Kapitel 170: Ch170. Trouble brewing
"What did you do?" Hiruzen asked, puffing on his pipe while half-glaring at Danzo who stoically stood in front of his desk.
"I have no idea what you are talking about, Hiruzen." Danzo answered, his eyes showing confusion while his expression was as if set in stone.
Partially, he was telling the truth. Danzo simply did so many things that he really had no idea what exactly Hiruzen meant. 'How the heck did he even discover anything suspicious?' Danzo thought while internally frowning. He spent the majority of his time covering the tracks so this entire meeting was highly unusual and a very surprising thing to happen.
"What am I talking about?" Hiruzen almost quietly asked, his rage flashing through his eyes. This was something Danzo got to see only very rarely. The expression full of anger filled with the promise of pain...
'Uh, oh...' He thought warily but he really had no idea what Hiruzen meant. "Yes. Tell me... please." He added to show some measure of respect. An enraged monkey was very hard to deal with, after all.
Hiruzen's expression twisted but he barely kept calm, just throwing a letter at Danzo who caught it with almost practiced ease.
"Read!"
Danzo furrowed his brows at the pissed tone of his long-time 'friend' and started reading the letter. The more he read, the more his always-expressionless poker face came closer to breaking from the sheer shock he was feeling.
But before Danzo could voice out any of his doubts, Hiruzen started speaking, "How about explaining why ROOT is still in function? I remember very well that years ago I gave the order to disband it, Danzo!"
Silence descended on the office as the air between Danzo and Hiruzen turned chilly, both staring at the other with unflinching determination in a powerful show of wills. What was really surprising though... was the result.
Hiruzen slightly lowered his head, not enough for it to be taken as defeat or, Sage forbids, submission... only enough to show how tired he was at having to wipe Danzo's ass.
"I am not angry because ROOT is still operating." Hiruzen wearily sighed as he started talking in an old and tired tone, "That was given the second you tried to assassinate me after the death of Fourth Hokage on my way to the Fire Daimyo to reintroduce myself as the new temporary Hokage."
"I never did that. You must be mista-" Danzo started but Hiruzen just dismissively waved him off with his free hand, not even bothering to acknowledge the excuse.
"No, Danzo. What I am really angry at you for is the blatant stupidity showcased here." Hiruzen's voice started to slowly but surely get stronger, "If you want to lead a freaking SECRET organization with no ties to Konoha, DO NOT teach your emotionless drones to introduce themselves as 'Roots of Konoha' during their supposedly secret missions, for fucks sake!" By the end, Hiruzen was standing on his feet, clasping on his chest while breathing hard from yelling at Danzo.
Danzo however just simply grimaced knowing the cat was out of the bag. Not because of the letter. Not because the Hokage knew. But because this situation did not give any sense whatsoever for Danzo and the old monkey was his best bet to make at least some sense out of it. Oh, he didn't want to... how he didn't want to speak with Hiruzen openly about ROOT. Danzo was not an idiot and knew this probably would be used by Hiruzen later down the line to majestically screw him over but Konoha now faced a serious threat so the cards had to be put on the table.
"ROOT didn't do it." Danzo said impassively, letting his face relax into a wide scowl.
It was an open secret among the members of Hiruzen's genin team that while Danzo had an impressive poker face that simply could not be seen through, the second the man relaxed his facial muscles, his act was utterly incapable of masking what he really thought. This was a big part of the reason why Danzo always wore his grim look. Which was why Hiruzen believed every word coming out of Danzo's mouth the second he saw his confused and enraged scowl.
"I have no memory of allowing such a mission."
Danzo was the head of ROOT. That simply meant he was the one who handed out missions to his ninjas and he knew one thing for sure. He did not send even one of his ninjas to the Land of Snow in decades. Hence...
"The report is bullshit, you want to say?" Hiruzen flopped back down into his chair, not knowing what to think anymore.
First, a few days ago he received a report that there was an attempt at revolt in the Land of Snow. This didn't mean much at the first glance but since then, he always had some pretentious noble from the capitol 'visiting' Konoha in the guise of the treaties between the village and the Daimyo slightly changing in the favor of the Daimyo. Honestly, Hiruzen was too old and tired to care about these small things.
Who cared if ninjas were not allowed to step into the Daimyo palace without an escort from the Daimyo's ninja guards? Who cared if they had to report their presence in the capital to a special secret Samurai guardsmen? Konoha was not revolting anytime soon, plus missions in the capital were almost as rare as SS-rank ninjas so these 'restrictions' had basically no effect on the village at all. Still... it was very time-consuming and tiring to have talks with nobles, even if they were about unimportant things that would simply reassure Daimyo about their loyalty.
Hiruzen thought that was the end of the Land of Snow fiasco but he was clearly wrong.
After the Daimyo of the Land of Snow won against the rebels, which didn't take even a day, an impressive feat in Hiruzen's opinion... Yukigakure simply gave up two days later. Well, nobody could blame them, really. The really important people of the village were killed in the revolt and what was left was not strong enough to even be called a village. They should be happy the Daimyo didn't outright disband the village for how weak it was.
And therein laid the current problem. The letter, which was still tightly clutched in Danzo's angry grip just as he started speaking.
"Yes! I have never sent my ninjas so far north and nobody trained by me would act like an idiot! Announcing where they come from? That-"
"That. Doesn't. Matter!" Hiruzen gritted out. Danzo was pushed too far too suddenly and Hiruzen couldn't believe this made his friend blind to the real matter at hand! "The most important thing is that ROOTs existence was revealed! This is an official complaint letter from the Daimyo of the Land of Snow on behalf of Yukigakure for the actions of Konoha's 'secret' ROOT division!"
Danzo suddenly grew pale... "Meaning the dignitaries of other countries will have free access to it." He muttered almost wordlessly, causing Hiruzen to stiffly nod.
ROOT was an incredible concept but it only worked if they were totally secret even from the higher-ups of Konoha. Over the years, the organization did various things and caused mayhem in too many places. The only saving grace was nobody knew they belonged to Konoha. Oh, people suspected but that was it. Suspicion was at the end of the day just... suspicion.
The second evidence starts coming about ROOT being Konoha's division though... all the families of the victims of assassinations... Danzo could almost see the map of the Elemental Nations getting painted in the colors of Konoha enemies. After all, every eyewitness that caught even a glance of the blank white mask with the words 'ROOT' on it, now knew to blame Konoha for it.
"Kidnapping a member of the Yukimi clan from the village and having over a hundred eye-witnesses to the said red-haired female agent's introduction as somebody belonging to ROOT..." Hiruzen continued, "It honestly would not matter and we could just dismiss it as lies. The Daimyo of the Land of Snow would have no leverage... if only the Biri-Biri company didn't join the fray and confirm his claims to be truthful. The same Biri-Biri company that holds incredibly high relations with many Daimyo's, important nobles, and wealthy merchants. The same Biri-Biri company that is one of the richest in the world. The same Biri-Biri company... that was totally impartial and has the best reputation there is."
"The same Biri-Biri company we desperately need if we want to recover after the Kyuubi attack in a reasonable time-frame." Danzo finished it for Hiruzen.
This was the main problem. The Daimyo of the Land of Snow somehow managed to convince the Biri-Biri company to support his claims. Frankly, Hiruzen didn't think this was hard. It was a well-known fact that Biri-Biri and Snow Corporation never clashed and their relationship was very cordial.
The men stared at each other silently before Hiruzen decided to act like a Hokage for a moment, "I want you to disband ROOT. This time for real, Danzo." He started in a commanding tone, "I let it go on for far too long. Its presence became detrimental for the village. A week later, an emissary of the Biri-Biri company will arrive in Konoha in order to negotiate the reparations for the acts of ROOT in their lands. We both know it doesn't matter if it was your ninja or not or even if the accusation is actually real. There is simply too much political power being thrown around and too little time to prove ourselves innocent." Hiruzen sadly shook his head, ending his speech. Konoha needed the goods of the Biri-Biri company... and the Fire Daimyo was far too friendly to their representative in the capital of the Land of Fire to ignore the company. The best Hiruzen could do was to go head-first into this already lost negotiation with their emissary and try to reduce any sort of payment they would ask for while keeping their relationship on a good basis.
Hearing Hiruzen's order, Danzo just turned on his heel and silently left the office, silently swearing to find out who played him for a fool. Without the support of so many Daimyo, Konoha could just throw around its weight and past achievement but now... 'Damn it all to hell! So many years of my effort wasted in a blink of an eye!'
The second Danzo closed the door behind himself, a man appeared from the shadow of Hokage's chair, "Will he really do it? Disband the ROOT?"
Hiruzen could only exasperatedly yet tiredly shake his head.
"If only, Raido-kun... if only."
Kapitel 171: Ch171. Visit to Konoha
"Welcome in Konoha, Miss Kona." Hiruzen greeted the representative of Biri-Biri, a pale-skinned woman with shoulder-long blue hair, clad in an azure kimono as her discerning and sharp amber eyes glanced right and left from person to person, measuring them. Hiruzen's stomach sank at the sight. He never expected the 'negotiator' would be the previous president of the Biri-Biri company!
Konan, or as she was known by her alias, Na Kona, came to Konoha to negotiate the reimbursement Yukigakure would receive for the attempt to kidnap a member of the Yukimi clan, the founding clan of Yukigakure, and a blatant attack on the village, which was actually a breach of the peace treaty signed after the third ninja war between all the ninja villages.
Most villages in one form or another broke the treaty but the important thing was to keep it all hush-hush. If it came to the light and was important enough... a situation like this could easily happen. Konan couldn't help but grit her teeth hard in order to prevent herself from mockingly grinning like a loon and she was still unable to wipe the smile from her face completely. The most she managed was to keep her lips set in a small gentle smile.
Normally, an accusation such as this would mean shit and would be completely ignored. Normally, Konan would be laughed off with some crap-like excuse from the Hokage and that would be it but...
'Rei really had a good idea with making Biri-Biri the picture of neutrality and making connections with every important Daimyo family there is. One word from us and suddenly, this became the talk of the year... better yet, nobody can accuse us of siding with Yukigakure, much less being the one who orchestrated all of this. I mean… what could possibly be our reason to do so, right?' Konan mirthfully thought while exchanging pleasantries with Hokage and his council. The Biri-Biri company was simply too important to ignore and so this entire thing was blown out of proportion so fast, Konoha had no time to counter-attack.
A mere dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure became something every country closely watched. This... was the closest the countries got to the start of the fourth ninja war since the third ended. Konoha was weakened beyond belief after the Kyuubi attack and only the peace treaty and Hiruzen's swift orders to strengthen the borders prevented the war from breaking out again right after that incident. God knows Kumo certainly wanted to jump at Konoha at the earliest opportunity.
And now… who would have thought Konoha would have the guts to blatantly break the peace treaty when that piece of paper was half the reason why Kumo and Iwa sat tight in their villages instead of marching to Konoha and razing it to the ground out of sheer spite.
The reason why Konan found this situation so hilarious was that she knew Konoha was completely innocent in the matter. After all, it was her who took Yuriko away from Yukigakure and Yuriko was in no way a happy citizen as it was portrayed in the complaint. The supposed ROOT ninja was just Mei in disguise and yet... Konoha was unable to say anything in their defense because of the division in the village. Heck, most jonin doesn't even know that ROOT existed.
Danzo can say his ROOT didn't do it all he wanted but Hiruzen has no idea what ROOT actually does. He knows nothing about their missions and Danzo's assurances were, quite literally, worthless in this situation. Even if Danzo let the ANBU search through ROOT headquarters and gave all documentation to Hokage, which he would never do, it would not help because a simple 'you must be hiding the documents' or 'you already destroyed them' would suffice to completely shut him up. There was simply no proof ROOT didn't do it and at this point, it didn't even matter if ROOT actually was responsible. Konoha had to grit their teeth and pay up to prevent a war they were in no shape to fight.
"I must say, I am very grateful to the Biri-Biri company for stepping in and preventing a war from breaking out because of this incident, Miss Kona." Hiruzen amiably said, gesturing at a pre-prepared chair for Konan.
Konna chuckled, unable to keep it in. The man was actually thanking HER.
"No, no... war would simply postpone too many of our projects so we decided to step in and use our influence to resolve this dispute between Konoha and Yukigakure." Konan answered while shaking her head as she sat down on the luxurious chair.
Any Konoha ninja would know Konan was somebody important the second he got to know she received a chair in front of the council. In order to show their importance, anyone answering to the council was left standing in front of them.
"Well, then, gentlemen..." Konan took the lead in the discussion. She crossed her legs and put her hands on her knees while leaning her body slightly forward as her amber eyes gleamed in excitement. "Shall we begin the negotiation?"
...
Konan naturally didn't come to Konoha alone. She was supposed to be an important person and that meant a bunch of bodyguards and attendants. These people were currently housed at the best hotel in the village, finally resting after a long trip. It was already evening when they arrived in Konoha and they knew they would probably stay a few days in the village until the negotiations were over. Moreover, tomorrow, Konan will most likely assign them some kind of work so they wanted to enjoy their free time to the fullest while they could.
Only one of Konan's tag-alongs did not share this mindset.
Ringo sneaked out of her room, clad in black clothes heading to fulfill her own mission while Konan provided a distraction by requesting the council to gather despite it being practically already a night.
'Heh, everybody is so focused on these negotiations, even the patrols are lighter than what they normally should be.' Ringo thought as she slipped past two chunins hidden on a rooftop, watching the still-busy street. She basically stood only a few meters away from them but Ringo was not one of the best Kiri assassins for nothing. The chunins had no idea she was ever there. 'Hmm, correction. Konoha is just incompetent.'
Continuing through the empty back alleys and occasionally using rooftops to get to her target, Ringo finally landed in a crouch on the rooftop next to the orphanage. Staying hidden for an entire hour as she observed the surroundings.
Done with observation, her eyes darted to the right, towards an old house opposite the orphanage, while narrowing, 'The first set of guards...' She spotted the ninjas occasionally taking a peek through the window. Ringo clicked her tongue as she looked to the left where a restaurant was located. 'Two watching from there.' These two were actually very well hidden and only their unnatural interest in the orphanage gave them away.
"And if my chakra sensing is true, three more are hidden inside the orphanage. Daaamn~, this is pain." Ringo quietly complained to herself as her body started to move again.
While she was observing the situation, a clone of hers disguised herself with make-up and found a spot close-by the two observers in the restaurant. Getting a signal from the original, it quickly used an invisible chakra string to trip a nearby waitress, causing her to spill the contents of her tray right onto the disguised ninjas. Needless to say, both of the observers quickly stopped paying attention to the orphanage when their hair was full of sticky noodles.
The two in the restaurant solved, only the two in the house opposite the orphanage became a problem. Well, not really. They only looked out of the window occasionally unlike the two in the restaurant who stared at the building almost religiously. Ringo simply sneaked inside the orphanage right after the ninja behind the window turned around.
'And I only have to avoid the three nuisances inside.' She thought as she silently walked through the dark hall. By now, it was way past curfew and the children were already asleep while the workers could be heard talking in the kitchen, the only lit room in the whole building. Ringo simply silently ran like a shadow around the open door to the kitchen, heading towards the room with the younger kids.
Finally getting to the door behind which her target slept, she could feel three adult presences inside. Suddenly, Ringo's smile widened into a predatory grin when one of them felt somehow emotionless. 'Heh... let's see how this will work!'
Crane, a member of Konoha ANBU, was watching the young two-year-old Jinchuuriki sleeping after yet another day of being rejected by the kids and caretakers alike. It was a bit of a bother to stay silently put in the corner and observe the kid. Really, for two years nobody even came close to threaten his life, and yet, he and Bear had to watch him.
'Maybe it's time to finally resign from ANBU?' Crane contemplated, knowing well he took this mission upon himself because he was as lazy as any Nara. After all, two years of peace in ANBU? He basically exploited the situation to make his career skyrocket! And...
Suddenly his eyes were attracted to a closet inside the room where a small amount of lightning crackled. Crane's eyes widened as he realized, 'Shit! We are not alone!'
Before he could even attempt to sign his companion, Bear, to be silent, a man wearing a mask with ROOT on the forehead ran out of the closet and in one move jumped outside through the window.
The two Konoha ANBU watched dumbfounded for a second before their brains rebooted and both promptly gave chase...
Ringo stepped into the room through the door, amusedly watching both guards running after the ROOT operative. Honestly, she thought one would stay behind to watch the kid but she was apparently wrong.
"Well, an easier job for me, I guess." She shrugged and approached the sleeping blond kid.
Putting her pointing finger on his forehead, Ringo flared her chakra into her hand, activating the seal put there by Rei before she left Uzushio. She watched as the Kanji from the seal slithered down her hand onto the kid's forehead where they set themselves in a circle before promptly disappearing under his skin.
"Rei said he has no idea what to expect from this, kid," Ringo whispered to the sleeping boy, "but I hope, for your own sake, you won't end up like me. Brainwashed and willing to sacrifice yourself for ungrateful ingrates who couldn't be bothered to throw you away on the first opportunity after you lose your usefulness. I guess... only time will tell."
Ringo turned around and silently left. The rest... was not her problem.
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