Danzo Shimura sat in the dark room deep beneath Konoha. Only one lantern burned on the table.
Five Root agents knelt in front of him. They wore plain black masks. Their heads stayed low.
He had sent eight to the Land of Wind. Only five came back.
Three jōnin stood unharmed. Three chūnin were dead of the five that were sent on the mission.
Losing chūnin was not a disaster. They were easy to replace. Losing the mission was the real problem.
Tamashiro was dead.
Without the noble shouting for war, Suna would stay quiet. Iwa would keep all its forces on Konoha's borders. More Root agents would die. More of Danzo's secret strength would bleed away in the north.
His one visible eye turned cold.
He stared at the kneeling jōnin in the centre.
"Tell me exactly how the noble died."
The man spoke in a flat voice. "A small blue sphere came through the window. It moved fast. It looked like a tiny tailed-beast bomb made of normal chakra. One of us raised an earth wall. The sphere turned in the air, went around the wall, and flew straight to the target. It exploded on contact. The noble's body was destroyed instantly. The orb was very fast and we suspect that it could be controlled by the jutsu caster."
Danzo listened without moving.
For a moment he thought of the Rasengan. Minato's technique was based on the tailed-beast bomb. But the Rasengan could not be thrown. It could not change direction mid-air. This was something new.
He dismissed the thought.
"Suna or Iwa," he said quietly. "Only they would want the noble dead right now. It doesn't matter though who did this now. The mission has failed and that would mean Suna would stay away from Iwa front. We need something to pressurize Iwa."
He leaned forward. "Contact our associate in Sunagakure. Tell him the plan failed. Tell him three of my men are dead because his information was wrong. No assassination squad came. Only one person. We need a new plan to get Suna to war."
Danzo waited for a second before adding, "And tell him he never mentioned the boy with the chakra-erasing eyes in his previous intel. Tell him I want more information about the boy."
One of the agents spoke carefully. "My lord, he asked for more resources last time."
Danzo smiled. It was not a nice smile.
"Give him half of what he demanded. If he complains, remind him that we know his name. We know his dealings. One letter to the Kazekage and he becomes a missing-nin hunted by his own village. He will take what we give."
The agents bowed lower.
"Yes, Lord Danzo."
They vanished like smoke.
The lantern flame flickered.
Danzo stayed in the dark and began to think of new plans.
----
In some place of Sunagakure, a man sat alone at a stone table. A thin veil covered his face. Only his eyes showed, sharp and cold.
His fist hit the table hard enough to crack the stone.
"That Rasa sent someone else on the mission! Damn it!"
His voice echoed off the walls and came back to him.
He spoke to the empty room.
"We will have to change everything now."
He stood and paced slowly.
"I cannot tell Danzo more about the boy. The child is mine. When I take control of the council, I will need a perfect blade at my side. Who better than Shota Aizawa? A-ranked in the bingo books at ten years old. He will be S-rank before he is fifteen. With him, no one will challenge me."
He stopped and stared at the wall as if he could see the future painted there.
"Rasa has kept the elders away from the boy for too long. But the child is ANBU now. He takes missions far from the village. Soon the Kazekage cannot watch every moment. That is when I make my offer. An offer the boy cannot refuse."
He laughed softly, a dry sound like sand on paper.
"Danzo thinks I am his little tool. He thinks I weaken Suna so he can win his war. Fool. I only weaken my rivals. When I am ready, the council will be mine. The village will be mine. And Danzo will learn too late that snakes should not play with scorpions."
He walked to a small desk and began writing on a scroll.
"I will feed Danzo useless information for now. Keep him happy. And I should send word to him to hunt some root agents, I am pretty sure he would do it due to his so called Art. This will remind Danzo that our partnership is equal."
He rolled the scroll and sealed it with black wax.
His fingers paused over the seal.
"And as for Root killing this person..." He snorted at that thought.
"Like they could kill the Third Kazekage's assassin," he whispered. "Idiots. That monster vanished the strongest man in Suna and left no trace. I should know. I helped make him disappear after all."
The man tied the veil tighter across his face.
No one in the room saw his smile. But the desert felt colder anyway.
---------Author Notes--------
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