Chapter 2 hot off the presses!
I realized that I didn't really change much in the first chapter so there wasn't much to review. Honestly I wanted to give you all a feel for my writing style and a solid background to the changes that I have made for this I guess now AU story.
You'll also notice that I have what seem to be some OC's rest assured that any OC's that appear in my story will be in canon fodder roles, there will most likely be no OC that has major ramifications to my story. I thought I'd write this now since I know some folks dislike OC's in their stories. Some of the council members are actual Narutoverse characters that won't be making appearances in my story and so I decided to recycle them into a new role. I guess you could call them OC's.
I still don't have a beta so everything you see here is reviewed and edited by myself.
Without further ado enjoy Part 2 of my prologue
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own Naruto or any of the Narutoverse characters. If I did the first real fight in Naruto wouldn't have AN ELITE JOUNIN/ANBU BADASS WHO COULD SPAM RAIKIRI AS A TEENAGER PASSING OUT AFTER 3 JUTSU. /end rant Enjoy ^.^
The council chambers were located underneath the Hokage tower right in front of the ANBU headquarters. This was deemed one of the safest locations and one of the most easily defensible positions in the entire village. Underneath the village ran a series of tunnels used by the ANBU regimen daily, in order to secure the village and allow for the protection of their citizens. There were about 25 different escape routes within the council room alone, allowing each council member an alternative route of escape and securing the hierarchy of the village command. Within these series of tunnels were also the evacuation routes for the civilian citizens. These routes where shallower than the ANBU tunnels, but had hidden passages leading towards the ANBU command to allow for immediate response to compromised evacuation sectors.
Within the council room itself were two maps. One was a rectangular map of the Elemental nations designed into the floor, which allowed for 10 cushions to be arranged around the left and right of the map. 2 cushions were also placed at what could be called the back of the map. On each cushion was the symbol of the clan to which the council seat belonged.
On the left of the table sat:
The Hyuuga Clan Head, Hyuuga Hiashi, leader of Konoha's Sentry division
The Aburame Clan Head, Aburame Shibi, leader of Konoha's Cryptanalysis Division
The Inuzuka Clan Head, Inuzuka Kudomaru, leader of Konoha's Hunter-Nin
The Kurama Clan Head, Kurama Murakumo, leader of Konoha's Research Division
The ANBU commander, identity unknown, leader of Konoha's ANBU Division
On the right of the table sat:
The Uchiha Clan Head, Uchiha Fugaku, leader of Konoha's Police Force
The Sarutobi Clan Head, Sarutobi Sasuke, leader of Konoha's Barrier Division.
The Nara Clan Head, Nara Shikaku, Jounin Commander of Konoha's forces and head strategist.
The Yamanaka Clan Head, Yamanaka Inoichi, leader of Konoha's Torture and Interrogation Division
The Akimichi Clan Head, Akimichi Chouza, leader of Konoha's Food and Drug Division
The two cushions placed at the back of the map were ceremonial cushions placed for the Senju clan head and an Uzumaki representative promised from the original treaty before the destruction of Uzushiogakure.
To the right of the map of the Elemental Nations was a second map, this one was a smaller, circular map containing the village of Konoha with each district highlighted and divided into sectors, each sector with one entrance within a 15 foot wall littered with seals that prevent chakra clinging. Each wall had its own gate which would only be closed during an attack on the village. The only gate that regularly opens and closes is the main gate at the main wall.
Sector 1 is the furthest sector from the Main gate and the most secure. This sector houses the Hokage Mansion, the Senju clan compound and an honorary Uzumaki clan compound, the Hokage Tower and the Hospital.
Sector 2 is where the more luxurious amenities could be found along with several of the prominent merchant homes. This sector houses the Hot Springs for Konohagakure as well as the Hyuuga compound to the North, the Uchiha Compound to the South and the Sarutobi compound in the center. The road forks around the Sarutboi compound leading to two different choke points that can be easily defended.
Sector 3 is where you will find the Minor Clan compounds of the Nara, Yamanaka, Aburame, Inuzuka, Kurama, and the Akimichi. Here is also where you will find most of the civilian population as well as Konohas Ninja Academy and Civilian Academy.
Sector 4 is the Trading and Merchant district. This is where most of Konoha's commerce occurs and where you'll find most of the peddlers that generate Konoha's revenue. This is also where you will find the Chunin Exams arena and the red-light district. In south corner of this district are also where the slums can be found along with the seedy underground that can accompanies most major villages.
Sitting around this map were 6 civilian council members, each council members chosen to represent the civilian population, and one member from the Fire Daimyo's court to ensure that every council decision made was for the betterment of the Land of Fire and not just for the betterment of Konohagakure. On this civilian council was:
The leader of Konoha's merchant guild Gensui Amagiri
The leader of Konoha's weapons guild Higarashi Muramasa
The leader of Konoha's transportation guild Gozu Ginji
The leader of the Land of Fire's samurai forces Kubisaki Koza
The representative of the citizens of Konoha Kizashi Haruno
The Fire daimyo's council representative Yamato Kuroda
At the head of the entire council room were 5 chairs, the middle chair was the largest of the 5 denoting a superiority above the rest.
From left to right the seats were occupied by the Hokage's personal advisors,
Shimura Danzo, leader of the ANBU Root division
Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage
The center chair, currently empty, normally occupied by the current Hokage
Utatane Koharu, former teammate of the Sandaime,
Mitokado Homura, former teammate of the Sandaime
Together they rounded out the rest of the council, a total of 21 members on the Konoha Council. Each council member has 1 vote towards any village decision and a majority of over 50% is required to pass any law or decision. The deciding vote shall be made by the Hokage should the council be split on any decision.
With the council called to order, everyone waited with hushed tones for their Hokage to arrive and being the proceedings. Groups of council members were speaking quietly to one another about the ramifications of the Kyuubi attack and what actions must be taken by the village in order to recuperate their strength. As the noise of the conversations began to increase in volume the door to the council chambers opened and the Yondaime Hokage strode silently into the room.
The door closed quietly behind the Yondaime, his eyes cold and focused, his mind still calculating all the necessary steps to ensure the survival of his village, but more importantly the survival of his son.
With the entrance of the Hokage the council members became silent, the tension in the room thick enough to cut it with a knife.
Many of the shinobi council members noticed a change in their Hokage's demeanor. Gone was the normal warmth of the Yondaime, everyone could see it in his eyes. There was no sparkle of humor, none of the usual playfulness associated with the living legend.
A few seconds later the Yondaime arrived at his council chair, instantly flanked by two of his most loyal ANBU, Inu and Yamato.
Taking his seat he looked out upon his council members, eyes slightly narrowing as he passed by the Uchiha clan head, an action that went unnoticed by all, except Shimura Danzo.
'I need to find a way to use this to my advantage,' thought Danzo.
During this time the mind of Inu was racing mile a minute.
Something's wrong with sensei. I haven't seen him like this since…Obito. Did something happen to Kushina-sensei? What about my otouto is he okay? His thoughts were interrupted when a civilian council member spoke, obviously impatient and wanting answers as to what happened tonight.
"Yondaime-sama, what happened today? Where did the Kyuubi come from? Where did the Kyuubi go? Is it gone for good or will it come back?" fervently said Gensui Amagiri, his voice gaining confidence, conviction and volume as he spoke. "My merchants are terrified and are threatening to take their business elsewhere we cannot allow an incident like this to happen again!" A murmur of agreement coming from a few of a the civilian council members, while the shinobi members stayed silent. There was truth to their words they thought as they solemnly looked up at their leader waiting for a response.
Taking a deep breath Minato began,
"Today was an attack on our village by a man possessing a Sharingan." At this council gasped throwing glances at Fugaku who sat stoicly watching the Hokage. seeing no visible reaction from Fugaku Minato continued.
"He claimed to be Uchiha Madara and possessed a space-time ninjutsu not unlike my own. He was also quite skilled in fuinjutsu. He was able to extract the Kyuubi from Uzumaki Kushina..." at this point there were murmus amongst the council, what did he mean by extract from Kushina? Was she a jinchuuriki without their knowledge? "...and summon him into the middle of our village, controlling his actions through a genjutsu," continued Minato. "As for when it'll come back… it won't. Kushina gave her life to seal the Kyuubi within her own son, Uzumaki Naruto. She created a martyr out her own son for the sake of this village."He stopped giving the council members a moment to let this sink in. His voiced hitched when he spoke about his wife's death, not that anyone would connect the dots.
'Kushina sensei is dead?' thought the young ANBU. At the 13 years old he had to many loved ones pass away. His thoughts were becoming darker and darker. Until he remembered Naruto, quickly steeling his resolve his eyes hardened. 'My otouto is still alive and I will protect him with my last breath. I will not stand defenseless and allow another of my family members die.' With that final conviction of duty he focused back on the council.
Several members let out a shocked gasp looking up at their leader hoping it was some kind of joke. Kushina was one of their strongest kunoichi, second only to Sennju Tsunade. The loss of an S-rank shinobi is a huge blow to their military, one that the enemy will be sure to take advantage of.
One council member could only mutter a single word about the whole situation,
'Troublesome'
The shock of the revelation masked behind his calculative eyes as he realized all the signs were evident of her jinchuuriki status once he pieced them all together. He just couldn't imagine that one of his closest friends contained the strongest of the nine bijuu within her the entire time.
'Heh, it explains why that woman was so troublesome,' thought Shikaku with a grim smile.
The civilian council was far more worried about the ramifications of the demon being within a baby. What if the demon was released again, what if he began to control the boy. No it had to be stopped, this was their chance to finally rid themselves of the beast.
"What are we waiting for? Where's the boy, we will kill him and get rid of the Kyuubi once and for all. Let Kushina's sacrifice not be in vain! That boy is no longer her son but a demon incarnate!" shouted Ginji, a murmur of agreements coming from the civilian council.
As soon as the words left his mouth the temperature of the room dropped several degrees and the strongest killing intent was unleashed on the man sitting at the head of the council room. Normally this amount of Killing Intent would put most civilians in a comatose state, being on the council these civilians, while still unnerved, had learn to deal with the killing intent released by shinobi, not that it did them much good.
If looks could kill Ginji would have dropped dead the moment he looked into the Yondaime's eyes. They promised nothing but pain if this child was harmed.
"No one will touch the boy," said the Namikaze with an icy steel to his voice, "He will live with me and be trained to be a proper shinobi of this Village. I will not let everything Kushina's sacrificed herself for be destroyed by idiots who don't know the difference between a kunai and a scroll. Do you understand me?" With those final words he sent a concentrated blast of killing intent towards the portly man, almost rendering him unconscious.
"H-Hai Hokage-sama," answered a profusely sweating Ginji. He would not openly dare to defy the Yondaime, but the matter still had to be put up to vote.
At this Danzo spoke up,
"Are you so sure it is in the village's best interest that you take care of the boy, Minato? He would be much better off being trained by me to become a ROOT shinobi. A weapon like him should not be wasted. I motion that you, our council, allow me to train him to be an asset to this village, lest he be used by this 'third party' against our village once more. "
Some of the shinobi council members seemed to be placated by this proposal. If anyone could train a perfect weapon for the village it was Danzo. Just as Ginji was about to second the motion, Minato intervened
"No, the boy will stay with me. Unless you've been hiding a Class 9 seal master from me in your organization, then no one other than myself or Jiraiya-sensei is capable of dealing with the boy's seal. I make this promise to you now, I shall personally tighten the boy's seal every year on this very night to ensure the safety of this village,"said Minato. Quickly mastering his anger, he collected his thoughts. "I motion to allow the boy sanctuary in my home. Allow me to mold this young boy into a shinobi worthy of being proud of. Worthy of being called a Konoha Shinobi."
Looking out into the room he seemed to have won over some of his subordinates with this decision.
"Who will stand by my decision."
At this moment Shikaku saw the opportunity to put this issue to rest by standing by the man he trusted most. Not the Yondaime Hokage, or the Yellow Flash, but by Namikaze Minato, his best friend and the best man he knew.
He quickly stood before anyone could refute the decision and spoke,
"The Nara second this motion, and accept the Yondaime's proposal, are we in agreement?"
One by one each council member stood and cast their vote for the proposal,
"The Hyuuga Clan Accepts"
"The Inuzuka Clan Accepts"
"The Aburame Clan Declines"
"The Kurama Clan Declines"
"The ANBU Accept"
"The Uchiha Clan Declines"
"The Sarutobi Clan Accepts"
"The Yamanaka Clan Accepts"
"The Akimichi Clan Accepts"
"The Merchant Guild Declines'
"The Weapons Guild Accepts"
"The Transporation Guild Declines"
"The Fire Lord's Samurai Accept"
"The Daimyo Accepts"
"The Civilians Decline"
"ROOT Declines"
"The Sandaime Accepts"
"The Advisors Decline"
With the votes tallied it was 11 in favor of the Yondaime's proposal, and 9 against, there would be no need for a tie-breaking vote from the Hokage. Pleased with the results so far Minato switched from protective father back to administrative Kage. There was much work to be done. Construction contracts needed to be written, funeral services prepared, and shinobi to recall.
Hokage Manor
Minato had just arrived home from an extremely long day. He reached into his refrigerator and began pulling out the ingredients for a sandwich, disliking the fact that he now had to make his own sandwiches, honestly what man makes his own sandwich! With this thought he was sadly reminded of the the events that occured earlier in the day.
From fighting a bijuu to losing his beloved wife, and finally protecting his son from the very village his wife gave her life to protect. It was long heart wrenching day. Enough to make any sane man wallow in self loathing and go crazy.
Unfortunately, or , one could say fortunately, Minato wasn't a sane man by any means.
He had killed thousands upon the bloody plains and lost hundreds of comrades as well, but he wouldn't hesitate to do so again in the name of the village.
There was one death that had taken the largest toll on him and that was the death of his young student Uchiha Obito. That incident was now second only to the pain of losing his wife, but the pain was no less powerful. It was what he surmised to be similar to the pain of losing a son, a pain he hoped he never had to endure.
Of course the circumstances were different back then. He had a clear target to focus his rage, his bloodlust, his sorrow. That day on the bloody plains Iwa learned what happened when you angered Konoha's Yellow Flash...
Now there was no objective, no end-game. There was no target for his hatred, for his pain other than the mysterious masked man claiming to be 'Uchiha Madara'. With a growl unbecoming of his status, he vowed to make that man pay for what he did to his family. Until then he would bottle up that pain, that hatred and use it to fuel...
'Wait, no. This is the wrong way to think, this is the Uchiha way,' thought Minato with a scowl, taking out his frustrations of the sandwich with his knife, destroying the sandwich in the proccess. 'Damn, now I have to make another.'
'I have to let go of all this rage, all of this pain. I cannot allow myself to walk down the path of hatred. I must think of whats best for the village, and more importantly Naruto-kun.' The thought of his son enough to make the young kage calm down.
'No, I guess there are no sane shinobi,' thought Minato with a slight sigh, as he replayed his thoughts. 'We left our sanity behind the day they we put on our hitaite's.'
The only comfort he could take in this realization was that he did not enjoy taking a life. Whatever shred of humanity that represented, he clung to like a life-line, for himself and for his loved ones.
Once he finished preparing his sandwich, he was slightly disappointed in the taste of the food. 'Not as good as Kushina-chan's, but I can live,' thought Minato as he slowly walked towards Naruto's room.
He slightly opened the door taking a peak inside the room. It was completely furnished with all the baby essentials. Instead of the blue one would normally see for a newborn boy, the room was decorated completely in orange at Kushina's insistence. She would not have her son in anything less. Orange after all was the best color in the world. Minato smiled at the memory, trying to ignore the pain that shot through his heart.
Naruto seemed to stir as Minato approached the side of the crib, sensing the presence of a familiar figure. With a fatherly smile, Minato bent over and picked the red-headed boy up, cradling him in his arms.
"Hello little Naru-chan, its your Tou-san. We can't tell anyone, but that doesn't matter you'll also be my little boy, I will stop at nothing to protect you," the sleepy, confused look on his sons face was enough to make him grin form ear to ear( and make any female within viewing distance squeal with delight and shout KAWAAAIIII!). This precious moment wiped away all of the troubles that plagued Minato.
In that moment it was just father and son, nothing else existed in their quiet bubble of joy.
Uchiha Compound
Within the main house was a man pacing within his study, this man was none other than Uchiha Fugaku, head of the Uchiha clan. The normally stoic, emotionless clan head allowed a brief glimpse of anger to cross his face.
'Those bastards on the council, nothing I do will gain their trust. Now they will suspect the Uchiha clan for this incident and further limit our power,' thought Fugaku pacing back and forth, at this pace he'd burn a hole in the floor. 'Damn it! Damn them how could they do this to the Uchiha clan, we founded this god forsaken Village! If only he could control that Kyuubi boy, then maybe he would have enough power to make those bastards on the council see that the Uchiha were not to be trifled with.'
With this final thought he walked over to his private liquor cabinet and poured himself a cup of sake. He began to replay the events of the council, he could still feel the gaze of each and every member on the back of his neck as if he were once again in their presence. He never once belittled himself to look at the other clan heads. Though, he could especially feel the gaze of the Hyuuga. Oh how he must have relished the position Fugaku found himself in. He would not give them the satisfaction though, leaving his focus solely on the Yondaime gauging his reaction, and ignoring the rest of the council.
He thought he was so smart, hiding his glares,but Fugaku knew. He saw the ice cold glare that was sent in his direction when he sat down on his 'throne.' If he were speaking he would have spit the word out. He would not stand for this insult to his clan!
With the image of the Hokage's glare in his mind he shivered, remembering the cold aura that the Hokage had given off today. He surely was a force to be reckoned with and currently none of his shinobi were at the Hokage's level.
That didn't mean that there couldn't be... His thoughts quickly drifted towards Itachi and his cousing Shisui. The boys were geniuses. Even at the age of 7 he could tell the amount of potential the boys held. It was potential that hadn't been seen within the Uchiha clan since Kagami, Shisui's grandfather.
Unfortuantely their minds were already being poisoned by the Hokage's meddling. It seemed he also realized the potential the boys held. They absorbed every word about placing the village before anything else. Lies. That's all they were being fed. The clan is before anything else. The Uchiha are the elite, and as such nothing comes before the clan, not the village, not even the Hokage.
But how was the question. Who could turn the boy into the perfect weapon to be used against the Yondaime and the Kyuubi brat...
Sitting there his thoughts wandered back to the council meeting and what a waste of time it was. Spindless, at the beck and call of the Hokage like lapdogs every last one of them... well, all except the elders...
With that final thought his eyes widened in realization. There was only one man within Konoha that could create the weapons Fugaku seeked.
Shimura Danzo...
He entertained the thought. Of course he didn't need to know the real purpose, he was just a means to an end. Fugaku would ensure that they weren't brainwashed into becoming blindly obedient Konoha lapdogs. He of course was no fool. He knew what ROOT was and would take the right measures to ensure that his investments remained on the right side when the time came to unleash his assets upon Konoha.
He would have to have a meeting with Danzo soon, there would be no time to waste.
Fugaku seemed to delight in these thoughts, finally easing his mind of his present troubles. Finishing the rest of his drink he threw the finished bottle into the trash and walked out of his study towards his bedroom.
'Yes, Konoha will soon find out what happens when you slight the Uchiha Clan,' thought Fugaku as he slowly closed the door to his study, locking with a slight click behind him.
A/N: Read n Review let me know what you guys think in what I guess you could call the first "official" chapter of Prodigal Brothers.
Check out my Profile Page if you're interested in a brief outline and the details to the ranking system I'll be using throughout my Fan-Fic for my Bingo Books.