decide what to do from there." They poofed away with their 'prisoner' and in a puff of smoke appeared in the office of the Hokage.

When the smoke cleared, they saw that the Lady Hokage was not there. Wolf smacked himself on the head, "Damn, I forgot that Lady Tsunade had a meeting with the council." He looked Monkey, then down at Hiranor who was lying on the ground. "I guess we will have to add another thing to the docket then. Alright Monkey, pick him up and let's go." Monkey did as he was asked and they disappeared in another puff of smoke.

They reappeared inside the council chamber, startling a number of the attending members. One civilian councilman stood up, annoyed at the interruption. "I hope you have a good reason for interrupting our meeting Anbu, we are in the middle of taking out the trash at the moment."

A relatively young-looking woman who wore a grass-green robe and a grey, kimono-style blouse stood up, eyes flashed angrily. "Naruto is not trash Kiyoto. He tried to do what was asked of him and the only thing you want to do is kill him? You have no right!" She said indignantly.

This must be the Tsunade they were all talking about. Hiranor waited for his 'captors' to address their leader.

Wolf stepped forward. "Lady Hokage, there was an incident in the village a short while ago where this man attacked two of our civilians. They had not made any move to assault him so we restrained him and brought him here so that you may decide his fate."

Tsunade took a deep breath. She looked down at Hiranor and narrowed her eyes. "And why pray tell did you do that?"

Hiranor shook off his 'captor's' arm. He looked up at her with respect showing in his eyes. "Well, they were talking about the Uzumaki kid as if he were a demon so I decided to show them what I thought about their opinion." He smirked; this village was going to be very entertaining.

Tsunade smiled, she liked this guy, whoever he was, "Well, I can accept that. I trust that you will never do it again?"

"As long as they don't talk about it while I am around."

"Good." She clapped her hands "This matter is closed."

Several councilors in the room stood up in outrage, "You are going to let him off with little more than a slap on the wrist? He attacked our villagers."

"Who obviously have no respect for their own protectors. This man is apparently of higher caliber than any of you. He is not of Konoha but even he can see it is wrong to punish someone for something they did not ask for in the first place." She paused, then looked down at said man. "Oh and before I forget, what is your name young man? I am lady Tsunade, Gondaime Hokage of Kono… What happened to your eyes?"

At the moment she had chosen to look back down at Hiranor, his Enpashigan had been activated, and he was furious. Everyone's attention was brought upon him, but at the moment he didn't care. He brought his arms in front of him. Now this action normally doesn't elicit a gasp, but at the moment I question he had been restrained by very tight ropes, and the two Anbu behind him had been looking at his hands to make sure he didn't try to get out of them. Not only had he not made any attempt to remove the rope, but he had simply moved his arms and the ropes fell off. When they looked at the end of the rope they saw that it was burned.

Hiranor looked up at the councilors and spat fire at them, literally. They all jumped back. Tsunade's eyes widened. She had heard of no such jutsu, or even a Kekke Genkai, that had such power over fire. "What are you?"

Hiranor smirked, "My name is Hiranor Tagerasu. And as for the other question, how about instead of telling you I show you?"

Danzo couldn't help but be intrigued by this strange boy who was a member of a clan and had a Kekke Genkai that had been thought to be extinct for over two-hundred years. He had to have him. He cleared his throat, which drew everyone's eyes to him. "I suggest that we have a fight. A battle between this boy and Naruto Uzumaki. The winner goes free."

Tsunade rose to her feet, her eyes blazing, "Danzo, you are out of line. We have already established the fact that this man is stronger than Naruto. It would be a completely one-sided fight."

Tsume Inuzuka growled, "You think you can weigh one life against the other? Well guess what, the council will not stand for it. These are human beings, not tools to be tossed out when they are deemed useless. Naruto is a good friend of my son Kiba and I will not let you hurt him."

Hiashi picked up the reins after Tsume, "He is also a dear friend of my daughter Hinata (He would never admit they are dating) and I know that if he goes, she will follow and I cannot have that so I cannot agree."

Pretty soon all the clan heads were saying how Naruto was a positive influence on their children's lives and that it would not be in the best interest of the village to have him killed or exiled as they would break all ties to the village and leave.

Tsunade looked Danzo square in the eye and said, "You have overstepped your authority for the last time. I move to have Danzo removed from the council, permanently."

Danzo was left at a loss for words. Shikaku Nara nodded his head in agreement; Along with Hiashi Hyuuga, Shibi Aburame, Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka. Tsunade agreed with them as well. She had been waiting for an opportunity to get rid of Danzo since the first moment he tried to turn Naruto into a living weapon. Plus he had halted any attempt to have Naruto adopted, which left many with a lot of pent up frustration.(did I mention how much I despise Danzo?)

"All who wish to have Danzo removed from this Council raise your hand."

More than half of the council members raised their hands. Without Danzo on the Council a lot more could be done since he did everything he could to subvert the Sandaime's, Yondaime's, and the Gondaime's power for his own gain.

"You have chosen well, Hokage of the leaf."

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