Chapter 2: Like an Old Friend
"Let us talk no more about what a good man is; be one."
-Marcus Aurelius, Meditations
PRESENT DAY
/Floating Fortress Ancor Vantian
/Bay of Haran
/Land of Mist
Shinno
Shinno, sitting Kage of the Land of Sky, was still amazed at how small everything looked from forty-thousand feet above the continent, especially this early in the morning. He watched for his favorite moment; and there it was, a beautiful kaleidoscope of colors burst in the sky as morning greeted the world, cresting the horizon line. Phenomena that he was sure very few were able to see as it was a view only afforded from this height.
Ancor Vantian, his pinnacle creation and his pride and joy, floated above the Bay of Haran off the coast of the Land of Hot Springs. He could see capped peaks of Kumo and the edge of Water Country, though that was mostly mist and rippling water.
Perspective, an actual perspective of the land such as it was, gave Shinno all of his best ideas; medical, technological, and political. Floating like this, lounging and staring for hours out the clear viewing panes, had given him the idea for this joint venture. Chaos was a ladder, as he'd found, and the best way to climb it was to create it.
The powerfully-built medical genius had been only another pawn a few years ago, but recently the population of Sky, such as it was, had gotten themselves organized. Shinno was tired of wallowing in the misery and disarray of a poorly funded village living on the literally fringes of the Elemental nations. The economic fallout of the Third Shinobi War was still felt in every starving orphan and every overfull jail cell. The Seifuku-sha had come to him, encouraged him, and he returned home from traveling to grab the reins of power.
As a new Kage, he couldn't sit and wait for conditions to improve when sanctions on them by the Alliance made it difficult to contribute their vast fuin-based technology as a mercantile pursuit. The new Hokage of Konohagakure had made things even more difficult with a new round of sanctions specifically meant to curb competition. So, Shinno reached out to a deep contact in the Daimyo's court. Chakra metal ore was mined at an astonishing rate and with technological help from Sky, well, the partnership proved profitable.
Despite that, conditions hadn't improved as dramatically as he'd wanted in his village. The suicide rate had gone up forty-five percent in the last decade and wasn't that a crazy number in a village full of merciless killers?
The door sliding open behind him made him sit up and turn.
The person who entered, catching him in a black mood, caused him to snap a little sharper than he intended, despite the fact he was not unexpected.
"Ah, how gracious of you to join me Orochimaru of the Sannin...or should I address you by title now, Shodai Otokage?"
A flat look from reptilian slits and a thin smile met Shinno as his first guest entered the room. The room had gone noticeably cooler. Had they been lesser ninja than the two currently occupying the spartan conference room, there might have been drawn blades. Luckily, this was merely an opening salvo and his other more...sensitive guests were not here yet. It was fairly difficult to enter a fortress floating forty-thousand feet in the air without notice, over all. He brushed off his idle thoughts; the view always did that, scattering his thoughts to larger concerns, and focused himself back on his current pursuits.
For Shinno, a patient and precise man, this whole undertaking, the alliance, was a labor a decade in the making and Orochimaru of the Sannin was notorious for his ability to throw the unexpected wrench into carefully laid plans-such as his latest failure in the Land of Water and this massive joint venture into the Land of Fire. He simply did not have time to play nice with a man, if you could call him such as this. And his next guest was even worse.
"Well, what is Pein and Seifuku-sha's take on the situation?"
Orochimaru simply looked away without answer.
"Shinno-donno. Where are the...others?"
So, the direct route and he didn't answer the question.
Interesting...was there a problem brewing?
"They should be here momentarily. My ninja are ferrying them to Ancor Vantian as we speak."
"Good. There are… developments we must speak of. Pein is upset that we did not consult him regarding the Ninetails housed in Iron and has special instructions regarding our plans."
Shinno felt a momentary wave of anger and then panic. This meeting and the mobilization of the Zero and Sky and the collaboration with the smaller countries-and Orochimaru-was only possible through Pein and Akatsuki and their agent in Leaf and Iron. Would it all be for naught?
All for a stupid boy that every spy agreed was actually worthless, playing with fuinjutsu and stuck in those caves like a troll? Why did the Seifuku-sha even need the Nine-tails? Yes, it was powerful, but the man himself was on another level. Shinno gripped the back of one of the conference chairs, feeling the leather creak under his strong grip. He fought his anger and panic down.
All wasn't for naught.
His people needed him.
They could still deal with Konohagakure without others support.
He'd have to see to it personally though. His grip eased. It was doable. As long as Pein kept Jiraiya busy in Ame, that is. That was the kicker.
"Akatsuki is withdrawing support for our operation because of a miscommunication? Is that it?"
Orochimaru smiled in a way that made him think he knew the direction of his panicked thoughts and they struck intentionally awry. The man was amused. Arrogant snake! His compatriot sat, adjusting his green silk kimono, seemingly more at ease than when he came in.
"Hardly. He's given me explicit instructions for my agent to smuggle the jinchuuriki out of Iron before we lay waste to the Leaf. He has plans that require the bijuu unharmed. He cannot afford to wait for the Nine-tails to reform if the vessel is destroyed. This is what he wants us to ensure: that nothing happens to the boy during Seifuku-sha's operation. As such he will send one of his most trusted Akatsuki to ensure a safe delivery as my sensei has Mifune, of all people, guarding the boy...and presumably training him."
Shinno carefully sat again, leaning back into the chair as he considered Pein-sama's request. It wasn't unreasonable. It was a badly-kept secret that the Leaf kept the strongest bijuu for themselves. And it was somewhat tactless to go after the Nine without alerting Pein, considering. He wasn't unopposed to letting Orochimaru take this burden off his hands. Shinno just prayed to the Sage that Orochimaru wouldn't let any of his numerous schemes influence his judgment. Could he afford to leave this important task to Orochimaru? The real question was, if he didn't, could he afford to take his eye off the prize for a worthless kid?
Orochimaru continued.
"He asks that we infiltrate and secure the target before Seifuku-sha attacks. I will do this as I know Sky isn't known for their subtlety and we don't want to tip our hands just yet or disappoint Pein in this joint venture now...do we?"
Shinno scowled, but smoothed his face as a knock came at the door. A Sky-nin opened the door and held it open for the rest of his guests. Shinno beckoned with one hand. They were a bit early, but within parameters.
He pasted a smile on his face.
"Come in, come in."
He eyed the green-clad snakes lack of reaction as three new arrivals filed in the door. The leader of Sky made introductions, standing and striding to the door, gripping each man's hands. All of the men, minus the auburn-haired Leaf-nin, eyed Orochimaru at the foot of the table as if he was a live exploding tag and that wasn't a shock to Shinno. None of the four new arrivals had reason to like the notorious missing-nin as his 'experiments' had already unduly affected the small countries represented here more so than the big Villages.
But the Leaf nin, a representative of their agent inside Konoha didn't blink an eye. That bore some thought. Grass, a quite unexpected addition, Wind, and River; all the allies involved that he'd personally secured technology trade deals with, minus Akatsuki, were present.
Perfect.
"Hello Tamachi, Baki, Baumi, Fuu; friends old and new, welcome to Ancor Vantian. Please have a seat and we'll get started."
Sky-nin filed in with drinks and light refreshments, placed before each member.
All three nodded as they watched the service and found seats at the conference table. Orochimaru folded his hands and stared as a faded blue three-dimensional map of Konohagakure sprang into life above the table, startling everyone but the purple snake. Shinno smiled inwardly at the others. The powers of the old Fuin-technology were always startling to those not well-versed with it. His slow distribution of technology had leapfrogged the continents infrastructure and travel a hundred years. Cars, for instance, changed everything. Chakra and the batteries that held non-elemental chakra were game-changers.
Only he controlled the sources.
"Let's get down to business, shall we?"
Shinno clicked a button on his remote and the scenery shifted to a geo-political map of the Elemental Nations, minus one important feature.
"As you all know, medical ninjutsu is my specialty and as such I had to train as a regular doctor in order to understand some of the effects of my jutsu. I traveled extensively, learning, seeing various ailments, some of which beggar belief."
Shinno zoomed the map in a little bit, closer to Fire Country.
"One of the things they teach you in places where there isn't a lot of resources to spend on medicine, is that sometimes, when the infection spreads, you must cut it out if you cannot save it."
He paused, considering.
"Crude, but necessary to save your patient oftentimes. And the patient..."
The map blinked red and Fire Country dissolved, several other countries rushing in to fill the space in a diagonally-lined area demarcated as a coalition demilitarized zone.
"...is everything."
"The Hidden Leaf village is a cancer of malignant and giant proportions. We,"
Shinno made eye-contact with each one in turn, lingering longest on Fuu.
"...must cut it out to save our nation's. I'm sure you'd agree that we tried to curb the excesses of the powerful here."
Multiple heads nodded, smiling slightly, he noticed Fuu didn't smile or change in any way. The stillness bothered him more than the dumb enthusiasm from the others.
Shinno continued.
"Let us discuss a world without the blight of a Konohagakure after we finalize our plans to eliminate them, yes?"
Coldly pleased, the small group leaned into the map. Shinno felt satisfaction well up and ruthlessly suppressed it, moving forward and clicking his remote. The scenery on the map moved slightly, bright lines of attack bubbling up on screen, all converging on the Village Hidden in the Leaves. One line went right through the capitol of Fire Country, detonating it in a shower of pixels. The demarcated area slowly filled with thick red lines.
Shinno paused looking at each member in turn.
"This is Phase 3 and as such, the Leaf village will be nothing less than a distant, unpleasant memory when we are finished. But,"
Shinno held a finger up, waiting, then pointed at a specific member-the representative of the most unpredictable faction here-and smiled.
Was there such a thing as a quadruple-agent?
"Thanks to Fuu-sama, Phase 1 will begin with a weeding out of obstacles before our final push."
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Hiruzen Sarutobi
Shimura Danzo, as Sarutobi knew him, was above all else, an opportunist. That meant, in most scenarios, Hiruzen could predict with reasonable certainty that at any given time, Danzo would do the most practical and pragmatic action in response to outside stimuli. For instance, in response to the crisis in the Bloody Mist, he'd sent their special operations soldiers, a subdivision of the current ANBU to bolster the resistance in order to continue to maintain the instability, if not an outright dissolution of government.
An unstable Mist meant a more stable western theatre.
A busy Mist was one that took in less contracts and provided less resistance when Fire country mined for various special minerals required for the latest technology, or cut into their lumber supplies.
However, he was savvy enough to realize that if the rebels won, we didn't receive nearly enough benefits from a weakened Mist to make their success a desirable outcome. The best thing to do long-term was to ensure they bled enough on both sides that they had no bargaining power to do anything at the end.
A careful balancing act; too much help and they won handily, too little and we see a continuation of the bloodline purges and a surge in disruption to supply lines near Tea, Sky, Iron, and the sea-lanes.
Then this… Seifuku-sha happened.
Hiruzen had accumulated this knowledge about Shimura Danzo from a life-time spent working alongside him, in a three-man Jonin squad with Tobirama-sensei, and later when Danzo acted as his chief advisor in matters in Foreign Policy as he enacted plan after plan.
Some went well, other's did not.
But Danzo had always learned from them; in one fashion or another. Danzo and Hiruzen had balanced each other well over numerous conflicts and Konohagakure always emerged stronger for such was their partnership.
The Yin and the Yang.
The fiasco with the Uchiha was one said plan that went terribly awry.
To be fair, it was one of many bad solutions to the mess Tobirama Senju had created in the hamstrung Uchiha Police Force and compounded by the suspicions that most people had about the Nine-tailed Massacre, an event that changed the course of Fire's history forever and saw Hiruzen back wearing a hat he'd been thoroughly done with.
How right they were to suspect the Uchiha, he thought uncharitably.
It was unfair because how could you fault a wild animal for fighting back when cornered? He knew part of the fault lie with him and that galled him. Mistakes on mistakes. Yet, Hiruzen could only do his best to give the Uchiha the rewards they'd rightly earned (despite their ancestor's crimes) through an almost century of rock-steady loyalty.
Still, there had been no Uchiha Hokage and he was sure that rankled.
When Danzo had sent a messenger to him in the early morning of the newest Graduation Exam, he hadn't thought much of it.
They, meaning Danzo and his advisors and the Jonin Commander, had not settled on exact teams or even finalized all Jonin sensei yet. He surmised they might need him as a consultant as they often did on delicate matching of personalities to abilities; a specialty of his after honing it for four decades of open and clandestine warfare. It was akin to setting the course of the village for the next decade to decide these teams.
Hiruzen's mind was, regrettably though, on nothing more than his Apprentice's hoped-for success in the succession vote as he strode into the marble and wood lobby of his once-home, the bustling nerve center of the village, the Hokage Tower. Yet centuries of battle-trained, honed instincts told him that something was off in the way the attendants, shinobi teams, and administrative assistants eyed him as his sandals clicked on the floor, striding past the Chunin on watch and into the main elevator. Perhaps it was in the hooded way every one of the ninjas in the room subtly tried to pretend they weren't staring at him like a fox in the henhouse. Yes, something was off. What was that symbol on that headband?
Do I know a single one of these young shinobi?
And Hiruzen was unpleasantly surprised to find that he couldn't be sure. Some looked...familiar. But...well, he'd been out of the game teaching Mikoto, communicating with Jiraiya and Tsunade, who'd taken over Konoha General, about outside events like Akatsuki, a new nukenin group out of Ame, and attempting to recover from the Massacre in a way that didn't seem like he was abandoning the memory of his wife and son. True, he hadn't spent much time directly assisting governance as he'd done in the past. He'd allowed Danzo leeway.
And now, this Butcher in Mist complicating things.
Yes, too much leeway by half.
The sheer number of refugees flooding into Wave and Fire were astounding. Honestly, Hiruzen hadn't known that many people even lived in Mist. Several items came together in his head, things he'd been mulling about all morning, summarized in a single-sentence that stood out of Jiraiya's last missive about the new Village Hidden in Sound. New Kage. Snake.
Orochimaru is on the move as Kage of Sound.
That team down there had to have been sent from Sound. If that was the case, and their headband was proudly on display, it had to mean they were openly welcomed by the sitting Kage, Danzo. If Danzo was consorting with their greatest missing-nin, Hiruzen's own former student… then things were much worse than he'd feared and it was, in all likelihood, a trap he was walking into up there in his former office.
He'd spent these long years maneuvering Mikoto in a position to smoothly take over from Danzo… and he knew this would be a possibility. How bitter a defeat that would be, though, struck down via treachery in the office he'd held for nigh on five decades, the longest sitting Kage in the history of Leaf.
What irony.
Luckily, Hiruzen didn't care much for irony or defeat, despite how fitting it would be to be taken out, at last, by his most genius student in concert with his childhood rival.
Naruto, Mikoto, and Konohamaru still needed him.
Konoha still needed him.
The ding sounded from the elevator reaching its destination and the door slid open soundlessly to a long hallway that led to yet another open T-shaped lobby. The door at the far end, past the Hokage's personal administrative assistant's desk, was covered in leaf, Fire, and spirals from their long association with the now-extinct Uzushiogakure. But it was the door on the right that he was headed towards. Hiruzen cleared the hallway quickly, pushing on the door and ignoring Danzo's assistant and the inane ramblings about propriety. If this was to be a trap, he would walk in without a care; prepared, ready, and primed to utterly melt the top off this tower.
Literally.
Incredibly pure fire element swirled in his pathways, mixing with earth and mimicking, at great chakra cost when it was released, the volcanic kekkei genkai of the Five-tailed Gobi jinchuuriki. Almost every shinobi in history didn't have the proper understanding of what perfect chakra control really allowed one to do if you really were good enough, skilled enough, you could squeeze your chakra pathways to subtly increase pressure and strength of a primed technique. Danzo would find out how destructive a true master could be very quickly if he turned on him in this meeting.
"...when my dear sensei gets here we can start the meeting. Ah, I think I hear him now. You did assure me I'd be safe, Godaime Hokage?"
"Of course Orochimaru-dono. You have my reassurance."
Hiruzen opened the door and took his time entering. He knew what was awaiting him on the other side. It took all of his considerable emotional control and discipline to not immediately release a devastating blast of molten lava as one of his greatest mistakes was smiling at him from less than ten feet away.
"Hiruzen, please. Before you say anything, Orochimaru is here as a visiting Kage. Please restrain yourself. Diplomatic immunity is inviolable here. We are here to meet urgently about things that concern both our villages and our world."
Orochimaru shifted, eyeing his former sensei warily.
Hiruzen couldn't help but let out a snort of ironic disbelief.
His student was wary of him?
"I cannot believe that we must get in bed with those who perform illegal, inhumane medical tests on children for any reason."
He stared kunai at the snake in their midst.
"To do so is to become everything we hate about the lengths shinobi go to for power-that countries go to for power. Do you not agree, my old friend? Or have you fallen further than I'm willing to believe?"
Danzo scoffed, his hat, crowned with the kanji for Fire dipping as he shook his head.
"My friend, you have no idea the scope of the threat we face. I stoop as far as I must to safeguard the roots of the great tree."
The bandaged Kage gestured with a hand.
"My fellow Kage from Otogakure brings me news that Jiraiya has confirmed in the missives you've forwarded me. Akatsuki moves for the bijuu. But not only that, Black Salamander Hanzo is dead. Killed by this… Pein fellow with apparently frightening ease."
Danzo stared, pleading his case in a way that sounded nothing like pleading, into the Head of the Sarutobi clan eyes. Wide-eyed with almost panic.
"He wields, if our local intelligence is to be believed, the legendary dojutsu of the Sage. The Rinnegan. I assure you this is not the time to shun allies. Sky is on the rebound with ancient, forbidden technology. Fuu meets with them as we speak. We will need help to combat this threat-"
"Help?"
Hiruzen couldn't help but interrupt. The Rinnegan was troublesome, if true. Yet, for all they knew it could be a false trail given by elusive Akatsuki agents. Jiraiya was being run in circles by a Spymaster who dwarfed his skills with no idea as to whom it was that defied him. That terrified Hiruzen who relied far too heavily on reports from his most irresponsible student: well, who could tell which one was which?
If those reports were unreliable at best...
"Help is assembling a Five-Kage summit to deal with such a threat. Help is calling up the Chunin battalions and fast-tracking the Academy training. Help is contacting our allies in Suna, Iron, and the smaller countries. Help is not getting in bed with our greatest missing-nin. What is your game here?"
Danzo was silent for a moment.
"I've left you and the missing Container alone for many years, have I not?"
Hiruzen got a sick feeling in his stomach at the quickly switched tack.
He knew where this was going.
"You have. You have left us alone because I supported your bid for Hokage. Without me you would not be wearing that hat Danzo."
Hiruzen took a deep breath still feeling his pathways filled with fire, it steadied him against the deep political riptides he saw coming his way. Battle, in word and deed, as ever, marked his path in life.
"I warn you now, both of you."
Hiruzen spread his spiritual pressure on the room, his intent and purpose manifest like the suffocation inevitable at great depths, both Hokage and Otokage felt it pressing them.
"With Biwako and Asuma are dead, I have very little left in my life that I cherish. I will level this city-"
He pressed a finger towards both of them, increasing the chakra presence, "-before I allow you to misuse those I have left to love. Tread very careful now, my old friend. Say your piece before I lose my temper."
With that last statement he eased up the pressure vanishing the way it came.
Danzo looked ruffled, irritated.
Orochimaru showed no sign of his previous discomfort. Danzo spoke up.
"Despite your care and considerable experience as a sensei, and despite the reports assuring me he is well-taken care of, the boy is, by your own admission, no closer to mastering the dormant power of his bijuu. In fact, by all reports, you've shuttered him up tight, almost unable to reach out to the power except in tremendously dire circumstances. Isn't that correct?"
Considering that Naruto was in Iron being watched over by the immense might of the Samurai and his good friend Mifune, this was too much information for Danzo to rightly have. Hiruzen shouldn't have wondered how Danzo had gotten that information, but he did.
It implied much, especially who was sitting in the room.
Specifically, that Danzo had someone he trusted close to Naruto in the Land of Iron. A casual encounter on a street wasn't enough to glean that info, but an instructor...one that worked closely with Naruto, yes, that would be enough contact to parse that knowledge.
Quickly, his brain was putting together disparate pieces to form a picture he didn't like.
"You are correct. I wanted Naruto to have full control over his shinobi abilities before I let him tamper with Tailed Beast chakra. I'm told the Eight-Tailed Jinchuuriki from Kumo did much the same when he was a Genin. He began learning when he made Chunin. This path forward is the best way to produce a Perfect Jinchuuriki and not just a Container. That was what you wanted, yes? Naruto isn't even of age to start the Academy, let alone the new Academy structure you've introduced."
Danzo nodded, thoughtful.
"This is no longer the path I'd like to take with the Container."
Hiruzen paused at Danzo's words.
"Our timetable needs must be accelerated. Everything must be accelerated because there is a war coming to the Elemental Nations. The Land of Sky are back. You wonder where all the new technology is coming from? We have our answer. Orochimaru just came from a meeting with Shinno. They've apparently joined with the Hundred Thousand Kingdoms from the Western Continent."
Hiruzen was reeling from the news.
Sky? Shinno?
The Hundred Thousand?
Akatsuki? And what part did The Man in Red, possibly Madara Uchiha, the Seifuku-sha, play in all of this?
He needed to leave. Needed to regroup.
"What did you mean when you said the, 'timetable for his training' must be accelerated? "
"I should think that is obvious Hiruzen. He's our best chance at surviving the largest war the Five have ever seen. I've sent ANBU Operative Kinoe to bring Naruto to us. He is...uniquely suited to doing so. Isn't that right Orochimaru?"
The snake smiled and nodded.
"Kinoe is it now? Well, I gifted him a weakened version of the dear Shodaimes bloodline limit. I'm happy to hear he's doing well."
Hiruzen stood, slamming his palms on the table which started to deform under his fingers, exposed to molten heat.
"You better pray that Kinoe touches not one hair on Naruto's head."
Danzo simply looked at him, impassive.
"Pray, dear Hiruzen, that he comes quietly. All of Konohagakure will have to change to meet the new threat. I'm putting every Shinobi of fighting age on alert. This is a military village and it will act like it. I'm taking full and direct control of everything as of now, I'm pairing with Suna and Oto and we will form a coalition force that will dwarf any the world has seen. Orochimaru has promised his Curse Seal foot-soldiers as shock troops in any upcoming conflict. You said it yourself that Naruto can only call up his latent powers under dire circumstances correct? Surely you can see-"
Hiruzen had heard enough.
Danzo was enacting the War Clause on his position and taking direct control. That meant Hiruzen would have no say over Naruto's status as a Weapon of War nor would the maneuvering he'd done with the Jonin Council ensure a proper Succession to Mikoto from disastrous Danzo. Jiraiya was out of the village, Tsunade was head of Konoha General and refused to do anything for him, let alone get her hands dirty because of haemophilia. Nobody even knew this was coming. Which...was why they'd invited him. Because Naruto would be unprotected, despite him being in the center of Samurai influence and Mifune's grasp. Mikoto was the only person who knew half of what he did about the full picture, her and Jiraiya.
Somehow, that didn't engender relief, merely dread.
She wasn't ready to take over.
"If the boy needs danger, well, I decided to give him some incentive."
It was this realization that broke him out of his contemplation to realize a powerful genjutsu was reaching out to him, snaring him. Orochimaru was already in motion, but the lightning chakra that Hiruzen had added to his veins empowered his reflexes and his neurons fired at three times their normal speed.
First, the genjutsu.
The genjutsu was skillfully applied in a net that would've snared him at any time in the last decade when he'd let himself go. But he'd been honing his skills against both his remaining students, sometimes both together, just for this moment. His twilight would come later.
Now, he'd show them why he was still the God of Shinobi.
Molten lava, not a product of kekkei genkai, but simply molten earth, poured from his pores, filling the room with thick black smoke as volcanic lightning lashed out in a horizontal jagged blade of light bisecting Danzo with a hiss of cauterized, superheated meat.
Or rather the log he'd replaced himself with.
Orochimaru twisted supernaturally, like a squeezed dishrag, and landed sideways on the rapidly melting wall of the conference room. Orochimaru looked frustrated and angry as he couldn't spot his old sensei through the obscuring clouds of ash.
Sarutobi coated the bottom of his sandals with water chakra and used wind to skate on the lava that was searing through the floor below him rapidly, melting the chakra-hardened tree beams that the Shodaime built the Hokage Tower and most of the surrounding structures out of. Hiruzen navigated solely by virtue of his ability to sense chakra.
Monkey King Enma, boss summon of the Sarutobi clan, materialized in his hand as a bo staff and proceeded to shear through the rest of the walls like tissue-paper. He narrowly missed Orochimaru who was attempting to flank him and had blown most of the ash away with a Wind Release: Great Breakthrough, leaving the office clear of the ash and smoke. The ceiling had started to collapse behind him, but he needed to make the retreat a little more annoying for his old student. Fire spewed out of his right palm as he used half-seals to speed things up, water pouring out like a dam unleashed via the other. Steam covered the room and obscured Hiruzen's quick exit to find his true prey.
Extending his senses barely a dozen feet led him to his quarry. He needed to eliminate Danzo quickly in order to secure Naruto's future. This would be a long and costly fight if he fought both of them.
Hiruzen used Enma to create an opening into his old office and barely heard the intruder alarm blaring all over Konohagakure indicating a foreign shinobi intrusion.
The former Kage summoned a small Capuchin monkey.
"Wukong, go to Tsunade. Tell her to coordinate with Jiraiya and Mikoto. Danzo has gone mad, he's going to try to take Naruto, he knows he's in Iron. No doubt to turn him into an emotionless ROOT Agent. I'm not sure how far he's gone down this dark road, but he's got Orochimaru working alongside him."
Wukong gulped, his tail flicking back and forth.
"Uh, that it boss? Damn. That's a load and a half, you gon' be alright?"
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at the foot-tall monkey. He'd been hanging Enma's cousin Tao-long too much, that was for sure.
"Go Wukong. I can handle these two and I'm trusting you with Naruto's life here, which is far more important."
The small monkey puffed out his chest,showing his flak vest, and straightened saluting perfectly.
"Got it boss!"
Wukong scampered away, out a window that was not on fire.
Danzo was hiding a room over and it was time to end this madness. One gnarled hand undid his casual robe, revealing his battle attire, the same attire he'd fought Tsunade in.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, ex-Hokage of Konohagakure, smiled grimly.
Enma swirled to full stature next to him, a massive behemoth of a monkey, more akin to a muscular statue than true monkey.
"Let's hunt a Kage, shall we?"
Enma roared, chakra-laced sound waves shattering the wall ahead.
"DANZO, FACE ME YOU COWARD!"
A sword took a handful of hair off his head as he ducked, his former student strode through the flaming wreckage of the conference room while brushing stray bits of dust off his purple kimono. The legendary sword Kusanagi retreating back to a manageable length.
"Fu, fu, fu. My dear Sarutobi. Did you think I'd let you end my inspiring partnership with your old teammate die such a quick death?"
Hiruzen gritted his teeth and leaped forward in a blur, alarms blaring in the background.
The alarm was the signal.
ROOT and regular ANBU was on the move towards specific targets.
The Clans, led by Sarutobi Hiruzen, were rebelling against a sitting Kage. Operation FUTURESAFE was greenlit.
Kinoe, Agent of ROOT, knew it was time for his part to start.
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Inoichi Yamanaka
The Yamanaka clan district never failed to lift Inoichi's spirits every time he came home. Begonia, lilies, orchids of every kind, tree after unique tree, a veritable field of flowers and plants grew on the artificial terraced gardens that it seemed like every Yamanaka had outside their houses. The tan and beige architecture lent itself to a very tight feel, with cottages catty-corner to other cottages, but the gardens balanced it all, like all good flower-arrangement should. Yin and Yang, as in all things. Folk came from all over the Elemental Nations to witness the Festival Bloom in the Inoichi clan compound.
Magnificent.
"Inoichi."
It was important, he felt, as someone who spent his life focused on the analysis of disparate data sets, that you bring art to science and science to art. Therefore, it was his encouragement as Clan Head, that everyone does their best to balance their gardens and the various kinds of plant life they contained against their modern conveniences.
So far, it had worked.
"Inoichi."
It also helped that he used several Green Sight Techniques in conjunction with his Mind-Body jutsu to keep watch on his people and their extravagances.
Just in case.
"INOICHI."
His wife Ami had practically shouted that last one in his ear. It was uncharacteristic of him to be so distracted. But he couldn't put his finger on why he felt strange about today. It wasn't just that his daughter had passed the Academy exam. He knew she was well-qualified in the technical arts, perhaps not so much in the physical skill set. That would change. It was something in the air. A smell he couldn't pinpoint.
Well, not a smell per se, a feeling?
"I'm sorry Ami, I've been thinking about work."
They both watched, seated on their deck overlooking their gardens, as Ino ran around chasing a pink-haired girl. Ami had been setting up a Graduation party for her nephew, stepping away for a moment to speak with him. She took her duty as host very seriously as they watched her using chakra to move at high-speeds around the house tidying up. Inoichi looked back at his wife.
Ami was still a beautiful woman.
"I still don't see why Ino doesn't invite Ami as well as Sakura. She's being incredibly rude..."
A little older-looking than when they'd first met perhaps, but it she was still possessed of that same regal bearing and fierce intelligence he'd fallen in love with. He was less in love with it when it was turned against him, however. It occurred to him she'd trailed off again, looking at him in consternation.
"I know how dedicated you are to your work Inoichi, but your daughter is passing a critical point in her life and you need to be present for it. Not just here. Work will be there tomorrow."
She had a point. There was always work to do as Head of Analysis.
Yet there was something bothering him about...the air?
The smell? The feel? What was it?
Rummaging in his coat, he pulled out Ino's Graduation gift from one of the wide side-pockets. Ami smiled when she saw it. She knew he was going to give it to her. It was an old, dog-eared field-guide to important plants specifically tailored to Shinobi needs. She'd find it as helpful as he had when he became a genin. His father had handed it to him after his graduation. Ino would need it if she was to pursue her dream to be a medical ninja.
No. Inoichi realized it as he worried on the problem like a dog with a bone. It wasn't something that was bothering him, the problem was his perception of the outer alarm seals on the compound.
Or lack thereof.
"She's going to love it Inoichi. I don't think you could've picked a better gift. In fact-"
Inoichi cut his wife off, but a loud, single-note alarm went off above their heads. The foreign intrusion alarm was coming from the Hokage Tower.
Yet, there was no sound from inside the house from where Ino had been. Foreign intrusion or civil unrest? Was this what Hiruzen had warned him of? "Ino!"
"Stay where you are Ami!"
"But-"
"I mean it. Stay where you are. Ino!"
Pumping his chakra, he entered the house quickly, searching the modest house for his daughter. The search took him a minute, but it confirmed exactly what he'd suspected.
His daughter, his only child, was gone.
Ami met him in the living room holding a tanto loosely in one hand.
"Ami, gather the Elders."
She nodded, mouth tightening. Yamanaka Ami was a master of emotional control.
"Ino is gone? But why, who would take her inside our own village?"
"I think it might have been the Hokage."
"Danzo? But why? She's seven! It's unnecessary. We're loyal Leaf shinobi!"
Inoichi sighed, rubbing his temples.
"We've been receiving reports of war on the horizon. My only guess is that Danzo is doing something he feels will turn the Clan Heads against him and he's seizing leverage for his war operations as the Uchiha left and it leaves him on shaky ground in regards to the other Clans. I need to meet with Shikaku and get word to Hiruzen, only then can we formulate a coherent response. Mikoto might be needed."
Ami nodded wordlessly, pressing her forehead against his chest.
"Just...bring our daughter home, okay? I'll mobilize the Clan while you meet with the Nara and Akimichi."
"I will."
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Shikkaku Nara
The Nara clan compound was fairly far from the main thoroughfare of Konoha which had Shikaku blessing his ancestor's foresight. Now, they most likely hadn't anticipated the development of four-wheeled moving objects that now carried people and supplies back and forth from long-distant destinations, but it felt right to think his Clan had thought that far ahead. Exceptional levels of multi-layered forethought were often considered the greatest tactical advantage the Nara possessed over their enemies. They'd been subtly out-maneuvering their enemies this way for literally hundreds of years. Yet, when he looked back, the Nara could not remember ever misreading any situation as badly as the one he found himself in.
Shikaku stood in his daughter's empty bedroom and stared sightlessly ahead at the pictures of clouds and the lilac bed-cover, the room still smelled like her too; grass and sweat. An alarm blared overhead. Every Leaf shinobi knew what that meant. But he couldn't get over how badly he'd fucked up and how his daughter had paid for his carelessness.
"Shikaku. It's okay. We'll get her back. She's strong, just like Ino."
A strong, warm hand clenched his shoulder.
He's right. We don't have time for this. Shikamaru doesn't have time for this.
Shikaku roused himself from his self-pitying hole, slapping himself slightly.
"We got this. Ino-Shika-Cho, right? Let's grab Chouza and we'll take our kids back."
Inoichi grinned like he was again his Academy self.
"Let's kick some ass, eh Nara?"
Shikaku nodded, a slight smile on his face.
Danzo doesn't know what he's started.
But he will.
I hope Mikoto is ready.
Inoichi watched as his words got his friend's mind working properly. They couldn't hope to predict, let alone intercept, their adversary's next move if they didn't have Shikaku.
Shikaku carefully thought the first parts through, speaking out loud.
"We need to contact the Jonin Commander and contact the Clan Heads. Only the Third and Jiraiya can stop Danzo as Hokage and we need the Council of Clan's to establish legitimacy for extra-governmental action by the Jonin. As well… well, the next step."
Inoichi was nodding slowly.
"Mikoto."
Like it was even a question. Loathe as he was to support an Uchiha… she was all they had.
Was this even Danzo?
Too many unknowns.
Right. Then cut down the variables. It'll make the pattern easier to see...
"Let's grab Chouza, then we speak with Tsunade. She'll know how to get in contact with Jiraiya-sama."
Both men overflooded themselves with chakra and leaped onto the roof of the compound through Shikamaru's window, speeding away towards the Akimichi district in a grey and red blur.
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Hiruzen Sarutobi
There is no possible avenue of escape from many of those techniques...how is he doing this?
There must be some secret, Hiruzen thought to himself.
Three times the Third had killed his successor with pin-point jutsu and even a lucky hit with Enma. Yet, Hiruzen had continued to follow Danzo through the top melted infrastructure of the Hokage Tower, a hurried flight of punch and counter-punch, Katon and sometimes Raiton chakra hot enough to melt steel charred and combusted wooden beams and what might as well have been paper walls that had stood for a century. That tore at his soul, seeing the center of the Leaf village being gutted. A place of veneration such as this deserved better-especially from a sitting Kage like Danzo. The two of them with Orochimaru thrown in left almost nothing of the top floor.
But Hiruzen couldn't forget that he'd thrown the first jutsu.
Hiruzen spun Enma in staff-form in a rolling blur as he batted Kusanagi away from his face. A Great Breakthrough technique hit him from the side, tossing him into a wall. Hiruzen hardened his skin with a hasty and unorthodox application of Earth chakra as Danzo flowed into the opening that Orochimaru created for him. Hiruzen did his best to recover, fists and elbows a controlled storm of fist and back-fist blocks. Countering Kusanagi required the use of Enma and even Enma was slowly getting nicked by the legendary blade. He wouldn't last for much longer. Naruto was still out there, possibly in danger, word would need to be sent to Mifune.
Thankfully Konohamaru was with his father.
"Getting tired old man? It is...two versus one after all. The Godaime and I are no strangers to high-level combat. Are we Danzo-sama?"
Hiruzen countered the speech by slamming his palms together and infusing the rushed generation of feeble wind between his palms with explosively strengthened Fuuton chakra. An omnidirectional wave of horizontal gale-force winds blew both Danzo and Orochimaru away from him and gave him space to plan and breathe. Danzo smashed his head into an opposed smoldering beam, his hat coming off, and Orochimaru responded by planting himself on a wall, looking at his sensei with mild amusement.
I don't have time to keep playing with these two...the village needs me!
"You are both men ruled by passions that reach outside yourselves. The world will be better when I rid it of you both."
Hiruzen's face didn't twitch out of a look of concentration as twenty-five clones appeared beside him.
"Stall them by any means necessary."
The ex-Hokage avoided one Vacuum spear, a cylindrical construct of fuuton chakra, then had to frantically pump his body full of chakra to enhance his speed as a dozen then three dozen spears headed for him. He was attempting to retreat and it seemed that Danzo and Orochimaru both wanted him here. Hm. That made it important he disappoint them.
Four then six then eight more Wind Release: Vacuum Spear, which looked like nothing more than wavy heat-lines in the air, flew through the space his head had occupied, dodging by timing the chakra expenditure and his acute sensory capabilities. Ducking and spinning between columns of hardened air, the ex-Hokage managed to outmaneuver the remaining spears and closed the gap between him and his longtime rival in seconds.
This close to Danzo, within absolute striking distance of a simple arm's length, he should've seen the fear in his rival's eyes. Hiruzen had lost to Danzo only once in a spar in the long time they'd been teammates and, he'd thought, friends. But this Danzo was like a whole different human being; before he was open with Hiruzen about his clandestine activities, Hiruzen had sanctioned many of them, now he was closed-off, before he was cold and calculating, sometimes waiting days to respond to something if his passions were stoked and today he was feverish with intensity. The heat in his eyes bled off him like steam and Hiruzen could just feel the frustration.
But he wasn't afraid.
That was an important detail...
It didn't matter though. Hiruzen's opening came almost on the heels of their staring contest, Danzo struck out with a bandaged hand in a chakra-laced straight punch and though it was textbook, it was reflexive and not thought out well. Hiruzen simultaneously launched a hand to push the punch astray and he conjured Enma in staff-form, pulling the head of the staff backwards. Everything that happened next, happened quickly.
The bandage-covered cyclops' remaining eye widened as the Adamantine staff broke the armored chest plate under Danzo's robes and explosively pushed through his rib-cage, bone fraying and shattering under the tremendous force. Hiruzen had launched a point-blank, wind-encased strike that had no defense this close. He watched as blood trickled out of Danzo's mouth and the gnarled hands of his long-time rival went slack in his grip, body slumping on Enma's material form. Hiruzen continued to not think of the moral implications of what he'd done murdering his oldest friend and simply banished Enma back to the summoning realm.
The question remained: where was Orochimaru?
Danzo's body lie at his feet and his eyes passed over the still form to survey the ruins they fought in. The ex-Hokage could still hear the shrill alarm over the village and to his eyes, ignoring the fires that raged around him the snap and crackle of burning wood twenty stories above the city, it was obvious the Hidden Leaf village was in disarray. The miles-long thoroughfare that led to the Hokage Tower was swarming with ninja and civilians. It was a panic that only a sitting Kage could fix. The Uchiha had left and so had their Police Forces. But there was no Kage to fix this as Hiruzen had just killed him. That was something he could help with, but first...priorities.
Orochimaru came first.
Hiruzen, battered and bruised, with a hundred tiny lacerations and one large cut on his forehead tore his cloak to shreds, throwing it to the side. It wouldn't help him at all and would slow him down in the air. The tower, if he remembered correctly, was almost half a mile high, roughly twenty-five hundred feet. The average shinobi could break their fall fairly easily, but this height was dangerous for even a seasoned chunin. The Leap of Faith or, as most Jonin called it What the Hell are you Fucking Doing!?, was a challenge reserved for those who could utilize either Earth chakra well or had dense enough chakra that sufficiently reinforced their skeletal musculature to a specific degree; the Earth technique was low A-rank and only the densest of chakra could suffice for the second option.
Hiruzen had been doing both since he was fifteen.
Taking a breath to steady himself, he flooded his body with Earth chakra, hardening his skin and reinforcing his bones, then he did it again but sent pure chakra to all parts of his body. It was very literally the only thing that saved his life as a vacuum spear the size of a main line sewer pipe blew his entire right arm off and sent him spinning up into the open sky with a sound like a clap of thunder.
Barely conscious as he went through floor after floor, pain becoming his whole world after an eternity, the last thing Hiruzen saw as he fell was Danzo looking down on him with a smile.
The smile fell away as startled surprise stole across a face attached to a head that tumbled away as a hundred blades seemed to materialize inside his body, then viciously tear him apart in a massive spray of blood.
Uchiha Mikoto, an avenging angel covered in his former best friends blood screamed at him from where Danzo had previously occupied with hand outstretched as he fell. He felt like he watched every emotion run through her face as she screamed in what felt like silence to him and he couldn't help but regret that all he seemed to do, his entire life, was to apologize to Minato, to Jiraiya, to Tsunade, to Orochimaru for not looking after him better, to his dearest love Biwako, to Asuma who was supposed to lead a long and happy life; his life, his failures over and over flashed in Mikoto's eyes.
I'm sorry girl.
You'll have to right my wrongs and make your own way now.
Biwako smiled at him and he went to them both; her and Asuma.
Finally.
Eternity passed before his eyes closed and he finally hit the ground.
Then nothing.
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Mikoto Uchiha
Corpses were still being found and the death toll calculated, rubble cleared away, and tears being shed; yet, most of the influential people in Konohagakure's political machine were here, soot-stained and battle-weary for the most important decision, a decision they shouldn't have had to make just yet, but one they couldn't put off.
They'd been attacked from within, the very foundation of Konoha rocked by a corrupt Kage who had been dealing behind their backs for far too long; a man who would stoop to kidnapping the heirs and heiresses of the Great Clans to ensure continuity of rule.
Mikoto was impressed with the balls of that man. She'd stood there, looking at the body of her mentor from what fell like millions of miles away and had to turn away. What she found when she peeled back the layers of bandages and cloth wrapping that man had left her, her, horrified and several tears slipping out against her normally iron control.
Sharingan. The doujutsu of her family, ripped out and stuffed into any available space on the man's chest and arms. Hiruzen didn't know and what he didn't know had killed him.
"Order! Order amongst the Assembly: we here have a sacred promise to choose the future."
The man speaking, Toruchi Namazaka, an elder Jonin statesmen who'd been chairing these tribunals and assemblies for a generation, had almost snarled.
"Act like it!"
Most subsided, side conversations falling away and bodies shifted in plush chairs rippling outward from the center of the floor and rising to hit the back of the room in a steep climb. Every member had a seat that could see the throne-like chair opposite the door and the Speakers station at the center on a raised dais. Toruchi stood now, hands clasped in white-knuckled fury, and fairly shouted at the Jonin Counsel. Jonin, as was forgotten by many, was both a political station and a rank in their armed forces. The Great Clans had no Jonin present save their Heads, who were larger voting blocks because they were trustee holders of their subordinates votes. As such, they were required to behave with a more dignified air.
Right now, there was a buzz of agitation in the normal stoic group.
Toruchi had had enough.
A blast of air-infused chakra let out a sound like a bomb going off and it went dead silent.
"Our Hokage was a traitor, conspiring with another of our greatest traitors to bring us down from within. Danzo Shimura, may his name be damned for all eternity in Yomi, was legitimately elected and endorsed by one of the greatest Hokage we've ever had and who was betrayed and killed by his best friend Danzo Shimura."
Toruchi seemed on the verge of tears. Tears of fury and sorrow they all shared, though some to a lesser degree than others.
"We now, though some of us are no longer here with us, must now choose our leader, the successor that must face a world eyeing us vulnerable, like a sheep alone in the meadow with no shepherd. They will have a monumental job ahead of them and they must have all of our support. Powerful, savvy, wise, and most of all; skilled in the ways of shinobi and politics."
Toruchi waited, eyeing each of them, resting a long time on Jiraiya, still wide as an autobus and with devil-may-care long-white hair that was as famous as he and Tsunade, beautiful in her youthful blonde-haired illusionary technique, before moving on, taking as long as he needed to meet everyone's gaze.
Inoichi Yamanaka stood up fiercely, still covered in some burns with rips aplenty in his normal pristine garb; but it was no faster than Jiraiya and Tsunade who both stepped forward. Inoichi looked unsure, but waved them on. Toruchi nodded to the remaining loyal members of what civilians called The Sannin. It had no real titled weight here, but their prowess as two of the remaining S-ranked shinobi did carry the strength of sway.
Jiraiya, the katakana for Oil plain for all to see on his headband, spoke slowly and quietly, a rarity to those who knew him. Hiruzen's body wasn't even cold yet and they were here, replacing him. Jiraiya hated it.
But it had to be done. This was about the future and what would be left of Konoha without the right person at the helm.
"I, Jiraiya no Hi," for orphans had no right to a clan name and they took the moniker of the land they were discovered in, spoke powerfully, "submit and endorse that Hiruzen's personal apprentice, and his personal pick to follow Danzo Shimura as Hokage..."
Jiraiya looked at Tsunade, she nodded reluctantly.
"...be Mikoto Uchiha."
A wall of noise sprang up; protests, denouncements, and filth spewed around the room until Inoichi stood back up with a wordless growl that somehow, somehow, cut through the cries.
"I, Inoichi Yamanaka, Clan Head of the Yamanaka, endorse and support with the weight of my clan without reservation."
That was a surprise to Mikoto. The first part, his endorsement, and support was the traditional response. Without reservation meant something categorically different. The Nidaime, nor Sandaime hadn't even received a without reservation call from his people. Ino was throwing the fate of his clan in with hers-what was left of mine. That thought was bitter, but she walled it up and shoved it back where it belonged.
One step at a time.
But what shocked her more, and what clearly shocked the rest of the Assembly was two more calls of without reservation.
Nara. Akimichi.
Toruchi almost died on the spot when Hiashi Hyuuga, Clan Head of Konoha's largest clan, called without reservation. Mikoto's mouth curved into a smile.
Saving those children from ROOT paid off then…
She patted the head of her grey-skinned cyclopean minion who crouched on tiny legs next to her where she listened to another of her minions who stayed hidden in the room where all the Jonin sat in Assembly. Mikoto hadn't been invited… but that wouldn't stop her. This was too important to go off plan.
One hundred and thirteen for, zero against, twelve abstaining.
Unprecedented support.
But she'd listened for two hours while they debated because it had to be unanimous. She listened as they blamed her for the Kyuubi Massacre. They blamed her and her clan for the Troubles before that, blamed her for the Betrayal, the mass exodus of Uchiha to Ame. Historic in its sheer level of animosity.
Her family; husband, her eldest son, her daughter.
They left me.
Yes, Sasuke was still here. Still hers.
She'd get them all back; she would kill Fugaku herself and get her babies back, but she wouldn't sacrifice Konohagakure to do it.
No, she had other people for that.
More importantly, she lifted a hand from where she sat in a nearby coffee shop and her palm, now covered in Fuin-glyphs from That Night that glowed blue, a massive grey-swirling portal opened and she stepped through into the now-chaos of the Jonin Assembly.
I won't let you down Kushina.
I'll protect your son and do you and Minato proud.
Jiraiya and Tsunade looked worried while the rest of the room fell silent as she met every eye in the room with a red Sharingan active, swirling with the power of her Mangekyo Sharingan, the eye she'd earned watching her best friend be butchered by someone that was supposed to be dead, and she'd snapped, the eye awakening, producing chaos that she shuddered to remember.
No one had seen her full powers yet, but it wasn't raw strength that won her this particular fight, no, though it had helped. This was the favors done; the heirs of all the major clans saved from a fate worse than death that produced this loyalty. She could have used those children as a tool, same as Danzo.
But she hadn't and they knew that.
"I accept the nomination. Can we adjourn?"
Toruchi nodded solemnly.
She turned and started out the door.
"We have work to do."
Mifune, stay the course until we speak...I pray to Kami we aren't too late.
/Konohagakure: Village Hidden in the Leaves
/Land of Fire
Unknown
The body of Shimura Danzo, covered in implanted Sharingan that had dried out and stared like a thousand dead spiders eyes, lay flat and still on the ice-cold metallic slab of an autopsy table in the basement of Konoha Memorial Hospital awaiting the convenience of the Head Examiner. Sterile equipment, all covered in the same metallic sheen, glimmered in the low, cool light of a hundred lamps, strategically placed overhead in static intervals, but each examination room was cordoned off with fuin-reinforced glass. The 'room' was a box filled with boxes, huge; wide and long, created to provide Examiners enough space in the event that some bloodline limits were dangerous or had adverse reactions to something in the environment.
This is exactly where Danzo had known he'd end up if things went south. He hadn't thought it would've gotten this bad, but as he gasped and sat up, his body feeling beaten like a piece of meat and then run through a grinder, unique opportunities arose when you were backed into a corner.
This?
This was a corner.
Orochimaru's spies had assured him that Mikoto had no outstanding abilities, despite the fact that something happened to her the night of the Kyuubi Massacre and the Uchiha Defection. That...that woman proved far more powerful than the Snake or he had ever imagined. He almost hadn't had time to activate his trump card and he'd used almost his entire stock of them fighting his old friend.
No matter. Opportunities present themselves. No use crying over spilled milk.
Danzo swung his feet over the side of the table wincing at the pain in his stomach, shoulder, and neck. Ignoring his nakedness, he walked towards the door and came face to face with an orderly in green scrubs who looked just as surprised as Danzo was to see anyone down here.
A Vacuum Spear the width of a coin took the young iryounin in the neck and he choked, coughing, then his eyes glazed in death and Danzo frowned.
Unfortunate, but perhaps…
A fireball tinged white with heat and a wind jutsu saw ash scattered all over the once-sterile examination room.
With luck, they'll be confused enough that I should be able to escape without anyone the wiser. When your back is to the wall, seize any advantage you can.
Danzo nodded to himself and left.
There was only ash left in the room swirling in the breeze he'd created.
