The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"What the hell is going on a good night of clear sky?" Hiruzen was annoyed with what he was seeing. Today had been a good day for him, and he was supposed to go and meet Aoto and talk to him about the kidnapping case.

But once he went to his home and didn't find him and neither of his colleagues, he knew something was wrong. He knew that Aoto was back, as Guy had submitted the report of what had gone down. He didn't expect that one of the geniuses of Iwagakure fell under the hands of Aoto. Of course, Guy couldn't tell if Deidara pressed on, and it might not have been an easy case of win for Aoto. Aoto might be a sorcerer, but in the end, Deidara could have won using speed and bigger bombs.

As Hiruzen arrived at the open courtyard where they had been fighting, he looked at Aoto, and if the eyes of Aoto could spit fire, here it was. Hiruzen instantly felt the anger of Aoto, and he could even feel the pressure emanating from Kisuke and Retsu.

This kind of pressure he hadn't felt ever before in his life, and for some reason, this pressure seemed to resonate very faintly, which he once felt during the night of the Kyuubi attack. And the point of origin was the shinigami that sealed Kyuubi.

This was a very weird feeling, but he was sure that he felt that, but it didn't make sense in his head. But at the moment, he had more damage control to do.

"Hokage-sama, when I took Naruto, I told you that he will be under my supervision, protection, and care. Didn't I?" Aoto asked, not mincing his words at all. Hiruzen looked at Aoto calmly and said.

"Yes."

"So why the hell do these people who have kidnapped Naruto are all buddy-buddy with you, Hokage-sama?" Aoto asked.

"Well.. You see.. Naruto..."

"Don't fucking bring the fact of him being a jinchuriki, him being used as a weapon. If any of you have the balls to stand up to a tailed beast, then this wouldn't have happened to begin with. None of you here have the strength to actually go toe to toe with a tailed beast, and so in order to mask your inadequacies, you pin your cruel dreams upon children. The people here are even ready to sell your own children to achieve greater power and think of it as some kind of greater purpose bullshit. Greater purpose? For what? For Konoha? The village didn't even exist 100 years before and it was established to curb wars. Didn't we?"

"There have already been three wars, and all the villages are ready to go to war at any given moment. If you wanted Naruto as a weapon, then you should have treated him with more kindness, but what you do is sit around and dictate. I have told you all multiple times that my techniques wouldn't be given to other people until I say so, but you still decided to go behind my back."

Aoto said all of this in one single breath, and every word of his was heard by the three councilmen and the jonins that have arrived with Hiruzen, but the words of Aoto had hit the spot.

"You brat.. You have no idea what you are talking about?" Koharu spat out in anger, and the next second she felt a sword blade placed on her neck. None of them even saw when Retsu had moved and arrived behind her. Even Hiruzen didn't expect the speed of Retsu.

At that moment, Hiruzen knew that he had messed up, because now he felt like he might not be able to take down these two people that Aoto had made friends with. Who the hell were these people?

"Move another inch, and your head will be lying on my shelf for everyone to see," Retsu said in a chilling and emotionless tone. She was terrifying.

"Aoto.. We can talk.. Can we all calm down and take a breather?" Hiruzen didn't want to escalate at this point. Aoto didn't look at him and shouted.

"Shikuro!"

A portal appeared near him, and out came Shikuro with Naruto on his shoulder. He had bruises and cuts; Hiruzen's eyes went wide when he saw Naruto in bad shape, and then he immediately turned to the two 'friends'. And from one look, he could see the guilt in their eyes.

He was beyond furious now. Aoto had just belittled him with words, and now his friends had backstabbed him.

"Take him away," Aoto said; Shikuro nodded and proceeded to open another portal and vanish from their sight. They had not been able to help him since Aoto wasn't around, though Yorichi wanted to go and help him, but Retsu shut her down, saying that doing that would make their case hostile.

Naruto would be fine, and Aoto would be here soon anyway.

"I am sorry, Aoto.. I didn't mean to hurt Naruto in the first place," Hiruzen said as he bowed down his head. Aoto still had the glaring eyes.

"Not hurt Naruto? You just betted to kidnap him. Even if you didn't expect the physical torture, it would still be a hurt in the eyes of Naruto. What do you think Naruto will think once he gets to know who abetted his kidnapping? He wants to be a Hokage, and this is how the village treated him? And honestly, after so many years, you haven't understood your so-called friends? Are you that dumb? If you die tomorrow, the next person who will take your place will be one of the three. You might think that this is commendable, but it's not. Each one of them is ready to kill you if you don't follow their lines and remove you. They won't even have an ounce of regret while doing so."

"Enough with your lies, brat..." Homura shouted.

"Bakudō #4. Hainawa." (Slithering Rope)

A yellow beam of light shot out from Kisuke's hands and proceeded to tangle Homura on his hands and his mouth, making him stop talking altogether and only give out muffled screams. He fell on his face on the green grass. The grass must be tasting quite good.