Ch361. A threat in the village

Hearing her proclamation, Hiruzen became completely speechless.

It was obvious from the sour expression on his face that he didn't expect Tsunade would be present in this meeting, nor did he like it one bit. Unwilling to rise up to her provocation, mostly because despite his seeming influence, he had no real base of support, Hiruzen schooled his expression before calmly turning around, and continued to walk towards Shikaku.

Tsunade watched Hiruzen's back with a small smile, knowing this was her small victory. She didn't care if it was petty and childish. This was why he let Hiruzen live, after all. This... was the worst punishment Hiruzen could be given.

Tsunade was raised by the man. She was taught by the man. She lived a long time alongside the man. She fought alongside the man. She prepared strategies and led armies with the man. She knew Hiruzen Sarutobi's personality the best and knew what would torture him, what would haunt his dreams, and what would really make him silently suffer. And it was not death. Far from it.

Tsunade knew Hiruzen Sarutobi would welcome death. He was a ninja. He was not afraid to die. No ninja above a certain rank possessed such a pointless fear. They would not get far with a useless thing like that.

What men and women like them feared was being left alive. Living and being tortured for who knows how long.

Oh, ninjas and kunoichi would tell others they are prepared for it and it is just a part of their job. That they could take it and that they have no fear of it. But...

Tsunade knew just how much they were all full of shit.

One simply had to find the correct torture technique that would really get under their skin. Everybody had something they absolutely did not want to happen to them. Something they absolutely did not want to lose.

It just so happened that in the case of Hiruzen Sarutobi it was his...

"Lord Hokage!" Hiruzen loudly said in an authoritative voice full of a lifetime of experience doing these things, "I have called this meeting to-"

"Yes. You have called this meeting." Shikaku raised his voice, something he did very rarely even when he was angry so it momentarily broke any hold Hiruzen's authoritative tone held over the spectators due to their sheer shock at such a rare occurrence. "Is it only me who finds that shocking? Considering you do not have that kind of power. Or rather... you shouldn't have that kind of power anymore due to your retirement. So, tell me, Lord Third. What exactly are we doing here?" He swept his hand in front of him, gesturing over all of the clan heads and civilians sitting in the council chamber.

Hiruzen momentarily faltered too, not expecting Shikaku's forceful reaction. The former Nara clan head was the last person Hiruzen thought would put on a show of strength. It was simply so unlike the usually quiet and demure man who lived more inside of his head than outside of it.

This faltering, however, cost Hiruzen dearly as the clan heads now had time to put two and two together, coming to a realization of how Hiruzen managed to call them all into one place on his whim.

That kind of thing did not bode well with many of them. What with Hiruzen's past actions against the Uchiha and the Senju clans, and many other questionable things he did that miraculously came out one after another after his retirement, ever-so-slowly tearing his reputation apart piece by piece while he was unable to do anything but watch in silence.

Him having the power to call all clan heads into one place? Despite many of them knowing Hiruzen would never do so, their thoughts couldn't help but stray in the direction of, 'What if he used that to gather them and assassinate them all at once to get back his power?'

It was only natural for the men and women in their positions to think like that.

Of course, Tsunade knew the old man too well for such thoughts. He loved Konoha too much to try something so drastic. But watching the faces of the people around her, as they made their own conclusions regarding Hiruzen without anything being even spoken out loud... now that was beautiful.

Hiruzen could not even defend himself since nobody accused him of anything.

'And to think he did this to himself.' Tsunade had to cover the newly forming grin on her face with her hand, 'He must be really on the end of his rope to slip like this.'

That filled her with such joy. Hiruzen would never outwardly show his discomfort. He loved playing a powerful man. He only showed weakness when it was a part of his plan or scheme. Just like his grandfatherly persona.

Tsunade had to be very watchful of his actions if she wanted to see how her little anti-Hiruzen propaganda affects the old monkey. But waiting for such a reaction could be frustrating at moments too since Hiruzen had far too much control of himself.

"Yes, I must admit, I have used the loyalty of some of our ninjas to send out an order to gather the council members but-." Hiruzen said, speeding up the tempo of his speech to prevent being again interrupted by Shikaku...

'Our ninjas, huh?' Tsunade snorted, seeing even Shikaku's eyebrow was twitching at Hiruzen's chosen wording. 'The monkey still has the balls of steel.' She almost shook her head in disbelief. 'To admit he compelled some of our highly placed personnel to commit what is basically treason, talk about the ninja forces as if they still belonged to him, and interfering in high politics of the village despite being explicitly forbidden from doing just that... and all that in one sentence without even batting an eyelash at it but also making it sound as if he was being reasonable and just? Just... damn.'

Tsunade really wanted to burst out in laughter. Especially when she saw most of the clan heads and civilians eating it up with gusto, having no idea what exactly just happened.

Alas, such was the good ol' Professor...

"- I did it for a very important reason! Our village is in a dire situation! It came to my ears that earlier today, Mei Terumi entered our village." He stopped talking, looking over the gathered people in silence in order to give his statement weight while his face was set in a grave expression.

Utter silence descended on the council room for a moment before Shikaku's long sigh finally interrupted it. "And?" He asked, slouching forward and lazily raising his eyebrow at Hiruzen.

"And?" Hiruzen stared at Shikaku in disbelief before his expression twisted and his anger burst out like a dam. "And!? Don't you see the problem with that!? The threat her presence inside of our walls poses to us!? She-"

"It's the Chunin Exam, old man." Shikaku strongly said, stopping Hiruzen in his tracks. "The other villages can send ANYONE they want to our village and as long as they do not cause trouble, we have no legal right to-"

"But she is the first SS-ranked ninja ever! She can face armies alone! Her being among us is-" Hiruzen interrupted Shikaku, horrified at the indifference of his successor to the very obvious problem.

"And how do you expect me to 'kick her out' without angering not only her but also the Uzushio village that sent her here?" Shikaku snorted, his eyes filled with derision as he condescendingly stared at Hiruzen.

Once upon a time, Shikaku looked up to the man but this... old, inwardly broken, and desperate has-been was not the man he respected. In the past few minutes, he did more oversights than in years of his rule as the Third Hokage.

Or at least, Shikaku hoped so because if this was really how Hiruzen ruled and everybody, but most importantly, him, were blind to it, then Shikaku had to wonder how Konoha was still standing.

Seeing that Hiruzen was still silent, Shikaku decided to enlighten the old fool. "Let's say I kick her out. What then? You do know we are allies with Uzushio and considering her strength, I reckon she is a very prominent cookie there. You do know that Terumi Mei being a part of Uzushio means that the Downpour-" A lot of sharp intakes of breath could be heard all over the room at the mention of the long-past but still a very famous team from Kirigakure, "- is also part of that village, don't you? You would have me risk souring our relations and alliance with a village that has possibly three SS-ranks, if not more, in their midst just because... because of what exactly? Because you feel unsafe not being the strongest ninja around?"

Another silence descended upon the council chamber, this time a deafening one.

Noticing Hiruzen was about to open his mouth to defend himself, Shikaku quickly put a stop to that by starting to speak again, "You know what? Don't answer that." He tiredly shrugged, "It doesn't matter anyway. If you want to kick Mei Terumi out, the person you have to persuade is not me nor is it the council. We do not have that kind of power. Not anymore. The person you will have to persuade is..." Shikaku trailed off as he raised his hand and pointed at Tsunade while thinking, 'What a monumentally troublesome waste of time this was.'

Tsunade observed Hiruzen turning towards her with wide eyes, probably having no idea she changed some policies. 'Look at him,' She thought while inwardly having fun at his expense, 'He so desperately craves control.' A small smile appeared on her face, making it even sweeter when Hiruzen frowned after seeing it. 'Many would assume the old monkey wants power but it was never power he desired, was it? Control... that's why he simply couldn't leave any affinity unmastered. That's why he spent countless hours making his chakra control the best he could. That's why he studied hundreds if not thousands of Jutsus so he always knew what to expect and had control in the battle because of it. Hiruzen Sarutobi is an animal of control. Take that away from him and he will start to flop like a fish on the land.'

Tsunade's smile widened into a pleasant one full of indulging enjoyment as she looked Hiruzen straight in the eyes, seeing the building frustration in them as he lost even more of his control. He probably thought warning the council of Mei would give him a more active role in the politics of the village because of his strength. Unfortunately for him, he hit a wall called Tsunade.

"Mei stays. Dismissed." Tsunade simply said and stood up, leaving the chambers.

Hiruzen never felt so powerless and helpless as when he watched Tsunade dismiss him with so few words. He didn't even notice as the other clan heads left the council room, leaving the weary old man standing there, staring into nowhere.