Opening Author's Note:
First, this is not an "Emperor of the West" story, however, it is an exiled Naruto fic. It is not a response to the Missing Hokage Challenge, even though I've always wanted to try my hand at something similar to the "Banished Jinchuuriki" trope. Yes, I know it's been done before, but I haven't done it yet, so... there you go.
No, this is in response to a request I received early in my story "No More" where I was asked to do an actual crossover focused on Naruto plus Danmachi. This is my attempt at a response to that request.
Also, a tip O' the hat to ChrisM2011, SNAFU the Great, Perfect Lionheart, VFSnake, and the whole gang that made those emperor tropes popular. I say, "Job well done" to them and, if you haven't read their stories, I recommend that you do.
To that end, Pairings are not decided at the start of this fic so you have time (and a chance) to influence how that part of it all turns out. Harem, single pairing, none of it is decided, and the story is pretty much written at the time of the first chapter posting sans romance. Leave your vote for your favorite pairing/group of pairings in a review and I will reveal the winner by the 15th Chapter. I'll start working on the final decision by the 20th posting. Also note that I can't answer Guest reviews directly so you may have to wait for a response in the Author's Notes, if there are any.
No promise on how often I post as "No More" remains my priority.
At any rate, I hope you like the changes I've made, and - as always - enjoy as you will.
~Siva'a
P.S. It would not be remiss to leave a review or two if you are so inclined. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Pointless flames and nameless guest comments will be politely ignored.
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~III~
ACT I: Exiled Arc CH 1: Betrayal, Treason, and Plot
It was a quiet morning in the Orario warren snugly nestled around the Blue Pharmacy, a small apothecary tucked away in one of the poorer sections of Istoria's capital city. Too bad there were many "poorer sections" in a place far too big to ever be considered a village. Like many cities of its size, the streets in these sections always seemed to be overcrowded with humanity's unwanted, all wrapped in the same mottled browns, greens, and tans, cloth hues as equally unwanted as the folk that wear them. Unlike the wealthier districts and quarters dividing this enormous gathering of people, there was very little green to be seen where it counted except for the small patch sitting squarely in the middle of this particular cul-de-sac.
But what a green space it was, all neatly edged with small earthen stones shaped into rough blocks the size of a small boy's hands. The neatly trimmed grass radiated a deep blend of healthy grass blades pocked with bright yellow daisies sprinkled completely around the single tree growing from the patch's heart, a spindly tree apparently hunched over from the weight of his wide-spanning branches that reached almost to the edge of its five-meter patch of earth, each branch dipping low with the hundreds of orange-greenish fruits polka-dotting its leafy boughs. It was a veritable cascade of color in a slowly dying corner of her new home.
The adventurer's walled city of Orario.
Tsunade spent a few moments inhaling the healthy aroma of earth and plant life combined with the honey-sweet aroma of the tree's produce finding the combination odd when bracketed by the now mostly hidden scent of rot and decay. It didn't take much for her honey-brown eyes to sweep the courtyard and take note of the signs left by institutionalized neglect. It was everywhere around her, after all.
Faded and rotted wood stood out on many of the ramshackle homes stacked almost haphazardly one atop another. Many of the rickety ladders reaching up into the second and third tiers of what would have been below-poverty level housing in Konoha didn't look like they could support the weight of a six-year-old child. Most of the off-centered hovels looked ready to fall over on their own even with the random spates of fresh wood or freshly-applied plaster dotted about the impoverished canvas.
To her weathered eye, it appeared to be a losing battle by people who were still willing to fight a losing battle.
The entire neighborhood appeared to be on its last legs but you'd never notice it by the happy smiles on the adults nor the raucous laughter of surprisingly healthy-looking children scampering around the wide open space used as a communal square. Boys chased each other with wooden swords made of rotted planks and a gaggle of little girls sat in the green space afforded under the leafy canopy of the fruit tree giggling and laughing as they shared dreams and hopes for a better future with their dream adventurer. If their comments were anything to go by, most of them were cooing over someone called Archangel, a thought that brought a tender smile to one corner of the Slug Princess's mouth.
It was nice to see that their dreams hadn't been fully crushed by the greedy and wealthy yet. Though poor materially, the people all seemed to be in good health and fine spirits, and that made the dreary grays and whites of their homes that much less depressing.
"Tsunade-sama."
The blonde's pigtails swung about as her head jerked away from the happy children. The voice was low-pitched almost as if it was loathed to distract her from a peaceful moment of reflection but there was also a sense of urgency just beneath the surface.
"OINK!"
The accompanying squeal from a well-fed piglet mirrored that sentiment even as several of the laughing brats running underfoot paused to point and giggle at the tiny oinker, most having never seen a real live one before.
"You're right, Shizune," the blonde pigtails swayed again with a nervous nod of her head. "Time for that later I suppose."
Pulling herself away from the oddly placed scene of domestic life, Senju Tsunade's head turned toward a brick facade sporting a faded blue sign bearing its Familia's standard of a healthy "person." She refused to call it a man since it looked more like a fiery pen quill surrounded by to circles around the nib, one medium and a smaller circle below.
The storefront bore little better wear to the ravages of time than the neighboring structures, the heavy stonework solid but fading in some places, cracked in others. A fence perhaps five meters in height wrapped from the building front to the rear in an attempt to provide some privacy even with apartments and flats stacked haphazardly above and all around the cozy little nook.
Trying to resist the urge to snort in laughter at the thought of unevenly stacked apartments falling like poorly set boxes, one well-manicured hand pushed open the thick wooden door to a well-maintained store divided by the vendor shelves to the left and an open area to the right hidden behind medical curtains. Unfortunately, Tsunade had to cut her snooping short as the even timber of a male's voice drew her attention the moment she entered from the store itself and to the short hallway immediately to the right of the customer counter.
"Welcome Tsunade of the Senju."
Smooth like fine sake but not overly deep, the voice belonged to a tall, handsome man perhaps half her age. His clean features were framed by a curtain of dark hair pulled into a low ponytail. Lean of build with long, delicate-looking hands, the rest of his body was hidden behind dark brown robes resembling a monk's habit.
"You must be Miach," her voice floated softer than she'd hoped as her hands subconsciously tugged the open ends of her haori closed, a warm smile his immediate response. She refused to call anyone not her equal "Lord." Even worse was the general acceptance that this frail-looking man brimmed with the Divine, something her keen senses could not detect.
It would take more than a pleasant smile and a warm voice to convince her of that no matter what Mia-chan said. Tsunade was a kunoichi who had seen an unbelievable amount of fantastical things in her life, but gods? Living with mortals?
She wasn't that much of an alcoholic yet.
"Please." He stepped backwards and turned sideways indicating a narrow hallway leading deeper into the building's environs. "This way."
The unrelenting light of Istoria's hazy morning gave way to subdued hues of oaky browns and cream-colored walls even as another brown-robed figure moved past them to secure the front entry.
Neither Tsunade nor her apprentice blinked at the female Chienthrope flipping the door sign to read "closed" as they followed this handsome stranger through the store lobby, down the short hallway, and into what would be a breakfast nook in the rear of the store complete with a full kitchen sporting an old-fashioned wood stove. To their immediate right sat a corner nook with quaint windows overlooking a walled-in backyard filled with bushes and short trees like the one in the cul-de-sac green space. To her left sat a large kitchen island and, beyond that, the rest of the kitchen where an odd hooded figure, their back to the small group near the table, dressed in white robes similar to Miach's puttered about stirring and mixing things.
SNIFF! She could smell fresh bread baking and her eyes glanced to the stove and an oddly shaped purple gem floating inside a glass container resting atop the appliance. Tsunade's keen nose also picked up a nice herbal tea blended with the mild scents of honey and brown sugar and it took considerable willpower to turn back to her immediate host.
Despite her strong self-control, Tsunade had to admit it smelled wonderful and her mouth was beginning to water. Too bad she needed to focus first and, against her strong desire to indulge, turned back to her host for the... morning? Tsunade had no idea how long this was going to take and wondered, not for the first time, what she'd signed up for.
Fighting down the roaring rush of her own curiosity to explore, she instead slid into a padded chair at the corner nook alongside Shizune and bit her own tongue at the leisurely pace things were taking. She had a Gaki to find and hug until he turned a deeper shade of blue than this place's door sign, after all. It was only the fact that the city's highest authority curtailed her normally bull-headed tendencies by enforcing Orario's laws concerning adventurers as part of a Familia, as they called it.
Worse still were the potential penalties if she broke those laws, penalties that would ban her from her Gaki for the rest of her days and Tsunade simply could not allow that.
So she agreed to "play nice," as it were. For now.
Knowing that her master's nerves were most likely wearing thin, Shizune opened up the conversation with her better manners by offering their gratitude for allowing this meeting with a cordial, "Thank you for hosting us, Lord Miach."
"Think nothing of it," the man they now knew as Miach proffered. "Naruto-kun speaks highly of you both so it's only fair that I give you this chance."
Tsunade blinked in confusion. "Chance?"
Miach's smile never wavered as he fractionally nodded his head, his bangs swinging gently in response.
"Chance for what?"
Shizune caught the slight narrowing of Tsunade's eyes and worked to head off an unnecessary fight only to be caught off guard by the gentle Lord's answer.
"Why the chance to prove that you mean no harm to Naruto, of course."
"Harm?!" By now Tsunade's normally honeyed eyes had become darkened slits. "Prove we're no threat?!" The angry Sannin was slowly rising from her seat in time with the volume of her voice and Shizune couldn't help but wince knowing all of her hard work setting this up was about to get tossed out the window like her former pervert of a partner from the nearest onsen, Jiraiya.
"That's my Gaki you're talking about! I don't have to prove anything to anyone!"
Miach's smile didn't waver but the humor did dim from his eyes. Without rising to the bait knowing this woman could end him with a flick of her well-manicured finger, he cut off her childish (in his opinion) temper tantrum.
"He may have been your Gaki before you allowed Konoha to exile him but he is now my child, in the language of our land, and that takes precedent since you are no longer in the Land of Fire."
Catching her master's flinch, Shizune and Tonton both waited afraid to breathe as the two figures locked gazes, one filled with anger and frustration and the other filled with gentle patience. To both apprentice and piglet, the wait seemed to drag on forever until a hooded figure wearing a similar monk's habit made of glistening white fabric trimmed in brown piping matching medieval crenellations calmly, and without fear of an enormous spate of imminent violence, set out tea for the three humans along with sweet biscuits, followed closely by acorns and a dish of cool water for the piglet.
Tsunade could not see the face of the figure given the mask covering the lower half of their head but piercing blue eyes caught her attention and her boiling anger dissipated like harmless steam. Her breath caught in her throat as the figure calmly turned back to the kitchen area where more mouthwatering aromas were wafting from.
This time the older woman could not help herself and reached out to grab the departing figure as they glided away only to be brought up short by a throat clearing itself.
"There will be plenty of time for that once we are through this process, Tsunade of the Senju."
Tsunade couldn't stop the heavy sigh that followed. Miach's tone was still even-tempered despite her outburst, like addressing a stubborn child, and it only served to annoy her more. Patience was never one of her strong points but the rules were clearly spelled out in excruciating detail by that hooded weirdo beneath the Guild leaving her little choice in the matter.
Either she complied or she got the boot from the city. There would be no in-between and her name meant nothing in this weird land of half-human-half-animal people.
It took a supreme measure of self-control for the hot-headed kunoichi to turn back to the surprisingly large table and face her current tormentor.
"Sigh, where do we begin and how long will this take?" She tried to ignore Shizune's wince as she tried (unsuccessfully) to reign in her temper.
Miach remained unruffled. "How long will depend entirely on you, Tsunade of-."
"Just Tsunade, please," she responded with a palm raised to stop his annoying use of her full name.
*A polite head nod*
"As you wish, Tsunade. As I mentioned, how long this takes depends entirely on how cooperative you are." He finished his statement by placing both hands on the table palm up, one out to Tsunade and the other out to Shizune. "Both of you."
Then he waited with that insufferably cute smile of his.
It took a few minutes as Tsunade balked but, eventually, she plopped back into her seat and slapped heavily her palm into his left hand trying not to enjoy his wince of pain overly much.
Shizune tsked but much more gently placed her own palm into Miach's finding his hand warm and soft.
Both women were immediately greeted by a flood of warm energy up their arms, along their necks, and into the back of their heads. Trained ninja reflexes screamed at them to bolt backwards and away from the intruding source of power but they found their bodies relaxed and unable to move. Right as Tsunade began to build up a massive amount of chakra to crush the object in her grip - Miach's hand - a deep, booming voice echoed in her head, a single command that literally shocked her chakra network dissipating the volatile surge of energy forcing it all to leak from her hara like a child's leaky balloon.
"CEASE."
Her shoulders jumped at the sound and suddenly heavy eyelids closed against her will.
"Be Still."
Then the world faded rapidly into a haze of white clouds and smoke.
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~III~
In The Beginning
[Thunder peals and shakes the ground at the Valley of the End, a twisted and ruptured corner found in the Land of Fire. Earth and stone alike heave and burst as flickers of crackling energy flash bright enough to paint the dark clouds overhead in ghostly white bioluminescence.]
Betrayal of one's own, or even worse the betrayal of friends and family alike, is said to be as old as time regardless of which nation, class, or faith you profess allegiance with. It was so before the Sage walked the lands preaching his message of peace and forgiveness. It has been so since his passing such that not even his sons were immune to this corrosive poison of the soul.
In the Christian faith, Cain slew his brother, Abel, over their birthright and the very devil himself betrayed his Lord due to jealousy in his master's creation: man and woman.
[Two voices rage, spit, and curse at one another, their blood mingling with the tears from above. Two spectral men hundreds of feet above the ground and born of the same blood gnash their teeth in impotent hatred as their flesh and blood scions wage war beneath their gaze. It is a rivalry already a millennia in the making with no end in sight.]
The Norse fared no better when Loki tricked Hodr into killing Baldur, son of Odin, and allegedly the most beloved of the pantheon. Even worse, Odin's own wife, Frigg, decided he'd been killed during one of his trips away then gave all of his possessions to his brothers, Ve and Vili, then took turns sleeping with them adding further insult to injury.
Even Set (the Egyptian god of chaos) grew jealous of, killed, and then dismembered his brother Osiris over the latter's throne as ruler of all Egypt. Great and small, pettiness and betrayal stumble each in their own vein.
[A white-hot flash followed immediately by a spray of scorched blood charging an anguished scream. Two warriors fighting for their dreams grunt and tear and rage at each other, both refusing to yield. Neither willing to admit defeat.]
We'll just leave the 6 Traitors from Greek mythology alone for now. Talk about one big dysfunctional family...
No, jealousy isn't a "new thing" and pride goeth before the fall. So why would mortal man be any different? Why would the shinobi of the elemental nations be any different?
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~III~
Konohagakue no Sato, 2 Days Later
Kato Shizune loved her master and was not afraid to admit that she loved the older woman with all her heart. She didn't always like her or agree with her - especially once the sake began to flow a bit too freely - but she certainly loved her like a child could love a socially dysfunctional mother. A person had to in order to live with the woman as long as she had without smothering the old lady in her sleep. Still, she loved her nonetheless.
You'd have to in order to overlook some of her more egregious faults.
For instance, she'd never call the woman old to her face but it was the undeniable truth. Her master, Tsunade Senju, one of the Legendary Three Shinobi, was in her late forties nearing her fifties before too many more turns of the season. If nothing else, that made her mid-life crisis in a village that cranked out short-lived child soldiers certifiably ancient in the eyes of the younger generation. Not that they could tell any different with the permanent henge that made her look barely beyond her second of over four-and-a-half decades.
Not that the woman's unbelievable vanity would ever let her appear any other way.
Shizune snorted as she shuffled the new stack of request forms, her left hand automatically shoving the "denied" pile destined for the trash can just to the side of her desk. Yes, it was going to be another long paperwork day today from the looks of things...
Sitting behind her desk trying desperately to focus on her daily task of sorting the never-ending stream of minutia into their appropriate piles, the still-young brunette tried to hide the shameful blush threatening to spill across her rapidly pinking cheeks. Here she was one of two formidable Medic Nins chained to an office instead of working to help-.
Thump. Schiff. Thump. Schiff.
A quick peek at the wall clock across from her desk showed two minutes before seven in the morning.
'Figures.' Her mental snort of derision at the oft-heard shuffle approaching her desk brought an unpleasant yet familiar grimace to her face despite her best efforts to hide it.
Gently curling an errant strand of jaw-length ebony hair behind her ear, she tilted her head to the right just enough to focus on what she considered "the most annoying gaggle of nosey old biddies to ever grace the Elemental Nations: Konoha's Elder Advisors."
THUMP. SCHIFF. THUMP. SCHIFF.
It was very faint this rhythmic pattern gently tapping along the hardwood flooring of the Administrative section but a kunoichi's ears, a well-trained kunoichi at least, could pick up the annoying sound.
She knew the old bastard could move without making a sound when he wanted. Shimura Danzo had managed it on several occasions just to make her uncomfortable. It made it all the more satisfying once she picked up on the faint odor left by his topical cream used to relieve joint pain and his sudden appearances no longer phased her.
Her neck gracefully realigned itself, her doe-like gaze sharpening to a point as she focused on the half-finished stack of papers scattered under her chin. She had better things to do than argue with stubborn old people that refused to listen to others they considered still wet behind the ears.
"I wouldn't try her patience today." Her eyes never left the duplicate request from the civilian council to reclaim the Namikaze Manor for re-zoning purposes even as her voice caught their attention.
A brief pause at first, then...
THUMP. SCHIFF. THUMP. SCHIFF.
She heard two annoyed sniffs perfectly timed to the rhythmic thumping of the third's cane as it struck the polished floorboards in front of her desk. Three ancient, shuffling bodies creating more trouble for her day than she needed never paused as they ambled by without a second glance her way.
She would later admit to being surprised by the fourth member of the geriatric squad as they coasted by.
'Hmm. Never would have suspected him of siding with them, the traitor!'
Her disappointment in their latest accomplice's behavior, shocking but not unexpected lately given his attempts to argue for Danzo at every opportunity, almost made her feel sorry for her master. The white-haired bastard had been her teammate for many years making the concept of his possible betrayal something the Slug Sannin doggedly refused to accept. Looks like she'd have no choice now but to face the truth today.
Shizune sighed to herself, the disappointment felt deep in her heart. She did try to warn her though...
A shift in air pressure snapped her out of some more depressing thoughts concerning the turncoat. She could hear one side of the immaculately polished double doors behind her desk open allowing the higher-pressured air of the Hokage's office to escape before the sound died to a pinched whine.
Then silence.
Ibiki-san once tried to explain the science behind over-pressurizing their leader's office following a surprise gas attack by an assassin during the second shinobi war. It wasn't that she couldn't understand the principles involved, being well-learned in the art of poisons, herself being arguably one of the finest poison makers in the entire elemental kingdom.
No, she got the science. She just didn't care.
Her job was to patch people up not prevent assassinations through science-related Fūinjutsu. That was her adopted brother's shtick and she was more than happy to leave him to it.
Naruto...
A brief smile crept up at the corners of her mouth as she remembered how proud he was the day he burst into her office yelling at the top of his lungs about how he'd found a way to make the effect permanent. He was proud that she wouldn't have to keep bringing the barrier team in twice a month to recharge the old set of seals.
They were so proud of him, neither thought to question how he understood seals at all let alone provided a fix to something no one considered broken to begin with.
Plus his beloved "Baa-chan" was even more proud of him for that. She was so proud that Shizune had to confiscate the hidden sake stash before her teacher could get the proudly smiling Genin thoroughly smashed in her office.
Happy or not about the amount of money that little fix saved the Hokage, Shizune would burn the building down before she let her mentor corrupt her Naruto-kun!
Still, though, he was so very proud of his achievement and had every right to be so.
He'd finally cracked the reciprocating thinga-ma-jiggy-doosit allowing the seal to replenish itself from the residual chakra of the people hanging out in or visiting the office, a near-constant thing for a village's Kage. To hear him tell it, the entire contraption was childishly easy and he couldn't figure out why the barrier team hadn't thought of the solution before. Then again, he thought anything involving the stupidly complicated language involving matrices of seals was easy and couldn't understand why everyone else didn't just... get it.
Too bad he hadn't done himself any favors with the Barrier Division that day. She wondered if they still had his face posted up on their office dart board.
Her gentle smile turned into a worried frown just as her eyes flickered to the heavy doors barring access to the Godaime. She'd need to visit Naruto-kun to make sure he was healing okay after that debacle of a retrieval mission two days ago. The bijuu inside of him was helping but the process was moving along very slowly. It almost seemed as if the monster was being... cautious? Whatever the case, medical ninja had to limit their exposure to the toxic energy thrumming through Naruto-kun's wounds, something that further aggravated both apprentice and master at the languid pace.
Worse still, what if the monster got something wrong? How much did it know about human anatomy to begin with?
By the gods, she'd never forgive herself if he suffered permanent injury from this mess due to that over-pampered child he had to chase down. It was bad enough that they nearly lost two heirs and the Hyuuga prodigy in that mess, which was another example of beings not being without faults or making judgment errors. Sending Genin to recover a high-value traitor?
What was Shishou thinking?!
Her eyes narrowing this time had nothing to do with the "Mummy Triplets" as most active duty often called them behind their backs.
'I should have fought harder for them to have the necessary backup.'
Her "Denied" stamp crushed down harder than needed on the next couple of rejections, each impact lifting the stacks of paper on her desk a hand span each time.
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~III~
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Shimura Danzo refused to allow the disrespectful behavior of a crass kunoichi barely out of her training wraps to ruin his moment. He'd worked too hard, and schemed far too long to get to this point to do so.
Too many plans within plans within plots.
No. She'd get what she deserved once he took his rightful place. Perhaps he'd let the deserving shinobi of his Root deal with her. It was only fair given the grief her failure of a master caused them over the miserable nine months she'd been in charge.
Never let it be said that Shimura Danzo was not a gen-.
He'd barely stepped through the reinforced door of the Hokage's office before his senses screamed at him. Never one to doubt his battle-trained reflexes, Danzo pivoted agilely on his feet, his upper body leaning sharply to the right as his shoulders twisted counterclockwise.
He hadn't seen the tiny projectile shooting past his head like a shuriken but his sharp ears caught the audible THWAP as it ricocheted off the forehead of his henchmen, one Mitokado Homura.
Poor Homura's head snapped back as if he'd been punched between the eyes, his slippered feet kicking into the air as he landed with a THUD on the wooden planks of the office floor. The object that struck him ricocheted sharply against the ceiling before THUNKING dully against the flooring in the far corner.
Danzo could only tsk disapprovingly as he smoothly righted himself, his one visible eye not wrapped in bandages narrowing in annoyance at the busty blonde woman sitting behind what he considered to be his rightful desk. His disapproval soon provided a heavy sigh as her fingers nimbly plucked another academy block eraser from the large glass bowl atop that same desk full of more soft rubber weapons just like it.
'She really is just an overgrown child. I've no idea what the Clan Heads see in her,' he groused silently.
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~III~
Konoha, Office of the Hokage
Senju Tsunade. To date, the most powerful kunoichi to walk the land. Golden blonde of hair, hazel of eye, generous of bosom - which doubled as head pillows when she napped during the day, and still young and lithe of body despite approaching fifty years of life. She didn't even bother to look up from the border patrol report she'd been half paying attention to, at least not right away, her delicate fingers nimbly spinning her next projectile through her fingertips.
People waited on her now not the other way around.
When the kunoichi with a royal pedigree of the highest order, honest-to-Kami princess, and general badass medic-nin of the Hidden Leaf finally looked up from her mountain of administrative work without a single wrinkle or worry line to mar her undeniably pretty genetics, her poker face twisted up into something decidedly unpleasant.
Many called her the first "Super Model Kunoichi" even if it was never directly to her face. Most of the time they were too busy trying to gawk at her ridiculously large amount of cleavage on display, which often earned them a chakra-powered finger flick to the forehead.
Even more unusual was that many still claimed she had a lock on the title after three-and-a-half decades.
Amazing what overly complicated Clan sealing techniques powering a permanent Genjutsu shapechange and a metric-butt-ton of vanity can do for you, no?
Right now, she was trying her damnedest not to snicker at the old fool moaning in mild discomfort on her office floor. Served him right for not being prepared as a shinobi should be if you were going to invade the office of your commander without a proper invitation or even asking for permission.
Shame that she couldn't have gotten her original target as she eyed her victim's allegedly gimpy leg. He's a spry one that weasel.
'I'll need to keep a closer eye on him,' she reminded herself.
What trudged into the office at the back end of the "useless troupe" surprised her like a punch to the gut and knocked any trace of humorous wind from her ridiculously proportioned chest hiding her well-trained kunoichi lungs.
"Jiraiya?"
The upward inflection of her voice ended less in confusion and more of a growl. Her white-haired teammate's uncomfortable shifting of wooden geta sandals told her this unwelcome visit was about to get very uncomfortable for everyone involved.
'Guess I owe Shizune an apology after all,' the most powerful kunoichi in the Land of Fire cursed to herself.
Before she could build up a righteous head of proper steam at her former teammate's treachery, her thoughts were curtailed by the lead mummy of the troupe.
"We do not have time for your petulance or temper tantrums, Tsunade."
His snide inflection of her name nearly earned the crusty bastard another eraser for his cheek.
"Call me anything else other than 'Hokage-sama' and I'll give you plenty of time to think about lots of things in detention, Shimura." Her fingers flexed and a second block of semi-flexible rubber shot across the room with a whip crack striking a just-rising Homura right between the eyes. Again.
He slumped to the floor like a puppet with its strings cut, one leg twitching as if electricity was being pulsed painfully through the limb.
Danzo carried on as if she'd agreed to every word that flowed from his lips.
"If you hurry, you can just make it in time."
The corner of his mouth curled up at one end making her shiver in disgust. The act itself made his visible eye twitch as if the unnatural position of his facial muscles caused him physical pain.
It probably did after so many decades of non-use.
"Make it in time for what exactly?" Tsunade responded with clear distrust written across her face.
"Why," he paused to show complete surprise at her lack of knowledge of what he'd planned in secret over the three weeks it took to drag her back to the village before ending snidely with, "the trial of Genin Uzumaki Naruto, of course."
Without waiting for his Kage to respond, Danzo spun around then thumped quietly from the room with his entourage in tow. He'd let the frog brute drag Homura out of there. He was the hired muscle after all and that's what hired muscle was good for.
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~III~
Konoha, Interrogation Chambers
In a dark room and in a dark place, two men stood nearly shoulder to shoulder gazing through the thick-paned glass of what was once their favorite pastime: the relentless pursuit of information through any and all means necessary. They were both glaring but not at the half-dead, slumped-over figure chained mercilessly to the interrogation table in one of their "session chambers." Nope, they were trying with their eyes to set fire to the two blank-faced ANBU that dumped the still-bleeding youth in there in the first place.
Not so cheerful a beginning you say?
You might be right. There are better hobbies to pursue especially those that didn't result in the untold pain and suffering of others they considered truly innocent. After all, who would condone the unrestricted physical, emotional, and mental breaking of a person's body and soul when they didn't deserve it?
Shinobi would, of course, you silly.
Oh, did I forget to mention that part? How absent-minded of me.
Shinobi aren't real you say? Even if they were, that shouldn't matter you say? You say that even in our modern world of depravity and selfish greed most folks wouldn't condone such behavior?
You might be correct here. Your comments would be accurate if this were a modern tale set in our modern world and we had such things as the Geneva Convention and the United Nations. People might rise up to fight for the rights of the downtrodden.
But this isn't our modern world I say and, at any rate, we are getting slightly off-track from our current story.
Back to the two men quietly observing the battered and bleeding youth chained to the very uncomfortable table in Examination Room Three, the very shackles binding his chafed and bleeding left wrist burning with angry red seals scribed directly into the unforgiving metal.
A lot of his head was wrapped in bandages soaked in antiseptics but you could make out plenty of golden blond hair sprouting in random directions from rust-colored cloth like golden weeds. One of his eyes had been swollen near closed after his fight for life and death but was healing beneath the layers and layers of cloth. The other ocean blue eye, seemingly sunken and unfocused, lay half open and partially glued on the bruised knuckles of one hand chained to the tabletop by chakra restraining cuffs. The other arm, the right one, was heavily bandaged and strapped to his body to prevent movement from worsening his existing injury courtesy of his teammate's assassination jutsu.
"This is wrong on so many levels, 'Ichi." The heavily scarred lead interrogator of the Torture Division had his mouth twisted up as if he'd eaten something foul.
From where they stood, both men could see that some of the loyal Leaf nin's wounds were broken open during his forceful transit from the hospital to the observation room and were steadily soaking through the bandages. Most of the healing seals written into the cloth had been ruined as it drenched through the septics to drip steadily beneath him, an odd sight since his tenant normally healed him at an inhuman rate and should have closed up most of his wounds by now since he'd been in the hospital for almost two days.
Then the taller of the two men flinched when he saw the chafe marks on the boy's wrist, something that should also not be there given the youth's propensity for rapid healing.
He'd probably been wearing chakra cuffs or seals since he left recovery and those seals were limiting his ability to heal like he normally does.
"Ibiki, send someone to inform the Hokage of what's going on." Inoichi's face was grim by this point. They'd ordered the two quasi-ANBU to uncuff the youth, twice, but neither responded to his command. Normally Ibiki would tear them to pieces without a second thought and send the bill to their old bastard of a master, but with the Uzumaki kid cuffed to the table...
Lady Hokage would never forgive the collateral damage.
Given that Inoichi was still high up in the Torture and Interrogation Division of Konoha, he normally had the pull to command obedience from any ANBU agent in his building but these two never so much as twitched at the sound of his voice. That would need to change and the Hokage would need to be made aware of these... special security... soldiers working for Shimura Danzo.
"While we're at it, better get us a couple of our agents down here to end the standoff."
Morino Ibiki, Lead Interrogator and next in line for Inoichi's job when he retired in three months, grunted in acknowledgment even as he spun from the one-way glass to find an entire squad to escort their uninvited "guests" from his building. He also swore that he'd one day strap Shimura Danzo to one of his comfy chairs and see how he liked the treatment his "personal security" provided to everyone else.
On his way out of the observation room, he offhandedly commented he had something better than a couple of rank-and-file grunts to handle this while they waited for the Hokage.
Much better.
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~III~
Konoha, Council Chambers
For once the Council Chamber of Konoha's High Assembly was remarkably quiet. Normally the circular room had wonderful acoustics so that everyone could be plainly heard, that is unless the Council itself was yelling all at once. While this was often the case, they were all too busy gloating over and sneering at the Godaime Hokage as she read the scroll signed by the entire Council pronouncing Naruto's exile from Konohagakure for a period of no less than three years. She was livid at the betrayal and judging by the document it was dated sometime between the Sandaime's death and her installment as his relief.
It wasn't an overly complicated piece of law. It was a simple amendment making the use of Bijū chakra against another Leaf citizen illegal, the language referencing the unstable nature of Suna's Ichibi vessel during the recent invasion and Gaara's history of bloody violence in his own village. It was further amplified by Mist's history with the Bloodline Purges of Yagura, the Yondaime Mizukage. Driven by this fear-mongering, the penalty options inscribed on the document were death, banishment, or exile depending on the severity of the crime and the nature of the demon vessel. They'd even forbidden making any jinchuuriki the Hokage once again citing the bloody rebellion in Mist as a "worst case scenario" situation or the Kyuubi's wrath as the most likely outcome given the current Jinchuuriki's harsh life within the Leaf.
It was a horrible piece of fiction that fed off of hatred and paranoia.
She already denied that the scroll clenched in her fists was either a) real or b) legitimate. Both arguments were shot down in seconds following Danzo's gleeful production of the Fire Daimyo's proclamation empowering village councils the right and authority (in name) to overpower recalcitrant Hokages in order to create such laws for the good of the Land of Fire.
Not even the vague language of the laws gave her enough room to maneuver her godson to freedom.
The document didn't even identify Naruto by name only referring to the village's "weapon" given that the Jinchuuriki itself was an S-ranked secret, something that immediately made Tsunade rebel in rage before Danzo distracted her by commuting the penalty to being exiled as this was the very first offense for a law only the Council was aware of.
To get this pushed through so quickly before her return to the village...
The Slug Princess's honey-colored eyes narrowed in steaming anger as she realized the law crinkling loudly in her hands would have to have been drafted months before today to already have the Fire Lord's blessing on it. Tsunade felt the entire proceeding was a sham and wanted to club them all over the head with their own amendment. For once, she cursed her normal stubbornness. If she'd only been less pigheaded... If she'd only been more willing to do what was right to protect Kushina's boy...
If only she hadn't agreed to half the things Orochimaru tempted her with.
If only.
Between her gnashing teeth and burning eyes, she pushed down her own sense of guilt and focused her anger outward where it rightfully belonged.
"Don't do this." Her words were a clenched-jaw whisper.
Koharu cut her off with a terse and taunting, "It's already done, Hokage-sama!"
Hazel eyes snapped to the smug face of her sensei's former teammate, her smug grin reflecting her lack of respect and a false sense of superiority. Gods how she hated that woman.
It was past time they learned what happened when you poked a sleeping Senju.
A quick glance around the chamber told her the story of who was in on the whole thing. Most of the major clan heads were hanging their heads in shame - an observation she could work within a moment. The rest along with the civilians were too happy to have finally pulled one over on the demon brat and his coddling protector.
Yes, they'd even release his Jinchuuriki status to the young following his exile just to make things worse in case she managed to bring him back, the bastards. At least she thought it was them. She'd need proof first before she could start hanging people.
No matter. She had other options for the moment to make them pay for their treachery.
"Do this and you'll rue the day. Perhaps not now. Perhaps not next month, but I guarantee that you will regret this." Tsunade's burning eyes made many of the gloating faces in the room deflate as she swept them all with her gaze.
Then her eyes landed on Jiraiya standing off to the side just beyond Danzo's left shoulder and they stopped moving. He'd tried to placate her on the way to the chamber but she'd threatened to rip off his arm and beat him to death with the bloody stump if he didn't back off. Now he stayed well beyond her reach even though he showed no regret for his actions.
Absolutely none.
"You," she began as she rose with the declaration clenched in her fist, "are dead to me."
Jiraiya blanched, his normally well-tanned face becoming pale and pasty, but kept silent.
"I will have no regrets once Katsuya lets the toads know what you've done if they aren't already screaming for you to explain your actions."
Her voice was filled with hate and loathing for the one person she thought would never betray her, but what he'd done to Naruto his supposed apprentice...
This was NOT her Jiraiya. Not anymore.
"ANBU!" she bellowed and a full squad normally set to guard the chamber appeared on bended knee before her chamber seat.
One of the worthless civilians to her right cat-called with a snarky, "What can you do, Hokage-sama? It's done! Accept it already!"
Tsunade didn't even dignify the crass disrespect with a glare. The last Senju in Konoha ignored the once again laughing voices of the civilian half of the Council, instead focusing on the emotionless faceplate of the lion-faced squad leader.
"Remove the civilians from the chamber," she ordered without preamble or inflection forcing her voice to be flat and cold. "They have served their selfish purpose but won't be needed for the rest of this meeting as it pertains strictly to shinobi matters."
A dozen pair of owlish eyes blinked in response even as the Hokage's shadow hands began physically ejecting them from the room. Rough gloves tore fine silks as soft bodies were physically hauled from over-plump seat cushions. Soft and sagging flesh found little traction as they were carted to the double-wide chamber doors and summarily tossed through them, some landing less gracefully than they'd entered. No matter how much they sputtered and complained, the entire lot was funneled into the hallway unceremoniously. The sputtering round of objections surging from their gluttonous curiosity was answered with an evil smirk on the lips of the village's strongest kunoichi, their strong desire to know what came next going unanswered.
They were done, weren't they? They'd won finally... hadn't they? Many would stand outside the doors long after they'd closed, their victory unsure and bittersweet after being so hastily ejected.
They thought they'd won. Most were pretty sure of it despite how much the malicious sneer on the Hokage's otherwise pretty features said otherwise.
[Inside the Council Chamber, Still...]
"What is the meaning of this... Hokage... -sama?" Danzo nearly forgot the honorific at the end, his mind furiously attempting to deduce where she was going with the current situation. There couldn't possibly be a way to turn this against them. They'd planned far too carefully, looked at this from every angle, and covered every base.
Tsunade calmly retook her seat once the room was empty and addressed the shinobi clan heads since they were all in attendance. "One last order of business today folks."
She tried not to smile at the blinking confusion on the faces of Danzo and his stooges.
"Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but we were under the impression that there was only one troublesome item on the agenda." Shikaku's right eyebrow was raised clearly indicating his peaked interest.
Tsunade chuckled. "I know that was your plan."
Many blinked at the blatant verbal jab to their treachery. Shikaku certainly did and the revelation forced him to take another look at the situation from the Hokage's perspective. For once in his lazy life, Shikaku did not enjoy the viewpoint.
A few others sitting around him even felt a small measure of guilt over it judging by the shocked looks sprouting on their faces as similar conclusions sprung to their minds.
"However, since Danzo was kind enough to bring all of the ranking clan heads here tonight I see no reason to further delay what still needs to be done."
Danzo decidedly did not like where this was headed judging by the narrowing of his exposed eye. Koharu, in turn, sputtered out a stuttering, "...a-a-and that would b-be?"
"Hokage-sama," Tsunade replied without pause.
"W-What?!" Koharu sputtered in return.
"Hokage. Sama. Say it, you old bag, or I'll flog your hide and pin you to the village walls before nightfall." Tsunade's hard-set eyes showed zero humor and one hundred percent malice.
The elder kunoichi clenched her jaw, her brow wrinkling in distaste even as the words slipped reluctantly through her teeth.
"Whatever do you mean, Hokage-sama?"
You'd think someone set fire to the old biddy's garters.
"Don't forget it, Koharu."
Tsunade's normally warm eyes turned to stone chips as she glared at the suddenly less confident pain in her ass right before her eyes flickered over to lock with Danzo's. "Why," she began as her face blossomed into a brutally vindictive grin, "to answer your question, we are going to settle the punitive case hearing of the traitor, Uchiha Sasuke, of course."
The sweetness in her voice could have curdled milk with its acidity.
.
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~III~
A Continent Far, Far, Far From the Elemental Nations
Bell tried to calm the hammering in his chest even as his feet shuffled forward another half step.
It was hard though. It was just as hard as it had been for him to leave the small village he'd once called home with his Grandfather. That had been the hardest thing he'd ever done, well, before now. Even after gathering the last of his valuables and then getting the village chief to help him sell everything else, waiting in this endless line leading up to the massive gates of Istoria was fraying his already tattered nerves.
See, Bell had always wanted to be an adventurer like the ones his grizzled old grandfather used to tell him stories of. He could recite all of the hero tales from memory if anyone ever cared to ask him but the folks of his village got tired of hiding behind fake smiles at his enthusiasm or excusing themselves away to do "pressing chores" promising to hear the rest of the story later.
That always stung his boyish pride since he didn't find anything else more exciting but you suppose adults had other things on their minds. It couldn't be helped.
Unless you were his grandfather, that is.
If the dirty old man wasn't sneaking glances at young girls, he was sharing stories with his son at the evening meal in front of the hearth. At least he did until that monster killed him and ran off with his body.
That memory stung just a bit, the pain of it prickling the corner of his ruby-red eyes but Bell fought the sniffles away.
He'd need to be strong for the memory of his grandpa, after all.
Hitching the bag on his back just a bit higher, Bell tried to ignore his own self-consciousness at what his own village referred to as his "girlish frame" and shuffled forward another half step and tried to peek around the unbelievably broad shoulders of the huge man in front of him. A quick glance at the sun not quite halfway in the sky and the not-rapidly-shrinking distance between himself and the gate told him that it would be another long day in line.
His genetics weren't his fault. Besides, he was still young being only fourteen, and still had some growing to do. Once he started making tons of Valis in the dungeons with his new Familia, he'd fill out for sure. His mop of blindingly white hair won't matter when his packing lots of muscle and armor.
They'd see.
His eyes narrowed just a bit with staunch determination remembering the stories his grandpa shared about his adventuring parents, the tales that led to this rash decision spanning two months of arguing back and forth with himself.
They'd all see in the end.
Here he had to fight another sigh since he was already running thinner than he'd like on funds. He'd have to deal with the last of his rations instead of buying another stupidly high-priced meal from the vendors picking the lines clean.
What was so valuable in a loaf of slightly stale bread, moldy cheese, and hardtack wrapped in cheesecloth that made it worth two thousand Valis?
Was it the cheesecloth? He'd have to save that just in case...
Anyway, it wouldn't do his thin frame much to dwell on it and, despite his own self-disappointment, he tried not to compare himself to the mountain of a man blocking all vision from the huge gates waiting to accept him into the grand city of Istoria.
Here he smiled just a bit and once again shrugged his backpack up higher on his shoulders, his head already shaking from left to right at the now disappointed hawker working his way up the line with more bulging cheesecloth.
No, today he would get in and his luck would change.
Today, Bell Cranell would begin to make his mark on the world as the greatest hero of all time.
For a second, he could almost feel his grandfather looking down on him with pride and, as a result, his next step felt just a little bigger than the one before.
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~III~