One of the reviews made mention of a few things
And since I read it with this chapter almost done I changed a few things so they were clearer. Nothing major changed, everything that happens in this chapter was going to happen, I moved some things up and explained a few things better. Remember these chapters are Raw so by questioning me I can see when I’m losing the readers or something does not make sense. At least until I put together a team to edit and proof the chapters, so if you’re interested now that NaNo is over and I am about to slow down drop me an email.
Chapter 24
It took Naruto a little longer to make his way to his office because of the celebrations breaking out, but finally he climbed the steps to his office as he tried to ready himself for the conversation that was to come. Stepping out on the top floor he closed his eyes for a moment as he centered himself before putting a polite smile on his face and walking into his office, “Hey old man, how did you enjoy watching the exam?”
Snorting the third took his hat off and placed it on the corner of Naruto's annoyingly clear desk, “Actually Naruto I enjoyed myself immensely. Plus it does not hurt to know I am only going to be gone a few hours today instead of the weeks of travel back and forth it would normally take. Your parents would be proud of you Naruto.”
Grinning Naruto sat down in his chair and smiled at Haku who poured him some tea before serving the Third, “I know, they constantly tell me that all the time.”
Shocked the Third hesitated in taking the offered cup before remembering, “Ah yes, I would not have even though to do what Minato did and make all those recordings. It must be heartwarming to have something of your parents, to see and hear them speak to you.”
Nodding Naruto put his cup down, “It was and is, without those tapes I would not be the person you see before you today, even if I had been rescued and brought here.”
Nodding as he understood the meaning, that without that reinforcement Naruto would probably be a much harsher person, not as forgiving and more than likely full of hatred like the rumors of the others who carried the same burden Naruto was now free from. “I want to thank you for coming up with a way to give me back control of my council, some of the things they were doing behind my back to remove me from power…treasonous is the least of the acts they had committed.”
Chuckling Naruto waved his hand, “Not a problem, after all I have a feeling my life in Konoha was a direct result from their actions against me.”
“Indeed, and before we talk of the things that need to be said,” the Third smiled, “I wanted to pass along that Ibiki feels he will have found out everything Danzou knows in another week, afterwards we will be handing him over to you.”
“I have a nice prison cell picked out for him,” Naruto lost his smile as he sat up and decided it was time. “One last thing before we get to the things you want to negotiate, Hyuuga Hinata will need to be transferred to Whirlpool, she is has been offered as a marriage prospect to one of my Jounin, to seal the deal with the main family recognizing the Hyuuga as a full clan instead of rebel offshoot.”
“I see,” the Third said as he sipped his tea, that would explain the defeated look on Hiashi’s face and how meek and malleable he had become when the strange Shinobi barked at him. It also cleared up the statement that Hiashi’s daughter was no longer his responsibility. Finally nodding he put his cup down, “I will affect the transfer due to marriage once I get back to my office.”
“Thank you,” frowning as he looked out the window, “Once the main family starts teaching her the techniques they splinter group was made to forget she will become a powerful and formidable Shinobi.” Naruto grinned at the thought, “I’m almost tempted to allow her to travel to Konoha to take the Jounin exam when she is ready just to rub it in how wrong Hyuuga Hiashi has been all her life.” Shaking his head he waved it off, “but that is a fantasy that will sadly not happen, our test is to different from yours to even consider it as she would not be allowed to gain the promotion from your test.”
Nodding the Third had to wonder how difficult the test to be a Jounin was here, if their Chuunin exam is what he considered his Jounin exam then he shuddered to think what they required, “Sometime in the future it might be advantageous to hold a friendly competition amongst the Chuunin and Jounin. That is if you agree to an alliance.”
Sitting back Naruto wondered if that was what the old man would be after, “I might be talked into a trial alliance with Konoha, one that was in effect until after your Chuunin exams, I could then find time to sit down with you and the Fire lord and really discuss a long standing treaty.” Seeing the old man look sad he broke into his thoughts, “hey now old man, don’t go down that path yet. After all I am agreeing to take one of your newly promoted Chuunin as my apprentice. So even if it is not official we will have close ties.”
Deciding to lay some of his cards on the table he tilted his head, “Iwa is going to be a problem. If we ally they are going to be unhappy, unhappy enough to go to war again. It’s bad enough that they are testing us, well attempting to.” Naruto frowned as he looked back at the map on the wall, “if they are willing to send several teams inside another country just to test the skill of me teams, what do you think they would do when they find out not only that we are allies, but who my father was?”
“That is troubling news, but surely once they learn how strong you are and that the mythical dragons once more roam the lands,” the third frowned in thought.
“Maybe,” Naruto sounded unconvinced, “So far the teams they sent to test mine never reported back to Iwa, it is hard to report back when you’re dead.” Glancing at the bag of rank pins he sat on the corner of his desk when he sat down he pulled it over and dug three pins out and slid them over, “I think you should probably have these back.”
“Thank you, I probably will offer them back to them, so they can have a keep sake like you did with yours,” the Third smiled as he picked the small pins up, “I do like the way yours are designed, and even if I offer them Konoha’s rank pin I doubt they wear them, they earned yours. And that will mean more to them then me just handing them our rank pin.”
So they were that petty, shaking his head Naruto bit his lip, “I’m afraid I never received a rank pin in the first place, so that is probably the reason I never tossed it to your desk like the rest of the stuff.”
Stiffening in anger the Third narrowed his eyes in anger, “I’m truly sorry Naruto. I had hoped that the village would treat you with at least common decency; if not the way your father wanted them to. It seems I put too much faith in my people.”
Waving his hand again Naruto shrugged it off, “It’s over now, so it really doesn’t matter.” Grinning he leaned forward over his desk and giggled, “So tell me how many times did Kakashi end up on the floor in surprise?”
Chuckling the Third grinned, “Twice…and both times it took all my self control from laughing out loud at him.” Sitting back in his chair smiling at the memory he changed the subject, mainly because he wanted the agreement before he left, he wanted to see the shocked faces of all the other dignitaries when Naruto's Shinobi’s were unveiled to the world, “So Naruto, how many Genin can we expect you to send to our Chuunin exam?”
“Two teams,” Naruto said without hesitation, “well maybe two and a half.” Seeing the questioning look he added, “I promised Kiba that if he could not find two team members to take the ex main Konoha with I would send him two people to make up a team.” Thinking of team Kodochi and their injuries, and the fact one of their number would never be a field Shinobi anymore maybe it would be better if Kiba could not put together a team.
Looking up to see Jiga walk into the room Naruto waved and ignored him before leaning over in his chair at the groans he heard through the open door.
Seeing another person in the room Jiga apologized, “I’m sorry Uzumaki-sama I did not know you were in a meeting a can have the workers come back later to install the new assignment board.”
Stopping his aide before he could leave Naruto smiled, “that’s alright Jiga, go ahead and have the crew come in and install the board,” seeing the man hesitate he nodded, “Were just to old friends catching up and chatting, so go ahead before the poor last year’s hurt themselves holding up that heavy board.”
“Hai Uzumaki-sama,” Jiga quickly waved the team in.
“Last years,” the Third questioned as he watched the group of what had to be academy students struggle to bring in the wide chalk board.
“I think you’ve seen we do things a little differently, our last year academy students are assigned D-Rank missions to get them used to working together, they have their teams changed every two weeks so they learn to work with others,” Naruto smiled at the group of students as they worked together to secure the assignment board to the wall.
“That indeed seems strange,” the Third thought about it before grinning, “I suppose it also helps you when it comes time to assign teams. You know which students work well together and more of their strengths and weaknesses than just what are recorded in their academy records.”
Spotting one of the students from the class he had stopped by and talked with the other day Haku stood and grinned when they snapped to attention. Looking the over he used on of Naruto's evil grins as he snatched a weapons pouch on the leg of one of the students, “What and where are your weapons.”
Smiling the academy student snapped to attention, “In the pouch you took there are three training Kunai with yellow handles, four yellow training Shuriken. Behind the leather flap you will find three regulation Kunai and ten Shuriken. Rolling up his sleeves he pointed to the two leather bracers, “each bracer holds twenty five Senbon each. I have two hands, two legs and my mind.”
Chuckling Haku smirked at Naruto as he peaked inside the pouch and handed it back, “Very good Sensori-san. Good job,” holding his laughter as the academy students bowed with a Uzumaki-sama before rushing off he went back over to the desk after seeing the new board had the newest teams already written on it.
Watching ht students leave while in deep thought the Third looked back at Naruto, “Um, what was all that about.”
“A lesson taken to heart after an almost fatal training accident,” Haku watched the Sandaime Hokage wince. “One should always know at all times what weapons are available to you and where they are.”
Maybe he needed to check up on the academy more often to see what was going on, the lesson those students learned must have had a large impact on them, something more of his Academy students needed. “So if your academy students take on D-Rank mission what do your Genin handle?”
“They are free to take on D-Rank missions if they want to earn some more money,” Naruto smirked, ‘but our Genin handle mostly borderline D to C-Rank mission along with low to Middle C-Rank missions. In between training with their Sensei’s and family’s or free study, the typical non-mission week consists of a overnight C-Rank mission coupled with team training in the morning and family training in the afternoon. They spend one afternoon a week studying in the archives.”
Naruto shrugged, “It is so different from what I experienced in Konoha it is hard to compare.”
Glancing at the clock the Third stood up and put his ha back on, “As much as I would like to stay and catch up I need to get back before I am missed. After all unlike you I have a ton of paperwork left to do.”
Following the Third out of the building Naruto snorted, “You need to train your staff better than. I bet if you really admitted it three quarters of the paperwork that crosses your desk should have gone somewhere else.”
Nodding solemnly as he stopped in the street in front of Naruto's office where the Dragon Warrior was waiting for him, “You are right, but who to get them to break tradition and actually do the sane thing, that is my problem.”
Giggling Naruto put on his evil overlord grin as he pointed to one of the people walking in with a stack of papers.
Gulping in fright the man jumped, “Uzumaki-sama, I assure you these are not headed for your office…we know better sir.” Rushing away before getting in trouble he missed Naruto's explanation.
“See simple really, well I did have to prank several of them in the beginning, and the retelling got larger than life each time it was told. And since no one wanted to admit it was them being pranked the ones who actually were the victims of my retaliatory pranks never stepped forward to set the record straight,” and well…” Naruto giggled at the shocked look on the old man’s face.
“Only you Naruto would use a prank to show your…” the Third chuckled as he moved over to the Warrior as what he was saying set in. now that he thought about it, the only pranks Naruto was involved in were geared towards payback for a real insult or injury. Shaking his head he instead smiled, “Until next time Naruto-dono.”
Chuckling Naruto spotted Shino and Sasuke walking his way, “Next time old man.”
Walking over to the group Naruto noticed Shino and Kiba’s parents walking with them, “Hey guys not celebrating?”
“Soon,” Shino nodded at Naruto, “father has been showing us the Aburame clan estates and during the discussions we thought it might be prudent to see how much work is needed to the Inuzuka and Uchiha estates.”
Nodding slowly to show he understood Naruto thought for a moment, “The Inuzuka estate is closer so why don’t we stop at that one first.” Motioning them to follow him Naruto turned and walked past his office, “if I remember correctly I think there is a building that fronts the lane that the plans marked as being a veterinary office. I know the estate backs up to the forest so that…well from the notes on the plans; it has forested land for their canine companions to roam through. The Uchiha estate is farther down the road down near the orchard and fields.”
A short fifteen minute walk Naruto stopped in front of a fancy gate with a dog emblem next to it, looking over his shoulder as he stepped to the side so Tsume could see what he was doing he pressed the right eye until it clicked before poking the nose in and then pulling the mouth open so he could tug on the left fang. Once he had done that the gate clicked and shifted to show it was open, pushing on it he cringed slightly as it squeaked, “Needs some oil it looks like.”
Walking to the compound he looked around, it was pretty much like the other estates, in need of some serious clean up and maintenance. Eyeing the rooflines of some of the building Naruto nodded, it looked like the buildings were still good and strong.
Tsume looked around through the high grass and small saplings growing in the path, the buildings looked to be in the same condition as those on Shibi’s clan estate, “This is going to take some serious work to make livable, it might push back the clans moving in…Damn.”
Shrugging Naruto spun around slowly as he looked at the estate, “Well you can always chose to hire several D-rank missions for the Genin students to do, they could get this place cleaned up and cut back pretty quickly I would think.” Twisting his upper body around as he rubbed his chin he looked at it again, “Well I suppose if money would be a problem in the beginning because of everything you would have to move and buy for supplies and such, I suppose I could front the money for the missions and you could pay me back with a mission or two.”
“DEAL,” Tsume grinned as pulled out some paper and started making notes, “Why don’t the rest of you go on to Sasuke-san’s estate while I make a list of what I need to have done before next weekend when I expect the first of my clan to make their way here.”
“Sure thing,” Naruto turned around and noticed Tsume’s companion sniffing a few tree trunks, “We’ll pick you up on the way back.”
Stopping on font of the gate to the Uchiha estate, Naruto pointed to the emblem, “Sasuke, once Kai moves in along with Miyuki we can activate the chakra locks, for now we’ll just leave it open so you can get in and out to clean and stock up.” Pushing the gate open he led the way into the estate, looking around he saw it would not take as much to clean this place up as the others.
“Not as bad,” Sasuke looked around, “I can hire some students for several D-Rank missions too, right Senpai?”
Nodding Naruto looked around, “Sure thing, it probably would not take as long to get this place cleaned up as the other two.”
Ignoring most of the small building Sasuke walked around until he found the Dojo and training grounds and looked them over carefully. Walking into the Dojo he opened several panels to see a small inner courtyard and house behind, exploring further he found a nice size library. Thinking back to the conversation he had this morning he needed to find time to talk to Naruto to see if he could hire an additional escort mission to bring his families scrolls here for safekeeping, he needed to make sure they stayed out of Itachi’s hands …that was if he had not already stolen or destroyed them.
Rejoining Naruto who was off to one side from the others Sasuke looked around, it was a lot smaller than back at Konoha, “Senpai, is there a reason the estates are so much smaller than back in Konoha?”
“Originally when my parents rebuilt Whirlpool there were no estates, they figured those coming here would not be staying long, only long enough to retake Konoha after it fell, so there was no need to have estates.” Naruto shrugged as he watched Shino and his father examining something in the grass, probably another bug or something. “After the war they came back as the rest of the residents of Whirlpool made their way back here and created the estates as a way to lure some of the clans to set up homes here. My father while wanting Konoha to be strong thought it was a very bad idea to have so many of the clans in one spot. None of the clans in Konoha have any small offshoots set up outside Konoha, so if something happened they could be wiped to a person, like my father’s clan during the war.”
“So all of this is a bribe to get the clans to abandon Konoha,” Sasuke sounded wired, as if he could not believe it.
“Yes and No,” Naruto sighed his friend and soon to be apprentice was so naïve and one dimensional, “all the clan heads that allow some of the members to move here know up front what is involved, how they will have family members in two countries and split loyalties for some of the clan. But on the other hand they know how important it is for their clan to survive, the last war taught them that when several of the clans died out, every single man woman and child.” Shaking his head Naruto sat down on the steps before pointing for Sasuke to join him, “You’re the head of the Uchiha now, so you can’t afford to be naïve and innocent like this. If the civilian council was still around I would not even consider allowing any of the clans to send part of their clan to Whirlpool to join me, hell if the evacuation summoning circles were used under those conditions all of the people arriving would be shunted to the outside village and i would set so many guards up around as I do not trust the civilians at all. Even with the Kyuubi gone and them knowing my heritage they attempted a coup and tried to make Whirlpool part of Konoha, or at least under their complete authority.”
“So why are you doing all of this,” Sasuke waved his arm around the estate.
“I want the skills the clans will bring me,” Naruto shrugged.
“But your taking a big risk to being betrayed,” Sasuke pointed out as he frowned, it seemed so complicated, “Why is this complicated, I thought everything you are doing is because we’re your friends?”
“You are…I am,” Naruto sighed, “friend’s mean a lot to me Sasuke because I had only one growing up. If I did not consider you a friend I would not have made the effort I have so far to help you, I could have just walked away and not looked back. I offered friendship to you, I took a chance and you grabbed onto it and became a friend. I would not have given you access to the scrolls I took from the Keepers vault in Kohona if I did not value you as a friend, and I would not have let Shino and the others into the exam and in a sense giving them access to the information you had if I did not think they were worth it and would keep my secrets.”
“That said, it’s not the clans that would betray my trust, most of them owe my father too much and tried to protect me from the villagers while I was growing up,” Naruto sighed as he watched the father and son walk over. “The villagers on the other hand scare me to death, enough I would send a squad of Dragons to wipe them out rather than leave them an enemy behind. It is complicated because the people I have to deal with don’t have the honor most Shinobi have, or at least my Shinobi. Dealing with the Konoha village council is like dealing with one of the plains cats while standing in a pit of lethal vipers.”
“True,” Shibi nodded as he looked at Sasuke, “the council refused to let any of the clans teach you what you needed to know to be an effecting leader on the council. Unfortunately they had the power and votes so the clans were always outvoted when the issue was brought up.” Spotting Tsume entering the gates he nodded at her before continuing to enlighten the young Uchiha head, “The civilian side of the council or some of its members had Naruto-sama’s mother killed. Because they knew if she survived he would be the head of the Namikaze clan, a clan that was in the public mind and they would not be able to control him. We are splintering off our clans and moving here because we have a bad feeling of things to come, it had almost gotten to the point several of the smaller clans were willing to pack up and leave.”
Seeing Sasuke and Shino both wearing shocked expressions Tsume entered the conversation, “Konoha was heading for a civil war, most of the clans that are jumping at Naruto-sama’s offer are doing so because they know what was and maybe still is coming. Frankly it might be too late to save Konoha as a hidden village for Shinobi, and I for one want to make sure my clan survives what is to come, for if Konoha turns traitor to its Shinobi forces and the clans we will leave. And frankly I want all the non combatants and young ones away from Konoha until I know for sure the danger has passed.”
Shaking his head Sasuke looked at Shino, “Was I so wrapped up in myself I missed all of this?”
Sitting down Shino looked up at the sky, “I don’t think it was a matter of being so wrapped up in yourself as you put it, but the fact the civilian side of the council controlled everything about you, they had a plan and you were to be their rally point for the rest of the village when they got rid of the Sandaime.”
Scowling as he was reminded at how he was treated Sasuke shook his head, “So the clans are willing to split off and come here until the Leaf is firmly back under the control of the Hokage? But isn’t that trading one set of Civilians out of control for another?”
“No,” Shibi pushed his glasses up as he did something he rarely did, he smiled in public, “First you have to understand that Naruto-sama is both the Daimyo and the Kage of Whirlpool. As such he is viewed in a different light than back home.”
“Also Naruto-sama’s has an advisory council of a total of three people, and those people change out every year. One person represents the merchants and one the Clans while the other represents the villager’s. And they are truly advisors without power,” Tsume smiled at that thought wishing it was the same way back in Konoha, then she would not have had so many headaches because of politics.”
“But you’ve left out one of the biggest points,” Naruto looked at Sasuke, “Whirlpool does not have a single civilian living here.”
“WHAT?” Sasuke demanded as he stared at Naruto, “what about all those people that we see all over the village, doing things like being store clerks and bakers and such?”
Naruto nodded, “Except all those people have been through the Shinobi Academy.” Seeing the confusion on Sasuke’s face he stood up as he was getting hungry, “Everyone from the age of five until their nine years old attends the Shinobi academy to gain the same skills both of you did back at the Academy in Konoha.” Waving for Sasuke to follow him as he made his way to the gate he started to walk backwards after Sasuke closed the gate, “Once someone reaches the age of nine they can go to the Genin academy if they want to become active Shinobi, they will then graduate at the age of twelve or thirteen. But make no mistake every single person in my lands have reached at least Genin level, none of them wanted to ever have their homes invaded and not be able to do anything but run.”
“Indeed, then this is a true Shinobi village,” Shino nodded as he wondered how Naruto made walking backwards look so natural.
“That makes some sense now,” Sasuke scrunched his face up as he looked at the two adults, “But how do you know someone is not going to betray your plan or stand up and call you traitors?”
“I had one of my mind walker’s meet the clan convoys as soon as they hit the border of fire country,” Naruto looked grim faced. “I am not leaving anything to chance, those that she found untrustworthy she will have sealed their minds so they have to obey the clan leader and may never speak of whirlpool to anyone else. Once here and they have been brought into the Caldera Valley they will never be allowed to leave…ever.”
“I see the logic of using this so you don’t break up families,” Shino looked at Naruto, “It must have not been an easy decision to make?”
“Again it is one of the yes and no answers,” Naruto sighed as he decided they did not need to know what the first option Tsume and Shibi tried to convince him to use. His way was better as they could be used to build up the clan numbers.
“There really is no easy clear cut answer to some of the problems that arise when dealing with another hidden village or country,” Naruto told him as he watched his face closely.
“So what protects the clan leaders from someone ordering one of the Yamanaka to dip into your minds to get the secrets your hiding,” Sasuke was confused, why was Naruto being so open.
“It would be possible if we had not taken precautions,” Tsume grinned as he moved her ear lobe back showing the tiny seal. “Plus Shibi-san and I never discussed this around the Hyuuga.
Sudden understanding dawned on Sasuke, “So when do we get this seal?”
Smiling at his friend Naruto nodded, “Tonight after supper.”
“What about the Hyuuga,” Sasuke just couldn’t see the Hyuuga clan holding still to have the seal placed on him.
“That would be the one exception to what I said about most of the clans leaving Konoha and escaping if the village overthrew the Hokage,” Naruto frowned. “The Hyuuga made a deal with the main family to be acknowledged as a true clan; unfortunately he does not intend to keep his word. He plans to take Taidachi-san hostage once he arrives at Kohona for the official signing, and if the rest of the main family does not bow down and give him what he wants he plans to kill Taidachi-san.”
“Most the Hyuuga do not attend the academy or join the Konoha Shinobi forces and their loyalties lie only with themselves,” Shibi frowned, “This is not good as for the most part they are not under the Hokage’s control. And with the civilian side of the council dissolved or in a state of uncertainty they are like a mercenary army in the heart of our home.”
“I know,” Naruto stopped moving as he looked back at the road they had been walking down. Glancing at Shibi and Tsume he thought they deserved to know what he ordered, after all they sent over half of their clan out of Konoha while the Hokage was watching the Chuunin exam. The first group would arrive in Whirlpool next weekend and the rest the following week, “Taidachi woke me up this morning to talk over his options. Last night he had one of the mind walkers examine the Hyuuga to see if he would honor the deal, he was more than willing to honor his word if they would. Once Taidachi goes to Kohona to meet with the Hyuuga, he will be accompanied by several of his own families Jounin along with a squad of my Dragon’s. A letter will be delivered to the Hokage the night before and it will explain that what happens to the Hyuuga family is being handled by the main family and under the clan charter of Kohona he may not interfere.”
“By the Gods,” Tsume hissed out in shock.
“Yes,” Naruto's face become impossible to read. “When the Hyuuga betray their word, when they betray me and whirlpool I will allow Taidachi to complete the clan verdict from several hundred years ago. All those who oppose the rule of the main family will be killed. Those with the caged bird seal will have it removed and all the survivors and children will be mind sealed and brought back into the main family once more.”
