Naruto: Kage of Kages

“Hmph!” The Third Hokage shut his three advisors all up with a forceful snort.

“And what do you three suggest huh!?” He questioned, the fiery anger of a man still far from his twilight years, seeping into his voice.

“Mito-sama’s privileges have nothing to do with me! You three know that. It is her power, her status and her position that afford her those privileges!” Hiruzen harshly exclaimed.

His advisors could say anything to that.

It was the pure truth after all.

Not only was Mito the most powerful shinobi in Konoha at the moment, as the Jinchuriki of the strongest Tailed Beast, the Nine Tailed Fox and the matriarch of the Uzumaki clan, a powerful faction with control of a prosperous Hidden Village of their own . . .

The privileges accumulated from all those halos were not small, and even as the Hokage, Hiruzen couldn’t do much about them so long as Mito was determined to act.

It was self-evident from how, despite the Uzumaki matriarch being a growing thorn on their side, the four of them still referred to her respectfully as “Mito-sama”, all despite her not even being close enough to hear them.

“Ever since she took in that child, Mito-sama has grown more active and forceful.” Koharu pointed out.

“Are you suggesting we punish the boy for Mito-sama’s actions?” Homura questioned.

“I’m just stating the obvious.” She countered.

“Perhaps not a punishment, but a warning is more than warranted.” Danzo suggested.

He knew Hiruzen would not go for heavy handed measures so he had to take these small wins where he could get them.

The Hokage said nothing but his silent gaze was a cue to proceed with the thought and, as his old comrades, the other three were well aware.

“Well, this level of achievement usually merits a promotion, even a two or three rank one, but we can deny it on the basis of his age, even if the boy has proven to be tactical and level headed in the field.” Homura proposed.

“That is too light handed. We can confine him to the village with the excuse that Kumo will target him extra hard otherwise, possibly killing him and disrupting his missions even if not.” Koharu gave her opinion.

“Such punishments are too inconsequential for that conniving brat to care. But if we deny the jutsu reward that the village is obliged to give as an accompaniment both to great feats and promotions in rank . . .” Danzo suggested.

“And how would we justify that?” Hiruzen inquired with veiled interest.

“Hmph. Just say that having too many jutsu to learn at such a young age will do more harm than good so the village will, “temporarily”, withhold the reward.” The one eyed advisor retorted.

“Hmm . . .” The Hokage fell into thought once again and his advisors gave him the silence to think.

A few long minutes later, he had made his decision.

“Normally, Team 6 ought to receive all around promotions, the boy and the Uchiha girl especially, likely deserve Special Jonin.” Hiruzen started.

“We’ll downplay the girl and promote both her and the Aburame into Regular Chunin while the boy will be promoted to Elite Chunin. But since they were rather rash in their actions and are young in age, their jutsu reward will be “temporarily” withheld.”

“In addition, for the boy’s protection as the focal individual in the conflict with Kumogakure, he will be restricted from participating in activities outside the village perimeter.” The Hokage concluded.

‘I should also have a private discussion with Inori. Things seem to have gotten out of hand for her.’ He added in thought.

“Any objections?” Hiruzen questioned.

It was rhetorical and his advisors knew that his decision had already been made so they wisely gave their silent acquiescence.

“Alright then, onto the matter with Kumo.” The Hokage declared.

This was a far more critical matter and one Danzo was far more interested in, one of the reasons he hadn’t pushed for much in the previous matter.

“It is unquestionable that now is the time to press Kumogakure with demands. We must take a strong stance on this matter.” The one eyed advisor strongly proposed.

“We can’t be too aggressive and risk them going crazy. The key is to find the sweet spot. A delicate touch is required.” Koharu countered, her manner of speaking clearly an appeal for her to take the lead on the matter of negotiations with Kumo.

Homura abstained from speaking just yet, his opinion was much the same as Koharu but the woman had beaten him to the punch and he did not want to support her bid for command over the negotiations.

Hiruzen could not help but sigh at how lively things got as soon as the conversation turned towards Kumo and the chance to fleece them.

“Could we try to force them into a hidden alliance? Have them pretend to join up with Iwa against us like in the last war only to strike them in the back.” Homura proposed.

“Unlikely. We’d have to give concessions for that and they would just pretend to agree. It would end up with us being the backstabbed party.” Danzo dismissed it.

The bespectacled advisor grumbled but did not argue.

“The easiest option would be to drain as many resources as we can by ransoming the hostage.” Koharu suggested.

“That would work but it would be a waste of such a big advantage.” Homura countered.

“Hmm. We could go for a two pronged approach.” Hiruzen started.

“Fleece them for as much as possible and use our infiltrators to internally destabilize them with the deal as the focal point.” He put forward his idea.

“You want my Root to use this matter in order to create rifts in Kumo?” Danzo understood his role.

“Indeed. The Raikage spending so many resources on the eve of war just to save his son . . . It is a great cause for internal unrest.” The one eyed advisor scornfully said.

For all people said about him, his old comrade Hiruzen was just as adept at these underhanded tactics, if not even more adept.

“Very well! Our preliminary plans have been drawn up, let us call a war council to hammer down the rest.” The Hokage declared.

“Should we not communicate with Mito-sama first?” Koharu cautioned.

“No. Doing it like this will make it much harder for that personage to speak out against our decisions unless she wants major civil unrest ahead of the war.” Danzo perfectly understood Hiruzen’s intent.

And with that, preparations were made and a council was convened.

Much like they predicted, Mito was immensely displeased with the Hokage’s decision regarding Shiki and the rest of Team 6 but, for the sake of Konha at large, she restrained herself, an action which actually helped the Hokage faction seem stronger than it was.

All of this was within their considerations.

The general consensus was to wait for Kumo to approach them first for negotiations, thus reinforcing their position.

Mito was obviously against this, after all, if the negotiations did not start, Kumo was free to attack Team 6 in the meanwhile, looking for an advantage of their own.

Danzo however, with the support of Homura and a few allied clan heads, claimed that it was an acceptable risk and that Team 6, as the party that captured Ay Junior in the first place, should be capable of handling the heat.

As a result, tensions rose and the meeting did not go anywhere but, after a few days, new information arrived in two successive parcels.

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