84 The darkness looms

Sarutobi was puffing on his pipe, something he rarely did, and with the tobacco he reserved for more stressful occasions, filling his office with so much unpleasant and pungent smoke that his secretary was forced to open the windows. After learning of his disciple's arrival in the village, he had sent ANBU to summon her and was now waiting for her to come to his office.

He still regretted opening the box in the presence of others, just to emphasize his authority in their eyes and enjoy once again that feeling of control.

Fortunately, no one saw its contents, but that ambiguity combined with his own reaction gave rise to dangerous thoughts. It didn't help that none of those present at that moment were stupid; everything would have been simpler then.

But he simply couldn't contain himself.

Seeing inside the box Tsunade's Konoha headband, which he had given her personally and whose serial number he had engraved in his memory, crossed out with a cut so clean and decisive that it pierced the metal and tore the back fabric, almost gave him a heart attack as he processed the implications.

It was only his long-standing position that prevented him from having a nervous breakdown, or the village would be looking for his replacement now.

But he couldn't get angry, or rather, he couldn't afford to.

Tsunade was a pillar of the village and a great deterrent for many problems, an icon for countless kunoichis and medical ninjas, a living legend as a Sannin, and the last descendant of the Senju clan.

Her identity, authority, and influence had diminished over time due to her prolonged absence, but underestimating her for that would be a big mistake.

If people knew that she had become a rebel ninja, Konoha would not only become the laughingstock of the ninja world, but people would start having thoughts about their resources and territories.

So no matter how humiliated and angry he felt upon receiving the bill she sent him for her party, he had to pay it, because otherwise, people would start asking questions about why he would refuse.

But now she came in style, alongside another village, and the more astute people would begin to suspect. He didn't doubt that the patriarch of the Nara clan had already started deducing some points, and he wouldn't be the only one as time passed.

His theory was that Seimeigakure received her as a guest to treat Ameyuri Ringo's illness, which must have made it more difficult to locate her than usual. He was aware of the type of illness and knew that even Tsunade would have to dedicate a considerable amount of time just to keep her stable, not to mention finding a cure.

But it seems she succeeded, much to his displeasure.

At least, he retained a last trace of dignity, and she wasn't wearing the headband of another village. That would have been even more humiliating than open desertion. Sarutobi believed that as long as he could meet with Tsunade, he could use his silver tongue and the Will of Fire to show her the light and make her return to Konoha.

Then he would use guilt and the need to make up for her mistakes to make her assume the position of the hospital director, forcing her to stay within the village and preparing her to succeed him as the Fifth Hokage.

The ideal would be to look for a ninja who resembled Kato Dan and cause a "mistake" one drunken night. He still wanted to try to get Tsunade to give birth to some children, and since she would be busy as Hokage, he would offer to take care of them and secretly use the opportunity to enlighten them about the Will of Fire.

He didn't even have to worry that she would decide to abort; the feelings and blood connection of the Senju clan are powerful, and he was sure that even if it were a "one-night accident," she would choose to protect her child and give birth.

Once the target was hit, Tsunade would have no way to escape the trap.

He tapped his pipe on the table and looked at the clock.

"Why is she taking so long?" he complained unsatisfied.

And as he contemplated the possible delay, his kindred soul arrived.

The conspirator of darkness, the twisted hidden root of the village, the man who liked to stroll through the Uchiha district with a spoon to extract eyes, whose name would scare children if they knew of his existence, who considered that he embodied the village because his benefit was the village's benefit...

Danzo Shimura! (Deafening applause as MMA-style music plays)

"Saru! We need to talk."

"Not now, Danzo, I'm waiting for Tsunade," said Sarutobi calmly as he bit the pipe again.

"I heard that Seimeigakure brought several members of the Uzumaki clan to the village," Danzo ignored Sarutobi and stated his point. "We need to get them. With them, we'll have a constant supply of new Uzumaki blood in a few years, and the village will never have to worry about whether there's a disobedient jinchuriki."

"Do you think they won't notice their absence?" Sarutobi replied, lowering his Hokage hat to hide his eyes.

"Still, there's that traitor Anko Mitarashi. Just use her as leverage to get at least one of the younger ones. We can process them to make them obedient, and they can give birth more times," Danzo said coldly, calculating mentally how big his share of the benefits could be, how many Uzumaki children he could get for himself. "And if they aren't willing, we can make sure she has an 'accident' in the second test so that she disappears into the depths of the Forest of Death."

Sarutobi kept silent, and that was good for Danzo. As long as he didn't expressly say he was against it, he could have carte blanche on the matter tacitly.

Like so many other times in the past, good times...

"This village is nothing, a piece of meat waiting to be divided," Danzo struck when the iron was still hot. "They only have a couple of famous kunoichis, a bunch of brats, and their leader has no real power; otherwise, when he caused a commotion in Iwagakure, he wouldn't have chosen to run away instead of facing his pursuers. He's a king on a paper throne!"

Sarutobi continued to keep silent, but from his posture, Danzo could see that he was feeling more and more tempted.

"They have the jinchuriki of the seven tails, Saru," Danzo dropped the bomb he had prepared to seal the deal. "Takigakure may have tried to hide it, but it's easy for my Root to notice that they panicked when it disappeared years ago. Since Takigakure has a 'good relationship' with us, we can use it as a legitimate reason to deal with them and then ask for a 'gift' from Takigakure to thank us for our efforts to return their jinchuriki. Otherwise, Konoha can have two of them like Kumogakure, and we'll be on equal terms."

The seeds to have his own loyal Uzumaki clan to the village, one that could use the collection of scrolls they obtained from the original clan and a tailed beast, this was loot that the Third Hokage considered worthy of the risk.

"Remember, I won't know anything about this, Danzo," the Third Hokage affirmed as he turned the chair and gave him his back.

"Let him bear the darkness of Konoha," proclaimed Danzo as he left the office and thought with disdain of Sarutobi's hypocritical attitude.

If he had to take stock of who had done more dark things, he wouldn't be sure to be the winner.

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If you were transmigrated to the world of Naruto and had to choose a woman or a man from that world to be your partner, who would you choose?

Rules:

1-You can only choose one person, you cannot have a harem, there are no loopholes like choosing twins for a two-for-one.

2-The person must be 100% human and appear in the Naruto series, manga or movies (no aliens, bijus, robots or chakra beasts).

3-You will not have a protagonist halo when you get there and you have to work on your feelings to win over that person, they will not automatically like you for choosing them.

4-You can choose the timeline between the first and fourth Great Ninja War.

5-When choosing, say her name, put an image, where she appeared (in what movie, filler arc, moment in the story) and a reason why she.

Your goal is...