"Got promoted, huh." Nara Kazuki rested his chin in his palm, his blank gaze sweeping over the Hidden Leaf Village below.
He suddenly understood why Naruto liked coming here. Standing atop the Hokage Rock, looking down at the vast sprawl of Konoha—it really was a place that made you reflect on your life.
"You're free to choose your own missions. There's still a lot of flexibility. You can stick with assignments inside the village," Kakashi offered, pausing a moment before trying to comfort his friend.
Kazuki let out a long sigh.
"That's got nothing to do with what I want to take on," he said with a trace of helplessness. The moment Shimura Danzō got involved in anything, things were bound to get complicated.
That old bastard Danzō was like a viper coiled in Konoha's shadows, lurking beneath the radiance of Hiruzen Sarutobi. He looked harmless enough, but anyone who understood the village's true workings knew—Danzō had done countless wicked things, all while remaining insidiously cunning and perverse.
He hid in the darkness, waiting to strike when his prey let its guard down. Even the rumors that led to the death of the White Fang of Konoha might've had Danzō's fingerprints on them.
Once that snake set his sights on you, Kazuki felt that even if he accepted a low-risk job guarding the Hokage's office, Danzō would still find a way to send him elsewhere.
Kazuki had planned to use this time to rack up missions, kill a few more enemy shinobi, and boost his chakra reserves. But if he was forced to stick to missions inside the village? Then how the hell was he supposed to grow stronger?
"That sounds a bit far-fetched," Kakashi replied, though he grasped what Kazuki was implying.
Kazuki chuckled softly.
Kakashi still didn't fully grasp what kind of person Danzō truly was. But that was normal. Most of the village didn't really know what Danzō did. All they knew was that he was a village elder who showed up to ceremonies now and then, and always seemed... pleasant.
Yes, pleasant.
Kazuki, having transmigrated here, had learned that Danzō occasionally went out of his way to do good deeds—the kind that got him recognized. So among the common folk and lower-ranked shinobi, Danzō's reputation wasn't actually that bad.
And that made sense, too.
You couldn't build the loyalty of Root with the Curse Tongue Eradication Technique alone. As much as Kazuki hated the man, even he had to admit—Danzō had skills. Charisma. A certain presence. He wasn't just some bumbling, cartoonishly evil villain hiding in the shadows.
"Wait… you had no idea about this ahead of time?" Kakashi asked, confused.
By rights, as the clan head's son, Kazuki should have been notified.
"It was a Council of Elders decision. Only the Elders, the Third, and the Fourth were involved." Kazuki shrugged, exasperated. "Even Ino-Shika-Chō weren't present. The decision was made in the morning, and by noon, I was being dragged out to lunch."
"So what now?" Kakashi asked. He was already starting to regret inviting Kazuki to eat—if they'd skipped the meal, maybe none of this would've happened.
"What else? Time to go meet my new teammates." Kazuki shrugged again.
Danzō's little stunt might've just opened a path for Kazuki to complete his second special objective.
With Minato still alive, and the Uchiha Clan's fate still hanging in the balance, there was room to maneuver. The Uchiha were an emotionally intense clan—that was something that could be exploited. If Kazuki could earn their gratitude… their loyalty… maybe even their debt… then his plans would be that much closer to fruition.
The plan to overthrow the Daimyō. To end the Shinobi World Wars once and for all.
But now wasn't the time to meet them. Kazuki decided to head home for a bit and rest.
Only, just as he got back to the village and reached the Dango Shop, he saw two figures squatting there.
Two people dressed in standard Anbu gear.
From the height difference alone, Kazuki immediately guessed who they were.
He took a long breath, then silently pulled on his mask.
"What are you two doing here?" he asked, looking at the pair in front of him with mild irritation. He'd planned to visit the Uchiha Clan tomorrow—maybe Fugaku wouldn't even be willing to let his son take such a risky assignment.
Guess that decision had already been made.
The uniforms were ready and everything.
Of course you'd pull this, Fugaku.
Your eldest son's about to walk into the hornet's nest that is the Anbu, and you've already got his uniform pressed and folded? Had you planned this all along?
But in fairness, Fugaku was thinking as a clan head. That made him a dove, not a hawk. Not one of those suicidal hardliners hell-bent on dragging the Uchiha down with them.
The Uchiha hawks were truly brain-dead, acting like Madara Uchiha himself had their backs.
"Buying dango," said Shisui, standing up. He smiled as he held out a stick of three-colored dango, drizzled in honey. "Crow said you liked it, so we figured we'd wait for you here."
Kazuki glanced at Uchiha Itachi. Crow. Yeah, that suited him.
"And you?" Kazuki looked at Shisui, curious what alias he'd chosen.
"Captain, nice to meet you! I'm White Crow." Shisui sounded genuinely excited.
Kazuki sighed again.
Shisui's innocence was terrifying. Already wrapped around Danzō's finger, he still grinned like a fool, counting coins for the man who'd one day dig out his Sharingan. He really believed that old bastard was the Uchiha Clan's savior.
Was this when it started?
Had Danzō—the senile dragon with the American oligarch complex—already set his sights on young Shisui and Itachi?
Was this the start of his long game?
Kazuki wouldn't be surprised.
"I'm Akashika. Let's go find somewhere to talk." Taking the dango, Kazuki leapt onto the rooftops of Konoha, disappearing with a few silent steps. Behind him, Shisui and Itachi followed close.
"Captain! When do we start our first Anbu mission?" Shisui called eagerly.
Kazuki said nothing for a moment.
As much as he wanted to start killing enemy shinobi, it made more sense to begin with something safer.
He also wanted to head back and talk to the clan head—and Uncle Suzaku—see if they had anything to share.
He might've missed something. After all, this wasn't part of the original storyline.
And Kazuki still didn't know exactly what Danzō was after.