Ryo The Illusionist Naruto Fanfiction - Chapter 21 The King And His General Parte 2

“How is the situation?”, asked Hokage to Ryo inside the empty office with seals, not even his hidden ANBU guards being there

“I personally interrogated the spy, turned out Iwa and Kumo are joining hands…but-”

“Speak”

“They have the information of Naruto, every single thing they need to know about”

“Sigh, what do you think of the situation”

“Lord Hokage, do you really want my opinion or something to sugarcoat”

“Say it”

“There is soon going to be a civil war, we are entering war with Kumo for a single shinobi, the war that will take the lives of countless more shinobis I am afraid before we can do anything someone will take action on his/her own not to mention with Kumo and Iwa joining hands, we have to join hands with Suna as well which compromise of 4 out of 5 elemental nations”

“The responsibilities we can’t take it”, completed the sentence lord Hokage

“Lord Hokage…I shall stand by your side till the very end even if everyone is against you…but like I said are you willing to trust me to stand by my side”

“What do you mean to say?”

“Take charge…we don’t need council…we need you”

Hokage chuckled at that, “And how do you propose we do that?”

“I-we…Sigh, I don’t know”

“You are our general…not Politician…You will have your army to listen to your orders in 3 days”

“How”

“As I said before, being Hokage means you use your resources effectively but-”

“…”

“If things go south the consequences are not something we can handle”

“I am loyal to you, as long as you are loyal to me”

“It’s amazing how things change so quickly, some time ago you I was loyal to you but you wanted me to be suspicious of you and now you are being loyal to me while I am telling you not to trust me so much”, smiled Hokage

“What can I say Old man…things change”, Ryo chuckled at that

“Sigh…very well…Here are your Hokage’s orders”

“YES, LORD HOKAGE”, kneeled down Ryo

——-

Ryo gave his commands to Several ANBU teams

The three Hyuuga ANBU began spying on the Uchiha. Two Uchiha spied on the Hyuuga. The Inuzuka ANBU members were tasked with the Ino-Shika-Cho clans. The Nara clan spied on the Inuzuka. Hatake Kakashi started the surveillance on the civilian council members.

No one knew why they were tasked away from intensified border patrol after all they are preparing for a great war. Internal spying was usually a matter for ROOT, wasn’t it, or the Counter-Espionage group.

A few people tried to get the Hokage or even Ryo to explain what was going on. Orders were orders; the Hokage sat resolutely and said nothing.

Indeed, most of the ANBU didn’t question the orders of their General. The Hyuuga were naturally suspicious of the Uchiha; the Uchiha loathed the Hyuuga.

Reports flowed into the hands of Hokage. The information he wanted to know was so strange. Were the Uchiha talking with people outside of their compound more often? Did the Yamanaka clan ninjas talk with a lot of civilians?

It was a full 2 days later that notices went out to the clan heads and the elder counselors. There was a meeting in less than two hours.

They were proven correct when an unspeakably angry Sarutobi Hiruzen stormed into the room. Normally a genial sort, an angry Hokage had the council nervous. The news was going to be terriblehad Iwa joined the war?

It wasn’t every day that one of the most powerful shinobi in the Fire Country seemed like a raging volcano. Disquieting thoughts bubbled up in the minds of everyone present.

“Sit,” he said at barely a whisper, still everyone fell into their seats.

A rather dour-looking Toad Sannin, Jiraiya, followed the Hokage into the room. Then, ominously, the doors were shut and sealed from the outside. This was a rare sort of security precaution.

“How many of you in this room like living in a Hidden Village?” the Hokage asked.

The assembled elders and clan heads of the village were surprised at the question. A lot of shrugging and confusion followed. This wasn’t the way Sarutobi usually spoke. He was direct and to the point.

“Raise your hands if you like living in Konoha.” The barked command shocked the listeners.

Everyone raised a hand. This was embarrassing to them, like being back in the Ninja Academy.

“Raise your hand,” the angry Hokage said, “if you love that we’re nestled into a vast forest. A forest our Shodai Hokage endowed to ushis greatest and most incredible work, something that could never be replicated, not with all the Earth and Water users in Fire Country.”

The counselors and clan heads did nothing. That just made the Hokage angrier.

“If you like living in a forest, raise your hand.”

Again, all the hands went up.

“And who here had donated their time to helping those injured in the disaster? To making life a bit better for your neighbor, for the man who sells you daikon, or the woman who bakes your bread. All of you, right?”

Some hands went up without a thought. The more snobbish clan leaders reluctantly raised theirs, as if they had difficulties remembering ever helping anyone.

“I can assure everyone here wants their children, their heirs, to grow up among the leaves, right?”

This was an easy one. All the hands rose up as one.

“Yes. Many of you have just had children. Some are the new clan heirs. Some will, unfortunately, have to replace clan heirs who died during those horrible events when the hospital was damaged and part of a village wall caved in.”

“Yes, it’s a fine thing to live in a village like this one. A fine thing. Three Hokages to date have died to keep this place alive; I checked the rolls and another eighteen hundred jounin-ranked ninja have died in our decades of skirmishes, intrigues, and wars. A beautiful forest we have grown from blood, sweat, and ground bone. A beautiful place to raise children.”

The clan heads, in particular, had no idea if Sarutobi had lost his mind. The words coming out of his mouth, this anger, what had happened? what was it?

Sarutobi stopped for a moment, looked at Jiraiya, and took a deep breath. “Fine. Everyone in here is loyal to the Leaf. So you attest. Now tell me if you’d all like to have Stone ninjas attack us in a week. Anyone?”

The elders looked confused. What the Hokage said wasn’t a declaration of war, was it?

“No one wants that, Hokage-sama,” said the acting head of the Aburame clan.

“No one says they want that,” Jiraiya said, his tone even angrier than the Hokage. “But that’s what you clout-headed fools caused.”

“What,” the Uchiha Clan head shouted. A number of other people jumped to their feet to defend their patriotism.

“Sit,” the Hokage said, barely constraining his rage. “All of you return to your seats. We have much to discuss.”

Sarutobi was usually so mild-mannered that it was odd to see him stand and begin pacing the way a caged tiger mightand the council knew that this aged man was more deadly than any tiger.

“Because of the devastation from the Kyuubi’s attack, we are at our weakest right now, Not to mention nearly 5 days ago we sent a letter to Kumo declaring the war,” the Third Hokage said, his weariness only exceeded with the vigor of his anger.

“You all know this. It’s vital we keep this truth secret. Right? We must repair ourselves as fast as possible giving our enemies as small an opportunity as possibleto learn of our distress.”

The assembled elders all agreed. Who knew what Stone or Cloud might do if they had accurate information as to what had happened. Even their ally Hidden Sand might get some fool-headed ideas given the chance. The main wall hadn’t been completely repaired yet and Konoha’s surviving ninja forces were mostly injured or despondent in grief at the present moment.

Battle-hardened ninja knew what it was like to fight in battle. But to fight the unstoppable, the juggernaut of a bijuuthat was something else entirely.

Some of the ninja on the battlefield might never be right in the head again.

“Secrecy. We all know the importance. It’s common sense. It’s been discussed in this very chamber two times since the attack. So how is it that one or more traitors sit on this council, traitors who would draw the Stone army to us?”

That prompted more outcry, of course. The look on the Hokage’s face was enough to put down this eruption of self-preservation.

“You, all of you in this room save the two of the minor clans now present, were told of this village’s S-class secret. I even formed a special law to protect this informationto keep Konoha and also the young sacrifice safe.”

Danzo, along with Homura, finally understood what this was about. The Head of ROOT began trying to figure out how he was going to survive this. Sarutobi would assign a slap on the wrist, right? Perhaps a loss of political power or forced retirement. But a retired ninja can maintain unofficial power for a very long time. Danzo’s mind churned through his options.

“Less than a week later, what happened? Defiance; passing of the secret through the clans; even civilians discussing military secrets on the street corner. For a normal secret, I would be angry but dismiss it as a bit of venting, dangerous but potentially necessary. But not for this secret. Now you shall know why I am so angry, so furious: a team of chuunin out patrolling seven days ago discovered something that chilled my blood.”

The angry face of Sarutobi became fixed.

“A spy, a spy from Stone, rushing back to Earth Country as quickly as he could.”

“Our General followed the spy…The spy was taken down easily and sent to interrogation. Do you want to know what this spy had learned just from walking our streets? He knew the classified details of what had happened to Kyuubi, even the name and the features of the jinchuuriki”

“Do you wish to know what’s going to happen next, Kumo is going to attack us head on…taking the chance Iwa is going to attack from another side, Stone could be mobilized and be here approximately within a weekand they would have known exactly which child to secure. They’d have killed the poor child and Kyuubi’s chakra would have been free to reform a demonic body. All of us would have died.”

“If it weren’t for our general who caught the Iwa spy…we would have lost the war because of our own people”

“This is not a gossipy shougi parlorthis is a military village. Secrets, even one you hate, can kill us if known to a wide audience.”

“As of now, I am the sole leader of the village. All of the special dispensations for clans are voidas several clans have brought us to war and should feel the pain of what they didand I will appoint special advisors to deal with trade, reconstruction, relations with the Daimyo, and other matters. We’re done.”

——-

“With you being like this, I wonder how did we lose Konoha into the hands of council and clan heads in the first place”

“You don’t understand…Managing such a large village is not that simple…I just hope things stay under my absolute control till the end of the war…enough of that though I did my job as a Hokage now do your job as the General of Konoha”

“I will”, with that Ryo put on his hood as moved out of the Hokage’s office

——-

Ryo goes to Uchiha compound to ask Mikoto to take care of Naruto for sometime

“I can’t; the Uchiha council won’t like jinchiruki being inside Uchiha clan compound running around”

“Then come to my house”

“Ryo…they will gossip…I can’t go to a stranger house for months… what would I tell them?”

“Mikoto…I know it’s tough but-If you love me, please take care of Naruto…Iwa is going to attack the village, I need to be on the border…Naruto is going to get assassination attempts soon enough…I can’t ask anyone other than you…Please?”

“Ryo…You know that-”

“Do you love me?

“Yes”

“Then please look after Naruto”

——-

Uchiha Fugaku was in an irritable mood when the messenger came. The unfortunate events surrounding the death of the ambassador from Kumogakure were already being laid at the feet of the Uchiha.

Ignorant civilians knew the rivalry between the two great djutsu clans and that was enough to spark the rumors. The current thought was that the Military Police had not sufficiently patrolled the Hyga grounds.

‘As if we would be allowed to enter their compound in the first place!’

The Military Police were in place to police the village, all of the village to include shinobi. Officially they had the authority to arrest anyone saves the ANBU, since they reported directly to the Hokage. However, in reality, they were not allowed on the premise of any of the clan compounds unless they were there to make an official arrest. The hue and cry the other, lesser clans, would make if the Uchiha were permitted on their grounds would never be lived down.

But no one cared for the truth. It was bad enough civilians spread the rumor but even shinobi gave voice to it. The Uchiha were responsible for keeping order in the village and that meant taking down drunk and disorderly shinobi on more than a few occasions. The high-stress life of a shinobi led many to vices or odd obsessions. When the Uchiha loyally did their duty and kept the village safe they were viewed as overbearing thugs drunk on power.

The fundamental unfairness of it had incensed his clan. Fugaku was not so blind to see that some of his Military Police acted out their frustrations when doing their duty. His clan was proud and they were being spat on the village they had helped found! Whispers among the elders of the clan who most remembered the glory days of the Uchiha were gathering strength and it was becoming more and more difficult to gainsay them. This latest insult was just another nail in the coffin of their loyalty to the village.

And then the ANBU messenger came. The Uchiha clan head unconsciously activated his Sharingan. Was the Hokage really going to place the blame on his clan for what happened? He would be damned if he let that old man chastise the Military Police for this incident

The ANBU, however, didn’t have the expected summons to the Hokage tower. To his shock, the message was that Sarutobi Hiruzen was coming to the Uchiha district! It was rare for a Hokage to visit another clan compound. As the highest ranking individual in the village, he was entitled to having people visit him, not the other way around. For him to come here was a sign of respect and trust.

“We are of course honored to have the Lord Hokage underneath our roof.”

The ANBU operative inclined his head and replied. “He will arrive in the hour.”

Jolted out of his anger he pondered as to why he would be receiving a visit from Sarutobi. With his jaded eyes, he assumed he wanted something from him. Nonetheless, it was gratifying to have the Hokage under his roof. One did not go to a subordinates home to chastise them and it would quell the rumors that they had somehow failed in protecting the village due to the attack on the Hyga clan.

“Mikoto prepare some tea for the Hokage. I do not know if he will wish to speak in private; ensure that Itachi and Sasuke are formally attired.”

His wife instantly processed what this kind of visit meant. A small smile appeared on her face she found her solution to look after Naruto without inciting the rumors as she hurried to locate their two sons.

——-

The Raikage growled at the missive in front of him. The Hokage was playing games and he didn’t like it.

He threw the scroll on the table. His advisors looked at it and began discussing the request. Naturally, it would be refused. They wanted Hiashi dead and his Byakugan, the important part was the Byakugan. It wasn’t as good as having the girl who could have been used as a broodmare but it would still give a pair of shinobi access to a powerful djutsu.

His advisors were a bit on the young side. The cold calm and collected Samui was only 17. And Darui was even younger at 14. Darui though had been personally trained by his father than Sandaime Raikage and wielded one of the few Kekkei Genkai the village held. Ranton (Storm Release) was the combination of Suiton and Raiton and tremendously powerful. His new assistant Mabui was also only 17.

The only older individual was Yotsuki Tezuka, the head of one of the major Kumo clans, Yotsuki. He was a tall and thin man in his late 30s. The Raikage always thought the man could be broken in half by a stiff wind but his kenjutsu and genjutsu were legendary.

Samui looked through the scroll. “The Hokage’s request appears reasonable in light of our demands but he has to know it won’t be acceptable.”

Tezuka agreed. “It seems like he is buying time. Perhaps the Hyga are reluctant to agree to the terms. They have powerful allies with Fire Daimyo’s court. He may need more time to strong arm them to giving up their clan head.”

“Mabui draft up another letter, explain that we will not send more shinobi into the den where one of our own was so recently slain. Tell them that if they don’t have Hiashi’s body at the borders of Hi no Kuni within one week’s time we’ll go to war.”

“Lord Raikage,” Tezuka began.

“No I’ll have no more of your concerns. Konoha is weak. They no longer have the Yondaime or the Akai Chishio no Habanero (Red Hot-Blooded Habanero) all that is left is Ryo of Konoha their ANBU General, he is everything but a single man even if can defeat countless shinobis in a fight he can’t go against everyone. Their shinobi forces lost over a third of their actives to the kybi. They dare not refuse our demands!”

“Yes but Lord Raikage even so we need”

The leader of Kumogakure slammed his fists on the table shattering it to kindle.

“I have spoken Tezuka. Send the letter Mabui, all of you leave!”

Outside of the Raikage’s office, the frustrated head of the Yotsuki approached Darui.

“Darui you have his ear, you must convince him to be reasonable. Yes, we can defeat Konoha but it would weaken us. What if Kirigakure wished to renew the conflict while we embrace war with Konoha? They have little love for Konoha but less for us.”

“I am sorry Tezuka-sama but it is unlikely to come to that. The Raikage is right. Konoha is weak right now and will capitulate. Sarutobi Hiruzen is well known for his desire for peace. He will not go to war over one man.”

Tezuka would gain nothing further and turned away heading for his clan compound. The Raikage and Darui were probably right but that wasn’t the point. War would be costly and the exclusive contracts his clan had with the merchants of Hi no Kuni would be meaningless. If war actually occurred his clan would suffer severe financial loss and that was unacceptable.

——-

Danz left the Hokage’s office impressed with what he liked to call the new Hiruzen. His old teammate was finally making hard choices and willing to get his hands dirty. Metaphorically of course since it was ROOT who would be doing the dirty work.

His orders were to have his ROOT agents infiltrate into Yu no Kuni (Land of Hot Water) Shimo no Kuni (Land of Frost) and target any Kumogakure genin teams. The targets were primarily the jnin sensei of each team but he had been given the green light to kill the genin as well.

ROOT had the secondary task of finding and eliminating any spies that Kumo may have in Hi no Kuni. That would be difficult at times and he was sure to run into false positives. Of course if many of those false positives ended up as tools for ROOT instead of being left in unmarked graves, well Hiruzen would never be able to prove it.

Disappointedly the Uchiha clan was going to have a revival of their reputation. That was years of hard work wasted. They were a threat to the village itself. Their patriarch had betrayed the village and the power of those eyes needed to be his, not possibly resting within the skull of a potential traitor.

On the upside, they were going to be on the frontlines and that would mean much of that brood may end up dead. There would be many opportunities for their eyes to fall into his agent’s hands.

‘Every setback can be turned into an advantage. Whatever it takes I will ensure Konoha remains strong.’

——-

Timing would be key. It was probable that the Raikage would send some quality shinobi to safeguard Hiashi’s body. They craved the Byakugan enough not to take chances. It would be his first taste of actual battle since the kybi attack three years ago. At the same moment he was dealing with them his declaration would be sent to every shinobi village across the Elemental Nations.

–Konohagakure no Sato declares war on Kumogakure. Kumo has attacked under the banner of truce and targeted one of our most respected clans. Since they have chosen not to honor their status as guests we will treat with them in the same manner. No banner of peace, no request for parley and no negotiations will commence with Kumo. Unconditional surrender or the utter destruction of their village are the only options.

They have sowed the wind and will now reap the whirlwind. The Will of Fire burns brightly and will annihilate our enemies. Konohagakure needs no aid from our allies and friends, we alone will crush Kumo. All know me as one who has sought peace; I have no desire to turn this into the 4th Shinobi World War. However, should any ally themselves with Kumo they will share its fate.

-Sarutobi Hiruzen, Sandaime Hokage, Sensei to Densetsu no Sannin, Shinobi no Kami

The contents had shocked his advisors. Some had argued that they should rally their allies to go to war with them. Others felt that the declaration gave them no room to compromise at a later date.

“Enough, Like I said the council is being dismissed I am the sole leader here, and all of you shall hear my Orders”

He knew it was a risk. If the war stalemated it would be disastrous. Iwagakure hated the village and rekindle its alliance with Kumogakure. There was no love lost between Kirigakure and Kumogakure however Kiri was ever the land of sharks. If there was a weakness in the waters they would prey on it gladly. Sunagakure was tentatively allied with them but that had only been an act of convenience to deal with the Iwa juggernaut.

Hiruzen pushed thoughts of the past away and focused on the task at hand. He had an invasion to plan.

——-

The Hokage traveled lightly toward the border of Hi no Kuni and Yu no Kuni. With him were Hyga Hiashi and the Yondaime’s former honor guard. The five of them burned chakra to make good time and were now but a day away from the rendezvous point where the Kumo delegation was expected to pick up Hiashi’s body.

It was time.

He formed a Kage Bunshin and Raid, Genma and Iwashi linked around the clone. They concentrated as they harmonized their chakra and then a sharp pop could be heard as the clone transported itself to Inuzuka Tsume’s location.

The clone appeared before Tsume.

“Were you successful?”

She nodded. “You picked a good time. She sleeps late so hasn’t left her room yet.”

The Hokage smiled. “Well done. Inuzuka-san, take your squad and travel northeast to the border fort. Addition instructions will be provided then.”

She bowed and whistled to signal her squad. And then she was off to her next mission.

Sarutobi walked toward his student’s room. She wasn’t going to be happy with him.

He was in formal Hokage robes when he knocked on their hotel door. Shizune was the one to open the door. She looked at him in complete surprise.

“H Hokage-sama?”

“Ah, Shizune-chan have you been keeping my student out of trouble?”

Shizune was eighteen and the kunoichi of the year when she had graduated seven years prior. She had been traveling with Tsunade for five years now and was no doubt a skilled practitioner in medical ninjutsu. Right now though she was quite a tongue-tied to be standing before the Hokage in a small town on the edge of Hi no Kuni.

“This is unexpected,” she said after a long pause.

He gave her a genial smile. “Why don’t I come in and have a seat while you go and fetch Tsunade?”

“Hai.” She responded, bowed as she fled to the next room.

It wasn’t long before Tsunade came out slightly bleary-eyed.

“What do you want?”

“No small talk with your old sensei? Ah well so be it. We are going to war with Kumogakure and I need a world-class medical specialist on the frontlines.”

Tsunade stiffen. “You told me I could take as much time as I needed. I don’t want to return to the village at all, let alone during a war!”

“I am not going back on my word to you but consider this. Remember when you fought for having a medical specialist on every squad? Why did you want this? You wanted it to save lives. You can save lives again.”

“I can’t even stand the sight of blood and you expect me to heal people injured from battle?”

“That can be remedied. The Yamanaka clan is well versed in curing phobias of all kinds.”

Tsunade clenched her jaw. “I won’t do it. I won’t fight another war.”

The Hokage sighed. “Tsunade, I need you. Your village needs you.”

Tsunade shook her head. She couldn’t return to the village that held so many painful memories. She had fought through too many battles already. She just wanted to be left alone.

The Hiruzen clone stood up. “Very well Tsunade, I won’t make you go. But I will need a replacement for you.” He turned to Shizune who was watching the conversation. “Shizune you are listed as a chnin but I am certain that your apprenticeship with Tsunade your skills is more accurately that of a jnin. You are hereby ordered to return to Konohagakure within three days to join one of our combat specialist teams.”

Tsunade broke in. “NO! You can’t do this.”

“Failure to do so will lead you to be branded as a missing-nin with a bounty placed on your head.”

Shizune gasped.

Tsunade pushed herself in front of her apprentice.

“No, you can’t take her! I won’t let you.”

“She is a kunoichi of Konoha. I have given my word to you not to require you to return but that does not give you the authority to take any other of my shinobi with you.”

The last of the Senju stared down the Hokage.

Shizune placed a hand on Tsunade’s shoulder.

“It is all right. I am a shinobi, this is my duty. Please please take care of yourself shishou.”

Tsunade looked at Shizune and then glared at the Hokage. She knew exactly what he was doing and the sickening thing was that it was going to work. The idea of Shizune, her last connection to Dan, dead on the front lines of another war churned her stomach.

“Damn you. Fine, I’ll go but leave Shizune out of this.”

“Very well. You will both be returning to Konoha. Shizune will run the hospital and will not join one of our combat teams. Instead, you will Tsunade. After you are cleared for duty by the Yamanaka, of course.”

Before Tsunade or Shizune could say another word the clone dissipated.

——-

Ryo ran…He ran faster than the winds…faster than the sound itself…He runs towards Iwa, Kumo can be taken care of but the biggest problem is Iwa, if Iwa joined the war it will soon turn into a world war 4, besides Naruto life depends on it

[This chapter was all about Hokage, next chapter will be all about Ryo with his war in Iwa and yes next 2 chapters and this war will be over, then we time-skip to academy cannon arc]