"I can't believe that things have somehow gotten worse," Sayuri groaned.
Naruto's eyes widened. "What do you mean, things have gotten worse?"
Sasuke barked out a laugh with no humor behind it. "We mean that the village administration is continuing to place more and more restrictions on the Uchiha. Dad and the clan no longer have any say in the village's affairs. Uchiha can no longer exit the district without express permission from the elders or Hokage, so non-ninja Uchiha are now trapped, and even then only certain ninja, like Brother and Shisui are allowed to come and go as they please due to paid debts."
"That's horrible," Naruto stated in morbid surprise.
"Yeah. It is." Sayuri looked down, her facade of joy and obliviousness finally breaking under the weight of everything. "At this point, I can't even blame my father for being so incredibly pissed at the village. I don't know if there's a way for the clan to get out of this in one piece." Naruto glanced at her in pity. Madara, for his part, was shaking in rage as he listened in on the conversation.
"I can do something," Naruto began. "I can convince the old man to-" Sayuri clamped her hand over his mouth. Oh come on.
"Listen, I- I appreciate what you're trying to do, but you can't solve this. This is bigger than you, bigger than us. There's nothing we can do." She gazed at the floor, forlorn.
Naruto took a deep breath. In. Out. "There has to be something that we can do. We shouldn't need to give up this fast. There are- " Sasuke chuckled a bit.
"I'm going to stop you right there, because you're wrong. No, we don't have options. We're children. And not even children with much pedigree, either. We aren't any Kakashi Hatakes or Minato Namikazes." Naruto took in a sharp breath at the mention of his father's name. "We are children, and thus have no status or leverage that we can use. No, you can't convince the Hokage. He would never sanction something like this." Sasuke breathed. " That means that the elders are behind this. The same elders who, alongside the Third, were trained by Tobirama Senju, who wasn't one who the uchiha would call an ally under any definition. And unless you have something to convince the three elders, then it's over." Off in the mansion, Tobirama gave strangled noises of discontent.
"Alright geez, Sasuke, you don't have to make things miserable," Naruto mulled.
"I didn't mean to be a downer, but we have to be realistic here," Sasuke leaned forward conspiratorially, as Naruto and Sayuri unconsciously leaned forward as well. "I know that you want to help. I also know that you have an uncanny knack for convincing people to your side. But if what Father has told me is true, then the three elders are the most arrogant, self-centered, close minded people to ever walk the land of Konoha." Sasuke sighed in exasperation as he gazed up to a flock of birds flying across the sky.
Naruto sighed. "I guess. Fine. But at some point, things are going to break, and we all agree that if that happens, nothing good will come from it." Naruto rose solemnly, a forlorn frown following him. Sasuke sighed.
"Things might break, but I'm confident that we'll all survive the fallout. Together." Sayuri said, a real, genuine smile lay bare across her face. Sasuke cracked a smile as well.
"Well, we can't just sit around and do nothing." Naruto turned. "I'm going to go convince the old man to do something about this." He bounded away towards the Hokage tower.
Sasuke took a deep, long breath as he gave out a long-suffering sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Of course. Of course he would do that." Sayuri placed her hand on his shoulder.
"We both know he only wants to do the right thing."
"I know that he wants to do the right thing. It just happens that he's doing something extremely suicidal and completely unnecessary." He placed his head in his hands. "I still don't understand why he would do something like this, even through his righteous fury. There's no way that he didn't get the memo that we can't do anything about this."
---
"So you're telling me that my council has gone behind my back and is trying to suffocate the Uchiha clan?" Hiruzen scratched at his goatee, lost in thought.
"Yeah." Naruto replied bluntly, his eyes unfocused and glazed over.
"Interesting. It seems that Danzo is still following Tobirama's mission." Hiruzen rested his head on top of his hands.
"What do you mean by 'Tobirama's Mission'?" Off in a mental corner, Tobirama was laughing nervously.
"Danzo believes that the Uchiha clan are parasites that only lead to disaster. Case in point: The nine-tails attack."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Naruto seethed with rage. "You told them about what happened, right?"
"I told them, yes," Hiruzen drawled. "Unfortunately, Danzo now wants the extermination of the Uchiha to prevent anyone from ever gaining the power to turn it against the village."
"Isn't there anything that you can do about this?"
"No." Hiruzen exhaled. "I granted Danzo much leeway during my first reign as Hokage to aid in actions that I was- and still am- incapable of ordering. My successor, your father, did not have nearly enough time to scrub away the bureaucracy that I had left."
"But you monitor your council, right? So they don't do anything out of line, y'know?"
"Koharu and Homura, yes. But Danzo is extremely capable and none of my Anbu can ever find him." He sighed dejectedly. "For all I know, he could be causing chaos across the world," he paused. "Even though I don't think he would."
"Can you please just look into this?" Naruto pleaded. His eyes shone and tears were visibly forming. There was a brief battle of wills as Hiruzen stared at Naruto. He caved.
"Alright, fine. I'll look into it."
"You will? Thanks!" Naruto grinned.
"Alright, now please leave. I have a monthly village meeting I need to prepare for, and it's always a massive pain." Naruto left swiftly after.
Hiruzen rubbed his temples and sighed. "One of these days, Naruto, I'll be convinced to do something monumentally stupid because of you." He sighed. "Hare, I want you to keep an eye on Danzo. Report his every move to me." A masked woman appeared in front of him, kneeling.
"Of course, Lord Hokage. It will be done." She rose, and promptly disappeared.
----
The pieces will continue to fall, but where will they land? And who will be crushed?
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Sage's Resurrection
Fanfiction"I have found you to be worthy of being my successor." Naruto Uzumaki was a boy who was snubbed and looked down upon for his entire life. For him to be acknowledged by someone like the Sage... "You will be strong enough to achieve world peace..." ...
