Danzo laid his steaming cup of tea on the desk in front of him. As always, it was perfectly made. Hiruzen liked to keep his ANBU sharp.

When one was a member of Konoha spec ops forces, it meant all but the most obscure shinobi arts were no secret. Hence, the only thing they had left to master was the Mundane. Whoever had prepared this tea had mastered the Mundane too.

"So, the Yondaime Kazekage intend to send the container of the Ichibi as a participant in the chuunin examination. And Orochimaru is somehow behind that."

Hiruzen nodded.

To avoid anything traitorous to happen, participants in the chuunin examinations were held a secret until the last second. Allied villages had told Konohagakure that they would send a number of teams but not their composition. The analysts had been mildly surprised when Sunagakure had sent word that a single team would participate but it wasn't that unusual. It simply meant the team was dangerous.

How dangerous, however, wasn't exactly known until Hiruzen had received Jiraiya's letter. The first letter of every other sentence in the first paragraph spelt Ichibi. A thumb up meant to consider the capital letters and one eye open, one eye closed meant to consider only one sentence out of two. Compounded with the three marked words snake, sound and examination, it left little doubt about the intention of Suna.

The one-tailed tanuki was a colossus of sand, a natural nightmare to fight against in the desert of Wind Country. While it would be slightly easier in the forest surrounding Konoha, the beast was still one of the nine bijuu. A monster of pure chakra given consciousness, with powers far beyond those of a mortal man, like the countless stars were far from Earth.

"We'll need to counter him with our own jinchuuriki." Danzo began, careful to employ an extremely diplomatic tone.

Hiruzen smiled and shook his head. "The boy will have other uses." The Hokage said firmly.

Danzo cocked one eyebrow. "I see. Yet the Ichibi Jinchuuriki will have to be stopped."

"And he will be, Danzo. I believe you have enough kick to put him in his place."

Danzo's grip tightened around the handle of his cane. "I will not let you battle against Orochimaru alone. The two of us won't be too much against him, Hiruzen."

"Yet the priority must always be Konoha. Ibiki and Shikaku believe the ideal time for our enemies to strike will be during the final of the exams. Dignitaries from all around the nations will be gathered in the arena, along with a number of our civilians which means a number of our shinobi. If the Ichibi were to be unleashed here and then, it would cause complete chaos."

"Then order the jinchuuriki to be assassinated."

"Like that, without provocation? No, Danzo. You know that strength wins the battle but political capital wins the war. If we are the innocent defender, that's more actionable propaganda in our favour."

"Sometimes, the only thing that matters is to be seen as the innocent defender."

"Right you are but in this case, I believe it better to wait for our enemies to commit before we strike them. It's an opportunity to make Orochimaru come out of hiding. If we have Suna's jinchuuriki executed, he'll simply hide again and cook another scheme. One we might not see coming."

"Do you have any idea of what he wants?"

Hiruzen sighed. "He believes only war can reveal men for what they are and allow them to progress."

Danzo stayed silent for a few seconds before he sipped a bit of his tea. "He is not wrong. In a way."

"War does not reveal us, Danzo. It just makes monsters out of us."

Danzo smiled crookedly. "Maybe we are monsters who simply ignore themselves," he said, trying to inject mirth in his voice but sounding bitter instead.

"Do you truly believe that?"

"We are killers, Hiruzen. With the intent to protect but killers nonetheless. Let us not blind ourselves with a lie, we are too old for that."

"And that makes us bad?"

"Monsters aren't necessarily bad, Hiruzen. Only convinced they have no other choice or that they are in the right."

"True as it might be, don't project this kind of thoughts on Orochimaru. He only wants to see the world burn."

"Very well." Danzo paused and adjusted his robe over his missing arm. "It doesn't change the fact I cannot let you fight him alone. The Ichibi can be contained by Kinoe until we are done with Orochimaru."

"What if anything happens to him? The Ichibi would be free to rampage across the village. I have a plan to limit our casualties to the minimum but we cannot afford too many structural damages. You know that our potential must be at its highest for war and it means the forges must stay intact, the granaries must be preserved, the hospital must stand. No, my old friend, your role will be to stop the Ichibi and capture its jinchuuriki. Orochimaru is my responsibility."

Danzo sighed. "I see I cannot convince you otherwise. Jiraiya?"

"Will wait for the forces of Sand at our frontier with River country with a battalion of our best element. ANBU will be dispatched to the north-east and the south to contain Sound. Konoha cannot be associated with any armed troop movement going towards Rice or Wave. As far as we know, Sound has maintained its existence a secret. Us going with hitai-ate gleaming would only invite Lightning Country and Kumo to move."

"So you allowed Gato's little business to go on?"

"We'll deal with him once everything is wrapped up. It's clear the bridge is a route of invasion. Striking it too soon would carry the same risk as disappearing Gato or the Ichibi jinchuuriki." Hiruzen smiled at his oldest friend. "Black ops didn't stay idle. The population of Wave is already being secretly armed and trained by an ANBU detachment. The country is a spark away from an uprising and the bridge is monitored twenty-four/seven. The little piece of shit won't know what hit him."

Danzo finished his cup of tea with an easy smile.

His new training was weird but Naruto had been told it was necessary a plan cooked for him by the Hokage himself so he went along with it. And so the blond worked harder than hard on chakra control and suppression. Chakra suppression was an advanced form of control that allowed a ninja to trump sensory-type by appearing to have less chakra than they really did.

Mediocre sensors, who needed a high amount of chakra in their target to detect them, could even be completely trumped by it.

He also had a bunch of clones observing civilians day in and day out. It was a weird breach of privacy the blond didn't enjoy at all but he had been assured it was all a part of the plan.

Apart from that, Naruto still saw Gai and Lee regularly, as well as Tenten and Neji occasionally, to train with them. Anko also held her promise and began his initiation into poisons, acids and their counters. The blond found it the most fun. Maybe because Anko was a genuinely good teacher giving him a part of her knowledge for free, "as a gift".

Ibiki had very little time for him. Apparently, not only was he overburdened by counter-spying duty - he had half-told Naruto that Konoha would soon be attacked and that Suna and Oto were involved - but he also had to prepare the first part of the upcoming chuunin exams.

The goal was to mentally torture the participating genins to eliminate as many of them as possible so as to avoid them getting caught in the crossfire. Of course, Naruto wasn't supposed to have been told all that and he certainly wasn't allowed to say anything to possible rookie teams of Konoha that would participate.

So obviously, Shino, Shikamaru and Tenten were privy to the intel by the end of that day.

As for now, Naruto was en route towards training ground three, where Kakashi would hold his first kenjutsu lesson. Naruto hadn't seen the man after their discussion a week and a half ago and so didn't know if Sakura and Sasuke would come.

It wasn't like he especially cared about them but if he deserved kenjutsu lessons by Kakashi, so did they. It was up to them to accept.

Naruto entered training ground three and saw Sakura and Kakashi already waiting. Naruto had a crooked smile at the thought that Kakashi was possibly early.

"The road of life rejected you today, Kakashi-san?" The blond said in lieu of greetings.

Kakashi eye-smiled. "The road has been much clearer than usual, Naruto-san and much easier for me to navigate."

Naruto gave the man a slow nod and his smile turned genuine. He then turned to Sakura to whom he bowed slightly. "Hello, Sakura-san. I hope you are doing well."

"Ha, h-hello Naruto-san."

He could hear her swallowing thickly from where he was. He sighed. "Before we begin, I think it would be good to clear the air a little." He bowed again. "I'm sorry for relentlessly asking you on dates." He chuckled and scratched the back of his scalp, embarrassed. "I thought a date was a friendly outing between a boy and a girl, no romantic feelings involved. I understand now how annoying it could have been."

Sakura choked on something, coughed and reddened before she flailed her arms in every direction. "Dammit Naruto, I was the one supposed to apologize here!" She shouted in a mix of anger and exasperation. She immediately recoiled and grimaced. "Sorry! I mean- You don't have to apologize for anything. Urgh, why is it so difficult?"

Naruto cocked one of his eyebrows before he smiled, bringing a hand to his mouth to hide his chuckles.

The pink-haired girl glared at him for a second as she reddened in embarrassment. "I'm serious here you know?!"

"'ttebayo?" Naruto offered, causing an involuntary smile to force Sakura's lips upward.

"Stop it please," demanded the girl, badly hiding her amusement. "I'm trying to be serious-"

Naruto stopped her with a raised hand. "It's okay Sakura. I can more or less guess what you want to apologize for. I can't hold you accountable for what the adults taught you."

Sakura looked downcast at that. She offered a sorry smile to the blond. "I'm still sorry. It wasn't right to do it. I'm supposed to be a big girl, making my own choices you know?" She pointed at her headband before she scoffed. "I was like a sheep."

She had had "good" reasons of course. She wasn't popular, not like Ino, and being seen with Naruto would have made her a pariah. She couldn't associate with him, couldn't be seen appreciating his company. If it meant being in the limelight with others, she thought she could be lower than trash.

But she couldn't. Her decency forbad it.

Naruto smiled. Her friendship against his, that was the only deal here, unconditional of anything else. "Then let's do better." He extended his hand, palm open, hiding his own nervousness behind the loudness of his offer.

Sakura looked up, her green eyes teary. "J-just…" She swallowed and breathed deeply as she wiped the unshed tears. "Just like that?"

Naruto breathed in deeply before he nodded firmly. "Just like that. Not hitting me anymore on the head though." The blond warned in a no-nonsense kind of voice.

Sakura reddened and looked down once more in spite of Naruto's smile. "I'm sorry," she breathed.

She was startled when she felt Naruto push her head up with two fingers. "Accepted," said the boy, offering Sakura his hand once more.

The pink-haired shook the blond's hand. "It's nice to meet you Naruto."

"Nice to meet you too Sakura."

It was at this moment Sasuke arrived.

AN: I'm trying to do something out of Sakura. You'll tell me if I succeeded. Also, once again, Naruto is supposed to have the Will of Fire. Danzo has it too, in his own way. You can forget about his canon personality and action. He isn't clean but he is not that dude. Leave a review?