Ch. 22
Hiruzen was sitting down on his mattress ready to go to the bed for the night when the shadows in the wall began to move. Resigned the elderly man held out a hand for the scroll Shadow was handing to him. The old man broke the seal and began to read, face blanching in shock as he read over the details. He looked up to ask a question but cursed when the creature was nowhere to be seen. He rose and banged on Moriko's door down the hallway from his own. She yanked the door open as she blinked the sleep from her eyes to take in the Hokage's grim expression and the purple scroll he held. Her eyes lit with understanding, knowing from the type of scroll it was from Shadow and from the stressed older man that whatever it had said wasn't good.
"Can you call Jiraiya back to the compound, he's not responding to his scroll," said Hiruzen, referring to the instant communication scrolls they all had. Moriko nodded sharply as she pulsed her chakra in a mirror seal that would be able to communicate to Jiraiya. After a moment she felt a pulse back letting her know he was ready to receive a message. She swiftly sent it and Jiraiya confirmed, appearing a minute later in the living room in a pair of boxers carrying the rest of his clothing. Moriko groaned in exasperation spotting the hickies and scratch marks on the man.
"Really? The red-light district again?" she sighed as he pouted.
"Oh, hush. Now what's going on?" Jiraiya demanded as they gathered around the kitchen dining room table, Moriko slapping down a privacy seal as Jiraiya set his clothes in the seat next to him and Hiruzen began unrolling the scroll.
"It's worse than we thought. We need to bump up the schedule for the hospital and have it finished in four months; there is an invasion being planned by Suna and Oto for the Leaf." The table's occupants shared alarmed looks before the three began pouring over the details of the scroll. Jiraiya had sent Moriko to grab the whiteboard they kept in the Hokage's residence they kept for planning sessions like this. At around 5 am Asuma came stumbling out of his bedroom to find his father, Moriko, and Jiraiya gesticulating wildly as their mouths moved but there was no sound. Spotting the privacy seal that was set up on the dining room table Asuma shook his head and headed for the kitchen. The three spotting him suddenly seemed to realize what time it was and in short order, the privacy seal was lower. Asuma winced at the sudden increase in volume as he picked up mid-conversation.
"-it's not my first all-nighter."
"Damn it, just make a clone to do the work for you today and get some sleep. Not sleeping is bad for your heart, Hiruzen," argued Moriko as Jiraiya rolled his eyes.
"He's a grown adult Moriko and our Hokage, leave him be." Said Jiraiya.
"Dammit Jiraiya! He needs to take better care of himself and he's got enough stress as it is," she snipped as Jiraiya shot her an exasperated look.
"He's been an adult since before you were born." Moriko's face seemed to twist with growing fury.
"Dammit, you two are the only family I've got! Why can't you two take care of yourselves a little better so I have you longer?! You, you're always getting wasted, destroying your liver, and he should be retired, and coddling grandkids, not dealing with this stress and this bullshit!" snapped Moriko angrily, eyes starting to water as she gestured towards Jiraiya then Hiruzen before stomping off, bedroom door slamming shut.
Asuma stared at the two men who traded a speaking look before Hiruzen sighed as he seemed to deflate. In that moment Asuma was struck with a pang as he realized how old his father looked. Jiraiya flinched as if he had been struck, clearly seeing the same thing Asuma had before Jiraiya sighed, moving forward to help his teacher to his feet, the large man shirtless for some reason Asuma didn't want to know, judging by the love bites on the man's neck or the scratches on his back.
"Alright, she has a point. Let's get you to bed old man," he grumbled as Hiruzen gave them a self-deprecating smile but complied. Jiraiya exited the bedroom a minute later looking tired if a bit sad. Her words seemed to haunt Asuma for the rest of the day as he shuffled back into the Hokage's office that afternoon to find Jiraiya filling in for his father, several Moriko clones running around in the background to do the Toad sage's bidding. Asuma's lips twitched. Whenever Jiraiya started to say something perverted to one of the women Moriko's chakra would flare angrily and the man would wince before cutting himself off or correcting himself with a nervous laugh.
For the next week Jiraiya and Moriko would fill in for his father or his father would come in in the afternoons relieving Jiraiya for the rest of the day, with Asuma noticing that the three had nightly meetings all week. It was halfway into the second week that the trio seemed to come to a consensus on something.
The next day his father announced the increased intensity for the new hospital's scheduled completion. Asuma wasn't sure what was going on but he figured it was pretty major since his friend Moriko was being kept far too busy to do much but work on seals, sleep, and eat.
…
Back to his regular work schedule, Hiruzen paused and frowned as he heard a muffled thud ring through the Hokage tower. There was another much closer as well as the sound of startled ninjas before his door was thrown off its hinges as Tsunade stomped into his office, face murderous.
"I am not going to let the fools you have working on this project ruin it! Do you hear me? I'm taking over!" she snapped as the old Hokage coughed to hide his laughter. At the wheezes and coughs, Tsunade straightened her face concerned as she came forwards to place a green glowing hand on her sensei's back.
"Why do you have bandages on? Hmph! You've gotten old sensei," she said as she began to scan his body, spotting a couple of problem spots that she would have to address later. Hiruzen patted the hand on his shoulder with fondness as the one on his back continued checking him. He smiled broadly as he gazed at her beautiful face.
"It is good to see you Tsunade," he said as she huffed.
"Can't say the same. What have you been doing to yourself," she quipped as the man gave her a rueful smile. She might be his student but he wasn't sure about telling her about the invasion just yet. That and he didn't want to admit that Jiraiya had kicked his ass at a spar earlier, stating that is was training for the coming invasion. Ha, yeah right. Jiraiya had been putting him through 'training' since the incident with the Hyuga when Moriko had gotten hurt.
"Stress I'm afraid. Lots and lots of stress," he said dryly as she sighed.
"You can tell me about it over sake. We're leaving so we can talk about this," she informed him as the chunin in the room floundered at her sudden entrance and subsequent exit with their Hokage.
...
"So, what the hell happened? I got smiled at by a Hyuga and an Uchiha on the way here," Tsunade quipped as they settled themselves on the veranda of the Sarutobi compound with drinks and snacks. Hiruzen chuckled dryly as he activated the privacy seal set up there for such talks. Tsunade's brow furrowed as she took in the new design of the seal.
"Well for starters, I have had to keep two clans from imploding or exploding the past eight years," he said dryly as the woman sat back looking surprised. A lengthy explanation about the going ons of the village later, they gazed out over the village, mentally absorbing the tale.
"So the Hyuga almost massacred themselves over the caged bird seal?" she asked. The old man nodded before sipping his sake.
"And the new apprentice was able to help you remove and place a new seal. I know what that mark on their brow is," said Tsunade, referring to the purple diamond that was now on the Hyuga foreheads, as Hiruzen moved his hand in a so-so gesture.
"Yes and no. Having another student has been very good for Jiraiya. She has a voracious appetite for knowledge and has pushed Jiraiya in the field of seals greatly. You should have seen it Tsunade. He's been starting to use his seals more and more since he took over her apprenticeship. He's actually interested in seals again and has been happily working on projects now that he has someone able to do a lot of the leg work using shadow clones," he said as Tsunade frowned.
"So he actually came up with the seals?" Hiruzen hummed taking another sip.
"I would say it was more of a team effort. Where one leaves off, the other one continues, but as I said, Moriko-chan does a lot of the legwork and prompts Jiraiya to continue to broaden his horizons." She hummed thoughtfully taking a sip of her drink.
"That doesn't explain the Uchiha though," she pointed out as Hiruzen grimaced.
"I discovered that there were elements in play to undermine, isolate, oppress, and vilify the clan," Hiruzen said quietly as Tsunade blinked in surprise.
"So that's why they are suddenly your neighbors," she muttered, chin resting on her fist as she thought and he nodded.
"I had to handle the situation almost eight years ago when it became clear we had a spy in the highest order working against the village and colluding with Orochimaru. I let the Clan head know what had been discovered and what had been done to rectify the situation. There have been a few hiccups over the years as people try to cling to old ways, but by working together we have managed to handle them," he said as the woman frowned.
"Eight years ago seemed to be a reoccurring number," she pointed out and the man nodded.
"What I am about to tell you is known only by very few people and is an SSS class secret," he said gravely as Tsunade straightened and set her sake aside.
"Moriko-chan is from the forbidden lake," he said, watching as Tsunade's face seemed to go through a multitude of emotions.
"How is that possible?" she finally asked, tone grave, knowing that the young woman shouldn't have been able to survive, much less for so long. Hiruzen sighed.
"Let me tell you a story," he said quietly and he did, telling her everything as Tsunade listened with rapt attention, barely touching her sake. He went over the young woman's history, her training, her personality, and the brief information that they had on her medical information.
"That's a crazy story sensei. It does explain why Orochimaru went off the deep end though," she said a bit glumly as she took a sip before refilling their cups. Hiruzen's chuckle was dry.
"Indeed, it does. He can never know of her or she will be in grave danger," he said as Tsunade nodded slowly.
"And she's worried she can't conceive children," Tsunade pointed out and the man nodded face grave.
"She loves children. We have all seen her care for and help raise and teach a few over the years. It does not have to be said that such a loss would be heartbreaking for her," he said as Tsunade nodded.
"Some of the things you have told me remind me of my grandmother, and if she's serious about reviving the Clan then I will definitely help. Whatever she was before, she is definitely an Uzumaki now," she murmured before making a toast, her glossy lips gleaming with a grin.
"To the Uzumaki," she said as Hiruzen joined her in her toast. They would figure things out one way or another.
AN: My dudes, I can't tell you how many rewrites this was. I also added to the beginning of chapter 20 (June/20th/2024) so I guess read the last bit of Ch. 19 and start Ch. 20 to have continuity for what's going on.