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———
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News of Shimura Danzō's death at the hands of the Hidden Leaf began to spread around the world and reach the heads of the great powers.
In the Land of Wind, Rasa of the Gold Dust, the Fourth Kazekage, sat in his office overlooking the desert expanse of the Hidden Sand Village. His dark eyes, complimenting his auburn hair, were locked in a frown, giving him a stern appearance as he read the report on the death of Shimura Danzō.
"The miserable blight is dead," Rasa spat. "I wish he hadn't died."
The members of the advisory council looked at the Kazekage in surprise. There wasn't a single person in the entirety of the Hidden Leaf that Rasa wouldn't wish death upon. Danzō and his schemes had been a persistent problem for the Hidden Sand for decades, and he was high on the list of people whom Rasa wished had never been born.
"Why is it that he kicks the bucket just when he becomes a problem for the Hidden Leaf and no one else? And he dragged all his jōnin with him." Rasa threw the report aside and walked to the window that had the best view of his village.
After the Third Shinobi World War, the Wind Daimyo started outsourcing missions previously given to the Hidden Sand to the Hidden Leaf instead. The hedonistic ruler of their country was a miser who hoarded the country's wealth in his coffers rather than using it for the betterment of his people. He had reduced the funding to the Hidden Sand, and it would've been one thing if it were just them, but the flow of tax money to civilians in need around the country had also slowed since the war. The war had cost the country a lot of money, and the daimyo wanted to recoup all of it as soon as possible, even if it meant choking his country.
The Hidden Sand had tried to be competitive, but the Hidden Leaf offered cheaper service owing to the decades of proper infrastructural and organisational development that allowed them to beat the Hidden Sand on the price of service despite hailing from another country. Why would the civilians care that their own hidden village was being hampered? Their only concern was about who was offering reliable service at a lower price.
The only reason the Hidden Sand hadn't regressed was that Rasa had been supplementing the reduced funding and lower revenue by selling gold dust, and even that was only a stopgap measure. While his gold dust stopped them from regressing, it hadn't allowed them to grow. Sooner rather than later, cracks would appear, and the Hidden Sand would slowly crumble from within.
"… Pull everything we have on ROOT," Rasa said after a while. "I want to get into contact with anyone who's alive—be it agents or any of their allies who might be under threat from the Leaf. Tell them we might be able to help if they agree to work for us."
The people who had been working with ROOT were now disenfranchised to a certain degree. The almighty Shimura Danzō, who might have protected them from the shadows, was no longer alive. Before now, most of them wouldn't have worked with a foreign entity against their own country, but when that same country was against them, they would be desperate for a lifeline they could latch onto.
There was a narrow window where the rest of the great powers would be scrambling to get their hands on the disenfranchised souls, and it was important that the Hidden Sand was the biggest winner. If they couldn't win against a stronger, better-equipped enemy, then they just needed to level the playing field a bit or, better yet, set it to their advantage.
"I have made a decision," Rasa declared to the room. "Get in contact with the Snake. Tell him I'm interested in his proposal and want to discuss it in detail."
If the Wind Daimyo was unwilling to give them funding, then they just had to damage the foreign competition to the point that he had no choice but to look back home. In fact…
"Daimyo's younger brother. If I'm right, he's fourth in line to succeed after the daimyo's two sons. I want to know what kind of man he is and if he'd respect us more than his brother does."
Rasa wasn't interested in ruling the Land of Wind, but perhaps it was time that their nation had a ruler worthy of its greatness.
———
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The borders of the Land of Earth ran alongside a rocky mountain range, making it one of the hardest countries to invade. Its natural defensive advantage was only second to the Land of Water, an island separated from the continent by a sea.
Similar to the country's borders, the Hidden Stone Village was also surrounded by rocky mountain ranges, providing a natural stronghold that it was very proud of. The village's infrastructure was built from much of the surrounding rock and stone, shaped into tower-like structures that were interconnected by a network of bridges. The tallest building in the village, with a cone-shaped roof, was the Tsuchikage's office and residence, bearing the kanji for "Earth" on it.
"Bah!"
Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage of the Hidden Stone,threw a scroll across his office in anger. The people in the room flinched as the scroll hit the wall and fell to the floor.
"I want my money back!" Ōnoki yelled.
When he heard of Danzō's defection, he had been elated because the holier-than-thou Hidden Leaf had lost their warmongering puppet master; the man had thwarted many a Hidden Stone plan when he was running the ANBU and then had caused trouble with that little secret outfit of his. Ōnoki heard that Hiruzen had been under all kinds of pressure because of his old pal's actions, and it brought him great joy. The cherry on top was that an Uchiha jōnin had died and had his eyes stolen; that was the sweetest of them all. Any misery to Uchiha Madara's kin was music to his ears.
In fact, he decided to make an opportunity out of his enemy's moment of weakness. He reached out to Danzō to see if the warmonger would like to do some work. And as Ōnoki expected, the kicked-out dog was in need of funds and readily accepted any work as long as it wasn't in the Land of Fire—to be precise, he rejected any job that he perceived was a threat to the Hidden Leaf, which were most of them; the jobs he did accept were so inconsequential that anyone could do them.
And so, Ōnoki pushed off jobs that he didn't want to be connected to the Hidden Stone. If the jobs went well, it was good for him, but if things went south, his hands would be clean, and he would have something to hang over the Hidden Leaf's head.
The thing about high-profile rogue-nin was that people liked to blame their village for anything their defected shinobi did. Ōnoki frowned so deeply that all of his wrinkles deepened. He rubbed his forehead, thinking about Deidara, one of his former pupils, who had defected from the Hidden Stone and had been causing all manner of explosive trouble all over the place.
The problem was that he had many active jobs with ROOT that he had spent a lot of time on. A couple of them were time-sensitive, which would set him up for significant losses; now, he would need to find someone else, and they would charge him a king's ransom for the expediency that he required.
"The remnants of Danzō's little outfit—track them down," Ōnoki waved his hand to the rest of the people. "I want the information they have. I don't care how you do it: bribe them or kidnap them, I want them here."
"It'll be done, Lord Tsuchikage," said the ANBU Commander.
"It better be."
Ōnoki took deep breaths to calm himself down. Intense emotion wasn't good for people his age—or at least, that's what his doctor told him.
"And get me the Akatsuki. I have work for them."
———
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The lightning-charged atmosphere of the Raikage's office was punctuated by a sudden, sickening crack. The massive mahogany desk was brand new, a replacement for an identical one destroyed just two weeks ago. A, the Fourth Raikage, slammed his fist into a pile of intelligence scrolls, splitting his new desk straight down the middle.
"A purge!" A's voice boomed, rattling the reinforced glass windows overlooking the Hidden Cloud. He threw his head back, a jagged, thunderous laugh escaping his throat. "The 'Professor' finally found his spine, and he used it to snap his own shadow's neck!"
He had heard much about Sarutobi Hiruzen from his father, who described the old man as a ruthless leader and an unbeatable fighter who dominated the battlefield from the war room and the front line alike. But the man A knew was much softer than what his father described. A man who had allowed an element like Danzō to grow so out of control right under his nose didn't match the man his father had described.
Mabui, standing calmly to the side with her arms crossed, didn't flinch. As the Raikage's personal assistant, she was used to the Raikage's tectonic shifts in mood. "It wasn't just Danzō, Lord Raikage. Our operatives confirm the loss of around five jōnin and numerous specialised operatives. The Hidden Leaf's combat effectiveness has dropped considerably in a single night."
Even if Danzō and ROOT were declared rogue, there was a chance it was all a ploy or maybe the two parties could make up. Multiple jōnin were serious firepower just to let go. There was enough motivation that might have reversed their relationship to what it was before. Danzō's expertise itself would have been enough to tempt many in the Hidden Leaf.
"Including Danzō?" A asked.
"We can't be sure, but it would mean that ROOT is all but over."
"Pathetic. To have that much power under your thumb and be forced to slaughter it because you couldn't control your own dog?"
He stopped at the window, looking towards the southern horizon. "They kill one of our own and then baulk when he demands the life of a Hyūga, yet they let that rat murder one of their greatest talents,"—Uchiha Shisui's talents were widely known even during his time in the ANBU—"and then burned their own house down to hide the smell."
Darui, leaning against the far wall with a bored expression, let out a slow exhale as he scratched his shaggy, platinum-blonde hair that covered his left eye. "Seems like a lot of work just to kill one old man. Dull."
"It's not dull, Darui. It's an opportunity and a threat." A spun around, his fingers pointing towards the door. "ROOT was the only thing in that village that wasn't afraid to bathe in blood. Their exit left them blind and half-paralysed, and I'm willing to bet my strength that they are still struggling. But that window is about to close—now that ROOT is finished, they'll close that gap quickly.
"Mabui! I want our men looking for the desperate ex-ROOT who might be looking for… asylum. The other bastards will be after them as well, so better hurry. Darui! Increase our patrols on the borders of the Land of Fire. I want all the pomp and show that we can muster. They must believe we're planning something now that ROOT is dead. I need the Leaf nervous."
He walked over to his desk and picked up the scroll with details about Danzō's end—cornered in his own base, killed by the very ANBU he had once helped create.
"And while all of that is happening, while their attention is somewhere else, I want to increase our presence in the Land of Fire."
———
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In a cave somewhere in the Land of Water near the Hidden Rain, Obito sat on a rock. His orange mask with black stripes lay beside him as he stared at the falling rain in silence.
A ripple in the rock distorted the ground as Zetsu emerged from the stone beside him. "It's confirmed," the creature chirped, its voice grating against the heavy silence. "ROOT has been burned to the ground, and Shimura Danzō is dead."
Obito didn't move. His sole Sharingan spun with a slow, hypnotic rhythm.
"Danzō…" Obito's voice was a low rasp. "A man who tried so hard to return to the stage he once built."
Personal interest flickered in his eye. The Uchiha clan was so close to vanishing from the face of the earth as their coup d'état gained steam, only for it to fizzle over the course of a single day. Not even the most rational of groups would let their passion settle so readily. It had to be something else—and in this case, it was Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan and its ability, Kotoamatsukami.
It was an ability that even Obito was tempted to possess. It was the ultimate tool of manipulation that could have been a great help to hasten the Eye of the Moon Plan. Now, one of those eyes was most likely destroyed. As for the other eye, it was officially lost, but if he had to guess, it was with Uchiha Itachi. He had spent a lot of time watching the Uchiha clan, pulling strings to aggravate them further so that a civil war would break out and the Hidden Leaf would destroy itself.
Thus, he knew that the bond Shisui and Itachi shared was one of brotherhood. Not to mention, Itachi possessed the Mangekyō himself. Obito had seen it himself first-hand.
"Who killed him?" he asked.
"Hatake Kakashi speared a hole through his heart. Might Gai did most of the heavy lifting," Zetsu replied.
A cold, bitter irony settled in Obito's gut. Kakashi, the boy who promised to protect what he considered the most precious in the world, was now among the village's premier executioners. It was perfect. It was proof that this world was a cycle of hatred that could only be broken by absolute peace.
From his perspective, this was a windfall. ROOT had been an elite intelligence apparatus that could have been used to track their movements. In fact, Obito knew that Danzō was already onto the Akatsuki; he didn't know their true purpose, but ROOT had been keeping an eye on them. With Danzō gone and his network about to be dismantled, the Akatsuki could have more freedom to move.
"What about the business you had with him?" Zetsu asked.
"He would never have been useful," Obito said. He had once approached Danzō as a 'representative' of Akatsuki with an offer of his services in the hopes that he could use that as an inroad into ROOT and perhaps even make his way into the Leaf's ANBU. However, Danzō never took the bait. In fact, that meeting definitely prompted ROOT's further interest in the Akatsuki.
"He would have been an asset to Akatsuki if you had invited him," Zetsu said.
"He would never have been a part of the Akatsuki. Pain and Konan would have ripped him apart."
There was a bloody history between the two parties. A history that dismantled the last iteration of Akatsuki and had sown seeds that birthed the current version of the Akatsuki. The goals of the two iterations were similar, but the approach to both of them was wildly different.
"Another thing..."
"What is it?" Obito asked.
"Orochimaru was in the Land of Fire around that time," Zetsu replied.
"You think he was there? With Danzō?"
"A very high possibility."
"Then the chances of the Hidden Leaf knowing about his new body are high." Obito didn't bother waiting for an answer.
Orochimaru had tried to hide it, but Obito knew that he had either stolen a pair of Sharingan or possessed an Uchiha. After a while, he was able to confirm that it was the latter. He had looked into it and found that not many Uchiha had died in the past year or so, and certainly none had passed in the time period. And among them, only one had died under suspicious circumstances.
Uchiha Gouki.
"When the Hidden Leaf finds out, they will look into him, which means they will look into the Akatsuki." Obito stood up from the rock. "I want to know who handled ROOT."
"Uchiha Itachi?"
"I know it was him. I want to know which one of his subordinates led the charge."
"Why?" Zetsu asked, confused.
"Because the person who handled ROOT, the one who brought the Hidden Leaf to their door—Itachi will choose that person to pursue Orochimaru, and in turn, the Akatsuki. Uchiha Itachi will release his hound, who will chase until he finds where the bones are buried… so, I want to know who I'll be dealing with."
———
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The morning after the funerals, Takuma sat outside ANBU Captain Weasel's office.
"You can go in now, Ratel."
Takuma nodded to the assistant and stood up to head inside the office.
"Good luck. I'm rooting for you," the assistant said.
Takuma offered a smile and a thanks. He knocked on the office door. It once made him nervous, but after being in there multiple times every week, it was only scary when he had bad news, or when Itachi was angry. He didn't seem like the type to get angry, but he did get heated from time to time when things went wrong due to stupid mistakes.
"Good morning, Ratel," Itachi said.
Takuma sat down across from his boss, and they stared at each other for a moment.
"Do you have an answer for me?"
Takuma nodded. "I'll do it."
"Are you sure? It's going to be demanding, more than what you've been doing now. Not to mention, you want to remain field active."
"I'll just continue to add numbers. I'm due another one soon," Takuma replied.
Itachi nodded with a smile, amused. "Excellent, your decision has made me very happy."
Usually, they would get up, shake hands, or maybe even hug it out, but neither of the shinobi stood from their chairs. It simply wasn't the time for congratulations. Both of them simultaneously glanced at the office door just a moment before it opened, and Itachi's assistant entered with a tray of tea and refreshments for both of them.
"Let's talk about compensation," Itachi said after they were alone again.
Takuma smiled widely. "You know me well."
"That's my job."
"Then you must know that I'm not cheap."
"As I said, I know you, which means I also know what you get paid. You are certainly expensive."
"I deserve it."
"You certainly do. So, what are you looking for?"
"Not much different from what I'm already getting. I just need it to be stepped up a level."
"And what do you consider the next level?"
"I feel that'd be something we will be deciding together."
"Then let's just do that."
That day, the two shinobi agreed to the promotion. Two days later, Squad Leader Ratel was vetted by ANBU Commander Stag. A day after that, Ratel's promotion was made official, and by the end of the week, Lieutenant Ratel officially took over his new position.
———
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A/N
(VERY IMPORTANT)
ARC-13 is done with this chapter.
What will follow is a string of INTERLUDE_13.x.
YOU NEED TO READ ALL OF THOSE! DO NOT SKIP!
The interludes might as well have been an ARC of their own. They aren't because they aren't written like a regular arc.
INTERLUDE_13.x are a TIMESKIP.
There's a year between ARC-13 and ARC-14. And with ARC-14, we would be officially at the "starting line" and reach the canon.
I will cover what happens in that one year through the interludes.
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A/N [2]
I will be taking a 1-week (at most 2-weeks) break to rest and prepare to write ARC-14. Which means, depending on how long I'm away, the next time you see me will be 2 or 3 weeks from now on
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The link is in the synopsis!