"Senior Danzo."
"Orochimaru."
We just looked at each other for a sec. No fake smiles, no polite crap. Just straight-up recognition. We both knew why we were here.
Then he broke the silence.
"You'll never be Hokage."
"Yeah. I know."
His eye narrowed a little. Maybe he wasn't expecting me to admit it so easily.
"Then you should support me."
"What's the point? Minato's gonna get it. Everyone knows that. Sensei's not ready to hand over the reins anyway."
He didn't say anything.
Didn't need to.
He knew I wasn't wrong.
And this time, even his usual sneaky moves wouldn't shift the outcome.
Minato had the crowd. The golden boy—smart, flashy, actually nice.
Jiraiya's gang had his back.
Sarutobi clan? They'd toe whatever line Hiruzen hinted at.
The elders would nod along too. Like always.
The Ino-Shika-Cho were already on board.
The rest would follow the herd.
It wasn't just a win. It was a blowout waiting to happen.
Danzo studied me again, this time with a little more focus.
"I heard you've been poking around in the forbidden stuff."
"Yes" I said. No point pretending otherwise. He clearly heard it from Sensei.
"I can give you access."
I tilted my head slightly.
"And what's the deal?"
As if I didn't already know where this was going.
"Join Root."
Didn't answer right away.
According to the memories I have worked for him in anime or more correctly, in another timeline.
Met Kabuto.
Got my hands on Hashirama's cells.
Yamato was a side project that actually worked out.
Learned more in a few months under Danzo than most do in a lifetime.
And even now, with Gacha handing me loot from other worlds, I wasn't about to ignore what this world still had in its vaults.
Gacha's great and all, but it's random.
And random doesn't always mean useful.
"Alright," I said, finally.
Not because I owed him.
Because it was worth it.
He stared at me like he expected a list of demands or something.
I gave him nothing.
"When do I start?"
He nodded once. "Immediately."
No grand speech. No fake warmth. Just straight to business.
"Follow me."
So I did.
Root wasn't new to me. Not before, not now.
Difference is, this time I'm not here to play soldier.
This time, I'm here to use it.
"What exactly do you want from me?" I asked as we walked.
"Loyalty."
I chuckled. "You know that's not my thing."
He didn't argue. "Then call it trade. You get knowledge, I get results."
That, I could work with.
"You give that curse mark on all your agents?"
He glanced at me, just for a second.
"Most. Not all. Some don't need it."
Figures.
Danzo doesn't just control people with seals. He controls them with ideas.
The whole "for the good of the village" mindset.
Shadow over sunlight. Sacrifice for strength.
Some people really bought into that.
Sometimes ideology sticks harder than any jutsu.
"And me?" I asked, eyebrow raised.
He smiled a little. Barely. "I don't think you'd let me."
"You are not wrong" I said, smirking. "Glad we're on the same page."
This wasn't a team-up. This was coexistence.
Two dangerous tools, both too sharp to be left lying around.
Both keeping score.
Both planning ahead.
---
Hokage Office
"So… Orochimaru didn't say no," Hiruzen muttered, staring at the stone faces outside the window.
The Hokage Monument loomed in the distance. Big, eternal, impressive.
But even stone wears down eventually.
"Konoha survived another war," he said quietly. Not really to anyone. "Lost a lot. But didn't fall."
Still didn't feel like a win.
"The Uzumaki were wiped out in the last one. Senju… pretty much gone now."
His fingers twitched. Couldn't tell if it was nerves or habit.
Names passed through his mind like ghosts. People that built this village with their bare hands.
Gone. All of them.
"And now?" he said after a long pause. "Only the Uchiha are left."
The irony stung.
The clan they barely trusted.
Always kept at arm's length.
Now the last legacy of the founding trio.
How long before they snapped?
He looked away from the Monument, eyes heavy.
"Don't worry, Sensei," he whispered. Cold.
Not bitter. Just… tired.
"Your legacy's still alive. One way or another."
But it wouldn't be clean.
Wouldn't be heroic.
Wouldn't be the story anyone wanted.
Because stone carvings might last a while.
But the real stuff?
The real stuff's always written in shadow.
*************
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