Was it a good idea to bring Naruto and Sasuke here?
The rational part of my mind told me that Danzo wouldn't dare try anything against the Last Uchiha and the Hokage's adopted son, but... the Sharingarm was very hard to forget.
"C'mon, let's go!" Naruto called out, jostling me from my thoughts.
Sasuke and I walked over toward the entrance of my home, where Naruto was already standing. I opened the door and called out that I was home.
"Well, you're early," I heard dad say.
"Yeah, Kakashi-sensei said missions start tomorrow."
"I figured he'd be late with something like that."
"Wait, so he's late all the time?!" Naruto loudly asked.
My dad chuckled, "Oh yes, he'll find any excuse to procrastinate an appointment. The Hokage's the only one he bothers to be on time with."
Upon hearing that, Naruto slouched in resignation.
"You've succeeded," I heard an elderly voice state.
I turned to face Danzo. I wasn't expecting him to be here, honestly.
"Of course we did, there's no way he was gonna stop the next Hokage!" Naruto beamed.
"Next Hokage, huh?" Danzo muttered, a hint of a smile (?!) creeping onto his face.
"Yeah, once the old man retires, he'll give the hat to me!"
"Hehehe, you have a long way to go before becoming Hokage."
"Huh?"
"Every Hokage has had years of experience in being a ninja and teacher. You won't even be considered without that experience."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm stating that your goal will take a long time to reach. Even then there's no guarantee that they'll choose you."
Naruto looked like he was about to argue, but stopped.
"Say, you're as old as the old man, right?" Naruto asked, not pausing at all despite the gaping expression on Sasuke's face, accompanied the slight shock evident on both mine and my dad's faces, "you must've known my parents, right?"
Danzo's slight smile though hadn't receded, despite Naruto's silver tongue.
"Yes, I knew your parents. Quite well, in fact. They were good ninja, courageous warriors who loved Konoha and were in turn loved by it. They gave everything for Konoha, even their lives."
"Wow..."
"They would be proud of you, Naruto, if they were here," Danzo stated. That was... accurate. Everything Danzo said was completely true, even if in the certain point of view sense. He's also completely avoided all the classified stuff.
"Really?"
"Yes. However..."
"Huh?"
"If you intend to be Hokage, you will need to improve how you speak to your elders. Speaking in such a disrespectful tone will hardly endear you others, even without intended malice."
"Eheheh..." was the only way Naruto could respond.
Mom came home a little later than expected, about halfway through Naruto's dramatic retelling of the bell test.
Naruto's insistence on making it larger than life was fortunately countered by Sasuke trying to keep it accurate to how it happened... though the Uchiha grimaced when Naruto reached the part where Kakashi used the 1000 Years of Death.
Naruto insisted that he'd get Kakashi-sensei to teach him the technique, especially when Danzo confirmed that it was indeed a technique invented by Tobirama Senju. As Naruto continued through his retelling he was interrupted.
"How did you get the idea that this 'Harem Jutsu' would work?" Danzo asked, his face currently settled into a neutral expression.
"Well, it works against Clo-Ebisu," Naruto replied.
"When you say Ebisu, you don't mean the Hokage's grandson's tutor, right?" my dad asked.
"It is that guy, believe it!" Naruto responded, leading to a short silence.
"... how?" my mom asked.
"Well, sometimes Konohamaru doesn't want to learn from Ebisu, so he gets my help to beat him. I use the Sexy jutsu and he just sits with his mouth open and a nosebleed and then he runs away."
"Continue where you left off," Sasuke ordered.
"Oh right, well, after Kakashi didn't react at all to my Harem Jutsu..." Naruto continued on.
My parents seemed to like my teammates, Naruto's antics aside. I'm sure Danzo has some sort of interest in my teammates, but I doubt they'd get disappeared into ROOT - even Danzo would want to prevent too much insight into his activities, after all.
As Naruto continued, I had the feeling things would start looking up.
Naruto and Sasuke had left at some point after evening came. It'd been several hours of the team bonding.
I sensed Danzo approaching.
"Grandfather?" I asked.
"Rei, I've heard of your... ambition," Danzo announced. Had I gone a bit far with that?
"What about it?"
"I won't attempt to dissuade you from such a goal, but I will bring you a warning. I once held an ambition similar to yours. It was an ambition I was forced to abandon."
"Forced?"
"My ambition to save lives came to a contrast with the realities of being a ninja. I reconsidered what I was fighting for."
"Oh."
"Perhaps you'll come to see things the same way. Perhaps you won't."
"I'll keep my ambition," I stated.
"I thought you would say that. I suppose I should wish you luck."
"Thanks?"
"You don't need to thank me," he simply stated, as he turned away.
Danzo had a dream like mine. A dream to save lives. What had happened to that dream? When had he lost that dream? Had that dream died with Kagami? With Naoko?
When did a man who sought to save lives turn into a ruthless politician who acted without morals?
End Rei 6
Next Chapter's gonna start the Land of Waves. It'll be a longish chapter. This chapter's here for the sake of having some fluff with Team 7 as well as a slight break between the Bell Test and Land of Waves. I wanted to include a scene with the Konohamaru trio, but couldn't find a good point to toss them in, so that'll have to come after the Land of Waves.
"I wonder if Danzo will assess her teammates." - Girl-Luvs-Manga
Oh he is. I won't provide too much insight into what he's thinking, but he's studying Team 7, both as individuals and as a unit.
"Hmmm..Let's see if Rei can..."persuade" Kakashi to sneak in some proper training or lessons for the group.
And probably bribe Naruto with the secrets of Shadow Clone (And how to tactically use them) to have him teach her. I'm pretty sure it's more than doing the handseal, make constipated face and push the chakra." - AmethystPone
Kakashi will do some proper teaching, at least a little more than in canon (though that might not be such a high mark). As for Naruto (or Kakashi) teaching Rei (and maybe Sasuke) the Shadow Clone jutsu, well, I'll see how that goes. Naruto learned it instantly, but that's more to do with typical shounen hero traits (see also Naruto learning the Rasengan in a month or Goku learning the Kamehameha (stated to take 50 years to learn) instantly). I won't say yes or no to Rei and Sasuke learning the Shadow Clones though. Yet.
Anyways, as usual, thanks for the support, and I hope you've all enjoyed this!