Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Danzo

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Danzo Shimura, the Darkness of the Shinobi. An elder of the village, as well as leader of Root, and more importantly, probably the most hated character in the original Naruto world.

I couldn't let out any of those though so I slightly bowed toward him as soon as I saw him, greeting, "Greetings, Elder Shimura."

One thing to note was how different Danzo looked from what I knew. Maybe it was because of the changed timeline or we were too early in this one, but he looked less… frail and old.

He had both of his eyes, as well as both of his arms. He did have a cane, but he stood straight like a blade. His hair was slightly longer, he did retain a charm of his youth, although I could see a dangerous vibe surrounding him.

Danzo looked at me in the eyes and nodded slightly, before Minato said, "Sukaina, considering you were supposed to be on a mission, I wonder why you are here."

I sent a glance at Danzo, and voiced my concerns, "It concerns important secrets to the village. Possibly S Rank."

Minato instantly turned serious as a frown appeared on his face, and he sent a suspicious glance at Danzo. The elder narrowed his eyes as he looked at me, and said, "What a coincidence, that's what I'm here for too."

Minato stared at Danzo for several seconds, before saying, "Tell us, Sukaina. Elder Shimura is entitled to know about it too."

I nodded slowly, before revealing, "There are several things. After a thorough interrogation, I learned that there is a rebellion rising inside our land's court, aiming at dethroning the Daimyo."

Minato's face turned even graver as he said, "Those are bold assumptions."

Danzo immediately added, "Then we came for the same reason. She is telling the truth."

Both Minato and I turned to him in surprise, neither of us expecting him to confirm my words. After a moment of silence, I took my cue and resumed my account, "Corruption is running rampant in our court, I fear a member of the court is in relations with another of the Five Great Villages."

This time, even Danzo looked surprised. Can't tell whether he's acting or not.

Minato asked, "How do you know that?"

I quickly told them about Katai, and everything he told me. I only stopped to the end of my interrogation though, and did not tell them about what happened to him, and that I was attacked.

When I was finished, Minato looked at Danzo and asked, "Do you have anything to add?"

Danzo looked at me with a… praising gaze? Feeling a little conflicted about that one…

Anyway, he said, "I didn't know so much about that rebellion, but it was indeed my men who caused the riot. The goal was to bring Captain Katai to us, and learn more about the traitor in the court."

I was… surprised by his honesty. That was strange. There had to be something going on, something I was missing. Very strange.

Danzo asked, "Where is Captain Katai then?"

Minato also turned to look at me, eager to know too. I replied, "He was abducted. And not by just anyone."

They both looked at me seriously, hanging on my words. After a moment of silence, letting the tension build up, I said, "They looked like Anbu, from our village."

Minato and Danzo looked at each other, and Danzo said, "Surely a disguise."

I hummed, "Maybe, but I fought one of them. He used Mokuton."

Both Minato's and Danzo's faces changed drastically, and for some reason Danzo glared at Minato. The later ignored the old man and asked, "Was he alone? How old was he? How strong do you reckon…"

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He stopped, and said, "I'll be back in a moment."

And like that, he disappeared, leaving Danzo and I alone. After a couple of seconds of awkward silence, Danzo asked, "You said you fought with that person. How did you survive?"

I was about to reply, but Danzo added, "I have witnessed Lord First glory, and the strength of the Mokuton. Don't lie to me, because I'll know."

I eyed him for a second, before saying, "Mokuton did him as much good as it did him harm."

Danzo frowned and asked, "How so?"

I rubbed my chest and replied, "His attacks were very powerful, and oppressive, considering we were surrounded by trees. But this power also made him weak. I reckon he is fairly young, and power got to his head. He was careless, moody and fought with close to no strategy, simply relying on his Mokuton."

Danzo narrowed his eyes, and was about to say something when Minato reappeared, along with someone. With a glance, I recognized that person as Yamato, the only other Mokuton user I could remember from the show.

Yamato looked at me with some surprise, and to my own surprise, he didn't look as emotionless as in the original show.

He then bowed slightly to Danzo, before asking Minato, "Lord Yondaime, I'm a little confused."

Minato looked at me and said, "This Genin claims to have fought a user of Mokuton."

Yamato looked even more surprised than before, and asked, "You can't say we fought together, right? I don't remember fighting against any Genin of the Leaf recently."

Danzo shook his head and said, "I talked to her. She wasn't lying, she did fight with a Mokuton user, but it wasn't Kinoe…"

Yamato immediately frowned and interrupted, "My name is Yamato."

Danzo barely gave any attention to his interruption as he resumed, "The one she fought was a moody child."

This, in turn, made me frown. I am ready to accept Danzo has changed from his original version, but I couldn't fathom him trusting my every word so readily to turn them into absolutes in front of the Hokage.

So if that wasn't blind trust, then Danzo had to be sure of my words, and that I spoke the truth. The question was, how?

If it was simply one of his men and his own planning, Minato would have raised that point immediately. Yet Minato did not seem to doubt the old man in the slightest, meaning there was something I didn't know about.

Somehow, Danzo was capable of verifying my words, and it should be a method with a 100% certainty of working. I didn't like that, as it meant not being able to lie to him in the best case, and my every thoughts were easily readable to him in the worst case.

Although I doubt it was the worst case as even a Yamanaka couldn't so easily read someone's memories, I still raised my guard against him.

Still, I looked at Yamato's Jonin outfit and added, "The one I fought couldn't in any world be a Jonin. I am confident I could have killed him, had I the drop on him. In terms of firepower, I would say he was High Chunin, nearing Jonin, but he lacked every other aspect. If I had to rate him according to our standards, he was a Mid Level Chunin threat in face to face combat, and High Level Genin in most other situation."

Danzo raised a point, "So you consider yourself Chunin in some aspects?"

I looked at him, but did not answer his question. Instead, Minato changed the subject as he said, "Those are very important news you are bringing us, Sukaina. What about your team?"

"They escorted me back here, but they do not know about the secrets, although they may have suspicions about the Mokuton user."

Minato nodded, and said, "Good. It goes without saying, things should stay the way they are. Good job, Sukaina."

I nodded, taking my cue as I walked out of the office.

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