Chapter 54

— Danzo —

As he hid underground from Hiruzen and Jiraiya while the poison worked its course, suddenly, he felt a pull on his body.

It was about time!

He didn't fight the pull, disappearing in a puff of smoke.

He reappeared in a dark cave, the only light being a few torches on the walls.

"Lord Danzo." One of his ROOT soldiers bowed immediately upon his arrival.

"It took you long enough to summon me." Danzo frowned, taking a few breaths of relief. "You were supposed to start the process should I engage Hiruzen, and not a moment later!"

His anger was boiling. His ROOT was supposed to summon him to their location, but they had failed to do so in time. He hadn't expected Jiraiya to be present, but the moment he saw him, Danzo knew it wasn't just a friendly chat they'd be having. Hiruzen had finally grown enough balls to do what he deemed necessary and cut him down.

It almost made Danzo proud, if not for the unyielding rage that clenched in his heart!

His eyes snapped down to his right arm. Several of the eyes on his arm had been closed; useless pieces of garbage now!

He took a deep breath. It was fine; he had plenty more eyes, enough to fill both arms, and he still had many left over.

He was fine.

"Contact Orochimaru and tell him we need to talk," Danzo ordered, and one of his agents disappeared in a body flicker. His eyes landed on the other. "Summon those two. I have a duty for them."

"Yes, Lord Danzo." The last agent bowed his head, disappearing from Danzo's sight.

Danzo walked to a lone chair in the cave and took a seat. He had used a great deal of chakra by using Izanagi repeatedly. It was weighing on his body, and he wanted to do nothing more than rest right now-

But that wasn't an option, not now, not yet.

He let out a deep breath and bathed in the silence of the cave. He expanded his senses and felt the entirety of ROOT out and about within this cave's various tunnels.

Danzo's lips twitched upward in the silent dark. His ROOT had escaped, and he managed to injure Hiruzen. Things had gone well- perfect even. Now, he had to nail the execution.

"Lord Danzo!" A ROOT shinobi dropped before him.

"Speak."

"Lord Orochimaru is prepared and ready to communicate."

"Good, then let us begin." Danzo reached out his hand onto the ROOT shinobi's head. Immediately, he felt his mind connect with another. It was an odd feeling, but not one he was new to.

Training a few Yamanaka under ROOT was an amazing idea.

'Orochimaru. I have expanded myself. I have the need for more sharingan."

There was a silence over the line before Danzo heard the familiar sound of Orochimaru's slithering chuckle.

'Expended yourself? Kek. Whatever could you mean by that?'

'Don't be foolish! We both know you had eyes on the battle.' Danzo responded back. Although he didn't know such a thing for a fact, he was almost certain it was the truth.

'I may have taken a peak…' The amusement in Orochimaru's tone both infuriated and calmed Danzo.

'Then you know what the situation is.'

'I do, and let me just say, good job, Danzo-sensei. Pulling off something so extreme as harming Jiraiya and crippling the all-powerful Professor. It was quite a show.'

'Hmph!' Danzo shrugged, his eyes narrowing dangerously at the ROOT agent. He got lucky. The only reason he managed to do such a thing was the unknown and known factors of the attack.

Had Jiraiya not known about Kotoamatsukami, things would have gone much worse.

From what Danzo surmised, Jiraiya was there to act as the person to bring back Hiruzen from Danzo's control, should he be forced to use Koto. Had Jiraiya not known about the powerful eye ability, he likely would have been hiding in sage mode.

And even if Danzo landed Kotoamatsukami on Hiruzen and attacked Jiraiya together, they would have lost-

And Jiraiya would have killed him.

Yet the same could be said for not knowing about his subordinates having Izanagi. That was truly the reason why he even did any damage to them. It was a bad situation, with an acceptable turnout.

'Meet me at my… new base of sorts. I think I have just what you need.' Orochimaru chuckled mischievously.

'The location?' Danzo asked, and the imagery of the place and the coordinates filled his mind. 'Three days.'

With those words, Danzo took his head off of the ROOT member's head, and the mind link ended.

"Send in those two." The sharingan-eyed man waved his hand, and the ROOT member disappeared in a body flicker.

Danzo took his seat as he waited for his subordinates. It didn't take long before the two body flickered into the room. Both were already kneeling on one knee.

"Good, you've come quickly."

"Where you go, we follow, Lord Danzo." The boy on the right said, his head lowered as a sign of respect.

"Hm." Danzo eyed both of them before standing up. He started walking around them, inspecting their bodies and chakra with his eyes.

They had grown stronger.

Perfect.

"You've both grown."

"To embody your will, we must move in the shadows of the mighty oak." The boy on the left said; his voice sounded much more dull and emotionless than the other, just as Danzo liked his subordinates to sound. "We await your orders, Lord Danzo."

Danzo stopped circling and stopped in front of them. "There is someone I need brought to me. You will bring him. His name is Lei Senju."

"We know him; when do you wish we head out?" The boy on the right asked, looking up at Danzo. The sharigan-eyed man studied the boy's features. He could see a small amount of anger in his eyes.

"Ah, yes. You harbor some rather… negative emotions for that child, don't you?"

"There are no emotions; there is only the mission."

"Good." Danzo's lips twitched upward. "You will follow me to meet Orochimaru. I believe I have something that will… aid in your mission. Then, you will head out and complete it. Do not fail me."

""Yes, Lord Danzo."" Both boys' bodies flickered away, and Danzo retook his seat.

He was tired, exhausted. He needed rest. Konoha was compromised, Danzo knew the village and its security like the back of his hand, and Hiruzen knew that as well. This means Hiruzen also knew that changing and altering such security would not really affect keeping him out.

Danzo had all the cards, and now it was time to play- and the Chunin Exams- They'd be his table.

— Lei (The Day Before The Exam) —

I shot up out of my sleep, cold sweat dripping down my forehead. I let out heavy breaths, and it was hard to control my breathing. I heard movement behind me, but I was to checked out to care right now. Something was wrong.

"Lei… are you alright?" Hinata asked, rubbing her eyes tiredly. The concern was clear on her face. Moments later, both Satsuki and Naruko shuffled in the bed as well.

"I… I don't know." I admitted. I really had no idea. I hadn't been having a dream, but moments ago, I felt a deep sadness, and more than that… I felt anger. "I feel like I've forgotten something."

"It's too late to worry now; the Chunin Exams are tomorrow." Naruko yawned, lying back down. Moments later, her loud snores echoed through the room.

"Ignore her. Do you want to talk about it?" Satsuki asked while shifting herself closer to me.

"... No, Naruko's right. It's late; we should get back to sleep."

"Alright, but don't be afraid to talk to us, Lei," Hinata whispered, kissing me softly on the cheek before lying back down. I quickly joined the two girls, and Satsuki lay beside me, her hand on my chest and her head snuggled into the crook of my neck.

I stared at the ceiling for minutes, listening as the girls fell back asleep.

I knew something was wrong, but even after expanding my senses, I couldn't tell what. No one was attacking; hell, no one was even in the compound beside us.

With no immediate danger, I closed my eyes, but with remnants of that horrible dread still lingering in my chest, I didn't dare fall asleep.

Tomorrow… Something told me it would go nearly as smoothly as I thought.