Chapter 72: Chapter 18: Part 4
- Jiraiya -
Before he could think more, the door opened and Asuma Sarutobi entered the room. Behind him was the Fire Daimyo himself along with the rest of his Guardians.
Everyone stood up and headed to meet the Daimyo.
"Jiraiya, Tsunade… so glad you both are here to take care of things. How did such a thing happen? Just what…"
"We are about to discuss exactly that, Daimyo-sama. The Uchiha Clan is about to present their report." Tsunade replied.
"Good… in that case, we would like to witness it too."
She nodded and offered him a seat at the head of the table.
Just a minute later, Fugaku Uchiha opened the door and entered with several of his clansmen following him.
He looked at the Daimyo with surprise and bowed slightly before looking at Tsunade.
"Let the meeting begin. I think we all already know of the incident which happened a week ago but I would still like to jog everyone's memory and report everything from my point of view." Tsunade stood up and addressed the meeting and basically recalled everything she had seen that day.
He saw the Daimyo's face paling at Tsunade's story.
"The attack was done because they had tried to prevent Naruto Uzumaki, who is presumed to have been the contractor of the Dragons from returning back to their realm against his will. The first attacks were made by Danzo Shimura at the green dragon and then towards Naruto Uzumaki and another child who was also a dragon. Their attack was a retaliation. Later on, the destruction of the Hokage Mountain and the… final attack which made the… countrywide trench was done because Danzo Shimura had tried to use his stolen Sharingan to take control of the two dragons."
"What did they want, Tsunade? How did you all stop them and send them back?" The Fire Daimyo asked.
They winced.
"We didn't send them back… They left of their own will… on the condition that we will leave Naruto Uzumaki alone from now on. From their discussions, I could understand that the leader of the group considers Naruto as an adopted brother of his. He found out about the way Naruto was treated and Naruto has been staying there with them since then. This time Naruto had discovered his heritage and had come to take the picture of his parents from Konoha when he was stopped by the third Hokage… and the rest you all know. As for how we stopped them? We didn't. Their leader didn't want a fight from the start. He had even ordered them to not attack anyone unless they were attacked first… which they were. Even during the whole battle, they only retaliated when attacked first."
"So… they left? Just like that?" the Fire Daimyo asked, astonished.
"Yes."
"Do we know where they came from? Where is this Summoning Land of Dragons? I have never heard of dragons as summons before in my life, even in the old scrolls of the Hyuga Clan." Hiashi Hyuga asked.
"No one knew they existed before this. Not even the Toads of Mount Myoboku or Lady Katsuyu of Shikkotsu forest knew of them existing. We think they live in a completely different world separate from ours and Naruto was able to accidentally reverse summon himself there."
"So… you are trying to say that all of this was just a big coincidence?" Shikaku Nara asked, sarcastically.
"No. The attack itself was due to the hasty decisions of Hiruzen Sarutobi and his advisors." Fugaku Uchiha spoke for the first time, getting everyone's attention.
"As Tsunade-sama stated just now… they had only attacked in retaliation. Moreover, their entire reason for getting angry was the unfair treatment of Naruto Uzumaki. What Tsunade-sama missed to mention was that they had called Naruto Uzumaki a possession and weapon of the village, further provoking the ire of the dragons and then attacked the green dragon girl first." That was something Jiraiya hated too but he hadn't said anything back then.
From an objective point of view, not losing the jinchuriki of the village was a priority task but Jiraiya knew that today people were not here to logically look at things but rather to find a scapegoat to blame everything on and sensei and his advisors… were just too convenient to pass up… just like Naruto and the Uchiha had been after the Nine Tails incident. Was this called Karma?
Sigh… he was right to stay away from all this politics.
Fugaku continued. "This matter would have never arisen had they done their work properly and treated Naruto Uzumaki as the Fourth wanted him to be treated. Even then, there was a chance that things wouldn't have escalated to this degree if they hadn't attacked first and tried to negotiate with a non-violent enemy first. That way, not only could we have the village's jinchuriki back but also gained the support of such… powerful beings."
"Is… is there no way to reconcile with them?" The Fire Daimyo asked meekly.
Tsunade shook his head. "We don't know where they came from and where they went to. Naruto was… very lucky." She then looked at Fugaku. "Do you have the reports?"
He nodded and put forward a scroll and unsealed it.
Several dozen files appeared on the table and he passed them over to every member on the table, including the Daimyo.
"Danzo Shimura, an advisor of the Hokage and the leader of a secret branch of anbu under his direct control called the root has been involved in too many things. The files in front of you contain the information about whatever we could find about him. Too bad he died and his body was destroyed or we could have the Yamanaka check through their memories to find the true extent of the damages he has caused." Fugaku began as they all opened the files and began pursuing the contents.
The more he looked the deeper the frown on his face became.
Human Experiments, dealing with Orochimaru, kidnapping and assassinating members of Konoha Clans for techniques and kekkei genkai, colluding with nuke nin of other villages, looting villages and merchants to fund their missions, threatening orphanages to recruit. The root training regime and graduation test made him disgusted… was this the Konoha they preached about?
Was this the Will of Fire?
And Sensei was allowing all this to happen?
At this point, even Jiraiya couldn't ignore the mistakes of his sensei… this was just too much.
The further he read, the more disgusted he became.
Sabotaging people, spreading false rumours and propaganda… Apparently it was them who had spread the information about Naruto being the reincarnation of the fox and sensei had tried to cover it up as him honouring Minato's last wish…
That bastard was also involved in some shady deals during the nine tails attack and had been constantly spreading rumours about the Uchiha Clan in the village.
"In fact, these are only the things that we were able to find out from our investigation. With the help of a thorough search from the Yamanaka Clan, we can discover even more information from their minds." Fugaku completed, remarkably keeping himself in control. Especially considering the fact that the death of Shisui Uchiha was caused by Danzo Shimura according to the reports.
"H-how can this be happening in Konoha?" The Fire Daimyo started. "Did Hiruzen know about this?"
"If he did then he was as guilty as Danzo Shimura for letting this happen and if he didn't know anything was amiss, then he is clearly not competent enough to sit in his position anymore. As for what he is, you will have to ask him by yourself, Lord Daimyo." Jiraiya felt bad but looked around and found that no one said anything to refute it.
"Either way, from what I have heard, he is not fit to continue as a Hokage after losing his arm and leg. The village has lost many ninjas, so soon after the Nine Tails attack. We have even lost the fourth, Orochimaru has rebelled and now this, not to mention the jinchuriki of the village has been taken by… Gods. We are in an incredibly dire situation right now with the other villages eying us. We need to elect a new Hokage as soon as possible and stabilise the situation." Surprisingly, it was Hiashi Hyuga who said this.
Jiraiya knew he wasn't wrong either but tried to remember and recalled the incident of the Kumo Head Ninja where Hiashi's brother was sacrificed.
While he understood that it was the best possible choice, trading the life of one person for the like for hundreds in a potential war, especially right after the nine tails attack, he could also understand Hiashi's anger with sensei about it, although the Hyuga Clan head was too good to show such a thing to anyone.
"Yes yes… then who is to become the next Hokage?" The Daimyo questioned.
"I propose Jiraiya-sama."
"I think Tsunade-sama should take the seat. She is the granddaughter of the First and the grandniece of the Second, not to mention one of the Sannin. The village would regain its morale if she were to take the helm."
Jiraiya raised his hand. "I do not wish to stand in the contest. My Spy Network needs me outside the village, more so now than before."
"But that's…"
At this time Tsunade also raised her hand. "I do not wish to take the position either but I recommend Fugaku Uchiha. The Uchiha Clan has been treated unfairly but even then has continued to contribute to the village. Fugaku and his son Itachi have been major contributors in the previous battle and he is more than capable of taking the position of the Hokage. In case everyone has forgotten, the Uchiha were one of the founders of the village too. Anyways, we can vote."
Sure enough there were some doubts in the people while some didn't agree with the choice but the vote cleared everything.
The only one who could stand in competition was Kakashi but he had been running around, weeding out spies.
Guy hadn't been in the village during the attack. When he returned he was immediately sent out on another mission, not that anyone would recommend him as the Hokage.
Shikaku Nara directly pulled back.
In the end, only Hiashi Hyuga and Fugaku Uchiha were left.
And so… Fugaku Uchiha became the fifth Hokage of Konohagakure.