Danzo Shimura was ready to state his opposition to the proceedings. He was ready to denounce any favoritism towards the Demon Fox. His subtle chess game with the Third, in which he'd continually struggled to have the Demon Fox as friendless and vulnerable to become one of his pawns, was not something he was willing to completely concede as a failure.
Not yet anyway.
His eyes flicked to his two associates. With the powers of Shisui's influence-eye under his command, he could count on these two backing whatever play he put forward. They'd long since become his supporters. Which should have clued Hiruzen in as neither Koharu Utatane nor Homura Mitokado had been particularly inclined to be his followers back when they'd all been jonin of the Leaf.
The Inner Council was simply Koharu, Homura, and the Hokage. The full Council, such as this was, included clan heads and civilian representitives.
"How much money is involved?" asked Homura, his glasses hanging off of one ear and his eyes glazed and unfocussed.
Koharu snorted. "Old man, you're slipping. The paper's still in front of you."
"Gold and jewels, scrolls previously lost to time, ancient fragments of lore and art," said the Third Hokage. "This is what Naruto Uzumaki has brought us."
"..." Homura just mouthed the same words as before, his brain still apparently knocked offline.
"All of this merely proves that the Fox Container should be kept safely locked up," offered Kohaku.
"Uhm, excuse me, honored elder," said the Yamanaka clan head, looking up from his careful examination of one of the scrolls that had been sealed in the large scroll that Naruto had given over to the Hokage. "Have you gone senile?"
"WHAT?!" asked Kohaku, apparently ready to come down off her chair and kick someone's butt.
"Look at these!" said Inoichi Yamanaka. "He gave the Kazekage one scroll he'd sealed some gold and gemstones in. This one has a modest amount of the same-"
Homura gave a strained little laugh.
"-but it's the INFORMATION in these surviving documents that is by far the greater treasure," continued Inoichi. "You want to reward someone who did this and managed to placate a foreign lord while sneaking this away under his nose?"
Kohaku frowned. "We should have gotten all of it."
"No, I agree with Naruto's judgement here," put in the Third Hokage. "It was found in their land, and therefore under their jurisdiction. We'll make copies of what we are able to translate and make it available to Sand at some point. Probably as part of a trade concession or something."
"Based on their performance at the Chunin Exams," said Inoichi. "I'd be inclined to give all three chunin rank. I understand Master Jiraiya and special jonin Mitarashi have recommended that Naruto Uzumaki be given the rank of Special Jonin. I disagree. I think he should be tested for jonin."
Homura twitched a little more, Kohaku's jaw dropped. Hiruzen Sarutobi smirked for just a tiny moment, and that might have just been caused by Danzo looking as if he was about to suffer a stroke right there and then.
"Hmmm, interesting," said the Third Hokage. "Why?"
Shibi Aburame spoke up before Inoichi could. "I believe I have come to the same conclusion due to the same logic. We have a number of jonin who are perfectly suited to assassinations and conflict situations. Not that Uzumaki is ill-suited to such. His performance on the test itself though was that of a leader. He managed to turn the test on its head, find loopholes to exploit, and forge alliances on the fly. My clan understands what it is like to be judged for that which is within you, and to be prejudiced against. The boy shows no sign of resentment for such, instead his major goal is to assist members of his previous class. It is my recommendation therefore that the path to jonin be made available to him that he might lead those classmates upon their graduation."
"Well," said Inoichi. "That's part of it, yeah. Partly I've examined Naruto. He's not being controlled or even influenced by the Fox so that's not a consideration. He's got some pretty strong shielding, but he's more intelligent and more disciplined than you'd expect. I also found some things in there I can't discuss openly but further indicate his loyalty to the village."
"The Hyuga girl?" asked Shikaku Nara.
"I'm not free to discuss the examination I did of either of them," said Inoichi. "Professional ethics. I've shared details with Ibiki Morino as part of the report."
"Why don't we settle this with a vote?" asked Hiruzen, ignoring the way Danzo had just started choking for no apparent reason. No, the Third Hokage merely looked innocent and neutral as he called for the vote to determine Naruto's rank.
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(Posted Thu, 10 Jun 2010 15:36)
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