Konoha, two days after the Nine-Tails attack, was a corpse being picked over by vultures.
The fires were out, but the smell of wet ash and decomposition hung over the village like a shroud. The wreckage of the Hokage monument loomed over the survivors, Minato's stone face chipped by debris, as if crying stone tears.
Inside the provisional council chambers—a reinforced tent set up in the Academy courtyard—the atmosphere was suffocating.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head of the table. He had donned the Hokage robes again, but they hung loosely on his frame. The "God of Shinobi" looked frail. His wife was dead. His successor was dead. The village he had sworn to protect was gutted. He radiated a profound, paralyzing grief.
Opposite him sat Danzo Shimura. He looked untouched by the chaos. If anything, he seemed energized. Chaos was the ladder Danzo climbed best.
Around them sat the Clan Heads and the Fire Daimyo via a secure communication link (a flickering screen projected by a genjutsu specialist).
"We must act decisively," Danzo said, his voice grating like sandpaper. "The attack was not a random disaster. It was a targeted strike. The Uchiha were involved. I warned you, Hiruzen. And now Minato is dead because of your softness."
Hiruzen closed his eyes. "The Uchiha Police Force defended the civilians, Danzo. We have no proof of their complicity."
"We have the Beast!" Danzo snapped. "The Nine-Tails is controlled by the Sharingan! That is proof enough to initiate martial law."
"Martial law?" Hiashi Hyuga spoke up, his arms crossed. "You mean a dictatorship, Danzo. We know you covet the hat."
"Someone must wear it," Danzo said coldly. "Hiruzen is compromised by emotion. Orochimaru is not interested… his experiments are becoming his obsession. Jiraiya is chasing shadows. Tsunade is gone. Who is left?"
Danzo leaned forward, his eye gleaming. "Konoha needs a wartime leader. I offer myself."
A murmur went through the gathered Jonin. Some—the younger, harder ones who had survived the war—nodded. They were scared. They wanted strength. Danzo offered steel.
But the Clan Heads—Hyuga, Uchiha (Fugaku sat in stony silence), Nara, Akimichi—were wary. They knew Danzo's methods.
"The Fire Daimyo speaks," the genjutsu projection flickered. The Daimyo fanned himself, looking nervous. "This is most distressing. Hiruzen-dono, can you truly lead in this state? Danzo-dono is… extreme."
"I serve the Will of Fire," Hiruzen said, but his voice lacked conviction. He was tired. He wanted to retire. He wanted to mourn Biwako.
The vacuum of power was palpable. It sucked the air out of the room.
—————
The Candidate in the Shadows
Ren stood in the corner of the tent, masked and silent, acting as Anbu security.
But inside his head, the Council was in emergency session.
Tactician: Analysis: Danzo has a 40% probability of seizing power if the stalemate continues. Ryuichi: If Danzo takes the hat, the Uchiha are dead. He will order a purge within the month. Isamu: If Danzo rules, Root expands. He will hunt us down eventually. He knows we are too dangerous. Goro: Hiruzen is weak. A weak leader invites invasion. Iwa will strike if they sense the Hokage is broken.
Ren listened. The calculation was bleak.
If Hiruzen stayed, the village would stagnate and possibly fall to external threats. If Danzo rose, the village would turn into a totalitarian state, and Ren—the "loose end"—would be collared or killed.
Puppeteer: There is a third option.
Ren's mind focused. Option?
Tactician: The Hero Narrative. The village is buzzing about 'Captain Chimera'. The man who held the Fox. The man who saved the hospital. The man who raised the pillar.
Isamu: They don't know it's you. They just know the mask.
Tactician: Remove the mask. Claim the narrative.
Ren hesitated. To step into the light? To become the leader? It went against his instincts as a spy, as an eater of secrets.
Why do we want this? Ren asked the Council. Is it vanity?
Survival, Goro answered. The safest place in a thunderstorm is being the thunder.
Control, Ryuichi whispered. The Hokage controls the Anbu. Controls the secrets. Controls destiny.
Ren looked at Danzo. He looked at Hiruzen.
The stalemate was dangerous. Someone had to break it.
"Excuse me, Lords," Ren's voice cut through the murmuring. It was modulated, calm, and terrifyingly confident.
Every head turned. An Anbu speaking out of turn in a Council meeting? It was unheard of.
"Who speaks?" Danzo snapped.
Ren reached up. He unclipped his porcelain mask. He let it fall onto the table with a loud clatter.
He revealed his face. The eyepatch over the Byakugan. The teal eye staring straight at the Daimyo's projection. The scar on his cheek from Kikyo Pass.
"Ren Yamanaka," Hiashi whispered. "The Thief."
"Ren Yamanaka," Shikaku Nara corrected thoughtfully. "The hero of Kikyo Pass."
"The Anbu Captain," a medic Jonin shouted. "The one who saved the hospital! He's the Chimera!"
A ripple of shock went through the room. They had assumed Chimera was a veteran, perhaps an old warhorse. Not a twenty-four-year-old with haunted eyes.
"This is irregular," Danzo hissed. "Get back in line, Agent."
"The line is broken, Danzo," Ren said smoothly. He walked to the table. He didn't bow. He stood with the gravitas of a Kage, borrowing the posture of the Iwa Commander and the Third Raikage (a soul fragment he'd scavenged).
"We are debating the survival of Konoha," Ren said, addressing the Daimyo directly. "Lord Hiruzen is a legend, but he is tired. Lord Danzo is… divisive. His methods breed resentment."
"And you offer an alternative?" Danzo sneered. "A boy who steals the eyes of his betters?"
"I offer results," Ren said coldily. "I stopped the Iwa advance at Kikyo Pass. I saved five hundred civilians during the Fox attack. I held the beast's mind in check while Minato prepared to seal it."
He leaned onto the table, his chakra flaring just enough to make the air heavy. It was a cocktail of five natures, dense and undeniable.
"The village doesn't need a philosopher," Ren said. "And it doesn't need a butcher. It needs a Guardian. Someone who knows the darkness but chooses to protect the light."
The room was silent.
The Daimyo fanned himself rapidly. "He held back the Fox? Is this true, Hiruzen?"
Hiruzen looked at Ren. He saw the ambition. He saw the coldness. But he also saw the power. And he saw something else—a strange sort of desperate stability.
"It is true," Hiruzen admitted slowly. "Ren Yamanaka's actions saved thousands. He is… unconventional. But he is strong."
"Unconventional!" Hiashi slammed his hand down. "He is a patchwork monster! He wears a stolen Byakugan! He wields stolen Jutsu!"
"I utilize every weapon to protect this village," Ren countered, turning on Hiashi. "Would you prefer your 'purity' in a pile of ash? Or a mongrel who keeps the walls standing?"
He looked around the room, making eye contact with every Jonin.
"I have no clan agenda. I have no political faction. My only agenda is the efficiency and survival of Konoha. I will rebuild the walls. I will secure the borders. And I will ensure that no enemy—internal or external—ever breaches our home again."
It was a seductive pitch. Efficiency. Strength. Security.
"He speaks well," the Daimyo murmured. "A young hero. A new leaf for a new era."
Danzo's face was a mask of fury. He had groomed Ren. He had created this monster. And now, the monster was stepping on his head.
"He is unproven in governance," Danzo argued. "He is an assassin."
"And Minato was a soldier," Shikaku Nara interjected. He was watching Ren closely, calculating. "Ren is young, yes. But he has the tactical mind of a veteran. If Shikaku Nara supports him…"
"I didn't say that," Shikaku said. "But… between a grieving grandfather and a warmonger… maybe the Chimera is the necessary evolution."
Fugaku Uchiha stood up.
Everyone tensed. The Uchiha vote was critical.
Fugaku looked at Ren. He saw the Sharingan behind the eyepatch (he knew it was there). He knew Ren was a thief of Uchiha blood.
But he also knew Danzo wanted to exterminate the Uchiha.
"The Uchiha clan," Fugaku said slowly, "cannot support Danzo Shimura."
He paused.
"Ren Yamanaka… is an enigma. But he stood between the Fox and the village. If he promises to treat the Police Force with respect… we will not oppose him."
It was a purely defensive move by Fugaku. Choosing the lesser of two devils.
Danzo realized the tide was turning. He looked at Ren with a promise of murder in his eyes.
"Very well," Danzo whispered. "Let us see if you can wear the hat without it crushing your neck."
The Daimyo clapped his fan shut.
"It is decided!" the Daimyo announced. "Ren Yamanaka, the Hero of the Crisis, shall be appointed as the Fifth Hokage! Let the new era begin!"
—————
The Reluctant Throne
Ren stood alone in the center of the tent as the Jonin dispersed, murmuring and plotting.
He had won. He was the Hokage.
He looked at his hands. They were trembling slightly.
He hadn't done it for glory. He hadn't done it for love of the village.
He had done it because the Tactician told him it was the optimal move for survival.
Hiruzen approached him. The old man placed the Kage hat on the table.
"You have claimed a heavy burden, Ren," Hiruzen said softly. "Do not let the power consume you. The way you consume others."
Ren looked at the old man. Hiruzen knew too. Everyone knew, deep down, that something was wrong with Ren. But they were too desperate for a savior to look closely at the savior's teeth.
"I will hold the roof up, Lord Third," Ren said. "Even if I have to be the pillar."
Hiruzen nodded sadly and walked away to bury his wife.
Ren picked up the hat. The symbol of Fire.
He put it on.
Inside the Vault, the Council cheered.
We rule! Goro roared. We control the board, the Tactician noted with satisfaction. We are safe, Isamu sighed.
Ren walked out of the tent.
A crowd had gathered. Civilians, ninja, children. They saw him wearing the hat.
They cheered.
"Lord Fifth! Lord Fifth!"
Ren looked out at the sea of faces.
He activated his mismatched eyes behind the veil of the hat.
He didn't feel triumph. He felt a profound sense of isolation.
He was the Hokage. The strongest ninja in the village.
And he was, fundamentally, an impostor. A hollow shell filled with ghosts, masquerading as a god.
"I will protect you," Ren whispered to the cheering crowd. "Because you are my shield against the dark."
He raised his hand. The crowd roared.
The Golden Age of Ren Yamanaka had begun. And God help anyone who looked too closely at the shadow he cast.
End of Chapter 17.