What it takes to be Hokage

Chapter 30

Naruto needed to get Arashi and Tatsumaki away from Jiraiya. Everything else could wait for a moment. A single moment, was all he needed.

"Let them go Hiruzen." Naruto stated calmly. There would be no redemption for the man if anything happened to the two, even if he was being manipulated. He had to be. Naruto couldn't accept any other outcome. His heart didn't want to. Madara would call him naïve. Kurama would call him childish. Yet a part of Naruto, perhaps the part of him from his past, refused fully condemn Hiruzen. Not yet.

"That's not how negotiations work, Naruto." Hiruzen replied, just as calmly. So they were dropping honorifics. Was Hiruzen in a state of mind that Naruto could reason with? "I tried being polite, I tried being patient. Yet, you refused to see things my way, and so I had to resort to more archaic methods. I'll let them go, if you open the boxes."

"You don't know what you're messing with Hiruzen." Naruto kept his tone even, low, a warning in of itself. "You don't know what's really in those boxes. If you did, you wouldn't be asking me to open them."

"I know enough. I know that it's power. Enough to rule over the Elemental Nations without equal."

Naruto sighed.

Why hadn't Hashirama just come to him? Then all of this would have been nothing but a distant memory. The man may have ended up being more skilled than Naruto, but he still lacked a good dose of common sense.

He sensed the approach of several chakra signatures from both the Uchiha and the Konoha forces. It was to be expected. The time limit on their truce had just about reached its end. Madara appeared next to him, Haruto not far behind, looking more than a little angry.

"Come now Naruto, do I look like a babysitter?" Madara chided, "Besides, he's a man in his fifties. What babysitting does he need?"

Naruto tsked but otherwise did not respond. What could he say? Madara was right.

"So, what will you do now?" Madara pressed, gaze lingering on the two Uzumaki in Jiraiya's grasp.

Naruto ignored him, addressing Hiruzen, "What will you do if I still refused to open the boxes. Even with their lives on the line."

"You can't–" Haruto began to protest but Madara glared at him, cold enough for the man to freeze up, the words dying in his throat.

"I'm not playing games, Naruto. I am fully invested in doing what needs to be done to get those boxes opened. I don't need the pep talk." Hiruzen smirked, he didn't take the bluff. The Naruto he knew would do anything to save the two boys in Jiraiya's arms. There wasn't a reality in this universe in which he wouldn't give anything for those boys.

Mito, Kushina and Minato approached behind Hiruzen but kept a small distance. They all looked grim. Naruto hoped that they wouldn't allow anything to happen to the boys.

With both sides approaching, things could quite easily escalate out of control. Not to mention, where were Tsunade and Orochimaru?

"Madara, we need a barrier, at least until this is sorted out." Naruto gestured towards Jiraiya. He didn't need to explain to Madara why he wanted the barrier. The man knew all about war, and he'd probably surmised by now that Naruto had no intention of fighting those whom he had deemed innocent.

"Aren't seals and barriers your area of expertise?" Madara scoffed before raising a hand towards Itachi and Menma. They two nodded, running along the front lines, each in opposite directions. They didn't have to wait long before two shimmering barriers zapped into place, providing those gathered a narrow strip of 'no-man's-land' in which to sort out their conflicts. Naruto could see the forces gathering on either side, stopping just before the barriers and watching, tension rippling through them in waves.