Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and this is just a fanfic based on others ideas and hardwork.
"Speaking"
"Thinking"
Chapter 13:
All of a sudden a chunin burst into her office "Lady Hokage, a large Lion and another animal are approaching the gate."
"So, use a genjutsu to deter the animals in another direction." She replied.
"We did, they keep dispelling the genjutsu's we keep using." The chunin commented.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow to this. "Any animal that could dispel a genjutsu would have to be a summoning animal. Anbu, come with me to the gate." Commented Tsunade as she left the office to the front gate.
As she arrived she came across an amusing scene. There were shinobi and civilian a like gawking at the scene of two rather large animals sitting by the sign in station having a conversation with a confused chunin at the gate.
"We only wish to sign in and request a meeting with your Hokage." Commented a horse sized lion.
"U-Uh, p-please forgive me, but you don't have hands. How would you possible 'sign' anything?" Replied the chunin.
At this point the large dog sized animal nobody recognized spoke up rather frustrated, "if you would provide some ink we can dip one of our claws in the ink and using chakra we can have our names appear on the document."
"You are able to use chakra?" commented the gate guard.
The smaller of the animals looked at the larger with an exasperated tone, "This is getting tedious Sessho. Are these people really where we want him to come to?" she asked.
At this point the Hokage finally decided to interject. "Please forgive the chunin for his ignorance and that will be corrected soon." She shot a glare at the chunin who should know what was going on and have basic knowledge of summoning animals.
"Is it reasonable to assume you two are summoning animals?" the Hokage asked.
"That would be correct." Replied the larger of the two.
Tsunade turned to all those that were gathered, "It should be obvious to the shinobi by now, but to everyone around. These animals are summoning animals that have the ability to speak, use chakra, and I would assume a number of other things similar to those of us who have summoning animals. Please go about your day and I will take it from here."
Tsunade turned around and addressed the animals directly, "I'm the Hokage and my name is Tsunade. How may I be of assistance to you?"
"Greeting Hokage Tsunade, I am Lord Sessho the leader of the summoning lions in the human realm. This beside me is Lady Yakihyo and she is the leader of the summoning snow leopards here as well."
"Greetings to you both, please just call me Lady Tsunade. What can I do for you today?" she asked.
"Perhaps this would be better to discuss in private," commented Yakihyo.
"Very well, please follow me to my office." Tsunade replied.
As the three made their way to the Hokage Tower they were drawing quite the crowd. Seriously, who has seen large animals that stood as tall as or taller than a human just walking through town?
As they made it to the tower Sessho noticed that the doors were small for him. However, he was able to lower his head enough to fit through the doors and as they were about to enter Tsunade's office Shizune leaned over to get Tsunade's attention.
"U-Uh, Lady Tsunade, Are you sure it is wise to have an unknown summoning animal in your office with you. Especially one this large." She whispered in Tsunade's ear.
"Lord Sessho, correct?" the lion nodded in confirmation. "How private is this meeting needing to be?" asked Tsunade.
"It would be wise for this meeting to be between as few people as can be. I would prefer it to remain between you, me, and Lady Yakihyo, but as I just heard, there may be some concern about whether or not I will harm you. Yes, I was able to hear you." Sessho said to the two ladies, but he continued. "That being said I will be ok with just us four and you may have one other for protection, but rest assured you will need someone you can trust with any and all information." Commented Sessho.
Conveniently at that moment Jiraiya happened to be right outside the window as always and he jumped in; "I shall stay to protect the Hokage, it is my duty to my Tsu-hime after all" he commented with a lecherous grin. It took all of Tsunade's will power to not send him flying out that same window.
"Very well, will all Anbu please leave for the duration of this conversation?" Tsunade commanded and all figures in the room felt the Anbu presence leave. All that was left in the room was Tsunade, Jiraiya, and Shizune along with Sessho, Yakihyo, and the unseen spy of the Panthera clan.
Tsunade went through several seals and there was a luminescent light that indicated the privacy seals were up. "I just put up the privacy seals and we are free to discuss anything you wish."
"First, if we are to foster trust between us I must be upfront with you. You may come out now." Sessho commanded to the room.
The three humans were confused for only a second, but suddenly with wide eyes they caught sight that to this day they have never seen before. A normal sized leopard crawled out of a shadow from the side of the Hokage's desk as if it was pulling itself out of a pool.
Tsunade immediately shot to her feet and was angry. "What is the meaning of this?" She spat out with noticeable venom. "Have you been spying on us?"
"Yes we have, but not for the reasons you may be thinking. Please calm down and sit. Let me explain." Replied Sessho very calmly and without moving a muscle.
About two minutes passed before Tsunade sat down much to the others relief.
"Now, first we come offering you a gift. This is only a partial gift, but we will get to that in a moment. Lady Yakihyo please present the first scroll". Commanded Sessho.
She walked up to the front of the Hokage's desk and pulled out a scroll with her mouth from her bag and placed it on the desk. Tsunade looked at Jiraiya and he had a confused looked until it registered. He reached for the scroll and inspect it for traps. "The scroll is safe." He said.
Tsunade opened the scroll and began to read. It only took the first paragraph to figure out what was written, but the sheer volume of information kept her glued to the scroll. She finally finished half of the scroll before she put it down and looked at the three animals in front of her.
Not wanting to give away too much, not knowing that the animals already knew the state of affairs in Konoha, she asked the first question she wanted to know the answer to.
"Why have you just given me this information?"
"What information is on that scroll Tsu-hime?" asked Jiraiya.
She turned to look at him, "it is all the information needed to get the civilian council expelled as councilors."
Jiraiya and Shizune stared at the lion and the scroll wide eyed.
"The reason we give you this information is because we are aware of the state that Konoha is in thanks to our spy's" commented Lady Yakihyo as she nodded toward the leopard in the room. "We also have other matters to discuss regarding similar information."
"What similar information?" Asked Jiraiya.
"We will get to that." Commented Sessho "However, we need the Hokage here to have absolute authority and suffice it to say we all know she doesn't at this time. The information we have gathered will give you the authority you need."
"Why do you assume I don't have the authority and what makes you think I would want it in the first place?" asked Tsunade.
"Ha ha ha, did you forget already that we have had our spy here in your office for many many months. We are aware of everything. However, all these steps are being taken for one person that we care for."
"Who would that be?" Asked Shizune
Sessho took a deep breath…."Naruto"…he simply said.
All three humans had wide eyes. "W-What do you m-mean?" asked Tsunade as her eyes started to water.
"We serve Naruto. Perhaps the better response is we serve the clan and Naruto is the sole heir to the clan and he also carries the royal blood line of the clan. We are doing all this to bring him back here." Commented Yakihyo.
Jiraiya put a hand on Tsunade's shoulder to help calm her and spoke, "Please forgive my skepticism, but how can we trust you?"
"You have a point. However, whether we are deceiving you or being honest you still will gain the information you require to bring Naruto back to the village" commented Sessho.
Tsunade at this point had composed herself, "What will this information cost us?"
Sessho put a scroll down for her to inspect. "The scroll you have there has our requirements for Lord Naruto."
Tsunade read the scroll while Shizune and Jiraiya looked over her shoulder.
To the Hokage of Konoha,
The Panthera Clan formally requests the following concessions for Lord Naruto Namikaze. If these requests are granted then the Panthera clan will provide the needed information for the Hokage, Lady Tsunade Senju, to gain the power required with the council that would be needed to run the village of Konoha as she sees fit.
Announce to the village and provide the proof required that Lord Naruto is in fact the heir to the Namikaze clan and specifically the child of Konoha's Minato Namikaze.
Provide a plot of land of a minimum of 50 acres to be purchased by the Namikaze clan to build its own compound.
Add Lord Naruto to the CRA act and allow him to rebuild the Namikaze clan.
Place Naruto on a team for the sole purpose of competing in the Chunin exams (see number 5 below)
Finally, give one Sasuke Uchiha his ability to be a ninja again and make sure he is in the Chunin exams to be held in Konoha a year and half from now.
In return for the above concessions the Namikaze Clan along with the Panthera Clan will become ninja of Konoha and give its support to the Hokage, Lady Tsunade Senju, and provide the needed information for the Hokage to have the power she needs to run the village as she sees fit.
Signed – The Panthera Clan as representatives for the Namikaze Clan.
All three humans read the 'contract' and then Tsunade looked up at the summoning animals. "I assume Naruto is aware of his heritage now?" At the lion's nod she asked "May have an hour to discuss this with these three right here?"
"Of course, we will return in an hour" replied Sessho and the three animals left the office.
Once outside Sessho turned to the Leopard spy. "Take a break and rest for now. You have been at this for a long time and you deserve it."
"Thank you Lord Sessho, I bid you farewell for now and you too Lady Yakihyo." Commented the leopard and seemingly disappeared from sight.
"What should we do for an hour?" asked Yakihyo.
"Let's go visit this ramen place that took care of our Lord." He replied.
After several minutes of travel through the village, causing quite the commotion due to being large animals just walking through town, they arrived at the ramen place.
Sessho was too large to enter so he sent Yakihyo in to place their order.
As she entered the stand the chef and his daughter turned around. With wide eyes they weren't sure what to do. "H-How may I h-help you?" ask Ayame.
"Greetings, I am Lady Yakihyo of the Panthera Clan. I and Lord Sessho who is outside would like to order several bowls of your ramen in large bowls please so our mouths can fit inside. You come highly recommended from a customer of yours." She responded.
"O-Ok, Dad, please make two large batches of Miso and Beef Ramen to start and leave them in the pots." Ayame called to her dad.
Teuchi just nodded and got to work but still cut several glances over to the large animal in their stand.
It finally clicked what the animal said and asked, "You said there was a customer of ours that recommended us?"
"That is correct" Yakihyo respond.
"Who was it?" She asked.
"Can you two keep it a secret for the time being?" Yakihyo asked.
They both nodded.
"It was your number one customer…Naruto" she replied.
From the kitchen, which could be seen in plain view, a ladle was dropped as Teuchi turned to look at the animal.
It was quiet in the stand as the two ramen people stared at the animal with tears in their eyes. "I-Is he ok? I-Is he eating well?" Ayame asked.
"He is doing well and eating well. By the way, we have a gift for you." Replied Yakihyo.
She handed the young girl a small pouch full of money. The surprises never seem to stop as the two humans stared into the bag with wide eyes. "What is this for?" asked Teuchi.
"Call it back payment for all the free meals you gave Lord Naruto all those times he needed food. You have nothing to worry about. If you ever find yourself needing money do not hesitate to request it from us. We will ensure you are taking care of. This is all because you took care of him so it is our turn to take care of you." Commented Lady Yakihyo.
Ayame who had finally gathered her thoughts said "did you say 'Lord' Naruto?
"Yes I did. Let me tell you all about him now while we eat" she replied.
The two human served the food to the animals and grabbed a couple of chairs and started to talk about the young Lord without using his name and had many discussion about various topics that revolved around him.
Xxxxxxxxxx
Back in the Hokage's office we find the Hokage, along with Jiraiya and Shizune beginning their discussions right after the animals left.
"Lady Tsunade, what do you think we should do?" asked Shizune.
"I want to trust them, but they could be using us. Hell, they had a spy right here for who knows how long." She replied.
"I know my Lady, but they didn't have to reveal that spy either. They could simply had worked around that bit of information and left the spy in here. Also, for all we know there could be a spy still here and they only revealed one spy to throw us off our game". Commented Shizune.
"If there is another spy here please reveal yourself? There will be no consequences we only wish to discuss this in private." Called out Tsunade.
After a minute or so Shizune raised an eyebrow to her mentor. "What…it was worth a try at least" responded Tsunade.
It finally occurred to her that Jiraiya had been silent this whole time. "Jiraiya, why are you so quite?" asked Tsunade.
"I sent a shadow clone to follow them. I'm waiting for it to disburse." He replied as if it was obvious.
….
….
….
"Ah, finally. The 'spy' left for another part of the village in order to rest. The ones known as Sessho and Yakihyo are at Ichraku's. They gave them money and thanked them for all they have done for Naruto."
Tsunade and Shizune were astounded by this.
"I think you should trust them Tsundae" commented Jiraiya.
Tsunade knew he was serious about this because he hardly ever used her full first name.
"Shizune?" Asked the Hokage.
Shizune simply nodded.
"Ok" Tsunade continued, "I have another small issue. In the hopes that Naruto would return someday I have arranged for him to possible marry Hinata assuming he would sign the contract."
"WHAT" was the chorus sound from the other two occupants of the room.
"How did you pull that off?" asked Jiraiya.
"Long story short, but I tricked Hiashi into signing the contract. The slugs are keeping the contract safe for me right now."
"So you are worried about the CRA request from the Lion and his companion?" asked Shizune.
"Yes, I care for my apprentice dearly and I don't know how to break this too her." Tsunade responded.
"I say bring her here and let her decide. She can hear it straight from the Lion's mouth" quipped Jiraiya.
Tsunade nodded, "Shizune, send for Hinata and once she arrives go see to our guests and bring them back here."
"At once my Lady."
Xxxxxxxxxx
After about 30 minutes of time has passed we find ourselves in the Hokage's office with the original party plus one Hinata.
Hinata wasn't sure what was going on, but having two large animals with sharp teeth across from her was making her nervous.
Tsunade whispered. "Steady"
Hinata took a deep breath and calmed herself. Well for a split second when she realized that both animals were staring right at her.
It was then that Yakihyo turned to Sessho, "I like her."
Hinata went wide eyed "did they just say they liked me" she thought.
"Well, Lady Tsunade, I assume you have made up your mind?" asked Sessho.
"For the most part yes we have, however, there is a small issue with number 3 on your agreement. It involves this young lady right here." Tsunade gestured toward Hinata.
Hinata was turning her head from the animals to her sensei to and fro from the comment.
"U-Uh, T-Tsunade-sen….."
"Hinata, we have been working this. Calm yourself and speak clearly."
She took a deep breath "Tsunade-sensei, did you just say that some agreement affects me?"
"Yes I did."
"Oh"
Tsunade smirked knowing what was coming and also she frowned thinking about all the final results that could occur.
"Hinata, this is Lord Sessho and Lady Yakihyo of the Panthera clan. They serve a clan as their sole summoning and they have come here to provide us with an opportunity to bring that clan to Konoha. However, this may affect you."
"Lord Sessho, would you mind taking the lead on this conversation?" asked Tsunade.
"I don't mind at all. Lady Hinata it is a pleasure to meet you. We have heard some good things about you." Sessho responded.
"Me?" she asked.
"Yes, you. Let's just get to the meat of the issue here. We are willing to provide the Hokage with all the necessary information needed to bring our Lord home; here in Konoha. Our Lords name is Lord Naruto Uzumaki Namikaze." Sessho stopped there.
"N-Naruto-kun?" Hinata shook her head. It took all of about 10 second for her brain to process what the Lion just said. "Wait…did you say Namikaze?"
"He did, Hinata. It is also true. This is an S-class secret that was not supposed to be revealed until Naruto was a Jonin"
"He sealed the Nine-tails into his own son?" Hinata asked and seathed all at the same time.
"Yes Hinata, he did, he couldn't ask for someone to sacrifice something he wasn't willing to do himself." Commented Jiraiya.
It took Hinata a few mintues to catch up to what was being implied by this meeting. "So if they can bring him back why are we not jumping on this opportunity?"
"We actually have agreed to most of the demands between myself, Jiraiya and Shizune. However, request number 3 would directly affect you."
Hinata looked at the animals, "What is request number 3?"
"We are demanding that Lord Namikaze be placed under your village's CRA act to rebuild the clan." Sessho commented.
Hinata stood there for a long time.
"Ok, that means I have to share him I get that. How does this affect the Namikaze clan? Do we share the Matriarch position or is there a lead Matriarch and then some kind of sub-wives?"
"That would be up to Lord Namikaze and how he wants his clan ran. We only support the clan head." Commented Yakihyo.
"As long as I get my Naruto-kun back home, I don't care." She said with determination.
Tsunade smiled at the girl for being able to handle this with an open mind and maturity. "Very well, Lord Sessho, Lady Yakihyo, as Hokage of Konoha I officially accept your offer." Tsunade signed the document which immediately through some fancy Jutsu copied itself with the stamp of the Panthera Clan.
"One copy is for you Lady Hokage and the other is for us as proof of the agreement. As for the rest of our agreement we have our spy outside this room. May we request he come in." commented Lady Yakihyo.
Tsunade nodded and the Leopard came into the office. "Please recall the spy's on the three elders immediately. Alert the other spy's to protect them and their information. We need it this information right now." Said Sessho.
The Leopard took off at high-speed to send the signal to return. It was a matter of about 20 minutes when three black leopards stood in the office. This leopards were normal size and didn't take up as much space as Sessho. They handed the reports to the Hokage directly.
"Before you open those, Lady Tsunade, please be aware that you have the full force of the panthera clan at your disposal. We will help in any way possible." Commented Sessho.
"Thank you, and we will not hesitate to ask."
…
…
…
"This is outrageous." Commented Tsunade with anger not seen in her in a long time.
"What is Tsu-hime?" Asked Jiraiya.
"Danzo, the swine. I never thought he would….
Xxxxxxxxx
Cliff hanger, sorry everyone, chapter's long enough.
I hope you enjoyed the longer chapter. Let me know if you like it longer or if you want me to go back to the 2,000 or so words.