"I want Uchiha Sasuke."
Tsunade stared at Danzō in disbelief. The man had just waltzed into her office without so much as a knock, pulled up a chair and settled himself in it as though it were the most natural thing in the world to do.
"I beg your pardon?" said Tsunade, her face twitching slightly. "You want who?"
Danzō was in an excellent mood, so not even the Fifth Hokage's irreverent behaviour towards a respected village elder such as himself could faze him. In complete secrecy, Root had successfully managed to locate and seal away the Zero-Tails from the wreckage of Ancor Vantian, which had crashed in the forest a kilometre from the village's southern gate. With that monster in hand, the Leaf's neighbours would soon have many giants looming at their borders…
"The Akatsuki's attack on the Fire Temple must not go unpunished," said Danzō, tapping the floor with his cane. "I request that you hand Uchiha Sasuke over to me. I alone have the necessary resources to shape him into the weapon he must become against his brother."
Itachi had warned Danzō that he would hang the Hidden Leaf Village's dirty linens out for all to see if word ever reached him that he had put his grubby paws on his brother, but Danzō no longer feared this happening. Sasuke was all grown up, a Jōnin of the Leaf to boot; he was old enough to shoulder the consequences of his own decisions, so Itachi had no right to interfere.
"Your input is not welcome. Sasuke is doing very well for himself in Team 7," said Tsunade coldly. "Besides, I was under the impression that Root and all its subsidiary groups had been disbanded. What, pray tell, would you have him do for you, Mr Advisor…?"
Danzō smiled faintly, his exposed eye narrowing dangerously.
"Sasuke is a Jōnin of the Hidden Leaf, and I am a councillor," he said innocently. "Could it be that some law of which I am not aware exists, preventing me from offering advice to a promising junior?"
Tsunade scowled at him.
The four-man squad system existed for this very purpose, so there was no way such bylaws could possibly exist… but it was, however, highly irregular for a Jōnin to mentor another Jōnin. That being said, what was exceptionally illegal was for private citizens to hire Leaf shinobi for personal purposes without going through the proper channels.
The Hokage was responsible for assigning missions— and Tsunade was the Hokage!
"You misunderstand my intentions, Tsunade," said Danzō, chuckling. "I am on your side. My only wish is to see this beautiful village of ours prosper— and, speaking of which, a troubling titbit concerning your disciple, Sakura, has recently come to my attention. I would have you hear it."
Danzō cleared his throat and called, "Come in, Tokuma."
"Who do you think you are, old man?" Tsunade snapped. "You do not get to tell people they may enter! Only I can! Because it's my office!"
Tokuma's handsome face appeared in the doorway. "Shall I stay outside, then?"
Tsunade sighed and beckoned in the young Hyūga clan member.
That old fox had made him wait outside, so she might as well hear him out. Besides, if there was one group in Konoha she could trust not to be in cahoots with Danzō, it was the Hyūga, thanks to the Caged Bird Seal. Danzō could not abide having the life and death of his subordinates in the hands of anyone but himself.
Although now that Sakura had persuaded Hiashi to abolish the practice of placing cursed seals on his clan members, and that Tenten— the girl who had discovered how to unravel the seal— had finally returned to the village, Tsunade supposed it was not impossible that the old fox had finally managed to sink his fangs into the Hyūga clan…
"Tokubetsu Jōnin… Hyūga Tokuma, was it?" said Tsunade, searching her memory to match the face to the name. "Recon specialist. You work efficiently, and your comrades have nothing but praise for you."
Tokuma bowed slightly. "You flatter me too much, Milady," he said politely. "I have only done what was asked of me."
With the pleasantries concluded, Danzō prompted Tokuma to share what he had observed. Thanks to his network of informants, an important piece of information that Tokuma had privately shared with his teammates at the tavern had made its way back to Danzō…
"I've had the honour of seeing your disciple in action many times, Milady. In my Byakugan's sight, Miss Sakura's Sharingan appears as a lighthouse's beacon, glowing with sinister yet beautiful red light," Tokuma explained. "But a few days ago, when I visited the hospital, I happened to see Miss Sakura, and I couldn't help but notice that the glow in her eyes had… changed."
Tsunade frowned.
"What possible reason could you have for visiting the hospital and activating your Byakugan?" she asked pointedly. "You seem healthy enough."
"Who cares what the lad does in his free time, woman?" Danzō snapped. "That is beside the point. Tokuma, tell her exactly where you last saw that glow."
"For the record, I was not doing anything inappropriate!" Tokuma said hastily. "I sometimes volunteer at the hospital, since my eyes are more precise than any X-ray machine on the market!"
Tsunade nodded appreciatively. Handsome, hard-working, kind… what an upstanding fellow the Hyūga clan had raised!
"In any case, the last time I saw that glow was in my friend Shisui's eyes. We were in the same graduating class, so we were on fairly good terms with each other, you see," Tokuma explained. "It's a shame, Shisui would have been twenty-five this year, if he hadn't… well, you can never truly know what's going on inside another person's mind, can you? Unless you're a Yamanaka, I suppose."
Few people knew the truth behind Shisui's suicide. He had taken his own life to prevent war between the Uchiha and the village, for all the good it did him, because Itachi was the only one of his clan to ever understand the meaning behind the gesture.
"Tsunade, you may not know this, but Shisui was one of the rare few to have ever awakened the legendary eyes of the Uchiha," Danzō recounted. "He came to Hiruzen and me of his own volition and revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan. He explained the power that had awakened within his eyes— the power of absolute coercion, which he said he intended to use on Fugaku, his own clan head."
Naturally, as part of the village's upper ranks, Tsunade had been made aware of the Uchiha clan's rebellious intentions at the time. She also knew Shisui of Body Flicker had thrown himself from a cliff into the Naka River, though she did not know why he had done it.
"Unfortunately, Shisui never had the opportunity to go through with his plan, owing to… mysterious circumstances," Danzō said loudly. "But do you know what this means, Slug Princess? Shisui was a true patriot, a descendant of Kagami, my old friend. Informing the Hokage was the first thing he did upon awakening the Mangekyō— so where does that leave your disciple, hmm? From your expression, I can surmise she hasn't told you yet…"
A flicker of doubt wormed its way into Tsunade's mind.
Even if Sakura had not awakened the exact same power as Shisui, the very fact that she had not confided in her mentor about the evolution of her eyes suggested she did not trust her enough to do so. She definitely knew about the Mangekyō's existence, too, so she had no excuse.
"I propose that your disciple be placed under observation," Danzō said smoothly. "With her powers, she could take over even your mind with ease, and no one would be any the wiser! She cannot be allowed anywhere near the Hokage, for the good of the village!"
Tsunade knew exactly what Danzō was up to. He was trying to undermine her by taking away her foundation, making her second-guess her own disciple, the second-strongest kunoichi in the village.
"In fact, you might already be compromised, for all we know!" Danzō sneered. "Tokuma, kindly open your Byakugan and inspect the Hokage's brain!"
There was no chance Tokuma would discover Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan in Danzō's covered eye socket, or the many eyes implanted in his bandaged forearm. Whenever they were not in use, they were placed under seal.
"Without asking," Tokuma said hesitantly, "doing such a thing is considered extremely rude…"
"It's fine," Tsunade said through gritted teeth, realising that refusal would only give Danzō more ammunition for what he truly wanted. "Go ahead."
Thick, knotted veins bulged around Tokuma's eyes. He stared intently at Tsunade's head, his white eyes twitching as he fought the temptation to let his gaze wander southwards. A few seconds later, the veins receded, and he shook his head.
The Hokage's brain was free of external influence.
"Is it just me," Tsunade said frostily, watching Danzō's expression darken slightly, "or are you disappointed that my mind is still my own?"
"Your mind is still yours, Tsunade, for now…" said Danzō enigmatically, as he pushed himself to his feet to leave. "For now…"