Chapter 3: Changes Within

Naruto sat silently as he looked outside the window of his hospital bed, not realising that he was being watched constantly by Anbus.

"Sigh, what did I do? Why do they do this?"

The anbu themselves couldn't understand how the villagers could allow their hatred to pester to the point of torturing a child, but one thing was for sure: even a sannin would not be allowed in without inspection, whether they liked it or not.

The protection of one Naruto Uzumaki has just become that much more serious to the one that guards him and that they would ensure.

"It feels better to be ignored than to be hated."

Invisibility is something that Naruto never liked; being acknowledged was something he wanted even to this day, but he slowly realised that being acknowledged meant he had to go through it all the time. His desire slowly faded.

"I just want to live in peace."

A world of no pain, a world of no hate, a world of no discrimination—seeds of revolution slowly started to pester within the mind of the child, who was born with determination unbreakable as steel.

"Maybe being Hokage would be a good goal."

'Why can't there be no more pain?'

Naruto once more looked at the moon, though to him it wasn't that vibrant any longer, but as he looked past the moon, he saw the stars, and in his eyes, they glowed far brighter than the sun he has seen, more beautiful than the moon itself, in a way that resonated with him.

The Hokage heard this casual dream of his, thinking it was a good dream to pursue. He wanted to try and pursuade Naruto to lean more into said dream, but he was afraid of influencing the child too much.

"The stars are pretty tonight."

Naruto mumbled, but was heard by everyone. Hiruzen has walked behind Naruto to look upon the stars as well.

"Do you like stargazing, Naruto?"

Surprised, Naruto jumped to look at Hiruzen. When he realised who said those words, he calmed down a lot and looked back at the stars.

"What's stargazing?"

"Ahh, you seem to not know what it is. Well,  to put it in simpler terms, it is when you like to observe the stars above."

A happy sigh left Hiruzen as he continued to look up into the sky.

"It helps relieve stress for some. I don't know about you, but I like to see how the stars change. Like,  look at that one. When I was younger, that little dot right there used to be way bigger, and I mean bigger."

Hiruzen started to exaggerate the size of the star, and this got Naruto laughing, although in small doses. This put a smile on Hiruzen's face as he saw that the once radiant smile on Naruto's face slowly returned.

"Your funny jii-san"

Though despite his happy face, Hiruzen realised that his smile, while not forced, wasn't as big as it used to be, and Hiruzen could only let out a weak smile as he looked back up again and clenched his fist.

Silence descended on both of them as Naruto enjoyed looking at the stars more and more as time passed; it helped him think.

"Jii-san"

This got the attention of the hostage.

"Hmm? What is it, Naruto?"

"I want to be the hokage someday."

Wide-eyed Hiruzen wasn't expecting Naruto to say that, nor was he expecting that the casual thing he said would be repeated with a more determined voice.

"And why would you want that, Naruto?"

"Aren't you one?"

"Yes, I am Naruto."

"And everyone respects you for it?"

Realising what Naruto was getting at, Hiruzen let out a small sigh and looked at Naruto in the eyes.

"Naruto, to be Hokage doesn't mean you get to be respected; you need to be respected in order to be Hokage. The respect and love of the people don't come with the hat; it is a requirement in order to obtain the hat."

"I guess I won't be one of them."

"Just because you are not respected now doesn't mean you can't be respected in the future; remember, people change."

"They don't change that quickly."

"They may not, but that doesn't mean they don't. Are you giving up on being Hokage? That quickly? I expected more from Naruto Uzumaki."

"I haven't even given it a try, and with how they treat me, it'll take a miracle for them to even allow me to dream of the hat; you know this, Jii-chan."

"Haaa, Naruto, remember that what makes people change isn't about miracles or blessings; it isn't about how you used to be seen or how you act; it's about what you do; your actions define who you are and how people perceive you, and your actions will be the defining factor of how they accept you, recognise you, and treat you; don't simply sit there and say that everyone treats me a certain way therefore I cannot be what I wanna be; I wanna ask you something, Naruto Uzumaki, what do you wanna be?"

Taking a contemplative look, Naruto closed his eyes, thinking about the experience he has within the village, the way he was treated with disdain and hatred by the villagers, and how he was ignored at his lowest; no one was there for him, no one helped him, no one recognised him, except for the Hokage.

"I wanna be a person that can be there for people, to help people, because that's something I didn't have, a person that will help me when I'm in need. I wanna be that type of person."

The Hokage grimaced and looked down.

'Is this how you see the villagers now, Naruto? Minato, I truly have failed you.

"But, I know that just because I experienced that doesn't mean other people either won't or aren't experiencing something similar or worse; I want to be a person they can rely on. I saw multiple people look at me with pity, and I realised that while they didn't join in the abuse, they couldn't do anything to stop it; they were weak."

Naruto stood up suddenly as he spread out his arms as he looked upon the stars.

"I wanna be Hokage, but I don't wanna be just a Hokage; I wanna be the best Hokage, a Hokage that is remembered as someone who changed the world for the better, a place that anyone can call home."

"That's a nice dream, Naruto, but it's getting late; you should sleep."

With a nod, they both went inside. As the Hokage looked upon the boy with love, he felt great guilt due to his inability to take care of the child all the time, but Hiruzen knew that he could die peacefully if this person were to succeed him.

Leaving the sleeping Naruto be, an anbu suddenly dropped by the side of Hiruzen and whispered.

"The Uchiha have ended their meeting; Itachi and others are waiting for you, Lord Hokage."

The warm expression on the hokage suddenly disappeared, changed into a serious look, and disappeared along with the anbu, leaving nothing but leaves.

Appearing inside his office, Hiruzen looked at the five figures that were standing in front of his desk. Looking at his side, he saw Jiraiya with the same serious expression etched on his face and nodded to him.

"Report"

With those words, the five figures knelt and reported what was talked about within the Uchiha meeting.

"I believe that the Uchiha have gone through something that they cannot go back from."

"The coup is being scheduled way sooner than expected, Hokage-sama; I believe that they'll perform it within the next 5 months or so."

"They are starting to prepare the resources they need for the coup, Hokage-sama; weapons are being bought from the land of iron."

The situation has started to give the hokage a headache, which the other party realised as they stopped their reporting, and with a wave of his hand, they continued.

With a sigh, Hiruzen simply looked at the five figures.

"Mikoto, Itachi, Shisui, Mira, and Izumi tell me honestly, I don't plan to move yet with the Uchiha, but tell me, can you guys convince them that this is going to be a fruitless effort? That this will bring more damage than anything? That this will bring forth nothing but destruction?"

Uncertainty was shown within their faces. Hiruzen, for his part, truly wanted to avoid having to destroy one of the founding clans of the village. After the destruction of the senju at the 2nd Shinobi World War,  even the Kurama clan was destroyed; the clan that had the strongest genjutsu at the 3rd Shinobi World War. Avoiding further weakening Konoha wasn't something that he wanted, no matter how much compromise he would have to make.

"Truly? I think it's too late. I tried multiple times to convince Fugaku, but he's too hell bent on this coup."

"I agree with mother; father has been through the extreme, but at this point I do not know how much we can try to keep the peace. I want to try to convince him for a little more."

"Itachi is right. Hokage-sama, give us more time; we'll try and find a way to resolve this peacefully."

"I do not doubt any of you, Izumi, but I'm also on my ropes. I tried to give them the old compound within the village, but Fugaku refused."

"Fugaku didn't refuse Hokage-sama."

Mira interjected, being looked upon by the others waiting for her explanation. She coughed to clear her throat.

"The others within the village simply wanted more; justifying that the Uchiha has suffered too much for a meagre land within the Konoha borders isn't going to be sufficient; that's why Fugaku-sama tried to bargain for more."

"Mira, I did give in; I not only provided the Uchiha clan with the land, but full support from me; compensation by being given 10 jutsus of their choosing and 10,000,000 ryo due to our blunder; I provided with as much as I could at the time; but he just didn't want to see me eye to eye."

Silence descended on the group within the room, with Jiraiya looking at all this and shaking his head in disapproval.

'Has the Uchiha truly fallen this low? How could Fugaku not accept that deal? Even I would have caved in.'

"Right now, time is something none of us is privy to, but we can wait. Please do your best. I cannot allow the destruction of a founding clan, let alone the Uchiha; they provide security at this time, a time where tension is high."

With a nod from the five individuals, the hokage was about to let them off when Jiraiya.

"Sarutobi-sensei, wait a second; I need a word with all of you."

Everyone paused and looked at Jiraiya, waiting to hear what he was going to say.

"Right now we're in a very delicate situation, and as sensei has said, time is something we're running out of, so we need to make sure this operation is something very, very few know. Shisui and Itachi make sure that even Danzo doesn't hear anything from this. I have a bad feeling about the warhawk, and if it's correct, he may be the reason why the Uchiha may meet its end sooner than needed."

Another nod was the only thing Jiraiya received after disappearing. He then sat down in front of Hiruzen and started talking.

"Sensei, didn't you say that the root has been disbanded?"

"Yes, the root has been disbanded."

"But I kept seeing root members running around the village."

This has gotten the attention of Hiruzen, as he was shocked by the news.

"Don't worry, sensei, I killed the majority of the roots I saw, and the few that I let live, I followed."

Jiraiya suddenly showed a scroll to Hiruzen.

"This scroll contains the map of every base of the root, and by extension, Danzo. This can be incomplete; I haven't verified if they were all the bases, but I can assure you that this here contains the majority."

Hiruzen let out a sigh of relief, believing that he was one step closer to finally finding peace for Konoha, unity among its people, and a path to a bloodless retirement.

"Then we need to plan out an assault to make sure that none of the bases and their escape routes are unmonitored; I need to prepare Jonin-level Shinobi for this Jiraiya; I will need you to postpone the search for Tsunade; we need to focus on this one; we're going to have to make sure that either the Uchiha gives us more time; Danzo is a crafty little worm; and if he even hears a rumour I know of this base, he will abandon this site immediately, so we need to move as soon as possible."

"Wait a second, sensei; that's not the only thing I have for you."

"And what else is there, Jiraiya?"

"I saw that children are being pulled from orphanages and indoctrinated into serving no one but Danzo, and these children are being put through gruesome training."

This has gotten an outraged response from the hostage.

"What?! Children?!"

"Calm down, sensei, there's very little we can do at this point. While I hate to admit it, I can't do much either, and even with the things we have, the majority of the civilians will side with Danzo, with how he portrayed himself to the public, and it might just destroy your reputation if we were to go through the plan you want."

"Then what are we supposed to do?! Children are being mind controlled!! I need to at least do something. I was given this hat to protect the Konoha civilians. If I can't even protect children, then was it right that I have to carry this hat?"

"We need to wait; we need to make our forces stronger and better; we need to make sure we can defeat Danzo in as little time as possible to make sure news is covered as soon as it's released; or we can destroy his image, but that'll take years to do."

Hiruzen thought of the options he was given; while he had few options, he had choices, and depending on what he chose, it could lead to either a good or a bad ending. Finally,  Hiruzen realised something.

"I have something to tell you first, Jiraiya."

"What is it, sensei?"

"Remember the lab that Orochimaru had before he defected?"

"Yes, what of it, sensei?"

"I plan to take all the plans that Orochimaru had on those labs, along with the ones outside the village that Anko has pointed out, and I want you to try and look for some whenever you can and send them here. The tests that Orochimaru had done were dangerous, but in our situation, we would need them."

"And what are your plans with it?"

Jiraiya was a seasoned Shinobi; he knew when things weren't as they seemed, and this time Hiruzen, his sensei, seems to be activating differently, as the aged Hokage in the past would not have compromised with this no matter the situation.

"I plan to get our scientist to not necessarily decode the works, but to see if there is anyway to make the experiments safe for our shinobis, or if we can use it to slowly strengthen our ninjas with how tense the outside world is and how unstable Konoha's foundation is becoming."

"How can you say that those scientists are trustworthy, sensei? They may leak the information to Danzo, or even worse, what if Orochimaru gets word of this?"

"That's why I will put a new lab underneath the house of Minato; with its size, it can accommodate what we need, and besides, this is just going to be a test; if the results are the same as anko, then we're going to abandon it immediately. The scientists I have yet to choose, none of whom I know are trustworthy enough; normally, I would consult with Homura and Koharu, but they are too close to Danzo for me to trust them with the information."

"This seems risky sensei; besides, if even one thing goes wrong, the entire village will be turned against you; besides, who's the test subjects? We can't really force people to intake it, so how can we ensure the safety of humans? Animal testing can only go so far."

"I know, but it's a good first step. I will take full responsibility for it when it comes to light, whether it be good or bad. The only thing we need is a trustworthy scientist and a doctor. That's why the operation will only start if both are present. That's why Tsunade is extremely essential to the village at large."

A sigh left Jiraiya's mouth as he thought of the idea. Certainly,  if it were to succeed, it would bring major benefits for the village by making the ninjas stronger, but the problem is that the effects on the ninjas would be unknown until tested. Jiraiya grew worried that his former teacher was putting all the fruits in one basket, but then again, in his situation, there are very limited options and even limiting mobility, and with nowhere else to go, he is trying to push up.

"I'm going to try and find Tsunade as soon as possible; find willing test subjects. I do know a few scientists that we can trust; I just need to get a hold of them. Besides that, the operation is on hold until I can secure both. Even if you do make the lab now, it'll be unused until both are in the village. Can I at least expect that from you, sensei?"

"Thank you, Jiraiya; you've truly helped me out on this one, and yes, don't worry; until both are trustworthy and present within the village, there will be nothing and no one using the lab we're going to build."

Sighing again, Jiraiya left the Hokage office. Arriving at the Hokage monument, Jiraiya simply looked at the village as a whole, seeing the lights slowly turn off, the streets becoming less and less crowded, and the hospital looking as melancholic as ever. He simply said that the head of the fourth's head.