70 Naruto : Uchiha : Chapter 70

( Next Morning )

Council Chambers

"He can't be serious?!"

Each pair of eyes in the room were as wide as saucers, disbelief etched on each of their faces.

As if someone had just informed them that Madara Uchiha had suddenly risen up from his grave and was coming to enact his vengeance upon them for treating his grandson the way that they had - yes, it really was that serious.

A small sheet of paper scribbled with a few words, laying besides a small scroll kept to keep it company was the current source for disbelief among all the room's residents.

"I haven't seen Tobirama joking in…well…" putting a finger onto her chin, feigning all the conjured up innocence of the world - Mito quite enjoyed the looks of disbelief etched upon each of their faces.

She wanted to play on a bit further, but matters were rather grave for her of all people to start acting childish all of a sudden.

"But this! - How? - Well, Why?!" finally rasped out a flabbergasted Hyuga clan head - Hisatoshi Hyuga. Even the ever stoic Hyuga clan head couldn't hide his shock at hearing…more like reading what their Hokage was ordering them to do.

"He must have had his reasons, but rest assured he didn't deem it worthy enough for me to be made aware of.

So, I am at as much of a blank as every last one of you." Mito's answer was curt, flowing with an eased and practiced precision that showed her title as an heiress and representative for her nation in the Leaf wasn't one for show - she really was of a noble and honorable status, and wasn't afraid to show it.

That did hush up all the whispering and bickering council members, each of them realizing the woman wasn't one for patience today, and wanted to see these orders carried out - right now.

"So let me get this straight -" drawled out an acutely attentive Nara, which as weird as it sounded, was certainly proving true today.

"-our Hokage-" he did deem it worthy enough to remind her that he was their leader - as a whole. And not someone who only they had to worry about, or herself alone for that matter.

"-and Sarutobi Sasuke went to have some simple peace talks with the Raikage at neutral grounds in the Land of Fire, as we were rightly informed of, just prior to the two's departure." he recited formally in the pin drop silent environment each of them were seated within.

Mito simply nodded, pulling a strand of her scarlet hair behind her ear to show she was listening - as much as she didn't want to, she was.

Each of the other clan heads were eyeing her with scrutiny, to have some sort of reaction, even a little twitch of her ears to discern if her form would give away something to point out she knew something deeper than they did at the moment.

The Nara clan head, Ensui Nara, as much as he wanted to believe he might have read something wrong in the letter - already knew he had far too sharp of a mind to have missed out on something. And the ever noble and stoic face of Mito was actually serving to rile up his own nerves quite a bit in the present moment of time.

He took a deep breath, to make sure he really was going to say this - his Hokage's words- out loud for the first time in this particular meeting.

"The two of them attended the summit with Lord Sasuke acting as his personal bodyguard, the only one mind you-" the suspicious tone in his last words wasn't lost to Mito, but she gave nothing away yet again - much to his and everyone's chagrin.

Sasuke was one of their best, no doubt about that, but still something was fishy down here.

Each of them could feel it within their gut. "- while the Raikage was there with a small contingent of his own jounins. As soon as they were about to enter the small village picked out for the talks, they were attacked.

By these Gold and Silver brothers, B-rank Kumo jounins in the international bingo books. Who then proceeded to ambush them and killed everyone save - Kami thank us - one Sarutobi Sasuke and Senju Tobirama, while the remaining are now laid to a permanent rest.

The victims, whose bodies have been recovered and are in currently our possession to which we weren't notified until now-"

He placed special weight on those words again to emphasize his point, though sighed wearily when Mito merely covered her mouth to yawn softly - great just great, she was the lazy one here…troublesome woman… he mused tiredly.

"- are to be returned to the Cloud envoy…that they will send to us when we respond to their missive that came in just this morning…"

Everyone eyed the scroll by the side of Tobirama's hand written sheet as if it were poisoned or would bite them any fleeting moment now.

"… and have them, and each of one of our allies on both sides - that makes quite explicably the whole damn world - to put these Gold and Silver brothers, who were mere nobodies a couple of days ago as S-rank wanted ronins that have, and I quote.

"Ambushed a peace treaty between two major hidden villages - namely the Leaf and the Cloud by attacking their respective Kages along with their escorts to disrupt said meeting.

All in a vain attempt to cause strife thereby to wedge out conflict between said nations, and attempted to kill both the respective leaders while being successful in one - namely the Nidaime Raikage of Kumogakure no sato."

Ensui finished his recital of the last passage from Tobirama's letter and silence reigned supreme as soon as he was done.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." was Mito's nonchalant reply that made everyone surrounding her to sweat drop.

"This is just ridiculous!" finally the Inuzuka clan head, the most volatile of the gathered bunch, had finally had enough.

"We have in possession of us five whole teams of Kumo jounin's, their best! Plus, the Raikage himself - which means we right now possess the secrets to his revered Black Lightning kekkei genkai with countless more of their secrets hidden in those bodies, and he wants us to hand them back to the Cloud?! Has he gone senile?!"

The way Mito's eyes narrowed in on the fanged man while she leaned forward, plopping down her elbows on the table was quite an intimidating sight to behold for each one of them.

Everyone knew the Inuzuka clan head had just stepped on forbidden territory when the temperature of the room dropped a couple of degrees short.

"Are you questioning the mental state of your leader Inuzuka?" the way she dropped any suffix while addressing him, made him quite attentive as to the position he was in right now.

She, and Tobirama along with the whole of Senju and Uchiha were still the two great powers of this village.

The Inuzuka's were still no where near in power as compared to the two mighty clans, one of which he had just foolishly managed to aggravate with merely a single statement coming out of pure brashness.

The rest of the clan heads were smart enough to sit back silently and avoid the strife of the already troubled and volatile woman, who at present, was addressing the impulsive idiot in front of her as if she were reprimanding a mere five-year-old.

"N-No my lady that wasn't my intention I merely…please do forgive-" his stuttering voice was cut off coldly by an irate heiress before he could sprout out any more words from his mouth.

"Mind your place…" her cold voice actually made every last one of them shiver. They were reminded why she was the current first lady of the village, and why everyone respected her as much as they did their late Shodai Hokage.

"… and do remember next time that the one you so blatantly called 'senile' is still your current Hokage, and you could be thrown in for treason as such.

This is a military dictatorship even with the democratic clan laws in place, so do take that into heed the next time you speak." she chortled him down sternly, the man sitting down as pale as a sheet of paper while nodding silently.

Each of them knew she had a way with words, and when it came down to the wire - her temper was as legendary as the the mighty clan she hailed from.

"I apologize my lady." his voice was weak, and the strained … almost scared smile he gave her made him look as if he would faint any fleeting moment now.

She gave him a curt nod, showing everyone she had accepted his apology, though didn't seem quite fond of it if her slightly annoyed expression was anything to go by.

She always was a mentor when it came to words, especially political maneuvers. Her bringing up had been as a noble heiress, and as such it was expected off of her to be that way. And she hadn't fallen quite that soft just yet - each of them were reminded of that point, quite vividly in fact in case of a certain Inuzuka.

The aura she still held made them remember she was right there at the top of the hierarchy without even ever announcing herself as such. All the while staying out of everyone's way until her presence was actually and absolutely needed by the village - just like today.

"May I ask why Lord Hokage is ordering us as such my lady?" the Yamanaka clan head was the one who had dared to ask while taking care of putting in all honorifics, himself becoming nervous when her slender eyebrow rose in silent contemplation for a few seconds that felt like an eternity to the man.

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