Chapter 40   - Danzo Shimura

"Danzo-sama orders you to meet him, follow me."

'Really, Danzo? You didn't even wait until the week is over to contact me? How impatient are you?'

It is the day after Yuna's "outburst" inside the classroom. She just wanted to get some shopping done, but as soon as she left the house, the puppet that was usually watching her appeared in front of her. Yuna checked her surroundings for a moment and smirked.

"Oh my, you even brought seven of your friends with you. Are we having a party? Ah, but I guess you would need that many to knock out my ANBU guard, wouldn't you?"

The Root in front of her, of course, didn't react at all. Yuna couldn't help but pout.

"Talking with an emotionless puppet is so boring. Lead the way already, I still have some shopping to do."

Without saying anything else, the Root turned around and started walking away, with Yuna following behind him. What none of the Root members noticed was, that as soon as everyone left, a second Yuna appeared. There is no way she would brazenly stroll inside the enemy's stronghold without insurance, after all. Since she didn't plan to fight anyway, she just sent in a clone, for now. The real Yuna quickly approached her ANBU guard to wake him up. The more the merrier after all.

Yuna's clone, meanwhile, followed the Root agent into an old abandoned-looking building.

"I see, secret organization standard lair 152a: old abandoned building. Very creative. Let me guess: You spread rumors that this house is cursed, as well?"

Yuna could have sworn that her guide twitched for a split second.

'Oho? Seems like their conditioning isn't perfect. Too bad I don't have much time. Might have been fun to annoy him enough to get him angry.'

Yuna was led to a dreary room, with Danzo already sitting inside it. He was sitting in front of a desk that had 2 cups of tea placed on top of it.

'Seriously? Might as well put a bottle with a skull on it on the desk. If that tea isn't laced with something, I will be eating my own shoes.'

[Now I really hope it is just tea, although I doubt it as well.]

"Yuna Uzumaki, I have been expecting you."

"Danzo Shimura, I wondered when you finally want to meet me."

"I'm surprised you know my full name."

Yuna only rolled her eyes at that.

"Your puppet has been stalking me this long and you think I wouldn't know you?"

"Anyway, let me tell you why I called for you."

'Changing the topic, huh? Oh well, let's see what kind of spiel he has prepared.

"I am sure you have noticed that a lot of people in the village don't like you and that you are also aware of the reason."

"Yeah, it is because a certain person has been spreading rather ridiculous rumors."

Although Danzo didn't show it on the outside, Yuna could tell that Danzo lost control for just a split second.

'Hehe, getting nervous already? I haven't even started, yet.'

"Seriously, "Reincarnation of the Kyuubi", the person who came up with that rumor must be completely retarded. A three-year-old could have come up with something better."

This time, Yuna could see Danzo visibly twitch, but he still had his stoic face on.

"Anyway, I believe the teachers in the academy aren't treating you well either, which causes you to lack the education necessary to become a shinobi."

'Changing the topic again, huh? Does he really think I am that easy to handle?'

"Yeah, I know, right? It is almost like someone PAID them to do that. But what kind of man-child does someone have to be, to bribe a teacher to harasses his students? That would be too pathetic."

This time anger was visibly on Danzo's face, but as soon as it came it was gone and replaced with his usual stoic mask.

'Hehe, I can see the cracks.'

While Danzo was regaining his bearing and gathering his thoughts, Yuna took the cup of tea on the table and took a sip. Yuna also noticed that as soon as she took the sip, Danzo seemed to relax a little.

'Mhh, let's see. Seems to be poison to weaken my will and muddle my thoughts. Oh well, let's flush it out.'

Yuna stealthily circulated her chakra once and neutralized the poison. The poison itself was pretty weak and neutralizing it like this, is something every experienced ninja could do easily. Danzo, naturally, wouldn't know how experienced Yuna was.

'He probably chose something not too strong, since he doesn't want to kill me or make me retarded, after all.'

Danzo was just about to speak when Yuna stole away his initiative.

"Pretty decent tea, but the poison distorts the taste a little. Let me give you a little advice: Let the tea brew longer to make the taste more intense. That way, the poison will be harder to taste."

This time, Danzo completely froze up. Not in a hundred years had he expected that Yuna would notice the poison. What happened next, however, shocked him even more. Yuna took another sip of tea, frowned, put a cube of sugar into the tea, stirred it, and took another sip. Yuna nodded with a satisfied face.

"Sugar is also pretty decent at masking the taste. Anyway, you still haven't told me why I am here."

I took Danzo quite a while to regather his thoughts. Yuna's loud slurping while drinking her poisoned tea certainly didn't help speed up the progress, either.

"A-anyway, as the container of the Kyuubi you are a valuable asset for the village. It is very important for you to get a proper shinobi education."

"True, I always wondered why no shinobi family came to adopt us. Almost like someone was preventing them from doing so. But there is no way someone would block the village's important Jinchuuriki from getting a proper upbringing. That would be the height of stupidity."

Yuna took another sip of tea, while she observed Danzo from the corner of her eyes. Danzo's face was currently twisted in anger and for a split second, a bit of killing intent leaked out.

"Mhh, weird. Has it gotten a little colder?"

Danzo immediately rebuilt his facade when he heard that and reined in his killing intent.

"Ohh, must have been my imagination."

"How about you join my organization? I can probably train you and even teach you how to control the Kyuubi's power."

'Wow, you heard that Kurama? He can teach me how to use your power. Since he seemed to be more proficient in it than you, do you want to ask him any questions?'

[What a joke. This guy really thinks he is the only one that can think for himself and that everyone will easily fall for his traps. Such an obvious lie, yet he spouts it so confidently.]

'That's right. It sounds confident because he actually is confident. He genuinely believes that, if it is him, he can do it.'

Yuna pretended to be interested and answer Danzo.

"Ohh? You can teach me how to control it? That is amazing."

Danzo was just about to ride on his high when Yuna immediately shot him down again.

"Let me guess. I have to become emotionless like the 8 puppets that are hiding in this room?"

Danzo widened his eyes in surprise when Yuna accurately told him the number of Root agents inside the room.

'Hehe, he is slipping up more and more.'

"Seems like I was correct, then let me guess some more. For you to help me, I only have to accept a little cursed seal, right? But I'm sure it will only prevent me from speaking about you, right? And you especially wouldn't slip in a seal that would make it impossible for me to disobey your orders, right?"

As soon as she finished her little speech, she deliberately glanced in the direction of the only person in the room that had such a seal on him. This time, Danzo completely lost it. His face twisted with anger as he gave an order.

"Capture her!"

The 8 people in the room instantly started charging at Yuna. Yuna however didn't move at all. Moments later she was tied to the chair and had a kunai on her neck.

"Well, this is rather rude, don't you think? How am I supposed to drink my tea if I am tied up like this?"

"I have had enough of these games. I wanted to make you loyal to me through proper methods before I put this seal on you, but you leave me no choice. Pull out her tongue."

"You have some weird fetishes old man."

Before anyone could move, however, Yuna had already shown her tongue, while Danzo's face twisted even further in anger. He ignored it, for now, took out a stamp and stamped it on Yuna's tongue.

"I have had enough of you joking around. From now on you are no longer allowed to make jokes."

Yuna felt that something was trying to influence her mind, but didn't bother with it. She pretended to chew on something and then spit a black blob of ink on the table.

"Tastes like sh*t. I will have to give you a negative customer review."

Danzo, however, didn't even hear her speak. He was staring at the blob of ink on his table in absolute bewilderment. He couldn't believe that someone could remove his seal so easily.

"Are you worried about the ink stain? Just rub some alcohol on it. That makes it easier to remove."

Danzo awoke from his stupor and crossed eyes with Yuna. There was only one question in his mind.

"How?"

Yuna could only roll her eyes at him.

"Just put the alcohol on a piece of wash rag or something, it really isn't that complicated."

Danzo, naturally, had no idea what Yuna was talking about. He thought back on everything that happened and then understood what she meant. She was pretending that removing the ink stain on the table was a bigger challenge than removing his seal. Due to Yuna's constant mockery, Danzo's anger finally exploded and his killing intent crashed into Yuna.

"YOU DARE MOCK ME LIKE THAT!?"

Yuna was, naturally, not cowed that easily. She let her own killing intent loose, easily contending with Danzo's and suppressing the Root agents around her.

"YOU ARE THE ONE MOCKING ME! You have been interfering with my life from day one! You leaked my mother's pregnancy! You spread those rumors. You had us kicked out of the orphanage! You prevented the other shinobi families from adopting us! You told the teachers to harass us! Everything, just so you can get two loyal Jinchuuriki for yourself, right? But it didn't go well, did it? Every time you came up with a new little scheme, I smashed it apart. You grew desperate and actually believed I had broken, because of that one little fake freak-out. After all that harassment failed and you had a single fake success you decided to invite me to your little organization. It is clearly you, who is mocking me, by thinking that I would actually be this stupid."

Danzo's eyes widened in surprise, yet again, after Yuna's rant. He was surprised that Yuna actually knew that he was responsible for all of that, then, however, he remembered something else. All that mockery Yuna was piling up on him seemingly out of coincidence, wasn't out of coincidence at all. His anger exploded out even more furiously and he was about to attack Yuna when she said another sentence.

"By the way, it seemed really uncomfortable to stay knocked out like that, so I woke my ANBU guard before coming here."

As if that was a signal, a new Root agent entered the room and immediately kneeled down.

"Danzo-sama, Hokage-sama wishes to talk with you."

Danzo really wanted to curse right now, but there was nothing he could do about it. He had to just ignore the mockery that was piled on him for now. He stood up, dismissed Yuna with a casual "you may leave" and proceeded to walk towards the door. He was just about to leave when Yuna's voice echoed through the room.

"Danzo…"

He turned around in annoyance to find out what else the little brat had to say, but as soon as he did so, he regretted that decision. Through the murkiness of the room two ocean deep, purple eyes were looking at him. They exuded a depth and calmness he had never seen before and seem to pierce through every single one of his secrets. His body shivered from a coldness that seems to have appeared out of nowhere.

"You will, someday, pay for your sins, Danzo. That arm, those eyes, the Senju, the Uchiha, the Uzumaki, and my parents, one day you will slip up. And the moment you fall from grace. The moment you lose your position. I will be there to reap your head."

A shiver of pure terror ran through Danzo's whole body. He felt like death itself was standing in front of him. There was no killing intent, no pressure from chakra, nothing, yet he couldn't move at all. His whole body was completely frozen in place seemingly without a reason. He stood there for quite a while, completely unmoving. He didn't even notice when Yuna's clone vanished, nor did he notice when Hiruzen appeared in front of him. He just stood there with the image of two purple eyes in the darkness burned into his mind. It took him a whole ten minutes to get out of his stupor and realize that Hiruzen was standing in front of him with a worried expression. Danzo's facial expression quickly changed back to his indifferent mask, Hiruzen, however, could easily tell that something was wrong.

'What did Yuna do with him? Did she publicly release his porn collection or something like that?'