Chapter 2
Hokage Tower- Office of the Hokage
"If I have to go to one more meeting today, I'll scream." Minato inwardly swore as he finally made it back to his office for the first time in 16 hours.
Minato drudged towards his desk, now covered with several dangerously tall stacks of paperwork, and collapsed into his chair. He remained this way for several seconds with his eyes closed, head towards the ceiling while silently praying to anyone who would listen to let the paperwork disappear whenever he opened his eyes…if he ever did open his eyes.
He truly hated feeling this way as he deeply loved his job; however, it seems like for the last 2 weeks he hasn't even had time to eat let alone sleep. Every day it was the same thing, he'd manage to get to work by 6am, at the latest, only to instantly be pulled away from doing any of his paperwork for a meeting or some other kind of emergency. After that something would usually come up requiring his imminent attention which usually lasted until around the time another meeting was set to begin. This ridiculous cycle would continue until about 9pm when he finally managed to get into his office, only to find the entire days' worth of paperwork, easily 6-9 hours' worth if he used shadow clones, waiting for him. This all but ensured he'd have paperwork backlogged into the next day which just made the problem worse. He would then manage to get an hour or two or rest, if he was lucky, before repeating it all over again.
"There's no way I've killed enough people to deserve this." Minato tiredly thought only to be awoken from his stupor by the buzzer on his desk followed by a muffed voice.
It took Minato several moments to gently move a paper tower from the speaker and ask his secretary to repeat the message.
"Lord Hokage. Shimura Danzo has just arrived sir, he claims that its urgent" The secretary informed with a professional tone.
"Send him in." Minato said as he inwardly sighed, Danzo really was one of the last people he wanted to talk to tonight; right next to the Tsuichikage.
As he waited patiently for the elderly advisor to make his way into his office the laws of gravity suddenly decided to apply itself, making the tower of paper he just moved to collapse unto another causing most of the neatly stacked paperwork to messily collapse all over his desk and the floor.
The 4th Hokage closed his eyes briefly and exhaled a breath before beginning the long task of picking up all the paperwork and re-stacking it…or at least he would have had Danzo not entered right when he'd gotten on the floor.
"Lord Hokage." Danzo greeted, his eyes quickly taking in the sight of obvious disorder that was the Hokage's office.
"My apologies, you've caught me at a bad time?" Minato quickly stated, more than a little embarrassed at the situation he was in.
"Obviously" Came Danzo's serious reply, if he was amused by the sight he didn't show it.
"So, what is this urgent matter that requires you here at this hour?" Minato asked once he sat back in his chair and looked at the aged man in front of him.
"My subordinates have informed me that you haven't responded to our supply request we sent last week." Danzo answered easily. "Surely you don't believe it wise to leave nearly 1/3 of our ANBU and intelligence division under supplied in these dire times?"
"Of course not." Minato replied just as easily, even when tired he still knew how to deal with political types like Danzo. "However, I must also ensure that all of our ninja has the supplies to fulfill their duties and must divide our resources carefully. Your foundation should have more than enough supplies given its current size"
"I read each request by my subordinates and only approve what I deem essential to the continued training and functionality of the foundation." Danzo assured. "Without such requests our effectiveness will begin to stagnate and place the village at risk."
"If the supplies are available then they are yours" Minato said as a dangerous glint replaced the tiredness in his eyes. "However, I will not leave any of our other civilian operations or ninja departments under supplied for over funding yours."
Silence reigned for several minutes as the two accomplished ninja stared each other down.
"Then I shall leave the matter in your capable hands." Danzo finally said and departed the office after receiving a nod in acknowledgement.
The moment Danzo left the office Minato placed his hands over his face. Now he had to find Danzo's request order, which he hadn't even had a chance to look at, in the hundreds of scattered papers…great.
As he stood and began going through the papers he couldn't stop from half-jokingly wondering if it was too late to surrender himself to the tender mercies of the Tsuchikage.
At the very least he could rest after his disintegration.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Danzo left the Hokage's office with a small smirk on his face, and made sure to give a nod to the Hokage's secretary as he passed.
The woman had turned out to be a boon for him, despite her being an ANBU agent, she had once been a root operative and thus proved loyal to him alone.
Her task of scheduling the Hokage's meetings to fit into the times the "emergencies" he had engineered weren't occurring allowed him to work the Hokage literally around the clock. He had bided his time for the last 2 weeks to wear the Hokage down, and by the looks of what he had just witnessed it was going smoothly. Of course, it hadn't just been the Hokage who Danzo had targeted, he had ensured Kushina Namikaze also had a harsh 2 weeks as well; however, the Hokage was his primary target.
"Another day or so and I'll be able to begin the next stage of my plan." Danzo thought as he attempted to steel his features.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Meanwhile
Uchiha Police Department- Fugaku's office
Fugaku collapsed heavily in his chair with a sigh as he continued to read reports at his desk. These reports weren't the standard arrest or police reports he usually read; no, they were far worse.
"Do we have any idea how much support they have." He asked the only other person in the room, wearily.
"We have someone infiltrating their ranks, but they appear to have minimal support within the clan." The man standing in front of Fugaku's desk answered. "We've identified the leader of the group as Kochi Uchiha, a Jonin who retired from the ninja ranks 7 years ago,"
"Very well Toma, keep me posted." Fugaku stated, as he dismissed the officer and placed the paper into a secure drawer.
"Just what I needed." Fugaku irritably thought. "I have a meeting with Lord Hokage in less than 2 weeks just for the sole purpose of him hearing our grievances, and now a group called 'Children of Madara' has to form within my own clan just to screw it up."
He knew he should inform Lord Hokage of the development, as the groups aim was to restore the power and honor the Uchiha had lost nearly a century ago; however, doing so would be just the excuse the anti-Uchiha factions in the village could use to isolate them further. If that happened then his clan would be right where they began under the 2nd Hokage, and he refused to allow that to happen. For that reason alone, he would keep things quiet and handle things personally, his clan would finally get the treatment they deserved; even if he had to smack half of them around in the process.
"Besides" He reasoned. "They haven't done anything yet to indicate their violent, and aside from the leader most of the others are just fed up teenager's barley the rank of Chunin. But by the sage couldn't Kochi have chosen a name that didn't bring back memories of an Uchiha trying to destroy the village!"
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
1 hour later.
Konoha Forrest
2 Shadowy figures stood hidden by the darkness and obscured by the tree's.
"Do you have what I've asked for." One of the figures questioned.
"Of course, I do, it was easy given the information you gave me." The other figure replied as he extended a hand with several papers on it. "And do you have what I want?"
"Kukuku, we make our move in three days' time. Ensure you're at the location at 10:30 pm, you'll know when the time is right." The first figure said before disappearing in a silent cloud of smoke.
"After nearly a century of being ruled by the weak, the Uchiha Clan will finally begin it's rise to power once more." The last figure thought before disappearing as well.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
The following morning.
Sarutobi Clan Compound – Home of Hiruzen Sarutobi
After being a student of the 2nd Hokage, a teacher himself, a Hokage, an advisor, with several wars sprinkled in between; Hiruzen was convinced he'd seen almost everything. That is until he found Danzo knocking on his door at 8 in the morning.
"Danzo?" Hiruzen questioned, his eyes slightly widened at the sight. "What are you doing here?"
"Hiruzen we need to talk." Danzo said in his typical emotionless voice. "The safety of the village depends on it.'
5 minutes later
"So, what did you need to talk about?" Hiruzen asked as he and Danzo sat across one another inside the former Hokage's backyard with a shogi board placed in between.
"Have you noticed anything odd regarding our Hokage?" Danzo asked as he made a move one the board.
"No, but outside of meetings and the odd visit I haven't spoken with him much." Hiruzen answered as he made a move of his own. "Why?"
"He's sleep deprived, unorganized, and ill tempered." Danzo responded evenly while countering the former Hokage's advance. "On top of it all his paperwork has become exceedingly late and has caused delays to many of our departments including my own. It's obvious that he's allowed the job of Hokage to comprise his abilities."
"Ah, but the job of Hokage is one of stress as well as joy Danzo." Hiruzen explained while feinting left. "You have the entire weight of the village as well as the land of fire on your shoulder's. I'm sure Minato is handling everything to the best of his abilities."
"Even so, I fear it's gotten to the point where our village may soon be negatively affected." Danzo countered while ignoring his rival's feint. "Our village relies on the Hokage to be in sound mind and make decisive decisions, and when he cannot do that it puts us all at risk."
"And what do you suggest Danzo?" Hiruzen questioned before moving a piece to defend his king.
"Do you wish me to barge into our Hokage's office and demand he take a nap?" He jokingly suggested.
"Whatever it takes Hiruzen, we cannot afford our village to be caught in a moment of weakness." Danzo explained as he took Hiruzen's defensive piece. "You have more influence with the 4th Hokage than anyone outside of his family. He must take a break."
Hiruzen gave a heavy sigh at both the conversation and at his dismal showing at Shogi. "Very well Danzo, I will speak to Lord 4th about your concerns and recommend that he take some time off to rest his nerves." Hiruzen conceded but firmly added. "However, I cannot and will not force him to do something that he doesn't wish to do himself. I'm far too old to launch a coup."
"That is all I can ask." Danzo stated as he placed Hiruzen into checkmate much to the lather's chagrin. As he stood to leave and began walking away he stopped and spoke a few words that the aged Hokage never thought he'd hear. "Thank you Hiruzen, your actions today may ensure our villages continued survival and strength."
Hiruzen smiled as his once friend, turned enemy, now mystery walked away. Placing his signature pipe in his mouth he couldn't help but think an optimistic thought.
"Perhaps we may yet be friends again."
Author's Notes:
Well that's it for Chapter 2 of "LoNN: The Plot", hopefully no-one got to confused by all the scene changes or thought anyone acted to OOC in this chapter. Like always any kind of feedback is welcome, whether it be flames or praise or anything in between. My only request that it be constructive should it be flames. I'll likely wait and post the 3rd chapter the 1st week of February and Chapter 4 will post either that or the following week. Of course, much of that depends on feedback as well as my university's workload. Anyway, that's all I have so until next time have a great day, and be sure to read, review, but above all else enjoy. Guardians Blade OUT!