Chapter 36: Hiruzen to the Rescue
"As the Hokage, I'm telling you to shut your mouth. I'll forgive you for what you did, but you'll have to pay the price." Hiruzen cut him off and gave out his command.
Danzo felt frustrated, but it wasn't the worst case scenario.
'As long as he dies before me and the other hokage candidates get eliminated, I'll be the next person to take that seat.' he thought as he agreed to Hiruzen's command.
"What do you want me to do then?"
"Well, there's this talented kid I've taken under my tutelage and he's from the aburame clan that you like a lot. From what I've seen, it looks like he's interested in researching the bugs or whatever, so I want you to provide him with whatever he needs." Hiruzen replied as he went according to the plan he had heard from his beloved student.
Danzo was interested. In fact, this was the first time that someone planned on performing experiments on bugs, so even if it was a kid, Danzo already gave him half of his approval since he was an Aburame and wanted to do something that would indirectly benefit Danzo.
If that's the case, then why would he reject something like that? He turned to look at Orochimaru, who did not look pleased, but Danzo wasn't happy with the results that Orochimaru was giving him recently.
"Sure, he can use our labs and he can also read the scrolls where my past researchers recorded their research data. But, he'll have to work with Orochimaru as he's also using the lab."
When he heard Danzo's words, Hiruzen nodded, "Okay, he'll join you guys from tomorrow. Just in case, I'll tell you directly Danzo. If something happens to Kira, forget taking away your position as the Root's leader. I'll make sure to publicly execute you.
Orochimaru, take care of Kira. He's like a little brother to you as he's your direct junior."
Orochimaru silently nodded even though he wasn't really happy with the recent arrangements.
"Okay, I'll see that kid tomorrow. Both of you should leave." Danzo said as he glanced at the fierce looking Raichi who seemed to have been doing his best to keep his anger under control.
Hiruzen patted the guy's back and led him outside the root's headquarters, leaving Danzo confused on the reason why Hiruzen had come to the root headquarters.
'Where did the plan go wrong?' he thought, but before he could start assessing the answer, a member of the root hurriedly ran towards him.
"Lord Danzo, ferret has been found and taken by the Hyuga. It wasn't the twins who went to the place, but their father. Based on the report, he saw a pit that had been dug out and when he activated his byakugan, he easily spotted our spy."
Danzo nodded, "It's fine. He died for the right cause."
******
Danzo's spy was actually spying on the area, but he didn't expect Kira to become a grave robber and steal the entire head.
He saw Kira run for a while and suddenly, he vanished from where he was. Just as the root member was about to give chase, his sensory bug gave him a signal that meant that someone was coming and this time, it was the Hyugas, his actual target.
Kira had narrowly escaped the fate of meeting this group as there was one main clan memeber, the current leader of the Hyuga clan and along with him, was a group of 15 side branch Hyugas.
With so many byakugans searching for someone, there was no way that the member of the root would be able to escape even if he was an Aburame.
Kira on the other hand, teleported directly to the Hokage office and showed the head to Hiruzen instead. As for the reason why he did this instead of going to Raichi? It was due to doubt.
What if Raichi was actually the person who killed Taka? Some of the details made this theory make more sense, so Kira decided that going to the Hokage was a safer choice.
As for why he had doubts? It was because the head was hung up at a perfect timing. He would pass through that particular route twice. Once to hunt and once to get back to the camp and rest.
There was only one person who was supposed to be keeping an eye on him and the possibility of this person being Raichi was way higher than the other options. After all, he was the one who assigned this task for Kira and since he was the one who was keeping an eye on him for safety purposes, he would clearly know his habits and schedule.
There was also the fact that Raichi had not seen anyone enter the forest of death, which he should have if someone else went inside.
As for why Kira went to Hiruzen? It was because as long as the person behind this wasn't Danzo, then that person would be heavily punished. And if it actually was Danzo, then Kira had other plans.
When Hiruzen heard Kira's version of the story, he called the anbu black ops and asked them one question.
"Where is Raichi?"
One of them took a step forward and began speaking, "I'm the one who was tasked to spy on him and he's currently in his hou- no he suddenly stared running."
There was silence for a while before he began to speak once again, "He's running towards... the place where your student, Orochimaru is doing his research at."
"Okay, you're dismissed. Continue keeping an eye on him." he said and once the anbu were gone, he turned to look at Kira.
"This is something that only the adults should be involved in. You should go back home."
Kira gave him a betrayed look but didn't refute his words. Instead, he talked about his bugs.
"Sensei, I heard about the Root from my grandpa and even though I have no plans on joining that organisation, I heard that they have really nice labs for experimentation. If it's possible, could you let me use those labs so I can experiment on bugs?" he asked, not mentioning the fact that the root was under someone else's control.
"Come with me, we'll talk while we run." Hiruzen said as he humped out the window and began running over the buildings with Kira right beside him.
He glanced at Kira and said, "Why not just use the labs that are under me?"
"They're good, but I feel like one of the three legendary sannin, lord Orochimaru has way more experience and knowledge when it comes to working on living things like snakes." he said, stopping himself from saying the word; humans.
"Fine, but it'll depend on the situation there. For now, just go back home and come talk to me tomorrow." Hiruzen said, to which Kira replied with a nod and used Flying Raijin to teleport back to his room.
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