Uzushiogakure: The Fall (P.1)

Somewhere below ground lay Root headquarters. Root was a branch of Konohagakure's Anbu corps. A division specifically under the control of Danzo.

The organisation's top priority was its secrecy, and most of its missions were carried out in the dark - autonomous of Konoha's authority. Everything was done in the name of Konoha. Any individuals who expressed any form of dissent towards Konoha would be swiftly taken care of. The missions Root carried out would be seen as detestable and immoral by others, but Danzo knew they were necessary for the safety of the village. Konoha owed him a lot for the things he's done in their name.

Many would think him a fool for taking up the role of the villages "darkness". They were the fools though, he did this all for the village what greater purpose could there be? What greater proof of leadership!?

Nonetheless many had forgotten how great his role was. Hiruzen in particular seemed to forget his promise to make him Hokage for taking upon such a noble task. It seems Hiruzen thought him a fool who would forget the promise that was made.

He was no fool however and over the past few years had kept an eye on any possible Hokage candidates. The main impediment to his ascension was Kenzorama who as a Senju could certainly gain more support than he could. So Danzo made plans to weaken his support and even ordered several attacks made on Uzushiokagure. All to possibly eliminate the thorn that was Kenzorama.

Then as he had finally gathered more enemies for Uzushiokagure a new thorn appeared. The thorn known as Senju Ren. Several simulations he had made to eliminate Kenzorama were far too simple to ruin when Ren was included. At this rate he had more or less accepted the fact he may not become Hokage anytime soon.

The reality of the five great countries at the moment is that they were indeed preparing for war. Kumogakure in particular seemed to have no qualms in openly amassing troops and making several attempts at kidnapping kekkei genkai holders from other lands. Naturally other hidden villages reacted in kind when they saw such blatant actions.

He himself had no intention of letting Konoha sit on their ass and be unprepared for the ongoing situation. Root had interfered with and stalled Kumo on several occasions and fueled the fire to maintain other villages eyes on each other instead of Konoha.

He would do anything for Konoha and his only selfish actions were that he coveted the position of Hokage. A position that should have been his from the start. When his Sensei Tobirama chose Hiruzen over himself, he genuinely could not comprehend the thought process. Simply because he had minor hesitation in sacrificing his life, he was passed over? Regardless he was forced to accept and he more or less had.

As the times got closer to war though he realized his Sensei had made a mistake. Hiruzen simply clung on to the word peace but seemed to make no effort into guaranteeing Konohas safety all in the name of maintaining "peace". Hiruzen always worried about offending other villages, about breaking the peace, he allowed outsiders to harm the village and rarely retaliated in kind. All for his precious peace.

The job of retaliation always fell onto his shoulders. He himself kept track of Konohas enemies and prevented them from reaching the village with the missions Root under took. Light was supposed to produce darkness. In Konohas case though, the darkness ensured the light could still exist. Without Root…without him..Konoha may have fallen some time ago.

If Hiruzens incompetence in dealing with outside threats wasn't enough, he also never truly dealt with those within. The main thing Hiruzen had going for himself was the subservience of the Akimichi to the Sarutobi and his close relation to the Senju. That's where the good point ended though as unlike what he was taught by Tobirama Sensei, Hiruzen never put any pressure on the Uchiha. Not to mention the Hyuga who he let more or less infiltrate into every division of Konoha.

He couldn't possibly let this continue. At this point even Kenzorama would be better than Hiruzen. Why give others the opportunity though when he could take it himself.

His main plan was to get Hiruzen ousted from the Hokage position so he could rise to his rightful place. Unfortunately this would require for Uzushiokagure to be endangered. As long as they never knew it had something to do with him that wasn't really a problem though.

At this time he had his agents enforce the idea that the Uzumaki were too powerful to continue existing. The other hidden villages would soon mount a joint offensive. With that offensive he could force Hiruzens hand and make him start a war so that Konoha could rise to its rightful place as the ruler of the ninja world. In a time of war he would shine brighter then any other and would cement his position as a Hokage. Especially after Hiruzen suffered a tragic accident.

Should Hiruzen disregard Uzushiokagure in favor of his so beloved peace though it was also not a bad thing. The Uzumaki would surely have his leadership fall into question. Lady Mito and the remaining Senju would turn on him. Even his so called allies would question his nonsense of peace. Not to mention if the Senju family who more or less permanently stayed in Uzu were to fall in the mess, he would benefit. Should the Uzumaki be endangered the power of the Kyubi could also be made to leave their control, so he once again would benefit.

If he could enact this plan perfectly he would reduce a lot of problems and even gain some benefits. In one fell swoop he could eliminate the Hokage contender that is Kenzorama, reduce the Uzumaki, possibly gain the Kyubi, and replace Hiruzen. It was perfect. It simply required for the right timing to appear.

That right timing had finally appeared when Lady Mito announced her successor had been chosen. This meant she would return to Konoha soon. The Senju would return to Uzushiokagure as her representatives. More importantly a young impressionable Jinchuriki would appear, he would do everything to get them under his control. So it came to be he decided that when the new Jinchuriki came into the safety of Konoha his plans would go into full swing.

The only hiccup in this whole perfect plan is the annoying brat that was Ren.

He genuinely had no idea what to do about the boy. He had to be eliminated, this much was true, but after several simulations it was not possible to achieve easily.

Normally assigning the boys squad to a mission that could limit his ability to act would be ideal. The only problem being the fact that the boys squad took no missions outside the village. Politics also couldn't force the boys hand as he would certainly go to the aid of Uzushiokagure with or without permission. Before his plan could guarantee success he wanted to be rid of this thorn…

(With a flicker a Root operative appeared before Danzo)

" My lord the boy known as Senju Ren has secretly left the village."

" What…why? Did Hiruzen send him out?"

" According to the information gathered, Lady Mito personally requested of the Hokage for Senju Ren to be sent to aid her friend. The unknown friend who has taken ill is located in the Land of Iron.

Senju Ren left immediately through his teleportation ability.

Lady Mito's friend is supposed to be in hiding and would take the boy some time to locate.

Additionally she told the Hokage the illness would take a long time to treat and would require the boys full attention. So none of his Shadow clones are left in the village.

Should we begin operation Alpha?"

" Commence the operation immediately!"