Who said crying doesn't change anything

[A/N: Another rough draft chapter, though I cleaned it up more than the last one. Didn't want to fix everything when I still need to fix the previous one and might make some changes that apply to this chapter as well]

"Hokage-sama, reporting!" A strong, if not slightly aged, female voice suddenly broke up the monotonous atmosphere that had been going on for the last few hours in the Hokage's office.

"Un. Go ahead, Kuma."

Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, was currently sitting in his office. He was Smoking from his pipe while filtering through his god-awful paperwork when one of his most trusted Anbu suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Hai. The nine tails jinchuriki has just been turned away from the academy. Lord Danzo appears to be on his way to pick it up now."

Hiruzen sighed and decided to ignore the fact that she only addressed the girl as "it", knowing it was only a ruse to hide her identity.

In return, he only nodded before dismissing all of the other remaining Anbu from the room temporarily. Once they all left, however, Hiruzen simply looked over to one of the beams on the roof and flared a bit of his intent.

"I believe I ordered everyone out of the room. Inform Danzo if his root can't even follow simple orders I may have to rethink our agreement!" He said as the weight of a mountain seemingly crashed on the still hidden individual on the ceiling.

As soon as he retracted his intent he felt the hidden root agent hesitate only for a moment before vacating the premise. As soon as it did, and he confirmed only he and the bear masked Anbu were the only ones in the room, he activated the privacy seals in his desk before slumping down in his chair.

He was growing increasingly fed up with his old teammates' power plays, especially since they were growing bolder by the day.

"Hmph, I don't know why you even allow those goons to stay in here when you know they are reporting just about everything you do to that old foggy." The bear masked kunoichi offered before making her way over to his chair. As she did so, she slowly removed her mask allowing Hiruzen to get a good look at her.

She had long, brown hair which she kept in a high ponytail, dark eyes, slightly visible creases at the corners of her eyes, and her mouth showcasing her growing age. However, to Hiruzen, she was still the most beautiful woman in the world.

"Sigh. You know why I allow him to keep playing his games, Biwako. Especially now that he has little Natsune in his control," Hiruzen sighed out as he felt the hands of his wife work magic on his shoulders.

That's right, she was Biwako Sarutobi. Jōnin, former head of the Konoha medical division, wife of the Third Hokage, mother of two, and grandmother of one.

Also, as of five years ago, "killed in action".

"It's the best way to limit and control the amount of information he has. By allowing him to do things more openly, I don't have to worry as much about what he'll do in secret. Even now he still doesn't know you survived that night." He chuckled a bit until he felt one of the hands leave his shoulder while the other tightens with a bit more force.

"Of course I know that, Idiot. That doesn't mean I have to like it. It's his fault I can't enjoy my retirement yet!" Biwako stated while unconsciously putting a hand on her abdomen, tracing a large unseen scar.

The room grew quiet for a bit as the two shared a rare intimate moment for the first time in a few days. Even if things were a little awkward after that last comment.

"How was Natsune-chan when you saw her last?" Hiruzen asked, breaking the silence. Of course, after he asked he wanted to shove his own foot down his mouth for not asking when she wasn't clenching his shoulder.

"Same as usual. Miserable. Hungry. A step away from breaking, just like that other idiot wants her." She spat through clenched teeth. The more she spoke the stronger her grip became. He really needed to choose his words more carefully because any more than this and she might have broken something.

Not that she couldn't fit it afterward, anyway.

"Biwa-" Hiruzen tried to get out before she cut him off.

"Save it. Having this conversation again won't change anything. Especially now that it's too late to do anything about it. I just hope you're ready for whatever consequences will come of this." She responded, loosening her grip ever so slightly.

He knew he touched a mine this time, especially considering how strongly she felt towards the little girl. Deep down, even he truly hated himself for even making that deal in the first place. He hadn't had all the information at that time when he did and his state of mind was anything but stable, having thought he just lost his wife. He owed that girl more than she would probably ever know, and yet he repays her by sending her into the pits of hell.

He hated himself because he knew his beloved wife was only lucky, oh so very lucky, to be alive. And it was all thanks to that small redheaded girl.

According to Biwako, when Natsune was born, she wouldn't stop crying no matter what they did. It was normal for babies to cry out of the womb but this crying seemed a little different. Afraid something might have been wrong, Biwako turned to get the attention of one of the stationed Anbu to have them bring her some supplies when she was suddenly met face to face with a white swirl masked individual coming at her with a kunai!

Despite getting on in her years, Biwako was still a Jonin and former Anbu captain. She just barely managed to avoid a fatal blow by the mysterious individual before she was kicked away and slammed into the wall. Knocking her unconscious briefly.

Although her skills as a ninja had waned a bit, her skill as a medic had only improved with time. So upon waking up, she was able to treat herself before making her way to find Kushina and try to prevent the worst possible outcome.

Unfortunately, she was too late to stop him, but she did manage to get to Kushina after the masked individual extracted the nine tails from her seal. Thankfully, due to Kushina's abnormally strong lifeforce and Biwako being second only to her former apprentice, Tsunade Senju in terms of medical ninjutsu, she was able to stabilize the new mother and preserve her life just barely.

[A/N: I know this technically isn't confirmed, but when you really think about it, doesn't it make sense? Biwako was undoubtedly the best medical ninja in the village when Tsunade wasn't present. She was also married to Tsunade's teacher meaning they probably met frequently. It just makes a lot more sense that she trained Tsunade in medical ninjutsu than Hiruzen. Although I'm sure he knows medical ninjutsu as well due to his title as the professor, I doubt he's a master in the arts.]

With Kushina in a much better condition than she would have been otherwise, she was able to use her clan's special chakra chains to restrain the nine tails. In combination with her husband, Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, they managed to reseal the beast inside two new hosts by splitting its Yin and Yang chakra.

Although Kushina was the previous host, her condition was still very bad. She wouldn't have been able to survive the strain of resealing the full beast inside of her. And while she could have taken at least half of it, Minato seemed to have different plans.

Unwilling to make anyone else suffer the burden, Minato chose his two newborn daughters to bear the burden. He sealed the yang half in the youngest twin, Naruko. While the yin half was given to the oldest, Natsune. He also left behind just enough of the beast's chakra to reseal inside his wife for her to survive the previous extraction.

The most unfortunate casualty of that night had to have been the fourth Hokage himself. Who gave his life to seal the beast in his family. He didn't go out without any last words however as he managed to pass on a lot of crucial information about the masked man, now known as "Madara Uchiha" to Biwako before asking her to go into hiding.

They didn't believe for a second that the fake "Madara Uchiha" was working alone. Not to mention the fact that Biwako actually knew Madara Uchiha when he was alive so she was sure it wasn't him. That man was far too arrogant to hide his face behind a mask, especially if he was just going to use his name anyway.

She agreed because they both knew, someone had to have leaked the information about Kushina's pregnancy for all of this to have happened. Aside from the fact that very few people even knew she was the jinchuriki, to begin with, there was one person in particular that suggested everything be carried out away from the village.

That person also offered to have their own team stationed to "protect" the wife of the Hokage during her most vulnerable moment but was harshly denied that privilege without hesitation.

It was just bad luck afterward that kept Biwako from approaching him for the next few hours because she couldn't get him alone with him playing damage control and fighting to bring some order back to the village. All but throwing himself into his work due to his wife being MIA with no corpse in sight. It was ironic in a way; he worked so he wouldn't have to worry about her, not knowing that taking a small break would have been enough to ease his nerves entirely.

By that time he met her again, he had already made his deal with the devil, only to regret it not even a day later.

Hiruzen still shudders to this day when trying to imagine what would have happened to the village and equally as important, his wife, if that little girl hadn't been such a crybaby when she was born.

Without the information Minato provided on his deathbed, he was sure his old friend would have tried to sow the seeds of discord between the village and the Uchiha clan. Even during the attack, he had already been trying to do so by keeping them as far away from the battle as possible.

This unfortunately backfired on him since all Uchiha were accounted for due to his machinations, meaning no currently active member of the clan could have been behind the attack.

It almost embarrassed him when Biwako brought this to his attention and claimed he definitely would have hesitated over the Uchiha involvement in the matter if she had been unable to pass on Minato's message. Choosing instead to continue to place some trust in his former teammate. Those two have always had a rocky relationship but now it has reached the point of pure animosity with him possibly trying to take her life.

It was also unfortunate they had no proof to convict him so they were forced to play wait and see with the old Warhawk.

Kushina also managed to survive the night but fell into a coma shortly after things had come to an end. Unfortunately due to the trauma she suffered back to back, she had some minor memory loss upon waking up that they shamefully used to their advantage.

Against his better judgment, he allowed a Yamanaka to come in and seal the memory of her daughter's birth away temporarily. He was ashamed to admit he only agreed to avoid the guilt of explaining to her why he couldn't allow her to raise one of her own daughters. He reasoned that she was better off not knowing about her until the deed had been done.

She also seemed to have completely forgotten she was the previous nine tails jinchuriki, including most things related to the beast as a whole. Hiruzen suspected that the Yamanaka in charge of the procedure had something to do with it but he was afraid tampering more would have negative consequences on the young woman's mind.

He also tried to switch which child would be given to root for his wife's sake but he was given the very fair rebuttal that any idiot would be able to tell who fathered the child with the same mustard yellow hair. The Uzumaki were, unfortunately, all but forgotten after the second war. Even if they did wear their emblem on the back of every standard-issue shinobi vest...

She also harbored the yin half of the fox which meant that the influence from its chakra would likely turn her colder, quieter, and smarter. Traits heavily associated with yin chakra, as opposed to yang chakra which filled a person with energy and vitality as if they were injecting coffee directly into their chakra network. She was just the better fit in the long run.

He and his wife fought for a long time about that decision and he could tell she was growing increasingly displeased with him. If they were still younger he might even be worried if she would leave him. The argument was never settled but he did relent to letting her watch over the girl personally and prevent anything too awful from happening.

She wasn't allowed to help openly but she had helped prevent a lot of the worst things from happening to little Natsune without her ever knowing. Leaving food in places for her to find. Disguising herself as a civilian and leading her away from certain areas. His wife had saved that girl's life more than really should have been needed in his village. He knew it was because she felt indebted to the child even if it wasn't rational, but he wouldn't say more out of fear of angering her any more than he already had.

Unfortunately, she couldn't follow her 24/7 and things still happened to her. She couldn't even put a stop to it without going against the devil's deal. She could only watch on as the girl was beaten before she could prevent it.

He initially wanted to pass a law to prevent anyone from discussing the Kyuubi around the girl and to their children, but once again his friend managed to convince him otherwise. He convinced him the public needed to know what happened to the nine tails and it was already too late to cover it up. It would also serve as their secret weapon. Let the village and the spies be aware of one jinchuriki while keeping the other secret. Because he intended to take the girl into his root organization when she became of age, it wouldn't matter if they did know about her as she would be hidden behind a mask regardless.

The one that would be away from the light was the one they knew, while the secret one was the one trained in the light, out in the open. A true definition of irony.

Luckily, when he made the deal, he still had enough of his mind to guarantee he would be able to send her on whatever mission he pleased and that she would join the regular shinobi forces as well once she came of age like all Anbu, regardless of faction. The only reason he avoids sending known root drones on missions is that he knows he could only trust them as far as he could throw them.

Hopefully, once she comes of age the damage isn't severe enough that they can't eventually have her readjust to normal society. He could only pray that Danzo doesn't get too much in her head to undo. He also hoped that by then the man slipped up and he could have a reason to pull away his power before he got even more out of hand.

So lost in his thoughts, he hadn't noticed when Biwako finally let go of his stiff shoulders and put her mask back on, ready to begin the next phase of her assignment. Now that she wouldn't be able to watch the girl anymore, she had more important things to do than sit around idly doing nothing. No matter how much they both wanted nothing more for each other in their growing age.

"Dear… you do know that all I do is for the sake of the village, right?"

Watching her prepare to leave he couldn't help but try to convince her once more that his decisions were necessary for the greater good. Or maybe he just wanted her to agree with him for once to ease his ever-growing exhaustion and guilt.

"Hmph, now you're even starting to sound like him. I just hope that in your quest to do what's right for the village, you don't forget who you are and why you became Hokage in the first place, Saru." Leaving on that note she bowed once to his position before making her way to her next secret mission.

As the Anbu started returning to their posts, the words she left behind would continue to echo in his mind for the rest of the day.

"Sigh, I really am too old for this job." He was sure he would never understand why Danzo envied this position as much as he did.

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[A/N: Just a heads up, I'm going to be using a bit of Chinese material for future content in this story. In fact, a lot of it already lines up perfectly with things from the canon material if you do enough research. (no cultivation btw if you thought that's what I meant) If you want a hint at the direction I'm taking, remember in Chinese culture, two of the five elements are different from the Japanese ones. And only one of them hasn't been explored in naruto while the other is considered the strongest. Also, remember the Senju and Uzumaki were once one and the same. I intend to spend a bit more time going into that relationship and why they split in the first place. Look forward to it!

Oh! For those wondering why I gave her the Kuma mask, it's because I wanted to make a mama bear reference but I didn't really know where to put it in >.<]