The five ninjas, not from great ninja clans, were murmuring.
It was low – barely above a breath – but distinct enough that Ryu caught it.
They had not done that before. They kept their heads down. They did not discuss. Now they were judging the elders through a new lens Ryu had provided.
But they were discussing now. The ground had shifted in the last few minutes, and they had felt it, and their murmuring was itself a signal the elders could not ignore.
The seeds of distrust had been sown into the minds of the other council members. Ryu thought he had gained a few new votes, but it was not enough. The civilian-born members of the ninja council were under the elders' thumb and would not vote against them. Ryu needed something more.
The clan members were not all in his favour either. He had carefully handled the Aburame – accusing one of theirs of a crime, then washing away the guilt by making clear he did not blame the clan itself. Not a sure thing, but Ryu thought the Aburame would side with him when the time came.
As for Danzo's silence on the accusations, Ryu suspected he had not demanded proof because calling for testimony would mean summoning Tatsuma. The council could not force a mind scan by Inochi, nor could they do so on a Root ANBU with Danzo's seal placed into their heads.
For Danzo, it was better to let the child accuse him, as many others had, and keep his silence as always than to do things he had not before. One of them is to not kill his opponents later. But Ryu was already a target, so there was nothing new.
He stopped scanning the room. His gaze settled on the centre of the table.
"You hid behind Lord Second's choice – he chose to sacrifice himself for the next generation – like it lets you off the hook," Ryu said. "The second chose to be the decoy. But none of you offered to take his place."
He paused. He turned slightly. The accusation narrowed.
"Except one."
The distinction landed. Hiruzen was the acknowledged exception.
Ryu continued. "Lord Second tested all of you that day... He needed to see who was fit for the position of Hokage, who had the courage to step up. Only one of you did. He named Grandpa Hiruzen his successor, not because he was the strongest, but because he was the only one who had it in him to sacrifice himself for something bigger. Lord Second chose to pass the torch to the young. And you—" His gaze moved across the elder block – "You have spent every year since burning the young and calling it your sacrifice... Instead of White Fang, it should have been you. You failed the mission... not him. The mission to put others before self."
The deliberate use of "Grandpa" was not affection – it was manipulation. Anyone in the room who voted against him now knew they would be voting against the Hokage's goodwill. Ryu had already warned he held grudges. He let them calculate the cost.
No one moved.
Ryu let the beat stretch to its natural breaking point. But it was still not enough. He needed to remind those five from civilian backgrounds that Danzo was no well-wisher – that he would, without a thought, send them to their graves if they ceased to be useful to him.
"Oh, by the way – under your leadership, the Legendary Sannin were attacked by Hanzo the Salamander in the Land of Rain, right?" Ryu said, his gaze settling on Danzo. The casual tone – it unsettled the elders more than any direct accusation could have.
He scanned the civilian-background ninjas, the clan leaders, and the empty space. Then he turned his whole body toward Danzo.
"In the Second War, you commanded an entire battalion in the Land of Rain – as far as records I have read say," Ryu said. He smiled. "Commander and spymaster both. And yet you failed to track the Salamander's location and send your best asset to his location yourself?"
Danzo did not react. He met it with the same stillness he had worn through every accusation so far.
Ryu continued, "You deployed the Legendary Sannin against Hanzo of the Salamander. The history books claim that they were fortunate to survive."
A pause. A half-step forward.
"But in those same history books there are a lot of gaps."
He let the word hang. The room waited.
"Leaf's sensory network could track a rabbit crossing the border at midnight," Ryu said. His voice had not risen. "And yet the Salamander was sitting in plain sight when you sent three freshly minted S-rank elites into his turf. That's not an oversight; that seems to me like a deliberate plan."
Fugaku Uchiha's gaze shifted – not toward Ryu, not toward the boy whose theory was still settling. Toward Danzo.
Kagami Uchiha and his father had died in the same war. The elders had called it honourable. Fugaku had carried that word for fifteen years without questioning. Now, a child had called out their hypocrisy and lies.
Ryu let the implication settle, then shifted his gaze to the civilian-background members of the council. "I studied the death toll," he said. "All of the last civilian-born members of this council died in the Second War, at Hanzo's hands. They were the first to demand a position at this table, and they held it to the end."
He paused. Let the numbers speak for themselves.
"Sometimes we cannot choose our enemies, but you can choose who you fight alongside."
An elder shifted in his seat who had watched genius ninjas come and go. "This child has dived deeper into Konoha's history. Does he understand there are consequences for digging that far?"
Koharu's fingers pressed flat to the table.
"You misunderstand the purpose of this sitting," she said. Her voice held the same timbre it had carried at the start of this exchange – procedural and cold. "You came to prove your fitness – your standing – as a guardian of the boy. This chamber is not a court for you to prosecute the village's history. We will not hear another lie from your mouth and try to influence the member, and you will find yourself in trouble that Lord Daimyo won't be able to save you from."
Homura replied, "Ehem, ehem… let's just get back to the topic, shall we?"
Koharu spoke. "Show us proof that we erred in prohibiting your influence over the boy. Prove to this council you have no ulterior motive for seeking his guardianship. Prove you even deserve to stand as his guardian."
Ryu's face did not change. He nodded once, slowly, as if considering the point.
"You're right," he said. "This isn't a trial."
"To answer your actual question – my standing here is the answer."
Dan smiled. So did the Hokage. They both knew what was coming next.
"I am a descendant of the Uzumaki clan," he said. "By blood and village law, that gives me standing to be considered for guardianship of Naruto."
The declaration landed unevenly across the room. The Senju seat showed no surprise – Natsuama had known. The Hokage's face remained still; he had known too. Danzo did not react either, proving his pre-existing knowledge of this fact.
Shikaku Nara's eyes narrowed a fraction – he had suspected, but this was the first confirmation. Fugaku Uchiha's gaze sharpened; the Uzumaki bloodline hypothesis had circulated in Uchiha intelligence but was never confirmed.
The civilian-born members of the council, however, went rigid. They had known nothing.
"Should we take your word for it?" Koharu asked.
"Look at my hair," Ryu said, touching a strand. "It is the Uzumaki Red shade. The Kin-Guardian Provision in our founding law says even distant relatives are fit to be guardians when it comes to special bloodlines. My beautiful red hairs are enough to establish standing for guardianship."
"The provisions exist – no one disputes that," Koharu said. "But they require recognised proof of bloodline. Hair colour is not proof."
The voice came from the Natsurama Senju. "At the foundation of this village, Lord Hashirama Senju and Lady Mito Uzumaki – alongside the Uchiha leaders – bound their clans together by protecting each other's children through bloodline law. The Secret Jutsu Preservation Act. The Bloodline Inheritance Covenant. The Kin-Guardian Provision – so that orphans of great clans were not made pawns and absorbed by other clans."
"The Uzumaki clan was never classified as a bloodline clan under village law," Koharu said. Her voice was flat, procedural. "The boy's hair proves nothing."
"The Uzumaki were never formally classified," Natsurama said. His voice was calm – not conceding, just stating. "Correct, because there was no need at that time. All the Uzumaki came as bonds via marriage. Their chakra constitution, their longevity, their affinity – the council itself deemed those inheritable traits. Because those Uzumaki traits cannot be learnt, the law treats Uzumaki blood as a bloodline class whether the registry admits it or not. Even the new clan, Iburi, was also classified just recently by Lord Third. Just like that, he can deem Uzumaki a bloodline too; it's in his power."
The elders now had eyes on Hiruzen. Natsurama was right; he did not need council for this decision, as this decision is to be made based on quantifiable traits rather than votes, and Ryu had those traits.
Ryu met Natsurama's gaze briefly. A dry smile passed between them.
"If you require more proof—" Ryu said. He let the sentence hang for a fraction of a second, then finished it: "I happen to have some."
Ryu smiled, and then his chakra went berserk for a second. He put his hands forward, and chains erupted from them and aimed straight at Koharu and Danzo as they were meant to kill them.
A/N:
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