Kusari no Naruto

Second Link

Hiruzen's tired eyes watched as a ring of smoke lazily drifted away from his pipe. It was carried over to the open window that looked out on the village he loved dearly. His hands were placed behind his back and he stood with such rigid poise he might have been mistaken for a sculpture at first glance. However, the illusion was shattered when he let out a troubled sigh that really spoke of his age. A migraine was coming, and the reason was one Uzumaki Naruto; or perhaps, the two civilians he had killed.

"They're howling for blood Hiruzen, you can't keep them at bay for much longer. Any attempt to sate them now and preserve what innocence the boy has left will be a fool's errand."

The lightest of frowns creased the aged man's already wrinkled features as one of his oldest friends, if not perhaps the closest, spoke up from behind him. He didn't turn though, still looking out over his village, framed by the setting sun lighting the sky up in brilliant hues of red and orange that made Hi no Kuni so famous.

"Don't think I don't know that Danzo." Another tired sigh escaped his lips; it was a bad day when he had begun to agree with the old war-hawk over matters concerning Naruto.

"The boy is obviously unstable; he can't remain among the normal populace as he is."

Hiruzen's frown only deepened but he quickly calmed himself by taking another long drag from his pipe, a gift from his son before their relationship became so strained.

"And whose fault is that Danzo?" There was no accusation in the tone, more one of general hopelessness. "The boy has every right to be unbalanced, with everything that has been thrust upon his shoulders." He could hear the tap of Danzo's cane on the wooden floor of his office as the crippled man crossed the room to stand beside him, a rare sight as of the last few years.

"All the same; he is a risk to the village at large. This isn't just a case of an average Shinobi having emotional issues, the boy is a literal bomb. The Yondaime is no longer among us…" A pained expression crossed Hiruzen's features as he was reminded of yet another failure of his that he had made over his long life; some might say too long "…and we would not survive another attack from the beast." Slowly the sun slipped down behind the horizon, casting more and more of the village into shadow.

"So you would have me hand him over to you? To have his emotions stripped away just so he won't be a threat anymore?" He didn't need to turn to see Danzo's curt nod, yet it still managed to elicit a small, frustrated sigh as Hiruzen closed his eyes for just a moment. Destroy one life to preserve thousands, even if it was a child who already had far too large a burden placed upon them. Was this how the Yondaime had felt?

"It is the only safe option at this point and we both know this to be true; you had your chance and it turned into yet another debacle, unsettling the already delicate situation with the Uchiha. We cannot wait and hope this passes Hiruzen, the academy proved that well enough." The tapping started up again as Danzo walked out of the office, the old men separating once again as Danzo returned to the darkened shadows of Konoha, leaving Hiruzen standing in the light. He was ashamed to say it, but sometimes Hiruzen had wished it was the other way around; the expectation upon him were supposed to have been relieved nine years ago. "You will eventually have to agree with me Hiruzen; we both know it." And with that the sound of tapping faded away until once again Hiruzen was left with nothing but his thoughts and memories.

"I can't believe that; not yet." He turned up to the Hokage monument, drawing strength from the silent visages of his predecessors and the man who was supposed to take these burdens from his shoulders. "I couldn't do that to Minato." However as much as he told himself these things, an alternative did not present itself. It was true that Naruto needed to disappear from the public eye, preferably somewhere where he couldn't hurt the people around him. He would need to be with people that could understand his situation and could contain him if worst came to worst. However he couldn't just neglect the fact the boy was a Jinchuuriki; he would eventually need to be trained.