( 5 September- year 12 AK )
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Evening
The cane clicked loudly on the floor of the roof of the Hokage Tower with a regular rhythm that alerted the Hokage of the presence of its wielder.
Danzō Shimura appeared as a frail, old man, despite his age he had black, shaggy hair, and the right side of his face was covered in pristine white bandages. The x-shaped scar on his chin was still clearly visible, even if he gained it in his youth.
He wore a white shirt, with a dark grey robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his right shoulder.
The Sandaime flicked his wrist, dismissing his Anbu guard while he turned to face the other equally old shinobi.
"So," the Man with the Hat started, cutting the pleasantries "What do you think of him?"
Danzō reached the Hokage and looked with him over the village. "That he is dangerous." he flatly answered.
The other shinobi chuckled: "Every shinobi is dangerous, let's try another path: what do we know of him?"
"Nothing that would raise suspicion." Danzō answered, "He is always been either in Konoha or with Konoha jonins, until his service as one of the Twelve, of course."
"You don't trust him." smiled Hiruzen, knowing their running joke.
Danzō's lips twitched: "I don't trust anyone."
"But he owns the chain food 'pizzeria', the company which is producing all these uncommon table games, the one ever-growing in popularity which deals with those new musical instruments, and a publishing house." The bandaged man tonelessly reported, "To build one of them in three years is unheard of. But all four? That puts me at... unease."
Sarutobi puffed on his pipe for a while. "So are you sure that they are all his?" He insisted.
"Under several different names, but yes, and I still don't know how, but he managed to get the Daimyo seal of approval for each of them, legally, only the Lord of Fire can issue an investigation on those companies." Danzō replied.
"I had a student once, who loved his secrets, as all shinobi do, who kept growing stronger as all great shinobi do." The Sandaime stated, uttering the name Orochimaru was unnecessary.
"I had another student, who kept growing stronger, and kept dreaming of a better world." he went on, referring to Jiraya.
Danzō scoffed: "Another pacifist."
"So you've noticed? The only constant in his behavior is his general dislike for violence, disgust for killing, and despise for every form of torture." Hiruzen questioned.
"A trick?" Danzō retorted.
"The company which builds and sells his musical instruments is called 'A kind of magic', the one which deals in table games is named 'The more the merrier.' While his publisher's house is 'The Publishing House of the Rising Sun' and this...Pizzeria Mamma Mia."
The old shinobi struggled to properly utter the unfamiliar words, "Besides the last nonsense, the names he gave to the companies are consistent with his dislike for violence.
He is a creator who despises destruction, and nevertheless is skilled at it. An artist with boundless creativity, I often wonder what kind of minds Inoichi would find if he were to look."
"Why not ordering it?" Danzō frowned heavily.
"Because when Kakashi proposed it to call him on his bluff he promised to kill himself before they could manage it. He said, and I quote 'I dislike killing. But I do it for the village. I dislike having to fight. But I do it for the village.
I like being alive. But I put it at risk for the village. My life belongs to the Hokage, I accept it. I'll follow his orders, but my thoughts are mine'." Hiruzen gave Danzō a penetrating gaze, before adding: "And my favorite part: 'I am my mind, if someone but me is in it I'd rather die.
How would I know after that if my thoughts are still mine? If I am still me?' what do you do of it?"
Danzō frowned some more: "Being paranoid at his age? Maybe he betrayed us then?" His mind shifted gears, clearly thinking how to deal with the threat in the most lucrative way for Konoha.
"I think." The Hokage spoke with a tone that caught Danzō flat-footed, while the Kami no Shinobi's chakra stirred like a leviathan rising from the depths.
"That you do not wish to act without proof. Daiki-kun is a curious young shinobi, but he has done nothing to harm Konohagakure."
Danzō stared defiantly at his superior for a few seconds, testing how far his determination on the topic went, before nodding and taking a small step back, indicating that he backed down from his intention if dealing with the dangerous shinobi on his own.
"I think he refused to let his mind be read at the time because of the true extent of his dislike of violence." Hiruzen quietly said, his chakra settling down like a storm being bottled in a jar.
"Why not ordering him to have his mind read now?" Danzō insisted.
"Because I don't think the consequences of me forcing the matter would in any way benefit Konoha." the Sandaime mysteriously answered.
"So why calling me here?" the bandaged man questioned.
"To think together, like we used to. Frankly, I needed someone informed to bounce my thoughts on." the Sandaime replied taking a deep drag from his pipe.
"Do you know how he advertised his musical instruments?" the Man with the Hat asked.
When Danzō remained quiet, he explained: "He took several children from the akasen under 6 years old under his wing as soon as he reached the capital, taught them how to access their chakra, then how to play his instruments.
Thanks to the superior reflexes they picked it up quite fast, and started playing on the side of the streets asking for a few ryos of offering. Many have gladly done so."
"He trained shinobi loyal only to him? This is..."
"Not what happened." the Sandaime cut him off. "A few orphans with slightly better reflexes can at most pickpocket better the drunks in the akasen, but even then, I heard he broke and healed the fingers of every child he found out stealing. He taught only to the honest, or that is what Jiraya has reported."
He took a deep drag. "The kids playing made people notice the instruments, that all in all have been selling well. I believe he managed to make the Daymō see that the Capital of Hi no Kuni would become the cultural center of all the Elemental Nations.
And seeing what kind of trade his companies have so far set up, I can't say he was wrong. That's another reason I have nothing that set him as someone who wishes harm to the village, he had made the Capital richer, and us by proxy."
Danzō pondered on what he had just heard: "I don't get why you called me here if you don't suspect him of betraying us. Unless you wanted to know if I had helped him? I didn't, you could simply have asked.
I wouldn't help an endeavor that relies on the fickle passions of the masses, and most certainly not someone who I suspect is in any way subversive."
The Sandaime let out a deep laugh waving his pipe through the cloud of smoke that had left his mouth.
"You clearly have not read any of his books." the Man with The Hat pointed out.
The only visible eyebrow of the bandaged man climbed higher on his forehead: "Please tell me he didn't follow that fool Jiraya's embarrassing example."
After a chuckle the Hokage shook his head: "More than writing, I suspect he simply published stuff he had been writing for all his life, if nothing else for the sheer number of publications and difference in topics."
"I would have known if he was a published author... ah, another name?" Danzō said.
"Several others." the Hokage replied with a nod, I found recurring patterns in many of the books from the Publishing House of the Rising Sun, or at least, the cryptanalysis department did.
I have read personally only a few of his works. I found his poetry... unusual, but incisive, if nothing else."
From his robes, he fished out a white book with a simple black title 'Words Beyond War' and offered it to the other man.
"On the last page the author introduces himself. The photo is no doubt a Henge, but his words are what explains the whole collection of poems." the Sandaime said.
Flicking through the book, Danzō saw that every few pages there was a new title, followed by a new poem, some were a line long, others lasted several pages. "The last paragraph of his self written introduction." The Hokage reminded him.
"...as a writer or an artist, even though I run no state and command no power, I am entitled to feel that I am my brother's keeper, and my brother is the whole of mankind. And this is the relevance to me of both peace and freedom.
But out of this vast brotherhood, the nearest to me and dearest are the insulted and the humiliated, the homeless and the disinherited, the poor, the hungry and the sick at heart." Danzō read out loud.
He raised an eyebrow questioningly and looked at smirking Kage.
"You see why I do not think him a traitor? What he writes as... Ahmad Faiz... another strange name is almost radical, but clearly against war, and its a cluster of different styles, almost if he didn't know which to choose, or..."
"Or if he had many others working with him?" the bandaged man logically pointed out.
"I would have thought the same, but that book was published almost three years ago. Meaning that he had been in the Capital for less than a year, rallying together people, each of them using a new and different form of poetry? That's even less likely than Daiki being some kind of writing prodigy." the Hokage countered.
"He modified the Kage bunshin for his chunin exam, his file says that Hatake had shown it to him once, and he licked it up.
Two months before the death of the jinchuriki, it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibilities that he found a way to modify it in a way that reduced the impact of the memories in the six months that he spent doing almost exclusively D-ranks." His lone eye narrowed.
"It would explain how he managed to attend his duties as one of the Twelve and still have time for other things. It also says something about his actual chakra capacity, surely more than what we have been able to gleam by his spar with Kakashi.
I had believed him to be talented and hungry for power, but without ambition, and a dislike for violence." The Hokage summed up "A lot of paradoxes for a shinobi not yet 20 years old."
"The first question that comes to mind is why setting up such trade if he was going to live in a yurt on the Uchiha grounds." Danzō pointed out.
"I believe he genuinely cares about Sasuke-kun." Hiruzen puffed on his pipe.
"Why would he? Itachi's reports didn't picture him as a bleeding heart." Danzō retorted.
"And yet, Daiki taught him how to play the... guitar.." the Sandaime once more wondered how he picked up such a strange name.
"when he had no idea it would work, and tasked him with the upkeeping of the greenhouse, giving him something in exchange of some extra training, but that simply became a responsibility when Daiki went to the Capital.
And that made sure young Sasuke had other things to focus on instead of the death of his clan. Two little things, but I feel they have done a lot of good to the boy."
"Carpentry, music, cooking, writing, gardening, table games making, and the keen insight of an experienced merchant. An eclectic shinobi, that's for sure." Danzō summed up.
"Yes, it seems that his creativity bled over to the training regime he has set for his team, I had to beat back with a stick their concerned parents. His students have not left the training grounds since July.
Alas, it's time for team 10 to attend its duties and perform its D-ranks." the Man with the Hat grinned evilly.
Danzō expression didn't give anything away, but if he were a less experienced shinobi, he would have cringed.
...
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