13 13. Danzo's Frustrations

"Where did you hear about that, Aiko-kun? asked Kushina perplexed, as she served the food.

"Yes, where did you hear that?" asked Minato as he set aside his chopsticks, with a serious expression on his face. Being with the boy for such a period of time, he knew that the boy would not ask baseless questions.

Aiko looked at their expressions, collected his thoughts and explained about the situation, how he had met Kabuto and decided to surprise Nonō by secretly visiting her and how he had overheard the conversation she had with some people.

"Do you know who she was talking to, Aiko-kun?" asked Minato, frowning as he heard the boy's explanation.

"I didn't see the face, as I was outside the room, but based on his chakra signature I have seen him in the hokage's mansion, when I was first brought there." said Aiko and described the man's characteristics to them.

"Elder Danzo", "Danzo", both Minato and Kushina said at the same time, revealing the identity of the man to Aiko.

"Well, Aiko-kun, thank you for telling me and I don't want you to talk about this incident to anybody else," said Minato solemnly after thinking for a bit.

"And, we are not going to war, not as long as I am the hokage." he said resolutely.

The dinner continued as usual, once the conversation was over but Minato seemed to be absorbed in his own thoughts.

......…..

Next day, Aiko begun his daily training as usual, he read Fūinjutsu scrolls, practised seals levelling up his seal creation skill to level 5, and did some physical exercises, he observed that even though his stats didn't improve visibly, he felt it was a very useful method to reduce his mental fatigue overall, he felt like he was having fun.

While the atmosphere in the hokage's mansion was harmonious and peaceful, the same could not be said for hokage's office room.

Danzo and Third hokage were seated in front of Minato who had a serious expression on his face.

"I do not remember permitting any undercover operations in Iwagakure, Elder Danzo, Can you tell me why you are gathering personnel for that purpose?" he asked, cutting straight into the subject.

"I have received information that Tsuchikage has been gathering manpower for unclear reasons and thought it would be prudent to know the reason for this." answered Danzo calmly.

"You thought it was good to keep this information to yourself and to act on your own Elder?" asked Minato, releasing his pressure on the said man.

"You know that the recent peace treaty, forbade villages from using this method?" continued the hokage as pressure on the elder continued to increase.

"I...did it with the best interests of the village in mind" answered the elder obstinately while his palms were coated in sweat by the pressure.

"So, the actions in Amegakure were also in the best interests of the village?" probed Minato, recalling Jiraiya's warning.

Danzo was caught off guard by the question, but quickly composed himself, " I don't know what you are talking about," he answered but his forehead was coated with sweat.

Minato felt his heart sink, looking at the man's expression as it had pretty much confirmed his suspicions, but without any sort of evidence even he could not take any sort of action against one of the elders of the council and he was sure that the other elders would also side with their former teammate.

"I do not permit any undercover operations happening without my knowledge, elder Danzo" said Minato, trying to keep his anger in check.

"If Root division takes such actions again without approval, then such a division is not needed for Konoha anymore" he added looking at the silent man in front of him.

Danzo opened his eye wide in anger as if wanting to argue, but was met with a cold gaze from the blonde haired man making him realise that there was no room for argument, so he grit his teeth and said "yes, lord Fourth" as he stormed out of the room.

Hiruzen watched this conversation silently without participating in it, and he knew the character of his friend very well, he thought that it was inappropriate to meddle in the matter as he had already passed on the mantle of the hokage to the man in front of him.

"I will ask a few of the ANBU to keep watch on the Root division's actions," said Minato, thinking for a bit.

"Yes, that should keep him in check for a while" agreed the Third as he again sighed in his heart.

......….

The atmosphere was quite somber in the Root headquarters which like its name was located in the underground of the Konoha and like the nature of the organisation was dimly lit.

"How dare he?" fumed Danzo unlike his usual calm and composed self, when he recalled his conversation with the fourth hokage today.

'How did he know about it?, did someone leak the information to him?' thought Danzo looking around the shinobis guarding the room and looking at their wooden expressions shook the thoughts out of his mind.

'Did Nono inform him?' he thought, but denied the idea as he knew she wouldn't be stupid enough to double cross him.

'He is just an upstart, and a coward just like Hiruzen' he spat vehemently in his heart.

"Only I can guide Konoha towards greatness" he muttered with a crazed look in his eyes, thinking of ways he could manipulate the council to go along with his ideas.

But, he quickly calmed down and decided to stay low for a while as he knew that if the fourth got any evidence on his actions, then he would be in deep trouble, that would even shake his position as an elder.

....

Later that evening Nono, who was preparing for the mission received a news that the mission was postponed for the foreseeable future, making her surprised and relieved as she felt at peace living in the orphanage and taking care of the children, but it was short lived as Kabuto told her about his decision to join the Root division, making her realise that he had overheard her conversation with Danzo.

Aiko not knowing his actions had ruffled a lot of feathers, continued his practice like usual in the mornings and sparred with Kakashi in the afternoon soon a week passed by and Aiko raised his level to six and levelled up his skills like Chakra control, chakra moulding and Presence concealment.

Soon as the month of July was coming to an end, Aiko received news from Kushina that a younger brother was born to Ichiro, so Aiko decided to visit her to congratulate under Kushina's insistence, as they haven't met each other much lately due to their training schedules.