disclaimer: I don't own Naruto if I did I would have a lot more money

Built From Ashs

Chapter 1

(v1.2)

"We have made our decision Tsunade! The council will not revoke it!"

Tsunade narrowed her eyes, glaring at Danzou and her sensei's former teammates. She had long ago passed being just angry. Hell, she was furious when she entered the council chambers. Now only a cold primal fury burned in her eyes.

This had caused the clan heads to shudder in fear of her wrath, and they had sided with her. For the most part that is. Only two clans had sided with the elders and the civilian council. All the clan heads noted that they were the only ones not to have a member of their clan associated with the village Jinchuriki. It was also noted by all that the only one on the civilian council to go against the elder council decision was the Haruno family head.

Tsunade noted all that supported her in her fight against the council's latest decision. She had been fighting with the elders for over an hour.

Yelling would be more accurate.

Now the slug Sannin was cold in her speaking. In a low voice that spoke far more of her righteous anger than anything. "I will ask one last time for the council to revise their decision. I warn you I am the Godaime (5th) Hokage, queen of slugs and elixirs, granddaughter of the Shodaime (1st) Hokage, great niece of the Nidaime (2nd) Hokage, and student of the Sandaime Hokage. As well as head of the Senju clan. One of the two clans that founded this village. Do you still wish to challenge me knowing these things?"

All within the room felt their own hearts being gripped by fear. The way Tsunade spoke left little doubt in any one's mind that she was a shinobi of the highest caliber. Capable of killing them all. To add to the fear, the stone table Tsunade sat behind was creaking, a table made from the best marble and refined with seals and Jutsus that the elders had personally designed to prevent anyone, including Tsunade, from breaking it. The table was creaking from what seemed to simply be Tsunade calmly laying her hand on it. Such was the power radiating off the last Senju.

It was Koharu Utatane, adviser to the Hokage and teammate of the Sandaime, that found her voice first. Most likely because of their mutual distaste for each other.

"W-we will not change our minds Tsunade. It is only because of who you are that we have allowed this insolence to continue. The council has made its decision and not even the Hokage can go against us." Though she started off weak she had found her strength by the end, managing to lessen the grip on her heart the fear had taken.

Regaining hold of her chakra again Tsunade stood up. A foolish civilian council member decided to speak "Besides even you won't dare go against the Daimyo of the land you serve, and he will support our decision."

The Godaime (5th) didn't even slow down. The fool who would let such info slip would be dealt with by Danzou, if her so-called advisers failed to do so. For some reason, Tsunade didn't doubt that the Daimyo would side with the council. Maybe it had something to do with the winning lottery ticket that laid on her desk in her office. Either way, there was only one path left that she was willing to take.

As she left with a new purpose Tsunade could only wonder yet again how it came to this.

{5 DAYS AGO}

Sasuke looked down at his friend. The very one that he had just nearly killed two times. He stood over Naruto who laid there barely breathing, bleeding. As he turned to leave, the blond ninjas eyes struggled to open, his hand lashing out towards the Uchiha's leg. It would have been a simple thing to remove his hand, but something stopped him.

"Let go dope. You lost, let go." Naruto's eyes were no longer open, and the cursed ninja could tell he was unconscious.

Next thing he knew was darkness.

Kakashi gave a sigh as he made a shadow clone. He had barely made it in time. Pakkun had rushed once they got past Lee's and Gaara's fight. The chakra was so heavy from his two students fight that it made his Sharingan useless for tracking. It was only Naruto's bright jacket that had allowed him to spot the pair so quickly. Opening two gates for a second, giving him the speed he needed to reach them, to stop Sasuke.

As he studied his student's bodies for injuries the copy-nin was filled with pride and regret. It didn't take an expert to tell that almost all of Naruto's wounds were meant to be killing blows. The burns on Naruto's body were very severe, though he could already tell that they were healing.

Even ignoring the wound from a chidori all the wounds on the blond were meant to kill or cripple him.

Reaching into his pouch Kakashi took out some chakra sensitive gauze. Doing what he could to help patch up the Jinchuriki, so he could be moved. Hopefully, Naruto's luck would hold out and he would make it to the village to get proper treatment. Log knows if they had to rely on his own luck then the Uzumaki would be dead. As he prepared Naruto for moving he was filled with a sense of loathing, he had taught Sasuke most of those moves that had been used against Naruto. Worst those he hadn't taught the Uchiha were copied from Lee, something the copy-nin had worked to incorporate into Sasuke's fighting style. It was meant as a way to fix the flaws in the inspecting fist form of the Uchiha clan. The clan style relied too heavily on the Sharingan for proper timing to be of any real use to one without it. Without him removing those flaws in Sasuke's style Naruto wouldn't have been in such bad shape.

He had been trying to help Obito's kin and the future of the clan. He had let that hope and the guilt he carried to cloud his judgment. He was wrong to think that Sasuke was ready for the responsibilities of a chuunin. He had truly thought he was, but everything after the exams had proved that wrong. Till this moment, he had thought that Sasuke had truly understood. Clearly, he was wrong there too and it almost cost Naruto his life. He should have pulled Sasuke from the exams once he reached the third round.

What little pride he felt was for Naruto. The jounin had only taken a glance, but what wounds Sasuke had were much lighter then what he knows Naruto could do. Somehow when he stared at Sasuke's scratched forehead protector his pride in Naruto swelled. He had again been wrong to object to Naruto learning the rasengan.

He grasped the abandoned forehead protector before carefully picking up his blond student then placing him on his back. Checking his shadow clone, he saw the Uchiha bound and secured with seals and two kinds of binding, the copy-nin signaled for his clone to go first. It wouldn't do to give the traitor a chance to escape should the Uchiha awaken and pop his clone.

It was fitting that the traitor was carried like a sack of flour. Even his clone had no concern for the Uchiha. Deep down he must truly hold some hate for Sasuke. Though he could only see parts of the traitor's body, Sasuke's wounds were clearly minor in comparison to what they could be. It was clear that Naruto had fought hard against him, trying his best to subdue him, but Kakashi could already tell that Naruto hadn't tried to kill him. There was no sign of wounds from the Rasengan nor did Sasuke show any sign of demonic poisoning.

The signs were always quick to show if you knew what you were looking for. Though the other energy that Kakashi sensed was probably from the curse mark and could have covered up the signs of Biju chakra poisoning, he somehow doubted that he would find any if that was the case. He knew from what little experience he had that if Naruto had the intent to kill, or lost control of the Kyuubi even a little, the signs would have been showing on Sasuke. If there was a body left.

Letting the thoughts of Sasuke and their fight drop from his mind he focused on the one he was carrying on his back. Kakashi knew that a lot of people credited Naruto's victory over Neji to him. Truthfully however, the jounin felt he owed nothing in that regard. It was pure Naruto through and through. Which is why Jiraiya had kept his involvement with Naruto known to a minimum. Best to let the blond earn his reputation from his own actions then to let fools minimize it based on who his teacher happened to be. From the moment the blond had made the blood oath with Hinata's blood, Kakashi was sure the Hyuga prodigy would be the one needing the hospital room. He had, in fact, reserved one for Neji.

When it came to combat Naruto had very good instincts. Then give him a little bit of motivation, and he was like a force of nature. His name had turned out to be very appropriate. Naruto had plenty of motivation just giving their positions. The so-called genius then gave a mountain load of motivation by not only belittling Hinata. Someone who gave Naruto a present, something the copy-nin knew was rare for the blond, since the young ninja had literally bled for just about everything he had. Neji then added fuel to the fire by trying to kill Hinata. Kakashi acted more out of the intent he was getting from Naruto than anything else. It was slight, but Naruto's chakra and body had reacted quicker than anyone else to the Hyuga's last blow against his kinsman. Even though Naruto himself had frozen in conflict over those reactions.

He couldn't help but wonder, if maybe he had focused on Naruto's skill better, what would have happened. Maybe explaining to him the importance of the scrolls he gave him. Tell him what little he knows of the Uzumaki clan. Or simply done more than one training season one on one with Naruto.

Funny, thinking back he had spent more time with Naruto and often built on Naruto's actions to decide on training seasons for the group activities. Most of the time he spent with Naruto wasn't as a teacher. It was simply reading just outside the blonde's window of his apartment. Something he wasn't even sure if Naruto knew or not. As far as the blond probably knew he was alone all those times. He really was a louse. At the very least Naruto wouldn't have a hole in his chest if he did things right instead of being a coward.

Using his guilt and regrets as motivation, the copy-nin increased his pace. "Come, let's pick up the pace."

He wouldn't let one of the few people he still cared about die. Not this one. Naruto was too important to him and deserves much more than to die for his mistakes, he wouldn't be adding to his sins with Naruto anymore.

…..

Madame Shijimi was deeply in love with her husband. For a noble lady, she was unquestionably lucky that he was in love with her too. If they were in a better world, or not shouldered with the responsibility of ruling a nation, they would spend every day together. Instead, she spent months in the leaf village as a guest. A position she had volunteered for.

After all, better her then one of their children, or even worse, one of her husband's relatives that wanted to gain power.

The guest, or more frankly political hostage, to the leaf village was a great way to gain power. She had more than once recruited a talented shinobi to work for her family directly. She had been the one to recruit Asuma Sarutobi into the 12 guardians. While no shinobi herself, she had a talent with chakra that would have allowed her to be a kunoichi if she so desired. What little she did know about the shinobi arts combined with the exposure to powerful shinobi, allowed the first lady of the land of fire to have an eye for the talented ones. Uzumaki Naruto was one of them, Kyuubi or no Kyuubi. She had watched over the years as he pulled off the nearly impossible, such as pranking ANBU.

Once he became a shinobi… well there was a reason that none of the tracking teams got the mission to retrieve her dear lovable Tora. Team 7 was one to watch, their teacher was enough for that. Passing his test was at the time considered an impossible feat, or so she heard.

The team's missions outside the village spoke more than anything. Where the leaf nearly worshiped the Uchiha, the opposite seemed to be the case for him and the Uzumaki when team 7 took missions outside the village.

Though descriptions of both boys' personalities seemed to be the same.

It was with a critical eye that the first lady of the land of fire watched Kakashi Hatake carry his two students into the hospital.

Naruto was clearly in the far worse shape of the two, while Sasuke Uchiha was clearly detained. Even Tora had stopped his loving pawing from the Uchiha's overflowing malice.

Turning to her chuunin guard slash secretary. "Please let my husband know about Uzumaki's mission."

The guard nodded, he would most likely have to use a favor from one of the less foolish civilian council members. He shuddered, the vile chakra coming off the Uchiha was enough that even Tora stopped trying to escape. Hopefully, Uzumaki hadn't been hurt by whatever it was. He'd shuddered to think what it would do to the seal on Uzumaki.

…

Hinata Hyuga was considered a disgrace to her clan. However, that was not exactly the case anymore for the clan as a whole.

Truly, Hinata cared little about that. More than anything her family was on its way to being whole again. Well, whole wasn't the right word, without her mother and uncle that wouldn't be possible. However, they were getting closer to whole again for the first time since she could clearly remember.

Neji-niisan was slowly returning to the person she remembered from her earliest memories. The air between Neji and her father was cleared of something. With both seeming to be lighter, as if a great weight had been lifted from their shoulders. There was one person that Neji credited with helping him to open his eyes, Naruto-kun.

All this was at the back of her mind as she left the compound. Word had come in that the members of the Sasuke retrieval mission had been returning from the mission, successful or not no one was sure yet. However, what was known was that they had met heavy resistance from the sound. Leaving many members of the mission gravely injured. Hinata had never hated anyone. Sasuke and Orochimaru were currently flirting with that line.

More than anything Hinata simply focused on her destination, Her package securely in her hands. Lest she give into the darker parts of her heart. Lady Tsunade had called for all the clans to provide supplies for the hospital in preparation for the mission as well as future ones. Given her relationship with all the members, her father had seen fit to assign her to make sure that the Hyuga contribution was fully provided. A duty that Hinata tackled with zest.

…

Kakashi sat in the waiting room. He hadn't been this exhausted since he was a kid. All his muscles burned and only his remaining chakra and worry for Naruto kept him awake. A familiar pressure signaled the influx of memory from his clone. Reviewing the memories Kakashi was sent into a flurry of rage and guilt. Sasuke's wounds were minor, more so, all of them were meant to disable, confirming his earlier quick assessment. The Uchiha didn't have one crippling or deadly blow on him. It means Sasuke had tried to kill Naruto for the Mangekyo Sharingan.

He had told the Uchiha that he would have been a chuunin if not for Orochimaru's invasion. After only six months, something that only the Sannin had previously done. There wasn't enough of a match for Tsunade to receive reports on to properly evaluate his skills. Worse for Kakashi, he was the one that told Sasuke how to gain the Mangekyo Sharingan. He had meant it as a means to shock the boy into making the right choice. At the time the Uchiha had at least acted horrified and said he would never take that path. At the time he copy-nin had believed him. Naruto was currently in a critical state because of his misplaced faith in Sasuke.

Kakashi pulled himself out of his depressive thoughts as he waited here to find out if Naruto made it.

On seeing the jounin in such a tired state one of the hospital staff approached him. "Is there something I can get you ninja-sama?"

Turning to the nurse? Probably, it was hard to tell since he wasn't overly familiar with all the positions of the hospital staff. "No, I'm good. I'm just waiting for my student to get out of an operation. I want to make sure he's alright."

"Oh, you must be a good sensei then to worry about your student like that. If you don't mind me asking was it a training accident?"

Kakashi shook his head sadly "It was a mission that went wrong. I taught his teammate something that I shouldn't have." The word teammate was spat out like a curse. "I'm sure that you have other duties to tend too. I'll be fine, thank you for your kindness."

"Your welcome ninja-sama."

"Orderly I need your assistance." A doctor called out. The orderly quickly turned to the doctor down the hall. "What was that about?"

"I was just making sure he was ok doctor. He seems so worn down."

"Yes, that's good we can't have one of our top ninjas getting sick."

"Top ninja?"

"Yes, that's Kakashi Hatake, he's one of our village's elite jounin. He's the sensei to..." the doctor paused, he wasn't sure if the Uchiha's defection was news yet, or if the girl before him was old enough to know about the Kyuubi kid's nature. And from all reports, the kid wasn't acting like a demon. Better to play it safe. "The Uchiha. Anyways I need you to get this list of supplies from the storage areas, we are running low on the second floor and Tsunade-sama wants the ICU fully stocked by the time she's done with her current operation."

The orderly quickly took the list and complied. She was off in an hour, this was definitely one of the best jobs she could have to finish her shift. When she got home she would have to tell her mom about the jounin. Who would often lament how she didn't think that the Uchiha hair would get proper training, something to do with his teammates. Her mom would love to know that his sensei was so concerned for him.

….

Danzou was an aged ninja. He had reached kage level far quicker than most. A pace matched only by likes of Itachi Uchiha and the Yondaime (4th). Before his crippling injuries, he had only been matched by his rival. Despite them, he had kept himself fit. His combat techniques were simple and extremely effective. He had lived his whole life for the sake of the village. Only the Sandaime (3rd) had limited his influence.

The village elder had hoped Hiruzen's replacement would see the wisdom he could provide, at least as well as Hiruzen did.

Unfortunately, that was not the case.

Tsunade had already rejected several of his proposals. Going even further she had cut the village funding to multiple programs of his without a word or explanation. His orphan care program, that doubled as a recruiting platform for root and the villages more expendable spies, had been put under a comprehensive review. Already the fines were piling in, as were Tsunade's plants. Dozens of his personnel around the village had been put under performance reviews or outright fired.

When the elder arranged a meeting with the woman, he showed up only to find it postponed for some medical issue at the hospital. Something that should have easily been handled by someone else. She had far more important matters to deal with then every cut and bruise that she found fascinating.

The last straw had been when he attempted to get one of his clan members trained by lady Tsunade or her apprentice. Tsunade had outright refused to even consider taking on a student that didn't come see her themselves. As if anyone with a proper upbringing would even consider wasting the time of someone of Tsunade's status without going through proper channels. Then simply blocked off the possibility of her apprentice taking students because she was too busy.

Worst yet, minor policy changes reflected some of Hiruzen's more foolish policies.

Tsunade could not be trusted with the village. She clearly lacked the proper foresight to ensure that the village was safe. Let alone ensure its future dominance over the other villages.

Adding salt to the wound her relationship with the village's Jinchuriki was even worse than Hiruzen's had been. Something his co-advisers agreed with him on.

Koharu shuffled through the papers he gave his fellow advisers. "Everything seems to be in order. How soon till the training facility for the Jinchuriki is ready?"

"About a month, given the retraining he will have to undergo it is unlikely that it will be needed till nearly a year from now. A reinforced training facility here in the village can be used till such time as he is up to standard."

"What about the backups?" Homura inquired.

"I have already chosen several temporary vessels. As well as personally inspected the chakra transfer seals for the shinobi we have discussed previously. Once he is in custody, sperm samples can be extracted to be placed within the breeding vessels you two have chosen"

The other two advisers nodded in satisfaction before Koharu posed another question. "How will we get a hold of the Jinchuriki? Tsunade will not hand him over. He is also under Jiraiya's care. Who has shown an unacceptable level of concern for the Jinchuriki given his lack of care till now."

That had been a difficult issue that Danzou had sadly been stumbled on. Shisui's eye was still partially drained, more so, he would need it to train the Jinchuriki. As much as he was a buffoon, removal of the toad sage would also remove his spy network.

"Actually, I have an idea about that. One that Danzou could take advantage of to help endear the Jinchuriki's Root trainers to him." Homura said.

...

N/A: Thank you to flameraven for pointing out errors. I'd also like to thank my new beta NeoHummel.