Popping the Clones: Aftermath, the Hokage's Decision

“The carnage you caused is truly unheard of for two people inside their own village.” The Hokage’s voice scolds them harshly, and she can’t help but feel herself wilt a little.

She’d like to point out that Itachi definitely caused more carnage, and that most S rank missing nin are somewhat known for blowing up large portions of their village, but she thinks better of it. Kakashi’s ‘talk shit get hit’ lesson sternly refuses to give up when she’s staring at the disgruntled face of the Hokage. It probably doesn’t apply here too well, but when he already has a rightful reason to be pissed at them she’d rather not end up in prison because of her tongue.

“In my defense, it was mostly Naruto.” She looks to her brother pointedly.

“Hey!” He glares back at her with a large rush of indignance. It’s enough to make him shake a hand at her.

“It was!” She points at his face, “I had nothing to do with most of it. You were throwing jutsu at your clones, who does that?”

“You told me to kill them! Which by the way, we found out doesn’t even need to happen!” Naruto crosses his arms over his chest.

“Excuse me for not understanding the functions of your own jutsu more than you do.” Sakura rolls her eyes at him.

“Enough.” In his years, Sarutobi’s seen quite a few little spats like this. Most of them aren’t directly in front of him, in his office, after having destroyed a good portion of a street in the middle of the merchant district, but details aren’t important when he’s staring at the savior of the village and his very scary sister. From a personal standpoint, she’s a little girl that’s about twenty years too young to be of any danger to him. From the perspective of someone in charge of the village? He’s seriously had to consider if she’s worth the risk several times now. Luckily, telling her that she’s free to barge into his office anytime seems to have mostly worked out. Between that, Anbu, Kakashi and Guy, barely anything goes on with her without him finding out.

At the very least he knows she doesn’t have a quest to turn half the village into a dungeon or something. He’s managed to endear himself to her enough that he’s pretty sure she’d tell him before she did anything dangerous, and that alone allows her to keep living here as an asset of great value and not a dangerous being of chaos.

Times like the incident today make him question that, but at the same time, they firm his mind on the issue. She’s still just a little girl, no more dangerous than Orochimaru was at her age. Even if he became a horrifying monster, there were many years where his brilliance and hyperfocus on power were beneficial to everyone around him. Certain advancements he created are still in use today, and he made them with a desire to help deep in his heart. How long until he can be sure Sakura won’t take the same path he did?

The individual details of their argument don’t really matter, the cause of all this is obvious. Sakura was trying to help with something she doesn’t understand, Naruto took her at her word because she’s smart and he’s used to her being right, and they both overlooked an obvious solution.

Now they’re both mad about it, and he has well over a hundred million Ryo in damages to handle. “You’re both likely to be nominated for the Chunin exams in just a few days, you’ll be tasked with leading genin on missions should you succeed in getting the necessary Jonin recommendations. You realize that will mean holding the lives of many in your hands, as well as directly dealing with the villages’ needs and goals?” The nods he receives are relieving, at least they understand the gravity of the promotion and position.

“So you understand that the kind of irresponsible action you took today should disqualify you outright?” Naruto freezes in place, Sakura nods, looking him right in the eyes. She understands the gravity of her actions, while Naruto’s brain is rebooting. “Then why did you do it?”

“I wasn’t going to.” Sakura admits, reaching up to nervously rub her cheek, “at first I thought it was just Naruto being dumb. I was actually going to scold him and drag him home?”

“But something changed your mind.” Sarutobi asks, reaching for but deciding against grabbing his pipe. He can wait until the children are gone before he blows tobacco where their faces are. Tsunade would be very angry at him otherwise… Not that Tsunade’s here to judge him.

“They tried to kill him.” She says, a little green tinting her cheeks. “At first I thought it was kind of like playing ninja? Sometimes we use Naruto’s clones when playing with Konohamaru, they get really into the role and can be totally dramatic. It’s kind of stupid but it’s funny, and the kids love it.” She sighs longingly, clearly remembering some fun time she had even if she knows better than to go into detail… right now, he’ll absolutely be requesting she return to tell him the story after they’re done here. He doesn’t have enough stories of his grandson, the boy is too busy and he’s too burdened by the hat to spend the time with family he’d really like.

“But it wasn’t?” He reaches up to rub his hairy chin, “shadow clones tried to eliminate their master?”

“Well, now that I can think clearly I think they know he can regenerate and were probably just trying to scare him with what would be considered lethal force for a normal person.” She admits, a little tinge of red overcoming her ears at having to admit a miscalculation in front of the Hokage. That said miscalculation cost a lot of village funds only makes things worse.

“Regardless, that is unacceptable,” he grunts, giving Naruto a forceful glance that promises suffering should he remain silent, “do you have any idea why they might have done that?”

“I think new clones need to be popped after a week or two, they seem to grow their own desire to live after that point.” The blond boy shrugs, an awkward smile on his face that is even faker than the normal ones he used to wear when telling him everything was alright.

“You mean to tell me that you have shadow clones that are lasting long enough to be considered ninja themselves?” He asks, glaring the boy into a cower. “And you didn’t think that was important to tell me at any point?”

“It, might have slipped my mind?” Naruto squeaks, clearly unsure if that’s the right statement.

“You are to give me a list of every shadow clone over a day old, Anbu will be dispatched to capture and drop them in interrogation. Should even one demonstrate ill intentions you’ll be disqualified from the Chunin exam.”

“Wha-why?” Blue eyes widen comically.

“Because every one of them is a split of your personality. If they’re capable of rebelling, so are you. Consider it mercy that I am not disqualifying you on principle. This is treason, Naruto.”

“How?”

“You have an unofficial, unregistered private army in my village, and its usage has resulted in property damage so large it would take years of your Genin pay to recoup the losses.” It’s difficult to be serious with Naruto, the boy has such a loving nature and he’s so charmingly energetic.

Sometimes, being too easy on someone can be cruel too. The boy needs to learn lessons like this while he’s still in office. The next Kage might have him imprisoned for something like this. Even if it’s unintentional, he’s killed people for less blatant acts against the village. “This could have been so much worse. Write the list. Sakura, I’d like to talk to you after this, stay behind.”

“Understood.” She bows her head.

“From now on you’ll report every additional long term clone you need to make, they’ll be registered and monitored, and should they act out like this again I will order every single one of them eliminated and have you detained until I can have interrogation fully confirm you’re still loyal.”

“Yes sir.” Naruto sulks, but he helpfully begins writing the moment Sakura summons a pad of paper and pencil for him. She’s learning well.