Pre-Chapter A/N: More chapters on my patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)— same username as here and link in bio.
"Tell me what happened" I asked her as we stood side by side outside the operating room. Tsunade was huddled ver the Hokage's body, pumping it with chakra and trying her best to put his organs back together. It said something about the situation he was in that even a healer ofTsunade's skill was struggling to just keep him alive. Half his chest was gone, his heart had lost a good chunk of its mass and then there was hi lung— singular. The other one was just completely gone. So no, Hiruzen was not in a good state, and it was doubtful that he was going to make it out of that room alive.
"The Raikage. Some sort of lightning release jutsu that took out half his chest. We had to retreat with the Hokage— or what was left of him at least. Sensei— Sensei stayed to hold off the Raikage. The Kumo shinobi, they routed us, chased us all the way to the edge of Frost before turning about. We lost so many just holding them off and preventing them from overwhelming our position." She said.
"Seven thousand two hundred and fifty six Konoha Shinobi went into the Land of Frost. Barely eight hundred of you made it back" I said, turning my head in her direction and watching her grit her teeth at my words.
"Frost was a mistake. The Raikage. Shori, he's not human." She said, and if I wasn't mistaken then that sounded like fear in Uzume's voice. I had to be mistaken.
"What do you mean?"
"With my sharingan, I can see chakra levels— not with the same detail you can but with enough. And do you want to know what I saw in the Raikage? He fought Sensei, the Hokage, and I at the same time and his chakra didn't even budge. Not a scratch on him, not a drop of chakra lost, that's unreal. He's unreal" She said.
"Well, we're going to have to figure out some way to kill him eventually. Because you know what happens after Frost? After Frost, he's in the Land of Fire proper and retreat is not an option in that scenario" I said.
"How's the rest of the war going?"
"Terribly. The Ame battalion was wiped down to just three men left. Of three thousand, only three returned. Konoha's battle strength of ten thousand has been torn to pieces" I said.
"Fuck."
"Indeed."
"Good thing that's someone else's problem" She said with a sigh. And she was right, at least she usually would be. We were powerful Jounin, but just Jounin in the end. Stuff like this wasn't our problem. The only issue with thinking like this was the fact that I was the head of one of the few clans to not lose most of their shinobi in the war effort. I could already tell that there would be a lot of calls for the Uzumaki to pay our fair share to the blood toll. I'd have to do something about that one way or the other.
"Let's assume it isn't" I said leadingly, looking over to the room where our Kage fought for his life.
"You want to make a play? Now of all times?" She scoffed.
"Is there a better time?"
"Shori, this is not the time for games. People are dying out there. We're losing. My clan is in tatters. I've lost four brothers to this war and you want to tell me that you're going to make a play now?"
"Even if, and that's a big if mind you, he survives this, Hiruzen will be in no state to reign as Kage for a very long time" I said.
"Then let someone else take over. You can't play games with this"
"You really think I'm doing this on a lark?"
"Shori" She said, giving me a stern look. Uzume was weighed down quite a bit. Satoru Uchiha had died against Hanzo after losing three of his sons to the Ame nin, and she'd lost her eldest brother after he had stayed behind to delay the Kumo nin during the retreat. Whether she wanted it or not, she was now the Clan Head of the Uchiha Clan. A heavily weakened Uchiha Clan. No clan had put more bodies in the war, and no clan had lost more of those bodies than they had.
"I'm serious here, Uzume. Trust me." I said. She still looked doubtful.
"I want to be Kage so I can lead our people out of this mess of a war" I said, but those were the wrong words. Her sharingan snapped into being.
"No peace" She whispered.
I backpedalled quickly, sensing that I'd made a mistake somewhere.
"I don't mean peace. The only way out of this war is victory" I said.
"And you can guarantee that?" Red eyes pinned mine.
"Yes. Yes I can"
"Then you have my support. But how do we secure the rest of the clans?" She asked.
"Uraume is the Hyuga head with her father gone as well. Kizuru can talk to his aunt, and the rest of our classmates have clans of their own that they've taken over" I said.
"So we just need to get them to believe that you'll take this seriously" She asked.
"Exactly."
XXXX
*How dare you stand where he stood*, those words echoed in my head a remembrance from a past long since lived. They were relevant here though, as Danzo sat in the seat reserved for the Hokage as he watched the council come in and take their seats. This time, the mood in the hall was much more friendly even if notably more sober. I walked from end to end giving condolences were I could and just greetings where more appropriate. Uraume's entrance was the only one to force me to a standstill. She looked as she always did, pale skin, pupil less eyes, long hair, but there was one difference. Her left hand. It was gone.
"By the gods" I whispered before appearing at her side.
"Who did this?" I asked. There was no need to specify what this was.
"Sora of the Magnet Release" She answered, sending an irritated look down at her stump.
"I will bring you his scalp" I promised.
"No. He's mine. I have a debt to repay" She said.
"Then I will be there when you do" There was nothing else to say, nothing else needed to be said.
I walked with her until she took her seat and then I walked across the room, saying my final his to everyone I passed before I took my seat opposite her and next to Uzume. Was it strange that we were next to each other? It would have been if I was the Senju clan head as they were on the opposite end of the room, diametrically opposed to the Uchiha and all that. As the most recent clan to join the village, the Uzumaki should probably have been somewhere off to the side maybe closer to the entrance but I had taken this seat at my first meeting and no one had said anything about it so it seemed to be fine.
"We can now begin this meeting" Danzo said, taking the authority over the clans— and through the village— with the ease of someone who was long used to it. He surely didn't expect to be challenged here at all. Sadly, I would have to disappoint him today.
"Hold on. By what authority have you convened us here today, Shimura-san?" He narrowed his eyes at me, and wasn't that something? Danzo with two eyes. Maybe he didn't become the arsehole that fans of the show knew him as until he lost his eye, but that was doubtful.
"By my authority as acting-Hokage, of course." He said.
"Yeah, that doesn't work. Who made you acting Hokage?"
"Sandaime-sama"
"Nope. I have with me a copy of the writ the assigned you the powers you so carelessly toss about. All the clans get these, you know. Beyond the fact that he never grants you the rank of acting Hokage and even limits your powers to administrative matters, not including assigning or approving missions, there is the additional fact that your powers were slated to expire either at the end of the year or upon Hiruzen's return to the village. Surely no one here can dispute that Sandaime-sama is within the village?" I asked the final question, getting nods rom all concerned. Uraume looked like she was trying to figure out what game I was paying, Uzume was smirking, and Shika had her fingers around the bridge of her nose. Inoken had leaned over to begin whispering in her ear.
The both of them had avoided being shipped out to war on account of a sudden contagious chakra illness that only infected the two of them. My theory was that they were too grief-stricken about Choni to be sent out to the front lines and since the village did not recognise grief as a reason for dereliction of duty, they had to figure out something creative.
"What are you trying to say? Speak plainly, boy"
"You must be slower than expected Danzo. What I'm saying is that you ain't shit, and this body has the right to decide an interim Kage for the period that Hiruzen is unable to rule in his own name"
"He chose me"
"He chose you to stamp papers while he was off waging war and covering the village in glory. We're fucked, and I doubt he'd choose you for getting through this mess we find ourselves in"
"You would deny the will of the Sandaime while he stands unable to clarify himself?" He asked, feigning fury.
"No. I would deny an attempt to misinterpret the will of the Sandaime while he is incapacitated." I said, looking down my nose at him.
"I will not leave on your word"
"No, but you will step down at the pleasure of this council, and I for one vote in favour" Uzume aid by my side, and if he looked at me in hatred for my words, then the look he gave Uzume would make you think the roles were switched and he was the one who hailed from the clan famous for killing with their eyes.
"I find myself swayed by Uzumaki-dono's reasoning and I also vote in favour of Shimura-san's stepping down" Uraume said, but the look she gave me was full of questions. I had her loyalty, and maybe I would always have it, but it was not unquestioning.
"I vote in favour as well and call on all those who do so to signify by a show of hands" Inoken said after Shika had spoken.
"Hold on, is this the wisest course of action now. To remove the present interim leader would be to leave the village captain-less in the midst of a storm" The Izuno clan head, a chunin of little repute, spoke in Danzo's favour. At least it seemed to be the case, he could just as well have not given any fucks about Danzo but been speaking in defence of the status quo.
"Then the Council will elect a new leader to take charge of the village. Danzo was not chosen by the Sandaime for this purpose, and the truth is he would be a terrible choice if he were chosen at this point" Uzume said.
"You dare, girl. You dare deny my qualifications? My commitment to this village? My strength?" Danzo was practically spitting fire.
"You've done fuck all in this war, Danny. We're losing, and we're losing badly. Konoha has a fully fit frontier force of one thousand five hundred, and reserves about a third that size. Our entire frontier force is gone. Naming a total unknown like you to that position is just practically guaranteeing that we have Kumo, Iwa, Suna, and maybe even Mizu at our gates in weeks" I said. "With that in mind, I vote in favour and call for a show of hands like Yamanaka-dono did"
This time there was no interruption, and hands went up aplenty. Shito Aburame, Choki Akimichi, Mateo Fuma, Uraume Hyuga, Kimiko Inuzuka, Ayame Kurama, Shikahime Nara, Uzume Uchiha, and Inoken Yamanaka all voted in favour. The Senju and Sarutobi votes were absent, the Izuno clan voted against, and the Onikumo clan abstained.
Danzo stiffly stood up from the seat at the head of the table and moved off to the side, to the left of the room— the same side as the Senju clan and moved close to the end of the table taking a seat next to the Izuno Clan head and opposite the Fuma Clan head on the other side of the room.
"Now, we can move on to the first bit of business— choosing a head of this council"
"A true coup then" Danzo snidely remarked but the entire room ignored him.
"Does anyone have any nomination?" I asked.
"I nominate Shorirama Senju, Head of the Uzumaki Clan to head this council for the period the Hokage remains incapable of ruling under his own authority" Uzume said, standing up and setting things in motion.
"I second the motion" Uraume's look still screamed- 'God, I hope you know what you are doing'. Shika glared at both Uzume and I before she sighed and nodded at us. Good, we had her support. With her would come Inoken, and with the both of them leaning one way Choni's cousin would have no choice but lean in the same direction because of their allowance. Shiba's uncle stared in our direction, head flicking between me, Uzume, Uraume, the empty kage seat, and Danzo. I wondered what he had running through that famously analytical mind.
"Is there any other candidate"
"I nominate Shimura Danzo, Head of the Shimura Clan" The Izuno clanhead spoke out, looking around.
"I second the motion" Shiba's uncle said, making me double take. Shito Aburame had gone from voting for Danzo to step down to seconding his nomination to return to essentially the same position? What the hell had he seen to make him make that shift?
"Any others?" I asked without missing a beat, not even seeing Danzo as competition. Compared to me, he was nothing. I had the pedigree, the support, and the strength. These people would have to be blind not to see it. And if Uzume's entreaties had worked, then the vote would be a formality.
"In the absence of any others, I move that both candidates speak to this body and plead their cases" Shito said. We all nodded. I had nothing to lose from it.
I stood first without asking permission, the act itself a statement.
"You know who I am. You know what I am— what I can do. But for those who have forgotten, I will give a list of names. Ay, the Second Raikage, Han, the Jinchuriki of the Five tails, Kubo Yatsuki, Piandao the Weasel. All four of them S-ranked Shinobi. All four bested by yours truly. Konoha needs a name that can drive fear into the hearts of our enemies, and that is what I bring to the table. Beyond that, I am the only one in this room with any meaningful victories in this war. Who drove Suna back into their desert in Rivers? Who annihilated the Iwa offensive in Waterfall? Whatever you might think of me as a person, there should be no doubts in any of your hearts that I am the right choice for leading us through this mess." I said, meeting every eye that dared meet mine before returning to my seat.
"My name is Danzo Shimura. I am the one the Sandaime put his trust in to lead this village in his absence. I am a student of the Second Hokage, and a powerful shinobi in my own right. I might not have a long kill count to list, but I do have one thing that Shorirama does not. The Sandaime wanted me in power, while he himself decreed that Shorirama Senju should never be given the position of Kage in my presence." He said before taking his own seat.
Whispers spread across the room at his words. Uraume turned to me, questioning. I nodded, why would I need to lie? She shrugged in response.
"Can the voting begin now?" I called. The room seemed to instantly go silent before Uzume rose by my side.
"I, Uzume Uchiha, Head of the Uchiha Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju." Loyal as always.
"I, Uraume Hyuga, Head of the Hyuga Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Shikahime Nara, Head of the Nara Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Inoken Yamanaka, Head of the Yamanaka Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Choki Akimichi, Head of the Akimichi Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Kota Izuno, Head of the Izuno Clan cast my vote for Danzo Shimura"
"I Danzo Shimura, Head of the Shimura Clan cast my vote for myself"
"I, Shito Aburame, Head of the Aburame Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju" really? What a confusing individual.
"I, Ayame Kurama, Head of the Kurama Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Mateo Fuma, Head of the Fuma Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Kimiko Inuzuka, Head of the Inuzuka Clan cast my vote for Shorirama Senju"
"I, Kenpachi Onikumo, Head of the Onikumo Clan abstain"
"I, Shorirama Senju-Uzumaki, Head of the Uzumaki Clan, abstain" I said with a smirk shot in Danzo's direction.
"So the majority is clear, and we can now begin our business, Gentlemen, Ladies. We have a war to win" Uzume's smile was all teeth and shockingly enough, Uraume matched her in that. And so the chips had fallen, and it was all coming up my way.
A/N: It's all coming up Shori, isn't it? But you should know by now that nothing ever goes to plan in this accursed world. Next three up on patreon(https://www.patreon.com/c/Oghenevwogaga)( same username as here and link in bio), support me there and read them early.