The Zero Tails Jinchuriki #1

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Hokage Tower [Days after Nine Tails Attack]

–Hiruzen Sarutobi–

He finally dragged his body back to the Hokage Tower and all but collapsed into the chair. Waving off the already scarce ANBU who were guarding him, he ordered them to rest since they, too, like him, had been running on fumes for days now.

Sighing heavily, he resisted the urge to look for a smoke since it would only worsen the exhaustion. No, what he needed right now was not relaxation or he might just pass out. The village needed him and he could not pass out now. His gaze went to Minato’s portrait on the wall as tears slid down his cheek at the corpses he found, of the most promising Hokage- no, Kage, he had ever seen since Shodaime-sama.

“It should have been me,” He muttered, trying to stop the trembling, as he thought of the sheer loss the village has suffered due to a single attack. An attack that cost them over half of their elite ninjas, their Kage, their Jinchuriki and even a quarter of the village, which was turned to rubble.

At Least with Minato alive, no village would have dared look into his eyes and tell him that they considered Konoha weak. Now though? Now they had a village that was in disarray, chaos reigned everywhere and the Police Force worked overtime on doing both, policing the civilians and catching any spies or traitors that tried to flee the village in such a trying period of time.

He had long since turned numb to the increasing declaration of casualties as he had to rescue increasingly severely injured shinobi which then turned to dead shinobis, from the rubble and from the forests, eventually leading to Shikaku of all people just putting his foot down and ordering him to go to the Hokage Tower.

He smiled bitterly as he wiped his tears. He must have been getting rusty if a brat who was not even born when he had been Hokage, was able to tell that he was just a step away from collapsing.

He had already recalled most non essential shinobi, called for Jiraiya, sent another missive to Tsunade, and shored up all their defenses. Realistically, there was not much he could do at the moment but plan.

Plan for the inevitability that was the other Villages realising that the Yellow Flash was dead. The only reason Orochimaru’s betrayal, and that brought a sad pang to his heart, was not considered significant to Konoha’s overall might was because of the existence of Minato. Minato was the reason why they could afford to have all three of the Sannnin, his students, just not be available to Konoha and still not matter in the overall grand scheme of things.

Shaking his head, he decided to focus on the here and now, instead of dwell on the past. Something told him that he would get plenty of opportunities for that.

He really hoped that Tsunade would come back, at least now, because while Konoha could bear the losses of its powerful shinobis, it could not bear the loss of morale. Having the granddaughter of the First Hokage back in the village would do wonders for morale and that was something that was sorely needed.

Buildings could be rebuilt, shinobis retrained, people healed but the Will of Fire? The Will of Fire must burn, brighter than ever before if Konoha has a chance at remaining the strongest Great Village.

Because he knew, deep within his heart, he knew that Konoha had no allies, only temporary ones. A flash of red hit him, almost physically, as he closed his eyes in regret, as the Uzumaki’s demise came to the forefront of his mind.

Sighing, he started getting his work done. After all, being in the streets and helping with jutsus was only a single, mostly small part of being Hokage. He would know that. With a twitch of his finger, he smiled as the passcodes for the important documents were kept the same as blank scrolls were retrieved from the table.

Beginning with the Hokage, he began writing a formal letter, informing the man of the happenings within the village though the man must have some inkling of an idea because of the total information lockdown that had been instituted in the village.

After all, every single important entity had spies in every single important entity, be it the Great Villages of the Capitals or even the Daimyo Halls. It was a known tactic where known spies are better than unknown spies, so as of yesterday, all known spies were either captured or executed, with only the Daimyo’s personal spies getting the imprisonment treatment because the people of Konoha did not have the patience for enemies right now, especially not within the village.

Writing his decrees as the Hokage to the CIvilian Council, the Council of Commerce, the Merchant Association, the Clan Head Council and more, his fingers became a blur as scrolls began piling up on his desk, his familiarity with the process allowing him to turn a day long process into something that only took a few hours.

When he was done, he was out of Hokage Seal marked Scrolls as well as space on his desk as his senses felt the chakra signature of a particular set of people making their way to him. He sighed and swept the scrolls off to the side of the room. He would have his secretary, if she was alive, send the scrolls later on. It was already late in the night and he wouldn't want to trouble her. 

After all, Himiko was half the reason his candidacy as the Hokage was not rescinded in the first few years because of the massive number of mistakes that she had to correct in his orders before they could be sent off. She was a godsend and he would be deeply sad if she left him at this critical juncture.

Last he heard, she was enjoying her well deserved retirement but if he knew anything about her, it was that the only reason she stayed behind a desk was because she believed that it was more important that going out to fight, especially with her limited chakra reserves, not that she would not go down githing if she believed it would make a difference.

The Hokage Tower, usually a hub hub of activity and swarming with protective ANBU was not empty, void of anyone save for the Hokage and a single guard from the Reserve Corps, an older Genin who would not be able to do to a Chunin but it would not be good for the optics if the Hokage himself was unguarded.

So, it was no surprise to him that Danzo and the rest of the former council easily made their way up to him as Danzo swung the door open and took the lead. He noted the absolute lack of injuries on Homura & Koharu and the lack of any new injuries on Danzo as all three of them sat in front of him, waiting for him to say something, just like the old days.

As if this was anything like the old days.

“Well?” Danzo was the first to speak as he continued to gaze out of the window at the dozens of ninjas that continued to leap off rooftops, completing tasks that were handed out, with even a single moment’s delay potentially affecting someone’s life. He couldn’t remember any time in the past decade where Konoha was so tense and on the verge of falling.

“Don’t keep us waiting, Hiruzen. We need to know what happened and how we will be moving forward.” Danzo pressed him and his lips thinned as he considered a response.

“Yondaime Hokage is dead. So is Kushina. They died while sealing away the Nine Tails. Furthermore, we will–”

“Into what?” His sharp gaze settled on Koharu as she silenced herself. Before he could continue to speak, Danzo interrupted once more. “No, we need to know. They sealed the Nine Tails into what, Hiruzen? We need to turn it into a weapon. I propose we–”

Danzo’s words were stuck in his mouth as his chakra pressed down on the man with all the intensity, cracking the ceiling and his table. Even exhausted as he was, Danzo and even the rest of them were no match for him as he silenced them with a gaze.

“We will not be speaking any more on that topic.”

“But Hiruzen, you must understand. For the sake of the village, we need–”

“If you wish to remain Elder Danzo any longer, you will stop presuming what the village needs. That is for me to decide. Now, as I said before, we will not be discussing this any more.”

Danzo’s mouth clicked shut as he hinted at the man’s dark past and the only reason why he was not yet behind bars. “Fine.” The man bit out.

He exhaled and leaned back into the chair, “I have sent Dragon to summon him.” That was the most important thing that he had to inform them.

Danzo’s eyes bugged out, looking at him disbelieving, “W-What? You can’t be serious. Why would you call him inside the village? Just point him at the enemy and be done with it. Why would you risk something–”

“I know what I am doing, Danzo. Dragon has already sent me a response. Kenta Akimichi will be back in the village soon.”

The silence in the room was palpable for a second before all three of them all but exploded on him.

This was going to be a long night, he thought to himself, waiting for Kenta to arrive.