At the same hour Ryu disturbed the seal on Naruto's stomach, every seat in the council chamber beneath the Hokage's tower was occupied.
The invitations had gone out three days prior, under Danzo Shimura's name, with the subject listed plainly: the jinchūriki of the Leaf Village. Everyone gathered on time; they had discussed the matter with each other beforehand. The topic was too significant to be ignored.
Danzo sat at ease. When everyone was present, he did not open with the motion.
He opened with Naruto Uzumaki.
"He is not just any child," Danzo began, his voice flat and carrying the dry weight of a risk report. "The Nine-Tails is our ultimate strategic weapon. Every clan head at this table previously agreed to maintain their distance, understanding that no single faction should influence him. Yet, over the past few weeks of heightened surveillance, it has become apparent that the jinchūriki is being exposed to unregulated variables. And even trained by the Hamura clan without approval."
He folded his hands over his cane, looking across the table. "Every major shinobi nation is quietly reassessing our military stability. The village has an absolute obligation to manage the weapon's environment. Moving forward, let it be understood: Any unauthorised act of contacting or socialising with the vessel will be viewed as a direct attempt to claim custody of the village's only strategic weapon. Given what happened four years ago… Leaving his development to the unchecked influence of the Hamura clan is a vulnerability we will no longer permit."
Nobody spoke. Everyone was calculating.
Natsurama Senju did not take long.
"You have called a mandatory meeting to discuss who he is permitted to spend time with," he said, keeping his voice level.
"I have called a meeting to discuss exposure management of the village's most critical strategic asset," Danzo said, without inflection.
"His name is Naruto." Natsurama let the words sit. "He is a child, and children require companions, structure, and basic human warmth—not managed isolation simply because factions at this table fear a political imbalance when he grows up and repays the kindness shown to him today."
He looked around the room, his gaze hardening. "Many of you have children of your own. Try seeing him as one. He is the son of a hero who sacrificed his life for this village. This council egregiously made that truth a taboo, but the absolute least you could do is treat the boy with the kindness he is owed."
"He is not an ordinary child. The danger he carries does not care about his age or his name. We have an obligation to ensure the influences shaping him serve the village's interests," Danzo said.
"A heartless man who was never loved by his own father… has no children of his own," Natsurama said quietly, "has no standing to lecture this council on what children require."
The room went still in a different way.
Danzo's expression did not shift. "We are shinobi. The village was not constructed to produce happy childhoods."
"It was constructed," Natsurama said, "precisely so that children could have one before this world took them from them. That was the founding argument. That is why there is now an age restriction on high-risk missions that did not exist when we were children. We watched an entire generation fed into a furnace and said: never again." He held Danzo's gaze across the table. "Or have you conveniently forgotten that too?"
Danzo said nothing.
No one else spoke.
"A moving speech," Danzo said finally, his voice devoid of warmth. "Let us see if it moves this table. We will now vote. All in favour of enacting a restraining order on the Hamura clan raise their hands."
At the head of the table, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat with his hands folded and said nothing at all.
The three elders—Danzo Shimura, Homura Mitokado, and Koharu Utatane—raised their hands. Hiruzen saw this coming. The five civilian Ninja members raised their hands as soon as the elders did. Then Hiashi Hyuga raises his hand.
The Hyuga representative had arrived with his conclusion beforehand. Hamura Industries had put a machine in the hospital's diagnostic ward that could map internal structures without a single Hyuga in the room, and the clan had not missed what that meant for the premium their Byakugan commanded in medical contracts. Hiruzen had watched that particular grievance calcify for months.
The allies of Hyuga were in a pinch; neither raised their hands. Tsume Inuzuka sat several seats down. She had looked to the Hyuga and calculated the room, but the political math and the human cost had pulled her in different directions all morning. Her expression was the face of someone at war with their answer. Shibi Aburame was still beside her, his face offering nothing in either direction.
Hiruzen thought of the previous evening and said nothing.
[The previous night — Hokage's Office]
Natsurama was in Hiruzen's chamber and had not sat down. Hiruzen was expectign him so he had already thought about what to say.
"I cannot let Danzo do as he wishes… We need a unified front," he said. "Let's call in favours, Hiruzen. The Sarutobi clan has served as the appointed teachers of the Ino-Shika-Cho trio since the founding of this village. That tradition carries weight. They will follow you if you ask."
Hiruzen had sighed. "I cannot do that."
"Cannot or will not?"
"Will not. Because Ryu has asked me not to."
The silence that followed needed reading.
"He has asked you," Natsurama said slowly, "to let Danzo's motion pass."
"He hasn't told me why. He told me he has a plan, and the plan requires this to happen first."
"And you trust that."
"I've watched Ryu long enough," Hiruzen said. "Every move he makes is three steps ahead of what I can see. Whatever he is doing, letting this motion pass is part of it." He folded his hands on the desk. "I am not invoking that tradition to block a chess move I do not yet understand. I wish to see how the situation plays out."
Natsurama was quiet. "Fine. You do what he asks. I will do what I think is right." He moved toward the door. "You trust him, and yet you leave the rest of us to fight blind."
Hiruzen said nothing. He had thought the same thing.
[In the present — Council Chamber]
Those who were in favour of the motion have already raised their hands and now have put their hands back. Nine hands in favour.
Natsurama's hand rose first as he spoke, "Raise your hands if you are against the motion."
To everyone's surprise, Fugaku Uchiha raised his hand.
He had watched the child from the only distance the situation allowed him: the Nine-Tails made the rest of the village treat that child like a walking warning, and the Uchiha could not afford to draw more suspicion than they already carried. So they had kept their distance, and the boy had grown in that silence. But Ryu Hamura visited him, sat with him, and treated him like an ordinary child. Which meant this motion was worth opposing.
Shikaku thought, "Fugaku opposing Danzo is to be expected, but backing a Senju motion, in public, at a formal table?"
Everyone was stunned. No one could remember the last time those two clans had agreed on anything.
Without Hiruzen invoking the Sarutobi teaching tradition to direct their vote, the Ino-Shika-Cho trio were free to vote their conscience. Shikaku, Inoichi, and Chōza exchanged a single, unified glance. As fathers, they raised their hands against the motion.
Five hands against.
Hiruzen Sarutobi raised neither hand. The room had voted.
"The motion is officially passed," Danzo declared. "A stay order is now enacted, barring the Hamura clan from contacting Naruto Uzumaki."
Danzo thought, "You are yielding without a fight, Hiruzen. I don't know what you are planning, but it will not work." His gaze moved to his old friend's folded hands and did not move again.
A beat of stunned silence passed through the room. Several heads turned sharply toward the head of the table, expressions breaking into open shock. Everyone in leadership knew Hiruzen had favoured Ryu. His complete abstention on a motion designed to isolate the boy was politically jarring. A single vote would not have mattered, but it was still uncharacteristic of Hiruzen.
Fugaku's gaze moved to the Hokage and lingered for a moment. "Hiruzen did not hold back without a reason. Either the old man had something already in motion, or the boy himself had asked for this outcome… Given what I have seen of Ryu Hamura, I would not rule out the second."
The silence stretched as the council absorbed the Hokage's inaction.
Natsurama lowered his hand, his jaw tightening as he looked at the numbers and then at Hiruzen's passive form. Natsurama thought, "Now everything is in your hands, Ryu... whatever you are planning."
He finally looked down the table to Danzo. Danzo did not look back, which was, in its own way, also an answer.
Those who had voted against it sat with straight backs and said nothing. Those who had voted in favour left quickly: no one was interested in further conversation.
Danzo stood. "What are you planning, Hiruzen..." he thought as he walked out.
A/N:
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