Gaarais about to transform, so let's get out of-" Baki
"Hmm, can'tletyou rampage around here..." - Eiji appeared suddenly behind Gaara and stabbed with his sword.
The sand movedautomatically trying to defend Gaara, but the sword was clad with wind chakra and easily went through.
His arm was stabbed by theswordand Gaara cried out in pain.
His shield went down and his transformationstopped.
"Shit!! His transformation was stopped...what are we gonna do now?!" - Kankuro
"First we need to get him out of here, then we can decide what we gonna do!!" - Temari
"Are you insane?! Do you want to go down there and fight this Eiji?!" - Kankuro
"I-I'm calling the plan off. Both of you, I will buy some time, while you two take Gaara and get out of here!" - Baki moved and appeared besides Eiji with a kunai.
Meanwhile, Eiji, with his heightened senses through sage mode, sensed how Orochimaru started to move against Hiruzen: 'Looks like I still have a bit time before the barrier will be summoned, so let's make sure that Sasuke and Naruto follow Gaara."
Since Gaara's opponent wasn't Sasuke, Sasuke had no real reason to follow them, which in turn meant that Naruto and co, wouldn't follow Sasuke.
Eiji looked at Baki and said: "Sorry, but I don't wanna hang out with you sand dudes anymore, so see ya!"
With those words, he disappeared.
"..." - Kankuro and Temari didn't think it wouldbe resolved just like that.
"WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR, TAKE HIM AND LEAVE!!!" - Baki shouted at them while he defended against Genma, who charged at him.
Meanwhile, Kakashi, Guy, and Sakura realized that a genjutsu was used and undid it.
Sasuke who was standing nearby also noticed that something was wrong, but before he could do anything, a figure with immense speed appear in front of him and took him away: "WHAT!! WHAT ARE Y-"
As fast as he was taken, he was let go suddenly.
But before he could begin to make out what happened someone spoke to him: "Sorry, I got no time to explain, just follow those sand guysand stop whatever they are planning!"
"What? Why should I?" - Sasuke
But he didn't get an answer, as Eiji already vanished.
'...shit, it's not like I can do anything else when he suddenly dropped me near them!' - Sasuke got up and started to chase them.
"SASUKE!! KAKASHI, SENSEI!! SASUKE DISAPPEARED!!!" - Sakura was hysterical, seeing how Sasuke just suddenly disappeared.
"Calm down, Sakura. He should still be somewhere nearby, so undo the genjutsu on Naruto and Shikamaru and wake them up!"
He then summoned Pakkun and told her, that Pakkun can follow Sasuke's scent.
Sakura did as she was told and woke Naruto up, while Shikamaru was already awake, but pretended to be asleep to not get involved.
After forcing Shikamaru, the four embarked to pursue Sasuke.
"Do you think just three of them will be enough? But more importantly, why did that Eiji even kidnap Sasuke? Is he a traitor?"
"No, I suppose he noticed that those Sand shinobis are involved in this whole mess, and concluded that someone skilled enough should pursue them. And the most skilled one apart from him would be Sasuke. To be honest, I was about to send Sasuke and Naruto on my own, but this works too I guess."
"But why didn't he pursue them?"
"I wonder..." - Kakashi looked towards thebarrier where Orochimaru and Hiuzen were.
Meanwhile, a silent Shino decided to follow Naruto and co.
Two Anbu outside the barrier looked at it: "It looks like this barrier can only be taken down from the inside..."
The other replied: "Although if Lord Hokage can take out even one of those four, we can probably go in to aid him."
On the inside, the Sound Four started to erectan inner barrier as well.
"Humph...it doesn't look easy to escape from..." - Hiruzen
"Of course not. Besides, you wouldn't want anyone to interfere and get in the way, would you?!" - Orochimaru
Suddenly a hidden small white snake transformed into Eiji.
He stood there nonchalantly with a smile: "Sorry, but it's my style to interfere and getin the way."
"You!" - Orochimaru's arrogant smile disappeared.
"HAHAHAHA!! And here I already felt lonely, thinking I have to punish my naughty disciple all by myself." - Hiruzen
"Great, this kid can finish one of those four henchmen, so that we can get in!" - An Anbu exclaimed happily.
"Sorry Eiji, but I ask you to refrain from doing so since I believe this battle will involve many destructive techniques and I don't want our village and people to get involved in it."
"Lord Hokage, what are you saying?! Please reconsider, your safety is of utmost importance!" - The other Anbu cried out.
Eiji nodded at Hiruzen and said: "With or without barrier, we still have to beat this guy up anyway, right?"
"HAHAHA!!! You really haven't changed,sensei...instead of taking the easy route and trying to break the barrier, you are instead concerned about the village. Because of this dumb kindness, this village is destined to fall. But I still have to admit, that this village produces occasionally some interesting talents..."
Orochimaru looked at Eiji: "Kid, learning Sage Mode at this age is really something you can be proud of, it would be a pity for you to die here. So how about joining me?"
Eiji heard that and starting to contemplate.
Then he asked: "If I agree, what do I get in return?"
"THIS KID!!!!" - Anbu 1
"I knew it, he is a treacherous snake just like Orochimaru!!!" - Anbu 2
Hiruzen was silent and closed his eyes, looking like he was anticipating Eiji's choice.
"HAHAHA!!! I can give you power, as much as you like!!"
Hearing that, Eiji scoffed mentally: 'What power can you even give me? The curse mark is just a budget version of Sage Mode anyway.'
But he didn't show anything on his face and instead smiled: "Sorry, but I don't want power. Instead, I want a harem!"
"What?" - Orochimaru
"You have many kunoichis under you, right? Ordering them to be part of my harem should be a piece of cake for you."
Hearing that Orochimaru smiled: "Sure if that's what you want I can give it to you easily. See that, sensei? This is how much loyalty your shinobis have to you, just because you are so inept as a leader. Now come over here boy, you don't want to get involved in what I'm about to do."
With that Orochimaru started to summon three coffins.
"!" - because of that Hiruzen couldn't deal with the traitor Eiji, who was already walking nonchalantly towards Orochimaru's side.
Thankfully Hiruzen managed to block the third coffin from appearing.
But the other two managed to.
"N-NO!! Those are...?!" - Anbu 1
"?! They are what?" - Anbu 2
"Long time no see...Saru..."
"Ah, it's you...you've aged Sarutobi..."
"I never imagined I would see you two again. And under such circumstances...I'm so sorry..." - Sarutobi
"This is...not good..." - Anbu 1
"He summoned them...but who are they?!" - Anbu 2
"Please prepare yourselves...First Hokage! Second Hokage!!" - Hiruzen
"Reanimation, eh...? And that stripling over there is the one who summoned us with the forbidden jutsu? Impressive..." - Tobirama
"Which means, Sarutobi...we must fight you..." - Hashirama
"Enough with the old folk's small talk. Why don't we get st-" - Orochimaru was suddenly stabbed from behind.
"I agree, why don't we get started?" - Eiji
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" - Orochimaru cried out in surprise, but instead of getting an answer, he was sliced into several pieces.
"Well, it's not like this will kill him...hey old man! While he is regenerating, seal him or those other two oldies!"
"Oldies?" - Hashirama
"My, youngsters really became so disrespectful..." - Tobirama.
Hiruzen didn't dare to waste any time and asked: "Sealing? Are you sure it will work?"
'Of course, it will work! Though the method will be only developed in the future during the Fourth Shinobi War...'
"Yeah, you cannot break the jutsu, but you can neutralize the bodies by binding them so they aren't able to move and then just place a seal on the bindings."
"Alright!" - Hiruzen trusted Eiji fully, in fact, he also trusted him when he "betrayed" him.
And that's because he knew Eiji's personality, and when Eiji started to spout nonsense about harems, Hiruzen knew that he was just fooling Orochimaru.
"ARGHH!!! YOU WILL PAY FOR THAT YOU SQUIRT!!" - a piece of Orochimaru transformed into him like he was moments ago standing there.
"Tsk, can't you regenerate slower?" - Eiji got ready to battle with his all.
Eiji was bisected by Orochimaru's Kusanagi Sword, but he instantly starting to regenerate.
Since the start of the battle, Eiji was already "killed" many times, but always when Orochimaru tried to use fuinjutsu on him, Hiruzen interfered.
It was safe to say, that Eiji was completely trashed by Orochimaru.
He was only hanging on through his regeneration ability alone.
But unlike Orochimaru, Eiji has far less chakra and when he runs out of it, he won't be able to regenerate anymore.
Orochimaru was really targeting this weakness, focusing on Eiji, while the two Hokagefought against Hiruzen and Enma.
And since Eiji's and Hiruzen's plan was to seal the two Hokage, forcing Hiruzen to help Eiji out occasionally made it nearly impossiblefor him to achieve that.
'Shit if this goes on, forget about saving old man Hiruzen, I won't be able to save myself!' - Eiji tried something he hasn't used in a battle before.
He transformed into his giant snakeform and used his huge body to attack Orochimaru and the two Hokage at the same time.
"Ha! To think you would try to use snake techniques against me! Laughable!" - Orochimaru summoned Rashomon to block the attack.
Eiji tried to move around it, but there was already Orochimaru waiting for him.
The Kusanagi Blade suddenly extendedand with Eiji's huge snake body, he couldn't dodge and was hit.
Eiji started to transform back while also regenerating: 'This won't do...'
He glanced over to Hiruzen.
Despite Orochimaru focusing on him, Hiruzen, while still better than in the original timeline where he needed to fight Orochimaru as well, couldn't push his advantage and sealthe two Hokage.
Winning a fight through sealing an opponent, was different than winning through killing the opponent.
'Sorry old man, but looks like I need to do this after all.' - Eiji dispersed another shadowclone, which gathered natural energy far away and entered Sage Mode.
"Hmph, you think Sage Mode will change anything?" - Orochimaru extended his blade again, but with Sage Mode, Eiji was ableto sense it and dodge.
"Konoha-Wind Spirit Style: Summer wind of the sage!"
"YOU!" - Orochimaru saw that he was targeting the Sound Four, which were responsiblefor the barrier, and summoned two more Rashomon Gates.
Eiji's attack cut through the first two gates but was stopped at the last one.
The last Rashomon Gate reflected the damage back on Eiji, who was coughing blood while already starting to regenerate.
"Haa, looks like I need to use my strongestmove after all..." - Eiji got into an iaistance again.
He stood there fully concentrating on accelerating chakra through his body.
But unlike the other techniques, where he only accelerates to a certain speed, he went beyond that.
It was truly dangerous and if he loses control of his chakra, he may end up as a human bomb.
Orochimaru sensed that this attack was going to be powerful and tried to stop him.
Unfortunately for him, Hiruzen appeared and defended him with a smile: "Aren't you interested in what he will show us too?"
'Let's add natural chakra as well...even though I have never done it before and it is even more dangerous, but as long as a finger remains, I can still regenerate...though with my chakra being almost empty this is probably the lasttime I can do this...'
He sensed that he was about to lose control, so despite wanting to accelerate further, he unwillingly unleashed it: "Konoha-Wind Spirit Style: Winter Storm of the Sage!"
The accelerated force went to his sword and when he drew it, the whole power was unleashed.
It was a brute technique, which spread the force in every direction since such a force was nearly impossible to control.
All the trees from Hashirama's jutsu were cut, and violent winds which cut with the power of blades rampaged through the battlefield, not caring if it's foes or allies.
'Shit! I can survive that easily, but the barrier will collapse at this point!' - Orochimaru saw that the problem wasn't the strength, butthe huge area of effect.
"Yamata no Jutsu!" - Orochimaru used his strongest snake based technique just to save the Sound Four!
A giant serpent with eight heads and tails stood there and took all the damage for theSound Four.
"Truly an impressive kenjutsu technique. Konoha's kenjutsu was never fully developed, but this youngster here achieved a kenjutusu level which is really of the highest level..." - Tobirama
"But this jutsu is quite problematic since it not only attack allies but the user as well."- Hashirama looked at Eiji, who was fullof cuts and was covered fully in blood.
But despite that he smiled while regenerating a last time: 'Well, that's all I can do. Now it's all you, old man..."
TO THINK I WOULD NEED TO USE THIS TECHNIQUE BECAUSE OF A BRAT WHO ISNT EVEN HALF STRONG AS ME!!" - Orochimaru in his Yamato no Jutsu form, was furious.
He looked at the battlefield and saw that despite using his strongest snake-related technique, the only thing he managed to achieve was to neutralize Eiji, who actually neutralized himself.
And Hiruzen, who despite not being able to seal the two Hokages, had always the advantage in the fight, which meant he was fine and ready to take Orochimaru on.
Orochimaru felt really humiliated.
But he calmed down fast, and started to smile sinisterly: 'If it's like that, let's open up the barrier and wreak havoc in Konoha, hehehe...'
Actually, destroying the barrier, was Eiji's main plan on saving Hiruzen, since, with that, help could easily rush in.
And with Guy and Kakashi being at the arena, even Orochimaru would either be forced to retreat or lose.
"Sakon, Jirobo, Kidomaru, Tayua, open up the barrier!"
"!"
'Sorry old man, a few destroyed buildings won't be the end of the world, so let the others save you!" - Eiji tried his best to not lose consciousness, but with that, he finally collapsed.
"WAY TO GO KID!! YOU DID GREAT!!!" - Anbu 1
"LORD HOKAGE, JUST WAIT A MOMENT AND WE WILL BE HERE TO DEFEND YOU!!" - Anbu 2
Kakashi who was cleaning up the sound shinobis attacking the arena looked at the battlefield and then nodded towards Guy and Kurenai (Asuma left to help Shikamaru).
But Orochimaru didn't lose his confidence, since, with the two Hokage defending him, fleeing will be a piece of cake!
'Sigh, so this is what you wanted Eiji? I'm sorry, but I was already prepared...this is the responsibility I have as Orochimaru's sensei...'
"That order of signs...Sarutobi, you areperforming that Jutsu!!" - Enma
Then he summoned two shadow clones, two rushed towards the two Hokage, while he himself rushed towards Orochimaru, who was still in his Yamato no Jutsu's form.
"? No matter what you are doing, it won't-" - suddenly he felt how his chakra didn't listen to him and he started to transform back.
"Orochimaru, let me reveal for you my trump jutsu, one even you don't know! Sealing Jutsu! Shikifujin! Reaper Death Seal!!"
"NOOO!! IT WON'T GO YOUR WAY OLD MAN!!!" - for the first time in this fight, Orochimaru showed a panicked face.
"Shit, hey you guys buy some time, while I help Lord Orochimaru!" - Sakon rushed in to help Orochimaru, but Enma didn't let him get close to those two.
This time, Hiruzen had enough chakra since he only fought the two Hokage and he also wasn't hit by the Kusanagi sword, since Hiruzen charged at Orochimaru, when he was preoccupied with getting ready to leave the moment the barrier disappears.
So this time Orochimaru would surely have his soul completely sucked out!
Or not: "SAKON USE YOUR CURSE MARK AND MERGE YOUR BODY WITH MINE!!" - Orochimaru cried out, coming up with an option which can save him, despite his current panicked state.
"SHIT!!" - Sakon did as he said and split histwin-brother from him.
"UKON, YOU DEAL WITH THIS MONKEY!!"
"You woke me up just to deal with a mon-" - Ukon noticed that Enma wasn't an easy opponent, despite his curse mark being activated.
At this time, both Ukon and Sakon activated the level 2 curse mark without delay.
Thanks to that, Sakon was able to reach Orochimaru and Hiruzen, and without a delay, he fused into Orochimaru's body.
"WHAT!! ARGH!!" - suddenly it was Sakon's soul that was pulled out instead.
"Orochimaru...you are really beyond any help, sacrificing your subordinates like that!!" - Hiruzen
"What are you talking about? They arejusttools for me to use...HEHEHE now let's see how you sacrifice your life just for the soul of one of my tools!"
'Was this a mistake? NO! I at least was able to seal a portion of Orochimaru's soul! With that, he won't be able to destroy Konoha!'
"Orochimaru, even if you live, you have failed today. I have inherited the will of the First Lord, the second Lord, and of Konoha. No matter how hard you try to destroy Konohagakure, a new Hokage who inherits my will shall emerge and defend Konoha!"
Eiji really tried his best, and his plan was also effective.
But unfortunately, you can't save people, who choose to die on their own...
'I hope we are not too late...' - Kimoko was running with all she got towards the arena while dragging her husband with her.
Calling it a bad day for her would be a huge understatement.
At first, when her husband stormed into the house with the news that Eiji was alive and came back, she couldn't describe how relieved she was.
But now the village is under attack, and the center of the fight seemed to be the arena where he was supposed to be.
If Eiji died on the same day he finally came back, it would be truly too laughable.
On her way, she saw many shinobis fighting, but she just ignored them and continued to run.
Of course, since she was a kunoichi of Konoha, it was her duty to fight and help.
Not doing their duty was sure to get her and her husband Satoshi to be punished.
But she couldn't care less at the moment.
"Please...wait..." - Satoshi looked like he couldn't keep up with the pace anymore, but instead of pausing, she silently picked him up and carried him piggyback.
When she finally entered the arena, the scene was unbelievable.
Complete chaos, so much destruction, but despite that, most spectators were asleep for some reason.
"EIJI!!!" - she shouted as loud as she could, but she didn't get a response.
Panicked she looked around, hoping to find him between the sleeping spectators, to no avail.
There were just way too many people!
But then she saw the battlefield on the roof, and her motherly instincts told her that Eiji was there.
She gritted her teeth and continued to run, while Satoshi tried his best to not vomit.
"SAKON!!!" - Ukon howled like a beaten dog, not caring about the dangerous situation he was in.
Orochimaru wasn't concerned with him, instead, he endured the pain in his arms as best as he could: 'My arms feel like they are on fire...I can't continue like that, I should retreat!'
But then his gaze landed on the unconscious Eiji.
'This damn brat, it's all his fault! At least before leaving, I should kill him...'
Actually, it wasn't Eiji's fault, Orochimaru would have ended up the same even without Eiji.
But Orochimaru was arrogant to a fault and thought that he would have killed Hiruzen easily if it weren't for Eiji.
"We are done for, we are retreating. But before that, kill this boy there!"
"YES, SIR!" - the rest of the Sound Four
"You are dreaming!" - the two Anbu who watched the whole battle outside of the barrier, wanted to protect Eiji.
In their eyes, he was a splendid youth, who risked his life to protect the Hokage, so they couldn't let him just die like that.
The Sound Four (now only 3) got ready to attack.
Their plan was to split up so that one could easily kill Eiji.
"EIJI!!!" - suddenly a middle-aged woman appeared with a middle-aged man on her back.
She let the man fall and rushed towards Eiji and embraced him while crying.
His heart was beating, so those were tears of joy: "Eiji...I'm so glad you are alive..."
He looked pretty different now since the last time she saw him, but she was his mother and she recognized him instantly.
Satoshi stood up and despite being scared and about to vomit from his "traveling" with a hangover, he tried his best to appear strong and intimidating.
'Keep your gaze straight and don't look away! Don't show them how much Sake you drank tonight! It's a father's duty!'
"Like those weak worms appearing will change anything!" - Tayuya rushed in for the kill.
But suddenly someone started to attack Orochimaru and the Sound Four from behind.
"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!! BROTHER!!! I WILL AVENGE YOU!!!" - it was Ukon who seemed to have lost his mind.
"Ukon, your brother sacrificed himself for me, which is his duty as one of the Sound Four...so is this your answer? I promise you, if you don't stop this nonsense, your death won't be painless..." - Orochimaru
Orochimaru saw that Ukon didn't respond, who seemed to have lost his mind completely, and glanced at the bottom, where Kakashi and Guy were.
Currently, they were facing Kabuto, but who knew if one of them suddenly decided to rush to the roof.
"Tsk, whatever. Leave this boy and Ukon behind, we are retreating!"
Obviously, some Anbu tried to stop them from leaving, but as in the original timeline, it wasn't a problem for them at all to leave.
Two days after the battle.
Rain was pouring down while a grand funeral was held for the Third Hokage.
Almost all shinobis of the village attended it, except the ones who were out on a mission or who were injured.
One of them was Eiji since he still suffered from the aftereffects of exhausting his chakra to a dangerous limit.
When he woke up in the hospital a day ago, he was told about Hiruzen's death.
Thinking about it, he couldn't help but sigh: 'Old man, you just had to take the opportunity and let us save you...why did you have to be so stubborn?'
Other than Hiruzen's death, things seemed to play out the same.
Naruto defeated Gaara and "converted" him to the "good side" and Sunagakure later discovered how they were used by Orochimaru.
The only difference was Ukon: since he lost his mind and only wanted to kill Orochimaru, he didn't put up a fight, so he was easily captured.
Unfortunately getting information out of him wasn't possible, since...well, he went crazy.
Eiji's conclusion was, that the only thing he achieved was showing off and making an enemy out of Orochimaru.
Again his hopes of saving someone were crushed.
'It's almost like the universe is telling me to just live my life in the background like a mob is supposed to be, and not involve myself in important stuff anymore...honestly maybe it's just better like that...wasn't my goal in the first place to get strong enough to leave the village and live peacefully? Shouldn't I be able to leave now?'
But he instantly remembered the face of his mother when he woke up.
He could see in it, the stress she must have felt the whole time.
She looked really haggard and older than she was supposed to be, but nonetheless, after he woke up, instead of shouting or berating him, she was full of relief and joy that he was alive and well.
'Sigh...I don't know anymore...'
Eiji was unsure what he should do from now on.
"Eh-heh heh..." - Jiraiya was peeping on women with a telescope for his "research" when two figures approached him from behind.
"You still engage in such foolish activities?"
"Technically it's research...if it isn't old man Homura and mistress Koharu... and just what business do the chief counselors have with me?"
They told him about the current dangerous and peculiar state of Konoha and that it was concluded that Jiraiya would be the next Hokage.
But he actually declined and said, that Tsunade would be more suited for that role and that he would find her.
With that, he got ready to leave with Naruto and find her.
Also at the same time, Itachi and Kisame appeared in the village.
After being found out, they fought a bit with Asuma, Kurenai, Kakashi, and Guy before disappearing.
Kakashi was still under the effect of Tsukuyomi, so he was brought to the hospital.
Because of some dumbass shinobi who barged into Kakashi's room asking about Itachi while Sasuke was here, Sasuke rushed off trying to find Naruto, who Itachi and Kisame were after.
Sasuke then got trashed by Itachi and needed to be brought to the hospital as well.
After driving them off, Naruto and Jiraiya started their Rasengan training while searching for Tsunade.
So a lot has happened, but on the surface, for the ordinary shinobi, it was a peaceful time recuperating from Orochimaru's attack.
The same was for Eiji.
After one more day, he was allowed to leave.
But instead of a day of doing nothing, he had a promise to fulfill.
"Again Dango? I invited you already so many times to Dango, why not something else for a change?"
"But I didn't eat any Dango for some time now..."
"What? With how much you love them, I don't believe you."
"But...I never eat them without you...and it's already some time now since the last time we were together like that..." - Tenten pouted in a low voice.
"Yeah, sorry..."
"..."
"..." - an awkward silence, before Eiji broke it: "By the way, don't you think I look a bit creepy now? Are you okay with somebody like that walking next to you?"
"Actually you look way better now...you look smarter and your eyes give you a kind of dangerous and mysterious vibe..."
Hearing that, Eiji smiled: "You think so too? At first, I was unhappy, but now I actually like how I'm looking...it really looks cool!"
"Don't exaggerate! No matter how your body looks, with your bad clothing taste, it won't matter!"
"Ouch, I actually thought I would look cool with that, like a Rounin...well, we're are here. I said I would treat you, but I'm a bit short on money currently, so please don't -"
"YOU!!! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH TROUBLE I GOT INTO BECAUSE OF YOU!!" - Anko, who was eating Dangos in the shop, shouted when she saw the two enter.
"Hmm? Oh, it's you Anko...how you doin?"
"You...do you know much I was scolded by the Third Hokage when you disappeared?"
"Uhm, sorry I guess?"
"Guess? Sigh, you really drive me crazy...by the way, are you sure that it was a mistake that you ended up in Ryuchi Cave? Back then I found it weird that you insisted on me teaching you the Snake Summoning Jutsu...isn't that kind of suspicious?"
"I think you are way too paranoid and read too much into things."
"Sigh, you still didn't learn to respect your superiors, Eiji?" - Tenten
"But even though she is my superior, we shared a tent for a ni-" - a fist from Anko interrupted him.
"Anyway, I didn't tell anyone about my suspicion, so if you want me to stay silent, pay for my meal!" - with that Anko left the Dango-shop with a smile.
"Uhh, my money..."
"Sigh, didn't I tell you?"
Time continued to pass peacefully on the surface, but something huge was brewing in the underground.
"Lord Danzo, I'm here to report that Jiraiya has successfully convinced Tsunade to accept the role of the Fith Hokage."
"Are you sure? Considering her personality I find it hard to believe..."
"I have confirmed it. They are currently on their way back to Konoha..."
Danzo's serious face looked even more serious when he heard that: 'I didn't do anything when it was decided that Jiraiya would be the next Hokage since I knew he would decline. I also thought that Tsunade would refuse when Jiraiya told that he would search for her, meaning I would have the perfect opportunity to propose that the next Hokage should be me...but looks like I was mistaken.'
Actually, Danzo was right.
Normally Tsunade would instantly decline, but he didn't know that an annoying orange boy, who has the ability to move people with his words, was the reason for her change of heart.
'This is unexpected...looks like the chances of me becoming the next Hokage became almost nonexistent...also this slug princess will be a kindhearted fool like Hiurzen...hmph! If this is the case, since I can't become the next Hokage, why don't I just get a loyal puppet to become the next one?'
He looked at his Root-subordinate and said: "We don't have much time, so take care of those two Anbu, who watched the fight with Orochimaru, and then replace them with two of ours. I will give them their orders after."
"Yes, Lord Danzo!" - with that the Root-member vanished, leaving Danzo and the darkness alone.
Eiji's team was in an awkward position since their Sensei died.
But the village couldn't afford to assign someone knew at the moment since even though it appeared peaceful right now, the village was in a precarious situation and were militarily weak.
So without a sensei, they couldn't accept missions, meaning they didn't have anything to do now.
That's why Kotaru and Arina asked Eiji to spar with them, so they could get stronger.
He didn't mind and agreed to it, but he stopped their spar when he noticed 3 Anbu appearing and staring at him.
"Hey, why did you stop Eiji suddenly?" - Kotaru
"Looks like we have some fans..."
"Fans?" - Arina had a doubtful expression.
"Excuse us, are you Nakamura Eiji?" - one of the three Anbu
"Yeah, that's me, as I live and breathe...what do you want?"
"Our Lord has asked us to bring you to him."
"Your Lord? Would it be too impolite of me to ask who your "Lord" is?"
"Excuse us, but we aren't allowed to tell."
"And if I decline to come?"
"We are allowed to use force."
'Those guys...I have a bad feeling about this, but since they are Anbu it must be from the higher-ups and I can't refuse...'
He shrugged and said: "Whatever, looks like I have some big-shot as a fan, so bring me to him...at least I hope it's some rich and sexy lady..."
"..."
"What are you -" - Eiji fell suddenly unconscious because of a Genjutsu one of them used.
It hit him easily since he wasn't expecting them to do something like that.
Arina and Kotaru also fell unconscious and one of them quickly touched their heads to erase their memories.
When Eiji woke up, he found himself tied to a chair in a dark room.
But he wasn't alone.
Two Anbu were next to him, while someone he recognized looked at him with an emotionless face.
'Shit, I should have known that it was this fucker behind those shady Anbu...'
He recognized Danzo, but since it would be weird for him to know of him, he didn't show it on his face.
"Looks like you are awake. Let me first tell you that I'm really impressed by your courage to fight someone like Orochimaru and your talent to be able to use Sage Mode at this young age."
Hearing that Eiji made a fake smile and said: "Thanks, I'm always glad to have more fans...what do you want? Want me to sign something for you?"
"You will be the Fith Hokage."
"What?"