Disclaimer: Naruto is the work of mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, Harry Potter is the work of author J.K. Rowling. The author makes no claim to ownership of the aforementioned works and no profit from this fanfiction.

Uchiha Fukurou

Of Murders, Shadow Plays and Daybreak

The figure strode quickly down the silent halls until it stopped before a certain door. Shimura Danzo was sitting behind his desk when Kana came to see him. She had the faint scent of blood and antiseptic on her. Calmly she waited until the aged shinobi set down his papers and regarded her with a single chestnut eye, "What is it," He asked slowly, "Are you finished already?"

Earlier:

"Hiraishin?" Mikoto wondered aloud. The seal looked different but its function seemed to be the same type of Jikūkan ninjutsu that Minato had used. Mikoto was so shocked that she just stood staring at the bracelet in her hand after having blurted out her amazed query.

"Not exactly," Fukurou told her. The compressed seals spelt out kanji for Returning Home Gate, "This seal will work only once to transport anyone in direct contact with the object that it's inscribed on to a specific location upon activation. It will warp both space and time in order to get them there."

She looked it over, "How do you activate it?"

"Its peril sensitive and will only activate if the wearer is in mortal danger," He answered, "Or if I activate a master seal to call them to my location." Saying that Fukurou showed her a ring with an orange band on it, "I'm having a little difficulty getting the trigger to properly work for shinobi though. As ninja we are constantly in danger and put our lives at risk every time we go out into the field. That could easily trigger a false alarm. I've had to lower the sensitivity of the peril trigger on these so that they only respond to imminent death. I'm not sure how safe that is."

Mikoto couldn't even begin to understand how that worked and so focused on what she did know, "It still might be possible to give those to genin at least though," she said, "They don't often go on missions outside the village anymore, it shouldn't trigger prematurely."

Fukurou shrugged as he handed her the box of assorted jewelry and knick knacks, "It's up to you to get them to wear these. I'm still working on an alternative system for myself and any other higher ranking ninja that might be in trouble."

Mikoto quirked a brow at him in curiosity, "Oh, how will that work?" she asked.

Her nephew smiled and showed her what looked like a beauty mark on the outer corner of each eye, "These are seals that form a barrier to protect my eyes in case they are in danger of being damaged while on a mission."

An amber barrier of light covered Fukurou's eyes like a wraparound visor, blocking Kana's chakra scalpel. The medic-nin didn't hesitate and immediately moved to destroy Fukurou's brain.

Fukurou showed her a seal on his chest, a circle bounded by a triangle and bisected by a vertical line, "This seal will register how long my body has been inactive, if the protections on my eyes activate when I've been immobile for longer than a minute then a similar Jikūkan Ninjutsu to the one on that bracelet will automatically trigger."

Before the Root shinobi could kill her target, he vanished from the entirety of her senses and the room itself. The blue haze around her left hand peeled off a strip of metal from the table that cut her wrist…

In the Fort Himei hideout, Fukurou appeared in the center of a large seal array with a puff of smoke. The sleeping ninja cat that was supposed to guard the room was startled awake at the sound and light coming from the activated array. Over a period of months Fukurou had poured a large amount of yin-yang chakra into the storage seals inked on the floor. It had been intended to provide him with a large boost of regenerative chakra for use in healing any injuries that he might have. In this case the parameters Fukurou had set recognized the powerful dosage of muscle relaxants in his blood as a harmful and tried to burn them out by accelerating his metabolism.

This surge in power also had the effect of weakening the suppressing seals that limited Fukurou's movement. A trembling hand reached up to touch his face. His eyes stared at the ceiling above, their pupils shrunk to pin pricks. His heart racing, the stress of the situation he had found himself in was acerbated by feeling like a hairy gorilla was sitting on his chest. The remaining suppression seals were slowly failing but in the process the physical and mental exertion left Fukurou teetering on the brink of exhaustion. Unable to properly breathe, he blacked out for an unknown period of time.

Uchiha Fukurou was conceived when at the same moment, in another universe, Old Man Potter died. Harry had lived a long life even for a wizard. If he could have been told this he would have said that what truly mattered most was what he did with the time that he had, not how long. Widowed at eighty-four due medical complications that might have been easily treatable if only certain muggle advancements in diagnostic sciences had been known to wizard healers, Harry spent his twilight years in a joint research project with his friend and confidant Hermione Weasley.

Harry sought to advance the Wizarding world's understanding of magic and technology. Hermione sought the still elusive Unifying Equation confident that magic was the missing piece to the Theory of Everything. They may not have been completely successful, but some good was done. Harry became something of a Renaissance man and as a public figure, investor and inventor he created many laws, charities and inventions that would in time revolutionize his world. Hermione found that while magic was a missing piece of the puzzle it was not the only one.

Still, her failure was also a success in many ways. Progress can be made in a string of small advances as easily as quantum leaps. As a Muggle Studies Professor at Hogwarts she expanded her students' knowledge of the non-magical world beyond being able to badly fit in. Together by the year 2130 the two of them became known as the icons that had dragged the Wizarding world into the twenty-first century.

These were memories of Old Harry's that Fukurou cherished the most...

At an age when he should have been sitting on his porch with all the other old duffers watching the heliopaths float by, there came to be signs of darker times. Ever do the young and the foolish believe that change must come with the destruction of the Old Guard. Whereas Harry had sought to make his world better without any conflicts, others for less altruistic reasons sought to rule over their fellows by creating new ones. Greed, corruption and simple vices, conspired to see that the forces of a nascent Dark Lord grew in power unchecked once again.

Harry gave his warning and was ignored. He was called a has-been of times best forgotten. The minister had accused him of seeking some last claim to fame at the price of public order. Her wealthy campaign contributors were upstanding members of society, so what if they wanted to change a few laws? Still there were those who did listen; friends and allies cultivated over a lifetime from both sides of the divide, light and dark, lawmen and career criminals alike. An agent had given him warning of an attack on a low priority target and Harry maneuvered the situation to drive the perpetrators into the light before they were truly ready to bring chaos to his world. He subtly placed the Minister herself in the crosshairs of the assassin instead of some lowly clerk who had learned too much.

That attack had been all it took to set things in motion. Harry found himself being elected into interim office. His response to the Minister's assassination put an end to the threat of that Dark Lord and his followers. The reforms that Harry made in office all but assured that his successors were subject to a system of checks and balances that guarded against personal corruption. He left following generations a reasonably transparent and truly effective government. The medical and social changes he and Hermione had championed were also made into law. By all accounts he was the most celebrated Minister for Magic of the last century.

Twenty-eight year old Auror, Nymphie Lupin died before her time in the attack that killed the Minister. She guarded her charge with her life and died protecting her. Harry was left to console Nymphie's parents while her grandfather Teddy faded with the loss of his sole granddaughter. Harry was bitterly reminded of a piece of advice he'd once been given about great people that made equally great mistakes. He was an old man with all his friends dropping dead about him like flies. His only desire during those final years after retiring from office was to watch his great-grandchildren grow up as he quietly waited to die.

Having been born into a time of turmoil and orphaned by violence, he supposed it was karma that he would die in peace…

Only to be reborn into an era of conflict, orphaned by war and not even allowed to forget his sins. He was an old man at heart, his soul was weary...

Humoring Mikoto was nothing to him in the midst of a state of depression carefully hidden by his Occlumency enforced apathy. After being forced into AnBu there were few things that could move Fukurou's heart. Exploring the limits of his new magic, letting Mikoto fret over him as though he were really a child and caring for his little cousins, those were the things that brought meaning to his life of death-dealing. At times he was almost tempted to end his existence just see if he could score a do-over in some other less violent, 'Next Great Adventure'.

Lying on the floor, Fukurou slowly began to come to his senses, "Breathe…breathe." He forced himself to calm down as his mind struggled to deal with what had happened. It seemed that there was no greater way to shock someone out of depression than to threaten to cut their eyes out if they didn't shape up. Fukurou gave a deep, shuddering breath as he remembered those terrifying minutes strapped to that surgical table. If Fukurou was to survive having the Commander of AnBu as an enemy he would need to prepare.

Danzo in seeking to avoid being controlled by Fukurou, also inadvertently gave the younger man a weapon that could be used against him. Matching his gaze with a stolen sharingan might have allowed him to fight off Fukurou's attempts at mind control but it also left the old shinobi vulnerable to him in other ways. Using a sharingan that was not naturally his own had opened up a back door in Danzo's mental defenses that allowed Fukurou free access to the man's thoughts and memories. Fukurou in an effort to learn why he was being held captive had delved deeply into the mind of the older shinobi.

It was at that point while Fukurou was shifting through the stolen memories that he happened across Danzo's plans for the Uchiha Clan.

Oh…

Hell…

No!

His struggles to rise to his feet alarmed the ninja cats and crows fretting over him. Still partially restrained by the broken seals, his muscles rebelled against moving. His legs buckled under him and Fukurou collapsed onto his back. His head cracked against the concrete floor. Swearing bitterly he lost consciousness.

The irony of the situation was not lost on him. Here he stood within the Uchiha district prepared to eliminate the clan with the knowledge and aid of Konoha. No, the irony of the situation was not lost on Uchiha Madara. The barriers went up, Zetsu spread the toxic pollen at his command and Madara went to work. They had no idea just how long he'd waited for this moment.

Those who wore the portkeys that Mikoto had handed out under the guise of a gift from their Clan Head, vanished an instant before the poisonous miasma Zetsu had spread could settle on them. These were the civilians of the clan and children too young for the academy, people for whom the potent chemicals contained in Zetsu's pollen would have proven fatal without the benefit of having a metabolism geared toward producing chakra to resist its effects. Those who were genin, slumped unconscious but still disappeared to the safety of a fidelus warded hideout before Madara's shadow even touched upon them.

Twenty-five individuals for various reasons didn't wear their accessory disguised portkeys. Some were mothers who took them off for household chores. Most of them died when the killing began. A few were whisked away to safety holding onto their children when their seals activated. Some were teens who after putting on the rings and bracelets and chains for the sake of appearances promptly chucked them in a drawer somewhere and forgot about them.

Some simply forgot to put them on and some genin were killed before their less sensitive seals could trigger. The civilians of the clan weren't informed of the more sensitive matters, like the rebellion or the fact that Uchiha were being murdered. Mikoto hadn't been allowed to give the real explanation for why they should wear the portkeys other than to play up the recent disappearances and say that it was for their safety.

Madara had no reason or time to account for the missing families. The eighty-two disorganized individuals that remained for him to find were mostly shinobi of the clan who fought when they realized what was happening. He killed plenty of fathers, mothers, uncles and aunts. He killed children, he killed adults. He killed those that raised arms against him and those that tried to run away.

He took the sharingan from those that had them and left the rest to rot. It was all so very amusing, the paranoia of both the Uchiha Clan and the village Elders. All it took was push here and a tug there, a murder to arouse suspicion and a rumor to confirm another. Having Itachi approach him to take part in this little act of genocide was but the icing on the cake. Gaining the boy's willing, if not loyal, service was the cherry on top.

Fugaku struggled with his son as Mikoto positioned herself, her heart frozen in indecision she knew not whether she should subdue her murderous child or grab hold of her husband and vanish to safety. In the end the decision was taken from her. Itachi reversed the path of his ninjatō and stabbed at her. The tip of the blade caught on the ring that she'd been holding away from her body by a chain. The force of the thrust drove the weapon and the jutsu shiki into her side. As Mikoto fell to the ground her husband's anguished cry was the last thing that she heard from him, "Sasuke! Don't come in here!"

He was bathed in light, floating peacefully in an endless nothingness. It was quite relaxing. There was no pain, quite so he felt sated. It was like floating just below the surface of a pond in the middle of a forest clearing with the sunlight shining down on his closed eyes. His mind brushed against countless others each leaving a faint feathery touch like reeds brushing against him. It was marred by a single sensation that faintly niggled at him like a curious fish. It was the feeling that he didn't deserve any of this.

No one judges you as harshly as you judge yourself, Harry.

Is that you Luna, my friend? Did you die as well?

That question has no meaning here… In this Pure World…Names are meaningless. Wars are meaningless. In this place there is no such thing as Enemy or Friend. Time is meaningless. Hate is meaningless.

Love as well?

Hate and love are but two sides of the same coin. To accept one is to accept the possibility of the other. In this world lacking both enemies and friends hatred and love hold no meaning. Welcome to Nirvana Harry Potter.

Who are you?

That question is meaningless… you already know who I am...Master.

Fukurou awoke with a name on his lips and a faint sensation of longing…

Nekomata sat watching him worriedly. "Oh, you're awake, eh?"

Fukurou sat up cautiously as the bakeneko watched. His head was pounding and his muscles were stiff from disuse. He flinched as a particularly painful throb interrupted his self assessment of his injuries.

"How long have I been out?" He muttered hoarsely.

Nekomata answered him in a softly rumbling purr, "You were unconscious for the three days it took for those restraints on your body to fade."

"Three days!" he cried, his heart sinking.

A gentle paw stopped him from rising, "Boya…" Nekomata started watching him sadly, "I got some bad news."

Looking upon Mikoto, seeing her weak and listless had been hard. He talked to her for the few minutes that she was conscious getting a some very important questions answered before the medic cat-nin ushered him out of the room. Seeing his aunts crying, clutching their children who were asking for their fathers and elder siblings was harder. The few corpses that had been recovered after activating the master seal to recall all the portkeys revealed bodies with their eyes removed, simply plucked out like ripe fruit from a tree.

Policing those bodies hadn't been the hardest thing that he'd done, it was informing the survivors of their loss. A great chorus of wails arose that night in Fort Himei the cries of grieving orphans and widows, of parents that would be burying their children, and children…their parents. By the end of it Fukurou was crying, tears of blood. His guilt over not being able to warn his family and over his disinterest in their affairs ate at him with every grim task that he undertook, burying bodies, comforting families, watching them suffer. It was just as Kurotengu and Nekomata predicted, his eyes had changed…

"Itachi, what have you done?"

Fukurou was not one to rush into things. Harry had learned that lesson long ago. The price of wisdom is pain. There would be hell to pay though, hell to pay…

Nekomata followed tentatively after him as he strode into another section of the fortress. A bloody finger and a burst of chakra opened up a section of the wall. The room beyond it resembled the meeting hall below Naka Shrine. On the floor Fukurou had drawn truly massive seal. The room was intended for holding large numbers of people, forty or fifty adults easily. The seals he had drawn stretched across the floor and were scrawled upon the walls and even the ceiling. In the center of the floor were inked the words Yin and Yang within a large circle of seal script. On three of the walls were the kanji for Fire, Wind and Lightning.

"It's not complete, but it will have to do." Fukurou muttered. Nekomata watched worriedly as the wall closed up behind the young Uchiha. "Fukurou… what do you intend to do?" The boss cat asked him.

As the walls ground shut, Fukurou spared him one last glance, "Protect them."

The bakeneko dithered about for a moment before scoffing, "Bah! Who cares what the brat does to himself?" He then settled down on the floor to wait. "Brat!"

Fukurou's apathy had evaporated at the sight of his cousins' corpses. What took its place was not rage but a cold and ruthless calculation. It allowed him to hold himself in check from going after Danzo long enough for a semblance of rationality to take hold. He forced himself to think of what his surviving clansmen wanted and needed rather than what his rage wanted and needed for them. This was a lesson Old Harry had learned. Justice without mercy is tyranny.

The seal in this room was a copy of one Old Harry had created with Hermione's aid in his later years. It was a system of offensive and defensive personal wards that used his blood and bones as an anchor in place of ward stones. It had grown more complex due to the inclusion of his elemental affinities into the design. He had hoped to first develop an affinity for all the elements before using this technique but that was likely to be years in the future if it was possible at all.

If he was to deal with Danzo, he needed to bring out his A-game. Wind, fire and lightning would have to do for now but Danzo's memories of the luminaries of the ninja world, gave him an idea as to how to use this technique to the best of his ability. Those same memories also told him exactly where to find the Root commander. Fukurou ran through some hand seals and released the seal on his chest. The black script expanded until it filled the circle in the floor. He used daubs of blood to link the two seals together with a key rune. The jagged lightning bolt shaped rune was called Sowilō, the triumph of light over darkness. As he carefully worked around the edge of the circle he chanted, "The Sun is the light of the world, I bow to the divine decree…the Sun is the light of the world, I bow to the divine decree…"

He felt more powerful than ever but always, Fukurou remembered Old Harry's third tenet. Power is but an illusion. His body still ached slightly from the seals that had sunk into his flesh and buried themselves within the marrow of his bones. His heart still ached for those lost children. His soul still ached from being denied final rest. He suppressed these feelings as he moved through the Root hideout using Danzo's own memories as a guide. No Root agent saw him as he passed through the secret ways that their paranoid boss had built within the already secret passages.

He found Shimura Danzo waited there as if he had been expecting him but Shisui's eye betrayed the truth to Fukurou. There was ambush set up at the old site that his kidnappers had taken him to in case he came back there. Danzo's surprise was genuine at the fact that Fukurou had somehow managed to not only find this base but pass through the numerous, obsessively secure layers of security just to reach this room. He knew the cold shiver of fear that Danzo felt at the realization that Shisui's eye was having absolutely… no…effect on him.

No words passed between them yet Fukurou still knew of Danzo's determination to fight and even die if that was what it took to end the perceived threat of the Uchiha Clan. He watched as the man moved to free himself of the bonds upon his right arm… Shisui's right arm!

The two shinobi that crept up from behind were intended to kill him or failing to do so delay Fukurou enough for Danzo to unseal his arm. He felt the Danzo's surprise as Fū and Torune instead of attacking, obediently knelt at his feet. He could see the wheels turning in his head as the man saw in it a confirmation of just how dangerous the Uchiha before him truly was. Of how right Danzo was to take him down before the massacre began. The Root commander twisted in place and unleashed a sickle of air from his mouth. The intention was to buy himself time to escape, signal for reinforcements with the chakra surge or gain some space to maneuver or any of a dozen or so things…

It was a futile gesture…

Danzo persistently kept Shisui's eye on him. He was right in thinking that the sharingan could stall any attempt to take control of his actions but it left his mind open in ways that should not have been possible for a shinobi with so much experience and years of sensitive information in his head. Fukurou knew every thought as it came. Danzo's stolen sharingan yielded the man's secrets almost as if Shisui was having his revenge from beyond the grave.

Fears were exposed, old nightmares and recent dreams. Memory after memory was offered, observed and cataloged within Fukurou's head. Danzo's hand pulled on the first pin of his arm bracer as the sickle of air raced toward his opponent. Fukurou knew exactly what Danzo intended to do if Fūton: Shinkūha succeeded. He now knew every technique in Danzo's arsenal. He knew exactly how much wind chakra had been placed within the technique and thus the exact amount of strength needed to neutralize it with little more than a scratch on the opposing walls to either side of them.

Wind enhanced kunai was countered with wind enhanced kunai as every action in those intense sixty seconds served as an object lesson of just why fighting a sharingan wielder one on one was suicide. The first bolt on the sealing bracer popped out the moment Fukurou finally took everything Danzo's mind had to offer. He knew the man down to his most secretive vices, every unspoken desire; every unutterable secret. Fukurou's hands clapped together and light flashed like a reversed mimicry of a lightning strike. Danzo's right arm, still bearing the seal bracer hit the ground first. Then what remained of his head from his upper jaw up to the crown of his skull landed with a fleshy thud.

Ashes sprinkled the ground around those two body parts. The only other signs that a struggle had occurred were a few thrown weapons, some scratches and an imprint on the far wall made there by a flash of light so intense that it burned the reverse shadows of Danzo's bones onto the cement behind him. A faint rush of displaced air signaled the arrival of Kana in the room. Her unsealed eyes looked upon her former target's own, then she knelt at his feet as well, "Fukurou-sama is everything alright?"

He nodded lightly, "Take me to the barracks, I wish to speak to the troops."

His voice was even, unconsciously modulated to match the tone of the man whose memories he had stolen in addition to his life. He picked up the head and arm before gesturing from Fū to the ashes fluttering down around them, "Clean that up."

The man nodded and went looking for a brush and dustpan, "Yes sir!"

He turned to Torune and Kana, "Lead the way."

"Where is he?" The Sandaime asked with a deceptively gentle tone, "I want Danzo here to explain himself!" There was no hiding how he felt when he said that. Six hours ago Uchiha Itachi had knelt before him in the basement of the Hokage Tower begging him to protect his brother from Danzo. In the wake of the boy's explanation of what had happened and his subsequent flight from justice Sarutobi had sent out squads of AnBu to cordon off the area and investigate the scene of what could only be called a massacre. He had gone there long enough to see the area for himself. He saw streets littered with bodies, walls covered in blood and found the comatose body of what was undoubtedly going to be one traumatized survivor should Sasuke awaken.

He found his advisors Koharu and Homura waiting for him in his office when he got back. The arrangement between himself and Danzo allowed the other independent action so as to provide the Hokage with plausible deniability. However the two people in his office were responsible for keeping tabs on his old friend so that things didn't go too far. They were there to provide oversight and inform him of when Danzo began to cross the line. It was so he could govern without worrying about whether or not he could trust the Anbu Operations Commander. So that things could run smoothly, so that they didn't step on each other's toes or inadvertently mess up a black operation.

They had known about the Uchiha situation, they had known he wasn't finished trying to negotiate a peaceful resolution, they had known that he wasn't going to approve anywhere near as drastic an action as what Danzo had pulled just yet. Knowing all of this; and about Shimura Danzo's planned act of genocide, they still hadn't breathed a frigging word of what was going down until after the fact. He was pissed at them. He was pissed at Danzo. He was… "Where the hell was Danzo?"

"C-calm down Sarutobi," Koharu said to him as he simmered. He cast at her a scathing glance that made the woman step back with her hands raised in a warding gesture.

"Eliminating the civilians and children wasn't in any of the scenarios presented to us or we would have said something," Homura added, "You had agents in your forces that were reporting back the Uchiha, the situation had already gone far past the point of negotiating."

"That was for me to decide!" Hiruzen snarled, "The Uchiha were a founding clan of this village, any such decision on their fate was not your place to decide!"

"But what was there to be done!" Koraru asked him, "Even if there was reason for you to do so, a preemptive action would have had dire consequences for the stability of the village. The clans would look to the Uchiha as a sign of things to come and lose confidence in you, Sarutobi! Even if it were not the case, the other villages would see this as an opening to begin making overtures to any survivors just as we are doing in the Mist."

"Either way this was something that only Danzo could do." Homura said as he turned to the figure that had entered the room.

"Danzo!" Sarutobi barked.

"Is dead…" Fukurou coldly replied.

The two elders stared at Fukurou as though a cobra had slipped into their midst. To the uninformed it might have seemed amusing to see three adults look so wary at the appearance of an unarmed thirteen year old. Well, two of the adults were staring at Fukurou, clad as he was in a midnight blue keikogi top and pants with a Root short jacket thrown over his shoulders. The Sandaime was staring at what he held in his right hand.

Regardless of the way things had stood between the two, Sarutobi had known Danzo for close to seventy years. Having the man's charred head tossed onto the floor of his office was a powerful statement. Homura expressed the reaction that the Sandaime worked to consciously suppress, "Danzo! You! Why are you here! Are you aiming for the life of those involved?" The man hissed at him, falling into a fighting crouch.

Koharu did the same behind Homura and she began to weave hand seals under the cover of her fellow Elder, "Sarutobi!" She hissed at the shocked Hokage trying to jolt him into action. She also wondered where the AnBu guarding the tower had gone off to and if Fukurou had killed them. This was a ninja in of the same caliber as Itachi. The fact that he managed to kill an Elder within the confines of the village and walk around unopposed confirmed it.

"I am after no such thing," Fukurou calmly replied, "I merely wish to see to the safety and well being of the surviving members of my clan and to put an end to further aggression toward the Uchiha by agents of Konoha."

For his part Sarutobi hadn't really fallen into a daze though the sight of Danzo's head did affect him. What had shocked him was the thing held in Fukurou's other hand. It was a grotesque pasty white arm covered with ten sharingan laden eyes in both the fore and upper arm. At the shoulder was the silhouette of a face he knew as well as his own.

"What the hell?" The Sandaime breathed in horror.

Koharu and Homura gasped as well when Fukurou held up the arm. Some of the eyes rolled around in their sockets blankly looking at the room.

"Sandaime Hokage-sama, for the past few years Konoha Elder Shimura Danzo has been abusing his position of authority within AnBu and as commander of the secret division Root in order to carry out several criminal acts, including but not limited to the unsanctioned murder of his fellow shinobi and several acts treason." Fukurou stated as the older shinobi focused upon the face of the Shodaime growing out of the mutated arm. "This is the reason why your efforts to establish a peaceful accord with my family has been fruitless. Danzo has been murdering my kinsmen in order to harvest their eyes while you talked to them of peace."

"T-this is…" Koharu stuttered, what that face meant was too horrible for her to utter aloud.

"Forbidden research that Orochimaru had been conducting at the time that he was conveniently discovered by you and forced to flee the village in disgrace, Sarutobi-sama." Fukurou then added, "Discovered via information provided by Shimura Danzo when Orochimaru began to become a liability."

Fukurou didn't mention Uchiha Madara or Akatsuki to the Sandaime, he didn't want to muddy the waters with claims that he couldn't prove. His only hope of a future for his clan within Konoha was to convince this one man to let them live. He was not above using his sharingan to influence the Hokage's decisions but Danzo had mentioned that ability to Homura and Koharu who were watching him like hawks. He kept his eyes their natural green and instead spoke to the Sandaime with the knowledge of one who had known him his entire life.

"I was the last of the ninja slated to be executed and have their eyes recovered. I managed to escape from the northern Root base near the border three days ago only to learn from my summons of the destruction of much of my clan," He chuckled mirthlessly "In truth, if Danzo hadn't kidnapped me, I'd probably have had to deal with my own clansmen trying to kill me. I have had little interest in the affairs and goals of my clan. Were it not for my kidnapping I would have been ignorant of this little coup just like the rest of the survivors."

"So you say…" Homura commented.

Fukurou ignored him, the man was not important.

"Uchiha Mikoto-dono is the sole reason that any of our clan survived, it was she who first notified you of the trouble brewing, Hokage-sama. I have studied under her since my first chunin exam, and have been working with her on ways to protect our family." He now appealed to the part of the Hokage Danzo had thought a weakness, his compassion, "The Uchiha Clan has always wanted one thing above all others, and that is something that every clan that joined this village has sought. We are a family, we wish to proudly watch our children grow up, to live without fear of war or persecution, to protect our family and our friends. Elder Danzo threatened our family and the unjust suspicion and subtle discrimination has hurt our pride. "

His green eyes met Sarutobi's earnestly, "I have taken command of Root, Danzo is dead, Uchiha Mikoto wishes for nothing more than for her family to be safe. If you let my people live I will see to it that the truth of what happened here today will die with me."

The power of that promise reverberated within the office as the first rays of dawn broke over the horizon.

AN: As expected responses to the previous chapter ranged from an emotive, 'this sucks, You suck!' To reasoned suggestions recommended improvements. On the matter of how Fukurou was captured and the fight with Danzo in this chapter I took a stance on high level fights that goes like this. Danzo has been studying Fukurou for close to two years and he knows how best to take down an Uchiha. You don't get into a straight up throwdown with one, that's suicide. You distract them, while someone sneaks around and attacks where they can't see you.

In this instance the ANBU team with Fukurou and Fū's collapse were the distraction from looking at the cursed puppet too closely. I assume that the instinct in that situation would have been to lash out and jump away. In that situation lashing out triggered the trap. Fukurou might have been able to fight off a normal possession but for the purposes of the story the sealing jutsu was a little harder to avoid since it was Fukurou himself who completed it by attacking. They sedated his body before returning his mind to it, all in all a very neat capture.

The fight between Fukurou and Danzo is a look at a typical high level fight between shinobi. Think of Orochimaru versus Itachi (both times) in the manga and Naruto versus Pain. A fight will end quickly if one side knows a weakness or a way to counter the other. Otherwise things are drawn out and shit gets destroyed. For Danzo, Fukurou was looking over his shoulder at his cards had taken out his two trumps Fū and Torune ahead of time and placed him at a disadvantageous position, one on one against a sharingan weilder. He'd have been lucky to escape.