Nindō 0040: Council Sitting
In a special room that took the entire top floor of the Administration building at the foot of the Hokage mountain.
"Everyone should have arrived by now," Naruto entered with a casual gait as the occupants all stood up to respectfully greet him.
"Hokage-sama." The room spoke collectively, quietly standing as he approached his position at the head of the room. Naruto's eyes glanced over the occupants of the room. There were two large semi-circular tables that sat a number of people each who all faced the seat of the Hokage and his chief advisor.
Despite everyone standing up, there were two who were still seated, two elders with special positions in Konoha's political hierarchy. They had separate seats designated for them outside the triangle of the Hokage, Shinobi Council, and Civilian Council.
"Elders Homura and Koharu," Naruto greeted flatly before taking his seat and addressing the rest of the room. "Take your seats, everyone. We should get to today's agendas." Naruto glanced over the notes that Shikamaru passed to him, reading the header points of the day's meeting before looking up once again, "First topic for the day, Akasaka Yamanaka, the proxy for the Yamanaka clan head. Please present your request." Naruto raised his brow at the man who had come to attend the council meeting instead of Ino.
The man stood up to speak as Naruto looked back down at his notes. He continued reading while only half listening to the fancy words and flowery speech of the man as he exaggerated the damage to the communication network by many factors. The budget that he asked for in order to fix it was even more exaggerated, inciting gasps from multiple people in the room. Naruto was familiar with the man, he'd attended the council meetings as Ino's proxy multiple times before as well, usually when Ino was busy or simply didn't want to come. The other members also had their proxies who would every once in a while take their places.
"As you know, the village is currently tight on money after Momoshiki's invasion. You can initially only be provided …" Naruto looked over at his papers, "… about five percent of your requested sum for this month. Further budgeting allocations can be made in our next meeting."
The man was quick to protest and express the exaggerated necessity of the repairs, which while important, were nowhere as important as he made them out to be. After a few rounds of negotiations, Naruto finalized him at seven percent, which everyone agreed to.
Next came the Barrier Corps' Head. The communication network and the barrier surrounding Konoha were the things most affected by the invasion and they were the ones who jumped out first in order to grab as much money as they could from the village's budget. Once they were taken care of, it was time for an agenda from the Civilian Council.
"Hokage-sama," The man's voice was a little nasal and he had the expression of a political rat as he addressed Naruto without the slightest deference. The Hokage was quick to tune most of his drivel out of his ears, only focusing on the important information.
"You cannot be assigned thirty percent of this quarter's budget in the name of repairs, Civilian Council head. The only building that was destroyed was the stadium. The budget for its reconstruction has already been assigned. Next agenda."
"Hokage-sama," The man unceremoniously interrupted the Hokage. "I would like to request the elders to allow a voting session for our request."
"Motherfucker," Naruto narrowed his eyes threateningly. Before he could voice out his disapproval, Elder Councilman Homura spoke up.
"Naruto-chan," The man spoke in an infuriating grandfatherly voice, "Let us put it to a vote. Both I and Koharu agree that the Civilian Council will utilize the budget well."
What followed was Naruto sitting passively as the bill was put to a vote where the Civilian Council voted unanimously while the Shinobi Council had half the votes, the exact number that was necessary to get their approval.
'Not even bothering to pay off a single person more than necessary. They've really gotten arrogant about the shinobi councilmen on their payroll.' Naruto cursed inwardly.
"Thirty percent of this quarter's budget allocated to the Civilian Reconstruction Effort," Naruto said flatly as the man at the head showed a smug expression which Naruto promptly ignored, "Elder Hiashi, the Hyūga clan head, present your proposal."
What followed was an hour of discussions where the clans and departments all took their cuts of the budget. Once the allocations were finished, Elder Koharu spoke up.
"I would like to know when Sasuke Uchiha is leaving the village. He has been here long enough, we can't allow him to stay in the village for too long."
"He is going to be leaving tomorrow for his next mission, you don't need to worry your old bones about that Elder," Naruto said. "The next agenda is Sai's departure. Sai has been sent undercover to show that the Kazekage is still in full health. Once they reach Suna, he will take care of things on his end. That leaves the position of Anbu commander free for now. I was thinking of bringing back either Kakashi-sensei or Yamato-sensei from their retirement."
Another half hour of discussion followed as multiple councilmen tried to push their own people into the position of the temporary Anbu commander. Naruto had to shoot them down before the decision finally stabilized on Kakashi Hatake's return. Naruto knew that the man wouldn't be returning and would most likely convince Yamato to take his place, but he didn't bother convincing the council of that.
"Now for the final agenda of the day. I've decided to take on a disciple to take over my position as the Hokage in the future. Any questions?"
The room burst into chaos as all of the occupants expressed their disbelief.
"So early, Hokage-sama?" "Shouldn't you continue your tenure for longer before grooming a successor?" "It's best that you wait for a while." "Have you already thought of someone?" "Are you sure?"
People's words and questions overlapped as Naruto calmly banged his gavel on the sound block until the chaos died down. At this time, Elder Homura spoke up, "Naruto-chan. Isn't it too early to be thinking of getting a disciple? You should instead focus on governing the village for now. A successor can come later.
"I don't recall asking for permission, Elder," Naruto said. "I asked if you had any questions about it. My apprenticeship is final, as is my support for my apprentice."
The old man's pale wrinkled face blanched as his partner Elder Koharu spoke up, "Why did you decide to do something so abruptly, Naruto-chan?" She quickly adapted to Naruto's aggression and stepped back to pacify the momentum.
"Talent in a shinobi is only as good as the nurturing that it gets that sculpts it into a strong shinobi. I decided to nurture the talent that I have found," Naruto said, making both elders and multiple people in the room narrow their eyes at his cryptic reference to his disciple.
"Is there some underlying problem, Hokage-sama? One that might lead to you being unable to continue to take care of your duty as the Hokage?" The Hyūga clan head, Hiashi asked.
"Negative," Naruto shook his head. "My taking of a disciple has nothing to do with my abdication. I still have a long way to go in this seat."
What followed were some more traps of questions that would get Naruto to give them some insight into who he had chosen as his disciple, but his answers were always cryptic, not letting them gleam any information about his disciple.
"May I ask who it is, Hokage-sama?" A council member inquired. The room had finally given up on understanding the person's identity by subtle methods.
Naruto smiled with a hint of expectation in his eyes, "Uchiha Sarada."
The chaos that ensued was even worse than when Naruto said that he was taking a disciple despite being caused by only half of the people this time.
"Impossible." "An Uchiha cannot be given reign of Konoha." "After what Itachi Uchiha has done, we thought that we were finally rid of them." "An Uchiha can never be allowed to sit on the seat of the Hokage." "They are all crazy, giving one of them power will destroy the village."
Unlike the Shinobi Council which was in an unprecedented uproar, the Civilian Council didn't have much to say about the Uchiha clan. None of the members of the civilian side were even privy to the inside information about the massacre of the Uchiha clan. They weren't aware of the intricacies of the event that took place decades ago and didn't care either. To them, one Hokage was the same as the next — a way to pull money from the village.
"Naruto-chan," Elder Homura's voice was slightly strained to express his dissatisfaction, "you cannot possibly be thinking that someone of Uchiha blood will sit on the seat of Hokage. Not to mention Sasuke Uchiha's daughter herself. She cannot be allowed to govern the village."
Elder Koharu spoke up, "The Curse of Hatred grips them all. Once she finds out about her clan's history, her hatred will consume the entire village and destroy us."
"I have to implore you, Hokage-sama," Hiashi stood up. "The Uchiha clan is a thing of the past. Someone from that clan cannot be allowed to take the reigns of the village."
As more and more people voiced their disagreements, Naurto banged his gavel once, shutting their protests up. "I have already accepted her as my disciple. She will become the next Hokage unless someone forcefully snatches the position from her. Today's meeting is now adjourned." He banged his gavel one last time before standing up.
"We shall see what the daimyo has to say about that, Naruto-chan," Homura spoke up, seemingly impulsively.
Naruto didn't give him the time of day to respond and left the room.
…
"You shouldn't have announced it today. Especially when the daimyo is in the village itself," Shikamaru said. "You're aware of how much influence those two have on the daimyo's decisions."
Naruto leaned back in his chair and hummed. He swiveled it toward the window, overlooking the entire village from his office. "Don't you think it's a beautiful day, Shikamaru?"
"I guess," The man said. "What are you going to do about the situation?"
"You don't need to worry," Naruto smiled, ignoring Shikamaru's concerns. "Today is indeed a beautiful day."
***
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