After a Long Night

Earth Land, Ishgar, Kingdom of Fiore, the Village Hidden in the Leaves.

June, x787.

After delivering Danzo to the T&I Department, Alfonzo decided to wait for Hiruzen to arrive. Meanwhile, Irene, not wanting to deal with the old man, decided to head back home.

Then, after Hiruzen took the time to examine Danzo's condition, he invited Alfonzo back to his office to talk about Danzo's case.

Not long later, Hiruzen was seat at his desk across from Alfonzo. Both of them had a cup of tea in front of them and seemed as if they were going to have a chat between friends rather than a debriefing.

"So, exactly what did you do to Danzo?" Hiruzen asked, and it was clear he was still concerned about his friend.

"For your mental health, it's better if I keep that to myself." Alfonzo replied with a shrug.

In fact, Alfonzo was not afraid that Hiruzen was unable to stomach the level of torture he put Danzo through. Rather, he could tell just how much Hiruzen cared for Danzo. So, he really did not want to make another enemy if he did not have to.

"*Sigh* Fine…" Hiruzen replied, clearly not satisfied with that answer. But since Alfonzo was not one of his shinobi, he knew he had no right to demand that Alfonzo answer him. Instead, he decided to move on to something else. "So, while we were at the T&I Department, you said you had something you wanted to show me. Can you show me now?"

"Of course." Alfonzo replied.

In the next instant, Alfonzo reached into the bag Irene gave him before he left to hunt down Danzo. Then, he pulled out a large stack of documents and dropped them on top of Hiruzen's desk.

Hiruzen, on the other hand, felt his left eyebrow twitch when he saw the large stack of documents. He already had enough paperwork to deal with on a daily basis. So, the thought of having even more to read through annoyed him greatly.

Unfortunately, Alfonzo was nowhere close to being done.. For the next eighteen minutes, Alfonzo continuously pulled stack after stack of paperwork out of his bag. And by the time he was finished, all of Hiruzen's desk and most of the floor in the office was covered in piles of paperwork as tall as Hiruzen's waist.

"Well, that's all of it." Alfonzo said with one of the brightest smiles Hiruzen had ever seen plastered all over his face. "I found all this when I went to infiltrate Danzo's base. He said it was the base for his Root if I remember correctly. Anyway, I also found a bunch of Sharingan down there, too. And before you ask, no I'm not giving them to you. These should belong to Sasuke."

Hiruzen's immediate reaction to Alfonzo's actions was to start cursing about all the paperwork. However, when he heard what Danzo called his base, all the curses were caught in his throat.

Hiruzen had ordered Danzo to disband the Root shortly after the Third Great Ninja War. And Danzo had promised him that he had done so. But apparently, Danzo had not kept his word.

Actually, Hiruzen's assumptions were untrue. And he would find out about that after reading through all the paperwork Alfonzo just offloaded on him. In fact, Danzo did disband his original Root organization. And when he saw how easily his former subordinates returned to the village's forces, he could not stand it. So, he recreated the Root and took much more drastic measures to ensure their loyalty, to him. And him alone.

After hearing Alfonzo mention Root, Hiruzen wanted to say something else. However, when Alfonzo mentioned all the Sharingan, that thought flew out of the window. Instead, he was about to ask him to return all the Sharingan to the village.

Alfonzo quickly put an end to that train of thought, as well. And when he stated that all the Sharingan should belong to Sasuke, he could not argue. However, he did start thinking of a way to get Sasuke to let the village take care of them.

After having that thought, however, Hiruzen immediately shook it out of his head. Doing something like that would go against the Will of Fire he had been preaching about for decades. On top of that, he already felt that the village owed Sasuke far too much. Especially after Danzo tricked Sasuke's older brother, Itachi into massacring their entire clan.

'*Sigh* That incident was the whole reason I raised the minimum age to become a Genin to eleven.' Hiruzen thought to himself. 'Hopefully, no more impressionable children will be tricked into doing something so heinous again.'

The fact Hiruzen thought like that was the reason why Alfonzo was not plotting to have him removed from his position as Hokage. According to the records Alfonzo found in Danzo's base, Hiruzen was not involved in any of the things Danzo did to weaken the village. Though Hiruzen was definitely aware of all of it. He had no proof. And without evidence, Hiruzen was too soft to prosecute his best friend.

At the same time, had Danzo slipped up even once in the past, Hiruzen would have come down on him with everything at his disposal, as proved by the incident that started the day before.

"Anyway, the sun is already up." Alfonzo said with a smile. I've been out all night and I'm sure Lici wants to see me, you know, to make sure I'm okay. So, I'm gonna head back home and spend some time with her before I have to start working again. We can discuss any compensation for the shit that asshole Danzo did later."

"*Sigh* I understand." Hiruzen replied in a tired tone. "And I guess I'll start reading through all this. Damn it, I'm gonna end up pulling all-nighters for a week because of all this god damn paperwork."

Alfonzo was certain that Hiruzen meant to speak that last sentence to himself. So, he did not comment on it. Instead, he stood up from his seat, finished his cup of tea, put the teacup back on the desk, and started walking towards the door to the office.

However, just as Alfonzo placed his hand on the doorknob, he turned around with an expression that would suggest he just remembered something.

"Oh, that's right." Alfonzo said, drawing Hiruzen's attention, who was trying to find the stack of documents with the oldest date on it. "Around the end of the month, on the twenty-eighth or twenty-ninth, I'll be taking Lici, Irene, and Ikaruga and leaving the village."

Hearing that, Hiruzen wore a surprised expression.

"There's no way you'll be done with all the training grounds by then, will you?" Hiruzen asked in a tone filled with disbelief.

"Nah, no way in hell." Alfonzo replied while waving dismissively at Hiruzen's question. "but the Grand Magic Games are coming up. And they start on the first of July. And I'll be damned if I'm not there to root for the team representing my guild."

"I see.' Hiruzen replied, allowing himself to relax a bit. "And I assume that means you'll be coming back after the Grand Magic Games conclude, correct?"

"That's right." Alfonzo replied with a nod. "It won't be right away, though. Lici's due to have our baby in August. So, I'll be staying in Magnolia for a while. Probably till the Harvest Festival. Oh, I'll be getting married again while I'm gone, too. You're welcome to attend if you can, by the way. After that, I'll be coming back. And I'll probably have a different group of companions, if that's okay with you."

"I see." Hiruzen replied, repeating his words from earlier. "I suppose that won't be a problem, as long as they are willing to follow the same rules as before."

"Yeah, that won't be a problem." Alfonzo replied. "I'm even planning to bring someone to help train one of your academy students. Her magic power control is really good. So, I wanna see if she's suitable for Tsunade's [Medical Ninjutsu]."

"Oh, are you referring to the Dragon Slayer girl Tsunade mentioned?" Hiruzen asked, brightening at the thought.

"Yeah, that's her." Alfonzo replied.

"Well then, if it's not too much trouble, do you think she would be interested in working at the village's hospital while she's here?" Hiruzen asked expectantly.

"I'll have to ask her." Alfonzo said. "but considering her nature, I'm sure she'd agree to that. Anyway, I'm gonna get outta here. I miss my wife."

With that, Hiruzen nodded his head, bid Alfonzo goodbye, and started looking through the stacks of documents again. Alfonzo, on the other hand, left Hiruzen's office before leaving the Hokage Tower and making his way back to the residence he shared with Elicia, Ikaruga, and Irene.

"Damn, that took way too fucking long." Alfonzo said as soon as he stepped out of the Hokage Tower. "It's already morning. Fuck… And right after I have breakfast with Lici and Irene, Kakashi's gonna show up and I'll have to go to work. Never mind, he's already here."

"Hey, good morning, Alfonzo." Kakashi said as he appeared next to Alfonzo in a swirl of leaves while reading a small book with an orange cover. "I hear you had a long night. You must be exhausted."

"*Sigh* Not really." Alfonzo replied. "I just miss cuddling with my Lici, that's all. Anyway, you stoppin' by for breakfast?"

*Snap!*

"Since you so generously offered." Kakashi said after snapping his book shut. "And since you've been out all night, we should get going. I'm sure Elicia misses you."

With that, Kakashi quickly put his book away. Then, he threw an arm over Alfonzo's shoulders, which looked quite comical considering that Alfonzo was 6'5" and Kakashi was 5'11", and started dragging him towards his residence.

Along the way, while Alfonzo and Kakashi were chatting, Alfonzo noticed one of the kids that train at his house after their day at the academy ends.

"Yo, Sasuke!" Alfonzo shouted, getting the younger boy's attention.

"Oh, Alfonzo." Sasuke said in a neutral tone after noticing who called his name. "Good morning."

With that, Sasuke approached Alfonzo and Kakashi. However, since he did not know Kakashi, he chose not to greet him. And Kakashi did not seem to mind. Instead, he pulled out his book again and started reading while waiting for Alfonzo to finish.

"You coming to the house tonight after school?" Alfonzo asked.

"Yeah, I'll be there." Sasuke said while clenching his fist. "I have to get stronger, otherwise I'll never be able to get revenge for my clan."

Hearing that, Kakashi stopped reading long enough to glance at Sasuke. Then, he shook his head before returning his attention to his book. Alfonzo, on the other hand, could only smile wryly.

"Well, I've got some stuff to give you when you come by." Alfonzo said. "And when you see them, you probably won't feel like training. But I'm sure you'll wanna see this, trust me."

In response, Sasuke furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. However, he could tell that Alfonzo had no intention of telling him anything about it until this afternoon. So, he simply nodded his head.

"Alright then, I'll see you later, Kid." Alfonzo said with a smile. "And don't let what I'm gonna show you later distract you at the academy. Because if I find out it did, I'll put you through a training regimen that will make Ikaruga's look like you were playing house."

Instead of recoiling, Sasuke's eyes lit up. It was clear he was willing to do anything to get stronger, including harsh training. Still, he nodded in understanding before bidding Alfonzo goodbye and continuing on his way to the academy.

"Ten thousand jewels says he lets himself be distracted on purpose." Kakashi said as he put his book away once again.

"I'll take that bet." Alfonzo replied with a smile.

Hearing that, Kakashi raised an eyebrow.

"Because if he gets distracted, there's a good chance someone in his class might surpass him." Alfonzo said, answering Kakashi's unasked question. "And he's way too prideful to let that happen. Anyway, let's get going, I'm getting hungry."

Remembering the breakfast invitation, Kakashi once again started dragging Alfonzo back to his house. And along the way, they continued to chat. And as they saw the other kids that trained at his house, Alfonzo would greet them with a smile.