Chapter 252   - Ch252. Emergency Council Meeting 1

Danzo impassively stared at the worry-free clan heads as they slowly filled the council room, walking in lazily and without any motivation despite the large threat that appeared just a day ago. Their attitude was frankly unforgivable in his opinion. This was supposed to be how the people supervising clans full of trained killers acted?

Nara looked as if he pulled an all-nighter, ready to fall asleep where he stood.??

Akimichi gorged on his third bag of chips, the previous two crumpled empty bags discarded in front of him on the table.

Yamanaka who watched his two friends looked like a helpless sissy.

Hyuuga looked as if he desperately needed to go to the toilet but tried to hide it behind a straight face. Danzo also noticed him from time to time glancing at Mitarashi who sat in the Senju seat by proxy... now that was simply a disgusting thought.

Mitarashi herself had her feet on the table, rocking in her chair while looking as carefree as possible. As if she could hide anything from him! The girl was clearly in pain from the bruises her surprisingly modest clothes hid. For a moment, Danzo pondered how she got these bruises but then he discarded such thoughts. Considering Mitarashi's personality and rumored hobbies, he didn't really want to know what she did in her free time. She was not nearly skilled enough to be much of a concern anyway.

Aburame was the only one who showed at least a smidge of decorum but Danzo really had no idea if it was because of the man's stoicism or something else. The only visible thing from the man's face was his nose and that was not a good thing where body language reading was concerned.

Inuzuka... not important.

It was at times like this that his resolve to get the hat increased. How could he leave the village in the hands of these... slobs!? Oh, Hiruzen, the willfully naive fool. He desperately held Konoha together while the clans grew complacent. Clearly, the village needed a strong militaristic leader who would rule with a firm hand, not afraid of dishing out just punishments in his quest to set things straight.

Just look at the orange menace pranking the village! The kid was what? Seven? Eight? And he already managed to evade some chunins? What does that say about the quality of Konoha's forces? Really... Danzo always thought of himself as a needed man. The recent happenings in the village just confirmed it for him.

The Uchiha planned a coup.

What was he supposed to do? Wait and let them do it? Of course, he would counter-strike first! That was the whole point of having an inside informant! So they wouldn't be caught off-guard. But no... Hiruzen simply had to try and negotiate with Fugaku, showing the man the village's higher-ups knew about their treachery, making Itachi distrusted.

At that point, the whole thing was at the point of no return. The Uchiha clan simply had to go.

And if he managed to grab some of the Sharingan eyes lying around? Well, the better for him, no?

Unfortunately for Danzo, the YOZORA smashed that plan to pieces, smug bastards! They even dared to slaughter his ROOT and brag about robbing the Uchiha eyes from him? He would not have it! It was time Konoha got serious and hunted these fools.

'Now... the only thing that remains to be answered is how should I manipulate my fellow councilmen to make Yozora pay.' Danzo pondered as he noticed everybody was ready for the meeting to start.

...

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed as he watched the eyebrow of his long-time friend, Danzo, minusculely twitch every three seconds or so. It was a clear tick that the man was irritated. That would be fine. Irritated Danzo was grumpy Danzo but it was nothing world-ending. At best, it was a sign of a headache-inducing meeting. But no, the whole thing became a serious problem when Hiruzen noticed the corner of Danzo's mouth twitch alongside his eyebrow. That meant Danzo was enraged. And that was not good for anyone. Especially not him.

'Oh, I can already see the paperwork that will rain upon me like a vengeful banshee once Danzo does something reckless!' Hiruzen frantically thought.

He was aware of what got his friend so upset. Anybody would feel a bit off if a group of famous rogue ninjas decided to repaint your living room with blood and intestines. Well... at least it was not Danzo's blood and intestines, right? Hiruzen couldn't see what was the big deal.

Covering his eyes with the hem of his hat while chewing on his pipe, Hiruzen pondered, 'The last thing I need is Danzo lobbying for hunter ninjas to be sent after Yozora. Now... how to manipulate this meeting to prevent that, I wonder?' Letting out a frustrated breath, Hiruzen deeply sighed. 'If only everybody was as easy to fool as Naruto. The world would be a better place.'

...

Anko sat in her seat, trying to avoid Hiashi's gaze while inwardly feeling giddy, anticipating the happenings of the upcoming meeting. She could discern that Shikaku felt the same as her. The man was subtle but Anko noticed he tried to hide his smile by laying his head on the table in the guise of being sleepy. It was such a natural sight she would have dismissed it if she didn't spend hours meeting various heads of clans allied to the Senju.

Inoichi also threw her a short worried glance, showcasing he was aware that something concerning the Senju clan would happen during the meeting. The question of involvement of the Yamanaka and Akimichi clans took hours to resolve because Shikaku wanted them to know while Anko was vehemently against it. In the end, they decided it was fine to inform them that 'something' is gonna happen and that they should support Shikaku if it came to that but no important information was to be divulged to them.

Choza seemed uncaring, happy with munching on chips while Inoichi was as always too curious for his own good. Honestly, the man was bigger gossip than most of the old ladies in the marketplace. He just hid it well.

Aburame seemed comfortable. And stoic. Too stoic for his own good. The man was a mask of hard-to-surprise coolness. There wasn't much that could cause him to show a reaction. Anko sometimes wondered if they have bugs bugging the entirety of Konoha.

For example, the man didn't even twitch when it was revealed Itachi slaughtered the Uchiha clan. Everybody reacted but Shibi. Even the perpetually asleep Shikaku was for once awake and had this put-out look as if he just heard something extremely unpleasant and disappointing. Smart bastard... Anko was sure the man deduced what the massacre was about in under a few seconds after the announcement while she needed Lady Tsunade to explain to her what that entire thing was about.

As for the Inuzuka matriarch... not important.

Just then, the Hokage deeply sighed before wearily standing up from his seat, sweeping the room with his tired gaze, showing a vulnerable look despite knowing it fooled nobody. The man had to enjoy his manipulations far too much if he didn't stop even in a room full of people knowing about his tendencies. After all, there was a reason why no clan head let Hiruzen in the talking distance of their heirs unless it was for the pre-academy motivational speech.

"Shall we start, then?" He more stated than asked and gestured for the ANBU to seal the door.

Hiruzen then started calling the names of the clans, doing attendance checks. The civilian representatives who had no idea that something was going on... Nara... Yamanaka... Akimichi... Hyuuga... Senju... Senju... Senj-

"Hey." Hiruzen pointedly narrowed his eyes at the unperturbed Anko, "I ask for the third and last time. Is the Senju clan present?"

"Weeeell," Anko drawled, putting some chakra into the seal on her wrist. A second later, a loud crash resounded from the direction of the door as an ANBU flew through them while breaking them, and then rolled on the ground until he stopped a few feet in front of the Hokage seat. Alive but in a whole new world of pain. "You gotta ask her that." Anko simply shrugged, pointing at Tsunade who stood in the middle of the door, yet another beaten ANBU guard groaning on the floor behind her, while she was giving Hiruzen a predatory look.

"Yes. The Senju clan is present." Tsunade grinned in the same way Tobirama always did when he was going to enjoy hurting somebody.

Somehow, both Danzo and Hiruzen couldn't help but suddenly feel nervous as they remembered their sadistic teacher.