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The Blessed Realm	By : susanna Category: Naruto > Yaoi - Male/Male > Naruto/Sasuke Views: 1746 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 3
Disclaimer: Disclaimer: Naruto, his friends and the world he lives in don't belong to me but to Masashi Kishimoto. I write this story only for my pleasure and I don't make any money with it.

Chapter List
- 11
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Chapter
Nine: Too young

Naruto
made some more tea, but when he had refilled their cups, he did not
return to his former place at Sasuke's side on his bed but sat down
on the table, watching Sasuke read the newspaper. Being scrutinized
by Sasuke was bad enough when he was not sitting next to him, and
while he liked looking at pictures of Konoha and seeing the progress
they made with rebuilding it, or even reading real news, he did not
care about interviews or analyses – he had heard Danzou talk,
and he did not need anyone to tell him what to think about it.

Sasuke,
however, was reading eagerly, seeming quite absorbed in the paper. He
still cares, Naruto thought, he has not become indifferent to what is
going on in Konoha, just as I care about it even though I've had to
leave the village. Now he was again turning some pages...

“What's
a professor?” he asked Naruto.

“Some
kind of scholar. There is an academy of them somewhere here in town,
where they spend their days reading, writing and talking. Sometimes
they also write in newspapers.”

Sasuke
had not found this explanation very enlightening, still he turned to
the article to read what that professor had to say. It was again in
the form of an interview.

Interviewer:
Mr. I., what do we have to make of the new developments in Konoha?

Professor
I.: After the assault, it is only natural that people are
traumatized and look for a strong leader who will protect them.
Danzou has been an important politician in Konoha for several decades
now, only that his support of a more aggressive approach to politics
has never been popular, so that he was always left out when it came
to appointing a new Hokage. The recent attack however has gained him
the support of the people of Konoha, so that he was now chosen as
their new Hokage.

Interviewer:
You said that he always supported a more aggressive policy than his
rivals: How do we have to understand his announcement that he will
focus on strengthening Konoha's military?

Professor
I.: As I said, it's only
natural after an attack as the recent one, and there wouldn't be any
problems with it if we could be certain that it was really only about
protecting Konoha against another assault of this kind. There are,
however, some worrying undertones in his announcements, such as the
condemnation of the former Hokage's policies of seeking
reconciliation with the other great ninja nations. The hidden
villages of Rock or Mist or even Sand may begin to see the new
Hokage's display of strength as a threat directed against themselves,
and withdraw their ambassadors or cancel trading agreements, driving
Konoha into isolation as the tensions between the great nations are
growing.

Interviewer:
Danzou-Sama claims that his predecessors' idea of achieving peace
through negotiations and peace treaties has been proved a mistake by
the assault. Konoha should not rely on fragile alliances with other
countries, but on its ability to protect itself.

Professor.
I.: It is, in my view, a
misrepresentation of the current situation and of the reasons of the
assault. Thanks to the previous Hokages' efforts, the relationships
between the Fire Country and the other four great ninja nations are
all somewhere between neutral and excellent, and none of them is
seeking war. We also have to keep in mind that the last Great Ninja
War ended only some twenty years ago, and that fear of another war is
still prevalent throughout the ninja world, while people are busy
overcoming the damage that has been caused by the last war. The
economies have just begun to gain some momentum; nobody wants to
break it by another war.

Interviewer:
So you think that the new Hokage is ill advised to put all stress on
strength and safety?

Professor
I.: He is doing it the wrong way. Rather than putting off its
neighbours by claiming that Konoha is still strong enough to fight
off its enemies all by itself he should search for their support.
Responsible for the attack on Konoha is, after all, not one of the
other ninja nations but the terrorist organization Akatsuki. They
have been known for some years now for their kidnapping of the
jinchuuriki, the hosts of the tailed beasts: We all remember the
kidnapping of the Kazekage, or, lately the Raikage's brother.

Damn,
Sasuke thought. I've let that guy escape, why hasn't he returned to
his village? Now they regarded him as a terrorist while in reality he
had been betraying that guy who claimed he was Madara.

Interviewer:
So if Konoha's display of strength is not likely to make the ninja
villages unite against Akatsuki, what do you think are the new
administration's real motives behind it?

Professor
I.: I suppose that being new to his office the Hokage has to
demonstrate to his people that he is able to protect them. Akatsuki
have been rather evasive so far – those who conducted specific
assaults could normally be taken care of, but the identity of those
who organize the attacks and develop the ideology behind them is
still a mystery - the Hokage is not able to hunt them down, as little
as anyone else, so in order to convince his people that he is in
control of the situation he engages in symbolic actions, as engraving
his portrait into the Hokage mountain, or giving speeches about
Konoha's tradition of being able to protect itself.

Interviewer:
But is he not paying a rather high price for this? After all, while
he is trying to persuade his people of his capacity to protect them,
he is inflicting great damage on Konoha's relationships to its
neighbours, which may prove to be more detrimental to its security
than any admission of weakness.

Professor
I.: Actually I fear that Danzou's focus on strength is not just a
tactical move in order to ensure his position as Hokage. I fear that
his actions are in accordance to his system of political beliefs
which don't stem from the last great ninja war, but from the one
before, which was won by Konoha. He grew up in a time when fighting,
not cooperation and trade, was the usual state of affairs between the
great ninja nations, and this has coined his way of thinking, making
him believe that countries are hostile to each other by nature, and
that every nation only cares about its own advantage. He does not
believe in a system of international rules, but believes that it will
always be the strongest who rules over his enemies, and that nothing
can protect you but your own strength.

Interviewer:
One final question: For the future, what can we expect from Konoha?

Professor
I.: Well, I don't think that Danzou is intending to start another
war, which would, by the way, overstretch Konoha's current strength
and in all likelihood lead to a bitter defeat. The problem is,
however, that with all his talk of strength and independency,
tensions between the ninja nations are increasing, so that a minor
irritation, which under the previous Hokages would have been dealt
with easily in a diplomatic way, may now be seen as a serious threat
and lead to a new war, without anyone actually wanting it. We have to
hope tha all the Kages will remain calm and rational during these
times of crisis.

Sasuke
put down the paper. He had not understood everything the scholar (or
whatever his title was) had said, but he had got that he thought
Danzou's policies foolish, and, in the worst case, leading to a new
war.

He
looked at Naruto who was still sitting on the table, now reading his
own paper.

“Why
did you not fight that Danzou?” he asked him.

“The
new Hokage? Why should I fight him? And how? He's ninety!”

“You
still plan to be Hokage, don't you? Why did you not fight for the
post?”

Naruto
was in some state of shock. He had caught the wave of aggression
radiating from Sasuke, but as it was not directed against himself but
against Danzou, he did not recognize it as such and thought that it
was the idea of becoming Hokage now that had shocked him.

“I
am too young”, he said. “Just sixteen.”

“The
Yondaime was made Hokage at the age of nineteen.”

Sasuke
was correct. The Yondaime (my father, Naruto thought, my father) had
been chosen as Hokage at an extremely early age, and a lot of people
had resented it, and had approved of him only after his sacrificial
death against the kyuubi... But after his fight against Pain Naruto
had been busy digesting the stories Pain (Nagato! He reminded
himself) had told him, and with his concern for Kakashi and Tsunade.
He had hoped that she might recover and resume her office, and when
it had become clear that this would not be the case, everyone seemed
to have already made up their mind that Danzou would be best fitted
for the job. Naruto had not agreed, of course, but he had not had any
good arguments (the story Nagato had told him did not count), nor any
ideas for an alternative candidate. It had not come to his mind that
he might claim the post for himself.

“You
would have made a better job of it than that Danzou”, Sasuke
said.

It
was strange: Sasuke had been among the first to recognize him, Naruto
thought, first as a human being, then as a worthy fighter, and now he
was the first to recognize that he might be a competent Hokage too,
not one day in the future, but now.

“Anyone
would have made a better job of it than Danzou”, answered in a
hoarse voice. “I am not ready yet.”

For
a split second Sasuke's Sharingan flashed red.

“No
doubt, you are Naruto”, he said. “I would not have
believed it from your words.”

In
his mind a fantasy appeared. If Naruto was Hokage, he might offer him
his return to Konoha on the condition that those responsible for the
murder of his clan got their just punishment: Death for Danzou and
the Elders, long-term imprisonment for the ANBU who had spied on his
clan, and for those who had participated in the segregation of the
clan... actually he had no idea what would be appropriate for them.

The
fantasy had a foul taste, and he let it go, yet the idea that Konoha
might become his home again once Naruto had become Hokage and changed
it retained some attraction for him.

“What
do you know about that Danzou?” he asked.

“Not
much”, Naruto answered. “Tsunade told Sakura about him,
and Sakura told me. He already competed against the Sandaime for the
job of Hokage. He disapproved of the Sandaime's quest for peace,
calling him conflict-shy, and he disapproved of Tsunade too, as she
is the Sandaime's student and the granddaughter of the first Hokage,
and saw herself in the tradition of her predecessors, which he does
not. Oh, and he's run a secret division of ANBU, Root. They say it's
been disbanded, but on the other hand that boy who was with us when
we found you in Orochimaru's hideout, Sai, was a member of this
organization, so apparently it still exists. I don't really
understand it.”

“That
pansy”, Sasuke said. “My replacement. How could you
accept him?”

“I
did not accept him! He was horrible! He kept provoking and hurting
me, without me giving him any reason, and he had no idea of teamwork
or companionship.” Naruto paused and thought a bit before he
continued. “He's been improving lately, however. Before, he was
without any emotions at all. He was an orphan, too, raised by Root;
they had made him give up his emotions. But he used to have a friend
who was so close to him that he called him his brother. He was dead,
and for some time we feared that Sai had been made kill him, to turn
him into an emotionless tool, but then it turned out that he had died
from an illness.”

As
if there was a pattern, Sasuke thought. Making Itachi kill his best
friend, almost making me kill Naruto. And almost making me kill
Itachi, only that he died from an illness too. Maybe that Sai's
brother-friend had died in a similar way.

“I
am glad that I did not kill you in the Valley of the End”, he
said.

“Yeah,
you already said so this morning.”

“That
was different. This morning I was glad for your sake. Now I am glad
for my sake.”

“I
am glad too”, Naruto answered cryptically, and Sasuke thought
for a while about his words, and then changed the subject:

“Anyway,
you don't approve of that Danzou, do you?”

“No,
surely not.” I would not be here if he had not been appointed
Hokage, Naruto thought. I would still be living in Konoha, and I
would not have met Sasuke.

“So
why did you not fight him? You'd easily have defeated him.”

“Sure,
if beating a ninety-year-old man was how one became Hokage.”

“Did
you not always think that you'd just have to become the strongest
ninja of all in order to be made Hokage?”

“Did
you not grow up to find that some of the beliefs you held at the age
of twelve were foolish?”

Sasuke
thought about it. No, actually not, he concluded. He had been lied
to, but he had not been foolish. Naruto had been lied to too, with
people telling him that the Hokage was always the strongest shinobi
of Konoha, so that he just had to train hard in order to gain the
post.

“You
don't become Hokage by beating your rivals”, Naruto continued.
“People have to trust you to lead the village wisely, and they
have more trust in Danzou than they would have had in me.”

Not
me, Sasuke thought. I might have trusted you, but not him.

“Danzou
promised to protect them, and to lead Konoha back to old strength,
unlike the previous Hokages who were too soft in his opinion. I'd
have been too soft too.”

People
support Danzou, Sasuke thought. Maybe he did not need to have a bad
conscience about killing him.

“And
besides, I did not apply to become Hokage. I am not ready yet.
There's still a lot I have to learn.”

“Some
other jutsus than just mass shadow clones or that ball of
concentrated chakra?”

“It's
not about jutsus or fighting. Before I become Hokage I need to find
the secret of peace.”

The
secret of peace, Sasuke thought. It reminded him of Orochimaru's
search for the secret of immortality, or his team's quest for that
Blessed Realm. He just hoped for Naruto that he'd realize in time
that the secret of peace did not exist, and give up his hopeless
search and return to Konoha to become Hokage anyway.

Sneakyfox:
Thanks again for your review and your encouragement! Yes, Sasuke
figured it out, and he has some other strange ideas. I hope you like
how I will develop him... (It is easy to make fun of him, but
actually I like him and think he is an intelligent and good-hearted
person.) - Now it will be time for Naruto to work out what Sasuke's
plans are...
- 11
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- 13
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