Chapter 224: The Elder’s Decision

Disclaimer:

Naruto and all of its characters belong to Shueisha and Masashi Kishimoto. I own nothing but the original characters I create.

"Dialogue"

'Thoughts'

-Author notes-

Chapter 224: The Elder's Decision

Danzo and the other two occupants of the room were now glancing at the dead girl on the floor.

"Dispose of that girl, and do it appropriately… make it look like she was attacked by some lowlife criminal on her way home from work," Danzo ordered.

"Yes, sir!" the masked ninja responded.

"Check her apartment too… I want to make sure she didn't share anything with someone she wasn't supposed to," Danzo added. The girl had sounded sincere in her loyalty, but one could never be too cautious.

The ninja nodded in acknowledgment and took the dead girl away.

"Now then…" Danzo walked up to the door and closed it. "Where were we?… Sai." He turned to look at the injured young man on the bed.

"Uzumaki Naruto…" Sai spoke. He had just woken up an hour ago after being knocked out by Naruto.

He was honestly surprised to be alive after that.

"Tell me about your encounter with him. You were tasked with measuring his strength and character."

Sai nodded. "He… he is much stronger than I predicted based on the reports I was able to read. He is much faster and more powerful than the average Jonin. The way he uses jutsu is also...abnormal."

"Elaborate," Danzo demanded.

"No hand signs, no words spoken… extremely fast, almost instant. I couldn't identify which jutsu it was either… some type of wind bullet, maybe. His wind affinity must be ridiculously high to do something like that."

"Anything else?"

"He may be a sensor too. He ignored my ink clones and found my real body immediately, despite being high in the air and well out of sight," Sai explained.

"A sensor…" Danzo did not like the sound of that. "Did he use... any strange chakra during the fight?. Something that felt off?."

"No, I… it ended very quickly. I was not able to push him far enough," Sai admitted. There was no point in hiding his failure.

Sai expected Danzo to be angry or disappointed at his performance, but his expression had not changed one bit.

"What about his character? What is your opinion after your short meeting with him?"

"He is serious, confident, and ruthless. When I offended him, he did not hesitate in his attempt to kill me…"

"I see."

"Lord Danzo, may I ask how I survived?" Sai said.

"The blonde girl you saw with him just happened to be Ino Yamanaka, the latest student of the Hokage, and from what I have heard, very talented in healing jutsu," Danzo answered.

"Oh… I understand," Sai muttered. That was the girl he had insulted. So, she was the only reason he was still breathing.

Sai noticed that Danzo had gone quiet, as if he was thinking hard about something important. He rarely saw this man like this, so it must be a delicate subject.

Danzo was trying to consider every possible route he could take from here.

He had initially planned to take a more passive approach to Naruto and try to earn his trust.

But the information that girl had brought him, combined with what Sai had said… made him realize that it was no longer an option.

A war was approaching. If his calculations were correct, they were going to have a massive army at their doors in six months at most.

If that was not bad enough, he had just found out that they had lost their most important weapon… the Kyuubi.

The conversation between Jiraiya and Tsunade had revealed to him that Naruto had somehow absorbed the Kyuubi's power into his own, and potentially, the Two-Tailed beast as well.

This left them only with the Jinchuuriki of the One-Tailed beast, which was not going to be enough, even if he could brainwash Gaara to make him completely obedient to him.

Naruto Uzumaki was growing in power in an uncontrollable way, taking away their weapons in the process.

His personality was troublesome… smart and ruthless were a dangerous combination. And his loyalty to the village was questionable at best.

'I need a way to guarantee his compliance. To be sure that when the time comes, he will not turn his back to the village, or even ally himself with our enemies, for that could be our end,' Danzo thought.

There was only one course of action with a chance to work, but it was a risky one. Failure could result in countless deaths, including his own.

The elder sat back down on his chair and sighed. His mind had been made. Now he just had to make the call.

"Lord Danzo?" Sai decided to speak up. He wondered what could have the elder so worried and if it had something to do with what he had said about Naruto.

"Sai… how are your wounds? Can you still fight?" Danzo asked.

Sai moved his body a bit to evaluate his condition. His broken bones had been mended to a point, but they still hurt, and if he forced them too much, they would break again.

"I can move around, but I probably won't be able to use more than half my strength if I have to fight."

Danzo nodded. "That will do. This won't be too difficult, and you can take another agent with you for assistance, but no more than one. I want discretion above all."

"What is the mission?" Sai asked.

Danzo looked directly into his eyes. "This is a very important one… I need you to kidnap Ino Yamanaka and bring her to this facility. No one can see you or hear you during this… no one can know that my men had anything to do with this, or we will be declared traitors to the village… did I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Lord Danzo…" For the first time since his childhood, Sai was feeling conflicted.

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