44 Naruto : Chapter 44

Naruto reappeared in the woods close to the ROOT base entrance. He made five shadow clones which he transformed into forest animals and transformed into a mouse himself.

Then he sent one clone that hadn't transformed openly into the base. He stayed in the shadows, following his clone undetected. It was time to have a little conversation with Danzo.

It took the untransformed clone ten minutes to reach the area where the ROOT base split into several areas. Once he was in the middle of the platform he was stopped by four ROOT ninjas in blank white masks that held him in position with kunai to four vital areas.

"I want to talk to Danzo. Would any of you mind calling him?" The clone said calmly, not caring that he was threatened.

One of the four that held him gave a sign, which Naruto and his clone thought was the order to another ninja in the shadows. Five minutes later Danzo came out.

"I am interested why you would come down here, Uzumaki. And more so I would like to learn how you knew about this place." Danzo asked.

"I have known about this place for four years now. And I know what this place is, the headquarters of your little ANBU subdivision ROOT that 'should' have been disbanded. But I also know that the old man just turned a blind eye because you were useful for the village.

By the way, I'm only a shadow clone, so I'd advise you to keep your ninjas on a leash before they pop me and I can't give you the message I was sent here to give you." The clone said still keeping an emotionless face.

Danzo gave the four a sign, which made them step back a little bit, still keeping the clone under control.

"Nice. Well, I guess you want to know the reason for my visit. The reason is twofold. My original wants to know if you have anything about the political situation of Wave Country because our new client is behaving a bit suspiciously. The second one is offering a mutually beneficial alliance. I know that you tried to get me into your unit since the day Kyubi was sealed in me.

While I have no interest in becoming a mindless weapon, I know as well that with the public opinion of me, there will be hard times before I can live a halfway peaceful life in the village. And I also know that Itachi Uchiha killed the Uchiha clan on your orders." Naruto revealed.

Danzo's eye narrowed. This boy knew way too much in his opinion. But an alliance with him could be useful. The boy was jonin level and that at twelve. He only needed experience, which would be no problem with how Kakashi trained his team. The boy would reach the rank he deserved within a year.

"Intriguing indeed. You don't sound like you mind the Uchiha clan being dead." Danzo stated.

"I don't mind the least. They were power hungry bastards that would have risked a civil war in Konoha just to get the power. And my personal history with them is also nothing I care to remember.

I won't shed a single tear about them. They tried to usurp the old man's power, he found out before they could strike, they paid the price. I know you have dealt with threats to Konoha for decades from the shadows.

I also know you have ambitions to get the Hokage hat. Well, that I have to say is a delusion of yours. The daimyo would never appoint you as long as he has other suitable choices.

And that sharingan you have from Shisui Uchiha won't really help you as well. Have any Hyuga there and you are busted." Naruto said.

Danzo looked like he wanted to attack, but Naruto just raised his hand.

"Hit a nerve? Don't worry, I didn't tell the old man about that little secret. While I didn't hate Shisui as much as other Uchihas, I didn't like him either. If you are into desecration of corpses is your problem, not mine.

No, my interest is gaining power in this village. It will become much easier after I let loose in the chunin exams. At the moment, there are only rumours that I held back at the academy. After the exams everybody will know exactly how much.

Konoha has been sleeping in the last twelve years. First we needed to rebuild after the Kyubi attack, then we needed to restructure after the Uchiha massacre, which cost us a fifth of our military.

I know that the old man is planning to have Kakashi sensei take over the hat to make sure I stay in the village. What he doesn't know is that it was my intention to get Kakashi Hatake into the position." Naruto said making Danzo look at him interested again.

"What reason would I have had to reveal my escape plans? If I had really intended to run, I could have done it easier. I am a master of the shadow clone jutsu and of seals.

Making a clone that kept my place for a week then disappear, which would probably give me a few more days until anybody noticed I was missing would have been easy. And nobody could have declared me a missing nin, because I wasn't a ninja yet. And within one and a half weeks I'd have left Fire Country without problem.

Meaning there would have been nothing the Hokage could have done to get me back. But what advantage would running away have given me after the Uchiha were killed? None. But it offered me an opportunity - the massacre left a vacuum of power that still isn't filled.

"In the past we had many powerful ninjas in the village and with Uzushio, our sister village and my mother's home village we had a very powerful ally. But we let Uzushio be destroyed by Iwa and Kumo because we didn't expect the attack. While the ninjas of Uzushio held their own for three days, the Konoha support only reached them on the fourth day.

While Iwa and Kumo lost more ninjas than Uzushio did, they could afford it with their greater numbers. We let the White Fang commit suicide over a discrepancy in opinion. He saw his comrades more important than the mission, the other ninjas in the village saw it differently.

But letting one of our legends die because of that? We are founded on the will of fire. If we didn't have the teamwork and high regard for the lives of our ninjas, we wouldn't have become as great as we are.

"Then the mistake with the sannin. Only Jiraiya is currently loyal to Konoha. Orochimaru is a traitor and Tsunade caught in her grief. Means two of our most powerful ninjas are unavailable for us." The clone listed with arms crossed over his chest.

Danzo could only agree. Much power had been lost to Konoha. That was one thing he held against the Sandaime. He had become too soft to lead.

"Next one is Itachi Uchiha. The fake missing nin who is one of the greatest heroes of the village. To kill your own clan, your own family to protect the village needs real guts.

And to take all the blame to keep the village safe and be the eyes outside also is incredibly courageous. But it takes another very powerful ninja from the village.

I don't need to mention the death of my parents, the ninjas that died against Kyubi and the decreasing strength of both you and the Sandaime.

We need more strong ninjas that can bear the burden of our village in the future. Within my generation there are some real talents.

Shikamaru Nara is a genius and only needs to realize that his laziness can be the reason for friends to be in lethal danger.

Ino Yamanaka is extremely talented in her clan's arts, but doesn't invest the necessary training to become really good over her fawning over Sasuke. Who is the next great example.

"The village fucked him up pretty good. He should never have been allowed to live on his own.

A seven year old boy spoiled by the villagers just because he had the potential to activate the sharingan without the necessary grounding by a family. Caught in the bad memories without new ones balancing them out.

He should have been given help to overcome his grief and psychological help to get over the genjutsu Itachi put him under. He has talent, but only now under Kakashi sensei it's showing its true dimension.

Sasuke is no Itachi and will never be. But he can be great. If he only gets that damn superiority complex out of his mind.

Shino Aburame is well-versed in his jutsu and if he follows my suggestions, he can become one of the most feared hunter nins ever. Same for Kiba Inuzuka. Get him over his brashness and put a bit of strategic thinking into him and he can become a great ninja.

Hinata Hyuga has much potential; it just needs to be pulled out of her with supportive training, not the stupid beat-down method her clan used. To simply overlook her being a different element than the other members of her clan is so stupid.

"Next the team under Gai. Neji is a genius who nobody bothered to show up his errors. Not that hard to believe with him being a genius and not being allowed to truly shine by the main branch of the Hyuga.

If he gets over his fate obsession crap, he could become jonin before all the others in his year and my year except for me. Then Lee. With his kind of handicap Gai made a fantastic ninja out of him. Tenten only needs to branch out more in her specialty.

We have the potential but it needs to be properly cultivated. They all need about three years to develop to their full potential. But we also need a Hokage that can lead this potential in the right direction. The Sandaime is too worn out to be that leader.

He wanted to hand over the hat already and lost his successor when Dad died sealing Kyubi in me. You are crippled from the war and wouldn't stand a chance against somebody like Itachi at full power. So while you are still powerful, you are not Hokage material.

What you need is a symbol outside of your ROOT that can be your representative. And that is the deal I have to offer. I will be your representative. You know my heritage. I am the prince of this village. And in a few months that will be announced.

"I think very much the same way my great-grandfather did. We need to get the village back up to power. And we need symbols out there that can show the other villages that we didn't lose any of our strength since the third war.

While most of my classmates didn't make the cut, that problem is being taken care of since I woke up the Sandaime from his reluctance to act.

He wants to hand over the hat to Kakashi sensei with the most pressing problems solved or on the way there. I can be the leader of the new generation once they get old enough to take over the village. I don't want to become Hokage soon.

It will be early enough if I can get the hat in my thirties or early forties. I want to get a name out there. I want to make them fear the name Naruto Namikaze. And honestly, why would I want to be chained to an office before it's necessary?" Naruto asked.

Danzo had to admit he was impressed with this boy. What he had done so far was really cunning. With him indicating he would have run if he could, he had forced the Sandaime to take action.

To lose a ninja of Naruto's potential would be a catastrophe for Konoha. More so as Naruto held the Kyubi. And now he even had too much information on ROOT to have him forced to act somehow.

"So what do you want for being my representative?" Danzo asked.

"Access to your training facilities and information. Mostly information though at the moment. Your true power is not your skill or the number of your ninjas.

They might look impressive, but mostly they are a high chunin level or low jonin level. You have some outstanding ones in your forces, like Fuu and Torune, but they are still no match to someone like Kakashi sensei.

Your true power is based on information. You know as well as I do, if the Hokage had wanted to stop you, he could have destroyed all this here and executed you for treason.

But he knows that there are threats you just need to take care of under the hand. And your information network is too valuable to just throw it away." Naruto said.

"I see, very interesting. I agree to your conditions, Namikaze. It will be interesting to see if you indeed have the strength to reach your goals and bring Konoha back to the top. I knew the Nidaime very well and if you are only half the man he was, you indeed have a glorious future before you.

Well, let's see your request for information on Wave Country. The country, while still officially ruled by their Daimyo, is under the control of the businessman Gato. He took over all their shipping industry and effectively cut them off of the mainland.

Anybody opposing him is killed. He managed to suppress the people by publicly executing the leader of their resistance in the most brutal and bloody way. Gato is also one of the greediest and richest people in the elemental nations. He set up his base east of a fisher village close to the coast to Fire Country.

His personal guards are thugs he hired. From what I have on them, they are small fry for any ninja. The only dangerous thing about them is their numbers. He has around five hundred in his main base and another five hundred on call in a camp on the other side of the island." Danzo said.

Naruto nodded thinking about the information.

"So to really get Wave Country back to its feet we need to take out Gato, kill his thugs and let Tazuna finish his bridge. Which means the mission is no C-rank, but probably an A-rank.

I guess he occasionally also hires missing nins to take care of opponents. If he betrays them nobody would complain.

Okay, well that will be an interesting test of my abilities. Konoha wouldn't mind any additional funds as well. I should be able to take them all out in the first week depending on which missing ninja Gato hired.

But if he is as greedy as you say, he could have hired a really strong one that he intends to take out once he is weakened from a fight against us. Thanks for the information." The clone said and dispelled.

The original Naruto meanwhile had read up on missing nins in the area in the ROOT archive and come up with a number of potential opponents he would probably face.

While his clone kept Danzo busy, he had sneaked out again, nobody being any the wiser he had been there in person and taken a few things. One of Danzo's special bingo books for example.

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Okay, a filler until the Wave Arc starts. Hope you liked it.

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