Selfish Desire [Sasuke Uchiha]

Chapter 28: Sacrificial Lamb

Ayuda's P.O.V

Naruto won.

He managed to defeat Pein all by himself. And due to his victory, Pein revived everyone he killed during the invasion on his own will. It was unbelievably beatific to see those who were dead rose from the ground with a face of pure confusion and astonishment, even those who witnessed their revival were dumbstruck. But fortunately, Katsuyu, which still accompanied each shinobi and also Naruto, informed us every detail that we were all dying to know.

Once everything had calmed down, we all waited for the arrival of a certain blue-eyed Jinchuuriki for we were eager to welcome the hero of Konoha. As soon as Kakashi, who fetched the Uzumaki in the forest, arrived and placed the blond boy down after carrying him on his back, we all then enthusiastically greeted the intrepid Uzumaki with grins and open arms.

It was utterly tear-jerking to see Naruto, who was being shunned, abhorred, bullied, and feared by people including most of his classmates ever since he was a kid, was now being regarded, respected and acknowledged as the hero of Konoha. Even Iruka shed tears like a father who seems completely proud of seeing his son acquiring noble achievements. What startled me was when Ino claimed that she could fall for Naruto any time soon.

After celebrating Naruto's victory, all of us began rebuilding our hometown. Yamato volunteered to reconstruct houses for those who lost their homes by using his special Wood Style technique in producing ready-made houses. I was also one of those who lost my apartment due to Pein 'Shinra Tensei-ing' nearly the whole village and thanks to Yamato, I acquired a new wooden two-story house. My parents also got one of the Yamato-made houses, although they claimed that they would stay there until their house was fully rebuilt.

Yep, they went as far as to hire some construction workers to make another grand house.

The first day after the end of Pein's invasion was very hectic for all of us but by the next day, everything cooled down and few of us were already getting accustomed to the new changes.

However, there were some bad changes too that I found wildly unreasonable.

First of all, all of us received terrible news that Tsunade, our strong and beautiful Fifth Hokage, had fallen into a coma. This also means that there was no leader to guide us in the aftermath of the Akatsuki's invasion. We were without an active Hokage but we knew that for now, we must focus on rebuilding the village back to life as we waited for the moment when Tsunade would rise from her coma.

Another awful report was delivered to me on the third day after Pein's invasion. Kaito, Kazuki, Sakura, Naruto, Kakashi, Shiori and I were sauntering around the village, simply enjoying our time together when we heard a masculine voice called out for us, "Hey!"

All seven of us halted in our tracks and spun around to see Kiba riding Akamaru which was sprinting towards us rather hastily. The grim look on Kiba's face revealed that whatever he was about to enlighten us would not be pretty.

"Oh, Kiba," said Kaito, "What's the matter?"

Kiba seemed so impatient to break the news to us that he did not even bother to remove himself from atop Akamaru as he spoke up, "Now stay calm and listen! Tsunade-sama has been relieved as the Hokage!"

"What?!" gasped Sakura in incredulity while my eyes widened with the same emotion as the pinkette was feeling.

Kiba added, "It seems someone named Danzo is the Sixth Hokage! I don't know too much, but apparently, he's been active behind the scenes!"

"Danzo?!" Sakura repeated with shock plastered all over her features.

I, on the other hand, was clueless about this Danzo dude. Who is he?