Chapter 4

"You failed."

"Yeah, well, we both did."

"It was supposed to be easy, quick and mostly painless. Now it's giving me the worst headache of my life. We were supposed to eliminate the menace, now they are moving here!"

"How could I predict all that! Uzu was far more prepared to deal with this type of situation than we thought. Takashi was supposed to be a weak leader guided by his emotions, and yet he showed himself to be coldly calculating ruthless. I lost seven agents just finding the few traitors that I could and they executed only a small part of the plan before dying. The fact that the anti-Uzushio coalition arrived five days late didn't help matter at all!"

"Why were they so late anyway?"

"*sigh* Iwa finally decided that they wanted to be a part of the attack and sent a whole Regiment and had to negotiate with Kumogakure for the path they would be authorized to take to reach the Northern coast. This last minute decision, plus the number of storms they encountered made them very late."

"Do you realize the number of problem we have right now? Because they were a little late? We have been slowly culling the Senju for the last few years, limiting the power of the Uchiha and waited for the red bitch to die so we can finally abolish the fucking charter and take full power in the village! With the Uzumaki coming here, the Uchiha supporting them and the Senju who will most probably be questioning the number of deaths they have incurred in this very attack, the fucking charter will never be abolished!"

"We could try to incite a revolt amongst the Uchiha..."

"No we fucking can't! The Uchiha Clan has just seen it's situation stabilize with the imminent arrival of the Uzumaki. I know Mito was against the creation of the Military police, well, against the idea to dump the Uchiha there and refuse them a place in the rest of the village forces. The only reason she hasn't acted to reverse this decision is because she had no one to back her up. The Senju Clan respect her, but they don't follow her like they followed Hashirama or his son. Nawaki is way to young to be named clan head and no one in the clan had the political capital to support the Senju all on their own. But now? With the Uzumaki here? Mito will back off and give the Headship to Takashi, who, in turn, will have the political capital to support Mito as the Senju head of Clan."

"Look... I know its bad, ok. I'm not blind. It was supposed to be our way to abolish the charter and take control, like we should have been doing, I really get that and I also feel angry about how it failed, but we it's not our faults and we have to deal with it from now on Hiruzen. We have no other choices."

"Danzo... we have been working against them for years. Mito knows that we plan to reform the laws to the point of giving us full power over the shinobi forces and break their hold over it. Not only that, but Shikuro hinted that he found it strange that so much of the Intel he provided us with never made its way into the mission briefs we give to certain clans. I had to stop with the plans against the Nara clan and their allies, which means that the Yamanaka and the Akimichi have been left alone. He also informed the Hyuuga, Inuzuka and Aburame clans of the news, I know because he started asking awkward questions about bad intel too! With the Charter still in place, the Hatake Clan, Onikuma Clan and the Kurama Clan won't we sent to the front because their numbers are too low, the Kohaku Clan will most probably want to move in, especially considering the fact that Ame's involvement is not secret. The Lee Clan will will never be a problem for us, they are insignificant, as are the Hoki family. The Uzumaki coming here is also disastrous, because it also means nine more clans to deal with!"

"... and their fucking Fuinjutsu! They will tighten the barriers on the village and around the clan compound, which will make my ROOT unit completely useless against the clans! They might also just work to globally strengthen the security and make it impossible for fake attacks on those who could take you place by virtue of being stronger. I would also like to remind you that the academy curriculum and the orphanage system is under the purview of the three founding clans. No reform can be passed with them in post."

"We also might loose the civilian council. You do realize that the Uzumaki will refuse to entertain them more than they need to, especially as their own council has only one civilian representing the rest of them. This is a disaster. How can I be a military dictator when I don't have full control of the place I am leading?"

"Well, you still are the Hokage, and they can't do anything about it. They do need a unanimous vote to kick you out of that golden chair of yours and as the Head of your clan, you won't vote against yourself."

"Thank Kami for that! I know the red haired bitch wanted Kagami to have the hat."

"I don't understand why she doesn't see that the Uchiha should be eliminated. They are too dangerous! Tobirama-sensei might have refused to do the deed himself, but he understood they were dangerous!"

"Well, he sure told me he thought we should keep an eye on them, but he always favoured Kagami, the little shit. I don't understand why he chose you to be the next Hokage when we both know he wanted Kagami to be."

"Oh... I never told you, did I? The genjutsu protecting us from view when he was telling us he was to be the lure, I was the one casting it, most of the conversation was the same, except that part, I made sure that you would all hear that I would be made the Hokage."

"WHAT THE FUCK?! WHY NOT ME YOU FUCKING IDIOT!"

"Because we both know nobody would have believed he chose you over me, he hated you."

"... Still... fuck you! Kami I hate it when you make fucking sense!"

"Anyway you know that nobody would believe me to be the one in hiding in the roots, they all think I am a good and loyal shinobi. We both planned to take control of this village and we were so close! Fuck! I hate the founding clans so fucking much!"

"What can we do now? We must find a solution!"

"For now... We can't do anything, we are at war. Mito and Kentaro just took that decision for us, we will have to wait for the end of the war to start our plan again."

"What about the other clans?"

"... We will have to wait and see. I know most of them fucking hate us and the civilian council, they might just use this occasion to fuck with us even more. How is the formation of ROOT going?"

"Badly. I have a few dozens civilian born shinobi on my side, they agree with me, but that's pretty much it."

"Don't you have members of your clan?"

"No. The fucking clan head told me that the day I would be responsible for the training of the Shimura shinobi would be the day Kami would tell him to do so. I tried convincing orphans to join me for training, but the fucking Senju found out. They made sure to find the kids somewhere else to be."

"Well, we were planning giving you the leave to do what you wanted, and recruit who you wanted, but with the Charter staying as it is, you might have no other choices than convincing the regular forces."

"I wanted some Yamanaka shinobi to help with the brainwashing, they refused. I wanted some Kurama shinobi to help with the torture of prisoners, they refused. I wanted some Sarutobi Taijutsu specialists to train the recruits, your temporary clan head refused. It's been like that for all the clans and the shinobi families as well. This is not working right now and without the charter abolished, ROOT will not exist!"

"We don't have any other choices Danzo, we have to lay low until at least the end of the war and you know, if a few orphans disappear in enemy countries, nobody needs to know."

"... hmmmm, I need to prepare for that then. I'm leaving... for now. Go prepare your war and make sure we win."

"I always do."