Awkwardly waves at everyone. Hey everybody guess who's still kicking? I've been meaning to post this story for a while now, but wanted to wait until I had most of the chapters written and proofed to my liking. The entire story serves as a prequel to "Legends of Naruto Namikaze" and should answer a few of the questions people who've read the story may have; however, either story can be read without necessarily reading the other. Anyway, without further ado, I present "Legends of Naruto Namikaze: The Plot"
"Kukuku, now this is surprising." Orochimaru silently noted as he was ushered into an office within Root's underground HQ.
It wasn't often that he met Danzo in his office within the secret Root HQ, in fact it had only happened twice as the genius could recall. The reason for this being partly Danzo's paranoia of the Sanin, and mainly because only half a dozen or so root members knew of his and Danzo's collusion; so meeting within the HQ itself increased the risk of more people finding out of their little "arrangement"; something that would benefit neither party.
A few minutes passed as he waited patiently as he observed the office around him. He ensured that he disturbed nothing, as he was fully aware of the traps and mechanisms designed to keep away prying eyes.
The office seemed very Spartan like, much like it's owner liked to appear. The dull, boring colors were matched with the lack of any kind of window's or real lights other than a single lamp which set on top of the desk in the back of the room. Other than the desk, behind which a single chair set, was a bookshelf on the right wall and another chair set against the left wall.
Orochimaru's eyes instantly darted to the desk, on top of which a very small stack of papers sat. How he'd love to be able to see what Danzo held within the object in front of him. However, before he could scheme of a way to get to the desk without the base imploding around him; he heard the door behind him slide open revealing the elderly councilor.
Danzo wore the typical robes accustomed by the former ninja, being dressy enough to go to traditional functions but loose enough to fight should the need arise, and walked with the support of a cane that he held in his right hand. He also wore the head wrapping which concealed the top right half of his head and face, and hid the secret Sharingan eye which Orochimaru had given to him a few years prior.
The door closed behind Danzo as he walked passed Orochimaru and sat at the desk on the far side, and began shuffling papers in front of him.
"Lord Hokage is planning to have a secret meeting with Fugaku Uchiha in 4 weeks' time." Danzo finally spoke from his seat while holding a single paper. "During which time, he plans on offering the Uchiha clan further concessions and eroding the villages power even further."
"Not surprising given his wife's friendship with Fugaku's wife; I've even heard that their children are growing quite close as well." Orochimaru noted amusingly, watching for any reaction from the bandaged ninja.
"It must not be allowed to happen." Danzo said, the paper becoming slightly crushed in the process. "If it does then we won't be able to stop the Uchiha should they attempt a coup de ta."
"I hardly see how you could stop him." Orochimaru spoke. "Minato may be a fool but he is a powerful one, he has brought the leaf village both peace and prosperity. I doubt you have anyone who could kill him, and few within the village would ever support anything that could harm their beloved Hokage."
"Minato Namikaze cannot be killed." Danzo replied sternly. "Despite his actions weakening the village internally; our enemies fear him greatly and his charisma boosts the morale of the leaf and its allies. Killing him would greatly diminish the villages military and diplomatic power over the other nations. "
"Ah, so what are you planning?" Orochimaru asked. "You can't kill Fugaku or his wife as that would only make the public more sympathetic to the Uchiha, nor could you kill Kushina Namikaze and risk losing not only a valued ninja but also the leaf's only jinchuuriki."
"You are correct in that neither Fugaku, his family, Minato or lady Kushina can be physically harmed now." Danzo admitted. "Doing so would either weaken our village or cause the Uchiha to have even greater power within our system. Rather the best course of action is one that both greatly harms the trust and relationship shared between Uchiha and the people, and more importantly straining the relationship between the Uchiha and the Hokage."
"Hmm." Orochimaru's curiosity spiked as Danzo opened the top drawer of his desk, pulled out a picture and slid it towards him on the desk.
The picture itself was relatively unremarkable, it was likely taken by one of Danzo's spies that watched the Hokage's movements, and only showed the Hokage and his wife touring one of the new training grounds; their 3-year-old son could be seen swinging on their hands with a smile as Minato pointed off in the distance."
"So, he's targeting the boy."
"Naruto Namikaze" Danzo began." Age: 3 years 7 months, son of Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki-Namikaze. He's likely bound to be a successful ninja one day, but he's currently useless to the village as a whole and would be the easiest target for assassination of the three while having the most impact on the Hokage as well as public perception."
"The boys heavily guarded, reaching him won't be easy." The Sanin stated while analyzing the picture.
Danzo nodded before continuing. "2 teams of elite ANBU watche him constantly. They consisted of 4 of the best ANBU and are led by a captain; however, this number has recently been increased to 7 after the Clouds attempted kidnapping of the Hyūga heiress 6 months prior. The teams change shifts at seemingly random intervals, but have an average shift of 13.6 hours. Furthermore, his mother is usually with him constantly and has even been known to take him into fortified structures such as her office within the sealing corps rather than opt for a babysitter making it near impossible to catch him unguarded."
"Your forgetting about the boy's real defense." Orochimaru said with a grin." If anyone within the village hears or even suspects that the Hokage or his family is in danger, every ninja will quickly rush to his defense and doom your plan to failure."
"I have a plan." Danzo affirmed. "I will have an agent send you the details of the role you are to follow shortly. Until that time I want you to keep your eyes and ears open to anything that could be of value to our objective"
"Hm, of course." Orochimaru spoke and turned to leave the room only to be stopped by Danzo's voice.
"We are both in this together snake, if I fail then you will fall with me. I promise it."
"You have nothing to worry about old man." Orochimaru said while giving Danzo a sideways grin and raising is left hand flippantly. "I care nothing for this village nor its people, just ensure that I have the test subjects I require by the end of the month."
Danzo watched the Sanin walk out the door and his scowl deepened, he couldn't trust the snake Sannin and yet they had needed each other to survive. Despite this he would keep even closer tabs on him in the days and weeks to come, if even a hint of his scheme reached the Hokage's ear's then all would be lost.
As for the boy, he felt little remorse for the actions he was about to take, as limiting the Uchiha's power would most definitely save the village from disaster. In fact, one could argue that he was doing the young Namikaze a favor, as the boy would have likely became a ninja within his lifetime and the greatest honor for any ninja was dying in service to one's village.
"The boy should be grateful." Danzo reasoned as he took one last look at the photo before sliding it back into the drawer. "Most ninja would kill for the honor."
AUTHORS NOTES:
And there you have it the first chapter of Legends of Naruto Namikaze: The Plot. I know the chapter's much shorter than it normally is but I also feel like it's a great cutoff point for the chapter. I've already written most of the story, a partial reason why LoNN has been once again delayed for the past few months. However, I'm not going to post the entire story at once. Instead I'm going to try and post 1-2 chapters every other week until it's done; or at least that's my plan as of now. This should give me enough time to fix and proofread everything again while also giving time to receive feedback (Which I always greatly appreciate.). Anyway, that's all I have for today. Like always please read, review, but above all enjoy. Guardian's Blade OUT!