Still don't own Naruto
Chapter 67: Danzo's Plot, Naruto's Resolve
Madara and Zetsu were walking along a corridor that had been made to enter one of there hidden bases inside the Land of Fire. They had hoped to have been sealing the Hachibi right now but thanks to Kirabi's trickery he had escaped them. Then Pein was defeated by Naruto. All in all it was a bad week for the former Uchiha clan leader.
"I want you to go back and check on Konoha, if I am right Danzo will make his move and attempt to overthrow the Hokage. If he succeeds he could prove troublesome to our plan's but he will make Konoha far less trustworthy" Madara said.
"Do you think they would really remove Tsunade Senju from office? She is considered a princess there" Zetsu replied.
"Do not underestimate Danzo's desire for power. He will see Pein's attack as the perfect time to install himself as hokage" Madara said confidently.
"I see, very well. I will return to Konoha immediately. But may I ask what you plan to do about Sasuke?, if he goes to Konoha he will almost certainly die" Zetsu said.
"I will deal with Sasuke. Any word from Kumo yet in response to the attempted capture of the Hachibi?" Madara asked.
"I have not heard anything, but I assume the Raikage will not let this go unnoticed, this could force the other nations to act" Zetsu replied.
"Hm in any case I am sure the Raikage will send word to Konoha. So stay there until word arrives, then report back here immediately" Madara ordered.
"Very well. We will leave at once" Zetsu said before sinking into the ground.
'Now I need to go stop Sasuke before he get's himself killed and becomes useless to me, if it was just letting Sasuke annihilate the survivors of Konoha it would have been no problem. Defeating Naruto and Tsunade however is a completely different matter. Not to mention Pein's betrayal in reviving all the people he killed inside the village' Madara thought as he exited the Akatsuki hideout and sat on a nearby boulder as the early morning sunshine began to flood the land of fire.
(Konoha)
Tsunade was awakened early in the morning by several Anbu outside her tent. "Hokage-sama your presence is required at the village elder's tent" a brave Anbu said as he approached the entrance to Tsunade's tent.
The poor messenger regretted approaching the tent soon after that as he was struck dead in the center of his mask with an empty sake bottle, that flew with precise accuracy from where Tsunade was slowly starting to awaken.
Nobody else was game enough to even try to hurry the hokage after that. Around fifteen minutes later however Tsunade exited the tent. "Where's Jiraiya, I thought he was going to be summoned to this meeting as well" Tsunade said grumpily.
"We have already sent Jiraiya-sama there, he was up all night drinking with Kakashi sempai" a purple haired Anbu with a katana on her back said.
"That does sound like him" Tsunade admitted before she began to walk towards the center of the village where most of the tents were located.
Tsunade walked until she came to the large tent where the elders were staying. "Oh Tsunade, now that you have arrived we have decided to hold the meeting elsewhere. In one of the buildings that have been left standing" Homura said.
"That way it will be easier to keep it private" Koharu said.
"What is this about anyway, the reconstruction is already underway, and we are preparing to send teams to our allies to inform them of our situation and ask for what ever assistance they can offer" Tsunade said.
"We will talk about that once we arrive" said Koharu.
"Come now, Jiraiya and Shukaku are already waiting for us along with Danzo and the other members of the meeting" Homura said.
Tsunade knew something was up. The elders seemed like they were in an internal struggle about something. She thought of questioning them about it but decided it could wait and just followed the elders out of there tent towards a small area of the village that had not been left unrecognizable by Pein's invasion.
They came to a large two story building that was often used as a recreational area for off duty shinobi. At the moment however the place was littered with Root Anbu and even several samurai. 'What are they doing here, they look like the Daimyo's personal guard... So that's what this is about huh, Danzo's trying to become Hokage. And he is using the destruction of the village to force through his point with the elders and the fire lord' Tsunade thought as she entered the building and began heading up to the second level.
As the small group entered the room she found Danzo standing at one side flanked by two of his Root members while against the wall Jiraiya was not looking happy and Shukaku was looking studying the expressions on everyone's faces.
"Ah Tsunade-Hime a pleasure to see you again" The Daimyo said with a small smile.
"Likewise Daimyo-sama" Tsunade said deciding to remain formal.
"Now Danzo-san, why have you summoned us all here?" the Daimyo asked.
"I have called you here because of a vote of no confidence in Tsunade's rule as Hokage. She has let the village become weak to the point of its complete destruction. I suggest we appoint a new Hokage immediately as we need someone new to lead us" Danzo declared.
"You can't be serious. The shinobi loyally follow Tsunade, we cannot remove her from office" Shukaku said.
"I agree, it dose seem a bit extreme" Homura said.
"But Danzo is right, maybe we do need a new leader to return the strength to the village" Koharu said.
"But who could take over for one of the sannin. Jiraiya, what about you?" The Daimyo said.
"He can't take over, he is unable to even train for the next few weeks after his near death at the hands of Pein" Danzo said.
"Then if we must choose a new Hokage, then I nominate Kakashi Hatake" Sukaku said.
"I nominate Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze" Jiraiya added.
"The son of the Yondaime and the Pupil of Jiraiya much like his father before him and from what I here he is the hero of the village, not a bad choice but he is a bit young. Kakashi Hatake, son of the White Fang a war hero pupil of the Yondaime, who was pupil of Jiraiya, who was pupil of the Sandaime. I believe he would be an excellent choice" the Daimyo said.
"I disagree, with both choice's. They are both student's of Hiruzen's floored teaching's. They would be no different to having Tsunade in office. Pein, the man who turned our village into rubble was a student of Jiraiya. Hiruzen's teaching's have as good as destroyed this village" Danzo said.
"Then who would you recommend?" the Daimyo asked.
"I nominate myself, I can have this village back operating as an efficient shinobi village again and reaffirm our status as the strongest of the shinobi village's. With me in power I will make Konoha strong again" Danzo declared.
"You make a strong case for yourself, I am inclined to accept, the Rokudaime Hokage will be Danz-" but the Daimyo was cut off before he could finish.
"I oppose this appointment" came a voice from a window of to the side of the group who were huddled in a small corner of the room.
There sat Naruto lazily resting in the windowsill, looking as though he wasn't even interested in what was going on and was just enjoying the morning sunshine without a car in the world.
"How did you get in here? The Anbu outside were supposed to keep out all intruders" the Daimyo said angrily. He was however slightly impressed with the fact Naruto was able to slip inside this close to him without detection.
"Oh that, easy really. Danzo's root members are nothing but mindless zombies, created to be able to follow all orders without any questions, and to be able to kill without thought. But that doesn't make them good ninja" Naruto said not even bothering to look at the group as he continued to enjoy the sunshine.
"I see, and may I ask why you came here?" The Daimyo said.
"Oh that's an easy question to answer. I came to make sure Danzo never becomes Hokage" Naruto replied.
"And why is that?" Danzo said clearly angry now.
"Simple, your a power hungry old fool who will bring nothing to this village but a quest for complete dominance over everyone else. Besides you should be stripped of all power or even killed for conspiracy to overthrow the Sandaime Hokage during the Third Great Shinobi War" Naruto said lazily.
"What are you talking about boy, no such thing ever happened" Danzo spat back.
"Oh I can assure you it did. You conspired with Hanzou the Salamander. He needed your help to get rid of Yahiko the first leader of the Akatsuki because he thought they would usurp his rule over Ame. You agreed to help as long as in exchange he would help you become the next Hokage and remove Jiji from office by what ever means necessary. But your plan failed when most of the members of your newly formed Root were killed by Nagato. But not after he was forced to kill his best friend. That was how he became Pein, it was not the teaching's of Jiraiya sensei that were floored it was your undesirable lust for power" Naruto said finally looking at the man giving him a look full of disgust.
"You have no proof boy, even if what you said was true" Danzo replied with a smirk.
"That's true, so instead I will just say this. If you are elected Hokage, I will leave this village and not return until you are no longer in power. I will never follow your orders and will continue to work to have you removed. Tsunade Baa-chan is my leader and I will never follow you" Naruto said, his tone of voice showing just how deadly serious he was.
"Are you threatening to become a missing ninja of this village" Danzo said his rage still rising.
"I guess I am. Would you look at that... You're not as dumb as you look" Naruto joked.
Jiraiya was just sitting back with a wicked smirk on his face at this. He was enjoying the look of rage on Danzo's face more than anything. "Well then, I suppose you're out Danzo unless your willing to risk loosing three S ranked ninja from the village. Because if Naruto is leaving I sure as hell am not staying, I think you will agree, right Hime" Jiraiya said enjoying the feeling of being able to annoy the old war hawk.
"I completely agree, why would I want to stay in a village that thought I was no longer good enough only to be replaced by a cripple" Tsunade said a smirk forming on her face.
Suddenly Root members filled the room and surrounded Naruto. "You have been a problem to me for long enough boy, you should have been turned into my weapon when you were still a boy, but that bleeding heart Hiruzen wouldn't allow it. That ends now!" Danzo said as his rage exploded.
Naruto looked on in bemusement. 'What is he doing? Does he really think a bunch of lackeys and a cripple can defeat me?' Naruto thought, but then one of his senjutsu seals activated. "A genjutsu? What do you think you are doing old man, I guess you didn't read the section about me being immune to genjutsu's very carefully" Naruto said.
Danzo was cursing inside now. He had failed he was hoping he could use a genjutsu to control the Kyuubi but it looked like he was going to have to do this the old fashioned way.
"Danzo what are you doing" Both elders demanded. The Fire Daimyo was currently being shielded by his guards and was just watching the events as they played out before him.
"I will be Hokage of this village. And if I must I will kill this boy so I can take the Kyuubi for myself" Danzo spat as he began removing a gauntlet on his supposedly crippled arm.
While the old war hawk was busy several more root members entered the room and attacked Tsunade, Jiraiya and Shukaku.
Naruto who was still surrounded by Root Anbu simply stood watching and waiting for anyone to make there move while Danzo was still fiddling with his arm.
Deciding enough was enough, Naruto decided to make his move. "You know, the best thing about being me is that, I can be in so many places at the same time" Naruto said before disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"It was a shadow clone!" on Root member said loudly.
The other members readied themselves for a fight as if expecting Naruto to come out any second now and attack.
As if they had willed it a second later six kunai flew in from different windows and imbedded themselves into the walls and ceiling. There were several flashes of yellow and blue and when they stopped Naruto was standing in the center of the room, Rasengan in hand while all the root members collapsed onto the floor either dead or unconscious.
"You loose, Danzo. Nagato asked me to find peace for this world, I may not know where to start just yet, but I do know it can't exist while there are people like you who only care about there own power around" Naruto said.
Suddenly the gauntlet in Danzo's arm fell to the ground and he removed the bandages over his right eye. All over his arm and in his presumably useless eye socket were sharingan, close to thirty of them all looking around as if they had a mind of his own. The next thing Naruto and the others in the room noticed was that on his arm there was what looked like a face made out of wood.
"Mokuton, but that mean's you injected yourself with cells from the Shodaime. Your sickening, not only disrespecting the bodies of fallen Uchiha but also the bodies of our Hokage's" Naruto spat angrily.
"Both Senju and Uchiha DNA, he must be trying to control the Kyuubi. What ever you do, don't use the bijuu's chakra" Jiraiya informed the blond.
"I hadn't planed on it but thanks for the heads up sensei" Naruto said as he glared at the older man.
Tsunade was just in shock. Danzo had stolen cells from her grandfathers body to do this, then several things began to click into place. Orochimaru, you worked with that snake to do this didn't you. You got him the cells from the old Hokage's so he could summon them to help kill sensei. You also let him experiment on you so you could gain power. Then you helped him get his spy's into the village. Just like with Hanzou you conspired with our enemy's in an attempt to gain power, but you failed each time. And you know what you have failed now as well. But this time you will die for your crimes" Tsunade yelled as she analyzed everything Danzo had done.
"I did it, that's true. I needed to be Hokage so that the village would be strong, the will of fire is nothing but a foolish belief. To make this village powerful I needed to take over and create ninja in my image. With it we would have the power to take over the world and truly be the strongest village" Danzo said.
"Enough of this" Tsunade bellowed and she ran forward and punched Danzo in the face with all of her might as it completely busted the old war monger's face open as his skull splintered and shattered from the sheer force of her punch.
"Well that was easy" Naruto said with a laugh. But then stopped when Danzo's body began to fade and the elderly man reappeared behind him.
"What was that?" Naruto asked himself as he took out some kunai and jumped back from an attack from Danzo as he took a swipe at Naruto with the hidden blade inside his walking stick.
"I don't get it.. he was dead, that was no clone, how did he do that?" Tsunade said in disbelief.
Naruto however was to busy to reply to Tsunade and he busied himself with throwing another kunai towards Danzo, before slamming a Rasengan into his chest.
Yet again the body of Danzo disappeared only to return in a different location.
"Damn it, what the hell is this?" Naruto said angrily.
Rather than look victorious Danzo was incredibly worried. 'This cannot be happening, I wont stand a chance against three S ranked ninja and Shukaku I need to get out of here now before they figure out my jutsu' he thought frantically.
Naruto readied another kunai to attack Danzo again who was now being held down by Shukaku's Shadow possession jutsu.
Deciding he didn't need to use the hirashin Naruto ran through some hand seals. "Fuuton: Uzumaki Cutting Whirlwind" Naruto yelled before using both hands to create a small tornado that cut everything in its path before it reached Danzo.
Once again Danzo survived. This time reappearing near the window. 'I cant take on three of them at the moment, and I already used Shisui's eye in convincing the Daimyo to support my appoint to Hokage' Danzo seethed intenally as he glared at the blond jinchuuriki who ruined his plan.
"It's over Danzo, I don't know what jutsu you are using but I know you can't keep it up forever, and when it stops you will be dealt with" Tsunade said.
"I wont die here, you may have stopped me today but I will still be Hokage one day, by force if necessary" Danzo said before making his way to the windowsill.
"You're not going anywhere! I will not let you escape this place" Naruto said before cutting off Danzo's escape rout.
"You wont get out of my way... Fine then. Men attack Now!" Danzo said.
On queue fire jutsu were fired at Naruto from a new wave of root Anbu entering through the window's.
Naruto quickly avoided the flames by rolling out of the way. He then went about taking out the Root members as quickly as possible, this was not that difficult with the help of Tsunade and Shukaku. Jiraiya wanted to help but at the same time he did not want to face Tsunade's wrath if he tried to fight again before she said he was ready.
Unfortunately for the group Danzo used this distraction to escape the building and begin to flee from the village.
Naruto quickly gave chase but found himself surrounded by another large group of Root Anbu, there was also a huge number following Danzo out of the village. 'Damn it he is getting away, I need to stop him' Naruto thought as he began to form a rasengan in his hand.
"Danzo-sama wishes you to die Kyuubi. This is the end for you" a Root member said emotionlessly.
"Oh I doubt that, but you guys can try. There is no harm in that" Naruto said as he reached into his pouch and pulled out a small ball slightly larger than a standard smoke pellet. "I really want to see how well this works. I never got a chance to use it against Nagato" Naruto said as he threw the small ball into the air.
Once the ball began it's decent it exploded in a puff of smoke and from where it once was Naruto's Hirashin sealed kunai fell to earth in different directions. The moment the first kunai hit the ground Naruto blurred out of existence flashing around killing as many people as he could while he could keep the seals activated.
The Root members where in disarray, despite there emotionless state and calm attitudes they could not help but sweat a little at the sight of there own death that was flashing around before it made its way over to them.
The seals finally faded and Naruto stood in the center of a pile of dead bodies. "Huh I made two more jumps than I ever had before, I guess its quicker to learn when in a battle" Naruto said before he looked around in remorse over the lives he had to take.
Naruto began to look for Danzo but realized he was probably long gone by now so he returned to the building where the others were waiting for him.
"He got away" Naruto said bitterly.
"It's alright the important thing is we exposed Danzo for the traitorous snake that he is. He can no longer become Hokage legitimately, still that does not mean the danger is over, we will set up a search party to look for him" Tsunade said.
"Quite the show, to think Danzo would have disrespected not only the fallen Uchiha clan but also your own grandfathers tomb Tsunade-Hime, you have my apologies" the Daimyo said his guards finally starting to relax around him.
"Yes, it was truly the height of treason, what Danzo did. But we still need to sort out who is to be Hokage" Koharu said.
"Are you serious? I thought we settled this. Tsunade Baa-chan is the Hokage. And until she decides she has had enough and appoints someone else herself she will remain the Hokage, I am sure most of the shinobi would agree" Naruto said.
"Hm perhaps I was wrong in thinking this boy was too young to be the leader of this village, he certainly has a way with making people see his point of view and getting them to stand behind him. But it seems the people want Tsunade-Hime to be there Hokage so she will remain in power" the Daimyo said with a smile.
"Well I for one am glad not be Hokage just yet" Naruto said with a small sigh of relief.
"I feel the same way, and I think it is sentiments that would be shared by Kakashi, if he was here" Jiraiya said with a laugh.
"Still what do we do about Danzo, we cant just send anybody after him, but at the same time the village is vulnerable at the moment so we cant send Naruto because the Akatsuki will still be after him, and sending Jiraiya is out because his injured and Kakashi is organizing all of the rebuilding work as the villages highest ranking Jonnin" Homura said.
"You're right, but I think we can let Danzo stew for awhile he will be figuring out he has nowhere to go and will now be a missing ninja and he certainly will not be welcomed anywhere else, I will send a letter to Gaara-dono, with the request for aid, to inform him about the situation with Danzo" Tsunade said.
"So are you telling me I am going to be forced to stay in the village until Jiraiya sensei or Kakshi sensei are available to accompany me?" Naruto asked clearly upset.
"Actually no. We need a fast runner to deliver the request for building supply's and aid from our allies. I can think of nobody better or faster to take the job" Tsunade said.
"So go to all of our allies and deliver letters, I was kinda hoping for a good mission, don't we have any A or S rank's that other people cant do because of the rebuilding efforts?" Naruto moaned.
"No, now you can take the mission or I will remember that you can make a small army of yourself and put you to work clearing rubble" Tsunade said.
Naruto paled at the prospect of spending the next few days doing nothing but clearing buildings so he quickly agreed to the mission.
"Uh Baa-chan I was wondering if during the rebuild I could get a clan house built for the Uzumaki Namikaze clan. I don't really have a design but I am sure sensei would have an idea, it's not like he is allowed to do anything physical until he heals" Naruto said.
Jiraiya knew why Naruto chose him to design it, he was the only person who knew about some of the specific things Naruto would need. A massive library for one. "Yeah I guess I could look into that for you kid" Jiraiya said.
"Cool thanks sensei. Baa-chan just tell me how much it will cost and you will get your money" Naruto said confidently.
After Naruto grabbed the many diplomatic aid request notes from Tsunade Naruto made his way out of the building. 'Well, it is a solo A ranked mission, guess I can't complain too much' Naruto thought as he made his way home to say goodbye to Yugito.
End Chapter!
Well that's Danzo, sort of dealt with, He will be back. Just trying to decide if I should kill him off before or after the five Kage summit.
Ill be going away for a few days so I might not be able to post over the weekend but I promise I will try to make sure that there will be at least one chapter up before Monday night.