Chapter 101: Deciding Gaara’s Fate

Disclaimer: Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 101: Deciding Gaara's Fate

"The Hokage's office?... and who is calling for me exactly?" He was sure they couldn't have chosen another leader so quickly.

"The order came from one of the Council Elders. That's all I can say. Now, if you will..." the masked ninja said.

Naruto could tell these two weren't going to take no for an answer.

He glanced at Ino for a moment.

"I need to acomp—"

"I can escort Miss Yamanaka to her home," the other ANBU agent said.

"It's okay, Naruto. I'll be fine. You cannot ignore a call from a Council Elder," Ino hurried to say, worried Naruto might do something rash and get into trouble.

"Very well... I'll go see this Elder," Naruto said.

When he entered the Hokage's office, he was surprised to see Jiraiya there, along with three other people.

"What is this boy doing here?" one of the older men asked, his tone sounding quite furious.

The ANBU bowed.

"I brought Uzumaki Naruto under the command o—"

"I asked for him to be here," Jiraiya said casually. "Come to my side, Naruto. We have a few things to discuss." He waved at him.

"Jiraiya..." The old man frowned.

The masked ninja gave another bow and left the office, closing the door behind him.

"I suppose we should introduce ourselves. You probably don't know who we are," an old lady told Naruto.

"The Council Elders, I suppose," he answered.

"That too. We were also the advisors of the last Hokage. My name is Homura," an old man said. "And this is Elder Koharu." He said while pointing at the old lady at his side.

Homura glanced back at the other elderly man, who stood at the back of the office with his arms crossed.

"That one over there is Shimura Danzo. He is also an Elder."

Naruto looked at the old man. While the first two elders gave him the feeling of being scholars, this last Council Elder was definitely a warrior.

His body was covered in bandages, including half his face. But he didn't seem injured, meaning the bandages were likely hiding something.

"What?" Danzo didn't like the way Naruto was observing him. He felt as though he was being evaluated.

"So, three elders and a Sannin require my presence... and I suppose this isn't for a promotion?" Naruto asked.

"No... the exam results will have to wait a bit longer," Koharu said.

"We didn't mean to call a genin for this, but Jiraiya assured us that your input would be valuable in this matter," Homura added.

"My input? On what exactly?" Naruto couldn't imagine what these important figures needed from him.

"It is in regard to Gaara of the Sand and his two siblings," Jiraiya revealed.

"What about them? I assume they are well-secured?" Naruto said.

Koharu made a troubled expression.

"We haven't received a message from the Sand Village yet, but we are expecting one very soon. They will certainly demand the release of the three genin. After all, they are all descendants of the deceased Kazekage."

"So?... They attacked our village. Those three are war prisoners. They don't have the right to make any demands." Naruto had at least a basic understanding of how wars worked among mortals, and it wasn't too different from how cultivators operated either.

The winner of a war was the one who could make demands.

"Naruto... there's something else you need to know. Orochimaru was behind the attack. He infiltrated the Sand Village, killed their Kazekage, and impersonated him, leading to this war. The Sand ninjas were merely following orders," Jiraiya explained.

"I see... they were all fooled..." Naruto considered this for a moment.

"Still, even if that's the case, it doesn't change the fact that they attempted to destroy our village. If anyone can make demands, it should be us."

"Oh?" Danzo glanced at Naruto with interest.

"That seems a bit harsh... The Sand Village used to be good allies. They were tricked during a moment of weakness and ended up suffering great losses during this unfortunate event," Koharu said.

"We also lost several good ninjas, and we lost our Kage..." Homura seemed to hold a different opinion than the female Elder.

"You're not seriously considering sending the Jinchuuriki back to them, right?" Naruto asked in disbelief.

"It would be the right thing to do. That boy, Gaara, has gone through a lot. I could tell by just interacting with him for a bit. He must have had a very traumatic childhood," Jiraiya said.

"Why did you even ask me to be here if you've already made up your minds? And I assume I don't have any voting rights in this?" Naruto was already getting frustrated with these people.

"Of course not, you're just a genin," Koharu said.

"But we will take your opinion into account. Right now, we are at an impasse when it comes to votes," Homura looked at Jiraiya.

"And he assured us that your talent rivals your father's, and that we can expect great things from you in the future."

"You were also the one who defeated Gaara, and as a fellow Jinchuuriki, I thought you deserved to at least say your part," Jiraiya added.

"Hmph!" Danzo glared at them.

"Personally... I don't think the opinion of a brat with little field experience is worth listening to, but... my two fellow elders say otherwise. So go ahead and say your piece."

"If you want my opinion, then... you can go ahead and release the other two siblings if you want to keep some semblance of a relationship with that village. But... I wouldn't let go of the Jinchuuriki anytime soon. Why would we give up something so valuable? Keep him locked up." Naruto had to try to keep Gaara in the village.

If those idiots gave him up, it would be much more difficult to retrieve him later when the need arose.

The four of them appeared surprised by his answer, albeit for different reasons.

"Naruto... Gaara is just like you. How can you recommend keeping him locked up?" Jiraiya was not expecting that answer from the son of Minato.

"Like me? Nonsense." Naruto huffed.

"I have my demon under control, while he lets his run wild. Don't compare me to that loser. I don't care what happens to him, but don't let that sand raccoon out of Konoha. If you want to save Gaara, then put the demon in another container."

"That would be impossible without killing the boy," Koharu said.

"I agree with the brat. We cannot let the Jinchuuriki go free. He stays here," Danzo said. He hadn't planned on such a useful tool falling into his lap, but now that it had, he didn't want to give it up.

"I also say we should keep Gaara here, but as an honored guest, not just a prisoner," Homura said. "It would deter the Sand Village from further action. I'm fine with releasing the other siblings."

"Keeping Gaara here..." Koharu muttered. "I suppose we could make his accommodations as comfortable as possible and leave open negotiations for the future." She glanced at Danzo.

"As long as he is well-secured, I don't mind," Danzo said.

Jiraiya sighed. This wasn't what he had in mind, but he could understand the logic behind it. "Fine... keep him here." His eyes moved to Naruto. This was not what he had in mind when he called him here. He had hoped that Naruto would help convince the elders to show compassion for the young boy and let him go back home. But...he had misjudged things a bit.

"Looks like we've reached an agreement." Homura looked satisfied.

"Now we can move on to the next item... the Hokage successor."

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