Konoha
"Elders, there have been a lot of rumors circulating in the village lately. The village just went through a calamity and we're at a critical stage of reconstruction,"
Kakashi was already overwhelmed with the struggles of rebuilding Konoha, and now rumors in the village were getting worse and worse.
Others might not notice, but Kakashi wasn't just a ninja who knew how to kill.
Today, acting as the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi summoned the two elders, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, for a talk.
"Sixth Hokage, what exactly do you mean by this?"
Before Kakashi could finish his heartfelt plea, Koharu slammed the table and shouted, her anger flaring up even before Homura could react.
"Kakashi, everyone is busy with the village's reconstruction. Do you think we don't know about these rumors? What can we even do about them? Uzumaki Naruto sits in the Hokage office now, not us, and not you either, Kakashi! As Hokage, he can't even handle these things properly. Are you sure everything being said in the village is just rumors?"
Koharu snapped, and Homura chimed in gruffly:
"Kakashi, no one can control what people say in the village. What matters is that Naruto's recent behavior has been sorely disappointing. Because of his negligence, he broke his promise, and that's why this disaster struck the village. And setting that aside, lately our Seventh Hokage has been getting more and more irritable, even arguing and yelling at civilians in public—how many times has that happened? Are we making that up too?"
With both elders questioning him, Kakashi's face grew more and more grim. Finally, his face darkened as he replied in a low voice:
"Elders, don't forget—it was Naruto who saved the entire ninja world, and he's a hero who's saved this village too!"
"And Sixth Hokage Kakashi, you shouldn't forget—saving the ninja world wasn't a one-man job. It was the Will of Fire! And now look at what's become of the village. Maybe you should consider who failed to protect it!"
Koharu was old now, and though she raged for a bit, she was left gasping for breath—after all these years, it was a wonder she wasn't dead yet.
Finally, Kakashi stared deeply at the two elders and said heavily,
"Fine! Let's leave this for now. What we need to focus on is rebuilding Konoha. Once Naruto recovers, I'll try to calm him down and send him to Mount Myoboku to let off some steam."
Naruto's temper has caused many conflicts in the village recently. After his outbursts, the villagers could only grumble behind his back, not daring to speak up in front of him.
But when they saw Naruto's terrifying face, they shrank away, unwilling to act—yet the more he just raged without actually hurting anyone, the more they felt emboldened to complain, and the grumbling grew.
After one last look at the elders, Kakashi rose to leave, pausing to warn them:
"You two should be well aware: Naruto has been corrupted by the negative energy of the Chakra Fruit. Don't provoke him further, or there won't be a soul in Konoha, or the whole ninja world, who can stop him!"
After this warning, he left. The room was quiet for a long time before the angry sound of fists slamming the table echoed out.
"What does Kakashi mean by that? Without us, would he even be Hokage? Without us protecting Konoha all these years, would the village be at peace now?"
Koharu slammed the table in a rage, and Homura's face was equally dark.
If they were a few decades younger, they might not have lost their way like this.
But just a few minutes of shouting left them both breathless, and they could feel their bodies falling apart.
It was as if they could die any day now. This fear only made their greed worse.
"Heh heh, looks like you two have lost everything."
A hoarse voice echoed, and both elders' faces changed drastically.
A White Zetsu figure slowly rose out of the wooden floor like a sprouting plant, a strange smile on his face.
"You two elders of Konoha—seems your bodies are already this frail."
Watching the two old people gasping like broken bellows, White Zetsu grinned.
"You! You're Kaguya's subordinate, Zetsu!"
Koharu's face twisted as she spoke in a raspy voice, but White Zetsu just smiled dismissively at their nervousness.
"No need to worry. To be honest, killing you two in your current state wouldn't even be worth the effort. You seem terrified of death… and about those rumors recently…"
With White Zetsu's eerie smile, Koharu and Homura's faces became even uglier.
"What exactly do you want?!"
Though they both had a vague idea, faced with this temptation, they tried to cling to their last bit of restraint but couldn't help themselves from asking.
"Heh heh, do we need to play games? Don't you want to know the secret to why I haven't aged in a thousand years? Don't you want to live longer?"
White Zetsu's smile was full of temptation and malice. Even though they knew it was the smile of a devil, the lure of longevity was too strong.
The young might resist immortality's temptation, but for the elderly—who never know if they'll wake up the next day—it's impossible to refuse.
Gulp!
The sound of nervous swallowing echoed in the dim sunlight. At that moment, greed glinted in the elders' cloudy eyes.
"You're bold, aren't you? Aren't you afraid Konoha's Seventh Hokage will find out?"
Despite her temptation, Koharu retained a shred of rationality, mocking him hoarsely.
White Zetsu only shrugged and joked,
"If it were the old Uzumaki Naruto, I wouldn't dare show up—after all, the Child of Destiny forged by the Sage of Six Paths had terrifying sensory abilities.
But sadly, after being polluted by the Chakra Fruit's negative energy, the Child of Destiny is falling into darkness, and his pure sensory powers are fading."
With a mocking smile, White Zetsu stepped closer and produced a scroll.
"This is intel on the Chakra Fruit. You might think it's fake, but you've seen with your own eyes that centuries mean nothing to my mother.
And I've lived in the ninja world for a thousand years. You guessed right: the Chakra Fruit lets a ninja inherit the blood of the Otsutsuki, granting them a long lifespan."
"You're not doing this out of kindness!" Homura frowned, unable to resist asking the crucial question, even knowing he was being manipulated.
White Zetsu tilted his head at an inhuman angle, then grinned.
"Maybe true immortality is out of reach for you, but ever since Naruto ate the Otsutsuki Chakra Fruit, the negative energy has been absorbed into him. Now, it's up to you whether you can extract some for yourselves.
Eternal life may be impossible, but living hundreds or even a thousand years more shouldn't be."
As if remembering something, White Zetsu added,
"Oh, right, you could try transplanting Wood Release cells—if you graft a piece of Naruto's flesh onto yourselves, you'll see if it's true or not.
Right now, Naruto's entire body is a treasure. A single chunk could let you live for centuries. How you get it is up to you."
With a malicious smile, Black Zetsu whispered like a demon.
Immortality—the lure of centuries of extra life—no one could resist that.
Especially those in power, especially those who were old. They were always the greediest.
"Impossible!"
"We are Konoha's elders!"
Koharu and Homura slammed their fists on the table in anger, but White Zetsu just watched them, half-smiling as his body sank back into the floor.
"Really? But it seems there's a monster in Konoha now, one even scarier than a tailed beast, ready to go berserk at any moment.
As elders of Konoha, you're not doing your duty—letting a monster, no, a demon, stay in the village."
As his voice faded, the words he left behind made both elders' faces change.
"Monster!"
"Demon!"
They looked at each other, and deep in their clouded eyes, only greed remained.
"Homura!"
"Koharu!"
Again they exchanged glances, their madness growing.
"Konoha still needs us. We can't let the unstable Naruto stay in the village. Maybe this is the enemy's scheme, but there's no denying it—Naruto is already corrupted. If he loses control, the disaster will be worse than the Nine-Tails ever was."
No wonder people say women are the most ruthless—Koharu now wore a face of righteous indignation, as if all of this was for Konoha.
"That's right! Everything we do is for Konoha! We're protecting Naruto, not harming him. Let Naruto leave a piece of flesh for us to study, then send him to Mount Myoboku to stabilize him."
In perfect harmony, the two elders now looked nothing like the greedy fools from before.
They wore an air of noble sacrifice, ready to work for Konoha for another century.
Full of energy! Not a trace of old age left.
Their vigor and determination now surpassed even the young.
...
"How could this happen?!"
Kakashi had just left the elders' place, worried and planning to warn Naruto and have the ANBU keep watch.
But as he walked through the village, he saw villagers everywhere spending money.
"The Hokage gave us money!"
"Fruit is so expensive! Didn't it cost only 800 yesterday? How is it 2,000 today?!"
"2,000 is expensive? I think so too, but didn't the Hokage just give you all that money?"
On the street, Kakashi looked bewildered. How had Konoha changed so much in just a few days?
Though the rebuilt village wasn't what it once was, houses were up and the streets were bustling.
"Something's wrong!"
Ever-cautious and sharp, Kakashi immediately sensed a problem. He frowned at the cash in the villagers' hands and couldn't help but step up to ask.
"You're saying the Hokage gave out money?"
"The Seventh Hokage gave us money as compensation…"
"Yeah, but why did the Hokage give out so little? Both my parents died in the disaster, but my neighbor's family is fine—yet we all got the same amount…"
With discontented voices rising, and seeing stacks of green bills in every hand, Kakashi's eyes widened in shock.
"This is bad!"
In that instant, Kakashi realized where the problem lay.
He rushed to the Hokage office.
"I've been so focused on rebuilding that I didn't think about the finances. Naruto just said we had enough money, but why do the villagers have so much? Naruto! What did you do in just a few days while I was looking after Sasuke?!"
Kakashi's face turned pale, cold sweat pouring down.
...
Hokage Office.
With a bang, the office door burst open. Naruto was just about to get angry, but when he saw Kakashi, his rage lessened a bit.
"Oh, it's Kakashi-sensei."
"Naruto, tell me—how much money does the village have? And why do the villagers have so much cash?"
Kakashi was frantic, staring at Naruto, hoping he was wrong.
But seeing Kakashi's nervous face, Naruto smiled proudly and pounded his chest:
"Kakashi-sensei, I'm the Seventh Hokage! What's wrong with giving the villagers some money?!"
"Naruto, for the village's rebuilding and the villagers' compensation… Does Konoha have that much?"
"We do! Of course we do, Kakashi-sensei, you're underestimating me!"
"How much money does Konoha have!?"
Kakashi could already sense disaster looming, his eyes boring into Naruto.
Naruto grinned even wider.
"Not much—less than 1 trillion left in the treasury now, but it's okay, I'll just print another 6 trillion."
"How much?!"
Kakashi's eyes bulged in shock.
"Less than 1 trillion…" Naruto scratched his head awkwardly, seeing the frustration in Kakashi's face.
"Kakashi-sensei, I know I messed up. Don't worry, I'll order another trillion printed right away."
"Print more?!"
At that moment, Kakashi felt his blood rushing to his head, face turning red, and stared in disbelief at Naruto.
His worst fears had come true. Was money something you could just print as much as you wanted?!