บท 28: A few days ago Root Compound

This takes place after Danzo receives his new eyes. After the Grass village mission before the training exercise.

Danzo arrived at Root headquarters from his secret entrance.

"Greetings Lord Danzo. Hope everything is ok... your face." A root Jonin greeted. He was shocked to see Danzo's exposed face. Even more shocking was the eye formed in its socket. It looked just like his original. "Who are you!?"

"At ease, Nightwolf. Gather everyone. There is much to discuss." Danzo ordered sternly. "A number of plans must be evaluated."

"Schup," the root member disappeared.

In a few moments, key members of Root gathered.

Danzo gazed out at each of them. His eyes hypnotic as he mesmerized all his members. A wave of chakra insnared them all for a moment. Several of them coughed up a bunch of poisons.

"You have been cured of the intense Illusions you were placed under. Now for your vows for the village. All of you had agreed to the training but, what will you do now?"

Some of the ninjas rose to there feet.

"We will stand by Root!"

They said one by one.

"Good. Today is a day of rest. We will all recuperate. Tomorrow we double our training and efforts. The Leaf Village will never have another Nine-Tails event. Or any other massacre again. Is that clear!"

"Yes, Lord Danzo."

"Dismissed!" Danzo walked away followed by his personal attendants. Reaching his office he sat down and calmy thought about today and the future.

His attendants looked at one another. Neither wanted to be first to ask what's going on. The blond haired one decided to ask first. His name was Yoto.

"Lord Danzo, what is going on?"

"The village has someone new. Someone we can trust, for now anyway." Looking over to his people he continued. "He is related to the Senju clan as well as the Uzumaki's. He gave me these eyes as well as the youthful appearance. I am back to my prime with a stronger body. My techniques and knowledge work in tandem perfectly."

"Are we still taking over the Leaf Village?" Yoto asked. "With you even stronger now it should be much easier."

"No, we won't," Danzo said shaking his head. "New information speaks about a war coming up. I won't have the village weaken. I also have come to terms with something. I am not fit to be Hokage. It takes a more compassionate man to lead the way the village is. If this was the mist, sand, cloud, or stone village I would make a perfect Kage."

"So what now?" Yoto pressed. "Do we abandoned all plans?"

"No. Next time that snake makes his presence known... inform me immediately." Danzo said. Hatred burning in his eyes. "He will pay for placing me in those illusions. As well as manipulating my people. No one messes with Root!"

His followers took a step back when they felt the rise in chakra from there master.

"Drip, drip" Blood droplets fell from Danzo's eyes and landed on his desk.

"Kook, what's happening?" Danzo asked grabbing at his head. Black chakra poured off him and vanished into nothingness.

"Rip" A portal opened up. Out stepped Kai-La as well as Gemini. A small section appeared on his mask near the mouth.

"Who are you?!" The Root member asked charging at Kai-La the moment he appeared. Gemini took a defensive stance and prepared for battle.

Kai-La took a small breath and blew outward. Freezing the Root members in their place immediately.

"How rude. But then again, I guessed I should have knocked. But there wasnt a doorbell. Anyway, Danzo relax. Your eyes are just evolving. Nothing bad anyway." Kai-La said smirking behind his mask. Even though his face wasn't visible, Danzo studied the man enough already to know there was no ill-intent.

A few minutes passed with the blood seeping into Danzos flesh. His eyes now had double pupils instead. The colored stayed the same.

"Ugh, that was interesting," Danzo said as he leaned back in his chair deactivating his eyes. "Why are you here Lord Senju?"

"Oh to talk. Also to request some bodies. Need them... for some work. Yeah, I need to perform a test, that's it. Prisoners mind you. People you have gotten everything you needed from and have no real value." Kai-La said as he passed his heat ray over the frozen ninja freeing them.

"I see. Glad I can help you. I thank you for sparing my subordinates. I would be quite revised for them to have died." Danzo said tapping a button in a drawer. "If you will, mind telling me about what just happened."

"No problem. The eyes.. I gave you. They are the eyes of Loyalty and Truth you could say. If you betray me or the village, the light will fade from them. If you lie to me the power will weaken as well. However, if you continue to abide by your word and honor the agreement" Kai-La paused while scanning outside the room. Watching as the ninja fell back and went to work he relaxed. "The eyes will continue to evolve. How far they go even I haven't thought that far," he said to Danzo.

"Sigh" taking a deep breath Danzo relaxed. For a moment he thought he would have to fight Kai-La. Confident in himself and his troops he believed they would win. But the cost would be too high.

Danzo was a smart man. He knew when something was good and when something would be a bad idea. Ever since he received the eyes he has been able to think clearer. Less nagging thoughts in the back of his head as well.

"Lord Senju, " Danzo calmed himself and figure it was the right time to ask all the questions he needed to know right now.

"Go ahead. Ask away."

"When you gave me the eyes, what else did you do?"

"Oh asking the smart questions. I placed some of my chakras in you as well. This helped clean your body out and removed all the contaminated cells as well. This was the best way for me to use my technique to remove the illusions and brainwashing you were under."

"So what now?" Danzo eyed him intrigued. "You want Root to disband as well?"

"What, not at all. I know for fact, this type of organization needs to exist. In a time of war, the darkest organization is what gets the job done. You should not be Hokage that is a fact. But Root is needed. Hiruzen cannot keep this village safe with his ideas." Kai-La was no fool. Especially coming from the modern era he knew better. "If you keep it rainbows and butterflies you end up with another whirlpool incident."

"A peaceful outlook cannot protect a nation. If there is no tension. Working together for the betterment of everyone will only work if there is equal footing. Right now, there is no equal footing. The incident with the Seven Swordsman for one is a good example. As well as the tension with the cloud village."

"Ah, you believe they will make a move next year? No.. you know they will don't you?" Danzo asked. He was not surprised he had the info on that village next move. Considering how he was able to out the secrets he himself had.

"A combined force of (Kirigakure no Sato) Hidden Mist Village, (Kumogakure no Sato) Hidden Cloud Village and (Iwagakure no Sato) Hidden Stone Village attacked us. All in an effort to eliminate us with minimal losses on their side. Our so-called allies didn't help us. I want to know why the Leaf village didn't retaliate? I can understand the other villages. They were to small power wise. But you all, why the hell not?"

"I figure this would happen. Here this will explain it all." Danzo reached into his robes and handed over a scroll. Flicking his wrist the seals broke off.

The top part of the scrolls metal bands crumbled. A small symbol on the center of the scroll caught Kai-La's attention first. An organization of 10 circular dots. They were the main focus of the picture. The picture itself showed the landscape of the Continent. Over the location where the Whirlpool village was an X. Over at another location in the desert north of the village hidden in the sand was another x.

"So far all information on this has been sparse. I was unable to recover much from the locations. To many chakra beasts running rampant. As well as all ninja reporting having issues with stomach problems and headaches after being there for more than two hours. It was best we pull out till a later time." Danzo said as he read from another piece of paper. "For the most part, the locations bare resemblances to temples."

Kai-La studied the map/picture for a while. Rolling it up he stored it away. Looking to Danzo he no longer hesitated in his next decision.

"Who had this?"

"A cloud jounin, he had quite a few other high-level jounin with him as well. The members of the Hatake clan did a good job retrieving this. But later most died to grievous injuries they had sustained. All except one anyway. I believe he is still in the medical wing recovering."

"He is still alive? What exactly is wrong with him?" Kai-La asked. His tone had turned to a more inquisitive one now.

"Yes. But he has lapsed into a deep sleep, however. Most of our personnel with mental techniques have not been able to discover anything. We speculate he will be able to survive another 10 years or so. Would you like to meet him?"

"Yes, I do. But not today enough has taken place already. I will come another time." Kai-La said shaking his head. Looking at the door he watched the ninja come in with some large scrolls.

The first laid one down on the ground and unravel it. Inside were three mist ninja bound and gagged. Multiple seals were placed around there bodies to prevent them from using any techniques.

"Will this suffice? Each scroll has about 3-4 bodies inside." Danzo said walking over. He instructed the others to set the other scrolls in an orderly fashion. "The way you acted the other day. I would think you were against human experimentation."

"This will do fine for what I have to do." Walking over Kai-La stopped. "Eh, when it comes to enemies I don't care usually. As long as we aren't experimenting on our own.. I don't really care." Kai-La tilted his head to the side and thought for a moment. "Yeah, I think if its the enemy, who cares. Just make sure there are no witness and everything will be fine."

"I see. I understand a little more now. Wait, was that a show you put on for Hiruzen the other day?" Danzo couldn't help but ask.

"Oh no. I understand the risk one will take to defend the place they call home. The loved ones. I know people who have done much worse than you. Far worse than you." Kai-La said looking over making eye contact with Danzo. "I would never hurt those who are loyal to me unless I have to. Regular civilians in the village I would never hurt them. Unless they are breaking the law or trying to hurt someone. For the ninja same thing. Enemy ninja are kind of boned though. There really isn't a thing I wouldn't do to them. As I am now about to demonstrate."

He then transmitted to Gemini. 'You may want to look away. This may get messy.'

Walking forward, Gemini stood right by his side. She nodded her head for him to continue.

'Very well then.' Kai-La reached out his hands and grabbed the nearest ninja. Activating the cell abilities he gave them the order to shrink and compact. He also had the cells absorb one another instead of dividing.

'If I am able to do this as well, this will definitely pave a way for me to protect my family.' Kai-La thoughts were answered a moment later.

Parts of the ninja shrunk and ripped off from the rest. Little flesh balls were all over the place. Large chunks of body parts lay on the ground dried up.

Looking down Kai-La was able to determine that the remaining portions were unable to merge with one another. The cells just died instead. To be accurate, when the absorption process started it didn't have the capability to do so. Too old and overused.

A ninja had grabbed one of the arms. She then moved her hand along the length of what could have been an old scar possibly. Looking over to Kai-La she asked, "you left the older portions of the body alone. Why do that?"

"Sigh, I didn't do it intentionally. This technique needs work." Walking over Kai-La started to pick up the flesh balls.

"The female ninja picked one up as well. "This... what are these? I can feel chakra coursing through it. But it feels like skin."

"That is a secret for now," Kai-La said as his hand reached out for her to release it. The woman looked to Danzo for confirmation. Seeing he agreed, she handed it over.

"Takes all the good stuff. I think you should at least share some things." The woman said in a huff.

"Oh, Danzo who the hell is this?" Most of the ninja made a speedy exit. Leaving just Danzo the woman, as well as The aides from the beginning.

'This woman is dangerous.' Gemini thought to her self. Watching her intently she waited to see what would happen.

"This .. is.. well... um.." Danzo stammered as he rubbed his head. He was having quite the trouble deciding if he should anything.

"Zia Uchiha. What's it to ya?!" Zia said as she stared hard at Kai-La. "How about you hand over one of those balls for study?"

"How about... no." Kai-La looked over to Danzo. "So by the expression of your face. I can tell this woman is really important to you."

"Important... well..that's" Danzo started to say.

Zia walked over to Danzo. Grabbing him by the face she planted a kiss right on his lips.

No one else was shocked. Except for Kai-La.

'No... fucking way.. One of the biggest Uchiha haters has a.. Uchiha mistress... I can't believe it. Thank god for this bloody mask. I can't handle It. I am so done with today.' Clearing his thoughts Kai-La moved to store the rest of the scrolls and opened a rift. "You lovebirds have a good time. I am out. Later Danzo."