In response to Perfect Lionheart's Missing Hokage Challenge.

I'll try to do it to his meet his requirements. Please enjoy.

Chapter one

The beginning.

Naruto woke up in the hospital room with an exhaustion that was entirely mental. He'd put his all into stopping Sasuke from leaving. Physically he was in fighting form thanks to his incredible healing ability. His stamina was boosted to incredible levels by the demon fox sealed within him. Mentally, though, he was tired. Closing his eyes against the glare of the white walls, his memories of the last minutes of the fight rushed through his mind.

Blurred as they were, he could remember Sasuke shoving his hand through his chest. The lightning technique caused untold pain and damage to his already damaged body. In a reflexive action he'd brought his right hand to grasp Sasuke's arm.

With a Rasengan still formed in his palm.

The gore had been horrendous and unintentional. He'd removed his rival's arm at the elbow. Shocked, Sasuke lost his physical changes due to the seal and plummeted to the water below. Using the last of his strength Naruto managed to get the Uchiha to shore. The last sight Naruto caught was that of Kakashi rushing toward them both.

Only now Naruto was in the Konoha Hospital . He would simply be left to wait for Granny Tsunade. None of the other nurses would approach him if they could avoid it. He'd very rarely had cause to be in the hospital due to the fox healing him all of the time. Moving to leave the room he spotted Shikamaru moving down the hallway toward the exit.

"Hey, Shikamaru, is everyone alright?" Naruto asked quietly of the perpetually lazy Nara.

Turning at the question, Shikamaru seemed to slump a bit more into him self.

"They're alive… I suppose that is something to be grateful for." He replied in part to Naruto's question and to him self.

"I'm glad." Naruto said as he moved back into the room to his bed.

From the doorway Shikamaru watched as the normally energized boy climbed back into the hospital bed with nary a scratch on his body. The next words from his mouth might have sounded awkward from him, but seemed to perk up the blond.

"Good work." He'd been the one to complete the mission after all.

"Thanks." was the mumbled response from Naruto as he settled into the bed.

"How troublesome…"

Elsewhere outside of an ICU door Kakashi was also considering the recent events.

He'd arrived as fast as he'd been capable. Yet, he hadn't been fast enough. With skill, Kakashi had quickly tended to the last Uchiha's injuries to the best of his abilities. He'd only taken time to remove the intact portions of Sasuke's arm from Naruto's torso to let the blond heal himself. No one would confuse him with a med-nin, but he had the dark haired boy stabilized long enough for the actual medical team to arrive.

As soon as the team rushed away with their patient, as Kakashi had told them Naruto was well enough for the copy-nin to deal with. Only then did the Copy-nin turn to the demon container.

He'd lifted the boy up by the front of his jacket. Examining the, now undamaged, boy he looked into its unconscious face. For it had become less than trash to the ninja. Cold rage filled his exposed eye as he considered how the brat had nearly killed his only remaining link to Obito. He'd resisted the temptation to drown the brat and instead slung the boy harshly over his shoulder, and like a sack of rice hauled it back to Konoha.

Breaking from his reverie, he noticed Danzo. The man's un-bandaged eye carefully weighed Kakashi's current mood.

"The council wishes the report on the incident between the young Uchiha and the container. They await you in the council chambers." He said neutrally.

"And you just happened to be in the area to issue the summons yourself, sir." The remark was made lazily, but his eyes were sharp on the councilman's emotionless face.

"Hardly, but it would be imprudent to speak of such things here. Shall we speak en-route? I'm certain your student will be well cared for. After all this is Tsunade's area of expertise, is it not?" The choice to use the Hokage's given name was not missed by the masked ninja, but it was no great secret that the council did not truly consider the current Hokage a threat to their power.

The lady Hokage was incredibly skilled and powerful, but lacked the political savvy and ruthlessness of the Third Hokage. Not to mention a good portion of the time she was passed out drunk in her office, when she wasn't dealing with medical issues.

To the council she was nothing more than a powerful figurehead. Unfortunately, for the council, the Third Hokage had clearly designated successors to become the next Hokage. Unless something happened to incapacitate or otherwise invalidate the successor's advance to the position the council had little control of the situation.

While either Jiraiya or Tsunade are the chosen ones to advance to the rank of Hokage. If both had refused then it passes to the Konoha council and the ninja population to select a new Hokage. It had been considered when the toad sage had sought out the Legendary Sucker to take the position. Had she not accepted, the council would have been needed to deal with the leadership selection quickly and decisively.

Danzou at the time had had a considerable backing to see him ascend to the position.

Now it was time to see if he could deal with one problem: the Demon child. After all, if what his sources said was true, the fifth Hokage would have no reason to stay in Konoha with the boy gone. He could be rid of two problems at the same time.

'If nothing else, the boy can be tracked, captured, and used in root. With sufficient personality 'tweaking.'' He thought as both men made their way to the Hokage Tower and the awaiting council.

As he and the white haired ninja next to him left the hospital he sent a signal. That signal sent several Root ANBU members to complete their assigned tasks. Most were necessary preparations to deal with the Uchiha's lost limb. Danzo was all too well aware of the difficulties following the loss of a limb.

Losing his eye and arm to the Sandaime Hokage was a sore point with the man, but it never interfered with his important work. If it could be helped that is.

Back in Naruto's room an argument was being waged between said patient and a nurse.

"What do you mean I need a shot?! I feel fine?!" Naruto yelled at the nurse carrying a metal tray.

The old nurse, however, was determined in her duty.

"You will do as I say young man. There are many other patients that I must help and you are wasting my time." The nurse said as she prepared a large syringe of clear fluid for injection. "Don't tell me you're afraid of a little shot? I thought you were a ninja after all."

This challenge would have been ignored had it not been for a shock of pink hair entering the room. Sakura looked on in curiosity at her teammate.

Between looking bad in front of Sakura and the fear of a needle… Let's say he wanted to impress Sakura enough that the needle wasn't so bad.

Wincing internally at the amount of fluid being pumped into his system he smiled at his female teammate. After a moment the medicine seemed to have an effect and his body began to feel incredibly heavy. Sakura moved to sit at the side of his bed. Taking his left hand into hers she thanked him profusely.

"You are the best Naruto. Not only did you bring him back." There was no doubt who she was talking about. "But you are also going to take responsibility for your reckless actions. I'm very proud of you Naruto."

Kissing the blond on the forehead she moved to leave the room. Not for an instant did she notice his confused expression. Or that he hadn't spoken or moved since receiving the shot.

'I should ask Tsunade for some training. Then I can help Sasuke-kun learn to use his new arm.' She thought as she passed a group of physicians pushing a surgical cart past her and into Naruto's room. Smiling happily she left to find some scrolls on physical therapy from the medical library.

Naruto watched the men and women in surgical gear carefully move his right arm perpendicular to his torso. Gently straining the shoulder they set it into a padded, vice like, contraption that was attached to the sturdy metal bed frame.

Willing his body to move did nothing as his flesh was dead to his commands. Shortly though he'd forget all about moving his body. Instead he struggled to escape the terrifying pain of having his arm to the shoulder removed from his body.

Tsunade was hard at work in the surgical room leading from the ICU area.

She'd spent the last six hours carefully dealing with the damage to the boy that Orochimaru seemed to desire so greatly.

If she wasn't so dedicated to medicine she would simply have amputated the shredded flesh and let it heal as a stump. Instead, a donor had been found willing to part with their own arm to restore Prince Emo, one of Naruto's pet names, to fully capable traitor.

Had it been any other ninja she'd have used another source for the replacement arm. She did after all have the body of a Kaguya clan member sealed away for study. It would have been a waste to use it on the traitor though.

He would, however, be fit to stand trial under his rightful Hokage.

Lady Tsunade, Slug Sannin, and Godaime Hokage carefully removed the last of the damaged arm from the boy before her. The shredded flesh had been gruesome, but not something she was squeamish about dealing with. Not anymore at least.

Carefully, she took the recently donated arm from the nearby ice and began making the needed connections. As soon as she'd seen the donation, kept on ice for an hour now, she'd had a strange feeling. Almost as if a storm was heading toward the village. She was tired, and decided to pass the odd feeling off to exhaustion from dealing with the various traumas of the day.

Finishing her work she gestured to her friend to take his turn dealing with the, mentally unbalanced, boy on the surgical table.

Jiraiya the Toad Sage was to seal the boy's the curse seal and his ability to use chakra tightly away until such time as it could safely be removed.

Unknown to either Sannin events were taking place nearby that would change their worlds, and those changes would have far reaching consequences for the world.

At the Hokage Tower a meeting of some importance was taking place. The village clans had been called together over the most recent successful mission. Normally, this would be a matter for the Hokage to deal with. Due, to the fact, that a prominent clan member had been injured.

The Uchiha clan, while not respected, was easily seen as a potent force in the ninja world. That clan was one of the two founding bloodlines of the village, and should be salvaged.

Many members felt that the demon container had lost control to its prisoner. After all, on his own the Uchiha's team mate couldn't hope to defeat the academy prodigy. Hence, he'd called upon the Kyubii's power and lost control. The boy should be removed from active duty, and forbidden from using chakra.

Others felt that the damage done to the emo was fitting, and he could still repopulate his clan in the village. There were plenty of willing young women for that approach.

Still others didn't care one way or the other. As long as the brat isn't in the hands of an enemy the status quo was maintained.

One third of the gathered group, the civilian portion of the council, was demanding the death of the blond boy. So, as they saw it, the imprisoned demon would finally die.

One, though, had the ears of many and none of their personal opinions.

Danzo quickly called the meeting to order. Decisions had to be made quickly. Soon the Hokage will discover where the 'donated' limb came from. At that point a united front must be presented. It was only fortunate that he'd managed to sway the apathetic looking Jounin instructor to his side.

Sitting beside him was Kakashi, the representative of the Hatake clan. After the death of his father to suicide he'd taken the responsibility as head of his clan, regardless of the fact that it was a clan of one. Few would recognize the ninja as being torn up about the recent situation. He was being pulled in too many emotional directions to truly be impartial about the 'successful' mission one of his subordinates had performed.

As it was, the council saw a dispassionate Jounin informing them of his observations. He explained what he'd found upon locating the two team members at the Valley of the End. That gory scene replayed in his mind's eye, and he didn't realize the frenzy some of the council had been driven to.

Once again calling the meeting to order Danzo set about explaining the situation, options, and what was currently underway to fix the situation. Kakashi, his report given, decided he wanted nothing else to do with the council. Ignoring his responsibility, as was the norm with the man, he left to visit the memorial stone.

He would check in on Sasuke the next day. No thought was spared for his other students.

To be continued… Well, I'm taking a shot Master LionHeart. I hope it meets with your approval so far.

Next Time on Missing Hokages:

"We of the council, Heads of all the clans of Konoha, have decided to invoke Addendum 122 of the Konoha Charter. Invoking this we, hence forth, exile Uzumaki Naruto from the land of Fire. Should he return more than his arm will be taken in retribution for the Uchiha Clan."

"This is not over." Tsunade quietly threatened watching her little brother walk stolidly through the great gate to the village.

Naruto gazed upon the gathered throng. Noting the few sad and some determined faces he left his home behind him. Breaking into a sprint the tears in his eyes were brushed off his face. Even the pain of his new arm didn't distract him from making the best time he could to the country of wave.

There he would wait for his precious people to follow.