CHAPTER 58: WAR

The repetitive task of the job was driving him crazy. Read a document then stamp the document. Either validating it or not. The amount of stupid things he had come across was astonishing. The last thing he saw was the permission to make a pool because it was hot outside when plenty of people still needed lodging. He had denied it of course.

“I’m curious as to why you allowed a brothel to be made but not a pool?” The Sandaime asked from his side.

“Simple, men and women returning from the borders need to be able to unwind. Hard working people in the village too. People in this line of work need to be active. Sex, money and power are what rule the world. It varies from person to person but if you have control of what a person believes the power lies in then you won’t get much trouble from them. They’ll be satisfied and leave you alone.”

“Until they’re not.”

“Until they’re not.” Riku nodded his ascent. “Then the use of one or the two others to put down the threat becomes necessary. Ugh! I’m so glad mom listened to me about organizing and filtering the paperwork before it lands on the desk but even then there is still no end to it.” he complained.

His mood skyrocketed when his beautiful assistant came in, carrying a new pile of documents to sign. He shouldn’t in truth but his eyes were stuck to the big watermelons resting on the top of the pile and the deep cleavage they showed. And the smile. Hinata’s amused smile was just so uplifting that he felt he could do this all day. After she put everything on his desk, she left the office swaying her hips a bit to Riku’s greatest dealight.

“How you got Hinata to be your assistant is beyond me.”

“She’s my girlfriend.”

“She’s the heiress of her clan. I doubt Hiashi would have allowed this. It’s a bit humiliating from someone of her status and from a clan like hers.”

“Hmm. Sex, money and power.” was the vague answer Riku gave Hiruzen.

The old man understood immediately which of the three Riku waved to the head of the Hyuga clan. Sex was out of the question and money was something that the clan had in abundance. It was a major clan after all. That left only power but what did it entailed exactly? Hiruzen wasn’t sure.

“You didn’t make concessions with your temporary position, did you?”

“No. The village comes first over my desire. And you know my stance on nepotism and abuse of authority. It’s the downfall of a militaristic village. What I gave him or promised to, is something that I could give as Riku, shinobi of the leaf.”

The old retired Hokage didn’t need to be a genius to understand what was that something. Riku was one of the best medic in the village and the best seal master. The former was not really in favor of the Hyuga clan but the latter…

“Things are going to change soon in the Hyuga clan, I presume?”

“Yes. The old ways must give in to the new if it wants to survive. Whether it’s done in blood or not is the question. The interested party wishes for the latter. Preferably. They will do what’s necessary for the best of the clan though. As I said once, tradition is just peer pressure from the old and the dead. If it’s dragging you down and compromising your safety then it’s not worth it to continue to respect it because we’re shinobis and surviving is the goal. Of course it shouldn’t go against the very principle that defines everything we believe in, morality wise. I’d rather die than betray the Will of Fire.”

“Hmm… A thin line to walk on without falling on either side.” Hiruzen commented.

“Yes.”

A brief silence came between the two as Riku stamped and stamped away, documents after reading them. In no time the pile that Hinata had brought in has been done with.

“What do you think about Jiraiya’s intel?” questioned the Sandaime.

“He will come. He has nothing else to do. It’s understandable really. We forbade him to kill Itachi by locking him up. We took his vengeance from him so he will get vengeance on us. Sasuke is one-track minded like that. We took what was his by… right. It’s a huge slight against him and the Uchiha. In his mind at least. It doesn’t really matter though. The village will deal with him like it did his clan.”

That prompted Hiruzen to turn his head to look at Riku so fast that it was a miracle it didn’t snap.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that. It’s obvious Konoha got rid of the Uchiha once you think about it a bit. 600 people murdered in a single night by a sole individual and absolutely no one saw or heard anything? No civilians, no passing shinobi, no Anbu? Puh-lease. Then there was Danzo’s arm and his stash in his headquarters. To get that many sharingans he must have known in advance. It’s impossible that the other clans didn’t find out or I seriously would be worried about how smart their leadership is.”

“...”

Neither Hiruzen or his teammates actually thought about that. Itachi was such a prodigy that everyone gobbled the tale right up that he killed his whole clan alone. That some wouldn’t believe it should have crossed their minds but didn’t.

“The fact they said nothing means they either were on it or approved after the act. If they approved the slaughter of a whole clan, a founding clan at that, which set a precedent, then it means the Uchiha were doing something that would have put the whole village in danger. Knowing how power hungry, set in their ways and how badly they overestimated their strength, I guess they were preparing for a coup?”

“...”

“Itachi must have been a spy for you and he chose the village over his clan. Leaving only Sasuke alive to rebuild it. What I don’t understand is why the whole clan? The olds, the young, the civilians… I doubt they were in on it. Why not just cut off the head of the snake?”

“...Danzo.” said Hiruzen, speaking for the first time on the subject. “And in a way, Homura and Koharu too.”

“You argued for peace talk and compromise. They argued for blood. Though, I’m surprised your teammates went along with the slaughter of the whole clan.”

“They didn’t. Just the heads of the coup like you suggested. The sharingan and the name Uchiha were still important for the village. That the whole clan was killed reflected badly on the village and me.”

“Ah! A power move from Danzo I see. He got rid of a clan he was brainwashed to hate, took their power and weakened your position as Hokage.”

“Brainwashed?”

“Mom gave me Uncle Moron’s journals. He didn’t hate the Uchiha, you were right about that but he had no love for them nor trust. With how extreme Danzo was, you can’t tell me he wasn’t brainwashed into hating them. Not something Uncle did on purpose I believe but that was the result. It’s more like Danzo brainwashed himself into it since he’s an extremist.”

“Hm… maybe.” Hiruzen pondered.

“Anyway. If Sasuke shows his face here, I’m killing him on the spot.”

“Will you now? Naruto won’t be happy about it.”

“Naruto can kiss my ass. It’s time he realized that Sasuke was never his friend. A teammate perhaps but not a friend. He seriously needs therapy with how he tries to connect with people like that. It’s disturbingly unhealthy. I understand trying to connect with a total stranger, but someone hostile that wants your life?”

“He’s trying in his own way to understand people to avoid fighting and make peace.”

Riku turned in his chair to look at Hiruzen with an eyebrow raised.

“I never said it was the right thing to do.”

“You never said it wasn’t either.” Riku shot back.

“I do believe in understanding being the best way to achieve peace. Just like your great grandfather.”

“He was an idiot. A good man, yes but an idiot. Too idealistic and blinded by his dreams. Understanding doesn’t lead to everlasting peace. It helps yes, but it’s not the magical solution to everything. Just because we understand each other doesn't mean we will compromise. Kumo wanted our bloodlines and to prove they were the best and we didn’t. We plainly understood each other and yet three wars happened. Understanding is useless if both parties don't want the same things. And there will always be some asshole that wants to rule above others or just wants to see the world burn. The more peace lasts, the more time those people have to prepare for war. It’s a cycle that we cannot stop anymore than the life and death cycle. We can delay it but in the end it happens.”

Hiruzen took a moment to contemplate what Riku had just said. From his long experience as the leader of Konoha he couldn’t deny it. Yet he couldn’t accept it either. The whole Will of Fire was based around making peace with your enemies.

“Are you implying something?”

“Hm?”

“You sounded like talking to make peace or maintain it is impossible or useless. The only other alternative is conquest. You crush your enemies and without any opposition you make peace. It sounds like Madara and Danzo.”

“Not at all. I was more of a mind that… we educate the young generation better. Children born in a time of peace don't understand the horror of war and take peace  for granted. I should know I was among such a generation. If they don’t know nor understand what was needed to achieve peace, they will become complacent and generation after generation it will come to a point where someone would start shit up again and they will not be prepared. A thing to do against that would be to have some war veterans teach the academy students. To show them that the peaceful life they’re enjoying now, comes from the sweat, blood, tears and lives of their predecessors and that it’s up to them to work hard in maintaining it so that one day their children would replace them and teach their own children. How many young shinobis were at loss when Suna and Oto attacked six years ago?”

‘Too many.’ thought Hiruzen. The veteran shinobis, be they from the war or not, did spectacularly well, the youngest however were not ready. Riku’s idea had merit and would be more effective than simple retelling of History from history books.

“Of course, sometimes extermination is necessary too.”

“Oh?” That caught Hiruzen’s attention.

“How many times do you have to defeat someone so they learn from their mistakes? When is the price too high for that to happen? Let’s take Iwa for an exemple. They participated in three out of three shinobi wars and started two as far as I know. They were ready to put down Suna for good and steal everything from their cold dead hands. Clearly they don’t want peace. Or to be more precise, peace with others. If the opportunity to curb stomp them is there, should we let them live to try again, costing thousands of lives or do we exterminate them for good, putting a final end to the problem avoiding further bloodshed down the line?”

“...You’re not the first person to tell me I made a mistake in seeking peace with Iwa at the end of the third war.”

“Mistake? I don’t see it that way. We were losing and the tables were turned thanks to Minato but he is only one man, with limited chakra reserves and a hiraishin that is difficult to counter but not impossible. You made the right choice in my opinion. You were more concerned about the well being of your people than your hatred against Iwa and made your call. It was wise of you to do so. That allowed us to have a better starting point in the rebuilding of the village and its population than we would have had we kept on fighting. Our standing amongst the big five would have fallen from 1st place to 3rd. Kumo and Kiri would have pressed on their attacks. Instead they took the opportunity to fall back. Especially Kumo who became stronger than ever and had Kiri not started a civil war they may have been even greater and become the 1st in power.”

“...That’s the first time someone said that I made the right decision regarding this.”

“Because no one had been Hokage before. It’s easy to say ‘just do this or do that’ or ‘you should have done this or you shouldn’t have done that.’ when you’re not the one shouldering the responsibilities and consequences of those choices.”

“You’re not Hokage either.”

Riku gave him a dirty look and Hiruzen didn’t bother to hide his amused smile. The acting Hokage gave him an answer he wasn’t expecting.

“Do you know the difference between a wise man and a fool?”

“Of course. A wise man learns from the past to not make the same mistakes. A fool doesn’t.”

“Not quite the definition I have in mind. To me, a fool learns from his mistakes, a wiseman learns from others' mistakes. And I’m no fool for the most part. I will be Hokage one day. How can I lead the village to a better future if I’m ignorant of the mistakes and successes of my predecessors? I didn’t just study the medical field and fuinjutsu all those years since I became mom’s apprentice, you know.”

Hiruzen loved hearing that. Plenty of young children claimed to want to be Hokage but very few actually worked towards it beyond simply training as a shinobi. Minato had been one of those very few that understood that wearing the hat and leading the village was not just about throwing powerful and cool jutsu around. It was about politics, planning, making hard decisions and enduring everything. The critics, the complaints, the burden of the choices made.

‘He’s really just like Minato in that regard. Oh, Danzo… Your foolish plan may have been what the village desperately needed.’

Hiruzen was about to speak when a red alarm, up against the right wall of the office, activated. It was a new system Kushina and Karin had made to warn the Hokage that someone unknown had infiltrated the village. The two Uzumaki had worked hard to remake and make better the village barrier from Mito’s notes and came up with small things like this among others. Riku immediately stood up and activated his Byakugou, channeling nature energy into his body and creating nature chakra. Now in sage mode he sensed his surroundings to detect the intruder or intruders. His eyes widened in realization and he disappeared in a green flash. Less than two seconds later a huge explosion was heard from all around the village.

Hiruzen called for Anbu and looked at the village through the window to see what had happened.

“I want a report yesterday!” he said and threw away his robe to reveal his battle gear. He may be retired but retired or not a shinobi was always ready for a fight.

He opened the window, went outside and went up the wall up to the top of the Hokage tower to have a clear view of what was happening. Despite the huge explosion the village was not damaged in any way. The huge column of smoke in the forest one mile away from it indicated that Riku teleported whatever it was there.

On Riku’s side of things he was dealing with a small invasion from every front. Since he killed Deidara before he could unleash his huge explosive jutsu from the top of a clay bird a few seconds ago, Riku was pretty sure that it was Akatsuki coming for a second round. The whole organization this time. Taking a deep breath he focused on his senses to try to discern the enemies among the 15 thousands people present around. He got one with enormous chakra reserves and believed it was Hoshigaki Kisame who was called the ‘Tailless-beast’ because of those reserves. Not finding others and with the little time he had, Riku flashed away to Kisame’s location. He was glad to have incorporated the Hiraishin fully into the barrier’s core. It allowed him to teleport anywhere inside the village’s barrier. That was how he had flashed right behind Deidara who was flying a hundred feet above Konoha.

When he reappeared, he was right behind Kisame who was swinging around his huge sword and using powerful water jutsu to kill as many people as he could. Riku slashed at the man’s head with a wind laced kunai but was dodged.

“Eh! Nice trick but not enough, Kid.” said the shark man with a grin on his face. “I’m glad I’m the one to find you, I’ve been dying to tear you apart after your stunt last time.”

“Did we meet before?” Riku replied, feigning remembering the man. “If we did, sorry but I don’t remember. Don’t take it personally though, I just don’t remember weaklings.”

That wiped the smile on Kisame’s face which was replaced by an angry scowl. With a snarl, the tall man charged forward to strike Riku down. The acting Hokage slashed away to reappear in front of the man but crouching down. Kisame’s instincts were good as he had demonstrated a few moments earlier but not good enough to know that Riku would reappear in front of him but not standing. As such the shark man completely missed his swings while Riku cut his legs fully. The akatsuki member fell face first in shock and was dead before hitting the ground, Riku cutting his body more, from the torso to the head, during the fall. To make sure the man stayed dead he made a rasengan in his hand and grind away his head completely. Quickly sealing away the body and the sword in his BoS, Riku went back to sense his surroundings again. He noticed Naruto fighting someone alone and ignored it. With Itachi and Kisame dead, there was little chance anyone would be able to counter him. He focused on the second fight he was sensing and it was not going well. Plenty of shinobis needed healing, some were already dead.

“Shit!”

Teleporting away, he arrived to see what he had sensed. Hiruzen was on his knees, vomiting a huge amount of blood. That much blood meant that he had a serious hemorrhage in either his lungs or his stomach yet he had no wound on his body from what Riku could see. He immediately got to the old man and hit him with his Iryoken to heal him but to his surprise it did nothing.

“Ah! Another cocksucker to offer to Jashin! What a lovely day!”

The akatsuki member that spoke was weird. His skin was all black. Not brown or dark like people from the Land of Lighting but as black as Shizune’s hair. He sported white marking on his face making Riku think of a skull but what was most peculiar about him was the three-bladed scythe stuck into his chest, perforing his stomach, spleen and lung.

“The… circle…” Hiruzen gargled before falling to the ground on his way to take his last breath.

Riku understood immediately that the old man was referring to the ritualistic circle drawn onto the ground and inside which the immortal man was. Flashing right next to him, Riku grabbed him and teleported away to get him out of there. He reappeared not far away and put a chakra and paralyzing tag on him. Quickly he went to Hiruzen and used his Iryoken again. This time it worked. The internal wound began to heal leaving only to deal with the blood that had flooded parts of the body it shouldn’t have.

“I’m sealing you away, I don’t have time to operate now.”

A barely conscious Hiruzen nodded and Riku put him in a sealing crate he unsealed from his BoS before sealing it back in a storage seal. Looking at the shinobis present he gave orders.

“Go to the hospital if you’re wounded and can walk there. If you’re fine, take care of the people in need of help then of our dead. Lock that shitstain up.”

He teleported away to the next location where a fight took place. The battlefield was even more gruesome than the previous one. Kushina and Jiraiya were fighting some kind of weird beasts made of steel strings, attached to a string man. It seems they were able to handle things with the help of other shinobis and Riku began to go from wounded to wounded hitting them with his Iryoken if it was needed and requesting immediate evacuation if more needed to be done.

“Senju-sama!” a Hyuga called out to him. “An army is approaching! It’s Iwa and Kumo!”

“From where?!”

“East and West! They’re a lot sir!”

“Damn it!” ‘How the hell did they pass the border without being noticed? With Konoha being rebuilt inside a crater it would be a field day for those earth specialists to deal with us.’ he thought and quickly made a plan. “Do NOT let them enter the barrier! Meet them outside. Fight defensively and be ready to go back under the barrier at any moment. I’ll teleport everyone under it back to the underground bunker, if you’re outside you’ll stay there so be careful! As for me, I need to deal with Akatsuki first. The teleportation won’t discriminate between our people and our foes. It would be a disaster if Akatsuki found themselves inside. I want Nara Shikaku to be in charge of the Eastside. Aburame Shibi on the west side. Tell them that I’d be there soon! Now get away from here, all of you!”

“““Understood!””” answered the surrounding shinobi and shushined away on the spot, leaving only Kushina and Jiraiya fighting the string thing.

He needed to be quick. He created a rasengan to which he put his wind nature into it. Bit by bit he compressed the chakra into a marble no bigger than a fingernail.

“MOVE!”

He didn’t have to tell his allies twice. They jumped backward a dozen feet then jumped again and again, barely avoiding the hurricane of chakra and wind that engulfed the enemy and created a twenty meter radius hole into the ground, having shredded everything when the rasengan exploded. Riku knew their opponents were dead when he didn’t sense their chakra anymore.

“Holy crap! That’s a perfect rasengan?!” Jiraiya punctuated his words with a loud and long whistle.

“We don’t have time to gawk. Kushina-san, Kumo is attacking the East. Be there to restrain the eight tails if it shows up. Jiraiya, go to the west.”

“What about you?” the toad sage asked.

“Naruto seems to be struggling with defeating his opponent, so I’ll help him. After that everyone wounded or civilians must retreat under the barrier and be teleported to the bunker for safety. Everyone outside will stay there and fight. So be careful of a flare in the sky. I’ll teleport everyone five seconds afterwards.”

With that said, he left them alone and teleported to Naruto’s location and what he saw baffled him. He knew Naruto was a sentimental idiot but he never imagined that he was in fact completely retarded. He was fighting Sasuke who, from what he was seeing and from his Uncle Tobirama’s notes, had the evolved version of the Sharingan. The mangekyou sharingan, as it was called, was a more powerful version of the Sharingan that unlocked when someone with a fully matured sharingan experienced a very traumatic event. The notes said seeing the death of a loved one would normally do the trick. He knew Itachi had it but he wondered how Sasuke did. The last Uchiha loved only himself and his vengeance so he may have found an alternate way to get it. There was also the possibility of ‘Madara’ giving Itachi’s eyes to Sasuke. Sasuke was wearing an Akatsuki cloak so it wasn’t far fetched.

From what Riku remembered, the mangekyou gave access to immense power at the price of the user's gradual loss of sight until they became completely blind. The only way to counter that was to implant a close blood relative’s own mangekyou sharingan to make it ‘eternal’ and which gave even more power. The only one his Uncle Tobirama knew to have gotten those eyes was the real Uchiha Madara himself by allegedly stealing them from his younger brother. To Riku, it was just a bullshit kekkei genkai and the epitome of what he believed the Uchiha were all about. Stealing jutsus to get power. For someone who had worked hard almost every day since he unlocked his chakra, the existence of eyes like the sharingan was infuriating.

It wasn’t as infuriating as Naruto trying to reason with Sasuke by going easy on him while their third Teammate, Sakura, was on the sideline watching the two duke it out like children at the playground. With not one but two armies closing in, Riku had no time for this bullshit and flashed right in front of Sasuke who saw in very slow motion his death coming in the form of a fist without being able to do anything about it. His head exploded in a bloody red mist and the rest of the body fell to the ground. A second of silence was all it took for Sakura and Naruto to react.

“YOU KILLED HIM!” shouted the pinkette in a screeching wail that nearly burst Riku’s eardrums.

“I killed a trait-”

The chakra laced punch that hit Riku’s face sent him flying twenty feet back. It hurt and burned but Riku couldn’t focus on the pain as Naruto, clad in a chakra cloak with three tails was upon him on the spot. He barely dodged the fist by jumping to the side. Shurikens hit his side and he teleported away just before Naruto could land a roundhouse kick on him. He reapered behind Sakura and hit her neck, knocking her out.

‘I’ll deal with the bitch-’

“SAKURA!! I’ll KILL YOU!”

Naruto charged Riku again, losing the reason he had left bit by bit by the second.

“ENOUGH! IWA AND KUMO ARE-”

Trying to talk reason back into Naruto had been a mistake. A chakra claw pierced his stomach and began to burn his inside. Thankfully he was in sage mode and the damage was healed just as fast as it was made. With a Kunai laced with chakra he cut off Naruto’s arm that was impaling him and kicked him away. He removed the appendage and began to heal the wound at very fast speed while keeping an eye on Naruto who sprung two more tails.

“Fuck me.”

The chakra cost to heal himself had been rather heavy, he hadn’t used much of it until now. He still needed to fight two armies however and now a furious jinchuriki with five tails.The idea to touch Naruto and teleport him right at the barrier’s edge and find a way to unleash him on their enemies crossed Riku’s mind but it was way too complicated and dangerous for his own comrades. Naruto may attack them. With no other choice he focused on his chakra and used a jutsu he had not yet tested in battle.

‘Wood Release : Laughing Buddha Jutsu’

Two gigantic hands made of wood sprouted from the ground and restrained Nartuo who roared in anger not liking this at all. Quickly Riku brought out one of the seals Karin had given him to suppress her if she lost control of the Kubi’s chakra and rushed forward to put it on Naruto’s head. The effect was immediate and the Biju’s chakra disappeared, revealing an unconscious Naruto behind. Not wanting to let both his half brother and Sakura scott free for what they did, especially during this dire times, he sealed them both inside his BoS.

“Here goes my plan of Naruto fighting on one side while I fight the other. Shit.”

With no time to waste, he created a shadow clone and sent him to the West, while he flashed to the East. Since the village was still standing, Riku believed that the eight tails may not have been among the troops or weren't out fighting yet. Regardless, the East front was a priority compared to Iwa who had no jinchuriki on their side as far as he knew.

When arrived on location he immediately sent the flare and counted up to five. All leaf-nin retreated if they could but not all of them went through the barrier, choosing to stand and fight because they weren’t too injured to do so. At five, he used the jutsu to activate the Hiraishin matrix on the core of the barrier and everyone inside the village was sent to the underground bunker in a green flash. While the teleportation itself was handled by the matrix, chakra wise, its activation used Riku’s own chakra. With the distance it took a lot and with having made a shadow clone moments before his chakra reserves were nearly in the red. Things would be simpler if he could lure the enemies inside the barrier but the village was two-thirds rebuilt and he didn’t want to have people rebuild it again so soon. It wouldn’t have been good for morale. His clone would be fine by eating chakra pills in bulks but he wouldn’t and he wasn’t sure what chakra he had left would be enough. With no other option he began to take his wooden shurifuin to use the Shuriken Shadow Clone Jutsu, when Karin landed next to him.

“Bite me!” she said, knowing what he was about to do and seeing how low his chakra was.

Riku looked at her with thankfulness and apologies in his eyes as he bit her finger instead of her arm. If he had to leave a bite mark on her body it would be as small as possible.

He had stopped using sage mode because of the imbalance such an infusion of chakra would have made with nature energy involved. He felt her chakra go through him and restored his own reserves to the maximum. He loved the feeling and the taste of it. It reminded him of the sea.

“Thank you. Be ready to pick me up after the fight?”

“Of course.” she replied with a smile then left.

Riku threw his shurifuins and multiplied them as much as he could. Thousands of them landed on the battlefield. Thankfully they were made of wood and the tips were rounded. No allies were hurt when they were hit by them. Kumo ninjas however were confused and understood what was going on when the back of their lines began to explode. With the chakra Riku had left, he had made as many shadow clones as possible and began flashing away from the back, cutting Kumo’s retreat and killing every shinobi he flashed near with a simple touch of his hands. With no way to flee from where they came. Kumo tried to flee forward obstructing their own allies that were not yet aware of what was happening at their back and were busy trying to pierce the sturdy and close line of defense the two thousands leaf-nins had made. Despite being outnumbered two to one they held on as best they could. Kushina using shadow clones and her chains to make barriers had been a godsend and made things easier.

When Riku stopped in front of his comrades, he was alone. All his shadow clones had used all their chakra. While he still had some chakra left the physical and mental exhaustion took a toll on him and he was ready to pass out. When his clones on the West side of the village dispelled too, it was too much and he fell unconscious.