***Finally a new chapter! I had this finished a couple of weeks ago, but wanted to include another scene which would have finished off the first part of the story (as originally planned) - but my busy schedule prevented me from that. So this will be the new penultimate chapter - which I think works well as you guys will have something to read, and I can add stuff to give a slam-dunk finale next chapter! Hopefully that comes sooner than the time it took for this update :)***
For the first time in his life, Danzo was unsure about what to do. His daring plan of baiting Itachi to embrace his death had paid off spectacularly, but he had certainly not expected to feel power of this extent to emanate from Itachi's wayward younger brother. The truly dangerous thing was that all of the Sharingans in his arm could not detect the source of Sasuke's chakra. So he correctly deduced that the purplish hue which had enveloped Sasuke like a whirlwind wasn't based on his natural chakra, but rather due to his doujutsu. The chakra of the Kyuubi, which had been leaking out of Naruto to form two large tails, had surprisingly started to recede, as if the great beast within had nothing to do with the utterly destructive force in front of all of them. Naruto, back to his senses, had initially fallen down panting, but had quickly jumped back after grabbing Sakura, concern largely writ on his face at the sight of his unbalanced best friend.
Sasuke, on the other hand, had seemingly let his sorrow and anger run amok, and was an emotional mess as he still held his brother's corpse tightly within the shield of his Susanoo. He felt adrenaline course through his veins, and his ears were filled with a ringing sound which threatened to force him into insanity. His Rinnegan, however, was acting in line with his intentions for once - he aimed to maim, rip apart and murder each of the shinobi around him. As the final images of Itachi's death replayed in his memory, his mind started returning to the familiar method of labeling each and every person on the battlefield as equally guilty, equally worthy of facing the most painful of deaths. And so the colossal Perfect Susanoo rose, with its tengu-like nose, wings, armored robes and malevolent grin, towering over the marshes as it moved to mercilessly stomp on ROOT and Kumo nin indiscriminately.
It was very nearly going to be a massacre, as the Susanoo had already strung its bow with a lightning-powered arrow and pointed it in Danzo's direction. It was a testament to Sasuke's increased prowess over his strongest attack, the "Indra's arrow", that he could summon that amount of chakra in his current depleted state. From his vantage point, he could see hundreds of shinobi flee towards the only exit of the swamp, but to his chagrin, Danzo was moving quickly into the thickets of marshes. The ROOT shinobi were all shunshining away from the skeleton's ethereal feet, while a group of Kumo nin were making a last ditch effort to combine a set of lightning-based jutsu and simultaneously attack the Susanoo in a head-on fashion. He moved to redirect his attack, but the motion of his Sharingan was blocked by a huge obstacle.
Subconsciously Sasuke held his breath, and the Susanoo abruptly stopped its rampage - not because of the towering Gambunta in front of him, but because the powerful golden light emanating from the person standing on the toad's head. This Naruto, even if in an incomplete KCM form, felt so familiar to his Rinnegan - it was almost as if they were staring at each other atop the statues of their famous ancestors, before their final battle. But there was something extremely frightening about this version of the blond, because it seemed like the golden hue emerging from him was mixed with potent killing intent - something Sasuke would never have expected from the contemporary Naruto of his timeline. More surprisingly, he could discern another chakra faintly stirring behind his best friend. Not willing to let any feelings but hatred enter his mind, he started to try and worm his way out of discomfort with his trademark, unabashed bravado.
"Get out of my way, Naruto, or I will kill you. This time I will complete my objective, and there will be no draw in our matchup," Sasuke screamed, even as the tremendous aura of Indra's Arrow, ready to be launched from the impossible heights of the Susanoo, crashed through the cracked ground and fallen marshes, and filled all shinobi gathered with a sense of acute fear and dwindling hope.
However, to everyone's amazement, Naruto stood firm, face hardened with conviction, even as his Rasengan was slowly growing in size, forming an area of dazzling radiance around him. Jiraiya, who had a curious expression on his face, raised his hand in Darui's direction, effectively stopping all of the Kumo nin from attacking the huge ethereal skeleton in front of them.
"Everybody, halt! Retreat immediately towards the entrance of the swamps, if you value your lives."
Darui, whose sword sparked with black lightning, looked slightly disgruntled, but was respectful enough to heed the Sannin's words momentarily.
"But Jiraiya-sama, that malevolent chakra will obliterate Kumo-" Darui shouted, but Jiraiya fixed him with a grave look.
"I know, and I stake my reputation on this decision. Every force has its opposing counterpart, Darui-san - and it would be wise to not disturb the balance prematurely," Jiraiya said, stroking his mane thoughtfully. "In any case, it would be foolish if you thought your men could do anything to stop his attack if he decides to follow through. Giving Naruto a chance is our best bet."
Just then Naruto's yell rang through the marshes. "I won't move, Sasuke - and you know that! It was my aim to make you come to your senses, even if I had to beat the hell out of you." His voice was becoming lower in pitch gradually, and the deep undertone of anger amidst all of the sadness was becoming all too apparent with the huge quantity of tailed-beast derived chakra emanating from his visage. It seemed like his seal had broken to a dangerous extent, and Jiraiya sent a quick prayer towards the heavens that it wouldn't take over Naruto completely.
Gamabunta was looking slightly unnerved with the amount of energy radiating right above him, but he stood firm as Naruto's summon. The blond continued yelling loudly, even as his voice shook ever so slightly. "You remember all those times, don't you, Sasuke? In Orochimaru's hideout, in so many forests and wastelands. My aim was to find you, forgive you and rescue you from the darkness by sharing your pain. That used to be my ninja way then, but now I'm not so sure."
As he spoke, Naruto's cerulean eyes, ever so visible from the towering height of Gamabunta, flashed red in Sasuke's direction even as they became watery and rage-filled. And it was then that Sasuke dropped Itachi's corpse in shock, as his already unstable world started crashing down to nothingness. For there was Sakura, lying behind Naruto, barely breathing, even as the pink cloth over her abdomen was drenched in crimson blood. Dropping to his knees, Sasuke started hyperventilating, as that dire sight flooded his head with a particular, painful memory from another time, from another life.
It's a dreary night during the monsoons, and the sound of torrential rain reverberated from the ornate colored glass windows of the Uchiha Mansion. But for once, when Sasuke wakes up, there are no frightened jolts, nor any startled cries of the usual nightmares. Instead he feels his throat parched, and his limbs heavy with tiredness. Lazily he shifts in his bed, and as he tilts his head to the side, he notices a pink haired woman huddled up in the opposite corner of his bed. A loud snore comes from the ground beneath the bed, and the fog in Sasuke's head clears. The dobe and Sakura have not left after their evening visit, ostensibly due to the inclement weather. Somehow their presence adds a new sense of comfort to his surroundings.
Just then he feels Sakura shuffle around and slam her fist on the mattress of the bed, and he immediately sits up to take a look at what was bothering her so much. To his surprise, her face is contorted with intense anger as her brows pinch together and a loud whimper leaves her lips. She's definitely in the throes of a nightmare.
After some deliberation, he decides to wake her up and end her suffering. Leaning over her petite frame, he grasps her shoulder delicately.
"Sakura - wake u..."
Just then Sakura's hand moves at incredible speeds, and only the Rinnegan prevents a chakra scalpel from being jammed into his throat. The mini Shinra Tensei has brought her glowing hand to a stop mere centimeters from his face, but the wrath on her face has not changed. "You coward," she hissed in a voice filled with venom, and Sasuke realizes with a sinking feeling the subject of her nightmare. It had to be the Land of Iron incident, but only this time, his activated Sharingan alerts him to another cause of her pain - an actual injury in her abdomen.
It's a deep scar just above the hip bone, one that Sasuke realizes has been cut open so many times at the same place that the skin over it has become nothing more than a hollow, brittle cover. He has seen many a scar during his life, but this one is particularly nasty-looking.
Sasuke's hand shakes in anger as he contemplates for the umpteenth time how he was an abject failure for not being able to protect her, for allowing her to be defiled this way. It seems like anger is the default emotion he unlocks every time he feels helpless, and he does not realize he has held Sakura's extended wrist in a crushing grip.
Just then a sharp sob erupts from Sakura, as she finally wakes up to the sight of Sasuke hovering over her, a murderous look in those mismatched red and purple eyes. She immediately recoils in fright, but Sasuke does not move away from her. He has to know about that scar, and he won't be bogged down by any misunderstanding.
"Sakura, who gave you that scar?"
Her fright giving way to confusion, Sakura retracts her hand and subconsciously puts it on her abdomen.
"This one?"
"Yes."
Her striking jade eyes look away from him, but he can't discern if it's out of discomfort or embarrassment.
"It's better if we don't talk about it, Sasuke-kun," she whispers.
Sasuke's eyes softens, because he realizes this was one of the only times he had ever enquired about Sakura's physical health, instead of the exchange happening in the other way around. His red eyes fades into deep onyx, and he mutters with an implicit promise in his voice.
"Tell me about the bastard who did this to you, and I will get him."
Sakura sits up and shifts slightly away from Sasuke. She looks troubled, almost as if she is guilty of hiding something. "It's complicated, and I don't want to reopen the past needlessly."
Pindrop silence reigns for a few moments, occasionally interrupted by Naruto's snores. For the second time that night, Sasuke's blood chills, and he finds himself feeling a sudden shortage of oxygen all around.
"Was it me?" he manages to mutter, even as his head spins, trying in vain to recall if he had ever successfully attacked Sakura physically. To his utter relief, Sakura immediately shakes her head vehemently and gives him a half-hearted glare.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it, Sasuke-kun. But telling you about it won't bring any joy to your heart. Are you sure you want to know?"
Sasuke nods quickly, still riding the wave of relief from the fact that he did not accidentally injure her like that.
"Well, this was in the time after you had joined Orochimaru, and I had just learnt how to use Yin release from Tsunade. I needed to practice how to seal wounds, and the easiest way to do that was to puncture my own body."
"And you decided to injure yourself repeatedly in your abdomen?" Sasuke asks, unable to believe her stupidity.
"Yes, just like you were stupid enough to attempt suicide!" Sakura hisses angrily. "I was young and stupid then, Sasuke-kun, and being in an emotional turmoil with nobody around can make you do foolish things."
Sasuke bows his head guiltily, and his mind wants him to end this conversation by leaving the room. It's long been his reflex to escape difficult topics, but he has to finish this conversation, because he knows Sakura is hiding something.
"I'm not buying it, Sakura. You are too intelligent to behave in this way. You could have died if any enemy targeted that spot." Sasuke's mismatched eyes sparkle with an implicit request for her to come clean on the matter. As if to punctuate this request, he whispers quietly, "please."
Hearing Sasuke use the word 'please' seems to jolt Sakura, and to his shock, tears flow freely from her eyes thereafter, as if the walls of a pent-up dam had been breached. Her voice is barely audible, but for some reason, he can hear every word as loudly as if it were shouted.
"It was a fail-safe, Sasuke-kun - for my sake, in case you turned to the dark completely. I had no illusions that your power would far supersede mine if you followed through with your plan to destroy Konoha. In the event you ever succeeded, I had promised to kill myself, and this scar would be my escape route."
The cruel irony of the situation was not lost on Sasuke, even as his eyes throbbed, and his head hurt to the point that he thought he would pass out. Here he was, in a new timeline, with the Mangekyo and the Rinnegan, a combination which should have given him almost unlimited power. Yet he could not save two out of the three people he had sworn to protect. Itachi had been murdered, while Sakura had pulled the plug on his account. The refrain of power being absolutely useless rang loudly in his ears, and the emptiness seeping into his heart was stemmed only by Naruto's voice ringing through the marshes. He jolted upwards to see his best friend-cum-rival emanating a dangerous form of KI, mostly from the red chakra leaking outwards from him.
"I can't forgive you if you attack people close to my heart, can I, Sasuke?" Naruto yelled loudly, too overcome with emotion to see the subtle but marked change in his former teammate's demeanor - the hidden pleading in those swirling eyes in front of him.
So he continued relentlessly, "How dare you attack her, Sasuke - how dare you? Both of us promised to protect her, dammit! If she can't survive what you did to her, there's no going back, I promise. You won't make it out of here alive."
And with that promise, Naruto lunged forward with a war cry, swirling Rasengan in hand, even as the Susanoo flickered with a sudden drain of chakra. The support of the ethereal skeleton was rapidly vanishing, and he was falling, but Sasuke put his shaking hand above his head in a futile attempt to block Naruto's attack. Just as he muttered "Sakura..." the Rasengan connected, and a blinding explosion occurred above the marshes, lighting the dark scenery all around for miles on end.
Panting heavily, but wearing a shocked expression on his face, Naruto fell on the ground, not quite believing what had just happened. It was almost as if he had just emerged from a trance. Even in the haze of fury and grief, he had expected Sasuke to easily dodge away from the site of impact, but the unmistakable red fluid smeared on his palms meant that he had certainly not missed. He had just struck his best friend with the intent to kill, and the realization of his actions hit him like a freight train. He had given into the Kyuubi's anger, and the thought of now losing two members of his team on the same day, each of whom were akin to family, made his blood run cold.
Trembling with trepidation, he slowly turned behind, fully expecting a fatally injured Sasuke lying on the ground, but to his surprise, there was no trace of Sasuke around. Just as he was convincing himself that nobody, not even Sasuke, could have shunshined away so quickly, a huge rumble of thunder sounded from the clouds above, and Naruto found himself in the shadow of a giant hooded figure, who was seemingly cloaked in a sheet of blue lightning. A limp Sasuke was in that man's grip, dangling in the air even as drops of blood dripped from his stub of a left arm.
As a person, the Yondaime Raikage was a scary man. The dark skin encompassing his large muscular build contrasted dangerously with his white hair and military moustache, and gave him an appearance of a professional prizefighter. But when he was angry, that past image seemed remarkably unalarming, for he gave off truly demonic vibes now, both in terms of appearance and chakra. And boy, did he look furious as he held Sasuke! As part of the Nidaime Raikage's lineage, he was a master of the Black Lightning Technique, which granted him inhuman speed and agility. In fact, legend had it that he was powerful enough to summon thunder at his whim. And everyone at the Swamps of Kirigakure was witnessing both of these superhuman feats.
The cheekbones on A's face appeared more pronounced, and the visible creases across his forehead displayed his fury prominently in the darkness of the marshes, amidst the bluish aura surrounding him. He shook the unmoving Sasuke like a rat with his right hand, and pointed his left finger towards the heavens. The rain continued to pour, but the frequency of the flashes of lightning and bouts of thunder seemed to have increased.
Everyone, including Naruto, cowered in front of the intensity of KI emerging from the enraged Kage. Silence reigned across the marshes as only one voice thundered with authority.
"Judgement is upon you, Uchiha. You will not die without Kumo having its say on your fate. And as long as I am Raikage, Raijin himself will not be able to save you from Kumo's wrath."
On the outskirts of the Kirigakure Swamps, three hours later
The bonfire danced wildly in the twilight, casting shadows of many forms. Kakashi sighed and looked away briefly from the melange, because his eyes burned from overuse of the Sharingan. The scenery all around was nothing more than a wasteland, and a mixture of charred earth and putrid marshes did little to alleviate the cruelty and goriness that the makeshift interrogation tent sought to conceal. His hand shook ever so slightly as he saw the entrance to the tent in front of him, where a teenage boy was bound tightly to a wooden pole by a set of heavy iron chains, ironically provided by the ROOT shinobi of Konoha. He gently grazed the pink locks of Sakura, who was peacefully sleeping in front of him. The Raikage had brought a team of medics, who had quickly performed jutsus to stem the blood loss from Sakura's abdomen. Luckily, it appeared that the wound was quite shallow, and wasn't deep enough to reach any internal organs. But they had concluded that if they were to arrive even half an hour later than they had, she had a very small chance of surviving.
A wry smile came over Kakashi's face. He recalled her protests when he had handed her the keys to Sasuke's chakra cuffs. There were no indignant screams, no signs of dismay, and no begging on the latter's behalf. She had quietly accepted stewardship of the keys, but had icily told Kakashi that they wouldn't stop Sasuke from following them into the marshes, especially if Itachi were to make an appearance there. Sakura indeed had come a long way from the whiny, besotted fangirl who had existed not even two years ago. She was much stronger, tougher and more importantly, far too mature for her age. Maybe the shinobi world did this to every child, he wondered - maybe it robbed them of their right to maintain their innocence. Images of his team - Obito, Rin - flashed before his eyes and he quickly opened his eyes. He wasn't going back to those memories, and so he needed to stop thinking about the cruel reality of the world.
Just then, his eyes wandered to Naruto, who was sitting a little further away, eyes fixed at the ground as he nursed his injured arm. He seemed to notice Kakashi's gaze, and almost immediately looked up.
"You should go to sleep, Kakashi-sensei. I'll be alright, I promise," he whispered.
Wearily, he murmured, "Ma, ma, Naruto, how can I rest? After what just happened, I have no choice but to await the Raikage's decision. Sleep can wait."
Both of their eyes met then, and he saw the intensity of the pleading in the blond's cerulean eyes, making him realize that the latter was imploring Kakashi to leave him alone. With a hasty jerk of the head, he murmured, "certainly," before standing up and moving to leave the room. After all, giving Naruto some space after the night's tumultuous events was the least he could do.
As Kakashi was leaving, Naruto burst into a series of quiet sobs. His mind was racing through a rollercoaster of emotions which were alien to his cheerful disposition - fear for his teammates' lives and guilt for losing control to the point of almost killing his best friend. Like every shinobi who eventually confronts the cruelty of their profession, the toll of his prior actions was gnawing at his conscience, and he was slowly coming to terms with the consequences of his deeds in battle.
ROOT Hideout, in the ruins of Otogakure
Sai was standing quietly in front of a regiment of ROOT soldiers, as Danzo was slowly pacing about in front of him. Suddenly one of the soldiers jumped forward and started beating Sai mercilessly with a log of wood.
After a few minutes of incoherent shouting and pleading from Sai, Danzo finally raised his hand, and the soldier instantly stopped.
"I'll ask you one final time, Sai - what happened out there in the Swamps?"
Sai mumbled incoherently, as blood dripped from his dislocated jaw. Danzo sighed, and gave him a kick on the belly, eliciting a final groan, before he turned away and walked off slowly. In a loud voice, he announced to his men, who were standing attentively in the painful silence.
"ROOT, what did Sai do wrong?"
The assembled soldiers chanted back in unison almost immediately. "He did not carry out Danzo sama's orders to completion!"
Danzo's bandaged arm started to flow with a purplish hue, and a jolt of power surged through his body, the likes of which he had not felt since he had stopped active shinobi duty more than a decade ago. A twisted grin adorned his visage, as he marveled at the source of his new-found vitality. 'Orochimaru's research on the Sharingan during his time in Oto was truly comprehensive- it's a pity he's no longer around to work for me,' he thought. He slowly turned around to face the bunched up figure of an indisposed Sai, laying motionless on the ground.
"You've been trained far too much to screw up orders, Sai. The plan from the start of the mission was to eradicate the Uchiha once and for all," Danzo murmured, a glint of determination flashing through his uninjured eye.
"From the very intelligence you provided, we had determined that the jinchuuriki, especially after he had obtained some control over the Kyuubi, was Konoha's most effective instrument to impose peace on our terms. Wasn't it you who had spied on the jinchuurki after he had returned to the village, and concluded that the pink-haired girl was special to him? So all you had to do was rile up the jinchuuriki by killing the pink-haired girl while I cast the genjutsu to make him think that the Uchiha had murdered her. Wasn't that simple enough? Konoha would have been without one of its biggest threats then."
Sai let out a loud groan in pain, but Danzo ignored it, and continued talking as if nothing had happened to the former.
"We also knew that despite Tsunade training the brat, she had a severe injury in her abdomen, so using that to finish her would be elementary. Yet you did not do so, Sai, for some reason which I can't be bothered to understand." The purplish hue surrounding the ROOT leader was slowly darkening as his anger was rising. Sai whimpered loudly, eyes transfixed with fear, as if in anticipation of something terrible about to happen.
There was a loud click, and the staff Danzo held transformed into a spear-like contraption. "The bottom line is - nobody disobeys my orders and gets away with it. And yes, you're going to pay," Danzo said quietly. Sai let out a cry of fear, and made an attempt to move in vain. But in his heart, he knew he had no chance of escape, so he closed his eyes in anticipation of a sharp stab of unbearable pain. Instead, a few moments passed, and nothing happened, so he quickly reopened his eyes, only to see the spear piercing the ground right next to him.
Instead, Danzo's face was right above his, a wicked grin plastered all over. "But I won't take your life yet, Sai, because the result of your mission was not a complete failure. You're screw-up actually enlightened me about the last Uchiha's nature, which I admit featured a few unexpected surprises. Firstly, the Uchiha has obtained a doujutsu I am very interested in learning about. And secondly, there is something about him which makes him very different from a person who wanted to avenge his clan. So I believe that keeping him alive for the time being was not the worst outcome."
Just then there was the sound of shuffling feet from behind, and Danzo abruptly got up from his crouching position to come face to face with three Konoha shinobi escorted in by two ROOT shinobi. Kiba, Shino and Hinata looked terrified at the sight of the incapacitated Sai, but they quickly tried to regain their poise as Danzo looked them over disapprovingly.
Kiba was the first to cave in to the pressure of Danzo's intense stare and blurt out, "Danzo-sama, we were sent by the village elders to summon you back immediately to help with the present emergency in Konoha."
The disapproval on Danzo's face slowly changed into intense focus, as he grabbed Kiba by the collar and shook him with authority. "What happened, boy? And you better not leave out any important details."
Kiba's large brown eyes flashed with fear as he started talking almost immediately amidst the loud barks of Akamaru. "The Hokage has been sent into a coma, Danzo-sama. Shizune-san arrived two yesterday carrying an unmoving Tsunade-sama, and she collapsed in front of our training field. We immediately rushed the both of them to the hospital, but it seems they have sustained severe, almost fatal injuries. The Hokage-sama seems to have taken a heavy impact attack on her skull, so the medics are very unsure of when and if she will regain consciousness. But in the meantime, Koharu-sama and Homura-sama have immediately asked you to return to decide upon the course of action the village has to take in this emergency situation."
For the first time in a while, Danzo felt a pang of fear, and his quivering legs were very happy that he had a staff to lean upon. Yes, the plan had been for Tsunade to see Orochimaru's dead body, perhaps skirmish a bit with a lesser member of the Akatsuki. It would serve as a powerful message to her that the Sannin were not infallible, especially if their enemies were strong and well-informed. But a direct, and potentially fatal confrontation for Tsunade meant that the Akatsuki had sent one of their stronger members over to the outskirts of Konoha, which directly breached the letter of agreement Danzo had signed just a few days ago with their elusive leader.
Slowly, Danzo turned his back to the group of the three shinobi and motioned them to follow him inside his antechamber. His bandaged right Sharingan, once a part of the fearsome Shisui Uchiha, had been throbbing with a dull pain ever since sensing the elusive Leader of the Akatsuki in the Kiri Swamps, and later on, coming face-to-face with the unexplained doujutsu of Sasuke Uchiha. And the renewed pangs he felt right now could portend only his worst fear - that he had been outsmarted and outplanned. As soon as they were in the secret room, away from the rest of the ROOT shinobi, he angrily banged his fist in fury on the wooden table which lay sprawled in the middle of the room. A few tense moments passed, and then he looked up, directly at Hinata's scared face, and asked,
"Do you have an idea of who attacked the Hokage, Hyuuga?"
Hinata instantly flushed red, and fumbled inside her cream-colored jacket pockets. "I-I didn't see anything, Danzo-sama, but I was instructed to carry a note from Father, who said one of the Hyuuga night patrols had gotten into a skirmish with the perpetrator, who seemed to have been on the outskirts of the Forest of Death yesterday night."
On hearing this, Danzo's anger instantly subsided, and he warily took the scroll Hinata was extending in his direction. He hated being in positions where he lacked critical information, and Hyashi Hyuuga was infamous for his cryptic warnings. A short note appeared on an otherwise blank scroll, ostensibly scribbled in code words stemming from the time of the third Shinobi War.
"The kunoichi had eyes as unearthly as those of Kami himself, glowing as a drop of water in the moonlight. They could not have been a kekkei genkai from Amegakure - for while being ferocious in appearance, they bore a tranquility that comes only from the wisdom of the Sage himself. The ever visible ripples that spanned them could only signify an ancient era not bound by the powers of this time. A warning for you, Danzo-sama - if those eyes are unleashed, the Byakyugan will not be able to stop the destruction that will inevitably hit the Leaf."
The scroll dropped to the ground, and the clanging sound jolted a couple of ROOT soldiers outside the room, who almost immediately rushed in to see if everything was ok. To their surprise, they saw Danzo with his hands on his face, muttering strange, almost incomprehensible incantations, and rocking back and forth in apparent agony. As they moved to help their leader, a strange purplish hue appeared as a wall between them and Danzo, and the latter appeared to be in another world, far away from reality, in the stashes of ancient memories from more than three decades ago.
A young Sarutobi had mentioned during a mission that a curious rumor was circulating in the villages on the outskirts of Ame stating that an old man living in the wilderness, whom some had even called Madara Uchiha, had awakened the legendary Rinnegan a few months before dying. A few of the villages for a while had worshipped him as the reincarnation of the Sage of the Seven Paths himself. At the time Danzo had scoffed at his fellow teammate, but the latter's words, describing the eye as "unearthly and tranquil, yet bearing the power to destroy civilizations," were haunting him now. The Sharingan in his right eye made it abundantly clear that Sasuke Uchiha had those eyes, as had the leader of the Akatsuki. And now Hyashi Hyuuga was claiming the person who attacked the Hokage had the exact same eyes.
If all of this were true, it meant that there were at least three people capable of obliterating Konoha, and more importantly, ruining his control over the village. He had to clear up the confusion soon, for if he allowed this hearsay of to fester among the villagers in Konoha, the logical demand from all clans would be to set up a powerful council, possibly involving Jiraiya and Kakashi, to fill in for the indisposed Hokage. And that would invalidate the present Council of Village Elders, pouring cold water over any plans he had for the future of the village.
'Madara Uchiha and the Rinnegan,' Danzo thought as he recalled the masked figure who had visited him a few days before the Uchiha massacre. 'Maybe he's the key to understanding the strange and volatile situation we're in. And that's something Konoha will have to bring up and convince the other Kages at the upcoming Five Kage summit. Tch, that meeting has become far more important than I had thought, so Koharu and I will have to pick someone appropriate to go in Tsunade's stead. But whom do we select as our representative?'
Just then his attention returned to his immediate surroundings, only to find a flailing Kiba being restrained by two ROOT shinobi. The boy had a feral snarl on his face as he was indignantly trying to explain something in vain to them, waving a scroll around.
Not paying much attention to the boy's protestations, Danzo grabbed the scroll and gave a cursory look, only to find the answer within four sentences, which also happened to fulfill a lifelong objective:
Danzo, you are to be a stand-in Hokage in Tsunade's absence, so that we have a representative for the upcoming Five Kage summit. Our partner from the Akatsuki has promised peace for Konoha through a messenger today, as long as you take over and do not interfere with his aims. In fact, he has promised to leave the Kyuubi alone. We need you back in Konoha to discuss the next steps, quickly.
Koharu and Homura