Today has been an extremely stressful day for Hiruzen. These last few days he had to deal with the kumo envoys for the peace talks. Said envoys headed by the head ninja of kumogakure had constantly made unreasonable demands. Hiruzen and the council were stuck and the peace talks had not advanced in the least. 

Now he has received worrying news. That very same head ninja and a few of the other envoys had kidnapped the hyuga princes. To make matters worse, none of them survived the encounter. Most of them were killed by hyuga clan members. However, the worst part of it all was the death of the head ninja by the hands of a four year old kid named Tomoka!

Hiruzen groaned as he took a sip from his tea trying to shoo away the horrible headache this event had caused him. To begin with, how did Tomoka get involved? Why did she get involved? No one knew the answer. 

The kid lay unconscious in Konoha’s main hospital. Her body is riddled with scars in the shape of Lichtenberg figures. Once again that kid’s body is a mystery. When Hiruzen went to visit he could visibly see how the scars became lighter by the second. By the time he left they were barely visible. However, that was besides the point. 

Somehow, the kid had managed to kill the head ninja with a lightning release jutsu, or at least that's what the autopsy stated. Hiruzen had seen the corpse, it was gruesome to say the least. His mind wondered how such a young kid could pull off something like that. The image of the Kyuubi appeared for a split second in his mind but he discarded it. The beast was sealed. 

Anyway, none of that is the problem, or rather not the main problem. The real problem are the remaining envoys. How was he supposed to break the news that some of their numbers were killed? The thing is that this incident is more than enough for Konoha to call for war. He would not allow that. Too many lives had already been lost. 

A new headache appeared as Hiruzen thought about his old friend Danzo. His vision and Danzo’s were like water and oil. Knowing the man Hiruzen was sure he would try and push for war again. Now that both Danzo and Tomoka were in his mind an even more potent headache appeared. 

The fact that Tomoka was also a jinchuriki is unknown to the council and by extent Danzo. He had made sure to hide the information, making the few ninja that accompanied him that fateful day keep their lips shut. He knew that it was a risk but he believed it was the right decision. Even more so with how abnormal Tomoka is. 

Back then Hiruzen had spotted the glint of greed in Danzo’s eyes when it was mentioned that Naruto became the new jinchuriki. He had subtly insisted for him to become the guardian of the kid. Hiruzen did not doubt for a second that Danzo planned to make the kid into a weapon. 

In the end the best he could do was put Naruto into an orphanage. As for Tomoka, he did not nor would ever reveal her as a jinchuuriki unless absolutely necessary. The girl already proved to be extremely skilled. Not to mention that she might possess a new never seen kekkei genkai. That was enough to attract Danzo. Hiruzen didn’t even want to think what Danzo would do if he realized that she is also a jinchuriki. 

Now the girl is in the spotlight after she killed the head ninja of Kumo. A full fledged jounin killed by a four year old girl. Even Hiruzen was having a hard time convincing himself. Even though he knew that the head ninja wasn’t the most skilled of jounin he was still a jounin nonetheless. 

“I am to old for this” 

With a sigh Hiruzen reclined on his chair looking at the sealing. One problem after the other would appear on his desk before he could fix the previous one. He was tired of playing these political games all the time. Especially against his cunning rival. In Hiruzen's mind, Danzo is a necessary evil for Konoha. Disregarding the man’s warmongering tendencies his cunning and intelligence gathering skills were crucial for konoha.

“Whatever, I just need to deal with one thing at a time. First and foremost, I need to find a way to prevent war” 

With that said Hiruzen went back to his work. Thinking about any possible problems that might surface during the talks and the best way to approach them. He knew that tonight would be a very, very long night.

“I really want to retire”