Danzo still sat in the Hokage's chair long after the office emptied. The room was quiet with without the usual clerks moving paper, ANBU shifting in the shadows. Most of them were sent to frontlines.
His eyes stared out the wide window toward the village, but he wasn't really seeing rooftops or streets. He was replaying failures. Again. And again. And again.
The Third Raikage had survived. Not only survived... he had won.
Danzo's fingers curled against the armrest. The wood creaked faintly under the pressure.
Even after deploying the ultimate taboo. Even after dragging Hashirama Senju and Tobirama Senju back from the grave and using them like tools. Even after gambling at their last resort. It was still not enough.
Danzo's jaw tightened. And worse… Fugaku Uchiha had returned from the battlefield carrying respect.
That fact gnawed at him more than the Raikage's survival.
Shinobi reports described it: Fugaku uchiha gained an upper hand against the third raikage, he had inflicted wounds, maintained pressure and tactical restraint saving the day. But Danzo read between the lines. Uchiha is coming into spot light, he could not bear it. Shinobi talked, the word of mouth spread around. Stories grew in the retelling. Everyone in the konoha knew how great the uchiha was on the battlefield.
An Uchiha wounded the Raikage.
That was the version that would spread. He had imagine he uchiha would lose their strength holding the line. Which would benefit him in controlling them. It is all because of that Raikage, if only he had killed Fugaku.
"What are they even doing in Kumo…" Danzo muttered to the empty room. "And what kind of Raikage allows himself to be injured by a mere Uchiha?"
His lip curled as he spoke it, but the irritation beneath the words was genuine. He knew the answer already, the Raikage wasn't reckless. He should have deliberately taken all the injuries.
Danzo exhaled slowly and forced his thoughts back into order. Panic was weakness, Emotion was weakness. He had survived longer than anyone else in this village by never indulging either.
I had divided the Sannin, the old-hokage supporter faction. That much was still intact. If they ever reunited and acted in unison, Danzo knew exactly what would happen. They would see through him so they have to stay separated and keep them busy, isolated and exhausted until he gained strength and control of konoha.
That part of the plan still held.
A presence entered the room silently.
Danzo didn't turn.
"Speak," he said.
Pakura knelt several paces behind him, head lowered, posture perfect. Even now, after everything she had lost, her discipline remained intact. That alone justified the effort it had taken to break her loyalty to Suna and reforge it to me.
"Danzo-sama," she said evenly. "Our latest war reports have arrived."
Danzo raised a hand slightly, signaling her to continue.
"The Third Kazekage survived his encounter with Minato Namikaze."
Danzo's fingers tapped once against the chair. Minato surviving was… inconvenient, but not unexpected. However, Tsunade has not made a report even after two weeks has passed since their encounter with suna. Other than her repeated reports that Suna had already pulled back. But Danzo ensured she stayed there, using the excuse that Suna's acquisition of a Byakugan made her absence a risk Konoha could not afford.
Pakura continued, "Both Hyuga clan heads lost one Byakugan each. However, Tsunade's medical report confirms that Hiashi, Hizashi, and Minato are all stable."
That drew Danzo's full attention.
He turned slowly, eye sharp now. "All three survived?"
"Yes."
His mouth tightened into a thin line. Losing two Byakugan should have weakened the Hyuga significantly, I should recruit one of their youths and have them join my root. Danzo motioned for Pakura to proceed.
"The Tsuchikage has made multiple personal appearances at the Konoha front. He was observed flying freely and using Dust Release extensively. Konoha casualties have increased with no territorial gains. He was desperate to cause damage."
Danzo closed his eye briefly. He had been pushing Jiraiya to attack Iwa at a disadvantage... so his name will get damaged at the failure to stop Iwa, he almost succeeded few hundreds died, but jiraiya took the blame.
Ōnoki. That old man did nothing without purpose. For him to repeatedly enter the battlefield personally meant one thing... Something has happened in Iwa.
Fear. Either they have grown weak so they are trying to drag konoha along with them or...
Danzo rubbed his chin, mind racing. Why now? Why personally? Why not deploy their jinchūriki?
That question had been gnawing at him for weeks. No sightings or chakra signatures of their jinchuuriki was registered.
Iwa's jinchūriki were ghosts not many knew and their identity was closed off. If they were alive and capable, they would have been used. Every village used its monsters when desperate enough. The fact that Iwa hadn't meant something had gone wrong... could it be something happened to their jinchuriki's.
Danzo didn't like unknowns.
"If only I had Nine-Tails control with me," he muttered. "I could have solved half these problems with a single seal."
All lost opportunities. Curse that Hiruzen, It was all his fault for leaving me in this precarious situation.
He looked back at Pakura. "The Sharingan recovery operation. Report."
Pakura did not hesitate. "After witnessing the sealing of the First and Second Hokage, and continued my task of monitoring Orochimaru from distance. I searched all confirmed Uchiha casualty zones. No bodies were found."
Danzo's composure cracked.
His fingers rose to his mouth, teeth pressing into the knuckle of his index finger hard enough to blanch the skin. Dark circles hung under his eye... signs of weeks without proper rest.
"Nothing?" he asked, voice dangerously quiet.
"No, Danzo-sama."
Anger flared his being with sharp bitterness. He had planned carefully. Hashirama cells without Sharingan were a death sentence, not a power-up. He needed balance and those eyes are the key. That is why he made Orochimaru never to be allowed close to real authority and forced him to study Hashirama cells. Though he didn't mind.
Without them, every step forward risked collapse.
"And yet," he said slowly, "the Uchiha fought on the Kumo front."
"Yes."
"How many participated?"
"Approximately one hundred."
"And losses?"
Pakura hesitated... just a fraction too long.
"Minimal. Even the clan head expressed surprise in the report. Roughly ten are missing. Their bodies could not be found."
Danzo's suspicion hardened into certainty.
Missing bodies. Kumo. Captured assets.
The pattern was too familiar to ignore. First the Nine-Tails jinchūriki. Now Uchiha shinobi disappearing without remains. Danzo's mind worked relentlessly, connecting threads others would miss.
Kumo is collecting kekkei genkai. They could be making their own uchiha clan.
He rose from the Hokage's chair and walked to the window, hands clasped behind his back.
"They're not just fighting a war," he said quietly. "They're preparing for the next one and growing strong."
Pakura spoke again, carefully. "There are also rumors spreading through the minor villages. Takigakure. Kusagakure. Rice Fields. Kumo is actively recruiting displaced clans. Kekkei genkai users. Survivors."
Danzo closed his eyes. This was worse than he'd feared. Kumo wasn't bleeding itself dry like the others. It was growing and absorbing the war survivors. And doing it quietly.
He turned back to Pakura, decision crystallizing with cold clarity.
"I have a mission for you," he said. Pakura straightened immediately.
"You will change your identity completely. You will enter Kumo as a spy."
Her breath caught... but she did not object.
"Your objectives are threefold," Danzo continued. "First... identify the Two-Tails jinchūriki. Confirm statu and capture it. We should leverage their jinchuuriki for our own."
Pakura's eyes widened slightly at that.
"Second," he said, "determine what clans Kumo is recruiting, where they are housed, and who oversees the process."
"And third," Danzo finished, voice hardening, "find out what happened to the missing Uchiha."
He stepped closer, looming now.
"If Kumo is building its own Uchiha stock… I will not allow it." "They are mine... only I can use them."
Pakura lowered her head. "Understood."
Danzo watched her for a long moment. This was a dangerous gamble sending his strongest. But in war, stagnation was death. And Danzo could not afford to be outpaced.
"This will be a long mission. Go," he said at last. "And do not fail."
Pakura vanished without another word. Danzo returned to the Hokage's chair, sinking into it more heavily than before.
Outside, the village continued its routine... children running, shinobi training, civilians were painfully becoming aware of how the prices of the goods increasing and how close their world was to shifting.
Danzo stared forward, jaw set.
Kumo is getting stronger. Then I will have to become stronger first. No matter the cost.
--
A/N: Upto 20 Advance chapters available @ patreon.com/aizenDuchiha0
Discord Server: https://discord.gg/sAywgMcWXV