Reclaiming the Throne

The Senju watched as the two red haired left the office, and nodded in acknowledgment as Kinzoku ordered Ita to remain behind. It was.....humbling to see the boy who’s life he had saved once taking the orders of a former Suna shinobi over his, even if the man was Konoha’s current Hokage. Just another reminder of how long he had been gone and how much things have changed. He supposed it didn’t actually help that he had chosen to reveal his Sharingan. It had apparently been taken as a threat which, he realized with a mental face-palm, actually made sense. The former Hokage closed his eyes and sighed as he embraced himself for the conversation to come. When he finally opened his eyes again, they had returned to their natural forest-green state.

He smiled softly and had a solemn look in his eyes as he heard both the hurt and disbelieving tone in his friends voice as she spoke. There had been many times he wanted to come back and tell her he was ok. Many times he wished he could have been there to help her through life and the hardships she had no doubt encountered. If he hadn’t been so weak when he returned to life, coupled with the fact he knew Viper and his pet ANBU would be watching the village closely, he would have done just that. He knew that after four years of everyone believing him to be dead that it would not be a simple matter to convince everyone that he was alive, let alone regain their trust.

”This might take a while. If I may?” The Senju gestured to a nearby chair as he spoke, clearly asking Kinzoku permission to sit before he began his answer. If allowed, he would walk over to the empty chair and sit. The weariness in his face could now clearly be seen as opposed to the confident aura he had been giving off before. Jason would reach up grip the bridge of his nose for a moment with his eyes closed again as he gathered his thoughts. A moment later his eyes opened again and he folded his hands together in his lap, finally ready to tell his tale. If he had not been allowed to sit, then he would just stand where he was while performing the same actions.

”The tales of my death were not entirely untrue,” he began, his tone quiet, but sure. ”As far as I’m aware, the story is that I suddenly became ill and then rapidly declined in health until the inevitable happened and I was overcome by the disease. This is not true.” The former Hokage let his words hang there for but a moment as he made eye contact with each of the three still remaining before he continued. ”The truth of the matter is that I was poisoned. I was poisoned by some of my very own ANBU, or at least I had though they were mine. In truth though, their loyalty laid with Viper Uchiha. You see I can’t be certain as to the man’s reasons, but I believe he didn’t look to kindly about the contract I had put out for the eyes of an Uchiha not loyal to Konoha. I guess it doesn’t really matter what his true motives were now though. What matters is that he wanted me dead and he used the ANBU under my command to poison me. To the outside it looked exactly as the story had been told: that I had succumbed to an unknown and deadly disease. I probably would have thought the same thing even now if one of the men responsible hadn’t come to me with one last message. ‘Viper Uchiha sends his regards’. It was the last thing I heard before the blackness of death took hold.”

He closed his eyes and sighed again, trying to push those painful memories out of his mind. He took a deep breath and then exhaled. After a moment, he was ready to begin again. ”The next thing I knew, I was naked and alone in the forest outside of the village. You see, I had already bonded to a very rare and powerful item called a Soul Amethyst. This item allowed one to be reborn after death one time, so long as they bonded their soul to it and picked a place of resurrection. As I spent so much of my time there, I had chosen a small clearing in the forest I had turned into my personal training area long ago. Apparently this item is so rare that the one I had bonded with may have been the last one in existence. I can’t be sure. I do know that I haven’t heard of one, let alone come across any, since I’ve been revived. You can find notes on the item here in this building though. I made sure to write down the information in case it was ever needed in the future.” His words flowed quicker now and his tone was light. Then he remembered why he was telling this story in the first place and the next part that would be revealed. His face grew stern and his next words were tinged with regret and anger.

”The reason that I never returned until now was because I knew that Viper Uchiha had ordered me killed. I knew that the man was much more powerful than I was, especially in my extremely weakened state from being revived. I knew that if that demon had found out I was still alive I would have been murdered again. No, I couldn’t return to the village while his shadow still loomed overhead. So, with no other options, I began trying to recover the strength that I lost while watching the village’s growth from afar. For a while it wasn’t bad. The village seemed to be doing fine. In fact, it seemed to be thriving under the rule of Kurisu. Unfortunately, from my understanding, once he vanished everything began going downhill. The only good thing that came from his sudden and strange disappearance was that I could no longer sense Viper’s presence anywhere. It was like a heavy pressure had been lifted and I would have my freedom once more. I could return home after years of being forced into exile. But I was wrong.” The Senju shook his head and sighed once more, placing his face in his hands for a moment as he collected himself. Before that, however, tears had began welling up in his eyes as he had been speaking. The pain of being forced to remain away from the village and his friends and family for so long would have been evident on his face. When he looked back up from his hands, however, his eyes had been dried and he once again had a determined look on his face.

”Even though Viper has vanished, his followers had not. It took me another two years to root out and take care of the remaining threat to my return, but finally I did it. During that time I had to sit by and watch as my home became nothing more than the newest plaything for Xyxer, Mizukage of the Bloody Mist. You asked me what I hoped to gain by coming today. My answer is this:” he paused then, locking eyes with each of the three still there in the room. ”I came here today to talk to you, the current Hokage. I came here today to announce my return and share my story. I came here today in the hope of returning to my home so I could protect the Leaf as I have failed to do in the past. I came here today to convince you they Konoha does not need to be ruled by the Mist. That we do not need to be ruled by the mist! That we can reclaim our former status and power, and protect ourselves from outside forces!” The Will of Fire within him had unconsciously brought a fierceness to his voice that he did not intend on having. Realizing this, he took a moment to calm himself once more before speaking again. When he did, it was much softer, but the passion was still there.

I have come here today to tell you that you are not alone. That, if you allow it, I would gladly take up my old title as Hokage. However I know that I have been gone for many years and my identity, loyalty, and motives still need to be confirmed. I also know that even now, four years later, I am still not at full strength. I am confident that soon I will be, but at the moment I’m not. I know you may still have many questions and I will do my best to answer them. I will also do whatever is needed to dismiss any doubts or suspicions about me. I know when I was Hokage we kept a member of the Yamanaka clan on the intelligence team of the ANBU. If it remains the same, then perhaps you could summon whoever is currently on the team to go through my mind and see the truth for themselves. I could recount most details of my life here for you instead, but that would take an exorbitant amount of time. I’m sure we all want this to be handled as quickly as possible, so I suggest the mind reading route instead. I understand that you are the Hokage now, though, and as such the choice is yours.” When he finished speaking his eyes were once again trained on Kinzoku’s. He did not do anything else except to relax himself where he was and wait for the man’s decision, whatever it may be.

Approved of exit's and claims

The Jounin’s exit had been put on hold for now by Kinzoku. The Hokage offered Ita the opportunity to stay- which is what the Uchiha wanted. Ita did not proceed to exit, instead he would choose to remain where he was. Kisuke and Tadashi would exit past Ita and Ita would now fully enter through the doorway, closing the door behind him.

 

Ita was now amongst three Hokage: Jason Senju, Risako Akara, and Kinzoku Nazar. The situation he found himself in was rather strange, but he wasn’t going to give up on a chance to find out what was going on. The boy’s eye’s shifted to each of them formulating thoughts. Jason was the first Hokage the boy had ever met. He had saved him from a potentially deadly encounter from a rouge ninja, so that had to count for something right? However, the encounter was so long ago and Ita did not remember ever interacting with him again after that point. Other than Jason’s strange disappearance, and now reappearance, he did not know much else about him, so this was his chance to learn. Risako was also present, but Ita had not truly met her before either; other than sharing the battlefield with her for a moment. Kinzoku, the current Hokage that Ita found himself bearing loyalty to for the time being- a man that Ita felt confident in based off his actions thus far.

 

Kinzoku would proceed to grant the Sixth Hokage the opportunity to explain his sudden reappearance and provide answers to questions inquired. With the room sealed and everyone’s attention on Jason, he would deliver.

 

He started off by discrediting the story that everyone believed to be the truth of his death, a story that stated that he had died from illness. After a dramatic pause, he would continue to tell us that he was poisoned by his own ANBU and believed it was done at the hands of a man named “Viper Uchiha” because Jason had put a hit out for the eyes of a traitorous Uchiha from the Leaf.

 

Who was this Viper Uchiha that he spoke of? Ita thought to himself while listening intently.  

 

Jason would then proceed to explain how he returned. In fact, he had been dead, but he had a hold of a very rare item called a “Soul Amethyst” that allowed him to be resurrected. Once he had been resurrected, he was so weak that he chose to hide in the shadows than let it be known he was alive again due to the fear of Viper returning to finally finish the job. Even once Fifi and Viper disappeared, Jason remained to stay in the shadows due to the fear of being hunted by Viper’s remaining followers.

 

Either way, it was an interesting story to say the least, but Ita found some holes that he would keep to himself for the time being. Ita was more focused on being a fly on the wall at this point and absorbing as much information as possible so he could find out more about this ‘Viper Uchiha’ and rare artifacts that can bring one back to life. Ita awaited the responses of Kinzoku and Risako and would only speak if addressed.

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Glad to see that Kinz was taking over. Ris might one day become the steel tempered lady she was for a bit, but until then it wasn't worth letting her make the decisions. Jason's first argument was that his slow decline into the long night wasn't caused by his illness, the story that, for the last four years Risako had known as the only truth. Rather, this man claimed that he had been poisoned. You know that fleeting feeling you get in your heart when you're about to insult someone over the internet? Yeah, that excited, angry rush that kind of takes over your whole body? I mean if you're normal, this doesn't happen to you but, moving on.

The claim that the ANBU had poisoned him sat with Risako for a second. Her cheeks felt the heat of flushed skin, and it didn't take long for this to explanation to be taken badly. The woman was fairly certain that her ANBU had some overlap in members with Viper, and Jason's own squads. Honestly she wasn't sure which one was more believable, whether one of the people she worked with for a while could have betrayed her trust, or whether not-dead Jason was implying that by some extent her ANBU had taken her own friend's life. It did sit within her mind that the ANBU were always a shady organization, a necessary evil, if you will. That said, Anri Uchiha had actually died in her defense. Mixed feelings were had on this one, especially if it proved true. Further, as Jason pointed out, Viper's (granted, a man she didn't know) motives were a complete mystery. This only roused her suspicion against Jason further.

Despite her protesting thoughts, Risako only conveyed her hurt through white knuckled clench fists, and a stern locked jaw. She would keep her mouth closed until he had finished speaking, for now. After all if Kinz didn't see it fit to interrupt, then she had no place to speak out of turn in his office.

The next absurdity to come out of his mouth was that a Soul Amethyst resurrected him, body and soul. This length of story was laced with truths, as she had even read of the mythical gem and its revival capabilities. It's rarity was another thing he nailed more or less on the head. His next spiel was about why he hadn't returned immediately. Rationally, one wouldn't return to the place where someone ordered them dead so she at the very least shared that sentiment.

He went on to wrap the speech up with a declaration that Konoha no longer needed Kiri. Well, maybe this bit proved why Ris shouldn't be the leader. Her pursuit in allowing Konoha to be subjected to rule was that the strongest she had known were gone. His bit about the constant decline of the village post Kurisu wasn't wrong, but the truth hurts sometimes. That said, when you know you can't match the strongest people from before your time, why would you risk total annihilation over some sense of pride? She knew somewhere along the line that Xyxer was going to demand a body, and Risako was willing to be the one who died. Unfortunately, Yensung threw a wrench in things and subjected the village to fighting. She stewed over this while Jason finished talking, saying that he'd willingly hand himself over to mind reading.

She knew that at this point, anything she had to say wouldn't be necessary, save for chiming in to say this: "Humor the mind reading, it'll tell us more than we want to know."

It was smart of the Senju to revert his sharingan back to his normal green eyes. Perhaps he realized how such an act could be taken as a threat and the potential consequences that could arise from it. Finally Kinzoku met the eyes of the man standing opposite of him. It was much easier to read a man when you could look them in the eyes. It would make things a lot easier for what would undoubtedly be a long story. "Please, excuse my bad manners" Kinzoku said as he repositioned himself into a more upright posture as opposed to the more relaxed one he had just been in, motioning to the chair Jason had chosen. The commotion of having so many people in his office had distracted him from the most basic courtesies, whether or not this man was who he claimed to be. He offered the same to Risako and Ita if they wished. 

He started his story, by saying the story everyone knew about, that the story recorded in history, was all a lie. A bold claim to make, but not one that could be so easily disregarded. Corruption was always a problem no matter where you went, perhaps there was some merit to his claims. Kinzoku knew very little about Viper and his motives. He questioned the notion of ANBU turning on their Hokage. They were the sword and shield of this village. To turn on their Kage would be to go against the very code they lived by. But he knew Viper was once the Hokage and may have kept some of his influence while out of office. He could see why someone would want to protect their bloodline as best as they could. But to kill the leader of your village all for a missing nin? It seemed the doubt was not just with Kinzoku. The Nazar was surprisingly adapt at picking up small details. Perhaps it was a natural ability he had acquired as a Nazar clan member. So it was fairly easy to see the internal struggle Risako was going through. Clenched fists, tightened jaw, flushed face. By the looks of it, she was not happy with the mans words.

All the while Jason spoke Kinzoku remained silent, affording him the respect to tell his story, or lies. In truth he had never heard of this Soul Amethyst. So to him, it seemed oddly convenient that he had come to possess such a rare item, the last in existence. But he listened on, taking tasteful puff from his cigar from time to time. The mention of Viper's disappearance sent a cascade of emotions surging through his body. That's right. Viper was brothers with Koroshi, the former Kazekage. Mention of the disappearance never sat well with Kinzoku as he knew there were questions that would go unanswered. He hated not knowing what happened to his beloved Kazekage. 

Throughout story time Kinzoku had done his best to remain un-phased by the array of emotions the Senju displayed. Either he was sincere in everything he told and was very passionate about it all, or he was a good actor and a trained liar. Either way, Kinzoku would take Risako up on her only words and humor the Senju. He swiftly created a shadow clone and had it vanished out of the office with a golden flash in search of the Yamanaka. While the clone searched, Kinzoku would address the man of the hour.

"Don't for a second think you know what we need. It is easy to say what Konoha does or does not need while you sit on the sidelines and watch it burn" Kinzoku stated, gently placing his cigar down in the curve of an ash tray. There was a reason he started with this point. This point hit home with the Nazar because he had called two villages home, and both villages were attacked. Both villages lost because they didn't have what was necessary to defend itself. "As hard as it was for me to admit, we did need Kirigakure. They had what we didn't." He would end his point there. For one, he didn't feel the need to divulge more to a man who's identity he couldn't confirm. Also, the shadow clone was back with the Yamanaka. 

The Yamanaka would do her thing, digging and creeping her fingers through the mind of the Senju to find all that he knew and had gone through (agreed upon by both parties to do this). Having been debriefed on his story, she knew what she was looking for. When she found it, she released her grip upon his mind explaining what she had found (feel free to add more of your past here, things Ris or Ita may have been apart of maybe). In turn, this was in fact the former Hokage Jason Senju.

"I apologize for our skepticism, Jason" Kinzoku said, a more welcoming tone in his voice. "I'm sure you can understand the position you've put us in." With that the clone would take the Yamanaka back with the Hokage's thanks. "Welcome home" he added, allowing Ita or Risako to give their welcoming and speak if they so wished. "Unfortunately, I'm afraid I can't simply hand back the mantle to you. You've been gone far too long. The people don't know you. Those that do, I'm hard pressed to say you still have their trust. But more importantly, I can't ignore the choices you've made" he added, slicking his hair away from his face. Fear was a nasty thing once it took root inside a person's mind. It caused people to think only for themselves and in some instances even act irrationally. 

"I can't blame you for your choices. You feared for your life. Most men would not have returned. However, I cannot allow them to go unpunished. You willingly remained a missing nin while you watched Konoha fall apart, even after the disappearance of Viper. You could have returned. You have two friends right here, who would have surely helped you. You could have returned, and helped your village fight the invaders. But you didn't. Then, four years later you return while our forces were gone. You trespass and enter into my office and proceed to stealing information. All actions punishable by imprisonment. Perhaps even death." He took a pause, his gaze shifting to both Risako and Ita. Though he may be their leader, he valued the opinion of all within his village regardless of social standing. "What punishment do you two see fit for your friend?" he asked them, eyes shooting back to meet the Senju's. "As the former Hokage, how would you punish such actions?"

AP:

Not long after he finished his story a young woman had appeared, brought to the office by a Clone the current Hokage had created for that very purpose. Sitting quietly in the chair he had taken up residence in, the Senju relinquished his mind to the intelligence specialist. Several long minutes passed as the Yamanaka woman did her thing, and more than once caused a slight wince as her mental fingers combed through his own memories. It wasn’t necessarily painful, though it was a uniquely uncomfortable feeling having his mind at the mercy of another. She would find pieces of memory here and there that would confirm his claims. A teasing confirmation filled with laughter between Risako and himself. Training sessions with his former teammates, Kasai and Tatsuya. A letter to him from Xyxer, asking for permission to allow Hunter-Nin of the Mist access to his village which he denied. The appearance of Maku, acquainted with Hoshigakure at the time, and the meeting they had had regarding the contract Jason had spoken of, as well as the spar the two shinobi had agreed upon the following day. Reliving that defeat was not something the former Hokage had wanted to do, but he allowed it nonetheless. Finally the woman tasked with uncovering the truth would find the memories tied to the story he had just told and, after what seemed like hours, had corroborated his story, even though it was truly only a scant few minutes. When it was done and his mind was his own once again, Jason breathed an audible sigh of relief.

”I understand your caution, and appreciate you humoring me and summoning that young woman to corroborate my story. You could have thrown me in jail or ordered my death, but instead you leaned on the side of compassion and trusted in the word of your subordinates. That speaks well for you as the leader of the Leaf village. Thank you.” He knew what a precarious situation he had just been in, and was sincere about the words he had just spoken. Taking an apologetic and sorrowful glance at Risako, he then turned his attention back to the man in front of him. He felt like he was truly seeing him for the first time, and he now knew that he had underestimated him while jumping to conclusions. A mistake he would not be making again.

He listened intently as the man spoke, and regret could be seen on his face periodically as he allowed himself to be chastised by the current leader of the Leaf. The man wasn’t exactly wrong, but he may have too strict of an opinion on certain things as well. Regardless of that, though, Jason’s respect for him grew slightly when he saw the man not stray from a difficult situation and appeared to be doing his best to sincerely protect the village from all potential threats. When asked what punishment he would have doled out for the crimes committed, Jason had to stop for a moment. He truly hadn’t expected the Hokage to take his opinion into consideration on the matter, and it was indeed something to think about. A pondering expression took the spotlight on his face as he thought it over. There was no ‘black and white’ solution to this. If he were being honest with himself, he’d probably have done the same things Kinzoku had done so far if their positions were in reverse. The punishment, however, had many variables to consider. Who was the perpetrator of these crimes? How severe were they? We’re they done intentionally and with a malignant nature? Was the perpetrator proven to be loyal to the village? Had they come forward on their own, or had they been forced to reveal themselves and what they’d done? These were just some of the questions he would have asked himself had he been dealing with another.

Doing his best to look at it objectively, he started answering these questions and listing the pros and cons of different punishments.

1. The perpetrator was a former Hokage.
   
2. Their crimes are willingly staying away from the village for four years after being killed by ANBU they trusted to protect them, until they knew it was safe to return.
   
3. A member of the Yamanaka clan serving as an intelligence specialist had read his thoughts and corroborated his story, learning he was indeed loyal to the village.
   
4. They had come back on their own and admitted they had been alive the whole time watching the village suffer from the sidelines. They also reappeared within the Hokage’s office and were found going through restricted files for unknown reasons.
   

All in all they were more good than bad, but what really tipped the scales was the fact that his mind had been read and his intentions and loyalty to the village were clear. After a few moments, he finally spoke again. ”This is not a simple ‘black and white’ scenario. If I were in your shoes I would consider several things before deciding on a punishment, which I do agree needs to happen to some degree. First, it was a former Hokage who remains loyal to the village who committed these crimes. Second, his crimes are remaining away from the village for several years after being murdered by members of his ANBU whom he trusted his life to and was betrayed. He did not return to the village until all involved were dead or gone. Third, once he knew it was safe to return, he did. Fourth, he came back of his own volition to speak with the current Hokage, you. However, he was found alone in the Hokage’s office looking over sensitive, confidential information. He was honest about his story, though, and a mind reader has gone through his memories to corroborate the story and found him to be loyal.” He let the facts hang there for a moment before continuing again. ”Weighing all of these things, I would accept the man into the village, but clearly would not relinquish any kind of authority to them. At least until they proved themselves. I would place my personal teleportation formula on them, memorize their chakra signature, and have a way of tracking their location at all times. They would be allowed to complete missions for the village, but I would also assign one or several ANBU that I trusted and knew were loyal to watch the man’s movements 24/7. If no ANBU could be spared, I would assign the next best thing. Of course, this is all what I would do against someone else. I know that you don’t have to take my words into consideration, but I appreciate you hearing me out regardless. Ultimately, the decision is yours and I will abide by it.” When he finished the air in the room felt heavy, and it seemed like the universe itself had its eyes focused on this moment. It watched this potentially world changing moment with held breathe, the same as Jason did himself.

Risako and Kinzoku would both agree on having Jason’s mind read in order to expedite the trial process, a decision that Ita would be in full support of if asked. He watched as Kinzoku produced a shadow clone to fetch the mind reader- the clone disappearing in a flash of light only to reappear shortly afterwards with a woman who Ita assumed to be the one that was going to be handling the task of verifying Jason’s claims.

She performed her jutsu that gave her access to Jason’s memories and mind- something that Ita hoped would never be used on him. The process went on for several minutes and as she performed the jutsu, the woman would explain the memories she searched through- some pertinent to the situation, some filler. Once she finally finished, it would be confirmed that what Jason had said so far had been true.

All that was left was for Kinzoku to decide on how he was going to handle the situation and deal out punishment if he so needed to. Surveillance would most likely be required, but Ita was also interested to find out that there could possibly be members of the ANBU that were traitors- something that only the people in this room currently now knew about. Ita’s eyes continued to survey Jason and the others in the room- waiting for proposed conclusion.

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Kinzoku could admit something even Risako couldn't. At least, everytime she tried to some rat got caught in her throat. Konoha did need Kiri, at least for now. Conveniently the Yamanka assistant came back in time to keep the conversation from getting stale. With no interruptions she began to do her job, sifting through what Ris had hoped were foul and corrupted memories of some identity thief. It would make this whole thing a lot easier should he be an imposter, at least.

Unfortunately, the Yamanaka revealed Jason's identity to be the truth. Fortunately, composure was something Risako had in abundance. Physically she appeared to be locked up, her silver eyes lost in some abandoned segment of space. Her thoughts were numb, but consumed with an urge to lash out upon her returning sensei. As she came back from lala land, the woman would take a step toward him.

Her hand was stayed however, as she moved to place it upon a chair. For a moment she pondered the thought of suggesting banishment, but instead only offered this when Kinzoku asked what punishment should be had. "Whatever you see fit." Her tone fell flat in contrast to her body language.

There was no explanation good enough, no reason sufficient enough, and no way she could forgive his inaction. Something she could fix, however, was the group that deemed themselves worthy to watch the village. Those that deemed Viper Uchiha as leader, despite his title being passed on. She'd seen the records, knew the supposed history, and the ANBU would be purged completely of its traitors, familiar to her or not. Morality and legality aside, this was a goal she would work tirelessly towards in the coming months.

[1912 TWC]

The Nazar sat patiently in his seat as he observed both Ita and Risako after posing the question to them both. For some reason unknown to Kinzoku, the Uchiha had decided to remain silent. It could have been for a number of reasons, perhaps not being able to provide an opinion while remaining rational being one of those. After all, this was Ita's former Kage and quite possibly even a friend. So his gaze shifted over to Risako as she inched ever closer, forcing Kinzoku to wonder how she would react to all this information. Curious to see if she'd let her impulses take over. Through all of this she managed to stay level headed, offering no suggestion of her own as she was leaving all the work to Kinzoku. The Nazar could only imagine what the former Lady-Hokage really thought about all this. Perhaps he'd get a chance to find out once this was all done.

Finally he turned his attention back to Jason, not before he retrieved his cigar once more from the trey. Puff after puff he studied the Senju ponder the question, running different questions and playing out different scenarios in his mind. Before long Jason had finally gathered his words and began explaining what he would do had he been back in the position of Hokage. He listened to each of his points as he laid them out, helping to explain the logic behind his thought process. Once he was done, he proposed his thoughts on a possible punishment detailing that he would mark them and have them followed but allow them reinstated into their shinobi forces. 

With the cigar dangling between the fingers of his right hand, the Nazar's opposite metallic hand reached into the inside pocket of the jacket hanging on his chair and retrieve a single kunai. He began twirling the kunai between his fingers as he examined it. To the others in the room, this seemed like an ordinary kunai. To Kinzoku, it was not. This was the kunai handed to him by the Mizukage, Xyxer Gyojin. This was the kunai Kinzoku used to cut off his hand to prove to the Leviathan that he would remain loyal to Kiri in order to protect Konoha. He twisted his and back and forth testing the joints in his wrist as the memory of the plan crept its way back, his eyes darting back to the Senju has he pondered a possible punishment similar. To really prove if Jason was as loyal as he claimed to be. If you lie enough, you'll start believing it to be a truth.

"A crime is a crime" Kinzoku began as he continued to play with the kunai, "does not matter if you're the local fisherman or the Hokage. Fortunately for you though, I'm a firm believer in second chances" he added, gently placing the kunai on the desk as he rid himself of it and the thoughts that followed it. While Xyxer's methods were definitely effective, Kinzoku would decided to do things his way. For the time being of course. "You'll be allowed back into the village, though you'll be reinstated as a Genin. Anything you wish to do, be that a mission or task must first be approved. You are not to do anything or go anywhere without Ita by your side. You will be residing at his residence with him. He will be watching you and reporting back to me. As you suggested, you'll be marked by Risako and I." With that Kinzoku got up from his chair and methodically made his way over to Jason. Leaving the cigar in his mouth, Kinzoku brushed Jason's hair out the way and placed two fingers on the back of his neck, one placing a mark seal and the other a Flying Thunder God seal. Once done he returned to his seat while Risako had the chance to do the same. "One last thing. You have a mandatory meeting with Yensung Aburame when he returns." Although he wasn't in this office, Kinzoku knew that the Aburame would want to be acquainted with the former Hokage as well as dish out his own views on the matter. In which case he'd be allowed to do so.

 "Anything suspicious or out of the ordinary will be dealt with accordingly" Kinzoku concluded. He could only hope Jason knew why Kinzoku had reinstated him as a Genin. It was to be seen as a demotion or even a slight. It was meant to give Jason the opportunity to rekindle his relationship with the people of the village. He had been gone for far too long. This would allow him to regain their trust as he wished, the right way. If there wasn't anything else left, the Senju had permission to leave along with Ita who had also received his orders. Through the telepathic link he had with Kinzoku, it would be extremely easy for the Uchiha to report back to the Nazar. If the two exited the office, it would leave Kinzoku and the former Lady-Hokage in the office allowing them to have a conversation Kinzoku had been waiting to have ever since her return from the Kage Summit.

AP:

Reinstated as a Genin? Housed with Ita and not allowed to do anything without him? Everything he wanted to do, including missions, had to be approved beforehand? It was all seeming to be quite a bit overkill. Had the man already forgotten that both Jason’s story and his loyalty to the village were just proven to be true by the woman who had actual read his mind!? Perhaps Jason had made a mistake choosing to go by this man’s words. This ‘Hokage’ seemed to be a bit off, if Jason was being honest with himself. Still, there was nothing left to be done about it for now. The Senju would just have to abide by these rules set down for the time being as he kept his own close eye on Kinzoku to see if the man truly was worthy of the title he held. Jason didn’t think he was, but he hoped he was wrong. Only time would tell, he supposed.

Breathing a deep sigh of acceptance, the former Hokage looked the current one in the eyes and spoke. ”Hmm. It’s been some time since I’ve seen Yensung. I hope he’s well,” he answered with a smile. ”It will be as you say, Lord Hokage.” With those final words Jason Senju, former Rokudaime Hokage and Senju Clan Head, would leave his old office as a mere Genin under the watchful eye of Ita Uchiha, a young shinobi who’s life he had once saved. How things had turned out this way was honestly beyond him, but at least they hadn’t been worse. After all, with what Jason believed to be true of the man sitting as the leader of the Hidden Leaf, things could have ended up much much worse.

[exit]

TWC: 4,151
Claims:
20 stats
2,500 words for Five Elements Seal
1,500 words for Fuinjutsu: Breaking at B-Rank