"Wait, you're seriously following me all the way home?" Nara Kazuki glanced over his shoulder at the two persistent shadows tailing him, irritation creeping into his voice.
At this point, he honestly suspected they'd toggled some kind of auto-follow setting on the team panel.
"Huh? Isn't this the Anbu base?" Shisui asked, clearly stunned.
Kazuki groaned, rubbing his face. How had he never realized Shisui had this kind of personality? If he'd known earlier, he wouldn't have been dumb enough to talk to the guy in the first place.
Now look where it got him.
Under Kazuki's disapproving stare, Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi finally took the hint and left. But Shisui still looked like an excited puppy, clearly eager to start their first mission. To get rid of them, Kazuki gave a reluctant nod.
"So damn annoying." He pulled out the chilled drink he'd bought earlier, popped the tab, and the hiss of carbonated release carried a sweet-sour tinge.
"Kazuki." Uncle Suzaku was already inside, eyeing him with a mix of exasperation and restrained anger.
"You've heard?" Kazuki didn't even have to ask. One glance at Nara Suzaku's face and he knew—the news had already spread.
Well, of course. The Fourth and the Elders hadn't exactly been subtle about it.
"Yeah. Come on, the Clan Head wants a word." Suzaku looked him up and down, the sigh in his chest audible even without a breath.
Who would've thought the kid he once assumed would be a lifelong genin had risen so fast—now a chūnin, and even an Anbu captain? The surprise was real.
Kazuki's growth had come so fast it unsettled even Suzaku. Was this the kind of genius born from deep, silent accumulation?
Kazuki raised an eyebrow. Lord Shikaku wanted to see him personally? Still, he didn't hesitate.
Inside the clan leader's room, there was no sign of Lady Yoshino. Shikaku himself was still dressed in full ninja gear—clearly just back from some assignment.
"You need to be careful. I suspect Shimura Danzō's trying to rope you and those two Uchiha into a secret organization inside the village," Shikaku said without preamble.
Kazuki froze for a second.
Secret organization?
Oh.
Root.
Yeah, that made sense. Especially when you considered Shisui and Itachi's past associations with Danzō. Shisui had even trusted him enough to reveal the secret of his Mangekyō Sharingan.
Which ended in him becoming Danzō's puppet.
So Danzō trying to pull Shisui and Itachi into Root? Not surprising at all.
But himself?
Had Danzō remembered that little chat he'd had with Kakashi? That seemed unlikely—he was just a chūnin. What fame or power could possibly have drawn Danzō's eye?
"Understood, Clan Head. I'll be cautious," Kazuki replied, still puzzled but appreciative nonetheless.
If Danzō's aim was recruitment, that offered a measure of safety—but it didn't guarantee survival. Recruiting Shisui and Itachi was one thing. Killing their team captain for effect? Entirely another.
What if Danzō planned to use his death as the spark to manipulate the Uchiha duo?
All Kazuki had to do was watch. See if Danzō tried to jam them into missions they weren't ready for.
"If things get too bad—come home." Shikaku hesitated, then finally spoke.
Kazuki blinked. Even Uncle Suzaku looked up, stunned, staring at Shikaku in disbelief.
"...What's with those looks? We're the Nara Clan. We're not some pushover fruit waiting to be picked," Shikaku muttered, a bit red in the face as he turned away.
"Don't worry, Clan Head. If I stir up too much shit, I'll come running straight back here," Kazuki said, deeply moved. Facing off against Shimura Danzō—and the shadow of Hiruzen Sarutobi behind him—was no small pressure.
Luckily, Hiruzen hadn't made a political comeback yet. The Fourth Hokage was still alive and well. The only real issue was Uzumaki Kushina's health—she'd gone through hell during childbirth.
"...Don't make it too big of a mess," Shikaku quickly added, remembering Kazuki's recent 'legendary' streak. If the kid turned Konoha's sewer system into a literal golden city again, he'd be forced to issue an official scapegoat statement… with tears in his eyes.
"You do have limits, huh," Kazuki muttered, the corner of his mouth twitching.
Still, the conversation had planted a seed in his mind.
He remembered that Root had been exposed at one point for collaborating with Orochimaru on human experiments. The stink of that scandal still lingered. And later, Danzō suffered even more setbacks.
The truth was, Danzō had too much time on his hands right now. If Kazuki could find something to keep him busy, maybe the old man would stop watching him like a hawk.
"There's no shortage of dirt on Shimura Danzō… but how do I make him too busy to meddle?" Kazuki sank deep into thought, trying to recall the canon plotlines. But it was hard.
The Naruto timeline was notoriously long, riddled with chaos, and full of plot holes. The flashbacks never helped either—always cutting in right when you thought you were getting somewhere.
There was definitely a lot of dirt on Danzō. But not much that could be wielded effectively.
Then something clicked.
Danzō once conspired with Hanzo of the Salamander in Amegakure, orchestrating the death of Yahiko.
So in a way, Danzō was directly responsible for Yahiko's death.
Which meant...
Nagato.
"How many floors can a sack of rice be carried up?" Kazuki suddenly heard a phantom voice in his mind.
A sack of rice up to the second floor, a sack of rice is really heavy, a sack of rice makes me weary, mouth full of mud, who gave you this sack of rice, spicy heavens—!
If that meme gospel ever started echoing through the streets of Konoha, Kazuki would have only himself to blame.
Sure, right now Nagato was likely still in hiding, consolidating power. But who knew? What if the guy snapped and launched a full-scale invasion over a bag of metaphorical rice?
He'd end up hoisting himself on his own petard.
"Then again…" Kazuki thought of the one wound in Danzō's life that had never quite healed.
A tale from a long, long time ago.
Back when the Second Hokage was still alive.
Shimura Danzō had lost the chance to become Hokage… all because of a single sentence.
A sentence spoken by none other than—
Hiruzen Sarutobi: 'One sentence made me Hokage.'