Chapter 65 The Fifth Hokage

When Naruto walked in the room where Shinno and Amaru waited, they were already a bit anxious, and seeing Naruto's age did not help matters.

"I take it you are Doctor Shinno", asked Naruto.

"That I am, you are not what I expected", said Shinno.

"I prefer to be unexpended and unpredictable. So you wanted to talk to me", asked Naruto.

Shinno nodded.

"Your army proved interesting, so much so I decided to meet you, perhaps even join", said Shinno.

"What do you mean Dr. Shinno", asked Amaru.

"It is a long story Amaru, I will explain it latter", said Shinno.

"Do you know what we do doctor", asked Naruto.

"Not exactly, but your soldiers piqued my interest", said Shinno.

"My Shadow clones actually, they are outfitted with a special seal that makes them much more durable. But that is not what we do, we are a group who is dedicated to the continued existence of the human race. Through a long series of events, we came across knowledge on beings that make tailed beast seem as terrifying as a newborn calf. Their are two specifically. The Great Old Ones, a race of strange god like beings, the vast majority of which have a visage so terrifying men lose their sanity. Our main priority is to slow down one of these beasts, called Cthulhu. A beast who when the stars are right will bring about the end of life on this planet. Above them are Outer Gods. Which are to Great Old Ones, what Great Old Ones are to us. One is watching us, his name is unknown, but we refer to him as the Shadowed man. Our goal, is to simply unite the nations of the world against Cthulhu, or at the very least stall any wars until we are forced to unite when the massive sunken city where Cthulhu resides rises", said Naruto.

"And how exactly do you plan on stopping something so powerful", asked Shinno.

Naruto pressed an unseen button.

"Send in Dr. West and Kin. Tell Herbert to bring some of our experimental weaponry", said Naruto.

He got a confirmation and waited. Minutes latter Herbert walked with his masked beasts carrying several items of interest. As they were laid on a table Kin walked in.

"What do you want, I was kicking ass in the training room", said Kin.

"I apologize Kin, but I needed you here to show Dr. SHinno here some of what we can do", said Naruto.

He grabbed a metal vial and handed it to Shinno.

"That is the reagent, when injected into a dead body, it reanimate tissue and allows us to bring the dead to life. Kin here is technically dead, only her digestive track, and cardiovascular system function. Brain as well obviously. She was revived from the dead with that chemical", said Naruto.

Both Shinno and Amaru were speechless.

"Prove it", said Shinno.

Herbert left the room, only seconds later he came back in with a small tank where a severed hand crawled around the tank.

"As you can see the chemical is not limited to requiring a full body. It has it's drawbacks. Whenever overdosed into a corpse, every single organ becomes it's own creature", said Naruto.

"Amazing, this could revolutionize medicine, how did you come across such a formula", asked Shinno.

"That is a secret. We are able to produce massive amounts of the chemical, it has interesting effects on the living. When injected constantly into a living body, it prevents unnatural death, making even the most dangerous and invasive surgery survivable", said Naruto.

"May I have some for study", asked Shinno.

"If you stay, you may, but only while being watched. I suggest you get to know the crew if you wish to join, though you will be under Dr. West", said Naruto.

Herbert outreach his hand.

"Dr. Herbert West, head of the R&D devision. I make our weapons or reverse engineer and improve those we find on the field", said Herbert.

Shinno shook his hand.

"A pleasure", said Shinno.

He turned back to Naruto.

"What of Amaru", asked Shinno.

Naruto shrugged.

"Your apprentice, your responsibility. I have other matters to attend to, Herbert will show you some of our weaponry", said Naruto.

He stood up and left the room. Kin was standing outside the door.

"Who's the old man", asked Kin.

"A Doctor, I don't trust him yet. But Herbert can keep him under control for the moment", said Naruto.

Kin shrugged.

"If you say so. I'm going back to training", said Kin.

Naruto nodded.

"Alright, I think it's time I return to the surface, where is Sasuke and Sakura", asked Naruto.

Kin pointed to the lift with her thumb.

"They're at the cages, looking at the creepy leech thing", said Kin.

Naruto nodded. He headed for the lift. As it lowered he could hear the fait sound of thrashing. Once he finally reached the bottom and the door opened the sound became much louder. He walked out to see the Zero Tails trapped in it's cell. It beat on the walls with it's amorphous body. It's massive maw was opened revealing it's hideous deformed teeth. Even the Tailed Beast Bomb was useless to destroy the cells from the inside. In front of the Zero Tails cell was Sakura and Sasuke. He walked up to them.

"Hey", greeted Naruto.

They turned to acknowledge his presence. They had been worried about him after the event with his parents.

"You ok Naruto", asked Sakura.

"I'll be fine. We should go back up, see how the village is doing", said Naruto.

They nodded and headed off.

"So what are you going to do about your parents", asked Sasuke.

"I told them to leave, that they wern't my parents, and I wasn't your son. After some conversations, we agreed they can stay for a month while Minato teached us how to use the Flying Thunder God", said Naruto.

"You sure about that", asked Sakura.

"No, but I think the Jutsu is worth the risk, besides they offered", said Naruto.

"You were kind of messed up after seeing them, a lot can happen in a month", said Sasuke.

"I got it out of my system. I'm not proud of how I acted, but it passed", said Naruto.

"Come on Naruto, they are still kind of your parents. You could get to know them, It's only human", said Sakura.

"I'm not human", said Naruto.

"Thats not what I saw, the moment you saw them you were more human than I have ever seen you before", said Sakura.

"It was a moment of weakness Sakura, it is not healthy for them to be around. For either of us. But they are here, I can't change that, might as well use it", said Naruto.

"What about their feelings", asked Sakura.

"They are ninja, they can handle it. Look Sakura, I am trying to be logical about this, I have never been more conflicted bout anything in my life. Usually only a few moments of thought and I can do what must be done. Them being here makes it difficult. You don't have to add to that", said Naruto.

Sakura flinched.

"I'm sorry", said Sakura.

Naruto sighed.

"It's not your fault. I'm sorry for my tone, but I can realize this is not healthy, if I accept them as my parents, then when they leave I will feel miserable. It's best to think of them as shadows", said Naruto.

Naruto opened the sewer above his head. It was the closest to his home. He helped Sakura and Sasuke out of it before putting the manhole back. He walked to his house. He quickly noticed the door was open. Seeing this he pulled out a kunai and walked in. He carefully stepped through the door. He saw no colors of sound. It was empty.

Sakura and Sasuke were wielding kunai as well as they walked in.

"Someones been here", said Naruto.

The first thing he walked to was his icebox which was open, and a small puddle of the pressurized poison was on the ground. As it opened he looked at the open panel. The Reagent was gone. He looked down and saw that in the poisons puddle was some blood.

"Someone took my emergency reagent", said Naruto.

Sakura and Sasuke's eyes widened.

"That's not good, what are we going to do", asked Sasuke.

"Nothing, the poison trap seemed to have got them in the eyes. Seeing as their is no indentation on the floor whoever it was must have passed out when leaving", said Naruto.

"So we look for them", asked Sakura.

"We should, but their is no need. In this summer heat the Reagent would have been out of the cold too long. It would have been rendered nearly useless by the time they woke, I doubt they would have had enough time to keep it cool with the poison. I'll get some clones to look into it", said Naruto.

"Why use poison that makes them sleep, rather than kill them", asked Sasuke.

"Several reasons, first killing someone while holding a formula that brings the dead to life is risky. Assume they fall in such a way the vial breaks, and cuts their skin and deposits a small amount of reagent into their body, it won't be long until they figure out what it did to them. Second, assuming they make it out. Finding a sleeping body outside my home is no problem, finding a dead one, not so much. Besides the poisons only purpose was to ensure the Reagent is out of the cold just long enough for it's reanimative effects to dissipate. Who ever has the sample might figure out some of whats in it, but not all. We do need to figure out who done this however", said Naruto.

He searched around his home once more, while going through everything his eyes widened.

"They took my papers", said Naruto.

He frantically looked around the room and other parts of the home.

"I forgot I left that here", said Naruto.

"What did they take", asked Sasuke.

"They found my papers on three dimensional seals. They wont know how precise the seal has to be, if the mess up even a small bit, then they could summon something terrible. Shit, we have to figure out who did this", said Naruto.

He walked to his closet. Inside were many of his normal clothing, and curiously an orange set of clothing, which is what he grabbed.

"Orange, really", said Sakura.

"You should research the color spectrum, Colors like red and Orange react interestingly with light, becoming effectively black when it is dark. Also, it's Autumn see what color the leaves are, It allows me to be stealthy in either day or night. Why do you think orangutans, squirrels, and tigers can be stealthy", said Naruto.

"You know way to much", said Sasuke.

"Proud of it, now I am going to let some transformed clones search the area, once they have a trail we find out who took the reagent and my papers. I'll need your help. We will wear Chakra armour under or clothing, and gas masks to hide our identity. It will be just us three and if things get bad, then we have our summons as backup", said Naruto.

"Got it", they said in unison.

"But I'm not wearing Orange", said Sasuke.

"What you have on will do inside or at night, but the Autumn leaves will make it difficult. I suggest Red or brown", said Naruto.

"So I'm good", asked Sakura.

"A darker red would be better, but it is fine", said Naruto.

After changing Naruto and his team left the house while his secret clones would try and figure out who the thief could be, and where he would go. He noticed that their was a crowd of people around the Hokage Tower.

"Whats going on", asked Sasuke.

"Maybe they found a replacement Hokage", said Sakura.

"Lets find out", said Naruto.

He and his team walked into the crowd to get a beter view of whatever was going on.

"Hey Naruto over here", spoke Choji's voice.

Naruto turned to the voice to see Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji. He and his team walked over to them. Standing around them was also Shino, Kiba, and Hinata.

"Whats going on", asked Naruto.

"Beats me, but If I had to guess. New Hokage", said Shikamaru.

"We had a similar idea when we saw the crowd, any idea who it cold be", asked Naruto.

"Not really", said Shikamaru.

"I just hope whoever it is ,is a lot like the third", said Choji.

"It is possible, historically speaking, past Hokage had similar view points and morals, as well as philosophies", said the ever stoic Shino.

After a few moments a heavily bandaged man walked from within the tower to the balcony. Naruto recognized this man.

"Danzo", said Naruto.

As soon as the words left his mouth, Naruto felt the killing intent coming off Sasuke. He turned to see he had his normal Stoic face, but his Sharingan was active. Luckily not the Mangekyo. Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder.

"You need to remain calm Sasuke, I know how you feel about this, but we cannot act rash", said Naruto.

Sasuke calmed, if only a little.

"Is Sasuke-kun alright", asked Ino.

"I'm fine", said Sasuke.

Danzo lofted his arms to silence the crowd. After a moment he began to speak.

"Citizens and ninja of Konoha, I am Danzo Shimura. I am happy to say that I have been chosen as the fifth Hokage for our great village. My friend, and the previous Hokage Hiruzed Sarutobi has yet to waken from his coma, and seeing as he had lost his arm in a battle with Orochimaru, it was decided I should take his place. Hiruzen was a good friend, and I hope to achive greatness as he once did, and still does regardless of his current state. However my predecessor did make one critical mistake. He allowed Orochimaru of the Sannin to live. I plan on rectifying this. We are once more on good terms with Suna, but I have seen much of this village that made us weak for attack. I promise you, as your Hokage I will make Konoha great again, the Roots of the Trees run deep, and we will not fall so easily. As of today my first order of business is to effectively end the lockdown of our village. It has hurt us more than help, It is my belief the assassin had escaped, While we still do not know of his identity, we will not give up until this man is punished. Together we will strengthen both the village, and the nation. I will protect this village, with my life if need be, I can promise, if you put your faith in me, it will faith in the future of the village"

There were cheers from Danzo's speech. Though none of team 7 cheered. Naruto looked to Sasuke. He stared at Danzo, if looks could kill, Danzo would be dead. In fact as an Uchiha with the Mangekyo Sharingan, looks could kill. If Sasuke willed it, Danzo could be consumed by the black flames of Amaterasu. Though he did not. Sasuke's eyes turned to Naruto. With his eyes he motioned to Danzo. Naruto shook his head.

"Not yet", whispered Naruto.

Sasuke nodded though reluctantly. As Danzo left the balcony Naruto looked at the other teams. He thought for a long moment before he smiled. perhaps they were ready, maybe it was time for the Konoha 9 to join the CDA. The only question was should he do so now, or wait until his parents leave. It was something to think on.

"We should get going", said Naruto.

"Yeah, us to. by the way, whats with the orange, it's not your usual colors of. Well to be honest you usually dress like a civilian", said Kiba.

"Just something I never wear, thought it should be worn at least once", said Naruto.

"I t-think orange i-is a g-good color", said Hinata.

"Thank you Hinata, at least someone sees it, and as far as I'm concerned, she has the best vision. I'll default to her judgement", said Naruto.

It did not escape him that Hinata was blushing at the moment. He nodded to the teams before they headed off.

"So what do we do about Danzo", asked Sasuke.

"Danzo views and ideals are actually a good bridge to create peace, though sustaining it is another story, and it would only be peace and prosperity brough out by war. He is stuck in his ways. From what I do know of him he will not hesitate to start a war, he plans of Konoha to be above the other villages. He is a patriot, but a very flawed one. He cannot remain Hokage, We could tell him of Cthulhu, though I doubt it would change his ways enough assuming he believes us. Yet at the same time he is the perfect Hokage, after one of his agents followed me I looked at everything I could find about Danzo, and my research shows Danzo once used medicine to aid sleep, until he gained the Baku contract, that information was not easy to get but it is reliable. I believe the reason for this is because he is plagued by his immoral actions so he allows his summons to keep the nightmares away by eating them All his talk of killing emotions and he could never do it himself. However by having the Baku contract it means he is immune to the Threshold of Dreams. He cannot remain Hokage due to the foundations of his beliefs which I doubt he would be willing to change, and at the same time by having that contract he is the only one who cannot turn to follow Cthulhu by not ever seeing the dreams brought on by The Great Old One. It will not be easy to figure out what is to be done, we will have to wait", said Naruto.

"I say he dies", said Sasuke.

"Maybe, I think that he may be responsible for my missing papers and reagent so there is that, but if I do decide to remove him, we need that contract. It is far to useful considering what Cthulhu is capable of, and it just so happens out of the Konoha 9, their was one I could not find a summoning contract as a welcoming present for", said Naruto.

"Who", asked Sakura.

"Hinata", said Naruto.