AN: Chapter title: Message Received

Hiruzen Sarutobi had left his office for a more scenic view of the village, gazed down on it from the carving upon the rock that bore his, much younger, visage in stone.

He had, for the moment, put a hold to his work. Even in this brief time he took away from his office, he was sure the work was piling up, would cause him to spend even longer at his office simply due to this brief respite.

It wasn't even a break for leisure, a moment taken to relax, to ease himself of some of the pressure he was under since even the rumors of an attack had reached him. He had long accepted one could not bear the title of Hokage and be able to enjoy the day, not even in times of peace and most certainly not in times such as this after an invasion. He had come here awaiting a message above all else. One of his ANBU Black Ops shadowing the Barrier Team had alerted him that the messenger he had sent out days ago had finally returned, that he should expect the delivery in a few minutes.

He could see the crow in question now as it approached the mountain, as it neared the concealed aviary carved into the stone between his visage and the stone bearing the likeness of Mintao. It was little better than a roughly cut hole into the stone with a bed of twigs and leaves placed within but it served its purpose in the covert exchange of messages. Beyond those already aware of the dark secret of the Uchiha Clan's devastation, no one else knew of its existence.

The crow circled in the air for a moment before it descended, allowed him to take the message it had carried so far. It moved from his arm and into the stone, aimed to rest after however long its journey to the Hidden Leaf had been.

He debated destroying the message once he was done with it, debated storing it away as he would any other confidential message, secure it away under guard. But, to do such a thing, would leave it open for others to discover. Already, the paper's mere existence unearthed too many dark secrets of the Hidden Leaf, a mere glance all it would take for one to understand the truth of the massacre of so many years ago, the burden they had placed on someone so young.

"Hiruzen." He wasn't surprised when Danzo made his appearance, as he arrived across from him.

"I see you've continued your tampering with the Barrier Team." Even in such a time as this, Hiruzen still hadn't gotten over Danzo deciding to take matters into his own hand and incapacitate the Shinobi from the Aburame Clan he had assigned to the Barrier Team the day of the Chunin Exam Finals, that he had dared to attack a Clan Head.

For all the two now agreed on the problem Naruto presented, there were still many things the two would seemingly forever disagree with.

The security of the village, the steps both to take and to avoid, one of their most well-worn arguments.

"I viewed it as necessary once you stationed additional ANBU Black Ops nearby. Security against foreign enemies?" Danzo chose not to address the accusation carried on Hiruzen's words. He had done what he had viewed as necessary, had spent a life regretting few things as he submerged himself in darkness. "Or security against enemies within our ranks?"

Hiruzen chose not to react to Danzo's choice of words.

"Consider it a precaution. Nothing more, nothing less." For the moment, Hiruzen would keep the investigation he was conducting with the aid of Enma to himself. He didn't wish to involve Danzo yet, would prefer the man only knew when it was time to monitor any under suspicion, to eliminate those he confirmed to be working against the Hidden Leaf.

"A precaution?" Danzo would likely press such an issue later but, for now, he seemed set to let it go. A rare thing for the man, as stubborn as he was now as when he was a much younger man. "Your message?" His uncovered eye looked to the paper in his hand. "I can almost say for certain it's not good news."

If the situation wasn't as serious as it was, Hiruzen would've dared to believe that Danzo had just made a joke.

"This situation is rapidly spiraling out of control." Hiruzen handed the message off instead of destroying it, allowed Danzo to go over the information himself. "I know you have a handful of agents there already monitoring their status after the attack, have them keep an eye out for the two of them."

"They won't be of much use against opponents of their caliber. The puppeteer alone could likely kill them all. That's also ignoring that this will compromise their mission, would render any efforts to learn what the Hidden Sand plan next impossible if they're discovered."

"Then it would be wise for you to tell them failure is not an option." Hiruzen allowed his frustration to color his words, a rare lapse in self-control for the aged Hokage. He calmed himself down almost immediately. "Now, why are you here?"

"A number of reasons. First and foremost, your student has left with the boy. They departed the village early this morning." Danzo supplied the obvious information. Even if both weren't already capable of accessing substantial information networks, Hiruzen had been part of the discussion just yesterday with Jiraiya when he stated he was leaving.

"I'm well aware." Hiruzen resisted the urge to snap at his old friend, the man who strained his patience more times than he could count.

This current situation was, a rare thing, not his fault. The blame laid more on the Hokage's feet than the advisor's. He had been the one to allow this situation to progress so far, he had been the one who had allowed Naruto to proclaim such things as holding an empire, leading an army, claiming foreign territory without true repercussions.

For one of the few times in their long and many a time strained friendship, he had been the one to cause the problem the two of them were dealing with.

He had no idea how Danzo could bear this ceaseless burden so often, how he could endure knowing a single misstep on his end could bring about nothing short of ruin for the entirety of the Hidden Leaf.

"He's told the boy about his father." Danzo seemed to be set to supply obvious information. Few would be able to tell but the old man was able to take some dark sort of amusement from the unenviable situation the two found themselves in. He, just like Hiruzen, valued the little things in life during moments such as these.

"Unfortunately, I expected he would do exactly that." Hiruzen took a moment to sigh, allow himself to accept his exhaustion for a moment before shunting it off to the side once more. "Hopefully, this gamble pays off."

Danzo, for a moment, appeared shocked. For only a moment. In the next, he seemed to view Hiruzen in a new light.

And with something close to sympathy for his longtime friend.

"You're leveraging his desire to know his father for his continued loyalty to the village?" His words only earned a nod from Hiruzen.

The man was clearly tired, was growing exhausted with this game he had been forced to play for so, so long.

"If it fails…"

"If it fails, we will speak more."

"For both our sakes, I hope it succeeds."