Chapter 16: plan

They waited for a while until an ANBU figure appeared in front of them.

"What's going on here?" he inquired, turning his eyes towards the two dead ninjas dressed in Tsuchigakure attire. 

After explaining the situation to the ANBU for a while, he allowed them to leave.

Itami's plan for the day was simply to train at home, and in the afternoon, she would go to contact the manager of the Konoha branch for an examination of each store, checking for any problems. Typically, this would be Mia's job, but since she was going to be busy with the new company recently, Itami took on the responsibility.

The two walked silently down the street, each lost in their own thoughts about what had just transpired.

Itami's expression was grave, genuinely concerned about the possibility of Hiroshi being targeted by the notorious Danzo. Previously, all the men who had targeted Hiroshi were individuals affected by his business development, so they presented problems that were easily tackled.

But Danzo was different. 

In Konoha, there were believed to be three forces by anyone who had enough knowledge: the 4th Hokage's force, which constituted the majority as the sanctioned governing body of the village, the Hiruzen-3rd Hokage's force, consisting of staunch followers loyal to the aging leader; and the most dangerous of all, Danzo's Root.

Danzo cared little for the well-being of the village's people, his ambitions trumped all else, despite his word of "For Konoha". His power, despite Hiruzen's resignation, remained strong due to the former leader's support. Even Minato found himself unable to confront him, which might lead to civil unrest within the already weakened village post-war. However, Minato was bound to take action given enough time.

In the original timeline, Danzo knew he would be targeted sooner or later, so he devised a plan to preemptively strike Minato first, by giving information about Kushina's due day to 'Uchiha Madara' (This is a theory, yes, but I'm using it). Given Minato's impending demise in the original story, it seemed his plan had succeeded. This highlighted just how dangerous Danzo could be, as he not following the rules.

While the villagers may not have known about Danzo's plan to kill Minato, his infamy was well-known for many similar or even worse incidents. Many influential groups in the village had fallen victim to his schemes, among them the Hyuga clan. Root, in particular, enlisted ninjas from prominent clans, and the Hyuga were no exception. However, the Uchiha were a notable deviation, they weren't afforded the option to serve but were condemned to be killed for their Sharingan. The true nature of Danzo is known to most families. However, when they possessed the means to confront him in the past, the Third Hokage shielded him, and with his positive image among civilian ninjas, wielding considerable influence, nobody could say anything against it. This forced many to remain silent, turning a blind eye to Danzo's actions. But even when he had lost Hiruzen's protection later with the appearance of the 4th Hokage, Danzo had already become a formidable force in the dark, seemingly untouchable, as nobody knew when and where he would strike.

What truly instills fear in individuals like Itami isn't merely Danzo's power alone. Minato's force surpassed his by a considerable margin. Instead, it's Danzo's audacity to commit any act, nobody doubted that he could even assassinate the Hokage (later, when Minato died and Hiruzen was about to regain the Hokage position), in the name of his selfish 'greater good.' Aware of this danger, Itami has been wracked with anxiety over finding a solution.

The most effective option, locking Hiroshi in the Hyuga compound indefinitely, is implausible. 

Thus, she was left with the only alternative, which was to protect him constantly. However, a problem loomed: her strength wasn't sufficient to deter Danzo, and it wasn't a permanent solution.

This attack appeared simple because the perpetrator viewed Hiroshi as an ordinary individual, sending only two weak chuunin to execute it. But next time won't be so easy. Even if she didn't use her brain, Itami was certain that elite forces would be dispatched, employing traps and showing no restraint like polite greetings just as today.

"Hmm, what to do?" she mused, her brow furrowing as she contemplated a viable solution.

"Don't worry too much, I already have an idea," Hiroshi interjected, snapping her out of her reverie.

"What?" Itami's face reflected bewilderment, caught off guard by his assertion.

"I may have an idea, well, should be fine," Hiroshi repeated, there was a trace of calculating thoughts in his eyes.

Instantly, Itami became animated, eagerly inquiring, "Tell me, how?"

"Just tacitly inform Hokage-sama about the attack's true perpetrator," Hiroshi proposed matter-of-factly. "Once he knows it's Danzo, Minato will probably gonna have some words with him, so he won't dare to strike again, at least not until Minato's protection wanes." He continued to walk and put his hand in his pants pocket, playing with the remote control, its function was to alarm Itami immediately if something happened.

"The problem is, you have no evidence," Itami remarked, uncertain filling her voice.

Halting his step, Hiroshi turned his open-mouthed look to her. "Sometimes I wonder if you are smart or not. I mean, you are, but you are really slow in those things." 

"Hey, what do you mean? Isn't it true that you have no evidence? Apparently, the only thing that can confirm them as Root Ninja is the curse seals, but that stuff has a self-destruct function, you know? The moment they die, it's gone. Unless you catch them alive, there is no evidence left." Pouting with one hand on her hip, Itami pointed at him accusingly.

Signing exaggeratedly, Hiroshi resumed the walk, with her followed behind. "Who was the one fighting with them?" 

With a frown, she retorted "It was me, Who else?"

"Then don't you know how to fabricate it? Saying that the enemies today use some specific ninjutsu or taijutsu that only circulated in Konoha? Or claim his name directly because you heard it in the fight."

"Really? But do you think Hokage-sama will believe this?" she appeared still doubtful, a questioning gaze wore in her features.

Hiroshi contemplated for a few seconds, before regaining his confident smile. "Then just act, the Hokage didn't know you specifically, you just need to show a naive personality with a heart of 'Fire' burning fiercely, talk to him like you were afraid of suspecting 'companion in your village would do that, but still doesn't want to conceal anything in front of the Hokage. Or you can just say it directly to his face "Hey, the culprit is Danzo." I don't need him to be certain of it, as he wouldn't take any immediate action even if he is certain. I just need him to regard Danzo as a suspect. That's sufficient for now."

Bewildered, a few words blurted out of Itami uncontrollably. "B-but, for what?"

"Just listen to my words and do it. Trust me, I know Hokage-sama very well. Whether he knows Danzo is the culprit or Danzo is suspected as a culprit, since I'm not dead, he will just put a warning letter on Danzo's desk tomorrow." Using the most reliable expression on his face ever, he responded firmly.

Not escaped from confusion yet, she nodded, albeit a skeptical thoughts still lingering in her mind.

Then he raised his index finger, Revealing his thoughts to her. "Danzo, as dangerous as he was, only has a few ways to attack me. First, a sneaky planned attack, like today. As long as I have a guard, you or other people, I will not be attacked like this in the village. I heard his normal routine was to carry out traps in the mission of the target, by sabotaging their plan or even modifying it beforehand, but it would not work for me, who is not a ninja." Witnessing the puzzled expression on her face slowly being washed away by the noteworthy new topic, the satisfied Hiroshi explained even more animatedly. "Second, he has a hobby of playing crowd manipulation. Remember 'White Fang'? Yes, it was probably his achievement." 

But then he put down his hand, turning his attention back to the road. "However, I'm rich. maybe not 'that' rich, but still enough to play a set of 'creating rumor' games. Believe me, he may not be as good as this compared to me." Despite his narcissistic words, no pride could be found on his face. 

'speaking of which, I should create a Newspaper office next, it's probably take time, but will be worth it.'

"Really? Can you do that? Can I do that?" the amazed Itami questioned. She had a feeling that the recently re-familiar Hiroshi needed to be familiarized again in front of all this.

Waving his hand slightly at her, his tone contained no amazement like her. "Can, but shouldn't, if you don't want to escalate the situation for worse, alarming the big guys while villainizing yourself in the progress. It's better to use it in counter-attack than to pre-emptive strike if you want to stand in moral high ground."

"Understood," she answered. 

They fell silent after that on the road, allowing time for Itami to organize her thoughts. Hiroshi's words were quite confident. She couldn't help but take a glance at Hiroshi here and there. "You were like...some kind of weird today." 

"Huh? The good kind of weird or the bad kind of weird?" 

"The good kind, I suppose. I mean, you didn't look frightened even after being attacked, and even after knowing that the perpetrator was Danzo, it was either confident or ..." 

"Don't care, right? I know." He finished her sentence and then showed her the signaling remote control, which already had the button sunk into the machine, portraying how much force he had used at the time. 

"Look, I'm not that unfazed at all, I'm just quite relieved that I'm safe this time. You know, I'm escaping their first attack, knowing I'm being targeted, knowing who is behind it, means a lot."

He put the remote back into his pocket, squinted his eyes, and continued. "I now have enough time to prepare myself, to plan countermeasures. Is he gonna attack me in the village? I'm gonna hire a few Jounins to protect me as a monthly job. I have enough money to do that. The revenue of Kanbi each month is huge, and I can afford to put a few million taels for safety, no big deal. Is he gonna attack me outside the village with more force? No chance, I'm not gonna go out. Even if I do, there's no way for him to know my itinerary, as I'm not on a mission. He's not a god, he can only follow me but not set traps ahead. This can be solved by hiring a ninja close to Minato as a protector, as doing anything to them means Minato strikes back fiercely. And knowing that it's him, I can make some trouble back for him. Like, officially, Root has been disbanded by the 4th, so all the funds he got were from his family business, about... a weapon manufacturing factory? Hmmm, I can bankrupt that," showing a cunning appearance, he explained his thoughts to her.

"But, aren't you afraid of him retaliating?"

"Again, why are you so slow today? Isn't he already after my life? What is there to hesitate about? If you went and asked your gramp whether he was afraid of Danzo or not, the answer would probably be 'yes,' but if you went and asked your gramp whether he was afraid of Danzo who has already attacked and failed once? Absolutely not. What we are afraid of is him being in the dark, not knowing where and when he will strike, not when he is already in front of us, with enough reason for us to legitimately fight back. Well, maybe not enough, but we can fabricate it, like he's not gonna jump out and justify it."

"So that's another reason you tell me to act in front of Hokage-sama, is to officially inform him that the Hyuga will consider this was an attack from Danzo? Not just for Hokage-sama to contain him, but for giving you a legitimate reason to fight back?" a light of realization emerged from her eyes.

"Now, that's Itami for you. Indeed, the clan won't refuse to assist me. Why? Because they stand to gain from it. I'll ensure they benefit, and besides, they've harbored resentment towards Danzo for quite a while. Since my actions won't harm the village, there shouldn't be any opposition, so they'll be on board to support me. Plus, our clan isn't insignificant in size. Today is not the 3rd's regime, no one gonna protect him."

Hiroshi contentedly finished his word, took Itami's hand, looked straight into her eyes, and said earnestly. "So, could you please help me with acting in front of Hokage-sama?"

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"So, little girl, what information do you want to give me?" Behind the desk, the blond Minato wore his trademark unchanged tender smile.

"About the attack earlier on Hiroshi, in truth, before I intervened, I couldn't help but notice they were using Konoha's basic taijutsu to defend against me. So, I was thinking... it might not have been an attack from outside the village on him... of course, it's just basic ninjutsu that can be learned easily, so maybe I'm wrong, but, ... they also said 'Danzo-sama'... ". Using the best acting skill she could muster, Itami conveyed her observations as instructed, embodying the persona of a girl who harbored doubts about the attack on her boyfriend but was still hesitant to directly pinpoint the culprit, considering it was her village companion. 

She provided enough information to him about who was the culprit. While Minato was not a gullible and easy-to-lead person. Simply providing the information could effectively cast Danzo as the suspect, and that's enough. According to Hiroshi's understanding, he would not tolerate this kind of action that targeted a companion in the village.

After a moment of contemplation, Minato raised his head, a gentle smile arising on his face, making him look like a friendly brother next door. "I understand. Thank you for your information. As a Hokage, I promise that there will be no more attacks on Hiroshi after this."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," Itami replied, her showed expression brimming with excitement and gratitude, she bowled 90 degrees, as instructed, just an action to give a favorable impression of a humble and polite person, as Hiroshi instructed. Maybe unnecessary, but better than nothing.

After Itami's departure, the office room succumbed to an oppressive silence. Minato, deep in contemplation, broke the stillness as he gestured into the shadows and uttered a single name, "Hound." A mysterious figure materialized, gracefully kneeling with one foot on the ground, waiting for Minato's command.

"At your order, Hokage-sama," the figure intoned with unwavering loyalty.

Minato reached for a scroll and a gleaming kunai from the table, handing them to the enigmatic presence. "Bring this kunai to Danzo's place," Minato instructed calmly.

The shadowy figure accepted the items, their face obscured by darkness, and inquired, "What about this scroll?"

As Minato rose from his seat, his gaze shifted towards the ominous expanse of the Forest of Death. With a deliberate tone, he explained, "It's a record of Danzo's location."

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Fully accomplished the mission, Itami made her way out of the Hokage building with a contented smile. 

She came back to the new company, the 3-story building with a modern look. She navigated through the first floor full of materials, stainless steel beams of various types, stacks of bags filled with cement, shelves loaded with timber and plywood, pallets of bricks formed orderly rows, rolls of electrical wiring, and coils of plumbing pipes ... being stacked and arranged in the first floor which was being used as a warehouse, she made her way to the third floor by using the staircase, where she saw Mia who had already done the cleaning and was now back to her work as a secretary. In her hands was a stack full of documents. 

'Possibly about the newly bought warehouse nearby. The downstair really messy enough.' Itami thought.

Upon seeing Itami's figure, she greeted soothingly. "Ojou-sama, you must have been tired by the attack today, let's go inside, I'll make you some tea."

"Uhm," Itami hummed happily, grateful for Mia's thoughtfulness.

Heading to the office, they saw Hiroshi writing something on paper hastily. Breaking off from his work, he turned to look at them.

"Has everything been done, Itami?" he said while gesturing to Mia for her documents.

"Yes, beautifully," Itami replied. Instead of heading to the couch, she walked to the window behind him, which offered a beautiful view that overlooked the area around this part of Konoha. Even the Hokage rock could be wonderfully enjoyed from this position.

"And what did he say?"

"Nothing much, just promised that you will not be attacked again in the future," she replied in a drowsy voice as sleepiness kicked back in, reminding her of her sleep-deprived night and the constant activities this morning, now with all the things done.

"Thank you very much for your help. Come take a nap on the sofa. It's only 8 now; I'll wake you up at 9," he said with a smile.

"Sure, also, no need for tea, Mia," she yawned tiredly and slumped on the sofa, slowly sinking into her sleep.

Looking at her sleeping appearance, the smile on Hiroshi's face gradually faded away, replaced by an uneasy expression. Noticing his change of mood, Mia asked, concern etched across her face. "What's wrong, Hiroshi-kun? Are you still worried about the earlier attack?"

Choosing not to answer her, he redirected the conversation by posing a question. "What if I need you and Itami to spend a few days with me somewhere outside the village, is that possible?"

Despite being puzzled, she still answered with certainty, "Of course not, the clan will never allow it. Ojou-sama is a main family member after all."

With no surprise, almost as if he had anticipated her response, he calmly observed her anxious expression before turning his attention to the peacefully sleeping Itami. Judging by the soft snores emanating from Itami, he was confident she was in a deep slumber. However, just in case, he gently took Mia's hand and guided her out of the room to the quiet corridor outside, ensuring their privacy away from prying eyes.

Alone in the secluded space, he leaned in, his breath caressing her ear as he whispered, "I received this intel directly from the Hokage," He lied, as there was no other choice, he couldn't just say he knew future information, "and it seems that someone is plotting an attack on Konoha." To forestall any dramatic reaction, he discreetly pinched Mia's arm, preventing her from displaying her surprise with wide-open eyes. He continued in a hushed tone "Shh, the Hokage plans to handle it personally, but I've taken preemptive measures just in case he falls short. This is highly classified information, so you have to keep a secret, got it?"

Nodding continuously with a now extremely serious expression, Mia responded, "I do, b-b-but... what should we do then?"

"Now, our primary focus should be ensuring our safety. While this may have repercussions for others, the risk is far greater for us. The reason I'm sharing this with you is because of the trust I place in you, and to protect both yourself and Itami. So, I need your help, is that ok?"

"Yes, yes, Hiroshi-kun, absolutely," Mia's face laced with a trace of happiness at being trusted, along with a hint of nervousness about the situation that might follow.

"Good. Now, regarding Itami, honestly, I'd rather not inform her, not because I don't trust her, but because she still has family. She would inevitably inform them of potential threats, complicating matters further. As for her being angry later... let's not think about it. Hence, I'll need your assistance with this plan..." Hiroshi replied cautiously, then whispered silently into her ears.

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Opening her eyes in refreshment after a small nap, Itami rubbed her eyes, gazing at the window. The sun, high in the sky, hinted that Hiroshi might not have kept his promise.

"You're finally awake, let's go have some meal, it's already noon," Hiroshi, still seated in his seat, the same as she remembered before going to sleep, asked as he stretched his back. Nearby, Mia was scribbling something on the scroll, looked up upon hearing this, and chimed in. "How about having a light meal today? We ate so much yesterday, I'm feeling a little fed up with meat right now."

"Sure, what about you, Itami?" 

"Hmm? Uhm ... ok." she replied while her head was not fully awake, and she didn't particularly care.

Hiroshi and Mia began to organize all the documents on the table, carefully placing them into appropriate folders, and then neatly arranging them on the shelves. Itami, with regained clarity, asked, wearing a puzzled expression, "Why did you write so much today? All I saw was you buried in paperwork." 

"It's all about safety and health regulations, standardization, and regulations in place to protect consumers... For the new construction method to be widely embraced in the Land of Fire, we have a considerable amount of paperwork to do. Don't worry, I just let you relax today since we played quite a bit yesterday, but tomorrow you will also have to help us."

"I'm just thirteen, I may be smart, but isn't this too much? I'm still learning, mtfk."

"I'm also 13."

"Sometimes I forget."

"Thanks for the compliment."