Want to read ahead of schedule? Head over to Patreón @
[ https://www̧̧.patreón.com/fictiononlyreader ]
The link is also in the synopsis
———
.
Atop the Hokage Mountain, hidden inside a pocket of woods, was a large, isolated viewing deck only open to the ANBU-nin. It was a place where they could get fresh air and direct sunlight because the headquarters was entirely built inside the mountain.
Takuma sat on the railing of the deck, his feet dangling over a nearly straight cliffside, with the carved heads of the four Hokage to his right; it would take two to three more heads before they would need to close the deck. The sinking sun cast an orange glow over the village, and the cool breeze made for a beautiful viewing experience. It was a pity it was rarely used because it was built atop the mountain, and it took most people 10 to 15 minutes to reach it.
"My favourite part here is the silence," he said, turning back to look at Itachi walking towards him. "Everything's so small from this height; it's difficult to pay attention to any one thing."
"I don't know if I like that," Itachi said as he stopped at the red railings. "You caused quite a commotion yesterday. Even we don't go in as aggressively as you did."
Multiple teams executing simultaneously. Arrests and raiding residences. Putting pressure in conjunction with the Police Force. Intimidating the head of a clan. Converting a key member to become an inside man. All of that took substantial work to pull off smoothly, and Ratel's squad had gone that hard against a minor clan that wasn't important in the greater scheme of things.
"I was setting the tone," Takuma replied, swinging his legs. "Everyone, especially my members, needs to understand that this is how our squad does things. There'll be time to be subtle and silent, but when times call for us to be loud, they need to be ready… I can't have them hesitating when we eventually go after bigger targets that can throw their weight around."
The Hitoge clan was a minor player. Individually, they held little value for Danzo. But a bigger player could rally small players into a syndicate working to support ROOT. United, they presented a problem, which was why even the small fish had to be put in their place and reminded of whose ocean they called home.
Starting small made everyone involved more comfortable. The possibility of backlash was low, and even if something did happen, it wouldn't be that strong. He planned to slowly boil the frogs working with him, gradually ramping up the heat so they didn't realise they were becoming increasingly comfortable with bolder and bolder actions.
He frowned. He didn't know what to think about comparing his subordinates to frogs that he was slowly boiling.
"You took a lot of staff with you. Any reason for that?"
"How often do the staff get to be involved in the action?"
It was an operative's job to be on the field while the staff held down the fort and kept everything running smoothly at home. However, many of them wanted a piece of the action and excitement. Under normal circumstances, they would never be allowed to participate in a dangerous situation where they could lose their lives, but from time to time, they were involved in non-combat situations.
He smiled. "It's about building ownership. The staff were more involved than usual, which means they cared more about this. I'm sure that next week, the people involved in this case will be asked a million questions around the water cooler and over morning coffee because of how big a commotion we made."
He glanced at Itachi, who was gazing at the village, but as usual, his resting face of pure calm gave nothing away. But seeing that he hadn't said anything against it, it probably meant that he was okay with it.
"I don't want to douse the fire, but this isn't sustainable," Itachi said. "Even if you manage to rally those around you, all of them will still be hit by the pressure from outside once you begin to touch the stronger players on the board… Shimura Danzo managed to amass so much influence and power because he had dealings with everyone. If he goes down, he'll take everyone down with him, which means they're extra-motivated to keep him safe."
If Danzo hadn't overreached by daring to commit bloodline theft, he most probably would've managed to evade all the consequences of his actions due to the strings he held from decades of extortion. He was known as The Darkness of Shinobi for a reason.
But since he'd overstepped, everyone he'd blackmailed was given an out that would rid them of him once and for all. And so, in his time of need, most of his coerced allies didn't show up to support him. However, their shady dealings remained. Even if Danzo wasn't using them, they could still be targeted. Once ANBU began pulling those dealings into the light, they would do everything in their power to resist.
And as it stood, they had the power to resist until the bitter end.
But those people had to be pursued and punished because they would be the same ones who would help usher in Danzo's return. Politics lacked eternal allies and enemies. Groups and coalitions betrayed and forgave each other for their interests all the time. Even if Danzo had kept them under his thumb, they had benefited from that very arrangement one way or another.
With his disgraced exodus, those benefits, ones they had gotten used to, had vanished as well. If Danzo were to convince them that he could return to power, they would either help him wholeheartedly or, at the very least, hedge their bets by offering a lesser degree of support so he would look upon them favourably in the case he ever managed to accomplish his unlikely return.
"Will I have your support?" Takuma asked, looking him in the eye as he waited for a response.
No matter how many people he managed to bring to his side, none of it would matter much if he lost his sole pillar of support. The Hokage and the ANBU Commander had said some nice words, but both of them had many other things on their plates that could be negatively influenced if he created problems for the powerful.
Itachi was the only one closely involved. He started the anti-ROOT initiative and invited him to create the squad. He was also the one with a personal stake in bringing Danzo down, in the form of Uchiha Shisui's death.
Takuma needed him to stick by his side.
"More than you think," Itachi said while not breaking eye contact. "Do you doubt it?" he asked as he climbed over the railing and sat on it beside Takuma.
"No, I don't," he replied because he knew what kind of man he was talking to. This was someone willing to commit familicide in the name of protecting the village and its peace. No matter how one wanted to look at that, the fact remained that Uchiha Itachi wasn't someone with normal convictions.
"But even I have my limits."
And yet, that Itachi wasn't the same as the one beside him. That Itachi had already accepted he'd never live an everyday life and was willing to do anything and everything. This one had ambitions to become the ANBU Commander of the Domestic Branch—a highly politically influential position that would be actively put in jeopardy if he butted heads with people in power one too many times.
"United, we are a problem," Takuma said after a pause. "Only by working together can we weather the storm."
"I want him to pay for his crimes," Itachi said. Takuma wanted to interject because he had no intention to bring Danzo in to stand trial, but he continued. "His punishment will be death, as light as that may be… To accomplish that, I'll give you everything I have in me to give. I won't shy away from the pain when things get difficult, so don't deviate from the real goal. Our purpose is his death so that our village can be at peace and the Will of Fire continues to grow bright."
Takuma silently exhaled and slowly nodded. He was once again reminded where Itachi's true goals lay. Danzo was just a step toward his goals; his true aim was always to bring peace to the village and the people who called it home.
"We'll need support," he said after a moment of silence.
Itachi nodded. "The two of us aren't enough."
"Our own base of power to resist the other side… Unfortunately, there's not a lot I can do in that regard." He was a civilian-born shinobi—an orphan at that—of the lowly chūnin rank. "It falls on your shoulders to build that support for us."
No one was going to blink in his direction if he wasn't bringing them some form of benefit. But Jōnin Uchiha Itachi, the prodigy and scion of the Uchiha clan, would have even the strongest people in the nation flattering him for a chance to build a positive relationship.
"You had better hurry up. I'm thinking of laying siege to a clan with a jōnin tomorrow," Takuma said.
A smile cracked through Itachi's otherwise stone-carved face.
.
———
Chat with me and the rest of the community on our DISCORD server.
The link is in the synopsis!