69 Shadows of the Leaf

Underneath the forest of death, an aged man walked down a dark, damp corridor of an aged tunnel. Everywhere around him, cracks could be seen, suggesting the tunnel's integrity wasn't anywhere near stable.

This was one of the Shimura Clan's hidden paths that had been established in this area before the village's founding. It wasn't well known and the only people to officially know about them were the first three Hokages and their closest aids. Not even the current village administration is aware.

In the past, these tunnels were set up in various strategic points across the land of fire to give the Shimura Clan ease of movement in the areas where strongholds were likely to be built. By finding these locations before they were used by others and creating the tunnels in advance, they would be in place to move silently and freely after those structures are eventually built.

After the village's founding, the ones in Konoha were the primary means Danzo's 'root' organization used to get around. That said, while that may have been the case, they were completely separated from any of root's compounds to prevent simultaneous discovery. As such, they were still hidden from the rest of the village to this day.

Now, an aged Hiruzen Sarutobi was walking these halls reminiscing of his younger days, of the time spent training with his life-long best friend. Many things had changed, but even more had stayed the same. In fact, it was the things that stayed the same that had perverted his friend to walk deeper into the darkened path than either of them had ever intended him to.

Hiruzen was a short old man standing just over five foot, three inches with prominent wrinkles, multiple liver spots on his face, swept back, receded grayish-white hair with a barely noticeable shade of brown, chocolate brown eyes, and a prominent goatee. He carried himself with an aged, tired countenance, easily recognizable by his hunched posture and the far-off stare he always had.

He wore a long-sleeved fishnet shirt under a black Kimono with a light khaki trim, black loose-fit pants, and black shinobi sandals. Attached to his back was a thick black staff with bands of yellow at the ends; this was Monkey King Enma, Hiruzen's chief summon, in his adamantine staff form.

Once he reached a certain point in the tunnel, he turned to his left and placed his right hand on the wall, pressing a well-hidden wall-push mechanism. Once he did, a small portion of the wall slid down into the earth, leaving an opening into a large room with nothing in it but recently lit lanterns hanging off the walls.

Stepping in, he didn't flinch as the wall behind him rose back up to conceal the room once-again.

"It's been a long-time old friend and it seems that you have company. Anything I should know?" Hiruzen asked jokingly with a slight smirk.

Standing at the other end of the room were three figures, two familiar and one not.

One of them was the aged former head of the Hyuga Clan, the man that sired Hiashi. Of course, Hiruzen knew the truth; he was the real power behind the current Hyuga. Considering recent events though, that would be strongly contested. It was obvious to the former-Kage why he was here.

The other was a man as old as he was with short, spiky black hair that was seemingly unaffected by time, and two mismatched colored eyes, one brown and one sharingan. He wore a black haori with the depiction of an artistically designed red tree whose roots, while mostly unseen, were shown burrowing into the earth. Under that, he wore a pure white short-sleeved Kimono shirt and bandages covering both of his arms. Lastly, he wore black pants similar to Hiruzen's and black shinobi sandals.

This was Danzo Shimura, his old 'traitorous' friend.

The last was a 6-foot-tall 30-year-old man with straight, shoulder-length dark brown hair with scattered bangs framing his face. He had pitch black irises, lightly tanned skin, and a well-built frame. He wore a black high-colored robe that went down to his knees which had a red and white fan depicted on the back. Under it, he wore a black short-sleeved mesh shirt, dark brown shinobi pants, and black shinobi sandals.

He didn't know who this one was.

"Hiruzen." Danzo spoke slowly. "Leave it to you to figure out that I survived that day."

"*Chuckle* Danzo, you may have fooled the others, but I remember the real purpose behind that custom reverse four symbols seal; I was the one to apply it after all. Adding a last-minute flying thunder god seal to the four symbols seal and using it to perform an advanced substitution with a well-disguised corpse that would then burn to a point too charred to distinguish.

"Everyone saw the seal's 'ink' spray out of your chest, but the seal itself triggered on the space-time coordinates on which it was activated; it only looked like it came from your chest. It was our best work. It may have been four decades since I placed it on you, but I haven't forgotten our recreation of sensei's legacy." Hiruzen explained, his face looking on into the distance (the wall) as he reminisced of times long gone by.

Hearing this, the Uchiha man and Hyuga elder's eyes widened at the old man's revelation. Since learning the truth, both had been theorizing on how Danzo survived, but neither had ever considered a tactic this advanced.

'Truly, the old guard were true shinobi. To think that no one even suspected the truth.' The elder thought in awe.

'Impressive. Almost worthy of the Uchiha.' The Uchiha thought. His face then took on a barely noticeable, twisted smile. 'Almost.' It was a detail that hadn't gone unnoticed by anyone else in the room.

'Why would Danzo bring such an amateur to a meeting like this? He can't even hide his true thoughts.' Hiruzen's confusion was masked by his warm smile.

That was a significant difference between the three elders and this lone Uchiha, the quality of their masks.

"I should have known better than to assume you senile Hiruzen. Considering the ongoings of the village in the past decade, I assumed you to be losing your touch. It's atrocious." Danzo commented, a mild anger present in his voice.

Hiruzen shook his head.

"And what, my friend, do you believe is wrong with the current village?" Hiruzen asked, amused at his friend's unchanging pessimism.

"Where to start…" Danzo pondered, only to be interrupted by the Hyuga.

"The Hokage's little freak walks around making mockeries of every clan in the village. She steps on traditions, treats our techniques like trash, and is treated as a human, despite the weapon she clearly is. With all the S-Ranks in the village and her as the artillery, Iwa and Suna should be ashes." He frustratedly explained.

The Uchiha was next, "He's infected the leading family with his failed ideas of peace. Their behavior lacks pride or honor. They tear at the writings of our ancestors, question the wisdom of our clan's ancient tablet, and even put the village before the clan; he's put a leash on the Uchiha!" The man roared, his voice having crescendoed from a growl.

'Impressive. No wonder Danzo brought him here. He has his priorities straight. If only he was the Uchiha's clan head; maybe our clans would get along.' The Hyuga elder thought, impressed at the man's passion and pride for his Clan.

Danzo's eyes locked with Hiruzen's.

'*Sigh* I can see the many questions in Hiruzen's eyes. He questions this boy's right to be here. Hell, he might even be doing the same for the Hyuga. Still, he will understand the bigger picture soon enough. Even fools have their uses.' Danzo thought in resignation.

"They have all the tools, all the weapons we never had and they're wasting them. If you or I were in charge, the continent would be under leaf control, easily. That girl shouldn't be walking free. Even if she can't give birth to the next generation, which is false mind you; she should be locked in a secured training room and groomed to be the ultimate weapon for the village.

"She's too key a resource to openly expose to the world or allow to be a normal shinobi. Assassinations are easy, especially on missions. You should know it well Hiruzen. Despite their monopoly on the village's political clout or their perversely strong natural physiques, the two of us steered the Senju to extinction as easily as breathing." Danzo paused to catch his breath.

Despite the stunning revelation Danzo just announced, the two weren't surprised. They had pieced it together long ago, though the Uchiha hadn't done so on his own.

"Of course, Konoha has far more wrong with it than just her, but she was the worst mistake in recent years and a blatant symptom of the much larger issue; the jinchuriki is the same." Danzo explained with conviction. He had watched over the product of his work for a decade and a half. He had been disappointed.

Hiruzen sighed and looked up to ponder his next words.

Looking at the three in the room, he shook his head and tiredly responded, "I may have agreed with you seven years ago. However, I've seen the improvements made in the village resulting from Minato's decision, improvements that wouldn't be possible with the girl serving as an overly glorified tailed beast. Since she learned how to use chakra, she's made me realize that there are many things we don't understand and wouldn't even consider with our aged minds.

"Not only that, but Minato himself has strengthened the village beyond anything in our lifetime. The new procedures he's created, the new clan's he's attracted, and the still expanding list of clients requesting missions exclusively from our village can attest to that.

"That said, even with Konoha's rapidly expanding military strength, we've only recently come into a position to confidently fight on multiple fronts without taking heavy losses. Even should we have won with minimal losses before, we would not have been able to sustain the economic strain of maintaining those captured lands as we were."

Hiruzen turned his gaze to the Hyuga specifically who narrowed his eyes at the man's focus.

"Also, after the recent incident with the other anomaly, I've come to realize that we simply didn't know enough about these two to properly secure them. That girl was subjected to everything Danzo wanted, but from a repopulating standpoint. She was sealed, collared, educated to be an obedient slave from birth, and she still escaped. Not only that, but she hates Konoha and the clan that birthed her. The monument proved that better than any other declaration I've seen in many years. Doing the same to the Uchiha girl would have been a mistake." There was chiding in his tone, but not much.

Like he explained, Hiruzen was similarly in the dark regarding their full capabilities. Given the same situation, he didn't feel confident in making a better decision.

The Hyuga elder flinched at the pointed statements.

Danzo looked at him with narrowed eyes. This man's failure might actually cost Konoha its existence. All four of them knew how powerful that girl had the potential to be. Hiruzen made a very valid point with the Hyuga Clan's failure. Even if he didn't necessarily blame him, it still didn't change the impact of that grave error.

Hiruzen's gaze turned to view the entire group once again.

"At least with Kamui, we can say that Konoha has a loyal soldier, even if it will take longer for her to reach her full potential. All that's to say, I think we should wait and see how Minato will handle her shinobi career. After all, the other nations are getting restless and it wouldn't make sense to change directions now."

The room was silent.

It was a very good point. They could criticize Minato all they wanted, but his tactic produced a loyal weapon for Konoha, even if her development is slower than they would have liked. The Hyuga on the other hand, had produced a menace to Konoha. They had failed to keep their weapon tamed and contained. They had done everything by the 'books' with Mami and they still failed.

"You give her too much credit. She may be strong, but she'll never reach the true potential of the full-blooded Uchiha. Whatever purity she may have had was destroyed when she became a demon on the night she was born." The Uchiha man arrogantly stated, not thinking much of the girl.

Danzo's snapped to him with annoyance.

'Why the hell did I include this idiot again? Patience Danzo. Patience.' he frustratedly thought.

"Let's shift subjects." Hiruzen suggested, once again capturing everyone's attention. "So, what's the goal of this little gathering? I doubt you still want to become Hokage Danzo." Hiruzen curiously asked.

"*Sigh* It wouldn't work; I'm no longer in good standing. At best, I could destroy it and create a new government, but that wouldn't be the Konoha sensei gave his life to protect. Still, we may need to consider replacing Minato with someone of a stronger mindset." Danzo resignedly replied.

Everyone considered his words. None of them in this room are good candidates. The Uchiha is too brash, unknown, and impulsive; he knew it too. The Hyuga had too much dirt on himself. Regardless of his own feelings on his decisions, he knew that they were generally viewed too negatively to be waived. Lastly, Hiruzen is simply too old to retake his mantle.

The actual candidates who are both strong enough, smart enough, and politically motivated enough all have the same problems Minato does; they all idolize him after all. The ones who do fit their ideal Hokage are simply too weak or unknown. It was an awful situation for the group.

Hearing this, Hiruzen's lips formed a crafty smile.

"I may have a proposal." Everyone broke out of their thoughts and turned to him. "Rather than seek a new Hokage, why not set the conditions to have the current one act the way we want him to. While we're at it, those same conditions can also be used to groom his successor." Hiruzen suggested, causing the others' eyes to widen.

Danzo's lips widened into a broad smile for the first time since the successful extermination of the Senju. The Hyuga elder was much the same; in fact, if Hiashi were to see the maddened grin on his face, he wouldn't believe it.

"Hiruzen. Once again, you've proven why sensei chose you to succeed him. You've certainly earned your title of professor and I couldn't be happier." Danzo proudly complimented.

"That's nice and all, but how would we even do it?" The Uchiha asked somewhat impatiently.

Hearing this, Danzo, Hiruzen, and the Hyuga elder chuckled at the 'boy's' ignorance. Hiruzen gave Danzo a look, who nodded and shifted his gaze back to the Uchiha.

"War." Danzo replied ominously.