I do not own Naruto…

A KONOHA COUP D'ETAT

Prologue: Silver Eyes

Everyone knows about the Hyuuga and the Uchiha clans of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. These are, or in the Uchiha case were, the two most powerful clans in the entire village. Their title was not given just because they produced powerful ninja, though. Both clans had powerful kekkei genkai: the byakugan and the sharingan. But what many people did not know was that there was another clan in Leaf that had a powerful, eye related kekkei genkai. It was called the Chaita clan, and they possessed the power of the halsegan.

The halsegan and its abilities were not used as a mind-bogglingly powerful offensive, or an impenetrable defense, or to copy other ninjas' abilities. The user of the halsegan had the power hypnotize. By looking directly into the eyes of their prey, they can completely take control of his or her mind. The length of control is dependent upon the strength of the Chaita, as is the distance from which they can control.

The top of the Chaita family tree is a man named Kokuzoku. He rules his family with a fist colder and fiercer than even the Hyuuga. Isolation is his preferred social state. The Chaita, more than twice the size of the Hyuuga, exist in their own settlement a short distance beyond the walls of Konoha. Their family was not involved with the initial settlement and organization of the village, but soon after its conception engaged in several diplomatic treaties that resulted in the semi-autonomic relationship that stands today. Peaceful yet watchful neighbors, the Chaita and the Konohians keep to their own business.

The Chaita are a body briefly discussed in elementary history classes. The students remember what they have to for the test, but soon after the knowledge they once had of the Chaita slips away into the black hole where school learning deemed unnecessary so often goes. However, the Chaita have never been a people eager to share their secrets with the world; these educational failures have never seemed to bother them.

…

…

Tsunade, Hokage of the Leaf Village, put her feet up on her desk and sighed. It was late afternoon; peach and tangerine light filled her office. If she had been in a better mood, she would have noticed its beauty, but she was not. All day she had been meeting with the heads of Konoha's various clans, discussing their ninja, any new children born, any questions and/or complaints they had, etcetera, etcetera. Some clan leaders were great: no questions or complaints, in and out in five minutes. But some clans lived to make her day a nightmare.

If I hear one more complaint about taxes, or noisy neighbors, or Naruto Uz-. Her thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door. Shizune entered, carrying a clipboard and a cup of tea.

"Was that the last one, Shizune?" Tsunade asked wearily, gratefully accepting the mug and taking a deep inhale.

"Actually, you have one more," Shizune replied, checking her list. "Uh…we still have to meet with the Chaita clan."

"Of course," Tsunade moaned, putting a hand to her brow and sighing deeply. "Why would you schedule them at the end of the day? As if I wasn't already pissed already-."

Shizune put a calming hand to her Hokage's shoulder. "Yes, but now you don't have to sit through any more. You can go right to this."

Shizune pulled a bottle from her pocket and plopped it on the desk.

Tsunade opened weary eye.

In one quick, scorching gulp she downed the rest of her tea. Her fingers were wrestling with the top of the bottle when Shizune's hand shot out to stop her.

"Not now! It's your reward for after the meeting!"

But Tsunade would not release the prize so easily. They struggled silently, nearly crushing the bottle in their ferocious grasps.

A knock echoed across the room. In a flash, Tsunade was seated behind her desk straightening some papers, and Shizune was standing behind her, clipboard at the ready, the precious bottle once again stowed in her pocket. The guard opened the door and poked his head in.

"Lady Hokage? It's Lord Koku-zuzzo. I mean Kozukoko. I mean, uh, Kokozuzu!" A blush appeared on the man's stubble-covered cheeks. "I mean Zukokoko? Zuzukoku! Kuku-."

"Thank you," Tsunade hissed, strumming her fingers threateningly on the table. "Please send Lord Kokuzoku in. Now."

"Y-yes! Kokuzoku! That's it…" The guard grinned sheepishly, then, catching Tsunade's withering glare, flinched and retreated.

Shizune put a delicate hand to her face, shaking her head slowly. Tsunade took a deep, shuddering breath. She stared at the opening doors with a calm, set face.

Enter, Lord Kokuzoku. He walked tall and proud, despite the fact that a cane had recently been added to his persona. His cold, silver eyes swept the room, taking in every detail. The Chaita lord was flanked by two younger ninja.

One was a woman probably in her mid-twenties. Long, blue-silver hair fell to her waist, while blue-silver lashes framed a pair of silver eyes, identical to her grandfather's. The other ninja was a male the same age with the same blue silver hair, but his was arranged in a messy shag on his head, part of it falling into his face, covering one of his silver eyes.

Several feet from Tsunade's desk, they bowed, bending their slim frames just enough to be respectful. "Lady Hokage," Kokuzoku said, his words flowing forward with the air of liquid silver. The three straightened.

"Lord Kokuzoku." Tsunade nodded her head slightly.

"May I introduce my grandson, Denkou, and my granddaughter, Raikou. One of them will be my successor."

She nodded again in recognition, suppressing the chill bolting up her spine. Folding her hands with authority before her, she gave the three a hard stare. "Let's get right to business, then. Have any babies been born to your clan in the last year?"

As Tsunade ran down the list of questions, Shizune scribbled on her clipboard Kokuzoku's responses. Ten minutes later, the last question came. As Shizune made a final note, Tsunade leaned back in her chair, sorely tempted to put up her feet but not quite willing to look unprofessional in front of this man.

"Now, Lord Kokuzoku, are there any matters you wish to discuss with me?"

Kokuzoku took a small step forward. "Actually, I have a matter of great importance that I need to bring to your attention."

When he did not continue, Tsunade asked, impatiently, "Yes?"

"Well, it has something to do with the way you have been running the village." He took another step forward.

Tsunade's nerves began to jangle; irritation, however, was the emotion she responded with.

"You have no say in how I govern the village unless it directly relates to the Chaita, Kokuzoku. I'll bring up the original documents right now if you've got a problem."

Kokuzoku raised a submissive hand. "I am well aware of the legal situation between your government and my family, Lady Tsunade. My sentiments fall somewhat beyond the realm of historical documentation."

Confusion, as well as irritation, now rose in the Hokage.

"I am sorry, Lord Kokuzoku, but-!" Tsunade stood in her chair and glared at the man. Right in the eye. Big mistake.

Wh-.

In that one glance, Tsunade's world was lost in a swirling, silver spiral. She was thrown down the spinning vortex, completely lost to Kokuzoku's halsegan.

Shizune, watching her mistress, saw Tsunade's brown eyes widen, then almost close. Her whole face relaxed and her eyes took on a distant, far away look.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune dropped her clipboard and grabbed Tsunade's shoulder. "Tsunade!" Before she could move again, two blue and silver blurs had grabbed her in a vice-like grip. Hands held her chin and turned her face. Shizune's dark eyes met a pair of silver ones and a second later, she too was lost down the silver spiral of the halsegan.

…

…

The guards standing outside Tsunade's office heard a small commotion. As one, they burst through the door, weapons out, surveying the scene.

"Lady Hokage, is there a problem?"

But nothing seemed wrong. The three Chaita ninja stood before the Hokage, Tsunade sat at her desk, and Shizune stood behind her. Kokuzoku and the other two bowed to Tsunade and left, passing the guards without the slightest acknowledgement.

"Lady Hokage? We heard a noise-."

Tsunade looked up from her desk. "No, everything's fine."

The guards retreated. Tsunade spent several minutes scribbling busily on a long piece of parchment. Upon its completion, she sent it away with Shizune for distribution.

Tsunade put her feet up on the desk and, with a contented smile, looked out the window. Had anyone been with her, they would have seen the cold, silver glint in her large, brown eyes.

…..

August 3, 2010: Why hello, readers! Three years after this story's original posting, The Reading Maid decided that her writing had changed dramatically. With the story still in the process of being written, she feared that new readers would see the sub-standard writing of the early chapters and be scared away before the writing improved. She decided to do a rough re-write of the first chapter in the hopes of ensnaring a few new readers. Rewriting is hard, but she hopes she has done enough to encourage more readers to delve further into the story.

…

…

Okay, readers, here I go again. Starting off on new, big long action/adventure/romance story based off Naruto. But this time, I am going to incorporate more people, including all the Rookie Nine and Team Gai. I am so excited about this story, it's not even funny.

Now, I know probably a lot of authors say this, but I'm gonna say it too. This was the prologue, so please don't judge the rest of the story just from this. I myself try and read at least the first two chapters of a story before I decide to read it or not. So please, please, please give this story a shot. I'll get chapter one up as soon as I can, so just hang on. Also, this chapter was kind of short. I'm gonna try and make the future chapters a bit longer.

That's about it. Oh! I don't know that much about Tsunade and Shizune, but I tried to do some research on them before I actually wrote about them. If there's something about them that I did terribly, terribly wrong, please tell me! It would be greatly appreciated. Also, the same thing applies to the whole governmental setup of Konoha. I made up the HAB (which, by the way, stands for the Hokage Advisory Board, if you hadn't already figured it out). I hope the decree didn't sound too, um, bad. I'm sorry if it did. But I hope I got the whole point across. Oh, and if I got anything wrong with the kekkei genkai stuff, please tell me. (just putting this out there. I know that there are other kekkei genkai, but I felt that the sharingan and byakugan were the most powerful and well known. At least in Konoha).

Reading Maid, over and out.