Strength From Within (A Naruto Neglect Book)

21

"Troublesome," Shikaku muttered. "Well, what the hell are we going to do now. A ruined training area, a tyrannical and crazy strong Hokage who's off his rails and also collapsed. The paperwork will be a nightmare."

"I will go and get Tsunade-sama and her apprentice Shizune. She will be able to help us without their being too much fuss about everything if we carried the Hokage around in public," Hebi stated, leaving them to be when he shunshined away in a swirl of leaves.

Anko just shook her head in acknowledgment to his words and ran over to Daidai, who was surprisingly up injured but seemed to be exhausted, allowing Kakashi to have some time to talk to Shikaku.

"That boy, he is not any random orphan off the streets, not even any random Uzumaki, is he?" Kakashi breathed, glancing over at Daidai. "I would bet that he was pretty much untrained with that last move he used and the chakra chains too. Even with his reserves, there was no way that he should have been able to sustain that whirlwind of pure fire and wind chakra. You know something about him that we don't, Shikaku. Why else would you hav taken such a big interest in him?"

The older male nodded and let out a long sigh. "Daidai is rather special. I don't think we can talk about it here, or if we should talk about it at all. I don't think he would be appreciative if I spilt all his secrets, especially because of your position. I think he'd much rather you figured it out for yourself."

Kakashi nodded in understanding, though it was quite clear that he was reluctant. "I see. I still don't quite get what happened, we're backed into a wall here. That contract was a load of crap, and though technically Daidai won since he was the last one standing, it's still an unknown what the Hokage will do. What's gotten into him, he used to be so kind? And now he's just changed."

"Hell if I know, Kakashi. But I'll be keeping a closer eye on him, that's for certain." Shikaku sighed once more and brushed some dust off his sleeve, a result of the chaos from the fighting. "I would almost suggest to Daidai leaving Konoha, but he cares too much about it to leave. The will of fire burns brightly within him."

Their conversation continued for a few minutes, and soon both Tsunade and Shizune were there. It was clear the blonde woman wanted to run to Daidai, but she refrained from doing so and went to Minato as that was her main priority, serving her Hokage. Shizune was looking after Daidai, and after checking him over and seeing he was okay she diagnosed him with chakra exhaustion. "Shikaku, do you mind taking him to your house? I still have work and I trust you and your clan to look after him more than the hospital since what he really needs is rest and food when he wakes, and he trust you as well. He looks up to you and your clan and he'll listen to you. It doesn't mind you as well, as you know."

Shikaku nodded in understanding and moved over to him, scooping up Daidai's small body and holding him securely. Kakashi walked over, looking at him carefully, before sighing. "Let him know that if he's up to it, he can come to training ground seven next weekend. The worst of his exhaustion should be done by then, and as he is an Uzumaki I want him to meet Motoshi and Katsuko."

"I will, or Shizune will. I don't know if he'll actually show up though, so no promises."

x-X-x

Tsunade had taken Minato back to his home, along with Hebi who was there to explain the situation. Kushina was out, as were the children, so it was a private area. She worked on healing him, but there wasn't much to heal apart from some scratches and bruises when he had fallen over. Even the back of his head where he had supposedly been clutching was completely fine. It wasn't chakra exhaustion either, there had been absolutely no reason for him to have collapsed like that.