A gentle, rhythmic clacking echoed through the corridor at the top of the Hokage Tower. Naturally, his footsteps that should accompany that sound were silent. Danzou enjoyed the sound his cane made: those who knew him feared it, feared him. Those who didn't underestimated him because of it.
He killed those people.
"Torune, what is the status of the hunt for our missing-nin?" he asked, voice dangerous, low.
"Teams 12 and 14 have been found. The genin have been brought back to the village, their senseis, regrettably, were killed during the retrieval."
"Am I to understand then, Torune, that the search for teams 8 and 10 have been unsuccessful?" He asked, squeezing his cane tightly in his hand, turning his knuckles white. He knew the answer. Had it been otherwise, Torune would have been tripping over himself to give the good news.
"Yes, Danzou-sama. Sarutobi Asuma has managed to kill at least four of our trackers and seriously wound two others. Team 8's trail has run cold after crossing the border into Kiri, though we found evidence that Team 9's Rock Lee is travelling with them."
Danzou nodded slowly. It was good that the boy hadn't disappeared entirely. His showing in the Chunin exams proved his potential. Team 9's situation truly was unfortunate. Might Guy was too enamoured with Hiruzen's ways and, like many others loyal to the previous regime, had attempted to fight his way out of the village.
His attempt had failed, though he managed to create enough of a commotion that the boy Rock Lee managed to slip through their fingers.
Guy would not be turned and Danzou knew well enough that trying would be a waste of effort, and his attitude had spread to his students. Even so, Danzou had never been one to throw away a potentially valuable tool, and the Genin could be turned to his cause, even after the damage Danzou had been forced to inflict upon their sensei.
All things said and done, his ascension to power was always going to have been a bloody affair. The losses had been inevitable, a price worth paying. But he needed to act decisively now to secure his position, to secure Konoha's position. Especially as Konoha was missing its Jinchuuriki, spirited away as he had been by Jiraiya. The tracking seal he had placed inside the boy using his blade all those months ago was useless while he was with the Toads. But Danzou would know as soon as he returned, and the boy would be taught how to properly wield that power of his in Konoha's service,
If he didn't, Danzou would simply rip it out of him and give it to someone who could.
"Torune, once the confirmation ceremony is complete, muster the Jonin. I have indicated my willingness to Suna to discuss peace terms. We will use this opportunity to wipe the village from the map. You have command of the operation. Kill them all."
A moment passed, "civilians, Danzou-sama?"
Danzou's eyes narrowed.
"Now is not the time for cowardice and hesitation, Torune. The other villages will be looking for a chance to strike at us and we cannot afford to look weak. Scour Sunagakure from the maps, eradicate every man, woman and child. Show the world what it means to cross Konoha with Shimura Danzou as it's Hokage."
"Hai, Hokage-sama."
Torune flickered away to begin carrying out his orders and Danzou paused in front of a set of heavy oaken double-doors leading the roof of the tower, where his inauguration as the fifth Hokage was about to take place.
For Konoha.
He strode through the door, the red and white robes of office flowing out behind him, and emerged out into silence, suddenly flanked by a pair of ANBU. There were no cheers, only hundreds of kneeling shinobi below. That was fine. He had known that he would never be loved, never be appreciated in the way that Hiruzen had been. But under him, they would be strong. Konoha would thrive. Danzou reached the railing and gazed out upon the village that was finally, finally, his.
He smiled.
"Civilians and shinobi of Konoha," the masked ANBU to his right called out, "it is my honour to present Konoha's Fifth Hokage."
###
"Kakashi, we need to move."
Hatake Kakashi forced himself not to roll his eyes at Anko's words. He understood the need for speed, for urgency. But understanding didn't stop the bile from rising to the back of his throat, nor did it still his trembling hands. Leading his team into a life or death battle he could handle with easy indifference. He was there to protect them.
What he was about to do was anathema to everything that he stood for.
"She's right, Kakashi-sensei," Sasuke's voice drove the kunai deeper, and he let his lone eye gaze out into the murky forest-gloom that surrounded them. They were a good distance north from the village, in a small, secluded clearing in the forest. As careful as they had been not to be followed, there could be no guarantees. They were both right.
"You're sure about this, Sasuke? And you, Sakura?"
The pair stood across from him, beside a tree. Sasuke's Sharingan gleamed in the dark, tracing subtle flows of chakra in the air in a way that his never could. He looked calm and composed, more certain than Kakashi had ever seen him. Sakura stood beside him, face as serious as it was afraid, and yet she seemed more resolute than even the Uchiha's.
"It's like you said," she started, "Danzou won't ever trust you. It's only a matter of time before you're 'taken care of' if you stay."
"And the mission?" he asked, "no one would blame you if you wanted to just keep your heads down until something is done about Danzou?"
"Screw that," Sasuke spat, with such venom that Kakashi's lone eye widened in surprise, "those that abandon their comrades are worse than scum. That's the one, iron-clad rule you taught us and the rule that Itachi and now Danzou have broken in the worst way possible. We won't stand by and wait while others bring him down for us. I won't be dead weight again."
Kakashi sighed. They had grown so much in such a short time. They would have to grow a lot more in the days and months and years ahead of them. In the shinobi world, growing normally meant pain. And now, they would be doing it without him there to help.
"Fine. Take as few risks as possible. We have no idea how long you will need to be in place for and if Danzou suspects any disloyalty he won't hesitate to stamp it out. I'll get in touch with you to arrange how we will transfer information. From this point on, you can only trust each other inside the village and even then, beware of any deception."
"Hai, sensei," they echoed, and Kakashi nodded approvingly.
"Hatake, we really need to get moving," Anko ground out, patience wearing thin. He turned back to her and the girl, Kin, that would be their third travelling companion and nodded.
"Be safe, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura half-whispered, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.
"Protect each other, you two."
Sasuke smiled then and looked him dead in the eye.
"Don't worry, sensei. I won't allow my comrades to die, I'll protect them with my life."
Kakashi's lone eye curved into a smile, but his heart soared as he heard his own words repeated back to him.
"Good to hear. Team Seven, the true Team Seven, you are hereby disbanded until such a time as we can reunite as shinobi of Konoha under their rightful Hokage. Good luck, both of you."
Moments passed and suddenly, the clearing was empty, no trace of it ever having been occupied remaining.
###
Naruto gazed out across the seething jungle that belonged to the toads, wrapped heavily in bandages and fists clenched white-knuckle tight. He had won. Saved the village from a murderous jinchuuriki and yet, it was meaningless.
The Third was dead, and his killer wore the Hokage's hat.
Just the thought of it turned his stomach and set his eyes burning with the beginnings of tears.
Behind him, Jiraiya landed softly on the cliff edge that Naruto had perched himself upon. If anything, the old pervert was in a worse state than he was, which still made him reel. Jiraiya had always seemed invincible to him - Naruto had never even once gotten close to landing a blow upon his master. Whatever fight Jiraiya and the Third had been in on that rooftop must have been unreal.
Whatever questions he might have had, he kept them to himself. Jiraiya wouldn't talk about it, and Naruto wouldn't dream of prodding at wounds that raw.
"Sensei."
"Gaki. How're you holding up?"
Naruto shrugged his shoulders, "About as well as you'd expect. Physically fine, I guess."
"Good. We haven't got time to waste. I've been checking in with a few of my sources - Akatsuki are on the move, which means you need to be ready. Itachi seems to believe they're preparing to move for the Bijuu. You have two years at most."
"What about the village?" Naruto asked, trying to ignore the flutter of panic that vibrated through him at the thought of being hunted by that group.
"Don't misunderstand me when I say this, Naruto - I want to wring Danzou's throat more than anybody in the Elemental Nations - but the damage Akatsuki could do with nine of the bijuu... This is bigger than just Konoha."
Naruto took a deep breath as fear became something else. Resolve. Resolve, and the faintest spark of an idea.
"Fuck that."
"Oh?" Jiraiya asked, eyebrow raised.
"You say I've got two years? Fine. I'll become so damned strong in two years that I'll be able to stop Akatsuki and take the village back from Danzou. Konoha is our home. I won't stand by and let it suffer no matter what."
"And what makes you think you can get that strong in just two years, Gaki?" Jiraiya asked. His tone was disbelieving, yet Naruto felt that there was something else there - or perhaps it was the absence of something? It didn't matter. Naruto clenched his fist and looked his master dead in the eyes.
"Because I won't be alone - I have a plan."
Jiraiya smirked, his first smile since they had arrived here. "A plan? Now, this I have to hear."
Naruto began to speak, and when his idea wasn't immediately shot down by his master, he felt a tingle of excitement rush across his skin. He spoke, and Jiraiya made adjustments as he did so, and the tingle grew into a rush of adrenaline as the enormity of what he wanted to achieve set in.
His village had been taken from him. His home, and the home of everybody he cared about.
He was going to take it back for them, even if it killed him.
Book One of Inheritance,
End.
***
Hope you enjoyed the chapter!
Any comments and feedback are massively appreciated - one of my favourite parts of serial fiction is interacting with readers as they experience the stories I'm telling!
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A/N: I can't believe this is done! Eleven years, 1200 reviews and nearly two million views.
Well, I say done, it's not really. Inheritance was started for a little fun at Uni, and has sort of snowballed into something else entirely. It began as a discovery writing exercise - how well could I pants my way through a story? How could I adapt to the changing plot and characters without any forethought or planning? And, being honest, how readable is my writing with next to no editing or proofreading?
I knew from the start roughly where I wanted to take this, but had no concept of how I was going to get there. Given how Book One has ended, I'm really glad that we did end up where I wanted to.
Going forward, fanfiction is probably going to take somewhat of a backseat for me in terms of writing projects. I'm currently working on an original epic fantasy novel, as well as a collection of short stories set in the same Universe - the first of which has been sold to an editor and will be properly published in a magazine in January 2022, which is hugely exciting!
Having said that, I have no intention of letting Inheritance be. Inheritance is intended as a trilogy at a minimum, and I don't intend to scale that back. In the immediate future, I intend to go back through this entire book, and do a proper edit, chapter by chapter. I'm a far better writer now than I was 10 years ago, and I'd like this entire book one to reflect that.
After that, work on Book 2 will begin. I can't promise that it will be fast - my original work has to take a priority - but I can promise that I don't ever intend to let this thing die. Inheritance, and the amazing people that have read it through the years have been a lifeline to me. They've inspired me to write, to keep going, and along with my fiance, have pushed me towards working to get properly published. Finishing this is the only way I can really pay that back. So I promise that I will.
And I never go back on my word - that's my goddamned ninja way.
If you'd like to keep up to date with my writing etc. I have a twitter you can follow and get in touch with me through - CAshenhand (y'all know how to find it). If you'd like to support my dream of making writing a full-time career, please consider checking out my Patreon (link is on my profile). All of the material behind the paywall there is linked to my original writing rather than my fanfiction, for obvious reasons, but a few people have DMd me to ask if I have one regardless!
Quite apart from anything else, I really hope that you've enjoyed this story, even half as much as I've enjoyed writing it.
You guys are amazing!
Cathal Ashenhand.
As a little heads up, from this point on, chapters will be hosted early on my P*treon account (for free of course-never charging for ff!) as an extra little reward for my members over there. You can find me and join for free at /drking - they'll also be getting access to Stand Tall and Becoming chapters early too.
As an extra little heads up, folks have been plagiarising the hell out of Inheritance by uploading it in its entirety to Youtube a bunch with a tts voice. As a result, I decided I may as well do it, then people can at least choose to listen to it via the author instead of some random chancer. If that's your thing, you can check it out on my IWriteFantasy youtube channel, where I'm posting Inheritance and Stand Tall chapter by chapter. In all honesty, just hopping across to sub would be hugely helpful too, so hopefully I'll see some of you there!