Refuge In Audacity - 4

"Hokage-sama?" Kurenai's voice broke him from his thoughts.

Hiruzen coughed, "Sorry, you're dismissed, I was caught up thinking," he smiled at the Jonin and her team, "You know how old minds like mine tend to wander." he joked.

She smiled back at him briefly, before bowing her head and escorting her team out.

Hiruzen wasted no time in excusing himself from the mission desk and making his way back to his office.

He ruminated on the last part of the message Jiraiya had sent him.

'The way he's set up the seal is incredibly risky, the Sanbi could leave at any point it wants. Honestly, it should have left right after helping him out, it can't be that grateful, right? Honestly, I've never spoke to any of the Bijuu, the most I know is from Kushina talking about the Kyuubi. But…the kid was happy to explain why, and what a doozy it is. The Sanbi itself feels safer inside the kid. The kid apparently is willing to work with it and that makes a big difference for it, especially with what the Sanbi itself apparently claims, enough to the point where it's willing to lend the kid its full power if he asks for it. The Former Mizukage, he was being controlled, by a man with a Sharingan, claiming to be Madara Uchiha. Bullshit of course, the man is long dead, but, we've got an AWOL Uchiha out there who isn't Itachi Uchiha, cuz' apparently he actually attacked the former Mizukage as well at some point, and this mystery Uchiha has the ability to control a Kage with his eyes alone.'

Hiruzen grimaced.

Madara Uchiha. Someone claiming to be him, with the visual prowess to control a kage, was not someone to be taken lightly. Not at all the real Madara's style, he'd only met the man a few times as a lad himself, but he was aware of what type of person he was, anyone who met the man was.

His wife, dearly departed Biwako had met him as a child herself, and even just the man smiling at her had terrified her to the bone.

'Perhaps a direct descendent?' he thought to himself. Madara spent much time outside the village before he went rogue and had his climactic battle to the end with Hashirama-sama.

The man's disgust for his own clan later was well established as well, so it was unlikely he had any descendants within the village before the Uchiha Massacre.

'How troubling.' Hiruzen entered his office, collapsing on his chair and rubbing his forehead.

Tensions with the Sand were rising every single day and Onoki was always watching and waiting, sitting on that fence of his and prepared to strike if the opportunity presented itself.

And he could never tell what way Kumo would go, but he knew already that they were well prepared should a new war break out.

…Still, it seemed a silver lining had come from the machinations of this mysterious Uchiha.

'Daiki-kun has the full might of a Bijuu behind him.' Hiruzen mused. That...that was splendid news, especially confirmed by Jiraiya. The situation would still bare watching closely, but…

Hiruzen's eyes drifted to the bottom of the scroll where Jiraiya described the rough plan to capture the Sanbi and keep it docile.

…Daiki had both the equipment and the doujutsu now that were used, so if the Sanbi did act up, he should be capable of subduing it on his own quite possibly, especially considering the fact he had apparently gotten good enough already to replicate the seal he'd seen used on the Nanabi Jinchuuriki.

Such stupendous talent for the art. The old man eyes drifted to one of the fou pictures hanging on the wall of his office, one depicting a handsome, blonde haired man, "Perhaps he'll rival you in a few years?" he mused

Daiki had really went beyond the call of duty. And according to Jiraiya, the boy had been prepared to lose his life in the process just to attempt to stop their plans for the Leaf Village. Thankfully, the boy was intelligent and picked his timing well, when his opponents were at their very weakest, putting good use to that ruthless ability he had during combat that Kakashi reported of during his mission towards the Waterfall Village.

His Will of Fire burned brightly indeed.

'Ah Genma-kun, if only you had looked just a bit deeper.' Hiruzen shook his head. Alas, Genma had wanted a full team of his own, not an apprentice, so no matter how young Daiki impressed him with his talent during his test, it was his teammates that became the weights too heavy for his talent alone to carry.

He idly remembered the academy report on the boy. Iruka had personally written his file, noting how the boy was above average in all aspects of being a shinobi, but spread himself too thin, he had been lacking direction as a shinobi and that if he had focused more on one or two aspects of being a shinobi over them all, he would have most likely been a contender for the strongest in his graduating class, and even then, if kept up the rate of growth he was at anyone in all disciplines, he would most likely be a Jonin in all aspects by his early twenties, which in of itself was very impressive.

'Or he could work just that much harder.' Hiruzen mused. After he had a nasty run in with Iwa shinobi on his first C-rank mission and only narrowly avoided losing his life, the boy had thrown himself into his training in a way that would stupefy even Gai.

Draining his chakra to the barest hints left before chakra exhaustion, physically training until his body was numb and his muscles crying for rest. Every single day, only to then increase that training when he got his hands on the Mystical Palm Jutsu and used it to increase the rate at which his physical conditioning progressed.

Looking at the boy objectively, he was by far the most stand out of his generation, even beyond the likes of Sasuke Uchiha and Neji Hyuga. He was strong for his age, dutiful to his training, beyond dutiful, pragmatic, no hesitation in dealing with enemy combatants permanently, had the intelligence to do well in most situations, had no fear to face stronger opponents, was bold, decisive, cunning and cared for his comrades.

Hiruzen had been impressed by his training ethic when he looked in on the boy, Kakashi, putting aside the mans amusement in teasing the boy, had nothing but good things to say about him, and even Jiraiya seemed to be praising the boy as well.

He would definitely go far in the future, that was for sure, 'Perhaps he'll take over for me one day?' Hiruzen mused with a small chuckle.

Give it a few years, the boy may just approach Kakashi's level, perhaps even beyond. And with the full power of a Bijuu behind him…

Well, the boy would not lack for the strength needed for the role. And he had the fire to put his own life on the line to protect the village. All that was truly needed, was to see how well he led others and he could gain that experience as a chunin for sure.

…Yes, that might not be a bad idea. 'I'm not getting any younger after all.' Hiruzen snorted.

It was about time a new candidate for the Godaime stepped up to the plate, the only two on the table right now were Kakashi and Jiraiya after all, and Jiraiya would never accept the role.