4. Returning to the Village

A day has passed since Kei's crow arrived in Konoha and delivered the message to Hiruzen and Mikoto, who has been handling the matters of the Uchiha clan since Fugaku is on the battlefield, while taking care of the three year old Itachi, who will soon be turning four.

The news of Kei's condition shocked the whole Uchiha clan.

Afterall, Kei was their key Hokage candidate, since because of her, the battle against Iwa had the least casualties.

And now, not only she has lost her limbs, but rumours have also spread all over the village that she abandoned her camp and fled back to the village.

This, of course, gravely enraged the Uchiha clan. The Hokage is ruining her reputation even after she has sacrificed so much for the village.

A young Uchiha policeman was buying vegetables after getting off-duty, when the vegetable lady, whose son was on the Iwa battlefield, shouted at him.

"Don't come to my shop! Your Uchiha abandoned the camp-"

"Shut up old lady! It was Danzo who leaked the information to Onoki after failing to assassinate her last time! She did so much for the village, even sacrificed her limbs, and this is how you treat her! If you have problem, go and fight Onoki yourself!"

It was Uchiha Shu, an admirer of Kei. She has instructed him to blame Danzo in case anything bad happens to her. And it will be 99.9% times true.

Due to most of Konoha's troops outside the village, including ANBU, the rumour spreaded by Uchiha Shu couldn't be suppressed, and couldn't be traced back to him.

If abandoning the camp was one thing, it was understandable. Afterall, it was Onoki who directly attacked. And she only managed to escape at the cost of her limbs, so the villagers couldn't blame her too much.

But selling information to the enemy? Trying to assassinate a ninja who has dealt so much damage to Iwa?

That was outrageous.

"Come to think of it, didn't word got out some time ago that Danzo tried to assassinate Kei?"

The villagers murmured amongst themselves, but shut up as they saw Hiruzen, the Hokage, walking through the street.

Hiruzen was troubled by the rumours. Danzo wasn't anyone, he was an advisor, and though only major Jonins and ANBU knew of it, the leader of the ROOT.

He wouldn't be able to escape blame if he doesn't stop the rumours soon.

He looked at the village gate, where a large hawk landed, carrying a person.

He sighed in his mind and started approaching her.

As he went near, he winced. Both of her legs were gone. And her left arm too. Cut so cleanly that it meant that they got turned to dust with Onoki's Dust Release.

As Kei saw him, she sneered at him, not caring that the gate guards and several people were watching.

"You are still in the village? Raikage and Tsuchikage are already on the battlefield. But here you our, our Hokage-sama, who is relaxing inside the village, protected by his guards, who doesn't care about sending children on the battlefield just so he can maintain his record of being the longest reigning Hokage.

Onoki was boasting to me, that Danzo is the greatest asset to Konoha's enemies, that he offered my location so that Onoki can take revenge for his son.

If you hadn't discriminated against the Uchiha clan, and actually rewarded me for my achievements, I wouldn't have ended up in this state.

Don't block my path. Sarutobi Hiruzen."

Kei's Sharingan spun, trying to intimidate Hiruzen. But before he could use this opportunity to dispel the rumours in front of the village with his silver tongue, Kei disappeared into several crows, and they all flew to the Uchiha clan.

And her hawk glared at Hiruzen, and puffed away, cancelling the summoning.

Hiruzen broke out in cold sweat. He couldn't descern the genjutsu of crow substitution. She didn't even use handsigns for it.

In the entirety of Konoha, her genjutsu is definitely the strongest. Even fooling him for a moment.

Either Onoki caught her off guard, or he was stronger than Hiruzen.

But, he gave a tired sigh, and turned to the villagers.

"All those rumours are being spread by enemy spies. Onoki intentionally said that to weaken the integrity of Konoha. No one has betrayed Konoha.

Will of Fire bla bla bla."

Hearing Hiruzen go into Will of Fire mode, the villagers stopped paying attention.

Afterall, it is true that since the war has started, many bizzare rumours have come and gone.

So it was the job of enemy spies afterall.

Some people believe Kei's words, but most believed Hiruzen's words. Afterall, he is the Hokage. And she is a resentful injured Shinobi.

Hiruzen waited outside the gate for longer, and Tsunade arrived with Shizune.

Despite Tsunade grumbling about not caring for the village, during war, she stays close to the village, and doesn't try to hide from the ANBU.

She still came after hearing that someone important needed her treatment.

She worried that it might be Jiraiya or Orochimaru, but when Hiruzen led her to the Uchiha clan, she understood that Hiruzen must have fucked up a big deal.

The guard at the gate of the Uchiha clan compound bowed to Tsunade, but didn't bother hiding his resentment towards Hiruzen.

"Tsunade-sama, let me escort you to Kei-sama's house."

He didn't bother welcoming Hiruzen, but Hiruzen shamelessly walked into the compound on his own.

Tsunade and Shizune really didn't want to be here. But they soon reached the house of Kei.

Hiruzen frowned. There were quite a lot of barriers around the house. They were way too many.

From inside, an Uchiha medic came.

"Tsunade-sama, Shizune-chan. Please come. And Hokage-sama, please don't barged into a woman's house uninvited."

"I will just meet the Village's Hero afterwards then."

Feeling disrespected so balantly, Hiruzen showed nothing on his face and headed back to the Hokage Office.

"Welcome Tsunade-sama."

Tsunade looked at Kei's condition, looking really depressed sitting on a wheelchair, and winced.

She checked her body to find any signs of infections, but found none.

"You are not in any danger, but..."

"Medical ninjutsu can't regrow my limbs huh?"

"Sorry kid. Even I can't do anything about it."

Kei sighed. Asking Tsunade to create prosthetics for her using Hashirama cells is no go. Afterall, the village will never agree on it.

"Tsunade-sama, will you like to play Ludo with me?"

Ludo?

This felt like a trap, but hearing the name of a new game, Tsunade was willing to walk right into it. She is feeling that she will win today.

"Alright."

Kei looked at the Uchiha medic, and said to her.

"Mei, go to Mikoto-sama, and ask Itachi to lend me the Ludo I gifted him."

Mei nodded, and left the house.

As Mei left, Tsunade asked, "How are you feeling kid?"

"Depressed? Yes. Anxiety? Not really. But rage towards Danzo? Absolutely. He leaked my information several times, tried to assassinate me, and had Onoki come after me. And he will probably not even get a slap on his wrist.

I did so much for the village, and what did I receive? Forget about Flying Thunder God that I asked, Danzo spread rumours about me, just like Sakumo Hatake.

Sigh... If only First Hokage was still alive, I would be enjoying my life in a hotspring, thinking about finding a boyfriend instead of trying to survive.

Who will marry a cripple like me now?"

Kei sighed and looked outside, her hair covering her face.

"You left the village because Danzo killed your little brother, right? And Hokage looked the other way?"

"Don't blame everything on Danzo. And stop trying to rile me up."

Tsunade was angry, and wanted to punch her. But punching Jiraiya and a cripple are different things.

Still, knowing how shady Danzo is, she couldn't help but think that he really might have a hand in Nawaki and Dan's death.

Shizune felt really uncomfortable, but thankfully, Mei arrived with the board and pieces.

Kei sighed and looked at Tsunade.

"Tsunade-sama, how about we gamble?"