In an underground cave, somewhere in Konoha, Danzo stood right beside Orochimaru.
Orochimaru continued to move his hands and work on his experiments while Danzo patiently waited for Orochimaru to talk to him.
Danzo had come to Orochimaru's hideout before leaving for some work he had outside Konoha. He made sure to order his subordinates to continue blocking the letters, not knowing that Aayu had died. This decision became Danzo's last mistake in his life.
"Orochimaru, I am telling you, within a year, a war will start. I will somehow make the Uchiha clan go to Kiri with you. There, we can reap the benefits and take all the Sharingan from their dead bodies." Danzo said.
"That would indeed be good. The situation is also not good and war really may start but, why should I help you? I can take the Sharingan without getting noticed on my own too." Orochimaru glared at Danzo questioningly.
"I will help you get more and better specimens and I will let you go unnoticed from the eyes of Hiruzen. In exchange, you need to help me infuse Hashirama cells into my body." Danzo smirked and said. He believed that this was the best deal Orochimaru could ever get.
"It is indeed good. Alright, I will help you with the infusion but, you help me get the Sharingan… Also, I heard about the two genius kids, Yukan and Minato. What are you going to do about them? Kill them?" Orochimaru asked curiously. The question he asked was just to conceal the happiness blooming inside him.
Orochimaru believed that infusion with Hashirama cells would either end up killing Danzo or they would overwhelm him and give him a crippled hand. This observation would be very helpful for him in the future.
"No, I can't kill them openly because they are under Hiruzen's wings, Sakumo's student, Minato is even Jiraiya's student and Yukan is the blood son of Hyatt Norio, the Sword Demon. But soon, very soon I will kill them, I just need some time." Danzo spoke as if the plan he was making to kill Yukan and Minato was the same as the plan to get into his dream college.
"Whatever. Give me some time, I will start the research of infusing the Hashirama cells into your body, thank you for coming, bye." Orochimaru said and then once again started looking at some test tubes.
'I hope the two are doing their work correctly.' Danzo thought and then left the hideout in a little dissatisfied mood. He felt as if Orochimaru looked down at him.
'The younger generation…'
.
.
A few days had passed since Aayu was declared dead by the doctors in the hospital.
Her body kept on lying in the morgue. Her body was kept in a cold room so as to preserve her body for a long time but, it was still not forever. If Yukan and Minato did not come back before some time, Aayu's body would have to be buried with only some of her close friends at the ceremony.
"Her body can only be kept here for four more days, after that, the body will start decomposing. Is her family here?" A man in the clothes of a doctor asked. In front of him stood Sakumo.
The day Aayu's body was found, Kakashi ran back to his house to tell his mother about it. His mother and Aayu were close friends.
That day, Sakumo had also rushed to the hospital. Since none of her family was currently in Konoha, Sakumo regulated everything as she was his sensei's wife.
"They will be here soon. Please wait for some time." Sakumo said and turned around.
Behind him stood Kiyome and Kushina who were hearing the doctor talk.
"Any reply?" Sakumo asked.
"No." Kiyome and Kushina said one by one.
"That is very weird. I don't believe that those two won't rush back after they get the news." Sakumo said as he started thinking about the possible things that might have happened.
"Isn't it possible if they didn't receive the news at all?" Kakashi, who stood holding his two-year-old little sister said. Her name was Kiyoko.
She was a little cuter than how Kakashi was at his age.
"Yeah, that is indeed a possibility," Sakumo said and then once again drowned in thinking about what to do next.
Sakumo started walking and pulled Kakashi away with him. Kakashi handed Kiyoko to Kushina and then went with his father.
A little while later, Sakumo sat in his house on the sofa along with Kozuki, Kakashi and Jiraiya.
"... And so, I think that Kakashi's assumption is correct." Sakumo wrote something on the paper and said.
"How do we proceed, Sakumo?" Jiraiya asked.
"I do have a plan but I don't know how well it will work. I say, we send another letter to Minato and Yukan and then follow the delivery man, there may be something weird with him. All the while, Kozuki and Kakashi go to tell Minato and Yukan about Mrs Aayu's death." Sakumo told his plan.
After a little thinking, Jiraiya said, "Not bad. Since we are talking about the following, I'll do that part. As for telling the kids, you guys should do it."
"Hmm. Kozuki and Kakashi, you will go to Minato, I'll go to Yukan." Sakumo said.
"Why are you going? I'll go, you stay here." Kakashi said.
"No, Takigakure is prone to attacks right now, it would be better for me to go there. If you two are together, at least you would be able to escape." Sakumo said.
"Let's start with everything today, the delivery of letters has to go today so if we were to post a letter right now, the letter would be sent today," Jiraiya said.
Sakumo nodded and then told Kakashi to go to Kushina and ask her to write another letter to Yukan.
Soon, Jiraiya left since he needed some things for the investigation.
"We will leave the day after tomorrow," Sakumo told Kozuki and Kakashi before they left.
'Now I need Hokage-Sama's permission to leave Konoha and bring the two back.' Sakumo thought and then left his house.