Chapter 43
TSUNADE SENJU
Tsunade Senju sat on the Hokage's seat at the head of the table. Her first apprentice was standing right behind her as her aide for this meeting. Shinso was on a different mission at the moment. A mission that he had been remarkably eager to accept.
Every clan head and every member of the Civilian council had gathered today as well. It was her first time calling a General Council as the Hokage. Her eyes narrowed on the sole red-haired girl occupying the seat to her left, wearing an elaborate kimono with a very distinctive hairstyle. Her hanafuda earrings were reminiscent of the last person who had also sat on the council. However, that had been in a different position.
She looked around the room. Her eyes narrowed slightly as they passed by the three people sitting opposite her. The three council members sat there, a special seating arrangement for them—something which would hopefully end today.
She glanced back and nodded to Shizune, who moved forward and spoke up.
"I formally announce the commencement of the First General Council of the reign of the fifth Hokage, Senju Tsunade."
Shizune then stepped back after that. And then Tsunade began the meeting.
"I have called this General Council per the traditions set by my grandfather and grandmother for a singular purpose." She got to the main point immediately. There was no time for bullshit and ostentatious ceremony.
"To make Konoha strong once more!" she finished. Her voice carrying her conviction,
"Over the last five or so years, Konoha has been faced with one misfortune after another. Defections from its shinobis, massacres, betrayals, even a full-fledged invasion just recently."
And she could sense them hanging onto each of her words. Many of them looked at her with narrowed gazes.
"The explanation for it is simple. We became WEAK! DIVIDED! COMPLACENT! We forgot the values upon which this village was built. But no more. We will not let our memories erode anymore. We shall remember once more the idealogy upon which this village was built. We will all once more become carriers of his Will of Fire."
There was silence after her opening speech. Nobody had addressed the village's failure so openly before, hiding behind all the politicking and procedural nonsense. But no more. And rightly so, a small applause broke out in the room, beginning with the council's newest addition.
At this, she began speaking up once more. She had a smile on her face as she indicated to the young Uzumaki girl.
"And just in that spirit, I would like to welcome the return of one of our oldest allies to this council. Taking the seat as the Head of the Uzumaki clan is Karin Uzumaki."
The girl got up imperiously and, with a small smile on her face, gave a slight bow. But as she was about to speak up, someone cut in.
"I would like to make an interjection," the voice came from the seats opposite to her. From none other than the Elder Danzo. The man stood up from his seat.
"As mentioned by the fifth Hokage, the village has gone through many hardships over the last decade."—he began in his old political tone, her eyes narrowing at him. —"In such a sense, we must make tough decisions. Tough decisions that would transcend our personal beliefs and be beneficial to the village."
And then he looked straight at the standing form of Karin.
"Decisions like giving up some old allies to maintain current allies. Allies that would strengthen our village."
There was pin-drop silence in the room after his words. And Tsunade could see the slight panic on Karin's face as some heads nodded at Danzo's words.
"So, I propose a renegotiation of our alliance with Kusa. An alliance that will ally us with a foothold in our enemy territory while costing us nothing but a single outsider."
No one spoke a word on this. Danzo was looking straight at her. His face showed no emotion. But then his cronies spoke up from the side.
"Danzo is right; while it may be untasteful, we must make tough decisions." Elder Koharu adder, followed by Homura Mitakado.
"For the good of the village." And she also noticed the other people who nodded their heads—committing their faces to memory. And after the murmurs died down, she spoke up.
"You are right,"—and the surprise was evident on several faces, including Karin's and many of the clan heads, but she just continued—"I must make tough decisions. And I would like to inform the council that I have made them. As of now, I would like to report the acceptance of an S-rank mission by Konoha's forces."
Murmurs broke out in the room upon her words. She ignored them and continued.
"The representative of the Uzumaki clan filed an emergency S-rank mission to ensure the safety of its members concerning the outrageous bounty placed on them by Kusagakure. The mission was accepted, and now Konoha has sent its forces in retaliation to Kusa to investigate and eradicate the source of such a bounty."
She saw the words register to Karin, and her eyes went wide as she understood the implication of Shinso's absence. And Tsunade had not missed the frown on Danzo and the other council members' faces.
"Konoha is not so weak that it will abandon those who shed their blood for it for some fair-weather friends."
But this was not all. She looked toward Hiashi, and the man gave her a small nod. And then she indicated to Shizune, and she began distributing the documents they had already prepared.
"These documents carry the legislative changes I wish to bring to the village charter. Most of them are administrative changes that have been long overdue and need to be made to propel this village towards prosperity once more."
And then pages began to be turned, and as she had thought, the cries came out instantaneously.
"What is the meaning of this! Dissolution of Elder Council! Removal of independent secrecy seals!" came the shrill voice of Utatane Koharu. She had always been Danzo's staunchest supporter.
"It seems that you have forgotten much about the village in your time abroad, princess," and her eyes narrowed at that. Danzo was pushing her now.
"You must be aware of the need for such seals by one of our esteemed clans, and they are also useful in maintaining secrets of our village and are hence necessary. And so as per the powe…."
But he was cut off by the sound of the door opening once more. And Tsunade turned much like the rest of the council to see just who had caused such a disturbance. And she should have guessed.
Standing there in the standard jounin uniform, covered in blood from head to toe, was someone very famous for being late. His shiny silver hair was also mottled with what seemed like caked blood.
And Tsunade shook her head at his antics. Where had he gotten that much blood from?
Kakashi just raised a hand to his head, his sole visible eye crinkled as he said in a sweet voice.
"I hope I am not late. I just had to take care of a couple of pests on the way here," and Tsunade scoffed at him. Kakashi moved from the door, walked up to his seat, and placed right beside Karin. He smiled at the young clan head while Karin stared at him unblinkingly. He then sat down.
"Well, I hope I have not missed anything important," She saw Shikaku Nara shake his head as he muttered under his breath.
"What a drag!"
SHINSO KEN
I evaded the attack from another Kusa nin, my sword slashing at his extended arm and cutting it right off.
"AHHH!" he screamed. And I just turned and kicked him in the face, turning his face into a mushy paste.
You did not become Tsunade Senju's apprentice without learning something from her. After a little over a month under the tutelage of the renowned Sanin, I felt myself improve massively. According to her, while I possessed a plethora of special cards, what I needed was an improvement in my overall skillset. And so she had sparred with me every day, beating me within an inch of my life. It had been awful at first, but the results spoke for themselves.
The other shinobi surrounding me backed off after seeing the atrocious state of their comrade. Fear was visible on their faces, with many of them even shaking in their place. My whole body was covered with blood and body debris.
I did not attack them, simply choosing to clean off my sword with the clothes of the shinobi I had just killed. I was now quite deep into Kusa's territory. Destroying every guard posting I could in my way.
I looked to the side, staring straight into the eyes of one of the shinobi surrounding me. The man was shaking, and he just fell to the ground as I focused my whole aura onto him.
"Would you be able to guide me to where I can find a person named Zosui," I asked in a sweet voice, though the man continued to tremble. And the man did not reply. Instead, he chose to attack me with a kunai, and the other followed his direction as well. All of them rushed at me from different sides.
A pity. They could have survived.
"Lightning Style: Abyss Prison!"
BOOM. An explosion broke out.
Lightning arched across the land. Whizzing. Burning. Destroying.
And then the light dies down. And Shinso was assaulted by the smell of burnt flesh and blood. Something which he was not fond of at all.
The blood stains on his body had the water in them evaporate as well. Leaving behind caked stains.
"AKH!" he heard a small grunt from the side and turned to see that, somehow, one of them had survived. Though from the injuries, it seemed like he would not last very long.
I walked towards him, and he tried to move away upon seeing me. But his injuries made that impossible.
I crouched down and looked him straight in the eye. Asking once more with a smile.
"Perhaps now you will be willing to guide me. So, where can I find Zosui?" I asked once more. And when no response came, I sighed.
"I could have made it painless, you know," and with that, lightning arched over my hand once more. And the Kusa's shinobi began to struggle as he saw me reach for his head.
"NO! NO! Please, I will tell you! You have to go North from here! North! There is a yellow building there. You can find him there!" he spoke up finally, my hand inches from his head.
"Now, that wasn't so hard. Was it?" and with that, I plunged it into his chest.
"AUGH!" the shinobi coughed up blood as I pulverized his heart.
But then I felt the hair on my body stiffen as alarms began to ring in my head. Instinctively I jumped back, and rightly so; a massive ball of fire consumed the area I had been standing on.
There were subsequent attacks, but I let go of my chakra, and my sword pushed itself out of its scabbard.
"Lightning Cage!" and a massive lightning wall was erected in front of me. And then, I saw several shinobi land right in front of me. And I recognized the person standing in front of them. The scar on his face and the dead brown eyes with the same grey hair that Karin had described when she got into a melancholic mood.
"You must have some nerve attacking Kusa like that." the gruff man spoke up. His grating tone irritated me a lot. He had a smile on his face as he stared at me.
"Tell me did you have fun with the redhead yet, cuz it better be something amazing to make you foolishly attack Kusa like this."
And now I could feel my temper rising.
"Well, no matter. It is good that you came here yourself. It saves me the trouble of searching for you." He said as he cracked his knuckles. And then he vanished from his position, appearing in front of me in a blur.
"I WANTED TO KILL YOU FOR SOME TIME NOW FOR WHAT YOU DID TO MY FAMILY!"
0000
In the rice country, in one of the caves, Kabuto walked briskly towards the main room. And upon entering, he would bow down.
"Orochimaru-sama, I have an urgent message from Danzo-sama. He seems to be calling for help!"
There was no reply for a long time. And then he heard the sound of steps as Orochimaru-sama appeared from the shadows. The time had allowed him to modify his body, and while it was still the body of Kimimaro. The face had started to gain Lord Orochimaru's distinctive look once more.
He picked up the scroll, began reading it, and spoke up in a slithery tone.
"This is going to be such a reunion!" he said with a cackle.
"Make preparations. Gather the prisoners. It seems I might have to take care of an old teammate."
0000
BOOM. Danzo and Orochimaru in alliance. Zosui is facing Shinso. So much drama. So little time.
What does the Akatsuki think about their only defectee?
Plus, the biggest question is how Kakashi got covered by the blood?
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