Mokuton Root Agent #16

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Mokuton Root Agent

Chapter 16

Konoha Medical Ward

–Hiruzen Sarutobi–

As consciousness came to him, he stared listlessly at the ceiling, unwilling to interact with anyone after all that had happened.

He didn’t even have the energy to go after Danzo anymore. Not after realising that all the family he had left in this world had either betrayed him and his ideals or hated the very idea of seeing him. Either way, he was left all alone. Alone, just like Tsunade had said to him when he had offered her the hat.

Speaking of his wayward students, he glanced up at the window, “You can come out now, Jiraiya.” His gallivanting student jumped into the room through the only window that was open and not sealed shut using Fuinjutsu. It would seem that they were truly afraid for my safety.

“Tch, you haven't lost your edge, huh, old man?” Jiraiya said while dusting off imaginary dust from his shoulders. He smiled a brittle smile at seeing Jiraiya willing to keep up the charade of him being Hokage and Jiraiya coming to visit him every few months to keep him abreast of the situation in all of the five great villages.

Seeing his smile, Jiraiya lost his and said, “Don’t worry, old man. Shinnosuke is alive.” The statement stuck like lightning inside his mind as he immediately sat upright and asked desperately, “What? How? I was there. Th-There was nothing left of him.” Then with a determined glint in his eyes, he said, “I need to see him,” and then he began to get off the bed which raised an alarm of some sort as the entire room began glowing a subtle blue showcasing a complex Fuinjutsu array that sealed the entire room. Only then he realised that he couldn’t access his chakra. The room had chakra-suppressing seals and while these ones didn’t cut off access to his chakra completely, they made the flow of chakra so difficult that molding it for any type of jutsu was nearly impossible unless they happened to be a Jinchuriki or an Uzumaki.

Confused, he turned towards Jiraiya only for him to gesture towards the door. As he looked behind, he could see Fugaku of all people turning away the army of ANBU that had begun to swarm the hospital and then after locking eyes with him, turned away from the person he was speaking to and began making his way towards him.

“Just settle down already, just know that Shinnosuke is out of danger and Tsunade is already on her way here so the brat won’t be leaving you anytime soon. Asuma has also departed from the capital and don’t worry, the Daimyo has not yet been officially informed of your condition.” Jiraiya said to him and while he wanted to argue with him, he just didn't have it in him to do so after learning of Shinnosuke’s situation.

As he sat on the bed, the door opened up and Fugaku along with Shikaku and Inoichi entered his room, all of them sporting grim expressions on their faces. He wouldn't blame them for that. After all, the loss of Shinnosuke(however temporary and he wasn't sure at what cost Shinnosuke survived that explosion since he didn’t even have enough time to activate his unique brand of Senjutsu) and him all at once must have stressed out every single ninja in the village. After all, the absence of a Kage-level ninja in a great village was like leaving a treasure chest, filled with gold, out in the open market, just waiting for someone to take it away.

“I hope that you are aware that Shinnosuke is out of danger. He is suffering from minor burns and some internal injuries that are being treated as we speak and if that doesn’t reassure you, please know that Tsunade Senju is on her way and I’ll make sure that the first thing she does is check over Shinnosuke once, Alright?” he told him straightforwardly. He nodded, still a bit overwhelmed by receiving all the information.

“So, now that you are awake,” Fugaku began speaking after he had reactivated the Fuinjutsu barrier of the room and had Jiraiya give it a once over, “let's talk about the current situation in the village. While I commend your quick and decisive actions regarding Danzo and his Root, we would have loved a warning regardless.”

After hearing Fugaku talk, he let the silence stretch for a while before saying, “So, they elected you as the Hokage? Makes sense, you were in my top 5 choices to become Hokage as well.” For some reason, Fugaku’s face tightened at that, as if he had just been insulted and the faces of Inoichi and Shikaku behind Fugaku changed into those of amused smirks.

Fugaku cleared his throat and said, “Ahem, while I would have loved the opportunity, No, I am not Hokage. No new Hokage has been elected as of yet and thus, you are to remain as the acting Hokage until the clan head council finalises a candidate that is well rounded and,” Here he glanced at Jiraiya while saying, “more importantly, willing to become Hokage instead of gallivanting around the world.”

Jiraiya’s protests were ignored as he nodded seriously at Fugaku’s statements even though he wanted nothing more than to retire and live a peaceful life, trying to mend and strengthen the bonds he had with the few of his loved ones that remained alive to this day.

“Now that we have that out of the way, how do we deal with Danzo?” Fugaku asked the dreaded question as the tension in the room peaked. Jiraiya’s playful demeanor vanished instantly and he began exuding a killing intent expected of a Sannin who had buried a mountain of corpses behind his rise as a Kage-level ninja, “Yes, I’ve been saying that for a long time but you never listened to me. After all that has happened, I truly hope that you don’t still think of Danzo as your friend. Any shred of humanity that he once had is no longer there in your friend and after him endangering Shinnosuke’s life and by extension, the very safety of the village, are you willing to let bygones be bygones and let him go?” Jiraiya nearly shouted at him, pouring out all of his frustrations of him not listening to Jiraiya when he came to him with all those warnings.

He waved them all off, not having the strength to argue with them, “I am no longer the Hokage of the village and as such no longer have the right to judge Danzo. In my remaining days, I’ll just do my part to ensure the smooth functioning of the village and focus on my kids and then, I’ll retire in a nice spot I bought for myself when the first shinobi war ended. So, excuse me but I have to rest now and you guys have a Hokage candidate about to crash through the window in about 3…2…1…,”

And just then, under everybody’s astonished gazes, Tsunade “The Slug Princess” Senju crashed through the window, holding Shizune under her arm who was in turn, holding on to Tonton the pig like her life depended on it.

After seeing that spectacle, everybody’s necks robotically turned to the Professor who while smirking at them, said, “As if a toy like this could ever hold me. Dumbasses.” and then he vanished in smoke, making them realise that the one in front of them was a Shadow Clone all along.

“Where’s the Monkey brat? I was told his life was in danger so I rushed all the way here and you guys are just standing here talking? Come on, the sooner I can heal him up, the sooner I can leave the village.” she said to everybody present in the room and marched out by slamming the door open, leaving hairline fractures on the wall.

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As soon as Hiruzen had replaced himself with a Shadow clone, Jiraiya had noticed because his eyes darted to the exact spot he was hiding in by becoming invisible but after a while, Jiraiya glanced away from him and continued with the charade he was playing with the others. In contrast to the upbeat playful words that his clone said, he was feeling anything but cheerful. His son had survived, that was good news but the things that happened last night had shaken the village so badly that upon news of it reaching Tsunade, she came back to the village on her own, willingly. That was how bad things were. Tsunade would never admit it but despite loving the village with all her being, she would never truly return to the one place that made her remember all her dead loved ones unless the village built by her grandfather and developed by her granduncle was in danger and right now, she truly believed that the village was in danger.

For that alone, he could not forgive Danzo and as such, was on his way to rectify his mistakes.

They might not let him be free after this, but he did not care about that.

Danzo needed to die today.

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Word Count - 1546