Nindō: Dominion

Things settled down after a few seconds as Naruto spoke.

"Moving on to the next agenda, I propose to establish an emergency fund," Naruto said. "Every quarter, we will put aside twenty-five percent of the budget to place into that emergency fund to be accessed whenever there is a crisis."

"Hokage-sama, is there a need for such a fund? I believe that this money would be much better funneled into the development of the village." The Inuzuka matriarch spoke up.

"It's good that you asked," Naruto nodded. "With the threat of the Ōtsutsuki, there's no telling what might happen in case more of those aliens come. You saw what havoc just three of them got up to last month. Add to that the danger that Kaguya posed during the Fourth War. There's no telling what will happen if more of those beings surface. In order to be prepared for any situation, it's best that we make contingencies to prepare for the worst."

"Hokage-sama," the new Civilian Council head stood up. "If I may ask, who will be in control of these funds?"

"Leave it to you to be most concerned about who handles the money, even when talking about an existential crisis," the Inuzuka Matriarch scoffed.

"I will be the one in charge of how those funds are to be deployed," Naruto answered. "For further details, you can read through the brief. If you have any doubts about it, you can ask me. As an inauguration of this emergency fund, the remaining ten percent of this quarter's budget will be set aside for it."

A few minutes passed in silence before some people asked some questions, but there wasn't too much resistance to establishing the emergency fund. Everyone knew that the threat of the Ōtsutsuki was a very real issue, and preparing for the worst wasn't going to hurt anyone. While they were all a little miffed at their quarterly budget being directly reduced by a fourth, none of them stood up against the Hokage as they had against Ino. Ultimately, the bill was agreed upon without too many issues.

At this time, as Naruto was preparing to introduce Karin and get her issue taken care of, one of the war veterans on the Shinobi Council stood up. "Hokage-sama, may I please take the stage to address a concern of mine?" he asked.

"You didn't add it to the day's agenda." Naruto raised a brow, showing a slightly displeased expression.

"My deepest apologies, but I assure you that this is a very important situation."

'Kara already has people in the council. It seems I need to evaluate my inner circle from the ground up. It would be best to make sure that everyone is given a Dominion Mark so that I am fully aware of their allegiance at all times.'

After Ino's revelation about the leaking of the Research Center's information, Naruto knew that they would have to deal with some hurdles, but to see that the first hurdle would be one of the councilmen was a little irksome.

"I am grateful for the opportunity, Hokage-sama," he bowed before approaching the stage. "I would like to speak about some information that I have received from an anonymous source."

"Go on," Naruto said with a lazy expression as he leaned back.

"The information I received involves the Root." The man's initial words elicited gasps from the Shinobi Council. "After receiving the information, I have also investigated it myself and found that the location that used to be the base of the Root organization is now being developed. Unlike a residential or industrial district, however, it seems that the ruins of the facility are being rebuilt from the ground up. As for the perpetrators behind this facility, I have investigated it myself and have identified the presence of the Nara, Akimichi, and Yamanaka clans. All three of their heads have been involved in the rebuilding efforts of the building. I am not sure of their purpose, but the fact that they are building a hidden underground facility in the place of the past Root is of enough concern. I didn't dare to get too close, but the implication of such an operation is clear enough. Hokage-sama, I implore you to take action and curb the rebellious elements of the village."

"Nice speech," Naruto said. "Do you have any actual proof beyond your witness?" he asked. "You have to understand that you are accusing three of my most trusted advisors and the heads of Konoha's pillar clans of rebellion. If you expect me to take action based on a single eyewitness, then you are overestimating the value of your contributions to the village."

"I …" The man was left speechless at the sheer gaslighting. Naruto's response seemed completely out of the man's calculations.

"Since you were tricked by some random person, I suggest that you go to the hospital and get your mind checked up. On the off chance that you are correct, I will send some of my trusted Anbu to monitor the location and look out for any activity to dissuade your concerns. Let us move on to more serious topics."

"Listen to me!" The man's shout made Naruto's expression darken.

"For disrupting the order of the Council Sitting, you will be penalized according to your transgression." Naruto's sheer presence was overwhelming at the moment as he ordered one of the Anbu standing behind him. "Take him away for detainment."

As a precaution, he discreetly handed the Anbu member a set of shackles made of Truth-Seeking Balls to make sure that if there were any means related to Kara on the man, they would be suppressed.

"Now that the disruption has been dealt with, let us move on to the next agenda."

"Hokage-sama," another war veteran council member stood up with a concerned expression. "Are you sure about this? To detain him for simply speaking up about his concerns regarding the pillar clans …"

"He is simply detained. As long as the investigation doesn't yield any foul play, it won't be an issue. If it turns out that he is the rebellious person attempting to sow discord within the village, then…" Naruto trailed off, letting everyone come to their own conclusions. "Let us move back to the meeting. The next agenda is the pardon of one, Karin, and her inducement into Konoha's labs. I will allow her to come up and make her own case."

After suppressing some initial uproar regarding the presence of someone related to Orochimaru within the village, Naruto had another Anbu member bring Karin in.

"Karin, present your research, and we will decide whether or not your presence in the village will be beneficial or detrimental." With Naruto's instruction, Karin started telling everyone about her research regarding the replication of her bloodline ability in the form of a potion that would allow their Shinobi to heal mid-battle without the need for medics on the field.

Suddenly, thinking of the prospects of such an item made everyone change their stance regarding her presence within the village. While the Shinobi were concerned with the practical application of such a product, the Civilian Council was considering the monetary benefits to the village if they were to sell such an item to the public.

Ultimately, by the time Karin was finished with her slightly awkward speech, everyone was on board with Naruto's idea of granting her a pardon to allow her to use Konoha's research lab and resources to produce the healing potion.

"Then it's decided. Karin will receive a full pardon for her previous affiliations with Sasuke and Orochimaru. I am assigning her as an independent researcher in the Konoha hospital, where she will be working with Sakura to advance her research and occasionally help heal patients," Naruto said. "All in favor …"

With Karin's matter sorted, all of the plans that Naruto had for the current council meeting had been fulfilled. They dealt with some more minor agendas before the meeting was finally concluded.

Unlike the last meeting, which was a downright disrespect to the authority of the Hokage, this time, every single participant had changed their tune when talking to Naruto. Not only had everyone grown restrained, but their general attitude toward Naruto was now much more respectful. Adding to that, the presence of Tsunade, who had introduced herself with a threat of violence and shown her resolute support toward every single one of Naruto's decisions, the corrupt officials who had festered within the higher-ups of the council realized that they were in for a rough time from now on. The worst part was that they were too scared to put up any actual resistance under the threat of the Ōtsutsuki. They were very afraid of going over Naruto's head in a bid for control since he was the only one they could count on when it came to fighting those aliens who wanted to suck their planet dry.

Ultimately, the council sitting was a major success for Naruto. Not only did he establish far greater control over things than he had before, but he also easily took care of all of the things he wanted to take care of. Karin was now free to do whatever she wanted in Konoha. Ino's project was going to be funded and completed by the end of the month, and the research center's development could go on for the time being without any issues. As long as the necessary seals were established, even if Kara was aware of the research center, they wouldn't be able to do much to hamper its development.

With everything finished, Naruto's next destination wasn't the man he suspected of being an Outer of Kara, nor was he going to go home. Instead, he decided to go to the training grounds. Specifically the one that had more than a hundred thousand clones training to perform the Flying Raijin jutsu.

***

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