XI - Crisis Core
Kagami's Sharingan spun in my right eye socket as I took in the Kumo Jonin. The bag slung over his shoulder, and the rate he had been running- it would take a fool to find out what he had been doing.
"Extract him, Wolf."
The silver-haired ROOT agent leaped into the air, tanto drawn as he engaged. Jin's progress was spectacular, and the ease with which I could manufacture super soldiers would ensure that my plans would come to fruition.
His kenjutsu was exquisite as he danced around the foolish Cloud ninja. The man claimed the position of 'top jonin' but was woefully incompetent.
What would you expect from Kumo, a nation where all the power was centered in the central Kage's family.
Jin's strikes were all non-lethal, focused on disarming. He had become my right-hand man- my successor.
The kidnapper dropped the bag away as he finally got serious, but Jin had readied his jutsu. Purple lightning blazed to life in the dark alley, fully illuminating the 'ANBU'.
"Y-you!" He fumbled backwards. "You're Kakashi-! The Copy Ninja!"
The moment of hesitation was all Jin needed to slam his fingers into the man's stomach, sealing his chakra. I had ensured that he had learned all about cursed seals.
Jin reached down and picked up the bag with the Hyuga Heiress. He looked upwards and nodded.
I made hand signals and then vanished in a swirl of leaves.
Hiruzen stared at the ANBU standing in front of him, next to Danzo. The boy had long white hair, which reminded him oddly of Kakashi-kun. The old warrior could feel a headache start to grow as he massaged his temples.
The Kumo delegation had tried to kidnap one of the Leaf Village's most important figures, the young daughter of Hiashi. To think that Kumo's excuse of peace was all just a lie...
But Hiruzen was sure Danzo had something to do with it. For his "wolf' to be right there and for the Jonin to evade capture for so long?
He was too old for this. The Kumo jonin was currently in T&I, and Hiruzen was waiting for rhe results.
"I have called Hiashi." His face turned gentle as he lowered himself to Hinata's level. "It will be alight, Hinata. Your father is coming." She was a little shaken up but had been drugged most of the time, so was unable to recall any of the important details.
Danzo remained calm, while Wolf waited patiently- only for the door to be thrown open as Hiashi barged in, with his younger brother following.
"-Where is she?!"
He could make out Danzo frown as he gazed at Hiashi, and sighed. It had become a running joke that Danzo favored the Uchiha now over the Hyuga ever since the Kagami Library fiasco.
But in Danzo's eyes he had gained everything. The Uchiha were now his stalwart allies, and the other clans of Konoha were still against him. It was something the Sandaime had started noticing; little acts of clan elitism here and there.
When countless jutsus were put in the hands of all members of the shinobi force, it was no wonder they grew so powerful quickly.
The clans had been the ones to implement a point system to 'earn' scrolls along with establishing borrowing limits for the various ranks of the ninja corps in order to monopolize knowledge.
"She is unharmed, thanks to Wolf." Hiruzen attempted to placate the father (was he even a father, with the rumors around the Hyuga?). There was a reason the old Kage kept his head out of clan affairs. If he decided to intervene with the Branch Clan nightmare...
Kami forbid him from doing that.
The man patted down his daughter, and the old Sarutobi watched as Hizashi waited at the door.
"Hokage-sama, I assume we will have a council meeting today?"
At Hiruzen's nod, the man sighed.
"I wil come late. Hinata's safety is my first priority."
"Take all the time you need, Hiashi. I have some matters to discuss as well." His eyes shifted back to Wolf, and his visage returned to its kindly image.
"So you are the one who defeated Kumo's head ninja?"
At the masked nin's nod, Hiruzen smiled.
"Take off your mask. I would like to see who could accomplish such a feat."
He made out the ANBU's eyes turn toward Danzo and sighed. At his old friend's nod, the young man clasped his mask and removed it.
Hiruzen's pipe clattered to the floor as he gazed at someone who could be young Kakashi's brother.
"D-danzo... What have you DONE!?"
Danzo was unfazed by such a comment.
"I have done what you couldn't do. I have created a new generation of shinobi, those who are unbound by the limits of pathetic clans." A hint of disgust creeped into his former teammate's words at the mention of the clans.
At that moment, Wolf spoke up. "Hokage-sama, is something wrong?" Hiruzen gaped at the sheer curiosity in the statement. It was akin to a child, and at that the Sandaime's face hardened as his thoughts shifted to another of Danzo's students.
Was his friend continuing those experiments? How could he explain to this child, who no doubt had been indoctrinated by Danzo?
The old man regained control of his emotions, and gave a kind smile to the boy. "Tell me, why do you fight? What is your nindo?" At least Hiruzen could get a measure of Wolf's character. At this moment, he realized that he had a clan meeting in ten minutes.
More questions for Danzo, more stress...
Why did Minato have to die so young?
"Why I fight..." the boy appeared lost for a second, before the Sandaime could witness a newfound resolve. "I fight so that others don't have to."
"To be a shinobi is to endure, to live through pain and suffering." He could see the horror in the boy's eyes, along with the guilt. "I fight so that they don't need to know this pain, so they can live in peace."
"I choose the path of the darkness to safeguard the light." The boy's grip tightened on his tanto, and Hiruzen noted the shining white chakra pulsing around it.
"So that we can create a world no one has to fight, and no one has to experience such pain." The boy looked back up at the Sandaime, and challenged him.
"To make a world without Shinobi." Hiruzen smiled at those words. They reminded him so much of Jiraiya, that same childish disappointment in a world that had long since reminded them of the horror of man. Yet they still persevered, trying to create peace, trying to let another generation not know war."
"We shinobi are necessary, Wolf."
Wolf nodded his head in response and resumed his silence. The Sandaime was satisfied- this was not one of Danzo's emotionless drones, his pet projects.
"But I can't help but ask, why do you think this way?"
The boy paused before answering. "In a man's last moments, you know what they kind of person they are. What emotions do they make- do they cry, do they smile, or they just accept their end?"
He exhaled softly. "Whenever you gaze into the eyes of a dying man, I think of his hopes and dreams. He had a life too- why is mine worth more? And I still kill him." The last words were uttered with disgust, and Hiruzen could feel the self-loathing.
"A world where everyone can smile would be beautiful, because a hero can be anyone. It can be an old man comforting an old boy that he isn't alone in the world or telling him that he isn't different from everyone else."
Those words only reminded Hiruzen of Naruto, too which he winced. Minato's son, to be treated by the village in such a way...
"You certainly have a way of words, Wolf. They made this old man smile." He took a deep breath from his pipe, and rose from his seat, his old bones creaking.
Wolf scratched his cheek awkwardly, and the Sandaime decided then that if he was happy with Danzo, he would leave him there.
"I must be going now."
Danzo nodded slowly, before waving at Wolf, who departed in a whirl of leaves.
"I wonder what your student would think, Danzo."
"He would understand the sacrifices necessary for the Leaf."
"We will talk later."
Danzo nodded, and the two walked towards the council meeting room.
"Kumo must be punished. If not war, then economically. If we set up a naval blockade and seize their goods, along with placing tariffs on exported rice we can make sure they do not try such acts again."
"Naval blockade? We are not Kiri. And besides, Kumo can always switch to the Land of Rice if they desire food."
Danzo smirked and fired back.
"The Land of Frost is all that connects Kumo to the mainland. For Rice to export through to Kumo, they must either go through the Land of Hotsprings or Frost, or then take the sea. We both know that Kumo does not care for such naval advancements."
"So, what would you do then? Kumo's economy is very much self-sufficient, and they do not rely on outsiders or make alliances."
"Piracy. Even if Kumo doesn't care for naval advances, the Land of Lightning doesn't. They like trading across the Kasumi Straight far too much for their good. If we were to send 'rogue-nin' there and loot these ships, we could hurt the daimyo."
"And then let Konoha take control of the market, I suppose?"
"Precisely."
"And where would you get this naval fleet and rogue nin from?"
At Danzo's smile, Hiruzen stopped in the hallway.
"You didn't, didn't you?"
Danzo continued walking, a smirk on his face as he turned around.
"Konoha's Kaizoku Fleet is at your command, Hokage-sama."