Wah, I made it! This chapter was a nightmare to write... but it was exciting nonetheless!

A huge thank you to all of you for reading and commenting and showing your interest in this story. It keeps me writing. A thank you to my brother, too, who's been proofreading my work for the last couple of chapters and I forgot to mention him here (sorry, man!).

Enjoy!

11

It took much more that it should have, not to crush in his hands the piece of paper until it became nothing more than a squished, misshapen ball. He'd have liked to compress it until he couldn't anymore, until it was so small that it would actually hurt if thrown at somebody's head—even just a little. He would then have liked to throw it into the air, and immediately incinerate it by means of a swift fire jutsu. Then he'd happily forget he ever got wind of the information it contained.

But that was unfortunately impossible, and even less intelligent.

And Shimura Danzo prided himself in being rather intelligent, so he couldn't afford to make that particular wish come true.

He took a deep breath through his nose, eyes clenched shut and counting from thirty to one in his head. It usually helped calm his frayed nerves, whenever something occurred that actually made him feel—not helpless (because Danzo was everything but helpless), but… wrong-footed, perhaps.

Thinking back on the file his ROOT shinobi had brought him and that he had barely avoided burning to ashes, the man felt his temper rise. It was a good thing that he had left the folder on the desk when he was attempting to calm himself.

What was that damned Sarutobi thinking about? What was he playing at? There was no way that—

With face stern and clenched teeth, Danzo got up from his chair and proceeded to pick up the file that he had previously thrown to his desk in anger. He opened it and skimmed its contents one more time, making sure that what he had read before was not something his imagination had conjured up (not that he actually believed the possibility was there, but because it would have been easier for him if that had been the case). It was the same. Nothing had changed since he read it for the fourth time three minutes ago.

He placed the folder inside his sling and took his cane.

(While he didn't actually needed it to walk, it made him look old and frail.

He mentally snorted.

That couldn't be furthest from the truth, but—it helped. It made other people underestimate him. Which was foolish of them, but really useful for Danzo himself.)

There was only one thing that he could do with what he got. He needed to have a serious talk with the slippery Hokage.

"What is the meaning of this, Hiruzen?" Danzo asked politely but with a steel undertone as he entered the Third Hokage's office and slammed the folder upon the man's desk. Sarutobi looked up from his paperwork and considered first the file, and then the war hawk with mild curiosity.

"I'm afraid that I'm not sure what are you talking about, my old friend," he replied, and then carefully began piling up his work. After putting it to one side, he grabbed the folder Danzo had thrown and brought it closer to his person, but didn't open it. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on the Councilman.

Danzo's eyes narrowed as he followed the man's movements with suspicion. If he also considered the fact that Sarutobi didn't really look surprised at his unannounced visit, Danzo could safely deduce that the Hokage was playing innocent.

"No, Hiruzen. You know well enough why I am here," Danzo retorted, and would've crossed his arms in front of his chest if it weren't for his immobilized right one. Its modifications were useful, but he needed to keep them secret. It wouldn't be wise, showing that the arm was actually still functional—it would lead to questions. Those questions might lead to the discovery of Shin Uchiha's stolen arm and Sharingan which was—not good. And after the complicated manoeuvring he had been obliged to perform when Orochimaru's little pet-projects had been discovered and Danzo had needed to cut all ties with him, he was not keen on being linked to the Sannin because something as stupid as revealing his arm.

Hiruzen sat back on his chair and after a moment of silent regard, he nodded.

"I suppose I do," he acknowledged. He took his pipe with his right hand and prepared the tobacco for it. Danzo stared, unimpressed. "You have been informed of Uzumaki Naruko's new guardian," he said, and it wasn't a question.

"Indeed," he drawled. "Would you care to inform me what nonsense is that all about?" He pressed, beyond irritated but not willing to show it. His face was stern.

"There's nothing nonsensical about this, old friend. Thirteen days ago, an unaffiliated shinobi moved to Konoha with all papers in order. Two days later, he was discovered to be Namikaze Minato's younger brother—"

"That is absurd. Namikaze had no family. He was raised in an orphanage," Danzo interrupted, cutting off the ridiculousness since the very beginning.

"Yes, it's true," the Kage conceded, a ring of smoke escaping his lips.

"Then—"

"But," Hiruzen interrupted sharply. "We've thoroughly interrogated him and even asked the hospital to perform a blood test. There is little doubt that the man is who he says he is. The blood tests indicates that he's close family, and his story is real."

"And what, pray tell, is this story?" Danzo spit out, furious but unable to negate the claims if there was blood involved. Of course, he'd need the proof, and he would have to take his own sample and have his own team work over it, because he couldn't be sure that Hiruzen was being honest until then. He was no idiot, he knew the man had a soft spot for the Jinchuuriki and didn't approve of the Council's decisions regarding it. He wouldn't put it past him to stage all this just to piss Danzo off.

"For what we've managed to puzzle, Namikaze Naruto is seven years younger than Minato, and they were separated just after he was born," Sarutobi started to explain.

"Separated?"

"You are aware, of course, that Minato graduated after two years in the Academy when he was ten," Sarutobi said and Danzo nodded briefly in agreement. "Well, I dug through those records after Naruto appeared and I found that Minato was actually taken into the orphanage just a couple of months before he started the Academy. There are no records of him before that, only what the boy himself was able to tell the matron: his name, and that his family had been killed in transit."

"So, are you saying that this hypothetical younger brother—who wasn't yet a year old if this story is to be believed—somehow survived when the rest of his family didn't, and Minato wasn't aware of it?" Danzo asked sceptically.

He couldn't call it bullshit, though, because even when he had ordered an investigation on Minato when Sarutobi decided to appoint him his successor, he hadn't really cared much about the man to pay attention to anything he did before his graduation. He had known about the orphanage—it was common knowledge—and he had also known that the man had not been born in Konoha, which was one more reason Danzo hadn't trusted him, but he didn't remember when exactly had the boy moved into the village.

"From what Naruto said—" Danzo snorted and Hiruzen pinned him with a disapproving glare. Danzo clenched his teeth but nodded, asking for the other man to continue. "—From what Naruto said, the people who found him were passing merchants of Wave. It was pure luck, as he had been hidden beneath a pile of clothes. Apparently, the woman who later would become his adoptive mother heard him crying and insisted on looking for him. His given name was embroidered on his clothes, but not his last name. They didn't gave him theirs, and he grew up as Naruto of the Land of Wave."

"Supposing you're right and the brat is telling the truth—how did he—or you, for that matter, came to the conclusion that he was Namikaze's brother? And why give him that name? You are well aware that it's dangerous."

Sarutobi chuckled with little mirth.

"Oh, my friend. There is no way that we who knew Minato could not realize both men resemblance. Indeed, when I first laid eyes on him, I truly believed that Minato had risen from his grave, they are that similar. I had to take him to T&I immediately, and he didn't refuse. Those were… a couple of complicated days," he mused. "And you are right. The Namikaze name comes with many problems, but it is rightfully his—Naruko's, too, but her circumstances were difficult, back then, as you know. The young man is strong, nonetheless, and I do not fear for his or Naruko's safety were his new name to become known. Of course, he's not going to actively advertise it, but you know how these things go…"

Danzo fumbled for arguments while Sarutobi smoked, not bothered. He soon found some that were good, in his opinion.

"Be that as it may, I still cannot comprehend why have you given him guardianship over the Jinchuuriki. He might be related to her by blood, but he hadn't known about her and he's… what? Barely twenty… twenty two? I doubt it very much that a man that young and without any real ties to the kid would like the idea of being saddled with such a burden."

"On the contrary, when he learned he had family left, he jumped over the possibility of getting to know her. Apparently, his adoptive parents passed away some years ago and he has nobody else. He was ecstatic about the idea of getting more family."

"That still is not enough argument to leave the Jinchuuriki to him. He could very well be a spy sent to infiltrate the village and make her weak. It's irresponsible to give him access to Konoha's hidden weapon."

"Naruko might be the current Jinchuuriki but she's just a little girl, Danzo," Sarutobi said sternly. "And Naruto has been seen to by Yamanaka Inoichi, and interrogated by the head of T&I himself. He's no spy."

"The law prohibits the adoption of the Jinchuuriki!"

"They just prohibit the major Clans from adopting her, Danzo. Civilians and shinobi without clan were never contemplated into that law. And besides, Naruto is not adopting his niece—they are family already. They do not need permission to live together."

Danzo was irate. How could this happen? He had plans! He had carefully laid plans that were going to crumble to pieces if he couldn't do something about this unexpected development right now!

"And what about the Uchiha?" He growled, grasping at straws. Hiruzen lifted an eyebrow, clearly unimpressed with the change of subject.

"I'm afraid I don't follow you."

"The Jichuuriki. My sources indicate that she's been seen passing inordinate amounts of time together with one of the Uchiha heirs. Too much to be healthy, especially considering the fragile political climate we're going through," he declared, and finally felt that he was making a truly valid point. Sarutobi was not oblivious to the planned coup d'etat of the Uchiha. Surely, he'd be able to see that there was something suspicious going on. "It is concerning, that she's being allowed to get so close to them. It is, perhaps, a ploy to use her against Konoha once they decide to make a move."

To add to Danzo's growing fury, Sarutobi just chuckled at his well-founded concern.

"I doubt it very much that young Sasuke has anything to do with the coup, and in any case I wasn't aware that making friends with other kids was considered an offence of any kind," the man said, dismissing his words without finesse. "It's not as if he's the only kid she has befriended, Nara Shikamaru and even the Hyuuga heir have seemed inclined to enter that category."

"You are blind, Sarutobi. The Uchiha are about to strike at any moment, and they may be even trying to lure Konoha's weapon to their side, and you would sit there and let them? Because they are 'just kids'?" He growled incredulously, trying to make the man reconsider.

"Mhh—That may be so, but I don't really think it is," Sarutobi murmured, still looking awfully unconcerned. "If this was all, my old friend… I really need to finish these reports. Paperwork accumulates rather quickly, and I intend to go home for the night."

"You're committing a grave mistake," the war hawk pronounced darkly, but refrained from saying anything more. It was obvious that the Hokage had already made his mind up, and that Danzo wouldn't be able to change his opinion on the matter—not with the arguments he had then. He picked up the file that Sarutobi hadn't even bothered to examine and bowed rather stiffly. "We'll talk about this later."

"Goodbye, Danzo."

"Hiruzen."

The man stormed out of the room, still furious. His carefully laid plans were going up in smoke, and all because a relative that shouldn't had even existed appeared from nowhere and—

Danzo stopped short, thinking it through. This might actually—

Oh.

This may actually not be that bad.

He had been planning on taking the Jinchuuriki under his care and training her properly to become an asset to the village, but Sarutobi had fought him. As an orphan, she was legally a guard of the village—which meant that the Hokage was in charge of her, and able to stop Danzo. But now, Sarutobi himself had entrusted the Jinchuuriki to a man who was not only young, but also a foreigner—

He could use this to his advantage. Danzo could convince the man that the best place for his niece was in ROOT, being trained for the dangers that were to come, to be able to protect the village to the best of her capacity. Sarutobi had mentioned that the man had been an unaffiliated shinobi, and that he trusted him enough to defend himself and the girl if they were attacked because of his name. That meant he was powerful, and probably even a genius—Danzo might not have liked Minato, but it was mostly because he considered his ideals foolish, not because he believed him weak. No, the man had been a prodigy, and Danzo would have been content to serve him if he had been more assertive, instead of following pipe dreams of peace.

If this Naruto was anything like his brother—wouldn't that be good for Danzo? He could test him, and if he had anything to offer… Danzo could convince him to join ROOT, too. If he was as interested as Sarutobi affirmed he was in taking care of his niece—

The smile that broke out on his face would have made many strong men and women flinch and hurriedly step away, had they seen it. But Danzo was alone, and he had just had a brilliant idea. He could indulge in a bit of dark smiling, if he wanted.

Back in his own office—the one that was not in one of ROOT's hidden buildings, but which nonetheless functioned as one of its bases—, Danzo waited expectantly for his ROOT shinobi, the ones that had infiltrated ANBU, to return escorting the young man that was said to be Namikaze Minato's brother.

He had considered ordering them to silently spirit him away on the dead of the night, but after the reports he got from the special team of shinobi assigned to shadow the man the day before, Danzo had to reconsider. Apparently, Namikaze Naruto was more paranoid that any man Danzo had ever met. (Or he was much more skilled than what he was letting them see, which was a source of conflict for the Councilman. On the one hand, if Naruto was really that skilled, turning him into one of his men could be very handy. On the other hand, that same ability could prevent the man from joining Danzo… which was not good.)

From what his shinobi could tell after their surveillance, Namikaze had known that they were being observed, and in more than one occasion they had been sure that the man knew exactly where the operatives were. He hadn't done anything suspicious, in fact, Danzo was quite sure when he finished listening to the report that the man had avoided doing anything out of the ordinary just because he knew that there was someone watching him.

He had taken the Jinchuuriki to the Academy in the morning, and then went shopping. Grocery shopping, wasting what Danzo considered too much time debating over which one of the different flavours of instant ramen was better and which ones should he buy. (After fifteen minutes, the man had shrugged and finally decided on two of each, which amounted to… thirty eight packets of noodles. Danzo could almost have sworn that there was incredulity in the voice of the ROOT member who was reporting then, if it wasn't for his complete faith in his training methods. ROOT shinobi didn't feel anything. Period.)

After paying for everything he leisurely walked back to his apartment and put away the groceries while he happily hummed a random tune. He had lunch—one of the aforementioned packets of noodles with some fresh vegetables added afterwards—and then went outside once again, seemingly without a destination.

He roamed the streets of Konoha with mild curiosity, showing signs of knowing some parts better than others, which was nothing out of the ordinary if Danzo took into account the fact that the man had more than a week to get accustomed to the village.

He stopped rather brusquely once, and Danzo's operatives had sprung into attention, ready for some kind of trouble, but Namikaze had only entered a botanist's and bought two small potted plants (one of them a cactus), and garden tools. (Danzo had been rather baffled when the shinobi reporting to him declared that Namikaze had cooed to the leafy plant and adoringly called it 'Mr. Ukki', but it didn't show on his face.)

The man was spotted interchanging pleasantries here and there with different people—shinobi and civilian alike—but never really stopping to talk with them, so his men weren't able to determine who was Namikaze close with. After he made another stop by his house to leave the newly acquired house plants, he went back to the Academy and waited half an hour for his charge to come out. The Jinchuuriki was once again reported to be accompanied by Uchiha Sasuke, and Namikaze had greeted them both and guided them towards the training grounds.

There is where things got interesting—the group of three met with Uchiha Itachi, who had just came back from a mission that same morning. Both the Jinchuuriki and the younger Uchiha had greeted Itachi warmly and Namikaze himself had been smiling welcoming to the young teen, but then he said something to the Uchiha that made the boy tense. It had been minuscule, but Danzo's men were very observant shinobi, and caught it. Namikaze put a hand over his ward's head and bid goodbye to the Uchiha, to what both kids started to complain loudly against before the oldest two silenced them with a couple of words. Danzo was not happy that his men hadn't been able to hear whatever it had been said, but when they explained that whenever they tried to shorten the distance, Namikaze would turn sharply towards them as if he knew they were there, the war hawk let it go.

When uncle and niece arrived home, after dinner in a place called Ichiraku Ramen, the operatives could detect the buzz of privacy seals activating. This had made Danzo pause. He knew virtually nothing of Namikaze's abilities, but if he could make privacy seals there was a high probability he knew how to make other, much more unpleasant security seals. Until that point, he had started to believe that the man was rather average if a bit… particular, but after that and coupled with the apparent sensibility to chakra—

His abduction plans were not a very good idea, Danzo decided. It would be more practical and much less suspicious for Namikaze if ROOT approached him openly and brought him to Danzo during daytime. Surely when he was informed that a member of the Konoha Council wanted to talk to him in regards to his niece, he would accept and follow his disguised ROOT without protest.

Then Danzo would make use of his silver tongue and gain some control over the Jinchuuriki, and would finally be able to start making use of it instead of letting its potential stagnate just because the fool of Sarutobi considered one of the village's strongest assets a mere child.

As if.

So he waited for the next day, and ordered a group of his men to approach the man disguised as ANBU. He put emphasis in the fact that they should do so when there weren't other people around him. It was best that there were no witnesses, just in case. He was aware that it could take hours—but it would hopefully be before night fell.

There was a knock on his door and Danzo snapped out of his musings.

Finally.

"Please, enter," he said politely and infusing as much warmth as he was able without sounding too fake. "I'm glad you made it, Mr… Uchiha? What are you doing here?" He snapped as he recognized the person who entered. It was not the blond young man he was expecting, but rather the dark-haired form of Uchiha Shisui.

"Good afternoon, Danzo-sama," the teenager greeted, bowing his head briefly before looking at Danzo in the eye. "I was hoping you could hear me out, as I have something to tell you that is of the utmost importance," he requested.

Danzo was severely tempted to bark a resounding 'no' and send the offending Uchiha on his way, but wisely refrained. The old man knew that Shisui was working as a spy for Hiruzen, so whatever he wanted to say might have something to do with the damn Uchiha and their coup. He breathed in deeply, and acquiesced to the boy's request.

(He would have to be quick, that's all. Let the boy speak, dismiss him as soon as he could, and wait for Namikaze to arrive. Piece of cake.)

"Very well. What is it so important that you had to come here right now, without making an appointment beforehand?" He asked, trying to keep the sarcasm out of his tone.

"It's about the coup, sir. May I speak freely?"

"Please, do."

"Hokage-sama has informed me of Danzo-sama's belief that the only way to stop the coup d'etat is by killing off the entire clan," the boy admitted and Danzo was surprised that Hiruzen had informed the boy of something that delicate. He was curious, though, because Shisui did not act as somebody wanting revenge or even as somebody who wanted to stop him by attacking physically, so he only lifted an eyebrow and waited for the boy to keep speaking. "I beg to differ," he declared strongly, assertively, and looked back from the spot on the wall somewhere above Danzo's shoulder to the older man's eyes. "There is another way. One which will stop the coup before it even starts, without a single drop of blood shed."

"Oh. Please, enlighten me. I'd very much want to hear it," Danzo prompted, truly curious—but also assessing.

"These eyes of mine…" Shisui started and then gulped, hesitating briefly. He then blinked and turned on his Sharingan. Danzo promptly averted his own eyes to Shisui's forehead. It was stupid for any man to look directly to the eyes of an Uchiha when they had their bloodline activated. He was not. "These eyes of mine, they are not only the usual Sharingan," he admitted, and Danzo was vaguely aware of the three tomoe swirling rapidly in the red iris around the pupil, before they shifted and transformed into twin black pinwheels. He was curious but alarmed, and did not make eye contact even as he dearly wanted to inspect this foreign occurrence. "Mangekyou Sharingan… I gained it some years ago, but haven't used it, as it is coveted and considered a legend, and it is said to cause blindness the more it is used. But I know what I can do with it," the boy explained and Danzo listened, fascinated. "Kotoamatsukami is a genjutsu, an unbreakable genjutsu at that, which obliges the person who had it cast upon them to comply with the user's orders. It's infallible.

"I plan to use its power over the leaders of the coup. The blindness… it something I'm prepared to face if it means maintaining the peace in Konoha, and my clan safe," the boy declared passionately.

Danzo had slowly gotten up from his chair and subtly signalled for his silent guards to be on position and ready to fight.

"That is… honestly, a very noble idea, Shisui-kun," the man said, rounding his desk and carefully but swiftly looking around the room.

"Thank you, Danzo-sama," Shisui breathed out, obviously relieved. "I will immediately go and—"

"But I'm afraid I can't let you go now," Danzo interrupted, deceptively apologetic.

"—put it in… What?"

Before Shisui had time to react, the old man attacked. He was quick on his feet and in front of Shisui before the boy could process what was happening. Using his cane to keep himself upright, Danzo sharply kicked at Shisui's feet, making the teenager stumble backwards.

The boy was not a jounin for nothing, though, and immediately took a step back and crouched, regaining his equilibrium and adopting a fighting stance. Danzo was not idle, either, and soon started to interchange blows with the boy. Shisui was not fighting seriously, as he didn't seem to understand what was happening yet.

"Danzo-sama? What—Why?" He asked desperately as he parried a strong blow of the man's cane that was directed to his head. "What's the meaning of this?!"

"Well, Shisui-kun, while your idea has merit," the older man started, dodging a dangerous blow to his ribs with a small turn, barely. He huffed, irritated as he usually became when fighting against a Sharingan user. They were difficult to punch and almost impossible to avoid. The only reason Danzo knew he hadn't lost yet was because the teen was overwhelmed and confused—and he was going to take advantage of it while he could, of course. Then he'd have his men back him up, if needed. "I don't believe that it will solve the problem. No. Even if they don't revel now, the idea will come back in time, to others. No. The only way to stop an internal war from breaking out is by killing off every single one of you, you treacherous Uchiha!" The man claimed, and he had to duck and roll to avoid a barrage of shuriken and being incinerated by a ball of fire.

"And furthermore—those eyes of yours. They are too powerful to let a boy like you keep them, and too useful to simply destroy. No, I think I'll keep them, as I will surely give them a better use—for the good of Konoha, after all."

Shisui snarled and started to fight earnestly, unsheathing his blade and slashing at Danzo with deathly accuracy. The man suddenly found himself in a tight spot. He was not that young anymore and even if he was powerful, the state he was in didn't enable him to make use of all his limbs, which made it even more difficult for him to defend against Shisui's tanto.

"You! That is treason you're talking about! I won't let you get away with it, Danzo!" Shisui bellowed, parring away the cane Danzo had used to block the boy's last strike. The piece of wood clattered to the ground and the older man lost his balance and fell backwards. He looked up just in time to see the blade descending upon him before it went right throw his chest.

For a second, there was only silence and Shisui's heavy breaths.

By all means Danzo should have died from the blow. It had pierced his heart cleanly, blood sipping from the wound and dying his white shirt deep red. But he had an ace on his sleeve—literally.

"Izanagi!" He had roared just before the blade pierced him, activating the stolen Sharingan implanted in his stolen, genetically modified arm. He had died, but suddenly he faded away as he had been nothing more than a mere illusion. Shisui stepped back in shock and horrified realization as the man reappeared, clothes torn by his earlier cuts, but no trace of blood over what should have been a fatal wound.

Then, the bandages that usually covered Danzo's arm fell off, and pale, abnormal skin was bared to the world, red eye opened in what many might consider horrible disfigurement, but which Danzo believed was pure genius.

"You… what did you do?! How can you use Izanagi?! That's one of the Sharingan's forbidden techniques! You—You stole it! You stole one and you implanted into your—what—that's…" The boy looked sick and Danzo just smiled. A curve of his lips, barely there, but utterly dangerous.

"All the more reason to take those eyes and get rid of you," the man whispered, before he snapped, "NOW!"

No less than six ninja surrounded the still unbalanced Uchiha and then the boy had to fight them off all at once. He was obviously getting tired, the chakra drain of his activated Mangekyou probably eating through his reserves faster than he was accustomed to. He got distracted when one of his opponents managed to nick his shoulder with their blade, and Danzo was able to get close and messily take Shisui's right eye.

The boy grunted in pain but didn't fall. Covered in blood and slashes and now without one of his eyes, he looked like a caged animal. Danzo knew not to underestimate shinobi when they reached that point—they became reckless and much more aggressive, fight or flight instinct kicking in and making them lose rationality. They became unpredictable, and therefore much more dangerous to deal with. Danzo was about to attack him again and try and take possession of the remaining eye when his doors opened with a bang, startling the room to look at the intruder.

Young, shorter than average but not by much and very blond, it took more than it should have for Danzo to recognize him as the man he had been looking forward to meeting before Shisui had appeared.

"Oh, dammit! I knew I was forgetting something!" Namikaze groaned despairingly, but before Danzo could make sense of what he meant, Shisui knocked one of his distracted ROOT shinobi over and ran away through a window that had been broken some minutes into the fight by a stray kunai.

Danzo quickly gathered his wits and swivelled around to bark orders to his guards.

"FOLLOW HIM, DON'T LET HIM ESCAPE!"

The five masked shinobi immediately obeyed, darting off after the wounded youth, and only then did Danzo stop to compose himself, trying and failing to think about a story that he could feed the young blond man.

Unexpectedly, before he could come up with something credible that made him look like the good guy here, he was knocked out with a chop to the back of his neck.

Before he lost all consciousness, he registered a voice saying, "Shit. Shit. How could I forget something so important? Itachi is going to kill me!"

And he knew no more.

Whoosh. That was my first fight scene (because the brief encounter Naruko had in chapter 10 so not counts as a fight for me), I hope I didn't screw it up too much!

I had to do so much research for this! *whines* Most of my data is taken from naruto wikia, if you are interested.

Don't forget to let me know what you think! I really appreciate it! :)