A.N.: So here comes another chapter and this one is with an ilustration. You can find it on my DeviantArt profile, the link is on my profile (for those new here).
A.N.2: Now reposted with less grammar and spelling errors.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. People really should remember it after I repeated it for so many times.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Tree hideout~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Naruto was staring at his right hand. There was a thin red line on the back side of it. It had been six days since he had first discovered it and since then it didn't change one bit. He wracked his brain to find out what it could mean. He couldn't come up with anything. The worst thing was that he didn't even know how and when did it appear. He didn't have it before the fateful banquet, that much he was sure about. He had discovered it on the next day. And ever since then it stayed with him. He ran his left thumb across it. It didn't feel any different from the rest of his skin. He sighed. It didn't seem like he would figure out anything today.
His ears detected a soft sound. He stiffened for a moment and then relaxed. It was only Tenzo. He watched as his guardian climbed through the door.
"Hello," he greeted.
"Hello," Naruto answered.
"Why so down today?" the Mokuton wielder asked.
"Why not?" the jinchuuriki shrugged.
"It's not like you," the older man pointed out.
"You're right," the blond sighed. "It's just that so many things happened."
"Anything particular?" the jounin inquired.
"Well, yes." Naruto told him about the meting with the Kyuubi and the demon's ultimatum and the subsequent confrontation during the battle.
"I see," Tenzo said gravely. "You did well when you refused its offer."
"Thanks," the child replied. "That's what I needed to hear. What would have happened if I accepted?"
"I'm not sure," his guardian shrugged. "There is much about the Yondaime's seal no-one else understands."
"Can you make a guess?" the demon vessel prodded.
"Well," the man shrugged, "I'm no sealmaster."
"Can you try anyway?" Naruto prodded.
"There is some suspicion that the seal might be weakened by extensive use of its chakra," he offered.
"Define extensive."
Tenzo only shrugged again. "There are no data."
"Figures." Naruto grimaced. "Do you think I weakened it much in Suna?"
"I can't sense any more youki than usual," the Mokuton user answered.
"That's good to hear." There was a moment of silence. "Do you think I will have to use it again much?"
"What?"
"Would I have to use the Kyuubi's power a lot?" the blond clarified. "There's going to be a war. I know what I'm supposed to be – a human weapon. Would I have to use it in many battles?"
"Don't think of yourself that way," Tenzo chided.
"What?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.
"A weapon," the jounin answered. "You're human. Never forget it."
"You don't have to tell that to me," he pointed out. "But others don't see it that way. And an order is an order."
"That it is." He sighed deeply. "You shouldn't have been thrown into this so young. I'm sorry."
"It's not your fault," Naruto consoled him. "I think I would have wanted to help with the war anyway."
"War is a nasty business," the former ANBU said.
"I can tell from what little I saw," the young ninja replied.
"You still have no idea how bad it really is."
"I guess so." He sighed. "So what are we going to do now?"
"The same as usual," Tenzo answered. "You need to get stronger to survive."
"Yes. And I should do it fast."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Inuzuka clan compound~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Every since they came back from Suna, Kiba was giddy with excitement. The terrible occurrence during the banquet was pushed to the back of his mind. They tended to come out during the nights and haunt him in nightmares, but during the day there was no place for them. All that mattered was that he would be getting a new dog. He kept talking about it all the time until Tsume threatened to reconsider her earlier statement that he was finally mature enough. That managed to shut him up, but did nothing to tone down his elation. And then finally the big day came.
"So this is him?" The young Inuzuka boy was looking at the white puppy with drooping dark ears with mixed feelings.
"Yes, Kiba," Tsume confirmed, "this is Akamaru. Don't you like him?"
"I do," the boy answered, "he's cute, but isn't he kinda tiny?" Akamaru whined. He didn't consider himself 'cute.'
"And just what did you expect?" Hana commented. "A big bad wolf? The Haimaru were small as well when I first got them." The half-grown puppies barked in agreement. "Don't worry, Kiba, he'll grow up in no time."
"Can't I get three dogs like sister?"
Akamaru barked unhappily and bared his teeth.
"Sorry, boy," Kiba apologized. "I didn't mean that you aren't good enough."
The little white dog whined.
"I already apologized," the boy said. "What else do you want?"
"A treat, you dolt," Hana answered. "Honestly, Kiba, don't you know anything about dogs?"
"Of course," the youngest of the family took offense. "I'm an Inuzuka."
"Could have fooled me," his sister smirked.
"Cut it, you two," Tsume interrupted. "Introductions are over, it's time for training."
"There's still something I want to know," the boy asked. "Why is he called Akamaru?"
"You'll find out soon enough."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hokage's office~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When the Hokage had first read the letter from the Tsuchikage, he had thought his eyes had finally started deceiving him in his old age. But nope, even after he had blinked several times the text stayed the same. The next possibility was that one of them finally got senile if he could think this was a perfectly legitimate demand. That couldn't be discarded, but he doubted Oonoki would still hold his position if that was the case. In the end, he had decided that that was just his attempt to make Iwa look like the injured party here, though in an extremely outrageous manner, and threw the letter into his trash bin after crumpling it into a ball. He had considered the matter closed, but somebody had a different plan. Sarutobi had already resolved to severely punish whoever had dug the paper out of the bin, smoothed it and showed it to every moderately important person in Konoha. And now every moderately important person in Konoha demanded audience with him, wanting to know what he was going to do about said ridiculous demand. He had to move the gathering to the Council chamber so everybody could fit in. It was crowded there anyway.
"So now that everybody's here," he began, "can we go down to business? And please speak only one at a time." He barely finished when four people spoke at once. Others soon followed.
"Silence!" He accentuated his order by hitting the table. He was mildly surprised when it actually worked. "Now we can really start, and please now really one at a time, or I won't lose my time with you anymore. In case you haven't noticed, we're at the verge of a war and I'm busy."
The assorted delegates exchanged glances, deciding, who should speak first. Unsurprisingly, it was Satoru who got the word.
"The war is what we came to talk about. An opportunity to prevent it arose. Why would you discard it?"
"Opportunity to prevent war?" Tsume snorted. She was there only because all the other clan heads were going. "Don't make me laugh. You weren't in Suna when it happened. If you were, you would know there's no way to avoid the war now. Too many important people died for that and the Daimyos are vying for blood."
"So give them blood of the one who started it," Satoru replied.
"That's easier said then done, Satoru-san," Sarutobi replied. "The problem is we don't know who had started the battle."
"How can you say that?" The furious councilman pointed to his copy of the Tsuchikage's letter. "It's crystal clear who's at fault."
"And that letter is the only proof you have?" The Sandaime raised an eyebrow. Satoru looked a bit taken aback, but he overcame it quickly.
"Yes," he confirmed.
"And do you know who wrote it?" Sarutobi questioned.
"The Tsuchikage, of course." The councilman had the vague sense that the Hokage was about to turn the tables on him, but for the life of him he couldn't fathom how the Professor intended to do it. Well, nobody ever accused Satoru of being a genius.
"And who is the Tsuchikage to us?" The Third questioned further.
"He's the leader of Iwagakure." The councilman was losing the ground under his feet and he didn't have a clue how it had happened.
"I probably didn't make myself clear," Sarutobi said. "I meant what is his relation to us."
"What do you mean?" Satoru was befuddled and many of the civilians along with him. The shrewd ones were catching on.
"I mean: Is he our friend or not?" the Third rephrased his question.
The answer was easy. In their history, Iwa and Konoha were almost constantly on each other's throats. Even Satoru knew it and therefore his answer was "No."
"Exactly." The Hokage smiled. "And tell me now, Satoru-san, is it wise to believe everything an enemy says?"
"No," he reluctantly admitted.
"Then why were you so ready to believe this?" The elderly village leader raised his eyebrow.
"Because it's that…" He didn't finish. Sarutobi's glare stopped him.
"It's what?" Sandaime asked quietly.
"Nothing," the councilman said. "Just forget it."
"I will for now," the old Kage agreed, but there was an unspoken threat in his voice. "Now is there anything else you wanted?"
"Even if this isn't true," Hyuuga Hiashi started, "can't we prevent the war that way anyway?"
"Unlikely," the Hokage answered.
"He's just trying to make us discard our strongest weapon," Danzo joined the conversation. It was one of the few times Sarutobi actually agreed with him.
"Precisely," he nodded. "This isn't a missive of peace, but an attempt to strike a blow to us before the fighting starts."
"We can't be sure of that," the Hyuuga clan head continued. He was remembering his brother. "Such move worked once before."
"It was a completely different situation," the Hokage pointed out. "Our strength was dwindled and we couldn't have afforded a war back then."
"Can we now?" the white-eyed man asked. "We suffered blows to our strength recently." Even if there was never any love lost between the Hyuuga and the Uchiha, Hiashi was now missing them dearly.
"The choice isn't ours," the Sandaime sighted. "The war already all but started."
"There is one more matter to address today," Kurama Unkai, the newly instated clan head stated. "We heard that That boy used Its power in great amount recently."
"It's true," Sarutobi confirmed. "He was fighting enemy jinchuuriki so it was entirely warranted."
"And what about the match with the Tsuchikage's grandson?" Unkai prodded.
"The power emerges whenever his life is in peril," the Professor explained. "In that particular instance, he was severely wounded."
"How can we be sure it won't happen again and without provocation?" the Kurama wanted to know. "And before you start defending his character, how can you be sure he has control over it? Such things cannot be controlled." His eyes gained a faraway look. He was remembering the horrendous end of his brother and his wife and the curse waiting within their only child.
"It doesn't really matter as long as it happens near enemy positions," Koharu interrupted.
"I guess you're right," Unkai admitted, "but I'm still worried."
"That's understandable," Homura added his two bits, "but think about how many enemy soldiers you wouldn't have to worry about with such power at our side."
"That's one way to look at it," the Kurama replied.
"Anyway," Sarutobi said, "is there anything else you wish to discuss?" Nobody spoke. "Well then, the meeting is concluded. And one last thing. Don't speak about the contents of the letter to anyone."
Little did the Hokage know that the damage was already done. Every Councilmember had already shown the message to their aides, families and friends and before the meeting ended, half of Konoha had heard about it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sunagakure~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Watch it, sis, I'm finally ninja like you." Kankuro boasted his brand new shiny hitai-ate. "And I graduated younger than you! Take that."
"Idiot." She smacked him on the head.
"Aw, sis, what was that for?" The younger of the siblings whined rubbing the sore spot on his head.
"For being an idiot," Temari explained. "Do you really think they let you graduate for being so awesome?"
Kankuro's look answered that yes, he indeed did. Thankfully he had enough common sense not to say it aloud. His sister scowled anyway.
"In case you hadn't noticed yet," the fan wielder continued, "there's a war about to break out. We need to boost our shinobi ranks, even if it means letting simpletons like you graduate."
"Do you have to spoil every fun?" the young puppeteer pouted. "Of course I know there's going to be a war. But you can't seriously mean we'll get sent to the frontlines right off the bat. Anyway, who do you think I'm going to be teamed up with?"
She shrugged. "How would I know?"
Before anything else could be said, the door opened and Baki entered. They both were surprised at what Gaara's caretaker was doing there until they saw their youngest brother walking behind him. They both tensed. Even Temari, who had resolved to be nice to him, couldn't forget the sight of unleashed Shukaku during the Banquet Battle, as it was commonly known now.
"So you're both here. Good," Baki stated. Before they could answer, he continued. "Because of the recent additions to our ninja ranks, Kazekage-sama decided to reorganize the teams so that every one would have at least one experienced shinobi." The kunoichi got a sinking feeling about this. She would hardly call herself experienced, but she still had served longer that any of her brothers. "And because the three of you get along so well," here Kankuro snorted, "Kazekage-sama decided that you would be put on a team together."
"What?!" The middle one of the siblings yelped.
"Quiet," his sister hissed hitting him.
"You heard me. You three are now a team and I'm your new sensei. And because you're such a strong team," Baki added, "you wouldn't have to be bothered with low-rank missions." Kankuro perked up, Temari blanched.
"Does that mean," she started slowly, "that we'd get send right on the battlefield?" Now Kankuro paled as well.
"Not right now," their new sensei answered. "You'll be allowed to gain some experience on C- and B-ranked missions first."
"Somehow that didn't reassure me at all," the Wind user muttered.
"Don't be so down." Baki attempted a smile but failed. "You're strong. You'll get through it."
"I don't worry about this," the kunoichi corrected. "I'm more concerned about what comes afterwards."
"That," now Baki smiled for real, "is the mark of a good ninja." The compliment went utterly unappreciated.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Training grounds~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tenzo wasn't surprised to find his charge training. What interested him more was what Naruto was doing. There were multiple clones of the young blond standing around. That in itself wasn't strange, his charge used them in training quite often. Stranger was what they were doing. Some of them held leaves in their hands and were trying to set them afire. That wasn't strange either. Naruto had attempted to gain the Fire element before and it finally looked like he was getting close. What was really curious was the behavior of the other ones. They were staring at their hands, like they were trying to divine the future from them. The jounin had no idea what they were working on, but he could feel the chakra being discharged.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Working on something new," the boy answered.
"So I gathered," his caretaker replied. "But what is it supposed to be?"
"I haven't thought up a good name for it yet," the blond shrugged.
"What is it supposed to do?" the former ANBU rephrased his question.
"I got an idea in Suna," he explained. "I can make Wind blades, but they can cut only so deep. Eventually they are stopped because my hand is stopped." He looked at the jounin questioningly. Tenzo indicated he understood. Naruto continued. "So I thought about making something that wouldn't be stopped so easily. Something like a drill. It goes forward and it doesn't stop."
"I think I get it," Tenzo nodded slowly. "It even reminds me of something. But isn't that very hard?"
"Well," the demon vessel shrugged, "so far I had little success. But I will get it right, you'll see!"
"I don't doubt it," the man smiled.
"Anyway, you said it reminded you of something. Can you remember what? It might help."
"Sorry," he shook his head, "I can't remember."
"Too bad," the blond sighed. "Never mind, I'll figure it out anyway." He created a Shadow Clone and it ran away.
"Where did he go?" the jounin raised an eyebrow.
"To the library, duh." The child looked at him like it should be obvious to everybody.
"Of course. And before I forget, we've been called to the Hokage Tower."
"Why didn't you say it before?!" Naruto jumped and moved to run.
"Relax," Tenzo caught his arm. We have almost an hour before we have to be there." The boy quieted down a bit.
"What are we called for?" he wanted to know.
"Well," the man smiled enigmatically, "that's a secret."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Streets of Konoha~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ever since Naruto became genin, the hateful looks following him everywhere toned down a bit. But now they were back with vengeance. Naruto was taken aback and unconsciously stepped closer to Tenzo. He was trying to pretend he didn't see them, but it was hard. People were whispering, all around him. His sensitive ears picked snippets of their conversations, even when he wasn't trying.
"That's him. How dare he…" "…like he owned it here…" "…knew he was no good. It had to happen eventually." "…should have killed him when…" "…shame they allow him to walk around just like that. But it won't be long now."
What could have caused such reactions? Neither Naruto nor Tenzo knew, though it seemed they would find out soon. Two people stood in front of them, especially hateful sneers on their faces. Their white eyes marked them as Hyuuga and their covered foreheads meant they were from the Branch House. They looked alike, both tall and thirtyish, with long black hair, the most noticeable difference was that one was male and the other female (at least their clothes suggested that). The female spat on Naruto's feet as they were passing by. The blond wanted to simply ignore it, but Tenzo couldn't.
"What was that supposed to mean?" he barked at the perpetrator.
"You need to ask?" she shot back.
"How dare he just walk around like that?" her companion added.
"I don't know what your problem is," the jounin started, "but you'll step aside this moment. We were summoned before the Hokage. Do you want to be the reason we're late? I'm sure he would be very understanding that you felt the need to delay us and keep him waiting."
"Why didn't you say so?" the woman smiled, but it wasn't a pleasant smile. "We don't want you to be late. Especially if he'll finally do what he should have done a long time ago." The two Hyuuga disappeared in the crowd.
"What was that about?" Naruto asked.
"Probably the usual," Tenzo shrugged.
"I don't think so," the blond shook his head. "This was much worse."
"You're right," the man sighed. "Something got into them today. Hopefully they'd get over it soon."
"Yes. Let's hope they do." But he couldn't shake a feeling of foreboding.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Hokage Tower~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When they reached the Tower, Naruto was only mildly surprised to meet both his teammates there. He smiled in greeting. The bad feelings from their journey there immediately disappearing.
"Hello. Do you know what are we here for?"
"No," Hotaru shook her head, "he wouldn't tell us."
"You're going to find out soon enough," their sensei assured them.
"It better be good," Hana grumbled. "I was in the middle of a torture... I mean training session with Kiba."
"Oh, it would be." Before the Wood user could say anything else, the Sandaime's secretary stuck her head into the room.
"Hokage-sama will see you now," she announced. They followed her into the office. Sarutobi was sitting behind the table, puffing his pipe.
"Thank you all for coming," the old man began. "There is usually a bigger ceremony, but everything is so busy lately, so we'll make it quick. You already know how you did in the Chuunin Exams, so now is the time to make it official. Congratulations, you are now chuunin of Konohagakure. Here are your vests." He reached under his desk and handed them three flak jackets.
Naruto's face broke into a huge grin. "Thank you, Old man, you're the best!"
"Whoever taught you manners, Tiny?" Hana scolded, but she was smiling as well.
"I'm glad to see you're all so happy, but we still have to clear some things out," Sarutobi interrupted their antics. "First here's the paperwork for your new rank."
Naruto muttered something under his breath. It sounded suspiciously like "You sure know how to spoil our fun."
"You have to fill it and hand it to the Shinobi Registration Office tomorrow," the Sandaime continued. "Next. Chuunin teams are usually organized differently than genin teams, but because you're still fresh, you'll stay together under the command of Tenzo for the time being."
"Great," Naruto smiled. He couldn't imagine what it would be like to be without his guardian.
"What's not so great is that as chuunin," the Hokage spoke, "you will take part in the war once it starts. I don't like sending freshly promoted chuunin out there, so you'll start as backup, but you'll be seeing the battlefield before you know it." He paused for a moment to let his words sink in. "If you don't have any questions, you are dismissed."
Since nobody had anything to say, they filed out of the office. Once outside, they immediately tried their new vests on.
"It clashes with my skirt," Hotaru complained. Really, the combination of khaki-green and dark purple wasn't overly appealing.
"Too bad for you," Hana smirked. She simply exchanged her leather jacked for the official chuunin one. It looked good on her. "It's just a bit too tight."
"Too tight? Try three sizes too big," Naruto grumbled. The girls looked at him and had to stifle giggles.
"Oh," Hotaru laughed, "you look like you might get lost in it."
"Yes," Hana agreed, "you'd fit into it two times."
"That's not funny," the boy scowled. "How am I supposed to fight if that thing keeps getting into my way?"
"You don't have to wear it all the time," the purple-haired girl reminded him. "Many chuunin and jounin don't."
"Then how would people tell I'm a chuunin?" the blond objected.
"That's true," Hana pointed out. "Most have trouble believing he could be a genin."
"He'll just have one custom-made," Tenzo interrupted.
"That would be great," the youngest of the group agreed. "Hey, do you think I should wear the official uniform too? You know, to look more official?"
"If you want to," the jounin shrugged.
"It's probably a wasted effort," Hana jibed. "You aren't going to look official no matter what you wear."
"Hey!"
"Cut it out, we should be going," Tenzo ordered.
They walked out of the tower, still admiring their new attires. On the front steps they paused. There was a crowd gathered in the square and they looked at them none too friendly. Both Naruto and Tenzo immediately recognized the two Hyuuga they had encountered earlier in the forefront. Thinking of it, there were quite a lot of Hyuuga in the crowd.
"Do you think we can get through?" Naruto whispered. He had to admit he was scared. Not even before Tenzo took him in he had to face a crowd that angry. The worst incidents were always with individuals, usually drunken ones. But here gathered hundreds of people and they all looked perfectly sober. What could have gotten into them? Then the female Hyuuga from earlier stepped forward and he got the sinking feeling he was about to find out soon and not going to like it a bit.
"You're still free?!" The woman screeched.
"And looks like they made him chuunin," her brother (probably) spat.
"And he walks around just like that," somebody from the crowd added. "Hey you! How dare you show your face here?!"
"And why shouldn't he?" Tenzo retorted. Naruto cringed. His experiences with mobs told him this wasn't a smart thing to say.
"Why?" the Hyuuga woman screeched. "Why he asks? You know why! It's all his fault!"
"What is?" Naruto asked. Somehow it didn't seem they were talking about the Kyuubi.
"Don't try to look innocent!" she spat. "We knew you were no good and now you finally proved it." They definitely weren't talking about the fox. But what else? Naruto couldn't recall doing anything that would warrant such a reaction.
"We let you live here and that's how you repay us? By trying to destroy us?" The blond wished he had a clue what was this all about.
"Whatever has gotten into you?!" Tenzo shouted.
"Like you don't know! That little bastard brought a war on us!"
"What?!" Naruto couldn't believe his ears.
"Yes! Why did you have to kill the Tsuchikage's son?"
"I didn't!" His exclamation was completely ignored by the angry gathering.
"Now he's going to wage war on us!"
"People will die because of you!"
"Unless we send you to him!"
"Yes! Kill him and send him to Iwa in pieces! That will save us!"
Somebody threw a stone. It went wide, but it was soon followed by others. Team Tenzo had a hard time to dodge them all. Some of the people throwing them had to be shinobi. The mob moved forward.
"Back to the tower," the jounin ordered. The three chuunin obeyed immediately. "Close the door," he shouted at the guards at the door. They were already moving. They didn't want to have an angry crowd inside.
"What's going on here?" Sarutobi's voice boomed through the entrance hall.
"That demon is running away," shouted somebody from the mob.
"Silence!" The Hokage looked furious. And because he underlined his words with a liberal dose of Killing Intent, the crowd actually obeyed. The Sandaime marched towards them, his robes bellowing behind him. For a moment, he truly looked like the God of Shinobi. The people in the first rows tried to back off, but they found they had nowhere to go. "What," the Third spoke in a dangerously low tone, "do you think you are doing?"
"Trying to stop a war," one of the bravest explained. Sarutobi inwardly groaned. He had known the outrageous request would mean trouble the moment he had first landed his eyes on it. He definitely had to find whoever had released it and send him on a lengthy vacation with Ibiki. Outwardly he gave no sign of what he was thinking. He only scowled deeper.
"And whatever makes you think that murdering a child would help?"
"He murdered the Tsuchikage's son!" The Professor replied by intensifying his Killing Intent. Many people in the crowd paled. Those on its outskirts were trying to get away stealthily. Good. Soon only the core would remain.
"And who told you that? I was there and saw everything. And he didn't do such thing."
"Hizashi did nothing as well," spat the Hyuuga Branch House woman. Ah. So that was the crux of the matter. "Why does He get to live when he didn't?" She sounded almost hysterical. Sarutobi frowned. This had to be handled carefully.
"The problem is," he began softly, "that there is no way to stop the war now. Do you know how many important people died during the battle at the banquet? The Daimyos are vying for blood and vengeance and they wouldn't stop until they have it. And unlike you, neither of them believes it is Naruto's fault. Our own Daimyo blames Iwa for the death of his favorite cousin. Even if you actually managed to appease the Tsuchikage, we would still have to go to war. And in war, we have to be united. Can't you see that your actions are aiding our enemies? Can't you see that you're doing precisely what the Tsuchikage wanted you to do: sow discord in our own ranks? Be ashamed of yourself!" The crowd thinned to barely a half before he finished his speech. It looked like the whole Hyuuga Branch House was there. They were glaring daggers, but they didn't dare to say anything in the face of the Hokage's wrath. Most of them also saw the truth in his words, though it did little to quell their anger.
"Now," Sarutobi spoke again, "go home. "And don't repeat this foolishness ever again." With those words he walked back into the tower and slammed the door behind him.
"They should leave soon," he addressed the shaken Team Tenzo. "Stay here until they do." Nobody even thought of disobeying.
"What was that all about?" asked the Mokuton wielder.
"And who is Hizashi?"
Next time: some characters people were asking about make an appearance.