Hiruzen Prepares his Scheme

*Author Note*

Yesterday evening (GMT+2) this was actually the fanfic with the most Powerstones on WN for quite a few hours even if I were to include the fics with male Mc's that are listed separately. I never expected my fic to become this big when I started writing, so thank you for all the support.

*End of Author Note*

A few minutes later, Yuna came out of the forest with a satisfied smile on her face, while Tayuya was meekly walking behind her. Although Naruto and Kidomaru wanted to tease her and ask what had happened, both of them felt some pressure oozing out of Yuna when they were about to say something, so they quickly shut their mouths. Considering Tayuya decided to spend their breaks standing instead of sitting down, there was no need for further questioning, anyway.

Since the group had some prisoners with them that couldn't travel at a shinobi's pace, it took them about a week to return to Konoha. During their journey, nothing of interest happened, except for Yuna having another "private discussion" with Tayuya and as soon as Konoha's gate became visible on the horizon, an annoyed pout appeared on Yuna's face.

'What the hell? I even went out of my way to raise some flags, but nothing happened. That's kinda lame.'

[Isn't meeting and fighting a total of 4 S-class shinobi within ten days enough?]

'Mhh, now that you say it like that, I guess I can't really complain, can I?'

"Oi, young pervert, how about we..."

"STOP CALLING ME YOUNG PERVERT ALREADY!!!"

"No. And as I was about to say, let's split up here. Naruto and I are already high profile enough after what happened during the chunin exam. If you and Tsunade are mixed in as well, it will become a huge tumult."

Although Jiraiya was still glaring at Yuna, he deflated moments later and nodded his head in agreement.

"I agree. Tsunade and I will go directly to sensei, while you, Naruto, and Shizune can escort the prisoners."

"Sure, let's go."

While Tayuya, Kidomaru, and Jirobo were obediently following Yuna, Kabuto, Sakon, and Ukon were unwilling to do so. In their one week of traveling, Kabuto spent almost all his time analyzing the seal Yuna put on him, and he was just one step away from finally breaking it. He felt like he only needed a few more minutes to do so. Although Kabuto had hoped that Orochimaru would intercept the group and save him, that no longer seemed possible, so he could only rely on his own abilities to free himself. There was, however, a vast difference between freeing himself inside Konoha and freeing himself outside of it, so he had to hurry up to make it in time.

Sakon and Ukon, on the other hand, had no idea what they were supposed to do. The only idea they had was to try using their fusion jutsu, but as soon as that failed, they were out of ideas. They could only accept their fates and see what will happen.

Just when Kabuto was about to walk through Konoha's gate, a slight *crack* was heard, and moments later, a gleeful expression appeared on Kabuto's face. He managed to get rid of the seal before he was too deep inside Konoha, and Jiraiya and Tsunade had already left to meet their sensei. This was the perfect chance for him to run away!

He turned around and started to circulate his chakra, but as soon as he did so, the supposed destroyed seal on his stomach started glowing, while massive amounts of seals started spreading all over Kabuto's body and not even one second later, he fell on the ground, while no longer being able to move a single finger.

"Ohh! Good job, Kabuto. You actually managed to unravel the first layer of my seal. Not bad at all. Two more to go and you are free. Time is a little tight considering we are almost at our destination, but good luck, anyway."

If Kabuto's glare could kill, Yuna would have probably died a few hundred times during their journey back to Konoha, but now the intensity of the glare was even higher than it usually was. Yuna, of course, didn't care at all.

"Haha, what are you trying to do by glaring at me like that? No matter how much you glare at me and hate me, the Sharingan won't come out. Several people around me have already tried that, but so far, it never worked."

[Pretty sure Ino's father was rather close, though.]

'Haha, indeed!'

While Yuna was provoking Kabuto, Tayuya couldn't help but laugh out loud at Kabuto's misfortune.

"Hahaha, serves you right! Now you are not so smug anymore, are you, shhhhh...owoff?"

While Yuna chuckled lightly and Jirobo, who always reprimanded Tayuya for cursing too much, gave an approving nod, the group started walking towards their destination.

Although Yuna wasn't sure what would happen to Kabuto, Sakon and Ukon, she didn't think there would be any problems with the other three. Yuna guessed that they would be handed over to the Uzumaki clan, to research the seals they used to transform, but she couldn't be sure about that.

'Guess I should talk with Anko about this. She should have some sway over what will happen to them.'

Meanwhile, inside the Hokage office, Hiruzen was cursing again and again at his fate. He had messed up, and the members of the council noticed that he wasn't as weak as he pretended to be, so now it was back to paperwork again. The worst part was that he could no longer perform hand seals, so he could no longer use Yuna's method to solve his problem.

Moments later, there was a knock on the door and after getting Hiruzen's permission, the door opened and one of his ANBU walked in. He walked towards the middle of the room and when he reached it, he immediately kneeled down.

"Hokage-sama, I have something to report. Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama have arrived in Konoha and should be here any minute now."

When Hiruzen heard that, he abruptly stood up with panic clearly visible on his face.

"Then what are you still doing here!? Quick, quick, get a sickbed in here while I take care of my desk and the other stuff. Nobody is allowed to see you. That's an order, get going, NOW!"

Although the poor ANBU had no idea what was going on, he still did what he was ordered to do and quickly scrambled out of the room to get a sickbed from the hospital. Considering he was under the Hokage's direct order, there were quite a few things he didn't have to bother with, so he directly sneaked into the hospital, grabbed one of the free beds, and made his way back to the Hokage office.

Hiruzen, meanwhile, quickly activated the seals he had stealthily carved into his desk, and moments later the desk disappeared inside a smoke cloud and turned into a miniature version of his desk, which he quickly hid inside his pocket. He would have liked to do the same with a sickbed, but he had neither the skill nor the time to carve such a complex sealing arrangement into something that wasn't at least as solid as his desk.

Next, he slipped out of his Hokage mantle and put on the patient's gown he had prepared for this moment. Although it wasn't easy to put on with only one arm, considering he was a skilled shinobi,, that wasn't too much of a problem.

After that, he quickly dimmed the windows, to make the room look gloomier and as a final touch, he even took out a fake heart monitor that he had hidden away in one of the multiple secret compartments he had in his office.

Moments later, the ANBU returned. When the door to the office opened, the ANBU couldn't help but be startled by how much the room had changed in such a short time. Nonetheless, he walked into the room, but after taking only a few steps, Hiruzen appeared behind him and covered his mouth, while whispering into his ear.

"You haven't seen anything. You don't know anything. This room was like this the whole time. Put the bed on the ground. You are on paid leave until a new Hokage is selected. Understood?"

"Y-Yes, Hokage-sama!"

"Good. Dismissed!"

The confused ANBU quickly made his way out of the room, while Hiruzen couldn't help but chuckle a little. He quickly put the bed next to the fake heart monitor he had already activated and then quickly laid down on the bed while trying to look as sick as possible.

'Hehe, I failed to force...bribe...convince! I failed to convince Jiraiya to take the position, but I certainly won't fail with Tsunade. I would rather fight Orochimaru a few more times than spending a single day more fighting with paperwork and dealing with Yuna's...err...everything. Just you wait, Tsunade, you WILL leave this room as the Hokage, no matter what I have to do!'