The Whirlpool's Masks: Part 1
Konohagakure no sato – Forest
Hyuga Hiashi was angry, after an ominous spike of chakra he had activated his eyes to find his daughter disappeared as well as the Kumogakure ambassador that would be staying in the complex for the night.
Moving his gaze towards the origin of the ominous chakra he could not help but gasp a moment from what he saw. One Uzumaki Naruto covered in his beast's demonic chakra facing the jonin that had his daughter on his back, but that was not what surprised him, rather they were the blood red chakra chains coming from the little redhead's back.
With a shake to rid himself of the shock as he continued advancing to the scene he could not help but curse himself, it was obvious, how could he claim to have the best eyes when he could not recognize his late teammate's son. It had been no secret the relationship between the late Yondaime Hokage Namikaze Minato and Uzumaki Kushina, yet, despite their son being a redhead mini version of Minato with his mother's mischievousness he had not realized until now.
He had been close to the couple as was his late wife though that was no surprise as the same way he had been a genin with Minato under the toad sannin, his wife had been teammate of the boy's mother under the slug sannin.
As he advanced he saw as the second and later third chakra tails formed from the cloack as the boy began to rapidly overwhelm his opponent.
It had ironically been due to his newfound care for his friend's son that he calmed enough to rapidly incapacitate the jonin and make Naruto faint with his gentle fist with enough care not to injure the boy much.
Konohagakure no sato – Hokage tower – Council chambers
Next morning the village council rapidly convened under their leader's order after being informed of the incident the night before when Hiashi sent a branch member to inform him of the attempted kidnapping.
As Hiashi finished recounting the night's events the civilian council made their voices heard demanding the execution of 'the demon', his imprisonment, exile and other ludicrous yet crazy ideas.
"ENOUGH!" Hiruzen ordered with a stern tone sending an extremely heavy wave of killing intent through the room that terrified most of those present, despite Hiashi telling him he had made sure to send branch Hyuga members to look after Naruto to ensure his proper care in the hospital, he was irate.
The dying wish of the boy's father had been for Naruto to be viewed as the hero he was for keeping the beast in check, it had been that reason that compelled the elder shinobi to tell the council of the boy's charge. What he had not expected had been the claims for the newborn's death from the terrified civilians that had promptly made the rest of the village aware of the information.
Hiruzen ended up resorting to banning the talk about it so as to not taint the younger generation with the nonsensical hatred for the boy. That however did not prevent the children's parents from stopping the young ones playing with the boy with unfounded and false rumors of the boy being evil.
That had gone on until a couple of weeks before where he had been informed by his ANBU that Naruto had been chased out of the orphanage. He had been trying to find the boy ever since but the child had long since learned to hide from view so as to avoid the regular abuse he was subjected.
It had not pleased him that the first news he got from the boy he had begun to treat like his surrogate grandson were of him being in the hospital after stopping a kidnapping attempt.
Do not misunderstand him, he was incredibly proud of the boy's courage but he was still a four year old boy and the fact he had been in a fight with a jonin worried him immensely to the point he had barely slept.
Add to his lack of sleep the stress from the diplomatic fiasco, his worry for Naruto and now the civilian council's nonsense and he should be excused for snapping.
"Do I need to remind the honorable council that my law is still in effect!? The next one to refer to the boy with such terms will have his head rolling on the ground am I clear." Said the annoyed Hokage fed up with the nonsense.
"Yes, Hokage-sama." Answered in a low tone the members of the council careful not to provoke the angry Hokage.
As silence settled into the room Nara Shikaku, the jonin commander and head strategist of the village, took this chance to talk.
"Considering the circumstances of the incident it is likely that Kumo will use the chance to play the victim and make demands like the person who attacked their man." Announced Shikaku whose words made sparks of hope shine in the eyes of the civilian council members as a chance to get rid of the demon brat but as some prepared to voice their opinions a voice interrupted them.
"Such proposal will not be accepted." Said the authoritative voice of Hyuga Hiashi with a look that dared anyone to contradict him.
"But Hiashi-dono you must understand that this could lead to war, we are still recovering our forces from the Kyubi attack and can not afford to enter such a conflict." Tried to argue a civilian councilor.
"The boy is directly responsible for my daughter not being successfully kidnapped. From this moment on any threat to the boy will be considered a threat against my clan and if such deal does come to pass the Hyuga clan will abandon this village." Countered the powerful shinobi with no intention to accept a no for an answer.
As the elders and civilians tried to think of a way to calm and change the proud man's opinion another voice interrupted their thoughts.
"The Uchiha clan agrees with Hiashi-dono and also extends the boy its protection." Announced the only man in the room more proud than the Hyuga head, Uchiha Fugaku.
During Hiashi's recount of the events Fugaku had also realized the boy's parentage and, while he did not really have a close relationship with the deceased Hokage he knew his wife would give him hell if he did not give the least bit of support for her best friend's son.
It had been only then that he realized that his wife was aware of the boy's heritage as she had vehemently opposed to controlling the boy during their planning of the coup.
Hiruzen was gladly surprised by the two influential clan head's announcement though after a little thought he realized the reason despite not really mattering for the moment.
"Speaking of the child, from the state he was found in it is apparent that he has been living in the streets, with that side of this council as an example of the civilian's opinion on my clan's benefactor I formally request for the boy to be granted accommodation in the shinobi district with a high rank ninja guardian to take care of him and provide the boy with the necessary protection." Announced Hiashi who had thought it through during the night, while he would have loved to adopt boy into the clan he knew the rest of the council would never agree as the boy had too much value as a potential asset in the village to be entrusted to any clan and so, he had come to the conclusion that with the recent incident he could use the boy's service as an excuse to ease his burden.
Hiashi's words stunned everyone before the civilians started protesting against the idea. Hiruzen for his part saw through the Hyuga's intentions and after a little thought of a way to make it possible an idea came to mind.
"As Naruto-kun is the village's jinchuriki his care is without a doubt a military matter and so with the shinobi council we will now vote on this proposal." Hiruzen said shutting the door for the civilians to meddle with the boy though disliking the fact of having to treat his surrogate grandson as a weapon.
The elders did not like how things were going, after Danzo informed them of the sensing of Kyubi's chakra the night before they had planned to use the situation to put the weapon under the old warhawk's care, what they had not expected was for the two most influential and powerful clans in the village to rally behind the boy. This fact also made them nervous as they, together with the Hokage, had been aware of the Uchiha's planning a coup and were making their old brains turn trying to understand what Fugaku was planning, not realizing he was just trying to not antagonize his wife.
"Before that if I may, I would like to have some therapy sessions with the boy to ensure everything is in order." Asked Yamanaka Inoichi, who together with his teammates Akimichi Choza and Nara Shikaku knew of the boy's heritage but lacked the power or influence in the village to really help the boy besides helping keep any aggrieved shinobi far from the boy.
"I think it would be good to do so, thank you Inoichi." Nodded Hiruzen.
After that short exchange the vote proceeded normally, the civilian council tried to disregard the Hokage's previous comment and vote against the proposal but were decisively ignored and it passed with a bast majority vote as even those who had yet to realize the boy's heritage found it more reasonable to keep the demon prison safe as, even if the civilians decided to ignore the fact, it was well known that after a jinchuriki's death it would only be a couple of years before the demon reformed near the place of death of the host and considered it better not to deal with the nightmarish fiend in the near future by keeping the boy alive.
When Hiruzen announced the results after preemptively activating a silencing seal on the civilian side they tried to argue and complain but soon became more confused at their sudden lack of ability to speak much to the amusement of the clan heads who were long tired of listening to the bickering.
"As decided, when Naruto-kun is discharged from the hospital he will be assigned an apartment in the shinobi district and I will later review files for potential guardians for the him, dismissed." The Sarutobi announced finishing the reunion, he actually already had an idea of the potential better candidates for the job that would satisfy even those clans with less favorable opinion of the boy.
The main three main candidates were Kakashi who was the boy's father's student and a sharingan user though, on second thought the young man had been too focused in his ANBU duties and was still in the process of overcoming the loss. Second was one of his mother's students, Uchiha Shisui, also a sharingan user like Kakashi the boy had had a better time overcoming the loss and had already unofficially acted as a guard for the boy on a regular basis when off duty with his other teammates Inuzuka Hana and Uzuki Yugao, he was a better pick than Kakashi for his bright personality though his mischievous nature prevented the old Hokage from making the decision right away. The third option was Tenzou, the survivor from his traitor student's experiment in recreating the first Hokage's mokuton release, of the three he was the one with the least amount of attachments to the boy but character-wise was likely the best option, he was responsible and disciplined, traits that would be appreciated if Naruto caught on.
As he pondered which of them to choose his thoughts were interrupted by Hiashi who requested a private meeting.
The Hyuga leader did not beat around the bush this time and directly said that with the boy's heritage and awakened bloodline limit it was only a matter of time before the boy was included into the CRA and assumed a clan head position. As his father's teammate and friend he hoped that the tutor to be selected for the boy to be competent enough to educate him as a clan heir.
Understanding the Hyuga's point Hiruzen promised to take it into account in the selection, realizing that Tenzou was indeed the best option though he decided to assign Shisui to rekindle the boy's childishness that the villagers tried so hard to extinguish.
At the Uchiha compound Fugaku explained the happening of the council chamber to his wife Mikoto who was ecstatic at the resurfacing of her godson, fact that genuinely surprised the Uchiha head when she revealed it later that night before giving her husband a good reward in bed that made sure that Fugaku would make sure that Naruto would be kept safe no matter what.
Meanwhile inside a cell in a sewer like space a creature hummed in satisfaction.
"Hmm… Seems like things are taking are taking an interesting turn." Said the creature sensing the events around him.
AND DONE!
This story is one I intend to make more detailed in most aspects compared to the usual.
There will be more focus on the training as well as the development of Naruto's relationships with the clan heirs.
I don't remember if I have included this detail in any of the other stories and am to lazy to check but Kushina will have trained a team of genin like Minato, for it I have chosen Shisui, Hana and Yugao who seem to be on a similar age range as Kakashi at least for Shisui, I do not intend to check if it is the case for the other two as it would not be the first age altering from canon that I make, though it has not appeared yet.
The reason for the title will likely be apparent on the next chapter if not the following as, as I have already said, I intend to make it more detailed and so the story will likely feel slower than the others.
I have been writing other stories that are not yet published. As I make more chapters I will eventually decide wether to upload them or not.
I anyone is curious their titles are: To serve the light and The snake's obsession. Both are Naruto stories and will likely upload them sooner if I see interest in them.