Naruto - Minato Namikaze SI - Chapter 292 - The Village’s Decision 01.

[Chapter Size: 2100 Words.]
Third Person POV
Konoha, Year 42.
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...

The sentence about Danzou was given the next day, and he was incriminated for all of his crimes. Minato did not receive any retaliation for having executed him before the sentence, which was quite expected, since people were more grateful that Danzou had been eliminated along with a large part of his elders.

Some members of Root still seemed quite loyal, while others ended up telling everything they knew during the trial, no longer having any restriction from the seal that Danzō had placed on them. They began reporting every possible crime. Since it was no longer necessary, they still needed to hear all the witnesses.

Many members of Root were imprisoned in Konoha’s prisons, even for treason, due to the severity of the crimes they had committed in Danzou’s service, besides the fact that they themselves felt no remorse and remained loyal to Danzou. The village could not let these ninjas remain free.

Danzou’s burial took place on the same day, and only the family and elders attended, while many of his former allies no longer wanted to associate themselves with his figure.

The elders also did not go unpunished, as they faced retaliation in the village, while the very ninjas demanded that they at least step down from their positions until they received a greater sentence. And so it happened.

They could only watch their influence being restricted in the village, while Hiruzen would still continue as Hokage, for he needed to fulfill his role and take care of the village with his experience as a leader.

The majority of the village agreed to keep him until the Uzumaki crisis ended.

At the same time, a note of clarification was also issued regarding Sakumo Hatake, while the damage from losing the mission he failed was much smaller than portrayed, while the same members who had accused him, after being saved, no longer appeared in public, ashamed when it was discovered that they had been ordered by the elders to act that way, as well as many in the village spreading negative rumors about the Hatake.

Thus, the ones who sat in the room to discuss matters of the village were none other than the Hokage, Lord Nara, Lord Uchiha, and Minato as Lord Namikaze, along with Lord Hatake, who officially returned as a ninja after the clarifications about his mission. None of the clans who fought against them were summoned as representatives, while the village returned to supporting those who fought against the elders’ crimes, and the clans that were with the Hokage mostly felt ashamed.

They were involved with the administration of the village on the second day, while making some decisions.

"Regardless of the outcome, I hope everyone accepts the decision of the village," Hiruzen emphasized as they reached the end of the meeting, looking directly at Minato, who was on the other side, while Mizu Uchiha, Shuran Nara, and Sakumo Hatake also shared the clean table to give a final decision.

"Yes, I agree with that, and we all do the same," said Minato in a calm tone.

Hiruzen had left the decision to a popular plebiscite among the village. Now it was no longer in the hands of anyone there, and they would have to respect the people's decision.

Sakumo Hatake looked at Minato for a few seconds. He seemed thoughtful about some things, but did not say much about it, remaining silent.

"Well, with that we conclude our meeting here. Now we will have to wait for the decision of the village’s ninjas, as well as its citizens," Hiruzen said, and everyone agreed.

Another thing Hiruzen played well was including the civilian population in the vote; although their weight was smaller, it still carried more influence in the decision against the Uzumaki.

...
...

"Minato!" a voice sounded behind the blond as he left the Hokage’s building.

Turning around, he saw Sakumo approaching.

"Minato, you seem to be planning something, aren’t you?" Sakumo asked with narrowed eyes, knowing very well the boy who had been his student in Kenjutsu.

When Minato was too calm, he seemed to be in control, even when his entire plan was falling apart—just like now, when the village was about to vote against everything he had planned.

Surprisingly, Minato just offered a smile.

"This is the village’s decision. I’m disappointed, yes, but there’s nothing to be done. The war will still come anyway, and it would be good to have someone here who can command our ninjas... Hiruzen is more suited to be Hokage, so the village needs to be protected, and there’s no one better than you for that at this moment..." Minato said, continuing with his friendly smile, while Sakumo raised an eyebrow.

"What are you talking about?" he asked cautiously, as Minato simply vanished in front of him.

He appeared in a square, on the other side of the village, where Tsunade was standing with her typical green cloak, waiting with her arms crossed.

"You finally came," she murmured to Minato, offering a smile.

"Well, let’s go. We have no time to lose!" he said, jumping onto a building, and Tsunade followed right behind.

When they arrived at an orphanage on that side of the village, there were children playing here and there. They entered through the gate calmly.

It wasn’t the orphanage where Minato had lived, since that one was in another part of the village. However, they were there because of one child in particular.

A woman who supervised the children playing noticed the two approaching.

"Who are you? How can I help you?" she asked, while the children looked on curiously. The woman did not recognize them immediately, which was good.

"We are here to see a child named Yamato..." Minato said.

The woman raised an eyebrow. "Yamato? That boy... wait... you’re Minato Namikaze, and you’re Princess Senju, granddaughter of the First Hokage!" the middle-aged woman finally identified them, as they were quite famous in the village at that moment.

Minato simply nodded. Tsunade offered nothing more than a look of acknowledgment.

The children were stunned and quickly began to gather around, but the woman was faster, stopping them from disturbing the two figures. Turning back to them, she said:

"Well, why don’t you follow me? I’ll take you to young Yamato." The woman spoke quickly, seeing the chaos that was about to unfold. Minato waved to the children and followed.

Minato and Tsunade entered the orphanage, and the sound of the children was muffled by the closed door. They approached a small library, where some children were reading mainly comics and children’s stories, judging by the covers.

However, there was a boy reading something more theoretical. He looked exactly like Yamato. The boy looked up, surprised, when he saw one of the orphanage organizers and those two people.

"Is it him?" Tsunade asked, trying to sense the boy’s chakra, but it was too weak. He had certainly not awakened his chakra or trained it.

"Yes, he hasn’t fully released his chakra yet, but I’m sure it’s him," Minato said, offering a smile, while both the woman and the boy looked strangely at his words.

"Tell me, boy... have you tried to enter the Ninja Academy?" Minato asked, approaching him.

The boy seemed a little surprised by the approach, before lowering his eyes to the ground.

"No... I couldn’t pass... I failed," he murmured, full of shame.

With a slight nod, Minato knew that at some point Danzō would discover him, since he had personally trained him. But Minato did not know exactly when. Probably, the boy might have released his chakra a little later or perhaps accidentally made a tree grow.

Root’s spies would have seen it, linking it to the fact that he was a discarded test subject. At the same time, this also pointed to the fact that Orochimaru was already experimenting on children, since Yamato had undergone those experiments.

"I see... My name is Minato Namikaze," Minato said, opening a smile, while the boy looked a little surprised, turning his gaze to him.

He recognized the name immediately, since Minato was quite famous lately, being talked about as the leader of part of the village against the Hokage, in the search for a decision on whether or not to go to war. The children did not understand it very well, but they knew that the blond in front of them was incredible and respected in the village.

"What do you want with me?" the boy murmured, embarrassed. He didn’t know why someone like Minato would be after him.

"It’s very simple. I see potential in you," Minato stated easily, while the boy was left speechless. He continued before Yamato could answer: "See, this is Tsunade Senju. She is responsible for the Senju clan along with her brother and would like to take legal guardianship of you, so that you can be trained in the clan. You just won’t receive the Senju surname. I hope that’s not a problem, all right?" Minato said, while the boy seemed overwhelmed with so much information.

"You’re scaring him, Minato," Tsunade mocked, while asking the woman in charge of the orphanage to prepare the paperwork, approaching the boy and crouching in front of him, touching his shoulder.

The boy took a deep breath when he saw the beautiful woman before him, who offered him a smile. "Look here, you idiot... if you don’t come with us, something very bad will happen to you," she declared, dropping the smile and showing a look full of fury.

"You’re doing worse than me," Minato laughed, bringing his hand to his forehead in frustration.

He pulled Tsunade away and tried a calmer approach, while asking Tsunade to go with the woman from the orphanage to arrange the paperwork.

Then Minato called the boy to a corner.

"So, you don’t think about becoming a ninja? Someone strong and powerful? You have a lot of potential, you know?"

"But... do you really think I could do that?" the boy murmured.

"Yes, do you know why? Because you have a special power. I want you to help protect the village with it. That’s why Tsunade will train you in the Senju clan. It will be the most suitable for you." He paused, the boy paying attention to everything he said.

"But this is just between us... you have the same power as the First Hokage. That’s why we want to take you to the clan, where you will be well treated and receive the proper training to use that power," he said, whispering, while the boy seemed frozen once again.

"Anyway, I know this is sudden. Do you want to stay a bit longer and talk to your friends? Do you want to come with us and become a ninja?" Minato asked. At least he would give the boy a choice; it would not be like Danzō, who would abduct him as soon as he saw the Mokuton.

The boy seemed to think for a moment before nodding to Minato. "I would like to be a ninja," he said. It was his dream, and he had felt crushed when he failed the academy selection; his body was very injured at that time, and it had been years.

Minato smiled. "Well, that’s what I wanted to hear," he said, as Tsunade returned some time later.

"I’ll just say goodbye to my friends today, all right?" the boy said shyly.

They agreed. "That’s fine, go ahead. We’ll come back tomorrow to get you. Be prepared," said Minato.

With that, Tsunade and Minato left the orphanage. Now, the Senju would become the boy’s legal guardian.

"I hope we’re making a good choice here, Minato," Tsunade murmured.

"Don’t worry about that. You’ve already raised a daughter... just don’t kill him with your punches," Minato teased, before Tsunade took on a slightly more serious tone.

"If things go wrong, will you take her...?" She wasn’t talking about Yamato.

"Obviously. Even if things are calm in the village now, you know that, even if I didn’t want her to, she would come. And still, I want to have her by my side," Minato said, and Tsunade nodded with a somber look.

Thus, they returned to the Senju clan, with a heavier atmosphere than there should have been. After all, decisions would be made in the coming days that would change the lives of Minato and those closest to him forever.

--
Raccoon Here:
I want to put Sakumo in Hiruzen’s place until the end of the Third War; I think he deserves it.