CHAPTER 57: UNEXPECTED ORDER

Making the mokuton usable through a seal had been relatively easy, making it usable through simple hand seals had not. No matter how much he tried he couldn’t quite get it right. So instead Riku devised a modified seal for each wrist that would change the nature of the chakra and its output when using mokuton jutsu. Tsunade had been over the moon when she made a simple tree in the backyard. She was so excited she dragged him to her room and gave him the time of his life.

News of his and Ino’s engagement went around quickly. Not like they bothered hiding that fact. He did reassured Hinata and Karin that their turn would come. He just needed time to make the experience memorable. Ino confirmed it when she told them how it went for her and advised them to wait patiently. They still went on dates. Public ones with Karin and clandestine ones with Hinata who wanted the elders out of the way before their relationship would be discovered.

Konoha’s reconstruction accelerated greatly thanks to Riku providing loads of wood. Yamato had been grateful as he was being run to the ground to supply the material. In fact there was more wood than hands were able to use. The Suna refugees were joined by their Shinobi that got to take the wood for free and make a temporary quarter at the outskirts of the village. They didn’t want to get in the way of the reconstruction of Konoha nor mingle too much with its people since their sojourn in the Leaf was only temporary.

The routine that had installed itself after weeks was however broken by an urgent missive that Tsunade received from the Raikage. After the Hyuga affair where Neji lost his father years ago, communication with Kumo had been mostly non-existent. It has been quite the surprise to get a message from them. The Raikage wanted a summit of the five kage in the Land of Iron to discuss important matters regarding the Elemental Nations. The first thing that came to mind was a matter regarding the Akatsuki, the second thing was that it was a ploy for… Whatever plan the Raikage had in mind. Nobody had forgotten what Riku had to do in Suna with Iwa.

“I think that the topic of discussion the Raikage wants to talk about is less important than whether we should go or not.” Riku said to his mother. “Iwa and Kumo brushed off Gaara’s attempt for a Gokage summit and now that they are probably in deep shit they want one. Except we’re in a position of strength this time. We’ve dealt with most of the Akatsuki by ourselves including one of their leaders. What do they have to offer that could interest us? I also doubt Iwa wants to make friends after losing a thousand of their Shinobis to me. The only reason I can see for going is to see if we can maybe make an alliance with Kiri which is an unknown ever since the end of their civil war. It will take years for Suna to recover if ever and I don’t want to go to war against an Iwa/Kumo alliance alone. Also, why are you asking me? Is that why you summoned me?” he explained his line of thoughts.

Tsunade shared a look with Hiruzen and then with Homura and Koharu. None of them said anything, a silent conversation taking place. When it appeared to be over, she spoke up.

“I plan to go, taking Kakashi and Gai with me as bodyguards.”

“Okay. How is that-”

“You’ll be acting Hokage in my stead the whole time.”

Riku’s brain froze for a second before going full throttle in analyzing her words. He looked at Hiruzen who looked back. Unflinching. He wouldn’t get help or an answer from the man, so he turned to the elders but got the same reaction. With no support his eyes landed back on his mother.

“No.”

“You have no choice on the matter. I’m ordering you.”

“First off, the council is there to act in the absence of the Hokage. Second, Jiraiya is-”

“Not in the village.”

“Minato-

“Is busy with the academy and reforming the whole course. He’s also not a shinobi anymore. And before you say their names, Kakashi is not yet strong enough and Kushina is not yet back to her previous level before her pregnancy, she’s also busy with bettering the village’s barrier. You’re also the strongest shinobi in the village.”

Riku pointed at Hiruzen with his thumb.

“I’m too old. I don’t think I could defeat you either.”

“My first point still stands.”

“Usually we would but with the village’s reconstruction, we need a visible leader to keep rallying under.” Homura explained.

“Someone with the strength, the charisma and the authority to do so.”

“You’re the son of two kages, great-grandson of another and from the most prestigious clan which founded the village. You defeated the Kyuubi on your own and saved every villagers’ lives while fighting a six against one battle against the man that destroyed our home. We can’t do better than that. You’re the best candidate and fit all the criterias by a large margin.” was the blunt answer Hiruzen gave him.

“I’m 18.”

“I wasn’t much older when I took the hat.”

“It doesn’t matter. As I said, I’m ordering you.”

Riku took a very deep breath and sighed, already tired of the argument. He couldn’t do anything. Orders were orders.

“When do you leave?” he inquired, accepting his new role.

“A week from now.”

“One week of travel, a few days tops for the talks. Fine. I’ll manage the village for half a month.”

“For someone who dreams of being Hokage, you sure don’t want the job.” his mother noted.

“I want the job when I’m older and you’re old enough to break a hip.”

“As if I’ll wear the hat that long. Nuh-huh. See it as getting experience before you get the job for real.”

“How come there is no one suitable between your generation and mine?”

“There was Minato. The war took most of them otherwise.” Koharu said.

“I’m suddenly of the mind to fix his chakra network.”

““You can do that?!”” everyone exclaimed.

“No. But I may. Also maybe Karin? Thought for later. Anyway, don’t yell at me if you don’t like what I did when you come back.”

That was all he said before flashing away in a green light. Tsunade gave the elders a look that said it all.

“He’s right, you know. You could take him with you and Kakashi would be the acting Hokage instead.” voiced Homura. He and Koharu were not very eager to see Riku wearing the hat temporarily.

“I trust no one more than him to protect the village in my absence. He already did it twice.”

“Protecting the village is one thing. Leading it is another.” Koharu retorted.

“Well, the three of you are here aren’t you?”

The old woman had nothing to say back to that.

For his part, Riku went home. With the state the village was in, there wasn’t any laboratory build back up. The hospital had been finished only four days earlier so anything else R&D related was out of the question. As such he could only use the equipment in his Botib and it wasn’t really geared towards analysis, especially a pair of eyes so in the end he gave up the idea of working on the Rinnegan on the way.

That left him with nothing but to think about the meeting he just came out from.

‘What the flying fuck. Acting Hokage. They’re mad.’

He needed to talk to someone about this. Someone that will just listen to him rant without saying a word. That would let him vent to his heart content and then cheer him up and he knew the perfect person for that. He changed direction from home to the hospital to pay a visit to Hinata. He was hoping that she’d be assisting there as a nurse. The medic-course had been temporarily put on hold until everything went back to normal and Hinata chose to put in practice what she had learned for the past months.

Along the way, not a single villager sent him a glare, an under their breath insult or a sneer. There have been polite nods and greetings, some thank yous but nothing negative. Riku politely answered them all in kind with a small smile on his face. On the inside, however, he felt bitter. He shouldn’t have had to save the village twice and be related to the Shodai or the Godai to be treated that way. The thought about how the world was unfair came and went as fast as it popped in his mind. Thinking about such things had never been his way and was nothing but a waste of time. He ignored the bad taste in his mouth and the blood in his veins boiling in anger and kept marching on to his destination.

Despite the state of the village the hospital was not as full as one would expect as a result. He had thought about asking the nurses at the reception desk if they knew if Hinata was working but decided to go see Shizune instead. As the head of the hospital she knew the planning of everyone or at least had access to it. He had reached her office on the third floor and was about to knock on the door when it opened, revealing his beautiful moon princess.

“Hello~, Hinata-chan” he greeted with a very happy voice that made her smile.

“Hello, Ri-kun.”

A thick current of emotion went from each other in a sudden silence that was quickly broken.

“And what am I? Chop liver?” the annoyed voice of Shizune came from behind Hinata.

“... Of course not, Shizune-senpai. I…” he began but stopped not finding the words. “I have no excuse to get me out of this so I’ll just say that I need Hinata-chan’s help for something related to the security of the village and it cannot wait.”

“Uh-huh. As if… I’m going to kill him. Nobody flashes on me! Especially not my own Kohai!” she spoke loudly in anger after Riku disappeared in a green light with Hinata.

The secret couple reappeared in the Botib that Riku left open and accessible in his bedroom. To Hinata’s surprise however, Riku didn’t get inside and sat down on his bed, pulling her down with him. The fact that she was not being assaulted by his wandering hands and his lips made her understand that it wasn’t a booty call. Not like he would ever do that to her. Ino maybe but not her. Something was on his mind and she knew that she just had to give him time to formulate properly what he had to say. Pushing him to talk would just be counter productive. When he took a big breath and laid down on his back on the bed she backed up a bit but stayed seated..

“In one week, mom is going to the Land of Iron for a Gokage summit and she put me in charge of the whole village during her absence.” he blurted out.

The bluenette’s surprise was displayed by her thin eyebrows nearly reaching the beginning of her hairline. She hadn’t been expecting that at all and didn’t know quite what to say. Fortunately for her, Riku functioned by himself, he said aloud his problems, came up with multiple solutions on the spot and you just had to be there.

“That’s insane. The worst is that the Sandaime and the elders agreed! Lost their minds! It’s what they did. All of them. How am I supposed to lead the whole village when I’m just 18 and the village just started to see me as… not… me? UGH!”

At this point Riku shifted his body and laid face first inside her lap. Immediately, Hinata put her hand on it and slowly began to give him some pats. She felt how tense he was and how bit by bit he relaxed under her touch.

“You’ll do fine. It’s only for a week. And you’re not alone. You have plenty of people to help you. Chief among them Sandaime-sama and in a certain measure your father. Although I’m pretty sure you’d do well on your own. You have a gift with Leadership. When you talk people listen, no matter what they end up doing. You have what it takes to sway them in your favor and get them moving like you want. As for the rest? You’ve been assisting Hokage-sama for years. You know everything you need to know and with how smart you are you won’t have any problem acting accordingly.

“I hate when you make sense like that.” he mumbled between her legs.

“Someone has to keep you level-headed.” she replied with a smirk he couldn’t see.

That was her ”job” so to speak. Ino would have just kicked his ass, told him to suck it up, gave him a blowjob and sent him on his way with a kiss and a ‘good luck’. Karin? She would have panicked and shut herself to avoid thinking about things she didn’t understand and didn’t care about after telling him that everything would be fine.

She, on the other hand, used logic against him. Logic, he understood and found strength in it. She loved that only she could calm him down like that. That made her feel important, feel needed in his eyes.

“I guess I found my personal assistant then.” he declared, turning his body and head to face her from down her lap.

“If that’s what you wish, I’ll assist you any way I can to the best of my capabilities.”

“... You’re not supposed to agree! You’re supposed to decline, proving my point!” he whined.

“How would that prove your point? It makes no sense, Riku.” she inquired. She was half confused and half sure he was bullshitting her.

“It does in my head.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I’m this close to propose to you after Karin after this.” he said with his thumb and index almost touching.

“Nu-huh. You wouldn’t do that.”

“Oh? And how do you know that?”

“Because I’m asking you not to and I know you’ll respect my wishes. Also, I came first before Karin hence I got to be proposed to before her.”

The finality in her voice made him realize that his conversation wasn’t going to end up in a victory for him. Sore loser that he was, he decided to win at something else. Raising himself from her lap, he pinned her down and kissed her. Hinata was surprised for a fraction of a second before responding in kind.

“There. I didn’t completely lose the argument.” he said with a smug smile when he pulled back and released her.

A grave mistake. Hinata used the Juken to paralyze his arms and in a fraction of a second he was the one pinned down. She didn’t hesitate to rub herself on his hardening groin and the gleam in her eyes told Riku that maybe he shouldn’t have done that and accepted the loss.

It was a very hurt and sore, but with a pleased smile on his face, soon-to-be acting Hokage, who fell asleep at the end of the day. Used as a giant plushie by his very smug and satisfied girlfriend.

A bit before dawn they both woke up in each other’s arms. Hinata needed to go back to the Hyuga compound to not get caught for spending the night somewhere else. He was fed up with having to hide his relationship with Hinata. He wanted to walk down a street holding her hand and be all lovey dovey in public, except that couldn’t happen with the hyuga elders still in power. He did have an idea which he shared with Hinata as she had just pulled up her panties and was brushing her hair.

“What would happen, if one morning, all the old coots of your clan woke up with the bird cage seal on their forehead and everyone from the main branch without it. Replaced by a seal protecting the byakugan but not enslaving them?”

Hinata stopped what she was doing slowly, contemplating the consequences of such an event. That would drastically change the dynamic of her family but would it be for the better?

“I don’t know. I need to know more details.”

“Provided they all find themselves in a room sealed by a barrier with a Hiraishin on it, they could find themselves inside a… room inside a Botib filled with sleeping gas. While someone puts the seal on them, the member of the branch family would get their seal removed and a new one placed on their scalp would protect their eyes in case of death.” he explained as he got up, took the brush for her hand and continued doing her hair.

She thought about it. The cage bird seal on the elders would be justified and a good comeuppance but she wasn’t like that. That wasn’t her way and would go against  the unification of her family even if most of the side branch would want that. She knew that if their family should strive again they couldn’t use the same methods and sealing the elders would just perpetuate those methods. No, they needed to be taken down in a duel. She knew she was ready, her weekly secret spar with Neji had proven that she was, winning almost half of them. Even her prodigious cousin had been impressed by her level of skill. With the Juken. She had never shown her new tricks and skills. If she was to rate herself she’d say she was an A-rank Kunoichi.  Riku’s plan was interesting but would need to be altered, she would also need the help of her father to organize everything. The difficult part of the plan was to remove the seal.

“Why the sudden interest?” she asked, looking at his reflection’s eyes in the mirror in front of her.

“I don’t want to hide anymore. I want us to be free to sleep in in the morning, to hold hands or kiss publicly. I believe that with you at the head of your clan or-”

“Okay.”

“... don’t say that if you’re not-”

“I said okay, Riku.” she repeated and turned around to directly look at him. “Let’s do it.”

“Just like that? No talk about protecting Hanabi or waiting until she’s older or-”

“No. I’m tired of hiding our love too. I’ll speak with my father about your plan. See if he can give you the notes on the seal for you to l find a way to remove it. As for Hanabi… She's a chunin now. She may not be an adult by civilian laws but she’s mature beyond her age regarding our clan politics. I just… wanted for her to enjoy her life more before I renounced my heirship in her favor but… It’s… I don’t want to do it anymore. Ino, Karin… They’re free to do as they wish and I… I guess I’m jealous.”

Riku leaned forward and gave her a simple but powerful kiss on her lips.

“I love you.”

He said nothing more and just pulled down the straps of her bra. His hands didn’t stop there and reached her waist. He picked her up and brought her back to bed. Hinata didn’t fight it. She would be late and it was fine. She was done hiding.