The moon hung in the sky, casting silvery light over the whispering trees. A cool breeze rustled the leaves, carrying the distant sound of crickets through the window of a huge building in Konoha located directly at the base of a mountain, that has faces carved on it, overlooking the village.
The room was oval and cluttered with stacks of papers haphazardly piled. Hiding behind them was a wooden desk positioned in front of a large window that offered a view of a an expansive portion of Konoha.
The air carried the distinct smell of old paper and lingering cigarette smoke. The spacious room felt a bit cramped due to the towering stacks of paper that surrounded the desk.
A man wearing red robes with a white overcoat and a hat emblazoned with the word 'Fire' stood by the window, seemingly lost in thought. He smoked a red pipe. He was Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third and current Hokage of Konoha.
At this time, a ninja wearing a porcelain mask flickered into the center of the room and knelt on one knee. He then slowly raised his head and looked toward the man standing by the window.
"Hokage-sama, I brought the medical report of Uzumaki Hotaru."
Hiruzen turned around and slowly walked toward the desk. His skin was wrinkled and marked with age spots; his face was gaunt, and his hair was grey. He had a small pee-pee.
(A/N: 'small' correction: goatee.)
Upon reaching the desk, he sat down and looked at the ninja in the center of the room. He then beckoned the masked ninja to come closer. The ninja moved forward and offered a paper to him.
As he examined the paper, he inquired, "Did Uchiha Mikoto attempt to conceal the fact that the boy has awakened his coma?"
"No, Hokage-sama," the ANBU ninja replied at once. "According to the medical-nin who checked upon Uzumaki Hotaru, she talked only about the boy's health and nothing else."
Hiruzen nodded. 'She seems to believe the village wasn't involved in the boy's accident. Therefore, Kushina, her best friend, would likely feel the same way. If they'd suspected the village, dealing with the situation would've been troublesome, especially since we had nothing to do with it.'
He released a breath he didn't realize he was holding, his chest rising and falling with a newfound lightness.
When he got to the part about Hotaru's deteriorating vision and low blood levels for a child his age, he frowned. The medical-nin noted that both of these problems were likely a result of his long time in a coma and would return to normal with time.
'It is true that they would be back to normal, but the issue lies with the fact that blood levels have declined at all.' Hiruzen thought, a frown creasing his forehead. 'They shouldn't have declined to begin with.'
It makes sense that the medical-nin doesn't find this suspicious; after all, there aren't many 'pure' Uzumaki clan members left at all. In fact, Konoha only had one: Kushina. No, make that two, if he includes Hotaru, who was born to Kushina. Thus, the medical-nin isn't wrong to think that Hotaru's body is just like that of any other child. Hotaru is probably the first Uzumaki he has encountered.
Even those with a distant connection to the Uzumaki clan lineage possessed stronger life-forces and stamina compared to others. This enables them to better survive and recover from injuries and exhaustion in shorter periods of time than others. Not to mention someone like Hotaru, who should be able to recover any lost blood essence very quickly. To think it has declined to this extent, especially considering his abilities.
People at his level understand the value of the blood of a 'pure' Uzumaki clan member. While some clan members possess unique forms of chakra that grant them unique abilities, even the chakra and blood of ordinary clan members have mild healing properties.
As for Hotaru's current state, only one person came to mind who could do this without alerting the hospital security: his childhood friend, Shimura Danzo.
'While I have no doubt that Danzo would take Uzumaki Hotaru's blood essence if he needed it, it raises another question: what could he possibly need it for?' he thought, unease coiling in his stomach.
'But Danzo had no need for it. His right hand and eye were gone, and no amount of healing—even from Uzumaki clan members with unique abilities—could regrow them, let alone the blood essence of a normal clan member.' He paused, trying to recall if Danzo had shown any signs of injury recently.
'No, I would have noticed if Danzo had any injuries. He wouldn't take such a big risk for any of his Root ninja,' Hiruzen thought and shook his head.
'In any case, Uzumaki Hotaru has woken up, and neither Kushina nor Mikoto have ever been suspicious of the village,' he let out a sigh of relief. 'As for this new issue, it would be best if it never sees the light of day. I'll look into this once Hotaru is out of the hospital and things have calmed down; I need to be discreet and rely solely on my most trustworthy subordinates.'
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and reached for the red pipe on his desk.
'All these years, Mikoto has kept minimal contact with her best friend, Kushina, out of guilt for letting Hotaru be injured. Thanks to that, Kushina's contact with Uchiha clan members has also been cut off.' Hiruzen thought, taking a slow puff from his red pipe.
It was astonishing how things had progressed between these two best friends without any intervention from the village. He recalled Danzo's flabbergasted reaction to this unexpected change, remarking, "If only more people were like Uchiha Mikoto, I wouldn't have to do half the things I usually do."
'Kushina and her children staying away from the Uchiha clan was a good thing for the village,' he thought. 'The elders, and even I, were happy with the status quo.'
'I hope this status quo won't change with Hotaru waking up,' he mused, then let out a hollow laugh. 'Who am I kidding? There's no way things will stay the same.'
Then his expression turned sour as he sat upright and placed the red pipe back on his desk.
It was obvious how things would play out from here—even an idiot could see it, not to mention Hiruzen, the old fox. That just put him in an even worse mood.
Uchiha Mikoto and Kushina would undoubtedly return to how they once were; Mikoto would no longer feel guilty now that Hotaru had woken up. They had always been best friends, after all. Moreover, Hotaru was her godson, and she had visited him almost every day while he was in the hospital.
When Kushina and Minato named Mikoto as Hotaru's godmother, none of the village higher-ups were pleased, including him. Danzo nearly died from anger.
'I have no way to prevent this from happening,' he sighed. 'One thing I could try would be to order Kushina to stay away from the Uchiha clan due to the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. But even I am unsure whether she would obey me. After all, she is the Red Hot-blooded Habanero.'
Hiruzen shook his head. 'And regardless of whether she obeys my order, she would definitely be estranged from the village. Konoha can't have that. We need Kushina to be happy with the village, or at least not angry or distrustful.'
Minato's death was a tremendous loss for the village. As the beloved Fourth Hokage, he was not only a skilled ninja but also a leader whom the people looked up to and admired. Moreover, many other ninja perished in the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attack a year ago. At such a time, the village can't risk estranging itself from Kushina.
As the Fourth Hokage's wife and a formidable kunoichi, she would undoubtedly have the support of both villagers and civilian ninja. Alienating her could significantly damage the village's reputation and destabilize its political situation.
Not to mention his two foolish students, Tsunade and Jiraiya. He had known them for most of their lives, but even he didn't know who they would side with. And then there is the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. And then there is the Senju clan. And then there is the Uchiha clan. It seems almost every important aspect of the village is connected to Kushina in some way.
He took a very deep breath and exhaled slowly. There are so many reasons they have to keep Kushina happy—at least not trouble her too much. Dealing with anything related to her is like walking through a forest of explosive tags. He felt exhausted just thinking about all the things he, the Hokage, had to consider before doing anything involving her. Even when dealing with his fellow Kage, he never had so many considerations.
Ever since he reassumed the role of Hokage after Minato's death, he has found a newfound empathy for the plight of Amegakure, which is surrounded by three major ninja villages. They must have felt suffocated ever since their establisment just as he felt whenever he had to deal with Kushina.
Then his thoughts once again turned to Hotaru, the cause of his current headache and the reason he had been racking his brain for the past hour.
'If only the boy had stayed in his coma for a few more years, this problem wouldn't exist,' he thought, raising his head to look at the ceiling. 'And as a bonus, the village wouldn't have to worry about the possibility of him becoming a strong ninja if he woke up a few years down the line. It's almost inevitable that he would form a strong connection with the Uchiha clan because of Mikoto. If he becomes even half the ninja his father was, the Uchiha clan would gain a powerful and steadfast ally outside their clan.'
'However, the chances of him becoming a ninja at the level of his students or Minato were very slim. Ninja of that calibre graduate from the academy by this age and are close to becoming chūnin.' He let out a sigh of relief and once again looked down at the report.
Hiruzen spent a few more moments examining the report before looking at the ANBU in front of him. "Does the boy recall the details of the incident?" he asked.
The ANBU ninja recounted everything Takomoto Kenichi had told him about Hotaru's current state, about how he had no memories of not just the kidnapping incident but everything else as well.
The only person who had come into contact with the kidnappers was Hotaru, and he had no recollection of the incident. Furthermore, he had been in a coma when his blood essence was most likely extracted, so he wouldn't know about that either. Although there was no proof that this had happened to the boy, Hiruzen believed it was likely the case.
Hiruzen let out a sigh of relief and nodded. 'Now, even if Danzo was involved in something, no one would ever know about it.'
After all, even if Danzo acted without the knowledge of the village higher-ups, it would still implicate the village. By then, it wouldn't matter whether the village had been of these actions or had given the order to carry them out.
Hiruzen also made a mental note to remind Danzo to stay away from Kushina's family. After all, there had been one too many strange occurrences surrounding Hotaru's situation.
After discussing a few other matters, Hiruzen dismissed the ANBU ninja with a wave of his hand. Once the door closed behind the ANBU ninja, with a weary sigh Hiruzen leaned back in his chair and reached beneath his desk and extracted a crystal ball.
The light in his eyes grew misty. "Today has been particularly tiresome. I will need to do some 'research'," he murmured softly, a hint of a mischievous smile forming on his lips, like that of an innocent child, as he imagined the solace that awaited him. "This isn't merely 'research'; it's an opportunity to delve into the depths of forbidden knowledge and alleviate the stress that has built up in my mind."
As he was about to use the Telescope Jutsu, he once again thought of his dear disciple, Jiraiya. He had often considered passing this onto Jiraiya, so that this divine jutsu wouldn't be lost and passed onto the future generations.
Although he knew Jiraiya would love this jutsu, he was uncertain about its potential impact on their relationship: would this act bring them closer as master and disciple, fostering a sense of kinship? Or would it cause Jiraiya to look down on him, shattering the image that his disciples had of him?
He caught himself thinking about unnecessary things just as he was about to perform an important task, and he shook his head to dispel these distracting thoughts.
Hiruzen performed the jutsu, and as an image slowly formed on the crystal ball, his pupils gradually dilated, and his hands went beneath the desk, the tips of his fingers wriggling.
The mischievous smile on the Third Hokage's face gradually turned into something that would make everyone in Konoha wish they had learned the Flying Thunder God technique.
The ANBU ninja, having just stepped out, paused, as if remembering something. 'Hmm... I wanted to take the day off tomorrow, but it just slipped my mind when I was reporting to Hokage-sama earlier. Oh well, I'll just tell one of my teammates that I won't be in for work tomorrow. Hokage-sama looked like he was about to do something important in his office – I don't want to interrupt him.'
Thinking so, he swiftly walked away from the Hokage's office, the room where the village's most important decisions were made—and where the Hokage now sat with his crystal ball.
The ANBU ninja—who had unwittingly escaped the fate of being scarred for life—stepped out of the Hokage office, and after descending a flight of stairs, he exited the building. He would forever remain unaware of how fortunate he was.
He walked down the streets, weaving through alleys and turned corners seemingly randomly, careful not to draw attention. Eventually, he disappeared after turning a corner onto a slightly busier street.