Pre-Chapter A/N: More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio. Experimenting with two chapters a week, we'll see how long I can keep this up for.
I looked at him. Really just looked at him. He was thin, in a way that shinobi never were. Sure, we had the advantage of chakra; also, most shinobi were far from the bulk massive effigies that passed for physically fit in my first world, but even the average genin had layers upon layers of coiled muscle lying beneath their skin. All of that wasn't gone, don't get me wrong. But enough of it was—cannibalized by the healing sleep seal to keep him alive and help him recover from the mess that had been his insides when he had been brought here—that it was noticeable. He was lesser.
"I could," I said, stepping closer. He tensed. I noted the ANBU agents hidden in the ceiling tense as well. I wondered if they knew that jumping into this if I decided to act would do nothing but seal their deaths. They probably did. But they would act regardless; that was what it meant to be ANBU. I could respect it at least.
"Will you?" he pressed.
"No. No, I will not, Sarutobi Hiruzen. Ay's done a good enough job of that already," I said, gesturing to his present state.
"Not Hokage-sama? Your impertinence knows no bounds, truly."
"Let us be honest with ourselves, Hiruzen. Dispense of the bullshit. Even you aren't delusional enough to believe that you will continue on as Hokage like this. I know chunin that would have no trouble gutting you like a pig right now," I said. He coughed, once, twice, thrice, before he reached a shaky hand to the glass by his side. If I were a better man, I might have helped. But I wasn't. I watched him spill the water on his sheets as he struggled to bring it to his lips. His arm, so thin that it was all skin and bone, barely managed to reach up to his lips and he drank the water greedily, like a man in the desert.
"A temporary weakness, I assure you. I will be back at my best sooner rather than later," he said.
"We both know that's far from the truth," I challenged, watching him with a raised eyebrow.
"Tsunade has told you then."
"She's my cousin," I said.
"Of course. Loyalty to family over loyalty to Kage. One of your Granduncle's failings. He failed to instill in either of you the Will of Fire," he said, a damning indictment.
"Does Tsunade know you think so little of her?"
"Forced in this place, forced a prisoner of my own head, I can see my own failings as surely. I was her sensei and I failed to instill it in her, assuming that Sensei would have done it. He never did. To the both of you, your personal bonds, your connection with each other, your family, your friends, matters more than the village. That is why you would make a terrible Hokage, Shorirama Senju. You do not burn with the Will of Fire. I look at you, I drink you in. Cold. That is what you are—cold," he said, coughing at the end.
"Sounds scary, but what are you going to do about it? You are dying, Hiruzen. Even if you live through this, you will be a shadow of yourself, and if you think the Village's loyalty to you is so great as to ignore the ruin you near enough led us into, your reduced self, and the victories I have and will deliver, then you need to be committed to a mental facility," I said simply.
"Victories? If you think that debacle in Rivers is enough to cement a claim on the title, then I should be expecting you in the room next to mine sooner rather than later," he said, drinking another gulp of water. He didn't know then. I shoved my hand in my pocket while the ANBU hidden around us tensed. Did they really expect to be able to stop me? Fools.
I removed the scroll and unsealed the body with the same motion, all one-handed. The body fell to the floor, like a puppet with no strings. It was a bloody, gory mess in the midsection, but beyond that, it was very clear just whose body it was.
"Onoki?" Hiruzen asked, face paling.
"The Fencesitter lies dead at my hands. I've knocked Iwa just as surely out of this war as you almost saw us being," I said with a smirk, resealing the body quickly to avoid the blood pooling. Tsunade would kill me if she came in to a puddle of blood.
"I will parade that head around this village. I will celebrate the victory—my victory—while you remain here a broken husk of a man. Tell me if you think the people will care all that much about you when they see what I can offer them, what I already offered them," I smirked. This was it, my win. Instead of a reply, he broke into another coughing fit.
"Your star will shine for a minute, yes, but what goes up will most assuredly fall to the ground. The people of Konoha will see you for what you are. They will see that you do not burn with the same fire that your Grandfather and Granduncle did. That I do. They will see that you do not embody the values that they hold dearest and closest. They will judge you and find you wanting. And when that happens, I will be here, waiting. I will wait for your fall because it will come," he said.
"Yeah, that's all nice and good. You do that, yeah? But let's get to why I came here. You stay out of my shit, Hiruzen. You do it or I make you do it," I said, not even bothering to sugarcoat the threat as anything but. This man had a way of getting on my nerves. It was more than anyone else could even think of. Maybe it was because I had actually grown up in my first life looking up to this man. I'd thought the way he sacrificed himself for the village was so cool, but now I could see him for the kind of man he was. He hadn't hesitated to kill Orochimaru in canon for the love he held. He'd done it because he was weak. That was just the truth.
"Make me? What can you take from me that I have not already lost? I can tell you very easily that nothing you could take was ever worth keeping. Not when the alternative is seeing you pervert the village I hold and love so dearly," he said.
"So you will fight my appointment as Kage when the time comes? Even knowing that the village needs to be united to survive not just this war but its aftermath."
"Konoha will survive. The great tree will always survive, but to do that we must prune the rotten branches. That is what you are, Shorirama Uzumaki, a rotten branch on the great tree."
"Uzumaki, not Senju, now?" I asked, amused.
"Mito was the one who raised you. And now I see it clearly. You're just like the Uzumaki. Selfish—willing to take from Konoha, but never willing to give in return."
"To be honest with you, your yapping is getting a bit repetitive. You can tell me how you think I'm the worst thing since Madara himself to happen to the village, but what can you do about it? Whine and sulk, that's it," I said, leaning over to meet his eyes with mine. He tensed as I stepped closer. So did the ANBU. Cute.
"My name is Shorirama Senju. I am the Grandson of Hashirama Senju, the First Hokage of this village. My blood runs through this village. I am not a fan of birthrights, but I can tell you that in more ways than you know, this village is mine, and if that was not enough, add the fact that I am the strongest shinobi in this village, then I struggle to imagine just what there is for you to be yapping about. Either support my ascension or stay out of my way. Just know that if you dare to nip at my heels as I climb, then I will be sure to smash your head in with my boot," I said, making it clear that I would kill him if he got in my way.
"For once in your short-lived reign as Hokage, do the right thing. Yield the chair and hat to me peacefully. Let the village witness a peaceful transition, show them that the Great Tree remains strong with me as its guardian. If you can't do that much, then step out of the way. When the time comes, I will secure your removal, because we both know that you are far from fit to be Kage of anything in your present state—it's an argument if you were ever truly fit enough. Don't fight, Saru. Be a good boy," I said, tapping him on the cheek twice before turning around and leaving the room. That was all I had to say to him.
— —
"The Daimyo will see you now," the attendant said, walking into the waiting room I sat in. The Daimyo's quarters in the village were a massive mansion—a gift from my Grandfather, surely. I could feel him in the wood beneath my feet. I could feel him in the air that flowed through this place. It sat empty most of the time, but since Uraume had extended the invitation on my behalf, the Daimyo had essentially begun conducting his court from here. He had left the Capital for the Ninja village, and I knew it was not a fact that many were taking with enthusiasm.
Several of the civilians had already complained about the nobles and their tendency to block the roads with their massive palanquins and escorts whenever they deigned to step into the marketplace. Thankfully, that was the only thing being complained about. Well, that, and the strain it was placing on the existing security apparatus in the village. Security was usually handled in a rotating series of C-rank missions assigned to chunin within the village. With so many more people in the village—because where the court went, the courtiers and their attendants followed. Staff, servants, even just merchants who delighted in providing nobles with their pleasures, had flocked to the village en masse. Presently, we had taken some of the genin and begun assigning them security missions as a stopgap, but sooner or later we would have to find something more permanent.
Shinobi made for terrible law enforcement. All our training was focused on killing our targets. That made us a poor choice for separating a fight between two servants for two different noble families who insisted that they deserved the last bottle of rice wine in the village. That bottle still sat in my office, waiting for some sort of resolution. The servants concerned? Well, one overzealous genin had forgotten just how soft civilians were, and at least two of them would never walk again. Another headache I had pushed back until we dealt with Iwa.
It was the thoughts of the problems that his presence was causing me that I walked into the Daimyo's throne room.
I did not bow. At this point, no one expected me to. All I did was walk up to the seat placed on an elevated dais and give the man a nod. A nod that he returned. At least I got some respect here. Well, the fact that he remained here at what was essentially my pleasure probably went a long way in ensuring that.
"You said you have something for me, Shorirama-dono?" Not Hokage-dono, I noticed. It was fair since I was not the Hokage. For all his flaws and failings, Hiruzen held that title for now, but that would only be the case for so long. I just had to put a few things in order first.
"I come with news from the warfront," I said.
"What warfront? If I understand things correctly, you retreated from all the fronts and turtled down in these walls of yours," one man said, stepping to a position behind the throne. My eyes flicked in his direction for a second, a totally unnecessary gesture considering I could see him just fine from the corner of my eyes, but I did it either way to show that I had judged him and found him wanting in all respects
"Like I was saying, we faced the forces of the Third Tsuchikage, Onoki the Fencesitter, who had invaded the Land of Fire with thousands of his shinobi." Well, more like one thousand, but a little embellishment never hurt anyone.
"Our seeming withdrawal from all fronts allowed us to feign weakness in the same manner that his royal excellency's ancestor advised in his famous book—'when strong, feign weakness, and when weak feign strength.' We feigned weakness and when they stepped into our territory, we visited them with the full wrath and might of Konoha," I said.
"So you emerged victorious then?" The Daimyo asked, leaning forward in his seat. I smiled, and the scroll was out in a second. One of his guardian shinobi moved to stop me, but a targeted flare of my killing intent and chakra pinned the man to his spot while Onoki's body landed on the floor.
"A complete victory, Daimyo-dono. This is the corpse of Onoki himself, and his head will join the Daimyo's conquest tablet if it would please him after festivities within the village," I said, making it sound like an appeal.
"Please me? Hmm. It would please me very much, indeed. It pleases me to see our enemies brought low," he said, and I nodded.
"So what would you ask of me, Shorirama-dono? A victory like this must be rewarded, yes?" He asked, giving me a look.
"Father, I highly doubt that there is any need to depose the shinobi for doing his job. Does their village not exist here at your will? Their continued existence is enough of a reward," the man from earlier cut in again. This time, I did not flick my eyes towards him. Instead, I cataloged his appearance. This was the Prince, there was no doubt about it. The crown prince Matsuhito, heir to the throne of Fire Country. I could already tell that Konoha would have to move against him sooner or later. A subtle assassination in a year or so would probably work best. There was no need to risk becoming like Suna had in canon. Like Granduncle Tobirama always said, "As a village, we must fear the Daimyo, but as a man, the Daimyo must fear us." There was very little the Daimyo could do to me as a person, but he'd have an easy time starving and cutting off Konoha. And there was little we could do to the Fire Country as a whole without harming ourselves, but the Daimyo had everything to fear from us. It seemed the Daimyo had failed to impart the same lesson on his son. A shame.
"Daimyo-dono, we have done our jobs as your swords. As your blades in your sleeve. All the reward we need is knowing that the Country as a whole stands safer now," I said.
"And does that mean that you will be changing your strategy?"
"Yes. With Iwa knocked out of the war effort, we will be moving to confront Kumo sooner rather than later. They spend their time training and raising new levies on our border with Frost, so if we do not want to be drowned in bodies then it would be for the best if we moved to deal with them before they manage to complete their efforts," I said.
"Indeed. Very wise, Shorirama-dono. Very wise, indeed. This must surely mean that I can cease supervising your efforts from here soon?" He asked, pressing the official reason for his stay. There was no need to cause a mass panic by telling the people that their Daimyo had so little faith in the security of his own palace in his own capital. There would have been riots in the streets of the Capital.
"Yes, Daimyo-dono. It does indeed mean that you can return to the Capital as you have been eagerly anticipating. Thank you for lending your boundless wisdom to our war effort," I said.
"Will that be all then?" He asked. I wondered if I'd already lost his interest now that I'd explained that we'd gone back to winning the war.
"There is more, but it is a highly sensitive matter, Daimyo-dono," I said, not so subtly asking for a private audience.
"Very well, then. I will grant you my ear as a boon for your efforts," he replied.
"Leave us." This time, his words were directed to the dozens of courtiers crammed into the throne room—nobles, servants, guards, even his own son. Everyone but his shinobi shadows and two samurai guards left the room, leaving the two of us alone. Well, as alone as a Shinobi like me could ever be with the Daimyo of all people.
"Now what is the matter?"
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, the Third Hokage, is awake now," I said. He looked at me. Really looked at me.
"Fascinating. Shall I be plain with you, Shorirama?" He asked.
"Always, Daimyo-dono."
"Call me Tengen-dono when we are alone. But back to the matter, I find myself surprised that you allowed him to wake," he said with a gesture at one of the Samurai. The man moved to the side and began to pour some wine for his Lord.
"Dai— Tengen-dono, my apologies. I don't know what you mean," I said, because surely he couldn't be saying what I thought he was saying.
"I mean, why did you not kill Hiruzen Sarutobi when it would have been easiest to?" he said, holding out a hand for the cup.
A/N: Is that a good way to end a chapter? Who knows? It's what I've gone with though. Sue me Next five up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)(same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.