Characters: Danzo
Summary: Nobody sees, and that's how he prefers it.
Pairings: None
Author's Note: No one is the villain of their own story, and that includes Danzo.
Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.
Nobody sees, and that's how he prefers it. Nobody sees, and that's how he intends on keeping it.
Danzo could stand in a crowd, stand on top of the roofs, hold a knife to the throat of a child, and no one would see it. He is invisible like the air, intangible, untouchable, completely outside the arbitrary, pathetic, outdated laws of the shinobi, laws that have long since gathered dust and are no longer relevant in the dangerous times they all live in.
If he is invisible, Danzo will make the most of it.
ROOT is formed within a single night: homeless orphans are snatched off the street and indoctrinated, taught not to feel and how to be invisible. These are the ones no one will ever miss, the ones with no family, no future. They owe him everything, and Danzo makes sure they never forget it.
No one sees this. No one wants to see it, so they block it out of their sight.
Danzo operates with impunity in the shadows where no one can touch him. Hiruzen is aware of his activities and even though he ostensibly opposes them there is beneath that a tacit approval. He is no fool; he is aware of just how much ROOT has done to stabilize Konoha and enlarge Konoha's power. He knows he can't dislodge Danzo.
Danzo, with his cane and his firm linen garments, sits on the park bench and smiles.
Those who pass see a mutilated, harmless old man.
Nobody sees what he really is, and that's how it will stay.
The only way to keep Konoha strong and secure is from the shadows. To have a light shone on him, to have comprehension dawn would be fatal.
Danzo will never let that happen.