Naruto: The Senju Patriarch

Hiruzen turned to look at Danzo, not even having to fake his outrage at Danzo. Even so, seeing that Danzo could not speak, he chose to defend his 'friend'.

"Katsuro, come on now. Are you sure they were the root? This could be Iwagakure trying to cause disruption within the village!"

"No, Lord Third. I noticed them long before they attacked. The enemy had tailed them from the gates of Konoha. It could not have been Iwagakure shinobi." A slight bluff he thought, but they won't know otherwise.

Hiruzen had no reply for a few seconds, staring back at Danzo, who could only look at him. Silently cursing Danzo's foolishness, Hiruzen spoke again.

"I'm sure this is all a big misunderstanding, my boy. Danzo would never-"

"Lord Third, I've made my concerns regarding Danzo to you numerous times, since the fall of Uzushiogakure to now. Every time, you've defended him, and every time, I've accepted it. But not this time. Not this time, when I've seen the evidence with my own eyes. So either you punish Danzo-" He paused, turning to stare at Danzo.

"Or I will." 

With that, the Patriarch body flickered away, leaving the Hokage faction and Tsunade speechless. When Hiruzen finally recovered, he turned to Tsunade, trying to damage control, but Tsunade was quick to body flicker away before he could get a word out too.

Fear turned to rage, and Hiruzen turned to Danzo, who had finally come out of his stupor. 

"Leave us," Hiruzen ordered the 2 elders, who were quick to obey, fearful, of the Hokage's impending wrath.

Before Hiruzen could speak, however, Danzo had the first word.

"Do not lecture me, Hiruzen. I did what I had to do, for the sake of the village, while you were too weak to take matters into your own hands. Now look at you - the Senju are now outwardly disobeying your orders, and their Patriarch has demanded you - the Hokage - to punish your own friend."

"Silence, Danzo! Is what he said true, then? Have you been sending the Root after Senju shinobi, defying my direct orders?" the Hokage shouted.

"Why do you ask when you already know the answer!" For once, Danzo met the noise of Hiruzen's voice, shouting too. "Do not act as though you are innocent, Sarutobi! You purposefully send the Senju on the most dangerous missions! You are trying to cripple them too! The only difference between you and I is that you are too cowardly to do it directly, whereas I am not!"

"You incompetent fool! I gave you orders for a reason! By putting them on more dangerous missions, even if anyone found out, there is no evidence, no proof to say that they were being targeted! Now, that child knows! In fact, the entirety of the Senju clan knows! How can we ever ask for them to come back to missions now? How can we ask them to fight for the village in this war, when their Shadow Hokage is trying to eliminate them!"

"I am the incompetent fool? Hear yourself before you speak! What do you mean, ask them to go on missions? What do you mean, ask them to fight for the village? You are the Hokage, you inept imbecile! You don't ask, you order! Your word must be absolute, or else one by one, the clans will rebel against you, just as the Uchiha did to Sensei and the Senju do now!"

The 2 former teammates were now mere inches from each other, riling up their chakras, competing for dominance over the other.

"Senju Katsuro knows that you are targeting his clan! Do you think he'll let you get away with the murders of his brethren?"

"As if that's any different to your actions!""It is different! You know why? Because no-one knows that I made the Senju go on higher ranked missions! Not even the Patriarch knows that!"

"And so what if he knows? What could that boy who's not even a shinobi ever do to me?"

"That boy? The same boy that single handedly wiped out an entire Root squad without even a scratch? The same boy that commands a force of 100 shinobi, including 10 Jonin? The same boy that had you speechless with words alone mere minutes ago? You can ignore it all you want, Danzo, but Senju Katsuro, shinobi or not, is a threat - to you, and to me." 

Hiruzen inhaled deeply, moving back to his desk to take a smoke from his pipe.

"But for now, we cannot touch him. He's likely made the entirety of the Senju clan aware of the Root's activity, or at least their Jonin. If anything were to happen to him, there would be a rebellion. Not only that, he has the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, and potentially the friendship of Uchicha Fugaku. If worst came to worst, both the Uchiha and Senju could unite and use the Nine Tails. I don't have to tell you how big of a risk that poses, do I?"

"Then there's even more reason to carry out the Uchiha operation that I put forward - if we can't cripple the Senju beyond recovery, we must eliminate the Uchiha - remember what Sensei said? They are an evil clan and pose too great of a risk, especially considering the current situation."

"Your solution to the Uchiha problem is genocide? How foolish. You are dismissed, Danzo."

"Hiruzen, I-"

"I said, you are dismissed, Danzo," Hiruzen repeated, his voice heavy with finality. Jaw clenched, Danzo body flickered away without another word. 

Sighing, Hiruzen sat alone in his office.

Senju Katsuro. Right now, you are the greatest threat to me, no, to Konoha, above even enemy villages. I must deal with you, as soon as possible. 

As he thought, the Professor looked around his office, his eyes finally fixing on the picture of him and his team - Jiraiya, Orochimaru and Tsunade. Picking up the picture, he sighed again.

I'm sorry, Tsunade. But the Patriarch must either bend to my rule, or be removed from it.

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