Chapter 35
Izuna stood outside the Operation Theatre, pacing and found it a bit odd given that often he would be standing inside the room, and yet here he stood outside pacing away with Itachi as the iryo-nin operated on their mother inside the room.
And a few minutes later he felt footsteps approach the door, as he stopped and watched as an iryo-nin opened the door.
"You can come in now, Izuna-sama," he said with a smile and Izuna walked inside the room with his little brother and watched their mother sitting there, holding a little bundle of clothes in her arms.
"It seems you were right Izuna-kun," she greeted him as she lowered the bundle to let Itachi see the face of the newly born babe.
"It really is a boy...."
0000
DANZO SHIMURA
While a Hokage was not all powerful, the limits on his powers were very fickle. Especially for one such as Hiruzen who as a Hokage enjoyed much support from the clans and populace, in his decades long reign over the village.
But now that reign was coming to a close, for tomorrow was the inauguration ceremony for their new Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
And Danzo still lamented that decision, for though he had been able to avoid the worst outcome of an Uchiha becoming the Hokage, he did not believe Namikaze to be suitable for the role at all.
The boy was young and naive, and much to his dismay he was an ally of the Uchiha and the Jinchuriki. He may have lost his students, but the boy knew nothing of sacrifice, and choices that one needed to make as a leader. And neither had Hiruzen understood, it was why it had fallen to him to traverse in the shadows, to protect Konoha and its interests, a duty he had done so without any promise of reward or glory.
Yet it still pained him to see all of his life's work to be reduced to nothing. The foundation, ROOT, all of it shut down because of the misguided intentions of his friend.
"So, this is it," Hiruzen asked as he stared at the file, Danzo had left for him and Danzo nodded.
"Yes, that file contains the details of all ROOT agents and their missions," but that was a lie, and both of them knew it. Though, to a different extent.
Hiruzen knew that the list for missions was incomplete, as it should be for the nature of missions taken up by the foundation.
But the list of agents was incomplete as well, and Danzo had already separated those most loyal and valuable to him, and had ordered them all to go into hiding to preserve his strength.
"This is a mistake," he added as his friend raised a brow.
"Namikaze is young, he does not have what it takes to rule a village as large and complex as Konoha," and his friend shook his head.
"He will learn just as I did," Hiruzen again chose to ignore his warnings as he clicked his tongue.
"He will learn in time, and Konoha does not have time. Only you and I know what lies in these files and what does not, do you think Namikaze has the experience to understand why all these atrocities were necessary? Do you think he would agree to them? Or condone?" he questioned, as Hiruzen's smiled dulled.
"Then perhaps we were wrong..." and he did not like to see his friend reduced to this. Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi reduced into this well-meaning old man.
Where was the fire? The rage? The contempt which had made him into the man, all the great nations had once feared?
"We were not," Danzo defended their choices, even though Hiruzen did not.
"That boy is too young to understand this all, and you would dare let him judge you and I," Danzo arguged against it as Hiruzen's lips thinned.
"He is the next Hokage. He must understan..."
"And he perhaps he will," Danzo cut in, for he did not think that this file should ever reah Namikaze's eyes. The brat was too smart, and his close proximity to the Uchiha clan heir could cause problems for him.
He could not intervene directly, so he had to convince Hiruzen to halt Namikaze's hands and eyes.
"But in due time. The boy is not ready yet. He is your choice, do not set him up to fail," Danzo added, as he turned to look at the office which now looked rather empty as Hiruzen had removed his personal belongings from the place to make it ready for the new Hokage.
All that remained were the three portraits on one side of the room, to which one more would be added soon.
"He is the Yondaime Hokage, he has a right to know about this," and that may be true, but Danzo could not risk this.
"But you are the Third Hokage," he added, as he gazed at the photo of their sensei, the Nidaime.
"Just because you are retiring does not mean you stop being the Third Hokage," he added, as Hiruzen frowned.
"What do you mean?" he asked as Danzo turned to face his old friend once more who had now put down his smoking pipe as he gazed at him.
"Tell him of the file, but keep it with yourself. You can make it so that the file is passed to him upon your death," and Hiruzen raised a brow.
"That is a novel idea," but he could see Hiruzen considering it as Danzo edged him on.
"It is the only way he would ever understand the gravity of the decisions we needed to make," and Hiruzen gave him a final nod.
"I will think about it," and Danzo nodded, knowing that Hiruzen would act to preserve his own integrity if not Danzo's for the file infront of them was their combined burden, and would damage his integrity and image just as image as Danzo's if it was shown to Minato Namikaze.
"You and I governed the village for years," Danzo began.
"We fought wars, lost friends, and made some hard choices over the years, the next generation does not yet understand the weight of these choices," and Hiruzen nodded.
"These are different times, better times. Let us hope that they do not have to make the same hard choices as us," and he doubted that.
Not after the mercy he had shown to their enemies. But that was not even his biggest mistake. Hiruzen had ruled over the village for decades and he had ruled well, and yet his friend had been blunted in the last months of his rule.
He had many mistakes in this time, mistakes that were not simply limited to the clemency and mercy he gave to their enemies, or his choice of Hokage. No, the greatest of his mistakes concerned the Uchiha.
The founding clan which had always been somewhat of a pariah within the village, by design because of their prideful and untrustworthy nature, Hiurzen had gone soft on the clan whose leader had once betrayed this village.
"Do you really think it wise to give so much power to the Uchiha?" he argued again, hoping that his words would be more effective than before.
Danzo had Hiruzen's ear, and with Hiruzen's reign coming to a close his own influence would lessen significantly. And much to his dismay, Izuna Uchiha had the ear of one Minato Namikaze, and the boy had become big hurdle for him.
"To make Izuna Uchiha the Head of the Fifth Division, and then relinquish the control of all the Orphanages to him even though he is not a Senju," and the orphanages all around the village had been started by the Shodaime, and were supported partly through the Senju clan funds.
They had been usually overseen by the Head of the Fifth Divison, until Tsunade had deserted the village, and Danzo had managed to pull away their control from the Fifth Division to his own proxy.
Making Izuna Uchiha the Head of the Fifth Division was troublesome enough, but Danzo feared that Orochimaru had betrayed him and leaked his recruitment strategy to the boy.
Because his first firective after taking charge of the Fifth Division was to re claim the control of the Orphanages, even though the boy was no Senju.
"The Head of the Fifth Divison has always held control of the orphanages, it is both tradition and more practical," Hiruzen replied with a small frown reaching for his pipe again as Danzo shook his head.
"That was when a Senju headed the Fifth Division, and that boy is no Senju," Danzo argued, hoping to wrestle away the control of those valuable recruitment facilities back for himself.
"The boy is even younger than our Hokage, what would he know of running orphanages," he challenged, and Hiruzen shook his head.
"You underestimate the boy," he added, and he did not.
No, it was Hiruzen who underestimated him. Who refused to see his ploys and plots?
"He gave me a sound proposal for the their betterment. He will do fine work for them, and I talked to Tsunade as well, and she expressed her complete trust in the boy," and his grip on his cane tightened, as he saw his ploy begin to fail.
"The Uchiha already have too much power in the village, to give them more could invite trouble from the clans," he argued as Hiruzen raised his hand.
"Then it would be upto to the new Hokage to deal with such trouble when it comes," and his friend smiled as he rose up from his chair and put his hat on his head.
"Our time has come to an end, it is time for us to let the next generation take the lead...."
0000
KUSHINA UZUMAKI
"Sasuke," Mikoto told her the name of the babe she held in her arms, and it seemed somewhat familiar to her as she tried to soothe the crying babe, but to no avail.
It continued to cry in her arms despite her various attempts as Mikoto laughed and pushed forward her arms to take the child away from her.
"Why is he crying so much?" Kushina asked a bit worriedly, as Mikoto smiled.
"All children cry, some a bit more than others," she added but she shook her head.
"You are lying. Izuna-kun did not cry at all," she remembered holding him, and playing with him. And as she tried to remember it all, she could not recall seeing him crying even a single time.
"Well, Izuna-kun was an exception," Mikoto added, and Kushina hoped that her own child would be an exception as well as she settled down on the Hospital bed and watched as Mikoto slowly rocked the child in her arms.
And there was a time when she would have looked on in envy, but now that all changed as she remembered the life growing in her belly.
"Sasuke," she voiced out the name as the Sun began to set outside, and its light turned orange.
"Yes, it was Fugaku's idea. It was the name of the Father of the Third Hokage, he was said to be a great shinobi who rivalled Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha," and that was why she found the name familiar.
She must have read it in Mito-baa's journals.
"It is a good name," she added and Mikoto nodded.
"Have you thought of a name yourself?" she asked and as she remembered hers and Minato's discussion she chuckled timidly as she rubbed her head.
"Not yet," she lied, as Mikoto nodded, falling for the lie as she lay there with her third child.
"You should start by now, it took us around seven months to decide on the name for Izuna-kun," and well, neother herself nor Minato prided themselves in having a good naming sense.
"We will," she said her own hand inching towards her belly as she nodded.
"I just pray that the child is born healthy," and given her nature as a Jinchuriki, child birth was a great trial for her, one that she hoped to beat.
"Don't worry, you will be just fine," Mikoto assured her as she grabbed her hand and the little babe finally became quiet as Kushina nodded.
"Izuna-kun is monitoring everything himself, and you do know that he would not let anything happen to you," and after he had learned of her pregnancy, he had ran a slew of tests on her and had given her strict instructions regarding chakra molding, excercise and so much more.
"I had never seen that side of him," Kushina replied with a shiver, because while Izuna Uchiha the combat ninja was dangerous, Izuna Uchiha the iryo-nin was ten times worse.
"Neither had I, but there is a reason that he became the youngest person to head the Fifth Division," and there was pride in Mikoto's words, as there should be.
Heading an entire divison required more than just skill, it required leadership, experience, and a specifc attitude that not every shinobi possessed. For Izuna's talents to be recognised and appriocited as quickly, it was truly a blessing and given from what she had seen of him as an iryo-nin there was good reason for him being made the Head.
He was the most skilled Iryo-nin currently in the village, and had already begun enacting massive changed in the system, to make it all better.
"Where is he?" she asked.
"He has been gone for quite sometime, he must be at either a meeting at the Hokage office or he might be down in the Operation Theatres," and she felt that the meeting was the more likely of the two.
"The ceremony is tomorrow," she told Mikoto, and her friend smiled.
"I know," and Kushina could not help but smile as she felt blessed by the Gods. Two of her greatest dreams were being fulfilled.
First, she had been blessed with a child, and tomorrow Minato would take over as the Leaf's Fourth Hokage.
"Let us hope that Minato's era is a peaceful, one where our children can enjoy the peace that we never could," and Kushina nodded.
"Yes, let us hope so..." though before she could continue, the door behind her slid open and she turned around and saw Izuna-kun and Itachi-kun standing there.
"Kushina-san," the little Itachi greeted her with a smile as Izuna walked up into the room and gave his mother a smile.
"Is everything fine?" he asked her as Mikoto rolled her eyes but replied lovingly nonetheless.
"Yes," she said and he nodded before finally turning towards her and his eyes narrowed instantly.
"You were supposed to have a chakra scan yesterday right?" he questioned, as Kushina felt her smile stiffen.
"Yes," she agreed as she rubbed her hand, because as she had previously stated, Iryo-nin Izuna was a menace she could not stand up against.
"But you did not come right? Because if you had, I would have been told by the staff," and she gulped nervously as she made an excuse.
"I was busy yesterday, with the preparations and such," and the lie came easily, and though she doubted he believed it, he was forced to nod nonetheless.
"Well, you are here now. So, why don't you accompany me to the exam room and we do it right now...."
0000
Late into the night Izuna Uchiha sat in a cave, drawing kanji and symbols on the ground as he had been doing so for quite some hours. And as he drew the last one, he stood up and examined the room which was littered with symbols and kanjis.
"Is it ready?" came a new voice from one corner of the room as Orochimaru of the Sanin stepped out of the shadows.
"I have grown rather weary of trying to evade our one-eyed friend," and Izuna's mood soured at the mention of one Danzo Shimura as he nodded.
"It is. I can remove his seal from you," and that was the deal they had struck, and the despite his duplicitous nature the Snake sanin had kept up his end of the bargain. So, it was time for Izuna to hold up his own end.
"Hmm, interesting," the Snake Sanin began as he examined the massive sealing formula.
"I thought that the seal was irremovable," he asked and Izuna shrugged.
"No seal is truly irremovable," Izuna answered.
"Now sit there, in the centre..." Izuna pointed out as the man shook his head.
"Not so quickly," and he frowned as the man took out a vial.
"You may be able to remove the seal, but what is to stop you from placing another one in its place?" and Izuna rasied a brow.
"You will just have to trust me," Izuna answered, and though the idea had crossed his mind. He had discarded it quickly.
"Though, if I wanted to kill you, I would not need to rely on a seal," he challenged as the Snake sanin chuckled.
"So, bold of you Izuna-kun. But still, I am rather lacking in trust so, I have a proposal," and the man raised the vial he was holding.
"This here is the special poison from the Snake Sage living in Ryuichi cave," and the young Uchiha raised a brow at that.
"It is slow acting, and would kill a man in three hours, no Iryo-nin can neutralise it," and Izuna raised a brow.
"You want me to take that," he asked, and the man nodded.
"Yes, and after the seal is removed I will give you this," and the man took out another vial.
"This contains the antidote for the poison," and the offer was simple.
"And why should I trust you?" Izuna asked as he folded his arms and the man raised a brow.
"Because, I believe you know very well just how special this poison truly is, after all it is an extract from the White Snake Sage of Ryuichi cave," and he did have an inkling of an idea, but still he was not going to trust Orochimaru.
"I believe we are at an impasse. You do not trust me, and I do not trust you," and the man nodded.
"Well, I feared such a thing, so I thought of an idea," and with that, the man opened the vial filled with posion and took a sip of it as Izuna's eyes widened.
"Are you willing to trust me now?" he asked as he put forward the vial and Izuna raised a brow as he understood his intentions and took the vial.
"Put the antidote right there on the side," and the man put it aside as Izuna looked at the liquid in the bottle and felt Nature chakra gushing out of it.
And as he looked into the man's eyes, he frowned the vial before saying.
"Let's do this...."
.
.
.
Hours later, Orochimaru stood there smirking and free of Shimura's 'seal' as he held the antidote in his hand.
"Give it to me," the young Uchiha asked as Orochimaru smirked.
"What if I say no?" he challenged, and the young Uchiha's eyes shifted in an instant as the room around him shifted and the Golden eyed Sanin felt a shiver run down his spine as he saw the Prowess that went beyond the three tomoe sharingan.
"Do you really wish to test me?" Izuna Uchiha threatened as Orochimaru found himself trapped in a genjutsu unlike any other.
"So, this is the power that he so fears," he gasped, and he could see why.
And he threw the vial toward the Uchiha clan heir, and the world shifted once more as he saw the boy's body vanish.
"You truly are quite a specimen, izuna Uchiha..."
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