Kapitel 7: Chapter 7-The Eyes of a Killer!
Chapter 7
HIRUZEN SARUTOBI
War was a game of deception. It was a game of minimizing your losses while maximizing your gains. It was brutal, unforgiving and reduced human lives to nothing but numbers and statistics on reports.
And right now, those numbers were not in Konoha's favor. They had not been in Konoha's favor for some time now, for all their strength and perseverance Konoha was having trouble facing the combined might of the two villages that followed it in strength and numbers.
Kumo and Iwa had no official alliance, but they both had set their mind to destroying Konoha and had aligned their forces for this very purpose. And now years into the war, Konoha's options were getting exhausted, their morale getting reduced as their forces got hammered down from all sides.
And if something was not done about this, Konoha could fall. It was why Hiruzen Sarutobi had to turn to his oldest friend, advisor to help him navigate through this great ordeal.
"So, you have decided to deploy the Uchiha boy once again," Danzo Shimura, his teammate, added as he scanned the map on his table with his sole eye. Hiruzen thought of the desperation that had forced him to play this hand.
"There is no better choice," he answered, and that was the dire state of things that Konoha had to rely on a rather fresh genin for their salvation.
Izuna Uchiha was the first born son of the Uchiha clan head, the young Uchiha was hailed as a prodigy since his birth, and alongside his clan mate Shisui Uchiha were the pride and joy of the Uchiha clan, that was until tragedy had struck and their team had been ambushed in their first ever outing ending in a massacre that had strained the village's relationship with the Uchiha clan, while robbing them of a talented jounin and two very promising genin.
"Look at yourself, Hiruzen," his oldest friend added with a smile, his eye narrowing as he added.
"Doing the very deed that you condemned me for," and those words stung, and yet he did not react as his own eyes narrowed.
"It is not the same thing," for while the world would know that the attack on Izuna Uchiha's team was a coincidence, he knew it was not. Despite his prowess, there was no reason for Izuna Uchiha's fame to reach beyond Konoha's borders, and yet, for some reason, it had.
And tragic as it was, it was much more common for villages to target young genin with greater potential that he would like to admit, for admitting so would be admitting to the failure of the dream of Konoha, the dream of Hashirama Senju.
"What you did was irresponsible and dangerous. It was a mistake that cost Konoha the trust of one of its major clans, a jounin and a very promising Genin in the form of Shisui Uchiha," he rebutted sharply, and yet Danzo scoffed.
"Believe what you may, but I did what I thought was the best for the village. I only wished to see the so-called prowess of the two Uchiha prodigies. It is just a shame that they could not live up to their fame. At least their deaths bought us some time," and Danzo's callous words made him think about the cruelty of war and how his friend had become so cynical, and yet, from a strategic point of view, he could see the little advantage he had bought.
"If only you had let me know that the boy was in after that, I would have trained him into a perfect sold..."
"Enough!" Hiruzen cut in as his friend shut his mouth at his command. He no longer wished to discuss this anymore, a topic he had already given his ruling on.
"As I told you then, Izuna Uchiha is a future clan head of the Uchiha clan. He is not a shinobi to be touched," he warned as his old friend nodded.
"As you say," Danzo backed off as Hiruzen sighed before turning towards the map once more.
"As we were discussing before, I plan to use the rumors surrounding the boy to draw Kumo's attention and keep their front line occupied," he added, for a while Kumo was strong and dangerous. The real threat to Konoha was from Iwa and the special squad they were preparing.
"And with that, do a surgical strike here," he pointed at the weakest link in Iwa's supply lines, the very place that was the lynchpin of their offensive.
"Kanabi bridge," Danzo added, and no doubt Danzo understood the strategic significance of the mission.
"But it will be a big gamble," Danzo added as he looked up.
"If you pull any major team from the front, Iwa would suspect the attack. We must appear to be preparing for a direct offense against their brigade and so will need to rely on a younger, less renowned, but extremely skilled unit for this mission," and that was exactly his own thought.
If he pulled out any of his major shinobi, Iwa would divert more of their own manpower to protect the bridge, hence making any attack useless.
The attack on Kanabi Bridge needed to be strategic and surprising.
"That is why I have called back Minato from the front, his team are set to participate in the Chunin graduations set to take place in a month," and that was his choice for the team that would carry out this mission.
"Namikaze's team," Danzo added, rubbing his chin and seeming impressed by the choice.
"I have heard interesting things about that one, more specifically about the young Hatake on that team," and half the village had.
Hatake Kakashi was a prodigy much like Izuna Uchiha and had been targeted similarly, though thankfully few could get through the monster that was Minato Namikaze, and yet his temperament made him and his team the perfect candidates for the mission.
"He would do nicely for this mission," Danzo agreed, and he smiled, seeing his friend agree with his own assessment.
"But we cannot simply rely on this," Shimura was quick to add.
"We both know enough that anything can happen when it comes to missions like this. I have confirmed the news about Iwa's new demolition squad myself, and they are as damning as they initially seemed. Konoha must prepare itself for the offensive regardless of this mission," Shimura added, and Hiruzen nodded.
"You must consider my opinion regarding using the Kyuubi jinchu..."
"NO!" Hiruzen had to cut in once more, as his chakra roared at the mere insinuation, and yet this time Shinura did not back off and continued.
"Each and every village uses its jinchuriki as weapons, and the Kyuubi is the strongest of the bijuu. Not using its jinchuriki is a putting yourself at a big disadvantage," Danzo argued, and he knew that, but the whole idea of behind the jinchuriki was to maintain peace for them to be guarantors of peace, and Hiruen did not wish to disregard the Shodaime's will like that.
And then there was the issue of just who the kyuubi jinchuriki was and how she was supposedly romantically involved with Minato Namikaze. If anything were to happen to her, the consequences for Konoha would be dire.
"No," he denied Danzo's argument once more.
"Using the Kyuubi jinchuriki is a last resort, and I will not discredit the Shodaime's vision and dream until I have exhausted all my options," he threatened sharply to warn him of any misadventure.
"And what other option do we have," Danzo asked.
"If Iwa can prepare a force thousand strong, so can we," Hiruzen answered, and that made Danzo frown, for they did not have the numbers to spare unless.
"The Reserves," Danzo realized, and he nodded.
"I have the reserves being trained by a squad of Tokubetsu jounin. A thousand reserves, that shall enter the battlefield if the need arises," he added, and Danzo nodded.
"You are rather stubborn, wasting over a thousand lives just so you can cling to what, dreams and vision of men long gone. You are a sentimental fool, Hiruzen," and Danzo's insults were scathing, but he had already made his decision.
"And yet it is I who sit in this chair at the moment, and this is what I have decided. You can make your own decision when you sit here. If you sit here," and he saw Danzo's lips thin at those words before his friend shook his head.
"We will see about that," and that was a possibility he had begun to consider. The war had aged him, and it had taken much from him, his family, his sons, and his youth. He was tired of it all: death, responsibility, and the never-ending game. And despite the reports, his instincts told him that the war would end soon. He knew not how.
But his instincts saw it, the war ending, and his mind was made that he would see this war to its end, but then no more. His reign as Hokage would end with the war.
And then the village would need a successor, and there were a few faces that came to his mind when he thought of that.
"Will the Uchiha boy even be ready for this. You have had him wasting his time in the hospital and with the jinchuriki for half a year, rather than letting me train him?" and that was a reasonable worry.
"I believe so, but I have asked Minato-kun to test the boy and see if he is ready or not. Regardless, he will have a month to train the boy himself to get him ready for the mission, but I believe you will be surprised by him," he added with a smile as Danzo raised a brow.
"And why is that?"
"Because I believe that anyone who can master iryo-ninjutsu in half a year is a shinobi to be feared....."
0000
Kato Shizune walked into the office of her sensei and the commander of Konoha's medical unit and was not surprised as she saw the mountains and mountains of files sitting atop a desk while the whole room reeked of alcohol.
"A message arrived from the Hokage office earlier," she began as she walked towards the desk, and her voice made the person sitting there look up with a raised brow.
"Izuna Uchiha is being pulled from the hospital," and that was a tragedy, and yet if her sensei's expression was anything to go by, then she did not agree with her opinion.
"Good," she eeked out in a slurry tone as Lady Tsunade pushed herself up and shook her head.
"That boy never had the soul of an iryo-nin," she added, making her frown.
"What do you mean?" she asked, and that gaze sharpened.
"You never saw it, did you?" she could tell that her sensei was drunk, yet she did not stop her as she scoffed and continued.
"Of course, you wouldn't know where to look now, would you?" and with that, she turned towards the window.
"Because those were not the eyes of a iryo-nin. No, those were the eyes of a killer. A cold hearted, stone cold killer...."
0000
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PS: We are finally done with world and lore-building. Izuna's POV in next chap.
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