127 Preparing for the Gathering

Hiruzen was currently relaxing in his office while reading the book he got from Yuna a while ago. He was rather close to finishing it and could only marvel at the consistently high-quality content.

While reading, Hiruzen noticed that privacy seals were suddenly being activated inside his office, and moments later, Yuna appeared in the middle of the room without a sound or chakra fluctuation. Hiruzen had no idea how someone could reach such an absurd level of stealth but decided to just gloss over it.

"In case you are here to assassinate me, I request that you wait about an hour, so I can finish reading this book before I have to go."

Yuna chuckled when she heard that and shook her head in denial.

"You know full well that this isn't the reason I came here."

Hiruzen gave her an annoyed huff, closed his book, and put his attention on Yuna.

"It's about the gathering of the Uzumaki clan, right? Can't you leave an old man alone so he can peacefully read his porn at the dusk of his life?"

"Hehe, you are not even denying it anymore, huh? Considering this will probably be the last time I get the chance to annoy you, I thought I might as well make it a big one."

Hiruzen's eyes shone with excitement when he heard that Yuna probably wouldn't annoy him anymore after this, but that excited glow quickly vanished when he heard the last part of Yuna's sentence.

"A big one? What exactly do you want?"

"Hehe, no need to be so alarmed. It is nothing illegal this time. It doesn't even involve bribery, you know."

When Hiruzen heard that, he couldn't help but get even more skeptical about whatever Yuna wanted from him.

"What is it then?"

"Hehe, it's an S-Rank mission. I heard that everyone can put forth a commission for a mission and as long as the payment is correct and you agree that Konoha will take it, it will be done by Konoha."

Hiruzen's frown deepened even further when he heard that. Although what Yuna said was correct, S-Rank missions are a little special in that regard. For now, however, he would just listen to what Yuna had to say. He could still decide what to do after he heard the whole story.

"Well, I assume you will have a few ANBU watching the gathering, correct?"

Hiruzen only nodded his head. There was no use in denying it after all. Yuna would easily find them anyway.

"Hehe, very good. In that case, I would like you to dispatch a second set of ANBU. The very best you can offer so that even the first ones you send won't be able to detect them. I will be needing them as witnesses."

Hiruzen grew alarmed when he heard that, after all, Yuna pretty much implied right now, that the first set of ANBU will be knocked out or even killed.

Before Hiruzen's temper could flare up, Yuna lifted her hand to stop him.

"Calm down, I am not asking you to sacrifice your shinobi. I am willing to take out the good stuff for this."

Yuna gathered some chakra and moments later, an ice clone started forming out of thin air, but instead of looking like Yuna, it wore ANBU clothes and an animal mask.

Hiruzen realized to his annoyance that the clone genuinely looked like one of his ANBU agents and that even he could not see or feel any difference between them.

"My ice clones will pose as normal ANBU. In case they just get knocked out, then there will be no problem from the start since ice clones don't disappear so easily and if they actually get killed, I have a few transformed bandit bodies ready that can be moved in with a substitute jutsu and act like the corpses."

Hiruzen decided not to ask where Yuna got these bandit bodies from and rather ask the most important question. A question that he somewhat knew the answer to, but really didn't want it to be true.

"Who do you think will attack the Uzumaki clan?"

A vicious smile appeared on Yuna's face that sent shivers down Hiruzen's spine.

"Who else could it be, but everyone's beloved elder: Danzo Shimura?"

Hiruzen could only groan when he heard that. Danzo has been rather calm in the last few years, so Hiruzen was hoping that he had finally settled down, but it seems like that wasn't the case.

"Are you absolutely certain that Danzo will do something?"

To Hiruzen's surprise, Yuna actually shook her head in denial.

"Actually, no. This is just a safety measure. Considering what has happened so far, he probably wants to kill me, but I don't think he will attempt to do something like that while I am inside Konoha. This means that whether he does something during the gathering or not solely depends on how petty he is and if he wants revenge for all the times I outplayed him.

The only other option I could come up with for him to mess with the gathering is, that he thinks I have some grand plans that involve the Uzumaki clan and that he can disturb those plans by attacking the clan preemptively."

The more Yuna spoke, the worse Hiruzen's facial expression became. He could only sigh in defeat when he realized that Danzo might actually do something like that for his twisted ambitions.

'I should have gotten rid of him years ago, but I just couldn't do something like that to my old friend. Haa, I really am a failure, huh?'

Seeing Hiruzen suddenly getting all depressed, Yuna could only shake her head.

"Stop acting all sad, old man. Konoha is still standing after all these years so isn't it fine? Your peace-loving attitude might not be the best for a leader, but Danzo, who thinks that Konoha should wage war against everyone, and everything is much worse. Needing a little girl to cheer you up, seriously how shameful."

Hiruzen laughed out loud when Yuna called herself a little girl, after all, she had not once acted like one.

"Haha, that's true, I guess. Thanks for cheering me up anyway. Let's get back to the meat of the matter: Konoha accepts your S-Rank mission. During the Uzumaki clan gathering, an elite ANBU force will be present, while you imitate a normal ANBU squad with your ice clones. The elite ANBU will act as witnesses for the event and will, if necessary, help out the Uzumaki clan in whatever situation might happen during the event."

"Hehe, very good. Let's go with that. See ya!"

Yuna was just about to leave when Hiruzen stopped her.

"Wait! There is still something I want to know. You said that you don't have any grand plans for the Uzumaki clan, but you should have at least a reason for reestablishing the clan, right?"

Yuna nodded her head and answered Hiruzen's question.

"Of course, I do. Naruto said he wanted a big family. Stuff like that takes time, so I decided to gather our clan as a substitute for now."

Hiruzen nodded his head in understanding and waited for Yuna to continue speaking, but to his surprise, she didn't.

"Wait! That's all?!"

Yuna looked at him weirdly and continued speaking.

"Well, yeah. What other reasons do I need?"

Seeing the seemingly genuine confusion in Yuna's eyes, Hiruzen couldn't help but shiver a little at the implications that made.

'A lot of good things happened to Konoha because the Uzumaki clan was gathered here. Mission successes are at an all-time high due to all the cheap yet reliable seal the Uzumaki clan produces and they even played a major role during the invasion by containing the Ichibi. All this, because Naruto said that he wanted a big family?

I am really stupid for not realizing this earlier, but the problem isn't keeping Yuna happy. She is, after all, rather indifferent to quite a lot of things. It only becomes dangerous when those close to her are troubled, because that will cause Yuna to act. If Danzo actually acts against the Uzumaki clan...*sigh* old friend, there is no way for me to protect you if you do something this stupid.'

Realizing that Yuna was still looking at him with confusion, Hiruzen could only let out a tired chuckle.

"Haha, you sure love your brother, huh. I really hope that the gathering ends peacefully."

Yuna shrugged her shoulders before answering.

"I highly doubt that, but we will see I guess."

Without another word, the privacy seal deactivated and Yuna vanished from the room.

"I really wonder how she does th..."

*SPLAT*

Despite having a cake smacked into his face, Hiruzen simply sat still and stared at a wall with empty eyes, while pieces of cake were slowly sliding down his face and onto his clothes.

Although Hiruzen's eyes were looking like they belonged to a dead man, his resolve was growing stronger by the second.

'Tsunade, I will force you to become Hokage, no matter what I have to do!'