"Greetings, Hokage-sama, Jiraiya-sama, and Nara-san. Have you captured Danzo?" Sasuke asked.
"Indeed, Sasuke, the plan was successful," Hiruzen said.
"Did Danzo order the massacre of my clan?" Sasuke asked.
--FLASHBACK—
"We need to discuss what we should tell the young Sasuke," Hiruzen said.
"It’s dangerous for someone so young to have so much information. If he spreads the information and the village learns that the Uchiha massacre was an inside job, there will be instability and rebellion from the clans. Also, what if he connects the puzzle and finds out about the planned coup? He can easily turn traitor," Jiraiya said.
"So, what do you propose?" Hiruzen said with dissatisfaction while expecting an answer that he didn’t want to hear.
"Sensei, you have grown too soft. This is a threat to the village. We should seal his memories of the event as soon as possible," Jiraiya said.
"Am I too soft? You are welcome to take my place and become Hokage, and then you can easily make this decision," Hiruzen said with a smirk.
"Sensei, this is always your answer every time you can’t answer logic with logic. You know as well as I know that even though my suggestion is harsh, it is the best solution."
Hiruzen’s expression wasn’t nice, and he asked, "Shikaku, what is your opinion?"
"Both of you are completely underestimating the boy," Shikaku said with confidence, and he immediately had their complete attention.
"He already knows about the coup, and he revealed it to my son to establish our cooperation."
"Shikaku, this isn’t what you had said. And since when does he know about it? When did he find out? When I spoke with him in the hospital, he didn’t say anything about it. He only talked with me about his ambition of becoming Hokage because of his disappointment in the village’s leadership," Hiruzen said.
"Shikamaru believes that he was suspecting it, and he confirmed it after your discussion," Shikaku said.
"Did the boy manipulate my weakness of wanting to find a successor to see my general stance of having an Uchiha in a position of power? And after my acceptance of him but through a secret mission, he concluded that it wasn’t me that made the decision against his clan but another force that I want to protect him from," Hiruzen said.
"It seems that we have a genius to deal with," Jiraiya said.
"Shikaku, you told me before that you approached the boy. Tell me what really happened," Hiruzen commanded.
"It was Sasuke who approached me through my son after having concluded about 'the unknown force against him,' which has enough power to go against you. Also, I may have lied about the way that the root ninja reached here," Shikaku said with a guilty smile.
"Shikaku, what do you mean?" Hiruzen pressed.
"There was never a seal that could be used to control him. However, I may have given the boy some genjutsu scrolls instead," Shikaku said.
"YOU DID WHAT? Shikaku, even if it’s you, this was completely risky. What if the kid failed? What would have happened then?" Hiruzen asked.
"My son had complete trust in the young Uchiha, and I completely trust my son’s judgment. Also, I was sure that Danzo used genjutsu on you after your lack of actions against him. I couldn’t afford to give him more time to prepare. Moreover, Sasuke’s talent had already grabbed Danzo’s attention, and that was the perfect justification to start our operation. And finally, Hiruzen, please tell me, what the Anbu who was watching him have told you about his training?"
Hiruzen was thoughtful of Shikaku’s words and took his time to reply.
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"Rabbit said that he trains every day from 5:00 till 22:00, and that his chakra control is at a very advanced level for his age. He also said that he trains his genjutsu with his friends and that he can use the 3 academy jutsu with no hand signs. I also know that he and his girlfriends are prodigies in medical ninjutsu."
Jiraiya was completely surprised by the work ethic and the talent of this child.
Shikaku nodded to the Hokage and said, "Let me give you a little more information that I have received from my son and from Inoichi. Sasuke trains with weight seals and uses 45kgs. He does his cardio and most of his exercises while on trees or water. His latest training was to skate on water with his hands while having 15 rocks balancing on his body. When he first met my son, he used a layer of genjutsu to hide their discussion from your Anbu. The layer was so lifelike that Shikamaru couldn’t see the difference from reality. He managed to create suggestions with genjutsu against my son with his first try. Inoichi was barely able to resist his suggestions while being prepared. Do you think that this boy would have failed against an unprepared root ninja who is basically a puppet?"
Jiraiya and Hiruzen were completely flabbergasted.
"Sensei, what mission did you give to the child?" Jiraiya finally asked.
"It was an S rank mission with several steps that he has to complete. After completion, I promised to give him my position," Hiruzen said and further explained all the parts of the mission.
Jiraiya looked at him with a strange gaze.
"Don’t look at me like that, Jiraiya. This kid has shown great promise and he needed a distraction from his pain. Also, the mission was created to control his revenge and avoid the scenario of him turning traitor. Either way, if he manages to defeat me and bring back Itachi, nobody would dare to oppose the decision," Hiruzen said.
"Sensei, even if you give me a thousand arguments, I know that the true reason you did that is that you want to retire," Jiraiya said with a grin on his face.
"Ok, enough of that. We need to decide how to handle the situation," Hiruzen said with frustration and looked at Shikaku.
"The kid is a genius, and if we try to lie to him, it won’t turn out nice. If we seal his memories, we may hurt his potential. He is the ideal Hokage candidate in terms of fighting potential and tactical thought, but I am not sure about his will of fire. Until now, he has shown that he cares about his classmates, and he didn’t turn against the village when he found out the truth. However, I believe that he acts like that to promote the ideal image of a future Hokage and not because of loyalty and love towards the village. The only way to truly test him is to see his behavior in a life and death situation."
"You couldn’t have said it better," Jiraiya said.
"There is also something else. I didn’t think about it too much when it happened, but now considering Sasuke’s intelligence, it is really suspicious," Hiruzen said and immediately grabbed the others' attention.
"Sasuke befriended Naruto, and when he found out about Naruto’s situation, he tried to make arrangements for his clothes, meals, and training. Of course, I stopped the friendship immediately because I couldn’t risk having Naruto near such a strong Sharingan user."
"He definitely knows about the Kyubi. With his Sharingan, he can view the color of chakra, and I am sure that he has made the connection. He probably wanted to make the boy depend on him to use him in the future. Think about it. All his relationships until now are useful to him. The 3 girls are essential for the restoration of his clan, Hyuga is a slave with Byakugan, and he can easily manipulate him for his own needs. Finally, my son was used as a link between me and him," Shikaku said thoughtfully.
"This kid is trouble. Even if we seal his memories, he would find out about it easily, and then he will have a solid reason to turn traitor," Jiraiya said.
"We should keep all the techniques away from the boy and also forbid him from using genjutsu against his classmates. That will slow down his process. Until we figure out his true loyalty, we can’t let him grow too much. When the boy joins a genin team, we should carefully watch his reactions against dangerous situations to evaluate him. However, with his level of genjutsu, he can easily manipulate the situations to pretend that he is loyal. There are only 2 people who I trust to see through his genjutsu, Hiashi Hyuga, and Hatake Kakashi. However, the first can’t leave his clan duties, and I have promised Kakashi that he would have Naruto on his team," Hiruzen said.
The 3 of them were thoughtful for several seconds, and finally, Jiraiya said, "Without Danzo’s interference, we can proceed and fix Naruto’s treatment in the village. Shikaku, you should also tell your son to befriend Naruto and help him find more friends. If Naruto makes a lot of friends, I believe that he won’t be as easy to manipulate anymore. Also, sensei, you should arrange sessions between Kakashi and Inoichi as soon as possible. You can’t keep ignoring his problems."
All of them agreed that this is a realistic plan and kept discussing their future plans with more details.
-- END OF FLASHBACK —
"You are correct, Sasuke. It was Danzo that commanded Itachi to kill your clan," Hiruzen said.
"What will happen to him? Will you execute him?" Sasuke asked.
"What do you suggest?" Hiruzen asked while giving a side glance at Shikaku.
‘Let’s see, Shikaku, if the boy can truly keep up with you,’ Hiruzen thought.
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