Sandal-clad feet silently entered the room and stopped in front of my desk. I ignored the ninja and continued to read the document in front of me, signed it, and then, and only then, did I finally look up to meet Danzo's eyes. He seemed older than when I'd last seen him, but no less determined, no less sure of his convictions.
"This can't continue." He had spoken firmly and calmly as though it were a fact, as though the discussion we were about to have was not whether we should take action to change the situation, but rather what action we would take.
I leaned back in my chair. "Can you be more specific, I have no idea what you're talking about," I lied. It would have taken an idiot not to have seen this conversation coming.
"I am referring of course, to Kakashi's current position as the official sensei of Team 7. It cannot continue," he reiterated. "He should never have been assigned as a sensei in the first place."
"There were good reasons he was given the position."
Danzo snorted in contempt. "But there were more and much better reasons for him not to be. It was a biased decision due to Hiruzen favouring Kakashi."
"The whole reason Kakashi was removed from ANBU was so that he could be a jonin leader. It's always a struggle to find enough jonin to be sensei and Kakashi has a lot of skill that could be passed on. We were at peace Danzo and ANBU no longer required him. To have left him doing regular A-ranks as a regular jonin would have been a waste."
"Yes, Hiruzen forced Kakashi out of ANBU. But he did it because he thought Kakashi needed it, because he thought it was in Kakashi's best interests, not because Kakashi wanted it, not because Kakashi was well suited to it and not because it was in the best interest of the genin teams assigned to him. The Third took a deeply broken man out of ANBU, infamous for his ruthlessness and within six months started trying to assign genin to him the way civilian prisoners get assigned therapy dogs. With his social and interpersonal skills he was going to be a concern with any genin team, with Team 7 he was a guaranteed disaster."
"With the assets Naruto and Sasuke possessed and their parents being who they were, Team 7 was always going to be targeted and therefore need a powerful sensei. Sasuke also needed someone to train him in the sharingan and with his clan dead, the best person to do that was always going to be Kakashi. Additionally, we also had to find someone who was unprejudiced against Naruto for the team's sensei." I countered.
"Sasuke had not yet activated his sharingan at the time of Team 7's formation and there was no reason that the person who taught Sasuke how to wield his doujutsu had to be the sensei of Team 7 as well. Kakashi could have simply been an additional tutor for Sasuke alone.
Regarding a suitable teacher for Naruto, just because someone doesn't actively befriend and stick-up for the boy doesn't mean they'll hate or persecute him. Take your own teammate for example. Even if there were hard feeling, most ninja can separate that from the mission. Hell in ANBU ignoring your true feelings on an issue is practically a job requirement.
As to protection there were other strong candidates in and out of ANBU who don't let guilt and misplaced sentiment force them to the point of chakra exhaustion after every serious battle, who aren't arrogant enough to keep insisting that a misclassified A-ranked mission is suitable for a genin team's first mission out of the village despite all the evidence to the contrary. Had Tenzo been assigned as sensei to Team 7, he could have protected the team from danger both without and within when Naruto's seal brakes. And let's be clear, the seal has cracked, everyone saw that at the chuunin exams. He's an Uzumaki, with naturally large chakra reserves and yet he has consistently shown that the moment things get difficult in a fight, even a fight with peers from his own village, the first thing he does is reach for the Bijuu's power. Never has our village had a jinchuuriki who used the Bijuu's power with such reckless abandon. His seal wasn't meant for it, I've studied it myself. Sasuke with Orochimaru is a ticking time-bomb. You can't afford to have Naruto be one too.
Kakashi needs to be removed as Team 7's sensei. You know it, I know it, and deep down I think Kakashi knows it too. I've already made a formal complaint and call for an investigation. The Elders have talked, and we have decided. Kakashi will be put on trial for his actions and his continued leadership of Team 7. The trial will begin two days from now." With that Danzo turned and left the room.
I frowned in irritation. The most trying thing about the situation was that I didn't disagree with Danzo. The bastard had raised several good points I couldn't successfully counter and there were too many parallels between Team 7 and my own genin team for me not to fell uncomfortable. I had intended on intervening on Team 7 myself, but in my own way at my own leisure. Danzo's pre-emptive move tiresome but should have been expected.
I looked out the window and sighed. The sun was shining and a gentle breeze moved through the trees. Today could have been a nice day. I was not looking forward to my next conversation. It would require more care and tact than what I was used to. I pondered what to say and motioned to one of my ANBU. "Bring me Kakashi."
Author's Note: I am looking for a beta-reader if anyone is interested.