24

Chapter 24: twenty-three: we will riseSummary:

"The darkest hours are just before dawn."

English proverb.

Notes:

I do not own Naruto.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Becoming Hokage 101

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Section Five: Take the quote "keep your friends close and your enemies even closer" to heart as much as possible.

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Chapter Twenty Three

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As soon as you find yourself on a steady path on your journey, keep in mind that those who aim from the top will always have enemies - and they are everywhere.

Deciding who is a friend and who is a foe is most definitely no easy task, but one that must be done meticulously at all times. Keeping the wrong people by your side will most likely cut your journey short, so I advise you early on to find trust-worthy allies and stick to them when there is no one else you can count on.

Do not be alone, for you do not have to be. A Kage does not lead by themselves. It is imperative you keep your friends close, and your enemies even more so. Put to practice all the psychology and political study you have done so far, and with careful planning, you shall succeed.

Finally, trust your gut, above all else. If your heart tells you to trust someone, obey it. If it tells you to strike down while the iron is still hot, do not hesitate. As a ninja, your feelings and your instincts play a huge role in your survival, and it would do you well to listen to them even when there is evidence stating otherwise.

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Cleaning house is a long, arduous process.

Even though Danzo is dead, it only means we have to deal with the aftermath in the middle of the war, which is less than ideal, to say the least. It means things end up in pure chaos before they even get a chance of getting better.

Throughout it all, I watch from the sidelines. ROOT's been forcefully disbanded now that their leader is dead, and Shikaku rarely ever lets me out of the Nara compound - which isn't a bad thing at all. Everything feels too raw still, and I feel nauseous just thinking of going back to my house.

'Rather, can I even call it mine anymore?'

Having someone whom you love and trust try to murder you in your sleep can do quite a number on you, apparently. Shikaku and Yoshino had made me talk with Inoichi as soon as possible, and now we see each other weekly. Every Thursday morning at 9 AM, the Yamanaka shinobi will show up at the Nara's front gate, looking as if he's here for a simple visit between friends. Talking about it helps, but some days are definitely better than others.

'I didn't plan this. I didn't plan a lot of this, actually.'

I can count on one hand the amount of times I've left the safety of the Nara. One was as a witness against Aun- that woman, another was for an impromptu lunch at the Akimichi compound with my team, and the last one happened when they had to choose an interim Hokage.

'Isn't it crazy how much a story can change when a single character decides to act however they want?'

Hiruzen doesn't last two weeks as the Hokage after Danzo's death. I suppose it was as much of a shock to him as it was to me, and I can't begin to comprehend how badly the guilt must be eating him up. Mother, on the other hand, channels all her energy and frustration into paperwork - or what little she's allowed to do, at least.

A part of me doesn't want to see them ever again, especially my father. A part of me wants to twist the blade just a little deeper, rub just a little bit more salt into the wound, but at the end of the day I always end up admitting that Hiruzen is just human, and even if he failed miserably, he was just doing what he thought was best for his village.

It doesn't mean I have to be so easy to forgive and forget.

I haven't seen either of my parents since the night of my tenth birthday, and I don't really want to. Staying with the Nara is easy; much easier than staying back at the Sarutobi compound. There's no pressure here, no constant sets of eyes watching me, no expectations. Living with the Nara clan head means almost effortlessly falling into a routine, from meditating with the deer in the morning to taijutsu training with Yoshino in the afternoon and playing shogi with Shikaku in the evening.

It also means, however, that I don't have any of my belongings here. I don't have the pink blanket I've been using for years, a source of comfort during even the darkest nights. I don't have my notebooks, and I don't have Tobirama's diary. I don't have my scrolls, my weapons, my clothes. My brothers are still out of the village, as well as team Minato.

Some nights I cry myself to sleep, the loneliness threatening to swallow me whole.

Other nights I lie awake in bed in a state of detachment, not quite here but not quite there either.

Shikaku one day tells me that some Sarutobi clansmen were protesting against me staying with him, and that if I wanted to, I could go home with them.

"I don't have a home anymore, Shikaku-san." I'd looked at him dead in the eye and blurted out the first thought on my mind, and although he'd made an odd face, that'd been the end of that.

It's not that I have a bad relationship with my clan - quite the opposite, actually. Even though I'd been closest to Aun- that woman, seeing multiple aunts, uncles, and cousins everyday meant we're polite with each other at the very least, but it doesn't mean I trust any of them enough to live under their roof after what happened.

'Who can I trust, really? Is my family truly wishing for my well-being? Or do they just want to finish what Au- that woman started?'

A thought comes to me like a bucket of icy water.

'Can I trust Tooru?'

I'd known Asuma from Before, and knew he was completely loyal to Konoha. I'd known my parents from Before as well, and Shikaku and Choza and Genma and Gai and Kakashi and-

Fugaku visits me one day.

He's alone, standing tall and proud as ever, even with the exhaustion swimming in his eyes.

"Don't give up on people, Chiyuki-sama."

"How am I supposed to know who I can trust, Fugaku-taicho?"

The Uchiha stares at me for a long while before his hand falls on top of my head, warm and comforting.

"I know things are awful right now, but it won't always be like this. Have faith in yourself, and in us."

Tooru comes back a couple of days after that. Shikaku lets him in, and the whole interaction happens under Yoshino's hawk eyes.

My older brother engulfs me in his arms as soon as he's able to, no longer a lanky teenager but a strong young man. He smells like firewood and wet grass, and maybe he's come straight from his mission to see me-

Loud sobs escape his chest and wet my clothes, sounding like he just can't get enough air into his lungs. Tooru apologizes over and over again, cries like a small child into my shoulder, collapses to the floor still holding onto me, and I wonder how I could ever doubt him.

Hours pass before we both calm down, faces red and swollen. He gratefully accepts the wet cloth Yoshino offers him and wipes my face so gently it nearly makes me cry again.

"I'm sorry." He whispers for the nth time that day.

"Me too." I reply for the nth time as well.

In the end, nothing else is said. My brother stays a little while longer, for as long as Shikaku will let him, but night falls inevitably like clockwork and his duties start to call for him. He'll barely have a couple of days to rest before he's sent on another mission.

"I love you." I whisper into his chest, holding back my tears because I'm tired of crying.

"I love you." He answers, kissing my forehead so tenderly it chokes me up, regardless of my exhausted emotional state.

Ensui escorts him back to the Sarutobi compound, and I feel immensely grateful I don't feel any animosity towards one another. People might be wary of the Sandaime, but it doesn't mean his children have anything to do with it.

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No one tells me anything about the battle with the rat, because it's an extremely hush-hush matter, so I can only rely on my memories. It must've been a difficult fight, no doubt about it, but at least Danzo didn't have as many sharingan eyes on him as he did Before. I think.

What did change from my memories, however, was the fact that Orochimaru fled the village roughly two weeks after the leader of ROOT died. Neither Shikaku nor Fugaku tell me much, but from the bits I've managed to hear, it goes somewhat like this: after Danzo's blatant betrayal and the mess that follows, Hiruzen no longer has the support of either the shinobi or the civilians. People start to question his rule more and more each day, and the man has no strength left to rule Konoha with an iron fist. Sarutobi Hiruzen resigns his seat.

Fifteen days after my tenth birthday, the Council calls for an emergency meeting with the clan heads and the spokesperson for the civilian affairs. It's a meeting that drags on for the entire day, from dawn to late evening, and they decide to choose an interim Hokage to rule the village while they choose the Yondaime.

'It's all a formality, really. The Yondaime's long been chosen, and of course it's Minato. All that's left to do is make it official, but they can't do it while the war is still going strong. The blonde is much too valuable on the frontlines to wear the hat now.'

That leaves them with the only option of choosing an interim Hokage, a seat that, unsurprisingly, very few people want. Kushina is not an option, for the same reason as Minato. Shikaku absolutely refuses the job. They manage to call in Jiraya, who also vehemently refuses the hat. Tsunade is nowhere to be found.

Orochimaru shows up acting like he's a beacon of light, their last hope for the village. The Council is understably hesitant to let him wear the hat, because although he is a strong and capable shinobi, the snake shinobi doesn't have the charisma nor the people's support.

In the end, it's an Yamanaka shinobi who decides it all. On the same day they're supposed to choose the interim Hokage, a man named Tora steps forward with sensitive information he'd obtained from one of ROOT's ex-members.

Of course I don't know exactly what it's about, but apparently it was incriminating enough for them to brand Orochimaru as a traitor for conspiring with Danzo and making experiments with things he most definitely shouldn't have. He tries to protest in favor of his innocence, until the moment the Council declares that Uchiha Fugaku is to be the interim Hokage.

'Who would've thought?' I think bitterly on the following day, enjoying a break with a couple of deer by my side.

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The rumour mill that runs between the shinobi ranks is one of the most fearsome things I've encountered. News of that day start to circulate from the moment dawn breaks the following day of the battle, and people run off with their mouths.

'Shimura Danzo is dead.'

'There's been an attempt on Sarutobi Chiyuki's life.'

'Sarutobi Hiroko has been arrested as the primary suspect of the crime.'

'The Sandaime's daughter is staying with Nara Shikaku.'

'Sarutobi Hiruzen is a shell of the man he once was.'

'Uchiha Fugaku and his clan played an essential role in dismantling ROOT.'

And they start to arrive at their own conclusions.

'The Sarutobi princess is quite close to the Jounin Commander and the Uchiha clan head, is she not?'

'I've seen her visit them several times.'

'Everyone knows Nara Shikaku has a soft spot for her.'

'A friend of mine says he saw Uchiha Fugaku visit Sarutobi Chiyuki at the Nara compound.'

'She's close with Namikaze Minato as well, right?'

'She seems to be at the center of everything these days, huh?'

'Is she involved in this?'

'Do you think she planned it?'

Staying inside the Nara compound does not mean the rumours won't reach me. Rather, once in a while I'll feel like someone is speaking a little too loudly on the streets for it not to be unintentional.

Sometimes getting up from bed is one of the hardest tasks I've ever done, and more than once I've been tempted to just fall back asleep and pretend none of this is happening. If the clock strikes 7 and I'm not up yet, however, Yoshino grabs the blankets from me and demands I get up, no ifs or buts.

On the day Fugaku is made interim Hokage, she accompanies me to the Hokage's Tower, one of the very few times I leave the Nara compound. She dresses me up in my ninja attire, black pants and green jacket a comforting weight on my skin. The woman also puts on her own shinobi outfit, the standard jounin one, and tells me to walk with my head held high all the way. Ensui decides he'll silently walk on my free side, so even if people stare and whisper at us on the street, no one dares say anything too loudly.

"What if you embraced the rumours, rather than tried to avoid them?" The Nara matriarch had suggested at dinner one day, after watching me and Shikaku talk about it. "It's unlikely they'll die out anytime soon, especially now that Uchiha Fugaku has been made interim Hokage. If people want to speculate about you, let them, but also let them know that you're backed up by the Jounin Commander, the interim Hokage, and the future Yondaime."

Shikaku spends a couple of minutes thinking about it, then shrugs and looks at me.

"It's not a bad idea."

I'd nodded without thinking too much about it, appreciating the fact he left the final decision to me, but ultimately not having the strength to go against the current any longer.

The ceremony is a small, short one. My father shows up to put the hat onto Fugaku's head, then leaves after looking at me with anguished eyes. I don't have the energy to comfort him, and merely stand quietly by Shikaku and Yoshino's side, further spurring the rumours on. Orochimaru leaves the village on that same day, kicking up a fuss and attempting to destroy his research lab before he does.

The Uchiha shinobi are once again at the scene, preventing too much damage and chasing after him into the night. It's another point in Fugaku's favour, which only seems to be rising these days.

Orochimaru and the ROOT members had been heavy hitters for Konoha, and now that they can't do so anymore, the village is looking for scraps to fill in the ranks. Even with everyone so busy, I'm never quite alone; either Yoshino or Ensui keep me company, or in some rare cases, Shikaku. If none of the three can stay with me, the Nara clan head tells me to go deep into the forest, back where we had that fateful talk all those months ago, and the deer take care of me until someone comes to pick me up.

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My pity fest lasts for about a month, a luxury I've been granted for being the victim of an attempted murder and for being at the center of this entire mess. Fugaku calls me to the Hokage's office one chilly winter day, Shikaku standing next to him. In front of the desk, looking at me with curious eyes, is Jiraiya.

"Should I call you Hokage-sama?" I attempt to joke after I've greeted all three men with a respectful nod.

'Is it too soon to let things go, I wonder? Or is it high time I start to pick the pieces up?'

"Don't." The Uchiha huffs, expression softening slightly as he turns dark eyes to me. "I hear enough of that already."

There's something like regret sitting on his dark eyes, exhausted like very few things can make him. After only a couple of weeks of acting like the military leader of a village like Konoha, he already looks tired and worn out, not unlike my father did.

'I wonder what he thought when they gave him the hat. Did he blame me, too?'

"I wanted to give you more time, but unfortunately, we don't have that." Fugaku goes straight to the point, something I very much like about him. "Team Choza has a mission."

I nod, expecting as much. I'm surprised I even got a whole month to wallow in self-pity when we're in the middle of the war, but it's time to get back to work, I suppose.

"Choza is away on another mission, so for the time being your field commander will be Jiraya-sama." Shikaku pipes up, looking vaguely like he's swallowed something bitter.

I turn to look at the tall man next to me, who gives me a small grin. Immediately, I feel like I've swallowed something bitter as well.

Jiraiya looks at me with something like contempt in his eyes, as if I were a cute little Academy student playing ninja, and something unpleasant crawls up my spine whenever I meet his eyes. Of course he played a major role in the story from Before, being the mentor of key people like Minato and the three Ame orphans, and I know - I know - that he's 100% loyal to Konoha, and yet-

And yet…

At the end of the day, Jiraya is simply someone I've never bothered with. Someone I haven't respected since the beginning, like Shikaku and Tsunade, nor someone I've come to care for, like Choza and Fugaku. Something in me simply just can't look at the man's face and feel safe like I should - maybe it's the way I can feel the iron in his blood flowing just a tad too fast for it to be considered normal, maybe it's the stormy look in his eyes whenever he stares at me, maybe it's the fact that he's just not someone I'd rather deal with if I had the chance. The males of the Great Sannin have never been my favorites.

I've always had a soft spot for Tsunade, even Before. Far from anything like pity, I just relate to her sadness a lot, I suppose; the village she's always fought for has given her absolutely nothing in return, and even when she doesn't really have a reason to return, she does.

Naruto may have played a huge part in bringing her back to the village, but Senju Tsunade doesn't do anything she doesn't want to. If she truly hadn't wanted to come back, she wouldn't have.

Perhaps there's also a sense of duty as the last of the Senju, but ultimately what led her to come back for good was her love for Konoha, something the woman definitely shared with Naruto.

The village never did anything good for them for a long while, so how?

'Can I do that as well? Love a place that takes and takes and takes from you?'

Regardless, I put on a polite smile and bow respectfully to the white haired man next to me. Putting on a mask isn't as difficult as it should be.

"It's an honor. Please take care of us." If the smile doesn't quite reach my eyes, no one comments on it.

"As team Choza's leader, you'll be made aware of sensitive, classified information that is vital for the sake of your A-class mission." Fugaku continues without preamble, most likely having a ton of stuff to do still.

I nod stiffly, wondering why I'm hearing something that my teammates are clearly not supposed to.

'Not only that, but an A-class mission? For a genin team? Please don't tell me this is gonna be a Team 7 style mission.'

"You can bring him in, Shikaku." The Uchiha looks like there are a million places he'd rather be than here, and Shikaku's mouth disappears into a line. He disappears for a brief while in a cloud of smoke, coming back seconds later with a young boy that's around my age.

'Holy fucking shit-'

My eyes widen against my will as I take in the small boy that is supposed to be a couple of years younger than me, brown hair straight and down to his shoulders, a haunted look on his face despite the slight urge to flee in his eyes.

"This is Tenzou. He was found in Orochimaru's destroyed research lab with the remains of a seal on his tongue." The Nara clan head sounds almost like a robot when he speaks, a faraway look in his dark eyes. "Why don't you show them a little of what you can do?"

Tenzou looks lost and uncomfortable, emotions flashing rapidly in his dark brown eyes even after his time at ROOT.

'Thankfully, I don't think he spent enough time there for them to wipe his emotions out.'

"It's okay. These are people you can trust." Shikaku pointedly looks at me when he says that, and I just know he expects me to take the bomb like a champ.

'Which I will, but only because I knew about it beforehand.' I pout in my head.

The young boy hesitantly shows us the palm of his hand. For an awkward second, nothing happens. Then-

"Impossible." Jiraya's flat voice represents everyone's thoughts, shocked beyond words as we all watch a tiny sakura tree bloom from Tenzou's hand.

His very existence is bad news, as awful as that sounds. The fact that he exists should be a red flag by itself, because it basically means you can manipulate the DNA of dead people and create a brand new human being out of it. Not only that, but his Wood Release is something that was thought to be extinct, even amongst the descendants of the First Hokage. Tsunade herself never showed any signs of being able to manipulate wood like her grandfather did, even though she inherited his crazy chakra control and medical jutsu tendencies.

Tenzou's existence means that Orochimaru went and violated the grave of Tsunade's family, one of the few things she holds dear. It probably wasn't only once, either, which only makes things worse.

"Tsunade-sama's gonna flip her shit." I mumble without much thinking, and Fugaku looks at me like I've grown a second head. Shikaku hides his face and coughs, and I just know Yoshino's gonna hear about this later on.

"Chiyuki's choice of vocabulary aside, she's right." The jounin commander looks thoroughly amused, mirth dancing in his eyes. The Uchiha sitting next to him opens his mouth to speak, but someone beats him to it.

"Ch-Chiyuki?" The small boy speaks for the first time, voice rough from disuse. Wide eyes turn to me and widen even more, as if he's finally realized who I am. "That's you."

"Yeah." I nod, throwing caution out the window. "You had to keep an eye on me a couple of times, right?"

An awkward silence, colder and harsher than expected follows suit.

"What in the seven hells-"

"What do you mean-"

"Do you know each other?!"

It's almost comical how three grown men are capable of looking like their eyes are going to pop out of their sockets, iron flowing in an awkward manner, almost as if it's got its own version of a stutter.

"Remember I said there were ROOT members watching me sometimes? Tenzou was one of them." I say, and a part of me worries I'm way too nonchalant about this whole thing.

Shikaku pinches the bridge of his nose, grimacing. Fugaku looks unamused™, and Jiraya just looks plain confused.

"You said you couldn't tell them apart." The Nara points out, an unimpressed look in his eyes.

"I can't." I shrug, being just as unimpressed as he is. "I could only tell when it was Tenzou because his chakra felt familiar."

"...familiar?" The white haired man asks, almost afraid of the answer.

"The Sarutobi's main house is entirely made of Hashirama wood, including the pillars and the furniture." I deadpan, looking each of the men in the eye.

The jounin commander actually lets out a tiny groan, running a hand down his face tiredly. The Uchiha clan head continues to wear his poker face expression, something he does when he's still trying to wrap his head around a situation. Jiraya looks like he's just given up, honestly.

"Of course you could tell." The Nara mutters, a dark look on his face. Poor Tenzou looks from one face to another hesitantly, young faced marred by a deep frown.

"How." It's obviously not a question, but the Toad Sage just looks done with everything. I can't really hold it against him.

"It's the iron in your blood. I can feel it." The young boy in front of me looks at me incredulously, and I can practically see the clogs struggling to turn in his head. "Listen, there's not much to it. You can manipulate wood, and I can manipulate iron. We're basically two special snowflakes."

Jiraya nearly chokes in his spit, and I can't tell if Shikaku wants to laugh or cry. Fugaku's spirit has apparently left its body.

"But that's okay." I continue before anyone has a chance to break my flow, looking Tenzou dead in the eye. "It doesn't make us who we are. We make it whatever we want it to be. We didn't ask for this, but we'll make it our own."

His dark brown eyes glisten with tears for a moment before he remembers himself and nods, swallowing roughly.

'Have I reached Friendship Level 2 with him?'

"That's quite enough. Thank you for your time, Tenzou. You're dismissed." The interim Hokage comes back to life and takes control of the situation once again, reminding us all why we're here in the first place.

"That was interesting." Shikaku comments as soon as he comes back from escorting the young boy out, and I shrug again.

"So I'm assuming the mission has to do with Tsunade-hime." Jiraya too is back to business, a serious expression on his face.

"It does." Fugaku grabs a paper and shows us a map, pointing to a small village near Tanzaku Town. "Tsunade-sama was last seen here, exchanging basic healing for food and a bed."

A heavy sign from the dark-haired man, and he suddenly feels too much like my father.

'Too many responsibilities, too many worries, too many tasks, too many of too many.'

"Since Sandaime-sama stepped down, village morale has gone down drastically. The hospital is understaffed and there simply too many things to be done after Orochimaru and Danzo's schemes. We don't need to fill in the Hokage's seat until Minato can wear the hat, unless that's what the person wants." The Uchiha speaks gravely, the weight of an entire village on his shoulders.

"What we're looking for is someone to help with all the infrastructure work that needs to be done, not to mention the training of new medics - both ninja and civilians. Someone who understands the inner workings of a ninja village, whose presence alone would be able to lift up morale." Shikaku continues, face booking no ifs or buts.

"Your mission is to locate Tsunade-sama and bring her back to Konoha at all costs. Use any and all arguments you can use to convince her. Again - we don't mean for her to be Hokage, unless that's what she wants to do." The interim Hokage finishes, the mood tense and heavy from the pressure.

"So that's why you introduced Tenzou to us." I murmur, understanding the true weight of the 'any and all arguments'.

"We weren't planning on it, but desperate times call for desperate measures." Fugaku says with a light grimace, the Nara clan head agreeing with him.

"She doesn't even need to stay here for long. If you can convince her to stay long enough to help the village get back on track, that's more than fine."

Jiraya stays silent for a few seconds before he nods grimly, a thoughtful look on his face.

"We'll try our best."

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