Will of embers

Chapter 6

The last few weeks were quite peaceful. Hiruzen didn't have to deal with any big names in this world and could suffer in peace doing all the paperwork. At least he wasn't alone. Kakashi had no choice but to work next to the Third Hokage. So far, his job was to go through all the paperwork that reached Hiruzen and arrange it from most important to the least.

Hiruzen was able to catch up on his studies. But so far, he only got to up the theory of chakra nature and other studies about the village and shinobi life. He could only do reading without anyone batting an eye at him. And with his shadow clones sharing memories, he was quickly going through the books. But in the end, it was only a theory he could learn. It was the basics of the basics.

"Good job, Kakashi," Hiruzen cracked his neck as he finished the last pile of paperwork. "With your help, I could finish the work before dinner."

"Ugh," Kakashi groaned with his face buried on the table.

"It has been some time since I had a stroll through the village," Hiruzen commented as he suddenly didn't know what to do with his free time. "Let's have some dinner before calling it a day."

"Ugh," Kakashi replied, and as Hiruzen understood, he agreed.

Anyway, Hiruzen dragged Kakashi with him to the village. It has become tiresome to sit in his office for days and then get memories of his shadow clones. The only explanation Hiruzen could come up with for being able to endure so much was probably because of his high intelligent stat. He learned and adapted faster than he thought he could.

But still, it was nice to walk around the village without worries finally. Danzo seemed to be sitting quietly, not disturbing Hiruzen. Orochimaru was busy with his research and didn't seem to act hostile to Hiruzen so far. Of course, Hiruzen knew they were scheming something, but he was certain they wouldn't do anything while he was taking a stroll in the village.

"It has certainly changed in the past few weeks," Hiruzen said as he walked through the district rebuilt from scratch after the Demon Fox attack. "Let's see if we can find a place to eat."

"You seemed happy today," Kakashi said, as Hiruzen smiled while looking around.

"Sometimes it is hard to enjoy the things you have while still grieving over the things you have lost," Hiruzen replied, trying to sound like a wise old man. "But occasionally, you must force yourself to forget the past, not think about the future, and enjoy the present. If you can't do so, you will fall into the darkness further and further with each day."

"I am fine," Kakashi said, mistaking Hiruzen's words to be about him.

"I am not," Hiruzen replied. "Each day, I am stuck in the office. I can't stop thinking about why and what I am doing here. Doubts cloud my mind as I can't stop thinking about the future. How my decision today will change the future? I ask it myself way too much, so it is nice to finally not think about it and look around what is around me in the present."

Sometimes, it truly felt suffocating trying to pretend to be someone he wasn't. The fear of someone discovering his secret didn't help his situation. But little by little, he got used to it. He was getting better at running the village. And his knowledge of the future did help him plan his next steps. He knew what was important and what he should look out for.

"Hmm?" Hiruzen stopped before an unassuming shop. It was familiar to him. So, he entered the shop that looked like it served ramen. It smelled quite nice inside, too. It only took a moment for Hiruzen to realize where he was when he saw the middle-aged man behind the counter. He should have realized it when he saw the sign with the name of Ramen Ichiraku outside, but it just didn't click in his mind until he saw the familiar face.

"Oh," The owner and the chef was surprised to see Hiruzen taking a seat. "Hokage-sama, what would you like?"

"I have miso lamb ramen," Hiruzen replied, remembering that Naruto liked it and called it the food of the gods. "What about you, Kakashi? I am buying."

"The same," Kakashi wasn't too keen on it as he sat beside Hiruzen.

"Right up," The chef replied and went to work.

It was nice. He almost forgot how to act normal without anyone judging him. The chef didn't look like someone who cared about status or how one should act, so Hiruzen relaxed. He was here only to eat dinner and enjoy the meal like any other customer. The same way he would do in his previous life. The cute girl helping her father by his side made Hiruzen smile. It was just so wholesome.

"It is quite quiet," Hiruzen commented as he looked around, not finding anyone else in the shop.

"Well, the dinner time is already over," The chef replied as he presented steaming ramen for Hiruzen, while the brown-haired girl did the same for Kakashi.

It was marvelous. It was a feast for Hiruzen's eyes as the dish looked glossy and shining. The smell coming from the ramen was divine; it already had pushed all Hiruzen's worries, and he hadn't even taken a bite. With chopsticks, Hiruzen picked smooth, silky noodles and was ready to enter the domain of gods.

"Hokage-sama," But alas, it wasn't meant to. "It is an emergency. The other council members are waiting for you in your office."

Hiruzen could only look at his meal with regret as he let the noodles fall back into the bowl. It took a lot of willpower to put down his chopsticks. His leg trembled as he stood up, and tears swelled in his eyes as he turned away from the shop. Like a defeated soldier, Hiruzen was ready to walk to his office.

"Enjoy your meal, Kakashi," Hiruzen said, as he couldn't let a kid suffer the same fate as he.

As regrettable as it was to leave the ramen shop without even trying out the divine ramen, it was an emergency, and as Hokage, he couldn't ignore it, no matter what. And since the rest of the Konoha council was waiting for him, Hiruzen could not be the only one who didn't show up, even though the last thing he wanted was to deal with Danzo and the other two oldies.

…

Danzo waited for Hiruzen with Homura and Koharu. It was already a surprise not to find him in his office, so Danzo couldn't help but be impatient. It wasn't an emergency or anything like it, but the situation must be dealt with immediately before it festers into something more dangerous for Konoha.

"I hope it is important," Hiruzen finally entered the office and took his seat. "So, what is it?"

"As you know," Homura began as he and others felt that Hiruzen was slightly irritated. "Before the Demon Fox attack, the Fourth tried to sign a peace agreement with Kumokagure. But just now, we received word from our ambassadors that Kumokagure has refused to sign it and made the ambassadors leave their village."

"Not only did they show their disrespect towards us, but they also made it clear that they will not sign any peace agreement with us," Koharu added as Hiruzen started to scowl. "We can't effort to enter another war, but without giving them outrageous benefits, we can't do anything."

Danzo knew his old friend and rival well. He wanted peace the most. So, Danzo only had to wait for Hiruzen to agree with the bullshit demands Kumokagure would give before saying anything. As much as people might respect Hiruzen, he was too kind. And it was Danzo's job to stop Hiruzen from making foolish decisions.

"Did they give any demands?" Hiruzen asked as Danzo had expected.

"Not yet. They only refused to sign a peace treaty," Homura replied.

"They are trying to intimidate us," Danzo said, not wanting to stay silent anymore. "They probably are trying to confirm what situation Konoha is in before making their demands. If they don't know it already, soon they will know that the Fourth Hokage is dead and our jinchuriki is useless. Then they will not hold back their demands."

"Then where is the emergency?" Hiruzen asked, surprising Danzo at how well he took the news. "Make sure that the ambassadors return to the village safely. Ignore Kumogakure unless they are reconsidering about peace treaty."

Danzo couldn't help his eyes widening at Hiruzen's response. It wasn't something Danzo expected to hear from his old rival. Did he need to reconsider how much he knew about Hiruzen, or something else was going on? Danzo was already on edge since he knew that Hiruzen knew that he tried to poach Kakashi and use him to spy on Hiruzen.

It made Danzo uneasy as he waited for Hiruzen to confront him, yet he never did. Danzo could recognize that trying to manipulate Kakashi so soon was a mistake, but he was given the best opportunity. Kakashi was emotionally vulnerable since his sensei and the last of his team died. Kakashi had nothing, so Danzo thought he could easily pull him to his side. Yet it seems that Hiruzen managed to find out about his scheme and take Kakashi for himself.

"We still need to do something," Koharu said as she thought Hiruzen's response wasn't enough. "We can't assume that Kumogakure isn't planning anything else. They might take our weakness as a chance to attack."

"Konoha is more than its Hokage and jinchuriki. And if they try anything, they will sooner or later realize it."

There was a certain coldness and certainty in Hiruzen's voice that made others feel reassured. But it made Danzo even more uneasy. It wasn't like Hiruzen to resort to other methods before trying everything to make peace with Kumokagure unless Hiruzen knew that Danzo would use this and Hiruzen's actions to further his plans.

Did Hiruzen know what he was planning? If he could find out about Kakashi so fast, there is no way that Hiruzen didn't at least suspect Danzo acting against him. But Danzo was more concerned about whether Hiruzen knew of his dealing with Orochimaru. He couldn't let Hiruzen interfere with the experiments. They were necessary for the village.

…

"Ding!!! New quest: As Hokage of Konohagakure, convince Kumogakure to sign a peace treaty so your citizens can feel safe. Ding!!!"

Reward: Random fuinjutsu skill.

Penalty: Permanent sealing of core memory.

'Ahhh!' It took a lot of self-control not to scream. Not only did he have to sit in this meeting talking about a peace treaty when he didn't know any details, but he also received a new task. He was not ready to lead negotiations for peace. It took a lot of work to learn how to sign papers in his office correctly. And it was only basic things that he could understand from the context.

How could he convince another village to agree to peace with them? Even the real Hiruzen couldn't do it as he remembered the treaty was signed about three years from now. He didn't even know how complicated their relations were. As far as he knew, the Third War had ended, but the villages still held hostilities for each other.

No, this time, he can't take the quest. The reward wasn't worth the risk. If he fucked up, he could bring war to the village. And there were plenty of ways he could fuck up. Even though he will have to forgo a memory, even if it is a core memory, it is better not to meddle in this. Surely, the situation couldn't be that bad, as he didn't remember any major conflict with Kumo and Konoha.

"Is that all?" Hiruzen asked as he tried to finish his meeting.

"Since we are here anyway, I would like to discuss the future of our shinobi forces," Of course, Danzo would want to talk more. "After the war and the Demon Fox attack, we lack shinobi. I propose to lessen the requirements to join the genin corps."

"It would lower the quality of the corps," It took a moment to remember Koharu's name, as he had only memorized all the names of the shinobi in the village a week ago.

"The weak ones would die out, anyway. It wouldn't matter if they join the forces now or a few years later," Danzo was brutal but pragmatic. "It will only give us more resources to allocate to the talented ones and let them shine."

"No," The real Hiruzen would probably agree with him for denying Danzo. "We should raise the requirements."

"How?" It surprised Hiruzen that Danzo didn't pounce on him for his disagreement.

"Every student should be proficient with basic taijutsu and weapon handling, as well as be able to perform the three E-rank jutsu of Body Replacement, Clone, and Transformation, as it was done before the war," The countless hours of studies were finally paying off. "But the students will also need to learn a medical ninjutsu. Specifically, Poison Removal jutsu to join the genin corps."

"Even though it is a basic jutsu, it still requires advocate chakra control that most students don't possess," Homura said, concerned and slightly indicating that he agreed with Danzo.

"Exactly," Hiruzen wasn't disturbed and even gave out a small smile. "The students will be forced to learn to control their chakra better early, allowing them not to waste it when required most. If either of you had studied reports of the deaths during the war, you would have realized that the most common cause of death among shinobi is poison. And even though it is impossible to say, you can't deny that many die prematurely because they run out of chakra in battles. It was foolish of us to only now consider to implement it, to begin with."

Of course, Hiruzen hid the fact that those reports were before Tsunade created countless antidotes for various poisons during the Second War. But still, while studying the Third War, Hiruzen read countless reports of death because they failed to slow down the effects of poison. Poison was a common weapon among shinobi. And it did help that Tsunade will appreciate what he has done when she learns of it.

"It will take too long for the students to learn it," Danzo quickly shot down Hiruzen's idea.

"I am well aware of it," Hiruzen replied, not backing away. "But it will save more lives in the long run. And we aren't in active conflict with any village. We aren't pressured to produce more shinobi. We have plenty of forces. There is no need to sacrifice children for fear of shadows."

"We might not be in active conflict, but our enemies still hide in the shadows. They are waiting for an opportunity to strike," Danzo wasn't backing off either. "We need to prepare for the worse. And sadly, sometimes a sacrifice is needed."

"Not this time," Hiruzen detected no sadness from Danzo. "My decision is final. And this meeting is over."

Fuinjutsu skills: Negative Emotions Sensing

Hiruzen received this jutsu when he cleared Kakashi's doubts towards him. It was great jutsu that he could apply to most facilities he visited. The seal was easy to hide, and it wasn't in any fuinjutsu textbooks he had available. And everything was available for Hiruzen. It meant that it was fuinjutsu from another village or lost in time, so nobody could recognize it.

As long as a person was near the seal, Hiruzen could sense hatred, anger, fear, and even killing intent from others. These emotions couldn't be hidden from him, no matter how hard others would try. But there was one problem: Hiruzen couldn't tell the emotions apart. To him, anger was the same as hatred and killing intent. But it alerted him about the people with those emotions towards him.

And it wasn't a surprise that Hiruzen could feel those emotions from Danzo, yet not all the time. When Danzo would talk to Hiruzen, he wouldn't portray those emotions towards Hiruzen. But when Danzo was silent, Hiruzen could sense those emotions. It probably meant that Danzo could hide them when addressing Hiruzen, too bad Hiruzen couldn't tell the specific emotion Danzo would let out.

As the council members left his office, Hiruzen leaned back a bit. He awaited a notification that he had failed his quest, but it never came. And then, a thought stuck to him. The system didn't specify the time to succeed in the quest. So, as long as he could accomplish it, it didn't matter how much time passed. At least his free evening wasn't completely wasted.

A.N. As always, If you want more, up to seven advanced chapters, you can support me on pa treon. com \ ironwolf852. And if you have any requests for stories, I will only take them on my pa treon.