Chapter 13: I Have an Idea
The ANBU arrived fashionably late.
If Hiashi hadn't sent someone to call for them, they wouldn't even have known little Naruto had slipped out that night.
Negligent. Absolutely negligent.
To think that the supposed elites among ninja, the ANBU themselves, had grown this careless.
Though perhaps their carelessness deserved some credit — without it, his daughter might have been carried off entirely.
Little Hinata stood nearby wiping her tears, frightened and worried at the same time.
She had seen what the kunai did to Naruto's hand — torn straight through the flesh, down to the bone.
That must have hurt terribly. It would probably take a long time to heal.
Hashirama: A merely fatal wound. Two minutes and it's closed.
Naruto: Yep, yep! Don't let the severity fool you — I bounce back fast!
At Konoha Hospital, Hiashi waited outside the doctor's room with Hinata. Inside, Uzuki Yugao had been called in at midnight to temporarily stand in as Naruto's guardian.
Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived still wrapped in his outer robe, his pyjamas underneath unchanged, having rushed straight from home.
The doctor stepped out of the ward with a grave expression.
The Third took a deep breath and asked about Naruto's condition.
"Doctor, how is the patient?"
"Dead."
The sound of a breaking heart echoed through the corridor.
Had his beloved grandson-like little Naruto really left this world just like that?
There was still so much Grandfather wanted to pass on to him. His own writings — *On the Will of Fire*, *The Life of the Third Hokage*, *How to Use a Telescope for Surveillance*... (crossed out!)
You haven't read any of them yet.
"What's the rush?"
The doctor looked at the crowd of people with varying expressions and sighed.
"I meant the Kumo ninja. You didn't actually think the Jinchuriki was dead, did you?"
If the Jinchuriki had died, the Nine-Tails would have already levelled the hospital by now.
"Oh, oh, oh — then how is little Naruto doing?"
Hiruzen rubbed the back of his head. His concern had apparently short-circuited his brain.
"Well, he was brought in at just the right time. If it had been a few more minutes..."
The doctor paused.
"What? Say it! Is Naruto badly injured?!"
The Third was completely at the doctor's mercy again.
"A few more minutes and his wounds would have finished healing on their own."
The doctor delivered that line, turned around, and walked back to his break room to sleep.
Being woken up in the middle of the night was irritating enough. If the Jinchuriki had been seriously injured, he would have gotten up without complaint — that was his duty as the hospital's top physician. But the boy was nearly done healing himself before they even called him in. That was a bit much.
Don't think that just because you're the Third Hokage I'm afraid of you. Back in the day, even the Second Hokage had to speak politely to get treated here.
This doctor was fifty-nine years old, a veteran who had lived through multiple generations of Konoha's history. He had no combat ability to speak of, but his medical skill was extraordinary, and so he had worked at Konoha Hospital all his life — for over thirty years, still holding the modest rank of department head.
That rank had everything to do with his terrible temper and his perpetually sarcastic tongue.
Though rumour had it — strictly off the record — that Hashirama had once lodged a kunai in his own kidney during battle, Tobirama hadn't managed to stop it in time, and it was this very doctor who had fixed it. Neither Hashirama nor Tobirama had ever denied it, which spoke volumes.
It also had something to do with a certain medicinal product of his related to bodily vitality.
"Hmph. Monkey, don't expect any more of my kidney tonics after this."
As he passed Hiruzen, he dropped that cutting remark at full volume — loud enough for everyone in the corridor to hear.
"Ahahaha, let's go check on little Naruto, shall we?"
Hiruzen's dignity took a visible hit. Hiashi and the assembled ANBU were pointedly pretending not to have heard anything, which contrasted sharply with the Hyuga heiress's openly curious stare.
He quickly waved everyone toward Naruto's room.
Inside, the lights were blazing. Little Naruto was snoring away, mumbling the occasional dream-word.
"First Hokage... Third Hokage... I'm the Dog Hokage!"
In his dream, he was playing a game of tag with his family.
A thin line of drool ran from the corner of his mouth to the pillow.
In the bed beside him lay the Kumo ninja, body pierced through, eyes closed, looking surprisingly peaceful.
"Naruto..."
Little Hinata leaned in close, wanting to check on her friend.
Hiashi moved to stop her, but Hiruzen held up a hand.
"Let the children be. We adults have our own things to look at."
Hiruzen's meaning was clear. They needed to discuss what to do about the Kumo ninja.
Based on what the ANBU and Hiashi had reported, this Kumo ninja had come to steal the Hyuga bloodline. For a clan like the Hyuga — one that had guarded the purity of its lineage for generations — this was utterly unacceptable.
But Konoha was not in a position to declare war on Kumo right now.
And come morning, Kumo might even try to twist the situation and pin the blame on the Hyuga for killing their man.
Though, looking at the body — pierced clean through, saturated with the unmistakable chakra signature of the Nine-Tails — who could possibly point the finger at the Hyuga?
No one could tell that lie with a straight face.
"Hiashi, what do you think?"
Hiruzen turned the question over to the Hyuga clan head.
"Third Hokage, I believe the Kumo ninja's clear intention was to steal our Byakugan bloodline."
Hiashi chose his words with care.
Well, obviously. Did you think I couldn't figure that out myself?
Hiruzen thought to himself. Hiashi was getting more diplomatic by the day — even saying "our Konoha" now.
"And what do you think Konoha should do about it?"
Hiruzen smiled pleasantly at the lowered head of Hiashi.
The atmosphere in the room was relatively calm. Little Hinata was poking at the whisker marks that had reappeared on Naruto's face. The strange thing was — every time she poked him, Naruto didn't react at all, yet her own cheeks kept turning redder and redder.
"Third Hokage... I may actually have an idea."
Hiashi watched his daughter fussing over Naruto, and something clicked in his mind.
*I have an idea.* (Adjusts glasses, raises a finger, smiles.)
"Why don't we frame this as Kumo starting trouble?"
"This body represents more than just the fact that we eliminated the aggressor. It also demonstrates that our Jinchuriki is in full and perfect condition."
"That alone will give them pause. They won't dare push further."
"Then we give them a face-saving way out."
"We say our Nine-Tails Jinchuriki accidentally lost control during training, and your man just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."
Hiruzen listened to Hiashi's suggestion, and his eyes brightened.
Not a bad idea at all.
The Third Ninja War had dragged on for so long, and Konoha had ground down the other villages without ever needing to unleash the Nine-Tails. Letting them know the Nine-Tails remained firmly under control — wasn't that a rather satisfying message to send?
Naruto's injury tonight had already lit a fire in Hiruzen's chest, and it lent him a rare edge of steel.
"Good. We'll do exactly that."
Read 50+Advanced chapters ahead at p4treon.
Patreon.com/Tanji_Fanfics
Please type same with underscore.
End of this chapter ..