Naruto the REAL Fifth Hokage by Traban16

Chapter 17: The Pensive Pause in Planning

Chapter 17: The Pensive Pause in Planning

Konoha, otherwise known as the Village Hidden in the Leaves, awoke to a dark morning the first day after the battle with the two Akatsuki spies.

No, seriously, the giant-ass tree in the middle of the village blocked out the sun and shaded the entire village! Outskirts and all, I'm not kidding!

All the villagers gathered around the abnormality as they remembered the battle they had watched from their windows and doorways. Their Hokage had protected them from "the Blonde Bomber" with all his might, and was now in the hospital (at least that was what was running through the gossip circles).

Now, one week after the battle, the village was back to busy. The ninja and the builders from Wave (who hadn't left) were helping in clearing out the rubble from destroyed buildings. It was only lucky that those buildings were scheduled for destruction anyway.

"Thank you, Tazuna-san. Hokage-sama will be very glad that we've cleared all this away by the time he awakened." Kotetsu said as he bowed in respect for the Wave carpenter.

"Ha, it was nothing! These lazy dogs need some work, and Konoha is like a gold mine for that with how much crap gets destroyed here! Man, it's like Kami-sama hates your village! Ha, ha!" Tazuna said jovially as Kotetsu and Izumo sweat-dropped at him.

"He's only in it for the money, and knowing our village's history; he'll be making plenty of that." both ninja thought as they watched Tazuna laugh long and hard with money signs in his eyes.

"Well… Training Ground Seven won't need our help, Tazuna-san. The ninja are repairing that with Earth and Water ninjutsu, so it'll be back to normal by the end of the day." Izumo said as Tazuna seemed to deflate a bit, but still seemed good-natured as he sighed.

"To tell you boys the truth, I would gladly do all this for free; time and again, but Naruto simply won't hear of it, and if he did, then I'd be getting a rather nasty letter in the mail along with a bag of gold. That boy is something else…" Tazuna said as he looked up at the Hokage Mountain, the four faces of the previous Hokages looking shadowed in the shade of the giant tree.

"Umm… speaking of which; what are we gonna do about that tree?" Kotetsu asked Izumo as his partner shrugged.

"The Jonin and Anbu have been trying to destroy that thing for a week now. Even Jiraiya-sama and Tsunade-sama tried their hands at bringing it down. Tsunade-sama actually broke her hand punching at it! They say the thing is as tough as diamonds, and yet bends with the breeze like any other tree. The only two able to take it down would be Hokage-sama or that Jonin that helped him battle." Izumo said as he and his partner looked up at the tree.

Four days after the battle, the civilians, along with the other population of Konoha were informed that the enemy had been defeated and retreated, though the gossip had already spread.

Naturally, when the populace saw the giant tree and the gossip got out, many people openly cheered for their newest Hokage. But the opinions of some people would never change with "such a simple show of power when the Third and Fourth Hokages had done better with less flashiness". Children ran the streets playing "Hokage and the Bomber", while old folks talked about the days of the two previous Hokages and Sannin battles they had witness or heard of.

"Why I remember about fifty years ago when the Second Hokage was still around. He created an entire tsunami out of thin air to wipe out an army of Cloud-ninja. Let's see that upstart kid do that." an old man said as another sighed.

"Yes, but you must admit that for his age giving up enough chakra to create something as strong, and yet gentle as that tree was an accomplishment." the other old man said as the first scoffed.