Hiruzen and Danzo faced each other on the outskirts of the town. Danzo’s clothes were in tatters, his skin was singed, and his hair was frizzled from the fire. Hiruzen looked down on him, looking ready to strike at the moment’s notice.

“Surrender, Danzo,” Hiruzen said.

Danzo’s body was hunched; his chest heaved as he stared at Hiruzen. He scoffed and stood straighter with a grimace on his face.

“You know better than anyone what would happen if I returned to the village with you,” said Danzo.

Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. “Tell me where the eyes are, and I will keep the Uchiha away. You’ll be punished, but it will be according to the village’s laws,” he said.

“Not this time, you can’t. The Uchiha will kill me even with your protection,” said Danzo, sneering. There was a cold light in his eyes. “Even if you somehow manage to keep me safe, the village laws will leave me crippled and caged not to see the sun ever again… I’d rather die.”

Hiruzen knew Danzo’s words held true. The moment Uchiha got Shisui’s eyes back, they would assassinate Danzo, and Hiruzen understood how hard it would be to keep them from doing it. And with how many clans and influential people stood against Danzo, even if Hiruzen managed to keep Uchiha away, there was a high chance of the death penalty or being crippled and imprisoned in Danzo’s future.

“I don’t have the confidence to take you alive, Danzo. I will kill you if I think you might escape. You die either way. So how about coming back to the village and make things right if that’s the last thing you do,” he said.

Danzo laughed loudly as though hearing a joke, surprising Hiruzen.

“I would rather die here than return the accursed eye, Hiruzen. The torturers will break me to get the location—you know they will fail—but I have no desire to go through it, so you might as well end me here,” Danzo cracked his neck. He then declared, “But beware Hiruzen. If this is to be my last action, then it will indeed be for the village’s betterment… it will be to kill you so another can take your place as the Hokage.”

Hiruzen’s heart grew heavy. He was no stranger to death and death threats, but it was the first time someone from his own village had expressed such hatred for his position as the Hokage. Many disagreed with him, argued against his decisions, but no one had gone far as to say that his death would benefit the village.

“…Then make it a reality, Danzo,” Hiruzen slammed his bo-staff to the ground. “If you believe your death is inevitable, do what you believe will benefit the village. Take me out and ensure the Uchiha will never get their stolen eyes back….

“If you can do it, that is,” Hiruzen dared.

Danzo eyed Hiruzen with suspicion; Hiruzen could tell that Danzo was considering every word and intention behind his words. After a moment, Danzo shrugged his overshirt off his shoulder, leaving his upper body bare.

“If only you showed this type of behavior as the Hokage.” Danzo raised his hands to form hand seals.

Hiruzen raised his hands, too, as his eyes followed Danzo’s hands.

‘Summoning Jutsu?’ Hiruzen’s fingers twitched. ‘He’s summoning Baku?’

Baku was Danzo’s personal summon, just as Enma was Hiruzen’s.

Danzo used Baku to boost his Wind-Style ninjutsu. Knowing that, Hiruzen went for a Fire-Style jutsu to take advantage of the Wind-Style combinations he had seen Danzo and Baku use in combat.

But before Danzo could finish the Summoning Jutsu, the space behind him twisted, and a hand appeared out of nowhere, resting on Danzo’s shoulder, who flinched and twisted back with a kunai in hand.

The kunai passed through a man who suddenly stood behind Danzo as though the man was a ghost.

“Rude, aren’t you,” said the man in a deep, gruff voice.

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Hiruzen stared in shock. He saw the space twist into a vortex that seemed to spit out a man. Not only that, but Danzo’s attack phased through the man.

‘A Space-Time ninjutsu?’ Hiruzen mused as he wondered about the man’s identity.

The man had an orange mask with stripes that only had one eye hole; his hair extended beyond his shoulders, and he was dressed from top to bottom without a hint of skin showing.

“—Hiruzen—” Enma called out.

“I know, my friend,” Hiruzen picked up the bo-staff in response. It was pure intuition, but Hiruzen could sense danger oozing out of the man. This was not someone to be trifled with. Unlike both he and Danzo, the man was in his prime.

The man looked up at Hiruzen, who froze up when he saw the red Sharingan gazing at him from within the mask.

“An Uchiha?” he muttered.

“The Uchiha,” the man replied.

Hiruzen was taken aback, and before he could speak, something flew past him that sent the coldest chill up his spine. On pure instinct, he jumped to the side even though it had already passed him by. The ‘thing’ was a mass of jet-black flames that struck Danzo right in the chest.

Hiruzen felt his heart leap from the gut-wrenching scream from Danzo as the black fire burst, spreading on his body.

However, the next second, the ominous jet-black flames fell to the ground as if detached from Danzo, who kept screaming in agony. That itself lasted another second as the man and Danzo were sucked into the vortex that distorted space.

Hiruzen looked back to see Itachi kneeling beside the hole in the ground with a hand over his eye. There was blood on his face and hand, his breathing labored, and…

Hiruzen’s eyes widened in shock.

… pinwheels spinning in Itachi’s scarlet eyes that burned with hatred.

———

.

Danzo woke up with a start and heaved a noisy breath as his arms immediately went to his chest. His body was covered in bandages and unfamiliar clothes. He winced as pain assaulted his body, but he found that he could move. Danzo ignored the pain and immediately took note of his surroundings. He was in a fairly small room with a bed, wall cabinet, and two chairs on a tiny circular table.

He immediately got up, and with his eyes on the door, he went to the cabinet. He saw some basic medical supplies; he grabbed some of them and stored them in the satchel he made from the bedsheet. Danzo then broke the legs of the table and chairs to construct makeshift weapons.

The door was simply a curtain, saving Danzo the effort of opening it stealthily. Judging from the rough walls and the material, he was underground. As he made his way through the corridor silently, he recalled his latest memories.

He was facing Hiruzen when black flames hit him. They burned hotter than any ninjutsu he had ever faced. He didn’t know how much time had passed and what treatment he was given, but he didn’t need to look down at his bandages to know that his wounds were already bleeding.

The corridor was fairly short with two more rooms other than his own. He could see trees and long grass out the entrance of the cave corridor with a loud sound of rushing water. Sticking close to the walls, Danzo peered out of the entrance and saw a sprawling jungle stretching to the horizon. The sound of water was a waterfall a small distance beside the cave entrance.

Danzo closed his eyes. In his condition, when he had no idea where he was, getting to a place of safety would be a challenging task.

He knew who brought him here and wasn’t stoked about being in the company.

“Isn’t it rude to leave without bidding farewell to the host? I feel I deserve a thank you.”

Danzo frowned and looked to his side.

The so-called Uchiha Madara, dressed in his full attire and mask, stood on the opposite side of the cave entrance with his hands behind his back, facing Danzo.

Danzo resisted the urge to lean against the wall. He couldn’t afford to look weak in front of this man.

“I have no intention to thank you after what happened,” Danzo spat.

“Oh? Why is that?” asked Madara.

“I hired Akatsuki as an escape plan, but you almost let me die.”

“Please don’t force your inability on us. You told us to wait for you at the planned exit point, but then you decided to come out from a different place altogether. You should be grateful we were on the lookout and got to you in time. Without us, you would have been a dead man,” said Madara.

Danzo silently gritted his teeth. He hadn’t expected Hiruzen to take such drastic actions.

“… The black flames, what were they?” asked Danzo.

“An Uchiha among the ANBU.” Madara then raised his hand and pointed it at his eye.

Danzo’s breathing hitched. He had seen the ANBU along with Hiruzen, and there was only one Uchiha among them; he recognized the mask and, thus, the man behind it.

Uchiha Itachi.

‘The special black flames… it has to be the Mangekyo Sharingan.’

Danzo felt his heart sink. He had just got rid of Uchiha Shisui so the Uchiha clan wouldn’t have the Mangekyo Sharingan, and yet now, they had another one among them.

It was a problem, but Danzo put it behind his mind for the moment.

He turned to Madara.

“Now that the Darkness of the Shinobi is out from under the Fire,” the man smiled, his cold eye slowly spinning ominously, “We, Akatsuki, look forward to our continued relationship…”

The man was much more dangerous than most threats Danzo had faced in his long life.

“I hope you won’t disappoint,” said Danzo.

For the first time in decades, Danzo had brand new opportunities to exploit and new threats to thwart. The man might be dangerous, but with his current situation, he needed to take the risk if he wanted to make his goal come true.

He was exiled… but one day, he would return home.

Until that day he would bide his time and prepare.