Naruto- Ice Cold

A/N- Welcome back, not like you went anywhere to begin with. I've finally got this down after a few hours and a bit of editing. I really hope I cought most of my mistakes, but, hey, I probably didn't...

Disclaimer: Don't own Naruto or this idea

Chapter 2- Revelations

Hiruzen Sarutobi had a long night so far. Not only was his overtime paperwork interrupted by one Kakashi Hatake, but now he had an entire new ordeal to contend with. For the most part, the Hokage had unyielding concern for his constituents, Naruo especially, and would be uneasey sometimes about just how much death the shinobi world endured. He had seen plenty of suffering, pain, and even torture, he was accustomed to living in such a world. That didn't mean he had to like it. So when he heard the entire story, detail by detail, from Kakashi, he was plain outraged.

How dare these civilians spit on the sacrifice of their ancestors and the founders of the village? How dare they!

He listened intently as Kakashi described how he had left to buy a certain book when he returned to find Naruto nowhere to be seen. It wasn't hard to hear the screams and spot the mob chasing the boy through the woods, but he had the extra skill of sending chakra to his nose and tracking. The ANBU had intervened as fast as he could, not before seeing Naruto deflect a dangerously close kunai with some type of solid mirror.

It appeared to be of ice, forcing him to think on the topic. Hyōton, that was the only answer.

Hiruzen dismissed Kakashi with a yawn and set in his mind that it was worth it to pay young Naruto a visit. Kakashi had assured him Naruto would be fine, but you never truly knew when it was a subject of bloodlines and chakra. Naruto's pathways could have been so destroyed from developing the bloodline that he would be unable to mold chakra ever again.

He placed the white and red Hokage hat on his head, turning to leave when there was a small knock on the door.

"Enter," he sighed, upset that it would be even longer before he could catch a wink of sleep. Being the Hokage was a brutal job, not even including some of the life-threatening requirements. Yeah, the paperwork was just that bad.

"Hiruzen," acknowledged a voice as a man entered. Danzo, the Hokage immediately realized before the man even opened the door fully. With three quarters of his face wrapped in white bandages, it was not a stretch to call him a mummy. Hiruzen knew that Danzo had lost his right eye doing suspicious studies during the beginning of the third shinobi war. The rumor that he had implanted a sharingan eye was quickly squashed, but not forgotten.

Danzo was known, mostly, for his signature calm and calculating attitude, but those who were older clearly remembered his role in the First, Second, and Third Shinobi War. While he wanted only Konoha's best interests at heart, his morals and methods to achieve these interests was shady at best. He supposedly disbanded the illegal faction of ANBU, Root, though no one had the guts to go against him and enforce the motion. 'Why did you have to leave me with so many problems, Minato...' Hiruzen just wished he could stand up to the wrongs of the village like Minato, but he was getting soft, leaving the ROOT to fester in the sewers like a disease.

The bandaged war hawk didn't wait for the Hokage to ask why he was there, he just stated his claim. "I have heard of a new bloodline in Konoha."

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes at the man. How could he have known about Naruto so quickly? It had been less than two hours since the horrid 'incident' had taken place. "Now where you have heard such an absurd claim?"

"Do not play games with me Hiruzen, I know of Naruto Uzumaki's bloodline," Danzo commanded, but Hiruzen did not budge from his judging glare.

For a few moments, two of the village's most powerful old shinobi glared at each other, trying to best interpret the expressions of each other's face. The sheer intensity of the stare off made some of the ANBU and Root ANBU, the later were hidden outside the room, grow restless. Danzo broke the silence. "I demand to train the boy for the protection of Konoha."

"Protection?" Spat Hiruzen, though not much emotion bled into his voice. "You only want him as an addition to your personal soldiers, not in protection of the village as a whole."

"They are one and the same," replied the man cooly. "It seems that, in your age, you have failed to grasp the true meaning of the shinobi. Naruto Uzumaki will guard the village from the roots."

"I will not allow his son to be turned into an emotionless tool!" Hiruzen said, in such a way that it appeared as both a shout and a loud whisper. The ANBU did not need to begin question just who's son Naruto was, thus he tried not to scream it at the top of his lungs. Anger at the bandaged man boiled deep within Hiruzen. The Will of Fire to protect one's comrades.

Danzo's mouth twitched minutely at the sides in an expression that Hiruzen learned was a smirk. "We are all tools, Hiruzen, Tobirama-sama tought me that. The day will come when you realize that the Will of Fire is nothing more than a farce, a lie to turn heads away from the true work of a shinobi."

"Enough," stated the Hokage, voice firm. "I am the Hokage here, not you. As my right of the Hokage, I once again order you to abandon that infernal Foundation organization in all of its aspects. Naruto Uzumaki will never be subjected to your ways, understood?"

"As you wish. Hiruzen." The man faced away from the Sandaime and the door opened at the hands of a Root ANBU. Before Danzo had padded out the door, he twisted around. "You must always do what is right for the village, not your morals." He said it as if he was speaking to an inferior. The leader of Root had absolutely no intention of abandoning his project to save Konoha, he had many of these conversations with the old monkey before. The weak man never followed up on his proclamations, yet another signal that the way of the Will of Fire was wrong.

When the man was gone, Hiruzen breathed a sigh of relief. The arguments between the two were growing hostile, and he prefered not to start a civil war, such as Kiri was well on its way to doing. Still, it brought the Kage questions. Doubts even, that his ideals were right. He was going soft, as proven by the attack on Naruto. Maybe if he was just firmer with his laws and more realistic in his opinion of the villagers, none of the atrocities against the boy would have happened. No one at the age of six should have been forced to live alone, isolated in a dump of an apartment. That would surely change.

He was once again about to leave, when a courier, who knew people were still awake, arrived in his room. The skinny civilian bowed and handed Hiruzen another scroll.

His worst nightmare had been affirmed. The civilian council called for a meeting. Tomorrow, thank Kami, but an outrage nonetheless.

For what reason was their request of a meeting so soon after the assault on the jinchuuriki? Simple, really, they were outraged that fifty civilians had been jailed along with a chuunin. They claimed that the men were not in the wrong, and that the boy was about to get what was coming for him. They completely ignored the fact that it was attempted murder.

These idiots made Hiruzen's blood boil. Maybe he'd be forced to do away with the civilian council as well. After all, it was only established to expedite the process of dealing with civilian affairs after the end of the first shinobi war. It had just lessened the Hokage's workload so much that it was deemed to be a useful and nearly vital portion of the village.

Unfortunately for them, that was about to be changed. The law was temporary.

Hiruzen put thoughts of the insolent fools from his mind and concentrated instead on leaving to find Naruto. With a nod to the two ANBU stationed, almost camoflauged, in the corners of the room, he walked out.

A few minutes later, Hirzuen was sitting in a chair beside Naruto's hospital bed. A couple wires stuck from the blond boy to various machines. One had a green line that rose up and down, monitoring his heartbeat, which was constant. The other seemed to measure something related to chakra, but Hiruzen was no medic nin. Despite these machines, the room appeared fairly white and sterile.

Naruto was dressed in a hospital gown, a couple bandages covering a few hour old bruise on his cheek. Funnily enough, the Uzumaki's mouth was open, gaping like a fish, while he slept without a sound.

The door opened and closed as a woman with long blue hair entered. She wore a standard nurse's scrubs under a white lab coat. The coat had the kanji for doctor, signifying that she was one of the medic-nins. The civilian nurses tended not to work after hours at the hospital, so it was understandable that the medic-nin was taking care of Naruto.

"H-hello, Hokage-sama," she greeted, slightly surprised by the new visitor in the room. It wasn't often, more like ever, that the Hokage visited patients. Normally he would stop by now and then, but not late at night or to stay by someone's side.

"What's his condition?" Asked the concerned Kage.

She pulled out a clipboard with some data. Most of it was irrelevant to the conversation, and she knew the boy's condition, but talking to the Hokage was fairly unnerving. Those notes comforted her ever so slightly. "Well, Hokage-sama, it appears if the boy," Hirzuen noted that even a caring doctor refused to use his name, "is having issues with his chakra nature."

"Chakra nature? What kind of issues?"

The midic-nin took a deep breath. "You see, Hokage-sama, when someone awakens a kekkei genkai that combines two natures, the chakra within the body changes slightly. With the boy, only a very small portion of his chakra was prepared for such a change, meaning he was a very distant descendant of then clan from which he received the kekkei genkai. The rest of his chakra network had to adapt to accommodate and change its chakra to match the minority. He's lucky that he didn't go into a coma, as if some unseen force was keeping his chakra network moving." At the end of that, she was looking through Hiruzen with an oddly calculating look. Suddenly, understanding washed into her face about what was said and she hazarded a smile.

The Kyuubi's chakra was slowly being drawn into his system, keeping the network moving and healing any damage. The Yuki clan had a specific chakra that allowed for their Hyōton to work properly, and Naruto's system only had a small amount of that chakra. It seemed, however, that the jinchuuriki could end up with either a dilute or potent Hyōton, only time would tell.

"When should he wake up?" Hiruzen questioned.

"Soon, but he can't do any activity for five days. I advise that he stay in the hospital." 'Naruto-kun hates hospitals,' Hiruzen chuckled, 'I'm sure he will have fun here. The nurse seems like a kind enough woman, willing to look past some of the prejudice.' The old monkey than had a second though, the Academy started in six days. If Naruto was okay by then, he would be able to join along with most other six year olds. Great things were going to happen for Naruto there, and maybe his fate wouldn't be as depressing as he once thought.

"Thank you, Nurse-san. You can go now, Naruto-kun is safe with me." It wasn't like she could choose to disobey an order directly from the Hokage, and she wasn't going to even if she could. She bowed, holding the clipboard to her chest, and left the two in peace.

Hiruzen, still sitting in the same chair, ruffled the sleeping boy's hair. "I'm happy you have a kekkei genkai now, Naruto-kun. While it may not be from your mother or father, at least it'll give you a sense of family." As if he was answering, Naruto's head rolled to the side. "You're unpredictable, you know that? I think its your never-give-up personality and unconditional happiness are principles that this village holds dear. One day, you'll make a great Hokage."

No answer came, and Hiruzen frowned. He was talking to himself like a lunatic. Maybe old age was finally getting to him, just as the buffoon, Danzo, thought. He chuckled nervously to himself, remembering his commerade's hot-headed personality in his youth.

A loud yawn snapped the Hokage out of his thoughts, turning his attention to the bed. Naruto's eyelids fluttered sleepily and he turned over to the other side. Suddenly, his eyes shot open and he tried to sit up, only for his head to slam into the bedside table. The blond heard a laugh, so, ignoring his throbbing head, he sat up to see his grandfatherly figure sitting next to him.

"Jiji!" he exclaimed, trying to jump out of the bed and wrap his hands around the man. Naruto was ecstatic that he survived the attack, and he had a great deal of energy for some unknown reason.

Before Naruto could move, however, a large hand was over his chest, keeping him from tackling the Hokage in a hug. The jinchuuriki pouted at Hiruzen, but the latter just smiled a warm smile. "The nurse doesn't want you to move while you body is adapting to your kekkei genkai."

"Kekkei genkai?" Questioned a very confused blond.

"It means bloodline limit. An inheritance passed down by blood relations, which means someone you're related to had the same kekkei genkai." At the sight of the boy's still confused face, he elaborated. "You can use special jutsu, like the Uchiha's sharingan." Even the boy knew about the sharingan, everyone did. It was the legendary dojutsu, Konoha's most powerful kekkei genkai.

"Whoa," he gasped. "So what can I do!"

"You have the Hyōton, Ice Release. It is a nature manipulation that combines water and air." Naruto didn't understand any of that explanation, but it seemed fitting that Hiruzen explain it nonetheless.

Naruto pumped a fist in the air, which looked extremely awkward while in bed. He made some loud, obnoxious proclimations about how he will be a great ninja and become Hokage.

"Oi, Jiji," Naruto added. "What's going to happen to those guys who attacked me?"

"Justice, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen smiled, thinking about the civilian council. A thought came to his mind about the blond's newly discovered kekkei genkai. Hiruzen had not the faintest idea how the would be able to get any information regarding the jutsu for the bloodline.

"Naruto-kun, can you do me a favor?" The boy nodded quickly. "Channel chakra to your hands." Naruto maintained a blank face and the Hokage kicked himself mentally for forgetting that Naruto wasn't in the Academy and he never leaned anything in the orphanage.

Without further ado, he launched into a lengthy explanation about chakra, being careful to use smaller, more easily understandable, words in order to keep Naruto focused. When it was all said and done, the boy looked like his mind exploded, his eyes slightly glazed over, zoned out, while he found the ceiling an entertaining sight. Hiruzen tought him in an hour how to unlock his chakra, the Hokage cursing himself for staying up so late. It looked like he was pulling an all-nighter, again. It was becoming a far too common habit for the old man.

Anyways, Naruto's hands were now glowing blue in success. The Hokage almost smacked himself for figuring that he just disobeyed the medic-nin's direct orders, but he was so bround of the boy that it didn't matter.

"Naruto, can you show me how you made that mirror earlier?"

He nodded. "I think so." He held his hands in front of himself, still laying on the bed, trying to remember what he did before. After a short amount of time, a perfectly reflective piece of crystal materialized as water was pulled from the air. 'Is that a quality of the ice release, or does Naruto-kun simply have an affinity as potent as Tobirama?' Hiruzen reluctantly figured that it was just the Hyōton, since all he was doing was crystallizing that water in the air, not pulling it away. It was still extremely impressive.

Naruto gasped like a fish. "Cool! I can do that!"

Hiruzen gave him a pat on the shoulder, a sign that he did a good job. "Thanks Naruto-kun. Can you try not to use that jutsu again before you're released from the hospital, the nurse thinks it could be dangerous to your chakra pathways." The jinchuuriki gave him a reluctant thumbs up. He hated three things: Mean people, rules, and hospitals. That requirement fell under two of those categories, meaning he probably wouldn't be following those rules.

Hiruzen looked out the window and was plain shocked to see that it was almost sunrise. They had spend almost all night talking about chakra theory. Between Kakashi, the nurse, and Naruto, Hirzuen was just plain done with chakra theory for the rest of his life.

"I have to go, Naruto-kun. There are people to meet. Remember, you're going to the Academy in a little over five days!" Hirzuen opened the door to leave, but didn't want to leave the boy alone. "Oh, if anyone named Danzo approaches you, don't listen to him."

"Got it Jiji!"

With a start, the Hokage realized that he had just gone against his principles. He always prided himself for being less manipulative than others and letting people make their own choices, but he just convinced an innocent boy to never even consider Danzo's offer. The man's offer was wrong in the first place, but that still left him no place to make decisions for the blond boy.

Mind in the clouds, still thinking about how this one day could change the future, the man who was looked up to by everyone now had to explain himself to a bunch of fools.

His day was only going to get worse.

A/N- I hope you like how I did this chapter from Hiruzen's point of view. Naruto was too young to have a meaningful opinion about most things, and a lot happened while he was asleep. Next chapter will be longer and include both the Academy and Hiruzen's trouble with the council.

I got Danzo's character down in here. Though I didn't mean for him to come off as an ignorant asshole, he kinda is... Still, I respect him more than most of the people in the series considering how he was willing to do anything for Konoha, whether it was accepted as moral or not. He was the true meaning of shinobi in my opinion. So, no, I won't bash him for being misled. Its like bashing Nagato in my eyes, poor kid.

Anyways, review and fav. I think I'll do a rewrite for last chapter too to throw in more description and change the style a bit.

Stay troublesome,

~Waffles