Konohagakure no Sato :
The Hokage Office :
The atmosphere inside the Hokage's office was suffocating, thick with the heavy, aromatic smoke from Sarutobi Hiruzen's pipe. Today, the room wasn't just occupied by the Third Hokage.
Seated across from him were the two elders of the Konoha Council, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane. Their faces were etched with deep lines of worry as they stared at the pile of intelligence reports scattered across the mahogany table.
"Hiruzen, just what is going on with the Ino-Shika-Cho?" Koharu asked, her voice sharp with agitation.
"Not just them," Homura added, tapping a finger on a scroll. "There are also reports involving the Aburame, the Inuzuka, and several other clans. Their coordination is... unsettling."
Hiruzen smoked his pipe in silence, the embers glowing bright in the dim light. He remembered his last fallout with the Nara and Yamanaka clan heads.
The meetings were still technically happening between his Jonin advisor and the Intelligence Department Head, but the spirit of them had changed.
Whenever the Hokage ordered, they still came to the meeting, and they still performed their roles with clinical efficiency, but something was always off. The warmth, the loyalty, the unspoken trust—it had evaporated.
"The other clans seem to have united," Koharu continued, her voice rising in pitch. "Even the Hyuga Clan has been seen in deep discussions with the others."
"They are isolating our clans," Homura noted grimly. "Even the Sarutobi clan is being treated with a strange, cold distance."
The Hokage fully understood their panic. He had been feeling the same weight during his recent headaches.
"Even some well-known Jonin and Chunin seem to be on their side," Homura said. "They are also patrolling the village borders blatantly—"
The Third Hokage exhaled a dense cloud of smoke, interrupting their mounting cries with a single, heavy word.
"Repercussions."
"What...??" Koharu blinked.
"Ha? What do you mean?" Homura asked.
Seeing his friends' bewilderment, the Hokage decided it was time to wake them up to the reality they had been ignoring.
"Consequences of the Uchiha clan massacre," Hiruzen said firmly.
"....Isn't it almost a year already?" Koharu countered. "Didn't they get enough benefits from the redistribution? What more do they want?"
Looking at the surprised expressions of his lifelong friends and fellow Council members, Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a sudden, sharp pang of age.
(.....We are all getting old,) he thought.
"They want Security," the Third decided to answer.
"Hah," Koharu scoffed.
"From what??" Homura asked.
"From the village," the Hokage replied simply.
"Security from the village??" Koharu's voice turned shrill.
"YOU OLD FOOLS!!" Hiruzen's outburst rattled the pens on the desk.
"They are wary of the village! They are wary of the Hokage, the Elders... THEY HAVE LOST THE TRUST in the village!"
The elders sat back, their eyes popping out in shock as they processed the insult and the gravity of the statement.
"Impossible," Homura whispered.
"Why??"
"Because of the Uchiha. Don't you understand? ....Haaaaaaah," the Hokage sighed, the sound echoing the exhaustion in his soul.
A shinobi village that has lost the trust of its shinobi—and most importantly, the numerous clans that are the backbones of the whole village—is a village on the brink.
The military might of Konoha consisted of 60-70% Genin, 20-25% Chunin, and only 2-5% Jonin.
In this hierarchy, the main power-holders were always the Big Clans, the Small Clans, and the families of those elite Jonin and Chunin.
Against a single clan or individual, the village was an overwhelming force of protection. But against their own united clans?
"Have they gone mad?" Koharu hissed.
"Do THEY WANT CIVIL WAR?"
"Do THEY even understand how the other shinobi villages will respond if Konoha fractures internally?"
"Don't they know the Uchiha's outcome?"
Seeing his advisors panicking like children who had just realized the stove was hot, Hiruzen spoke again.
"Precisely."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean, Hiruzen?"
"They know the Uchiha's outcome, and that's precisely the reason that they are doing it," Hiruzen explained.
"....." "...."
Looking at his still clueless friends, Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed again, tapping his pipe against an ashtray. "....What if the village decides to execute them next?"
"Why?" Homura asked.
"The village will not do such a foolish thing," Koharu insisted.
"Because the village massacred the whole Uchiha clan," the Hokage said, his voice dropping an octave.
"It was Itachi who killed his clan! What does this have to do with the Village?" Koharu directly snapped back.
".....Koharu," Homura said, his voice suddenly quiet and cold. "Anyone with a brain knows who truly killed the Uchiha."
Seeing Homura finally picking up on the reality of the situation, the Hokage felt a flicker of relief.
"....But the Uchiha wanted to rebel," Koharu argued, her voice trembling slightly.
"That's right, Hiruzen," Homura added, trying to find his footing. "The Uchiha harbored evil in their hearts... isn't it only natural—"
"ENOUGH."
The office fell into a deathly silence at Hiruzen's second outburst.
"The Uchiha WANTED to rebel... but—" the Third Hokage took a long pause, looking out the window at the carved faces of his predecessors. "They did not rebel."
"Haa??"
"What? But we know they were going to—.....OHhhh. Ughh."
Looking at Homura, who had finally connected the dots, Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe.
"I don't understand," Koharu said, looking between the two men. "Tell me, you two."
The Third Hokage looked toward Homura and signaled him with his eyes.
(Koharu always did have trouble with the deeper layers of political perception.)
Homura looked at his friend and spoke with a dawning horror in his voice. "The Uchiha didn't rebel."
"..."
"If the Uchiha had rebelled and then the clan was killed, that would be one thing," Homura explained. "But the Uchiha... at least on the bright side, they didn't actually do anything wrong yet. They performed their duties according to the rules."
"But—"
"Only we knew of their rebellion plans, Koharu. Not the village, not the common shinobi, and definitely not the other clans."
"..."
"Even the Kyubi incident was blamed on them without any public evidence. In the eyes of those clans, the Uchiha were obedient right up until the end."
"..."
"An 'innocent' clan was massacred overnight, Koharu. Women, children, seniors."
".."
"There is a 'Bloody Mist' going on in Mizugakure, and now the clans here are afraid and wary... of us. Their own village."
Seeing Homura explaining the nuances, the Third spoke up, highlighting what his advisor had overlooked. "You two... tell me."
"Hm?" "...."
"Tell me, if Tobirama-sensei was alive... even if the rebellion happened, would he have killed all the Uchiha?"
"..." "..."
"The shinobi, the civilians, the women, the children... and even the newborns?"
"....It was Itachi, not the village," Koharu said, choosing to hide behind the official lie once more.
"No.... only fools will believe that," Homura muttered blankly. "Not Clan Heads. Not any shinobi with a brain. They all knew the tensions between the Uchiha and the Village. They saw the surveillance. They saw the isolation."
"Neither the First nor the Second would have chosen this path," the Hokage spoke wearily. "But the current village—our village—did this."
"But why now?" Koharu asked. "Don't they understand how this will shake the whole village and the whole world?"
"Exactly," Hiruzen said.
"Huh?"
"??"
"This is exactly the reason they are moving after the massacre," Hiruzen explained. "Because if the village moves or takes any step against them, the whole united clans will retaliate. They know that we cannot afford a internal conflict now. It would invite other villages to invade and start a world war."
"They are betting on us," Hiruzen continued. "They know that if we move against them, it will be the end of us all. They have already withdrawn most of their members from the ANBU and Root. They have lost all trust. Instead of dying like the Uchiha, they are making plans to secure themselves."
"They are taking their security into their own hands... using the absence of the Uchiha as their excuse. They claim the village's police force is gone, so they must patrol."
"But why are the Hyuga involved?" Homura asked.
"They are looking for Danzo," the Hokage said.
"Why????" Koharu asked. "Hasn't Danzo already been dismissed?"
"What do you think?" the Third Hokage asked, his expression turning grim.
"...." "...."
Seeing his friends' faces paling in utter disbelief, Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke to them as a friend.
"I had a dispute over a matter with Shikaku Nara. The Nara said to me—" The Third paused, taking a deep breath before speaking with a firm, hollow voice.
"Shikaku said: 'You are the Hokage of the Village, but the Village is not the Hokage's.'"
"...." "...."
"I know Itachi and Danzo with his Roots did the annihilation of the Uchiha," Hiruzen murmured. "But we also pushed things from behind. We allowed the pressure to build."
"But we did it for the village," Koharu whispered.
"Yes... all this time, we have done everything for the village," Homura added.
"...It's not just the Uchiha Clan," the Hokage said. "There are plenty of reasons over the years for those clans' actions. The Uchiha massacre was just the fuse."
"Just what do they want? To rebel?" Koharu asked.
".....No. If Shikaku is leading this, then it's definitely not a rebellion... unless it's a last resort," Homura analyzed.
"They are tracking Tsunade and Jiraiya," Hiruzen revealed.
"Tsunade??" "Jiraiya... why?"
"The 'Hokage' title. What else?" Hiruzen said. "The clans won't trust us with any future decisions. They want to make sure that we are gone from any decision-making positions. They want a new leader who isn't tainted by the past."
".....So they want a new Hokage."
"Is that so... isn't it good then?" Koharu asked tentatively.
"How much power do you think a new Hokage will have?" Hiruzen asked. "Especially one brought in by the clans, without any support or interference from us? We would be sidelined completely."
"..." "..."
"And do you think Jiraiya or Tsunade want to become the new Hokage under those conditions?"
"..."
"....A puppet???" Homura whispered.
*Knock*Knock*
The meeting was interrupted by a sharp knock on the door. Both elders looked bewildered; a meeting of this level was never interrupted without a dire reason.
"Come in," Hiruzen called.
An ANBU masked operative stepped inside and handed a scroll to the Third Hokage. As Hiruzen read the latest reports on the Jinchuriki, his eyes sharpened. He focused on a specific detail regarding a "Birthday Party" and an "invitation letter."
"The meeting is adjourned," the Hokage stated.
"..What?" "Hiruzen, what happened?"
"We will talk later," Hiruzen said with a finality that brooked no argument.
"...Well, alright."
"Let's talk later."
The elders left, sensing the shift in their friend. Once they were gone, the Hokage looked at the ANBU. "Where is he?"
"In the shopping district."
"....Why?"
"He is buying new clothes with the Yamanaka heir."
"The Yamanaka..!!" Hiruzen felt the headache returning with this situation
(Why are the clans approaching Naruto now? And this birthday party...)
"Lead me to him." "Yes."
And so, the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf spent the afternoon stalking the Jinchuriki and his "grandson."
He saw Naruto wandering through the stalls with the little girl. He saw him trying on new clothes, noticing the spark of genuine excitement in the boy's eyes—a light that usually wasn't there. He saw Naruto put on a mask, and though the face was covered, Hiruzen could see the genuine smile beneath it.
As Naruto headed back to his apartment, the Hokage lingered in the shadows, deciding whether or not to step out and probe the boy's thoughts. But then, he felt the Yamanaka girl's chakra signature approaching at a sprint.
"UZUMAKI NARUTO IS NOT A DEMON-FOX!!"
The shout echoed through the street, loud and defiant. The Hokage stood frozen in the shadows, watched the girl run away, and then turned his gaze toward Naruto.
Following him from a distance, the Hokage's heart was filled with a crushing guilt. It trembled when he heard the boy's soft, confused voice on the terrace: "Strange... there is no rain then why..."
The Hokage walked back to his office as blankly as the boy had walked to his apartment. He could still see Naruto's face looking at the sky, and the sound of the sniffles he had heard from outside the apartment door haunted him.
Despite seeing the kid crying, the Hokage's thoughts were a tangled mess of duty and regret. (Naruto is a very strong child... Minato, Kushina... forgive me.)
He sat in his chair, feeling every year of his long life. He remembered the reproach of his subordinates:
[You either treat him as the Jinchuriki, the village's weapon, or you treat him as the Fourth Hokage's legacy.]
Hiruzen looked at his hands, the hands that had signed the orders for so many "necessary" tragedies. "I am tired," The Hokage whispered to the empty room.
"Really, really tired... just what should I do?"