Uchiha Naruto: The Sage

Chapter 45

A few days later

''Five hundred innocent civilian lives is a great casualty, Emperor. Really, I am surprised that you haven't turned your attention towards Iwagakure for their actions. You cannot excuse the kind of unneccesary deaths they caused." Gaara stated strongly, facing the Emperor.

Beside him were, Kotaro, Konan, Mei and Heisuke. Nagato was still missing, since there seemed to be other important matters that needed to be dealt with in the Village hidden in Rain. Not to mention he controlled the entire Rain country. Though technically the Rain belonged to the the Imperial Kingdom, Nagato's village was Amegakure but the Emperor had been the one to make arrangements to control the Rain, and put Nagato in charge of it.

They were all here because the news of Iwa's daring assault on the empires people was an assult that couldn't be forgiven. If Onoki was willing to go this far then there had to be some action taken against the Kage for the unprovoked murder of the innocents. The sand Kazekage was disgusted by the blatant disregard for civilian lives and the provoking of war. What would possess a man to blow up five trains carrying inoccent people? He'd killed many people in his past, but he was a crazed person who believed the only way to sustain and prove his existence was through killing others.

Onoki wasn't a mad person. He was a Kage who had the trust of other people. Would he be happy if someone else murdered the civilians of his village for no good reason? Even he would be angry, especially with the number of people that were killed. That number was almost the total of Naruto's special force, and also the Imperial Forces, with four commanders, and the commander in chief being Naruto.

''Targeting civilians to send a message is cowardly, and something that should never be allowed to slip through without proper 'measures'' Mei added, standing with the others. Just because she was the wife of the Emperor didn't mean that she could stand in beside Naruto. Hell no. When they were in this palace, there was only one leader, and that was Naruto. He didn't share his kingship with anyone.

''Heika,'' Kotaro stated - he was one of the generals in the special army Naruto had 'trained' while the Empire was still being built. Aside from him and Heisuke, there were two others who commanded the army within the village. ''Military action to prove our might is needed to show the other nations that we don't hide behind you, but we can also fight.''

The true strength of the Imperial army has never been tested by any serious oppoent or enemy. Yes, they were effiicient in making sure that the village was secure from enemies, but they were never called upon into a battle ground to fight a serious army. Shinobi from the capital were stronger, and fought well in their missions. It was mostly because anyone less than Jonin wasn't recognized as a shinobi in the laws of the country. There were no Genins who did missions outside the village, nor chunin.

As the Emperor put it, ''The Children should be at the academy learning or playing at home rather than beIng in the battle ground.'' This was refered to 'genins.' Of course this led to the rank of genin being scrapped. No, it never existed in the Empire.

''I agree with Kotaro,'' Heisuke said rather firmly. ''Those people were supposed to be safe in our trains. True we cannot always protect them outside the country, but the trains are ours and we must take responsibility for it.''

The Emperor pose wasn't forgotten as Naruto deliberated everything that was said. It wasn't that he hadn't thought of a decision and already knew what he was going to do. These people already knew that a decison has already been made, yet they still came here with their suggestions. Perhaps they just wanted to show him that they were prepared to take extreme actions against anyone who dares disrupt the peace of the Empire.

''There has been a change in the wind currents. Do you feel where the wind is blowing?'' None actually answered the question posed by the Emperor. ''It is neccesary to show our might to these fools, but I do wonder what Hagoromo would do in this kind of situation. Onoki has done wrong, and has to be punished, severely. He was warned after all.''