Chapter 37: Flashback

XXXXXXX-DANZO POV

While my old friend's student was busy carrying out my orders, I went on with the next step of my plan. This was a plan years in the making and that had required decades of planning, foresight and patience. So close to the finish line, I could not bear to fail. It would have been inconsiderable ten years ago. Now? To fail the Leaf now would be to damn it with my death. There was no one who would be ready or capable to do what was necessary to keep the Great Tree alive and healthy apart from myself. I'd stress about finding a successor when this was all over. When the smoke cleared with me on top. Maybe that Sai boy that was tearing his way through training and completing mission after mission. A natural talent for fuinjutsu and a unique ninjutsu technique like that would make a great Kage with the right combination of training and individual effort.

My thoughts left me as I felt the air conditioning flow over my wrinkled skin upon crossing the door. I did it alone, unescorted. No mere elder of the Leaf ought to have an Anbu escort. Root still loyally followed and watched over my every step, however. It was one compromise I could not make. Fu was doing a good job in his surveillance over the Suna Kazekage, but I would be a fool to act like the threat of him slamming his immense power on the hospital and killing us all was an impossibility.

Hiruzen had been foolish in allowing the boy remain. In even allowing the boy live for a second longer after Jiraiya's arrival. The Toad Sage was a pervert, and a fool, but he was also a powerful and skilled ninja. All of my old Rival's students were. Powerful but useless. I'd correct his mistakes when I took the seat. "Please direct me to the Hokage" I said to the receptionist, a woman with the highest level of clearance to ensure that certain things in the hospital could be well looked after and taken care of. The Doctors must have felt high and mightily while looking down on her, never knowing that she was more useful as a servant to the Great Tree than they ever would be.

"Of course, Danzo-sama" She said, bowing, and abandoning her post to save as my guide. Hiruzen had been a fool among fools to allow me so much leeway. The second Tsunade had left Konoha, ostensibly never to return, I'd began to work. I sunk my agents, feelers and tentacles into the hospital from all angles. If there was one place in Konoha proper that was under my complete control, it was this hospital. It was the only reason that fool Kabuto had been able to go undetected by the Hiruzen's people for so long. The Hospital was a blindspot that no Kage should ever have allowed, and was another display of Hiruzen's weakness and sentimentality. He thought of the wrong things and had the wrong priorities.

She led me on a winding route, that I knew was filled with fuinjutsu traps just waiting to go off, and watched over by invisible and nearly undetectable anbu agents. Hiruzen suddenly slumping earlier this evening had been the cause of much worry and panic. At least, among those high up enough in the ladder to know. The anbu were running around like headless chickens and the rest of the village was in a state of confusion and uncertainty. The news was yet to be released, but people could be shockingly perceptive when they wanted to be.

I walked past hordes of doctors, patients, and other staff who never hesitated to greet me with a quick bow, and a "Danzo-sama". None of the supposedly undetected anbu saw nothing wrong with the show of deference. If only Kakashi of the Sharingan could have been here to see this day. I was not a petty man, but the last student of the man that thad delayed my plans by decades being alive to see my ascension would have been a perfect addition to the day as it was. The day of perfection, may ascension.

Just outside the room stood another great disappointment that Sarutobi had allowed. His own son, Asuma. The boy watched me warily but said nothing as I stepped in. Inside, it was still. Deathly still. In his last moments, Sarutobi lay alone. I blinked. It was almost like I saw Biwako sitting next to him in this last moment. It would be painless. I'd made sure of that. After all, this man was still my friend beyond it all. He would not be the first friend I'd sacrifice for the Great Tree, Uchiha Kagame came to mind, but he would be the closest. It wasn't too late. I could slip him the antidote in my sleeve right here and now and call this whole thing off. Watching the man I grew up with. My friend, my rival, my brother, sit there made me ache to do it. It made everything that had previously been ideas on a drawing board suddenly become much more real and feasible. Could I lose him? The last echo of my childhood? My first and last friend? I asked the question internally, and the answer was a resounding yes. Yes, Hiruzen was my first friend, but Konoha was my first love. It was all for the Great Tree, I told myself that truth and steeled my heart. Shinobi, blade over heart, I recited mentally and stepped closer to him, out of the doorway.

I would like to believe that I could see the moment when his body registered my presence and what I carried within myself, but I knew it was just a fanciful notion. The poison that did the Great Hiruzen Sarutobi in was a subtle thing. Developed by our sensei himself in one of his variant interests. Nearly untraceable and entirely undetectable if one didn't know to look for it or its signs. It was a multi-stage poison, designed to operate o separate independent doses of completely different components whose interaction would create the needed death, while simulating a completely natural one.

As a sitting Hokage, any poison that was even slightly less complicated would have failed to the myriad security measures around him. In fact, I'd had to modify the poison itself to increase its speed to make all this possible. The first dose wasn't administered during the surgery. No, that was too obvious. And the doctors were watched by close to a dozen anbu agents every step of the way. Instead, the poison had been introduced during the recovery. When things were far less likely to be so heavily scrutinised. Included in his medication, day after day, until today when the second to last dose brought him down, to this state. The final dose wafted off my person in an aerosol. This was the one bit of sentimentality that I would indulge myself in. If my brother was to be killed for the sake of a greater Konoha, then I would be the one to deliver the deathblow. He deserved nothing less. I watched and waited as he inhaled the final ingredient. There was nothing to show any difference. For this, I'd allowed the original formula take precedence. This final ingredient would take hours to work, and I sat to wait. My agents were doing what was necessary for the future of Konoha. I would leave them to it, and sit here to watch my heart finally die. For the next few hours, at least.

When Asuma entered again, it was clutching the hand of the Kyubi Jinchuriki. The normally exuberant boy's bright blue eyes landed on Sarutobi in the bed, and I watched as the finality of what was happening sunk into him. "Grandpa" He shouted before collapsing to his knees and crawling over to the bed to put the old man's hands in his. "How long?" He asked the smoking disappointment, and he replied. "A few days now. He's been getting sicker since the invasion" The bearded Jounin said, answering the wrong question.

"Not that. How long does he have left?" The boy reiterated

"He won't survive the day. That's what the doctor's say" I replied instead, watching the Jinchuriki crumple in the face of that news and break into tears. Loud, ugly tears. Total and consuming. Normally, tears would irritate me to no end, but for some reason, they were perfect for this occasion. Sarutobi deserved these tears. To die while being sung to sleep by the wailing of the boy he would have given the world for. It was a fitting death that made me consider my own mortality. Who would sing at my grave? What eyes would weep at my passing?

When he breathed his last, hours later, it was obvious. The doctors did not enter the room, pronouncing him dead from the doorway, leaving us to grieve. Those he had been closest to. The Kyubi's tears had long since dried, and just when I thought he could cry no more, the pronouncement had him wailing anew. I stood, and walked towards the boy, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hiruzen Sarutobi was a great man. A great shinobi. Konoha will never see his like again" I said, before turning and leaving the room. I had work to continue.

XXXXX

The first thing I did after Sarutobi's death was move for the scroll of seals. It was now a race for who would secure the needed things to take the throne first, and unluckily for all the other possible claimants, I was the first in line and I had a hell of a head start. That was why I didn't head to the Hokage Tower first. My agents could do that for me, move and make sure. I also didn't make for any of the public locations like the Anbu barracks or academy in the hopes of gathering g allies. No, I'd leave that to all the idiots who'd think themselves capable of standing in my way. The best thing to do to cement my position was hand Konoha a much needed victory, and luckily we had an enemy right here within our walls just waiting to be killed and taken for the good of Konoha. Would be awfully rude of me not to take him up on the offer.

I walked into the underground headquarters of root and accepted the parcel that had been waiting for me. The giant scroll was hefted onto my back as I walked the rest of the way to the interrogation room where I should have e been expecting a new guest. Of course, I wasn't surprised to see Orochimaru of the Sannin sitting still, hands and legs bound in chakra suppressing seals and mouth completely gagged, with his old teammate standing above him, watching with a blank expression,

"Remove his gag'', I said, exposing myself to the snake's acid tongue.

"Ahhh. Danzo. I wonder what you've done to precious Jiraiya here to turn him to such a bore" He asked, looking amused and fully at ease with himself.

"Are you aware of what this is?" I asked him, completely sidestepping the transparent attempt to lead the conversation and claim the power in the room. Orochimaru thought of himself as something special. But even now, in his fifties, he was still nothing more than a child struggling to be anything more than a pale copy of his sensei. Hiruzen could make you talk for hours without you even noticing the kinds of information you'd volunteered and just how little he'd given in turn. Orochimaru, on the other hand, was a clumsy conversationalist at the best of times. The only thing Hiruzen had succeeded with in all his students was turning them into fearsome warriors. But considering I, who was weaker than both of them by a wide margin had them subjugated like this, strength was clearly not all that mattered in this world.

"The scroll of seals. I've seen it a few times. Here to offer it to me in exchange for my help in seizing the village?" He asked, getting my intentions completely wrong. It was almost amusing just how he managed to get everything completely wrong.

"No. I am here to use it to put an end to the greatest threat to Konoha in the last decade. To do the thing Hiruzen refused to." I said, opening it with a flourish.

"There's nothing there that could taker care of me. Nice threat, cripple. But you should probably only bluff with something that your captive has never seen before." He said, making me almost crack a smile. Hiruzen had clearly shown his students part of the scroll but not the entirety, and definitely not the most interesting part of it.

Tobirama-sensei had mastered two arts beyond any other. Ninjutsu, and fuinjutsu. His jutsu were famous and world renowned, at this point, but apart from the Flying thunder god, most of his fuinjutsu were more subtle and less well known. This one, perhaps the most impressive, was completely unknown to much of the world as he'd cast it aside to this soul after he realised just what he had created.

The first true cursed seal. The cursed seal of obedience. Spreading the scroll across the floor, I found the section that contained just what I was looking for and slammed my hand against it, unsealing the small scroll. Just by looking at it, one would never be able to tell that it contained the most powerful juinjutsu in existence. Such a shame that it had spend so many years gathering dust when it could have been out there working for Konoha against her enemies. Another one of the things that Hiruzen allowed his pesky morality hold him back from using for the glory of Konoha and her safety.

"What is that?" The snake sannin asked, looking at the small scroll with a small bit of apprehension hiding in his eyes.

"You reckoning, traitor" I opened the scroll, allowing it spread across the floor and began to weave hand seals. The scroll began to glow and the script rose up from the ground, a wall of red ink that began to circle the room and increase in speed over time.

"The jutsu of the Second Hokage. Curse seal of Obedience" I said, walking forwards and slamming my palm against the Snake's forehead. The red ink, spinning and glowing, followed my hands and slammed right into his forehead, flowing around his body and forming script that spread across his body. First of all was the line of script around his neck. The ink then branched down in two streams. The first flowed down both arms to wrap around his wrists and the other encircled his ankles. The jutsu was complete, and I resisted the urge to double over as a wave of exhaustion hit me straight up.

"Unbind him. He'll behave himself henceforth" I said to Jiraiya, watching the man move to obey my orders with no hesitation. Two out of three. Two of my goals were now complete. All I had to do was see to the third. "Follow me" I commanded my friend's former students, waling deeper into the Root headquarters.

"Torune, Sai, is it here?" I asked the moment both young men dropped down in front of me in bows. "Yes, Danzo-sama" They chorused.

Good. Orochimaru had shown me just how useful the edo tensei jutsu could be in combat, and that was to be the source of the reinforcements for dealing with Konoha's lack of powerful ninja. I walked into the chosen room, and was met with the mummified body of the Second Tsuchikage. "And the other teams?" I asked.

"No word from them, but if things go according to plan they should all be returning with their quarries within the week." Torune replied.

"Well done, my boy." I said to him before turning to the Snake Sannin.

"Use the edo tensei jutsu to restore him" I commanded.

"I need a sacrifice" His reply was expected and I waved a hand, commanding Torune to unseal the earth nation civilian I'd asked him to acquire on his way out with the body.

He walked forwards and began the jutsu. Everything was just according to plan. Oh I loved it when a plan began to come together.

(End of Chapter)

Stat Sheet;

Name; Gaara of the Desert

Age; Twelve

Level; 15

Title; Kazekage of Sunagakure

Chakra Capacity; 5,500/7,000 (Regeneration; 250 cp per minute)

Ichibi Chakra Capacity; 45,000/45,000 (Regeneration; 750 cp per minute)

Strength; 34

Speed; 71

Agility; 79

Endurance; 70

Intelligence; 89

Durability; 35

Perception; 88

Charisma; 67

Stat Points; 0

Skills;

Gamer's Mind Mark Two- ON

Taijutsu; 66

Kenjutsu; 54

Ninjutsu; 87

Genjutsu; 2

Fuinjutsu; 79

Medical Ninjutsu; 73

Sand Control; 81

Pain tolerance; 31

Meditation; 80

Shape manipulation; 72

Chakra Sensing; 19

Chakra affinities;

Wind; 56

Earth; 51

Fire; 55