Danzo skimmed through the letter from the Raikage. It didn't take Raikage long to response, only two days.
The letter was filled with carefully worded proposals and thinly veiled threats, but Danzo could read between the lines easily enough, his doing this for years.
The Raikage's ambitions were clear—Hidden Cloud was looking to secure the Sharingan and the Byakugan for themselves by any means necessary.
Danzo's eye narrowed. The Raikage wanted Hiroshi as leverage, knowing that taking a main branch Hyuga would force Konoha into a difficult position.
They could demand the Byakugan itself, threatening to harm Hiroshi if the village refused to cooperate, or force the Hyuga clan to surrender another member from the main branch in exchange for Hiroshi's safe return.
There was similar demand for Uchiha, Hidden Cloud was requesting that Konoha send a Uchiha shinobi with a fully matured Sharingan—one with three tomoe—to the Hidden Cloud for a "mission collaboration."
The Raikage wanted both of Konoha's prized kekkei genkai for his own purposes, with little regard for the consequences.
A faint, humorless smile tugged at Danzo's lips. 'Ambitious, but I can't blame you for trying.'
However, the plan to use Hiroshi as bait was worth considering. The boy was a main branch Hyuga, after all, and had potential that Danzo was keeping a close eye on.
Just then, the door to his office slid open silently, and a young shinobi entered, his face as expressionless as stone.
It was Shin, Sai's elder brother and one of Danzo's most loyal Root operatives.
Without a word, Shin approached Danzo's desk and handed him a small scroll, his movements efficient and practiced.
Danzo took the scroll, giving Shin a curt nod. The young boy immediately stepped back, bowing slightly before vanishing. Danzo watched him leave, feeling a faint sense of satisfaction at the obedience and silence of his Root soldiers.
They followed orders without question, without personal attachments—just as he had trained them to do.
Turning his attention back to the scroll, Danzo unrolled it, scanning the mission report within. It contained updates on surveillance assignments, covert operations, and intelligence gathered on various targets. But at the moment, Danzo's mind was more focused on the potential collaboration with the Hidden Cloud.
With a final, decisive glance at the Raikage's letter, Danzo rolled the scroll up.
From then on everything had fallen into place as perfectly as he'd planned! each step executed flawlessly.
The alliance with the hidden Cloud had proven highly beneficial. No one suspected the hidden alliance between Konoha's Root forces and the Cloud Village—he had made sure of that.
the moment he received that letter from the Raikage, he knew he could leverage it to his advantage. At first, the Raikage's demands had seemed absurd, but Danzo had twisted the situation to work in his favor, manipulating both Konoha's inner politics and the Hidden Cloud's ambitions.
It had taken time and patience, but soon enough, the Cloud Village's shinobi infiltrated the Hidden Leaf, just as Danzo had arranged.
Only he knew of their presence. After all, what was a necessary loss or two in exchange for the future he envisioned?
Then came the Hyuga prince's coming of age ceremony—the perfect moment.
Danzo had orchestrated the abduction of Hiroshi flawlessly, and the Hidden Cloud shinobi had not only succeeded in taking the boy but had even managed to remove his Byakugan!
The heir to the Hyuga clan had been rendered powerless, and with Hiroshi as their bargaining chip, the Cloud had forced the clan's head to surrender his own Byakugan to secure Hiroshi's life!!
But it wasn't just Hiroshi who'd been weakened. Through Danzo's careful maneuvering, the Hyuga clan's standing in Konoha had gone down rapidly. their influence reduced, their strength snapped away by continuous losses. And then, in one final, decisive act, Danzo's Root members had executed the ultimate blow.
Under cover of darkness, his operatives had eliminated every member of the Hyuga clan's main branch, taking every remaining Byakugan for Root's exclusive use.
With the power of the Byakugan added to his forces, Root had become unstoppable. Danzo's influence grew within the village, his control over its power structure solidifying. Minato had no idea what was unfolding around him, nor did he suspect the venom was gradually redusing his strength.
Danzo decide to leave him be, slowly Minato loosing it was entertaining, he made sure Minato's decline was steady and believable. By the time the Hokage finally passed away from "illness" no one thought to question it.
But even that wasn't enough. With careful manipulation and a few timely alliances, he'd finally convinced the council to send a Uchiha with a fully matured Sharingan to the Hidden Cloud. The Raikage had his prize, and Konoha had rid itself of one more potential threat.
The hidden Cloud responded by sending a team of elite shinobi to Konoha to support him in his bid for leadership. When the time came, he and his forces, bolstered by both the Cloud and Root, swept through the village. The Uchiha clan was no more!
With the Sharingan under his control, along with the Byakugan, Konoha was finally his.
Soon after, he was crowned Hokage. The title he'd been denied his entire life was finally his, along with the village he had fought so hard to control. And as his power grew, so did his ambitions. He even forced Tsunade into marriage.
With the power of the Sharingan in his possession, Danzo conquered the neighboring lands. One by one, the villages fell, and his reign extended over all nations. His vision of an iron-fisted, unified world had come to fruition, with him at the helm, the ultimate shinobi king, feared and respected by all.
Danzo leaned back, letting the satisfaction of his accomplishments sink in. Everything had gone perfectly; he'd finally created the world he dreamed of, a world where no one could challenge his power.
But then, a faint prickle of discomfort jolted him. The smooth dreamlike satisfaction gateway to an unexpected sensation of weakness…
…
Hiroshi moved silently through the dimly lit corridors of the Root base, his face masked and his appearance perfectly disguised as Shin, a loyal Root operative.
"Straight ahead. Take the left turn after the next hall. Danzo's quarters are approximately 50 meters from your position."
Hiroshi's sharp eyes scanned his surroundings. The Root base was cold filled with scent of iron, devoid of any warmth or humanity.
As he turned a corner, Hiroshi froze, he heard muffled screams. Peering through a partially open door, he saw two Root operatives standing over a bound civilian. The man's face was pale with fear, his trembling form tied to a chair.
One of the operatives held a kunai to the man's neck, while the other barked questions.
"Speak!" the Root operative snarled. "Who sent you? What village are you from?"
The man whimpered, "I-I'm just a merchant! I swear!"
The kunai pressed deeper against his throat.
"We know it, it just we herd practice makes man perfect, so we some time use passing byes, hahah~" root shinobi who was standing beside said.
"YOU! How can you.." the man start screaming,
"hey! You did it again! Why you always ruin my practice! Find your own!"
Hiroshi clenched his fists, his nails digging into his palms. Nova spoke up cautiously. "Focus, Hiroshi. You can't save everyone right now. Stick to the mission."
Hiroshi took a deep breath, forcing himself to look walk away. "Once I got Danzo I will clean root myself."
With Nova's guidance Hiroshi arrived near Danzo's private quarters. Two Root operatives stood guard outside the room.
Hiroshi activated his shadow cloak. With silent precision, he moved behind the guards, delivering quick, calculated blows to the back of their necks.
Both operatives collapsed to the ground, unconscious before they even realized what had happened.
Nova's voice carried a hint of approval. "Smooth as always."
Hiroshi smirked under his mask and slipped into Danzo's quarters.
The room was dark and cold, much like the rest of the base. Danzo set on table middle of room, reading scroll.
Hiroshi's eyes flicked to the scrolls on the table. One of them bore the symbol of the Hidden Cloud.
"Correspondence with the Raikage," Nova noted. "Interesting."
Hiroshi wasted no time. Before Danzo could sense his presence, Hiroshi activated his Genjutsu.
Danzo's eye widened momentarily before glazing over as the illusion took hold.
Hiroshi stepped forward, his voice low and commanding. "You've caused enough chaos, Danzo. Let's see what secrets you're hiding."
He hoisted the older man over his shoulder effortlessly, taking care to avoid disrupting the Genjutsu.
Nova chimed in, her tone clinical. "There's an interrogation room two corridors over. Perfect for ... using that seal."
Hiroshi smirked. "Let's make this quick."
…