A Nugget Of Advice, Chapter 24

"I was thinking one more day in Sunagakure," Asuma announced to his team over breakfast in the hotel. "After the madness that happened last night, it's probably not a bad idea for some of us."

Asuma pointedly looked at Naruto, but the blond shrugged. "Honestly, I wouldn't mind leaving early."

Ino pouted and folded her arms. "Bah! Not me. I haven't even been able to finish shopping around here! I'm in no rush to go back home."

"I just want to rest. I haven't been able to do much of that yesterday," added Shikamaru, yawning.

"And I still have one more meeting to go to, so sorry, Naruto." The team leader apologized but blond shrugged again, focusing on his fish and steamed white rice. "So, it's decided. After breakfast tomorrow, we're breaking out of here for Konoha. So, get some supplies, if need be, today, try not to overwork yourself with training and whatnot, and make sure you're ready to go."

All three of Asuma's subordinates nodded.

After breakfast and chilling a bit in his shared hotel room with Shikamaru, Naruto stepped out to journey around the village. Asuma-sensei knew the earlier remark about not training too much was towards him, but honestly, Naruto felt by now he knew when to overdo it and when not to.

Sure, last night he did burn a bit of chakra – more so when he was fighting those Akatsuki mooks, but nothing enough to be a problem. He was tempted to mess with his Rasengan again, but other than to maybe practice using it on the left side, he wasn't going to burn unnecessarily through his chakra with that technique today, slaving at it for hours just so he could consistently do the Rasengan. That all could wait until he got home.

Instead, maybe he would mess around with some training like chakra control or practice one or two Earth techniques when he got to the training grounds. So, after some light shopping for some food and other supplies for the road out of Suna, and then a brief pitstop at lunch, he finally headed to the training grounds.

When he got there and saw the same blonde girl from last night, he thought someone somewhere was playing a funny prank on him. It wasn't completely bad though – nor did she look too bothered by it.

"We meet again, huh?"

"Seems that way. Someone can't help but to seek me out," the kunoichi teased as she gave him a light, playful grin.

Naruto snorted. "Yeah, right. This is just the only training grounds I know of in this village."

"You don't have to lie to me."

The teen blinked owlishly. "But I'm not…"

Temari only hummed, still with that grin on her face. She looked positively in a good mood.

She geared back her fan and swung, a billow of wind blasting towards a lone tree-like cactus in the training grounds and slicing at it cleanly. The arms of the plant fell off, and water spilled out of the fallen appendage.

Naruto looked over at the girl and an idea came to his head. Silently, he watched the girl use her wind attacks, spamming them as she swung her fan continuously through the air. "Say… you use Wind Release, right?"

"Oh geez, really? Whatever brought on that idea?" Naruto rolled his eyes at her sarcasm.

"You know, you owe me from last night."

"Oh?" Temari folded her fan and leaned on it. "You meaning to tell me you weren't doing all of that out of the goodness of your heart?"

The chūnin chuckled. "Of course I was. I don't regret a thing, but I also recognize an opportunity when I see one. You're obviously great with Wind Release. So, I'm wondering if you can show me how to do it like you."

"And why should I do that?"

"I just told you: you owe me," Naruto retorted, pointing at Temari. "If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't had even thought about going into the desert last night."

Temari smiled wryly "…You're not wrong." Sighing, she scratched her head. "Still, why do you want to learn Wind Release? And why now? Aren't you, like, leaving in a few days?"

"Actually, tomorrow."

"Then I still don't get it…" The kunoichi scratched her head in confusion. Naruto didn't blame her. It was certainly an out-of-the-blue idea. Still, he had his reasons.

"I just need tips from someone on it. I would wait and go back to my village, Konoha, but since you are a fūton user, I thought you could possibly spare some time on me. Not very long, of course, just some tips. Plus," Naruto paused, to add in a shrug. "I really don't have much else to do here."

Temari mulled on it for a bit before sighing again. "Alright, you're right. I do owe you. If it wasn't for you, then who knows where Gaara would be. I don't know how much you think you'll accomplish today with learning 'tips' about Wind Release because it takes years even getting it down but, hey, I'll help."

Naruto grinned at her. "Thanks!"

Wordlessly, she walked over to one of the many discarded pieces of cactus and hovered her hand over it. Naruto heard the screech of wind, and soon after, Temari held up the piece of cactus without a care in the world. He realized that with her wind release, the spines of the cactus were sliced off and she could hold the piece without needing to worry about getting hurt.

"Here," she called and handed him the piece. "The first thing we're taught is to get a feel of our wind chakra by cutting a bit into something. To use wind chakra, you have to split your chakra into two, and then grind them together."

"The hell does that mean?"

"It means you best figure it out, or you will never get how to use wind chakra." Temari retorted.

Naruto didn't appreciate the comment. "Can you at least tell me what do you mean by saying 'grind them together?'"

"I mean, you must force your chakra to split into two, and then have them grind against each other so much until you can force them back together. That creates wind." The kunoichi scratched her head. "Wind is the most complex element to learn, much less wield. It's also why only a handful of wind users exist in the Elemental Countries – even here in Suna. This is why I said you shouldn't expect getting much done today."

"Hmph, we'll see." Naruto then used the hand seal for his Kage Bunshin and summoned five clones of his with duplicated cacti in their hands.

"Okay, but why use those clones?" Naruto already anticipated she was going to ask him something about his Kage Bunshin. He didn't bother to explain. He and his clones got to work immediately. Temari didn't watch him for long as the process of him attempting to get some sort of progress with the cacti wasn't exactly riveting. More concerned about her training, the kunoichi turned away to practice.

Naruto knew it had been an hour of him training this wind exercise. Like Temari had said: learning the wind element was difficult and he was basically brute-forcing his way through any sort of progress. He had thought for a second that he was really going to have to train this on his own. However, when he heard a loud, "Hey, I did it!" from one of his clones, and the clone dispelled itself to give Naruto a flood of memories, he knew something good had come up.

Like him, Temari stopped what she was doing, and turned around to see. Attempting to move his chakra as his clone had done before, Naruto smirked in her direction.

"Hey, Temari," Naruto called. "Look at this!"

Temari looked at the handiwork and blinked owlishly. He put his right hand above the cacti piece and she watched in amazement as the younger shinobi cut into the thick skin of the cacti with chakra. It was small, and not that very deep. It wasn't even at all either – the jagged carving of the plant was a sign of his amateurism. Still, in at least an hour, he had done something with the wind element.

"What the hell…?" Temari gazed at Naruto with a mixture of awe, disbelief, and even a touch bit of jealously. "How the hell did you do that?"

He smirked at her, wagging his fingers. "Ah, ah. That's my secret and my secret only."

Temari narrowed her eyes at him and was about to pry more out of the boy but both straightened up when they saw Naruto's squad leader approach the training grounds. "Naruto. Good. I'm glad I found you here."

"Asuma-sensei! What's up?"

"We're leaving right now. Finish up whatever you have to here and let's go."

Naruto raised an eyebrow but nodded. As the clones behind them dispelled, Naruto turned to Temari and gave her a nod too. "Well, thanks for the tips."

Temari shook her head. "No problem. I had a question but I guess that has to wait until the next time we meet. Until then."

"Thanks again. Tell Gaara I said, 'Bye,'" Naruto commented, giving the girl one last smile. Temari returned it and gave him a nod.

He turned to give his squad leader his attention. "I thought we were going to stay one more day."

"We were but the Suna Council informed me that a sandstorm was coming our way, maybe two days out currently. They predicted it would be passing through the desert for a week. It already takes at least two days to travel between Konoha and Suna, so I rather we leave early enough to not get caught in the storm."

Naruto grinned. That worked for him, still having the same opinion he had early at breakfast. When he got back to his hotel room, he would practically be throwing his clothing back into his bookbag.

Jiraiya woke up that morning, deciding that today was the day to get to the bottom of things. Sasuke Uchiha and the problem circling him was a major concern, yes, but there were other things that concerned the Hokage.

Jiraiya had finished a good bulk of his work in his office this morning, assigning some missions for those who had to come through the office for their assignments. Then, when lunchtime came, he stepped out, past the elders.

He walked up to the roof of the Academy, enjoying the light breeze and the above view of his home. There was a swirl of wind and he was joined by his former teammate.

He nodded at her. "Glad you made it. Surprised you look half-decent today too."

Tsunade snorted. "Please. I always look immaculate."

"Not when you're smashed."

"I still look better than your ugly mug."

Jiraiya guffawed, a smile coming onto his face. "Well, that's not fair. Ain't they say you're one of the most beautiful kunoichi in the world?"

"And they're right about that." The buxom blonde cocked her hip, and he silently ran his eyes on her – though only for a few seconds.

It was no secret Jiraiya was a pervert and he thoroughly enjoyed the contours of a woman's body. However, it was also no secret Tsunade despised perversion. It was hard not to gawk when Tsunade stood in front of him though. No woman could compare to the Senju and Uzumaki scion. Those Uzumaki genes were a blessing – or maybe it was just her Henge no Jutsu at work. He honestly forgot about that thing most of the time he saw Tsunade.

'Shit,' he swore inwardly at his sloppiness. He was staring a bit too much, and he knew Tsunade knew that too. However, Tsunade must have been in a good mood because all she did was smile a bit and not try to clock his head clean off his shoulders. "Alright, enough banter. We're going to get to this or what? After all, you're the one who said this absolutely has to be done today."

"Yes," Jiraiya replied, wiping the smile off his face. "I don't like that Sensei left so many damn loose ends to get rid of. In our line of work, that's a problem. You remember that old adage: a ninja that lives past 30 becomes twice as dangerous."

Tsunade nodded. "You're not wrong. Who knows what Sarutobi-sensei's old teammates were up to behind his back, and now behind yours too? So, let's go pay Shimura a visit."

The two became blurs, rushing through the village until they have gotten to a small, almost inconspicuous, but still very well-taken of house. Jiraiya had read the notes from the ANBU that the Sandaime Hokage posted to survey the house and know where Danzō's whereabouts were at all times.

Currently, the Shimura elder had been placed on house arrest for years. Jiraiya had known the reason exactly, which is why it was more prudent to go see what the older man was up to.

Jiraiya knocked and after a few seconds, someone came to the door. It was a young teenage boy with pale skin, jet black hair, and similarly-colored eyes. The boy addressed the two shinobi with an affable smile and a respectable bow. "Hokage-sama, and Tsunade-sama too. Danzō-sama had said he expected you here, my lord."

The Hokage frowned. "Shimura expected us, huh?"

"Oh, please do not be alarmed. He assumed you would visit him – especially when you succeeded Sandaime-sama." The boy then stood straight, moved, and held the door open, allowing Jiraiya and Tsunade to walk into the house.

With a quick technique, Jiraiya scanned the house briefly for any sort of seal work. He expected the same of Tsunade. The blonde kunoichi didn't look too bothered and had a cool look on her face. He relaxed. He hadn't detected any sort of foul play. They allowed the boy to walk ahead of them in order to lead them to a room.

"Ah, it seems I was right," came the voice of Danzō Shimura, former shinobi and councilmember of Konohagakure. He sat at his living room's table, drinking from a cup of water. His hand shook, some of the water spilling on it. The man grunted softly, reaching for a napkin. "Welcome to my humble abode, Hokage-sama."

The veteran didn't regard Tsunade. "Forgive me if I don't stand and bow. I find my body these days has many difficulties doing even the simplest of tasks."

Jiraiya could attest to that. The way Sarutobi-sensei made it seem like in the letters he left him, he expected Danzō to be old, but spry who, despite his advanced age, to have strong, dense chakra and a still able body – something like how the late Sandaime Hokage had been.

Instead, the man looked like he was barely alive. He had medium-length, shaggy ash-black hair that attempted but failed to hide a multitude of scars surrounding the right side of his face. He wore an eyepatch on his right eye – or where his right eye should be. Danzō had lacked an arm from what the tied-up white kimono sleeve and lack of a bulge where an arm should be suggested. The former shinobi also had a wooden cane at his side.

Jiraiya had met the man years ago before the Uchiha Massacre occurred. He was retired back then and he did not officially take missions or whatever, so Jiraiya did not know what had caused this old man to look so… ruined. The Shimura man surely did not look like this before.

"To what do I owe this visit to you, my lord?"

"Sorry for dropping in, unannounced," the Hokage apologized, almost dryly. "But I just need to take a few moments of your time, then I'll leave you be."

"By all means. Sit, why don't you?" The elder man waved his hand to his caretaker. "Sai-kun, prepare some tea for us."

The teen obeyed and bowed at the three adults before leaving toward what Jiraiya assumed was the kitchen.

"I'll get to it then. I know the truth about the Uchiha Massacre."

"I bet you do," dryly smiled the Shimura. "It seems like Hiruzen could not put it behind him."

"I couldn't either with how many ways this story has been told." Jiraiya glared. "The documents officially state that Itachi went rogue, slaughtered his clan for little reason other than madness. The documents between the Council and the Hokage stated he destroyed his clan consciously after refusing to listen to the Hokage's orders to wait things out and for him to talk to him to Fugaku Uchiha.

"But there's another story that only I, the Sandaime, and you know, isn't there? A story that pieces everything together."

"And what story is this, my lord?" Danzō asked calmly. He sat there, shakily drinking a glass of water, though it wasn't for a lack of nerves. Jiraiya felt annoyed by that. Bastard.

"That Itachi Uchiha slaughtering his clan for 'the good of the village' is not the true story of this whole thing. He slaughtered the clan – unwillingly. In fact, he was under the will of someone else's, wasn't he? Your will."

The elder Shimura nodded. "He was."

"How in the hell did you ensnare a Sharingan user in a genjutsu?"

"Why, by the use of the Sharingan itself, of course." The tea had finally come in, Sai providing them with it. He bowed briefly and retreated out of the room. If he had any idea of what was said, he did not speak on it.

Danzō continued, "Every Mangekyō Sharingan user in history – as rare as they came – had unique dōjutsu. Not one of them had the same set of eyes nor the same techniques with them. Itachi had the Amaterasu and the Tsukiyomi, and Shisui had the Kotoamatsukami."

Jiraiya blinked in confusion. "Shisui Uchiha? I thought he committed suicide that night."

"It seems Hiruzen's findings aren't as complete as you thought."

"Still your tongue, old bastard," Jiraiya snapped, Danzō's words were taunting him now. "I thought Itachi was the only Uchiha in all of this shit but now you're alluding to Shisui Uchiha who was said to have killed himself a few nights before the Massacre. His official story suggested he could not help bring the downfall of his clan and so killed himself out of guilt. Just tell me what did you do to Shisui."

"Two months before it happened, Shisui was the one to tell us of the coup the Uchiha were planning. He then told us of the Kotoamatsukami, the ability his Mangekyō could use. It could cast a mind-controlling genjutsu so subtle that not even the greatest of Sharingan users could detect it. It could easily allow a person to control another and make their target believe what they were doing was of their own will.

"I stole Shisui's eyes. Both of them," Danzō freely admitted. Unbothered, even as hot tea spilled on his shaky hand. "Such a powerful technique was perfect in handling any sort of thing the Uchiha attempted. He did not want to use it to control them immediately. Shisui was trying to save his clan by talking first. He was trying to negotiate with them, attempting to talk them down but, of course, they weren't listening to him. The time for talking had already been over. We took over the situation."

More than put off with Danzō, Jiraiya filled in the rest of the blanks himself. "And instead of allowing him to use this genjutsu himself, you decided you needed to use it for him. Even when he said he was willing to do it himself. So, you killed him. And then what happened after you dealt with the body? Paraded as him so it wouldn't look suspicious? 'Sent' him on a mission from the village conveniently around the same time he told you?"

"The Councilors set up the mission. Hiruzen did allow them to set up missions in his stead." Jiraiya knew that was true. A fact he hated. Why did his teacher reward these people with so much power? "After Shisui 'came' home, it was said then that he committed suicide but he had been long gone. As for Itachi, we set up another mission for him to come in and do. I used this Kotoamatsukami on Itachi, and ordered him to slaughter the clan."

"Bastards," the Hokage sneered. "You three are all pathetic."

"You must understand, Hokage-sama, I have done this all for the good of the village."

The Hokage rolled his eyes. "Spare me the sickeningly noble speech. You were being far from it anyway. I know exactly why you did what you did. It was out of fear. You feared he would use the technique eventually on the village – or maybe even you."

"And such a possibility was absurd? The effect of the technique is so subtle that our greatest genjutsu users could not tell if they are being influenced by it. In the hands of an Uchiha, even someone like Shisui who was – admittedly – a true patriot to his village, is dangerous."

"So, what? In your hands, the dōjutsu was safe? The village would have been safe knowing you had it within you? You weren't exactly known for your peacekeeping ways, Shimura. You're a war hawk through and through. You sacrificed plenty of people – our people – just because you believed it was the right thing to do." The Hokage then sneered. "For a traitor, you're so damn calm that it's pissing me off."

The man no longer had a placid, calm face. His already marred face scrunched up uglily. "I have safeguarded this village for decades, Hokage! If I could, I would still to this day. I have done things that Hiruzen in his softness could not even dare do when he was still alive."

"You're getting quite loose with your words, Shimura," Jiraiya hissed dangerously. "I grow tired of your blatant disrespect for not only me but the Sandaime. I can just kill you here and no one would blink an eye."

"You would be doing me a favor." The older man chuckled wryly. That earned him a slap he could not hope to defend against. He bounced back, coughing as blood dribbled from his mouth.

Jiraiya's nose flared. "Do you not value your life? You're disrespectful and spit in the face of me and the Sandaime. The man literally kept you alive even after you went behind his back."

"Kept me alive, so I can suffer," Danzō muttered angrily. The old man had a small coughing fit, spitting up blood and saliva to his right. He shakingly grabbed a tissue and rubbed the blood onto it. "I am with one eye, one arm, and I can barely move. I am an old, tired man who is in constant pain every single day. Hiruzen had at least the luxury to die. I have not yet. The years have not been kind to me, as you can see. I have a litany of scars upon my body, a missing arm, and a missing eye – all given in the name of Konohagakure."

"All you can do is think about yourself, huh?"

"I have done everything with the village in mind, not myself!"

Jiraiya gave the old war hawk a heated stare. "No. This is all because you thought you knew all the answers but you did not. All you've done is cause havoc and chaos by taking matters into your hands when you should have left it to your betters. The mistake you made was thinking you had the same, no, higher, authority than the Hokage. That's treason."

"You may think of me as a killer of countrymen, destroyer of one of the greatest clans in history, and you are not far off, but I am no traitor." Danzō hissed back. "I have done all of that for the sake of the village. I have done so much that I have nothing left anymore. And I would do it again. I can die in peace knowing what I did has kept the village going."

"Again, spare me your bullshit."

"It does not matter what you think," Danzō grunted. "My time and Hiruzen's time and even the councilors' time are coming to an end. With you now knowing the truth, they will soon find they cannot hold onto their little power anymore."

"You mean Councilors Mitokado and Utatane were into your little plan? Why am I not surprised?"

The man nodded. "Why yes. They helped me lure Shisui into my plan for him. And more. I had Itachi ensnared in this dōjutsu for at least two months before the slaughtering of the Uchiha Clan had happened. They ensured those Uchiha who had missions outside the village, or who were in high positions in the village such as the ANBU, were executed through various ways, either by Itachi or by our own hands. The Councilors had been my arduous supporters for years, helping things get done when they should, and helping Hiruzen see reason sometimes. Hiruzen lived life believing there was good in everyone, that we could be diplomatic on the battlefield when we should be raising our blades. Soft."

"Soft, huh? As if what you've gotten us into was any better." Jiraiya scoffed.

"My plan has saved us from further bloodshed of our country."

"No. All it did was just eradicate our strongest clan and the potential military strength we could have had against a dangerous S-ranked missing-nin group bent on collecting bijū for Kami knows what. Your plan also has caused one of our ninjas, who has a lot of confidential information like village secrets, to join the said group." Jiraiya gave the veteran a look that lesser men would shit themselves if felt. "Your plan failed."

The older man merely stared back with one eye before sighing. "…I cannot deny that there have been some… unforeseen consequences. Itachi was under my control and I told him to slay his clan, and that much happened. However, I did not foresee the next part of him joining the Akatsuki and becoming a missing-nin. He should have merely slain his clan and returned back to us. The Kotoamatsukami is a technique that once applied can never be broken by the target themselves."

"That just means that Itachi found some way to break it – or had someone break it. No technique is flawless."

"Then perhaps there is someone else out there, more dangerous than Itachi can ever be."

"And you sent Itachi to see him, along with the other members of the Akatsuki," Jiraiya snarked. "So, you mean to say that there's another rogue Uchiha out there?"

"Perhaps. Itachi wasn't the only missing-nin Uchiha in our history. But even then, there is someone else that can possibly have done it."

"There's no time to be cryptic anymore, especially when this is a threat to our village you're talking about!" Jiraiya barked. "The fact that you held this in for years and the Sandaime had no clue of it is infuriating."

"Hiruzen knew of who I am speaking of. This-" Then Danzō paused, and suddenly had a remarkably pained expression on his face. The man's laboring started to increase; beads of sweat erupted from him. "P-Person…! Yes, yes! I can say 'person.' They… were dangerous. A-Are dangerous."

Jiraiya watched Danzō sputter and cough for air with a blank expression. When he finally calmed down, Jiraiya asked Danzō, "Who is this person? What's their name?"

"I cannot say."

"I told you. You can't be cryptic anymore. Give me a damn name."

Instead of saying the name, Danzō drank a bit of his tea. Besides being annoyed again, Jiraiya was surprised Danzō didn't spill the rest of it all down already. "I assume you are now well-intimate with ROOT and its members."

"Your little side group that the Sandaime allowed for a while until your stunt during the Massacre? Yeah."

The crippled veteran ignored the snarky comment. "When ROOT was active, it was treated as a higher, more clandestine part of ANBU. Very few people knew of its existence. In my ROOT, when we recruited members, we had branded them with the Zekka Konzetsu no In that prevented them from speaking about the organization or about me."

"All stuff I know already. So, what does this got to do with anything now?"

"Come now, my lord. You have filled in plenty of blanks before."

Jiraiya, stopping himself from once again slapping the daylights out of this decrepit piece of shit that paraded around as a veteran, thought about it for a few seconds before coming up with an answer. "Show me your tongue."

Danzō obeyed and Jiraiya could see it. Unlike the seal made of three bar lines in the back of the tongue and two broken lines on the tip, the cursed seal on the former ROOT commander's tongue was completely alien to Jiraiya. There were twelve lines on Danzō's tongue; three were going to the back of his tongue, three were going the tip, and six were on both sides of his tongue, respectively. But what really caught Jiraiya was in the middle of these lines, sat neatly, was a spiral.

Symbols of a seal were important. Some were characters like kanji that stated words; some were shapes that represented properties like power, range, or even time of a seal's effect. The spiral symbol of a seal represented infinity and eternity. Something that would always happen, repeat, and never end. Spiral symbols were rare in sealing work because it had to take a hell of a lot of chakra to reinforce one.

The spiral symbol of a seal also was a unique symbol of one clan: the Uzumaki clan.

Jiraiya had taken several looks at Tsunade throughout this meeting with Danzō. She stayed very cool, save some narrowing of her eyes a few times in the talk. However, she now was wide-eyed and very confused.

Jiraiya couldn't help but sigh in annoyance. For someone who was known to be so calm to the point of emotionless, Danzō really had an innate knack for theatrics. "For Kami's sake. You couldn't you just show me your tongue, huh? You do remember me and Tsunade are accomplished seal masters, don't you? This person was an Uzumaki?"

Danzō merely sighed. "I cannot say. Just merely thinking of… It is painful. I, for a lack of a better word, panicked. The seal prevents me from speaking of their name, their clan, or of anything that can incriminate them. It also prevents me from doing any real actions that can be used against them. Even thinking was hard."

"Tsunade and I could attempt to remove the seal," Jiraiya suggested, but Danzō waved his hand.

"Do not bother. As you say, you are both seal masters, and you know of the risk of messing with cursed seals. If you could not remove Orochimaru's seal from the Uchiha boy, you cannot with this either."

Figures Jiraiya's councilors told Danzō. "I shouldn't be so surprised that you know what happened with what I did to Sasuke's seal. I'm guessing this seal can't be suppressed in any sort of way, since you didn't bring that possibility up."

"I, too, was a seal master, Hokage-sama, well-versed in the usage of cursed seals. I was the architect of the Zekka Konzetsu no In after all. The sealer who did this to me…" Then Danzō paused, his face starting to sweat again. Seemed like Danzō could not talk about it any further without suffering. All the older man did was sigh deeply. "Doing so would be the immediate death of me, and although that may satisfy you, you will be no closer to the truth."

Jiraiya looked over to Tsunade and she nodded. As much as they would want to try, it wasn't worth it. Plus, it could take weeks to a month to draw up something to counter that. Spiral seals, Jiraiya found, were one of the strongest types of seals. Leave it to an Uzumaki to be involved in this mess.

"This seal prevents me even from thinking about the person for too long. It took everything to even utter something that would satisfy the seal without harming me too much. Hiruzen had a suspicion of the person who could have done this but sought to do nothing of it. He perhaps figured it was me getting what was owed to me."

Jiraiya glared. "You don't know the Sandaime then. Pettiness isn't what he would resort to if he knew the village would be threatened by this person."

"Hiruzen is a dead man and had more secrets to him than even me, my lord." Danzō shook his head. Again, the man was secretive, but after Jiraiya saw Danzō's cursed seal he wondered if it was because he was forced to speak in tongues.

"Did Sarutobi-sensei know who this person was?"

"I cannot say."

Jiraiya was starting to believe that "I cannot say" was a way to say "Yes."

So, what, Sensei knew the person who attached the cursed seal to Danzō's tongue, probably cut off his arm, tore out his right eye, and allowed him to suffer? If it was Jiraiya, he would probably allow it himself – but only if he knew where this person was going to be after. The old war hawk deserved it and more. But that wasn't Sarutobi-sensei's style, was it?

"This person is dangerous and could be very much out be there still to this day. They could be tied to the Akatsuki, Itachi, the breaking of the Kotoamatsukami. There is a reason why I no longer can use the technique."

"So he destroyed Shisui's Sharingan eyes."

Again, not answering directly, Danzō narrowed his eye. "May you and Konohagakure have the greatest of luck. May you succeed where I and Hiruzen have failed."

"You two only failed because you two refused to work together. You may call Sarutobi-sensei soft, and perhaps you are right. After all, Orochimaru was walking around so long before his death. But you were too extreme. If you had just allowed things to happen in a different way, then maybe we wouldn't be in such a mess." The Hokage stood up, draining the cold tea from the teacup in one gulp. Then he placed it back down gently. "You're right though; you, Sarutobi-sensei, and the two councilors' times are up. It's time for a new era. And you all have left quite the mess for me to clean up."

Danzō said nothing to refute what Jiraiya said.

"I just got to ask though. Are the Councilors looking for someone to replace me? Are they going to move against me?"

"...They originally wanted me to replace Hiruzen long ago, but as you can see, I cannot do so. I do not know who they would want to install as another Hokage but it is possible they have men loyal to them in this village."

"And you are just fine admitting all this against your allies?"

"With how freely I have spoken about this, I would have thought you had realized that I do not see Mitokado nor Utatane as my 'allies.' My concern has, and always will be, for the village. We may have different beliefs but you are taking the information you know now to destroy Konohagakure's enemies. You are the start of a future era. Perhaps you can find a way better than us." The man then moved to stand, and Jiraiya was sure the conversation was over and it was time to leave the house. Then, Danzō – though with great difficulty – bowed to not only Jiraiya but Tsunade as well. "May you leave with the Will of Fire burning in your hearts, Lord Hokage and Tsunade-sama. If you shall permit it, I shall leave to retire to my room. Sai-kun shall see you out."

Jiraiya nodded, "We're done here. Good day, Shimura."

And with that, Danzō left the living room to go to another, probably his bedroom. Sai came to the room and walked the Hokage and Tsunade outside of the house. Sai himself bowed to both of them before closing the door again.

"Well, that was… something."

"I didn't do much talking. Not that I needed to. Nor was I needed there, it seemed," Tsunade replied, shrugging. "Well, you got your answers to the truth. We know now that the Konoha Council needs a bit of some 'spring cleaning' and we even got an idea of another enemy in the hills."

"Oh, Konoha doesn't lack for those these days, my dear," Jiraiya said dryly. "Still, this guy or gal or a group of people, for all we know, has to be powerful enough to take out Danzō and go under Sarutobi-sensei's nose."

"Or may not so. You heard what Shimura was implying."

"You think Sensei would just allow someone to do that to Danzō? Traitor or not, the man was correct. Sarutobi-sensei wouldn't let someone under his rule suffer like that. Especially not Danzō, who he and Sensei were childhood friends."

"I don't know. Not even sure about Sensei being innocent. If the person could get rid of a big problem like Danzō was, why wouldn't Sensei take the chance? Besides that, I am not even sure if Sensei allowed anything to happen. Perhaps Sensei was forced. But all we're doing here is trying to find an answer we can't even see. All we know is there's someone out there that can potentially be a real threat to this village." Tsunade sighed, putting her hands on her hips. "And they from the Uzumaki Clan at that. Don't know what that means, but I feel like it's trouble."

"Only time will tell."

Tsunade nodded and they began a few minutes of uncomfortable silence. When they finally got back to Jiraiya's office and sat in his lounging room, Tsunade let out a deep sigh. "I want you to know something, Jiraiya. Whatever Danzō said in his house about him being some sort of patriot looking out for the good of the country was bullshit, no doubt. However, Sarutobi-sensei made all the wrong mistakes here. His unwillingness to act fast has caused a lot of what happened to the Uchiha."

She put a hand up before her former teammate could say anything. "And you may not want to hear that but it's true. Sensei had imbued both Danzō and the Councilors with so much power because he was unwilling to do some of the nastiest things a shinobi should do, much less a Hokage, for their village and their country. Maybe the Second World War changed something in Sensei because what I heard back there with our meeting with Danzō wasn't the makings of Hiruzen Sarutobi. That wasn't the same man who trained us, who gave us such terrible strength that to this day makes people respect and fear our names, who said to us to strike fast and hard at our enemies before they even knew we were there. Sensei had plenty of options he could have taken to deal with the Uchiha and he took none of them, leaving them to anyone who was willing to get their hands dirty to see the task done.

"And that's the reality of things, Jiraiya. Sensei didn't sound like he wanted to get hands dirty anymore. He went through three wars. Maybe he just got tired of it."

"That's…" Jiraiya stopped, his expression marred with confusion, anger, disgust, and horror. "If that's true, then that's not how a Hokage should act. He couldn't get tired. He couldn't afford it. He was the Hokage."

"'A Hokage never sleeps,' Jiraiya. I thought I told you that already. Sensei was an old man. He wasn't supposed to come back to the title but you remember what happened."

"Yeah," Jiraiya groused out, thinking about the Kyūbi. "The damn fox happened, Minato died, and no one stepped up. So, he had to retake the mantle. I didn't even do it." The man rubbed his temples. "God. Dammit."

"That's not your fault, so don't even blame yourself for that one." Tsunade frowned. "No, that's Sensei's fault. He should have known he wasn't up for this anymore. This is why I don't want the job. It's too damn problematic. All of this shit."

"Yeah, but someone's gotta do it, princess."

"You could easily get someone else to do it. There's a few shinobi here that could do the job." Tsunade shook her head. "Does it have to be you?"

"I've been doing this for a while. Getting my hands dirty, spying for our village, killed quite a few people that may or may not deserve it. If you're worried about me not being cut out for the job..."

"I am not saying that. I'm saying if you really wanted this job."

"Nope. I didn't really. All I'm doing here is waiting until the right person comes along. Well, we got one candidate so far. Just gotta wait until he's ready.

"The brat, right?" Tsunade asked, obviously referencing Jiraiya's godson.

"Naruto wants to be the Hokage one day. Gotta keep the seat warm for him."

"I guess you're going to be keeping that shit toasty then. Naruto's at least a decade more away from the position."

"If I'm still here when I'm 60, I'll just foist it off to him a bit earlier. Kami, I hope he gets a bit mature by then. Maybe even taller."

Tsunade let off a small smile. "Cracking jokes aside, I just hope you keep that same energy. For all our sake's here."

"Glad to know you believe you're back on Team Konoha again."

"Got to. Otherwise, your ass would be in trouble without me."

"Probably," the Hokage commented before groaning as he stood. He walked to his shelf, grabbing him and his soon-to-be advisor a cup apiece, and a bottle of sake. He could see mirth dancing in Tsunade's eyes. The man guffawed. "It's been a long day, and it hasn't finished yet. So, let's take a drink. Cheers, Tsunade."

"Cheers!" Both of them clinked their drinks. Jiraiya took a sip while Tsunade took a healthy gulp.

"Ah!" Jiraiya smacked his lips. "So, my lovely assistant, what is next on the list?"

"We went to see Danzō but we didn't need to deal with him at all. We learned of a possible new enemy but that can wait for later to solve. Deal with our problems at home. Next on the agenda, the Councilors."

"Yep, and once they're gone, I can start ruling with a cleaner slate hopefully."

"Mm," the Senju scion noised, grabbing the sake bottle to pour herself another round. "Let me tell you how things are going to proceed when you do your 'spring cleaning.' Besides maybe giving you some grief on how you proceed with things, you're not going to have me go under you doing shit and hoping you're too stupid or soft to notice."

"But I would love to have you under me-" Before Jiraiya could finish that perverse thought, Tsunade put down her cup and cracked her knuckles. "Okay, you're back in serious mode."

The buxom blonde growled. "As I said, I'm not doing anything without you knowing. That's too much energy for me. Think of me as merely an observer and someone who gives you advice."

"Yeah, I know. Unlike the Councilors, deep down I know you respect me. And I do you. I trust you, Tsunade." Jiraiya smiled. "If there's anyone who will have my back going through this hell, I know you will."

"See, now I don't want to smack you. Should have started with the charm instead." His friend snorted. "Of course, it wouldn't hurt to have another advisor too, if you like. Having three heads thinking instead of two is better in the long run. Just remember one thing, Hokage-sama," Tsunade uttered, giving Jiraiya a calm stare. "Don't make the same mistakes as Sarutobi-sensei. If you rule, rule utterly."

"Without a doubt." Jiraiya stared back at her with a similar expression.

End.

Translation List:

Kotoamatsukami – Distinguished Heavenly Gods

Zekka Konzetsu no In – Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal

A/N: Hey. I'm back. H-How's everyone?

…Okay, it's been a year since I have updated. I'm going to be honest and say I needed to take a huge break from this. For my own mental health.

I've been a whole lot of shit between November 2020 and November 2021. Besides, getting Covid-19, going through a period of unemployment, and having renting issues, my mother passed. I just had to take a break. I wrote but it was piece by piece. So, yeah, now you know why I been gone.

Outside of that, I have – generally speaking – found a new lack of interest in the Naruto series, and this break took longer than I hoped. Originally, it was going to be for at least two months, then it became a year.

So, yeah. There's not much to say or promise anymore.

Am I continuing this story? Absolutely. I at least want to finish this arc and move towards the more 'Alternative Universe' aspect of this story. Still got a plan for this fic. All I can keep doing now is continuing it to the best of my ability.

When will I update again? Probably by next month. Emphasis on the 'probably.' I won't say anything more or less. Never know these days. But thank you for all of you who are still interested in reading and whatnot, and I know this wasn't too actiony but hopefully, we get back to it.

So, yeahhhh, Itachi's 'betrayal' has changed a little, huh? Not too much, but I made it a bit more different where Danzō got the Kotoamatsukami and cut out some of the fat a bit where Shisui gave it to Itachi before "Madara" decided to stroll into town and help Itachi cut down the clan. I think the canon version of the clan massacre is stupid and impossible to really happen as it did. I say that because that would mean Itachi (and "Madara") would have slaughtered all the Uchiha all at once – children, older people, and all Uchiha who may have been active somewhere other than the Uchiha and carrying out duties somewhere else. How likely was the day it happened, all of the Uchiha was there at the compound at the same time, ready to be killed? Nobody was out at a bar or visiting a friend, girlfriend or boyfriend, or even just about to take a mission? Fanfiction: it will have you thinking about shit that you accept in canon and how stupid it looks like when written or read.

Hiruzen looks like quite the soft ruler in this fanfic and honestly, both canon and the filler in Naruto's manga and anime respectively already shows this. How could you let Danzō run around doing this shit? He got away basically scot-free from the Uchiha Clan Massacre debacle with a mere slap on the wrist even after his treachery. He made Itachi think that killing his clan was the answer. The Hokage's word is supposed to be law, and yet Danzō constantly undermines it. Konoha is a military dictatorship, not some sort of government ruled by a council. The Council is merely a group that gives the Hokage advice. That's it.

I just… yeah. Sorry, I really hate how Kishimoto wrote that whole situation. It's full of holes. So, I decided to just do what canon Naruto often does in a situation: make Danzō the root of all its problems. I hope I made the events of the Massacre a little bit more palatable here. Hope you enjoyed.

I will be back for more. Until then, see y'all.