Naruto: The Kage of Kages

The Four Symbol Puppet Clone, it was a rather interesting jutsu, powerful but with great demerits as well.

Firstly, a user could only support one of these clones at a time and to create it, the user's own abilities, from physical prowess to chakra were directly cut in half with the other half being taken by the clone.

With this rather big flaw, it was a very situational jutsu as it greatly weakened the user in all aspects, reducing them to 50% and unable to recover until the jutsu was dispelled.

To compensate for this however, there were several big advantages.

For one, the clone was an exact living copy, there was no way to distinguish between the clone and the original at all and to destroy it, it would require the same amount of effort that would take to kill the user with a corpse remaining behind until the jutsu was released.

The final advantage was the ability to release the clone and appear directly at its location no matter the distance, with the user being instantly restored to full strength. There was also the option to not move and just undo the clone for an instant recovery.

Tossing the Four Symbol Paper Effigy into the air, Mito swiftly weaved the required hand seals and activated her jutsu.

'Four Symbol Puppet Clone.'

*groan*

Mito groaned in pain as her very essence slipped in two.

It was enough pain to leave torture hardened jonin crying for their mothers but for the Uzumaki matriarch, it was nothing.

But she was not the only one being split.

'What!?' A deep voice resounded within Mito.

'What are you doing hag!?' The voice questioned with rage.

'Creating a split self and, since suppressing you with only half of my power would be a bit too exhausting, I'm splitting you too Nine Tails.' The redhead casually responded.

'How dare yo-' The Nine Tails attempted to complain but it was casually suppressed and split with no further delays.

As a living mass of chakra, being split like so did not actually hurt it but unless that part of its chakra was allowed to disperse, it would remain weakened.

More importantly, being casually suppressed, split and transferred around on a human's whims was truly enraging for the proud tailed beast but Mito clearly did not care.

The two redheads perfectly suppressed the Nine Tails Chakra within themselves that was stirred because of the split and after nodding to each other with tacit understanding, the clone vanished, leaving the village like the detection barrier around it did not even exist.

After all, barriers and sealing jutsu often went hand in hand, trying to trap, detect or monitor the Uzumaki matriarch with a barrier would be highly difficult were she not willing to cooperate.

With her preparations complete, Mito decided to carefully study Konoha while undercover, using her Mind's Eye of The Kagura to perform a rather intrusive analysis of its state and its residents.

'I averted my eyes from this village's darkness for too long but no more. I have regained the strength to face my disgust and aversion, it will make my spirit falter no longer.' The redhead internally affirmed.

The face of the boy that brought about this resurgence in her spirit flashed in the Uzumaki matriarch's mind, a rare smile on his face. It further boosted her resolve.

*

It was the afternoon of the following day.

Mito had spent the previous night and morning carefully studying the village that had grown a bit foreign to her, familiarizing herself with it once again.

She was not pleased.

'But raising alarms now will only be detrimental. That said, time to pay the Monkey a visit and shake things up a bit. It is the perfect day to do so as well.' The redhead cunningly thought with a wicked glint in her black eyes.

'A lot of people are waiting for my death with bated breaths it seems and there is no merit to breaking their delusions just yet.' Mito planned.

With a unique form of medical ninjutsu, Mito lowered her outward vitality and made her external appearance older. No one besides Shiki knew about her rejuvenation, actually, Shiki thought her younger state was just normal so he was technically unaware too.

'I better line up our stories later.' The redhead conspiratorially thought.

As for why it was the perfect day to pay the Third Hokage a visit . . .

*

In Hokage Office Building, the periodic scheduled representative meeting was taking place. All clan heads made an appearance along with the Hokage who also represented the civilian shinobi and the three Advisors, the Hokage's aides.

It was in these periodic meetings that important details concerning the village's operation and future were discussed.

Of course, ultimately, the final decision rested in the hands of the Hokage but repeatedly snubbing the clans would be very unwise.

The meeting was progressing as usual with nothing beyond the usual topics coming into discussion.

"Our intelligence has made it clear that the world is heading for another war." Sarutobi Hiruzen, the third Hokage solemnly declared.

Still in his prime, the Third dressed in the same Hokage robes and hat he would wear in the original future though his temperament was more heroic and decisive, Konoha's war hero had yet to be dulled by old age.

With a full head of short brown hair and a matching well trimmed goatee complemented by a strong physique and impressive chakra reserves built from practicing every single nature transformation to the peak and most of Konoha's other jutsu as well.

"Have the other nations begun mobilizing already?" The Hyuga clan head, Hiroshi inquired.

The Hyuga were always in high demand during war and spread across multiple battlefields due to their powerful sensory abilities owing to the Byakugan.

When war mobilization began, his clansmen were likely to be amongst the first to be called upon to guard the borders in the prevention of sneak attacks.

This time, Danzo, advisor to the Hokage spoke.

"Mobilization has yet to occur but the traces of ongoing war preparations cannot be hidden."

At this time, he still had his actual arms and carried no cane for camouflage, he was still quite young and vigorous after all, the right side of his face was bandaged however with his right eye being hidden.

"The accumulation of war materials has affected prices. The merchants always have a nose for these things." Utatane Koharu, another of the advisors, spoke.

Currently, she had yet to become the indecisive decrepit old lady clinging to antiquated practices and still held much of her youth and beauty with long black hair tied with a traditional japanese pin and dark eyes glinting with cunning.

"Security protocols are also being strengthened and enforced with greater zeal, some of our spies have already been lost.

Mitokado Homura, the remaining of the Hokage's advisors, informed. With his hair still brown and a clean shaven face, he looked far younger than in the original series with only his glasses matching his older self.

Listening to all of this, the expressions of some of the clan leaders darkened slightly.

Of course, none of them wished for a war that would deplete their clan's numbers and wealth but more than that, the little show of the Hokage and his advisors did not please them at all.

Each advisor saying part of the information was a demonstration of power and influence, showing their active role in critical aspects of the village.

Before the reign of the Third, never had the Hokage faction hoarded so much political power and small clans like the Utatane and Mitokado had little say in village politics.

But with his position not being nearly as solid as his predecessor's, Hiruzen had to adapt. He held the support of the Senju and the Konoha branch of the Uzumaki by extension but his position relied greatly on that support for stability.

The Sarutobi and Shimura clans were large and powerful in their own right but they were still below the top clans of Konoha and could not stably support Hiruzen's position without external assistance.

As such, he wasted no time distributing power and positions to his trusted former teammates of minor clans and did his utmost to instill a sense of loyalty in the civilian shinobi population with a focus on the younger generation.

With the Hokage not being as unshakable, the influence of the clans grew in power but with Hiruzen's moves, its range was restricted, creating a sort of equilibrium.

But it was becoming clear that despite having a lot of influence within the village, the ones that represented the village in the outside world included none of their members.

And with his policies, Hiruzen's Hokage faction was quickly becoming powerful and self-sufficient, even if there were still several possible threats to his power.

Of course, not all clans were troubled . . .

+++++

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