"
"So it would seem," Hiruzen groused. "If it pleases you, Fugaku, we'll go meet him now.
"
"It would please me very much. "
"After you then. Everyone else, dismissed.
Though please leave the man be for now. We've crowded him enough, I think.
" And I don't want to think what he'd do to embarrass one of you next. He met Danzo's gaze on the way out.
Again.
The moment they walked in, Naruto invaded the Hokage's personal space with a literal deluge of where and what and how and "Why didn't you tell me I was a bastard, I can't believe it!" and now he had to explain to a hyperactive child that no, he was not a bastard but it was important that nobody else know that because of reasons only grownups can understand. Hiruzen truly envied Fugaku in that moment, but he supposed he brought this on himself.
"Mister Masanari. "
Hanzo stood. "Chief Uchiha, please forgive me if I don't meet your eyes.
"
"I understand the sentiment. " Which said nothing of his tolerance for it.
"But this is the Hokage Tower. There are elite Anbu watching us.
I am not permitted to inflict genjutsu unprovoked in this place. "
There were indeed Anbu and… yes, Danzo had used their access passages to take a spot behind the fake wall.
"… I suppose we are only ever at the Hokage's mercy. " The man met Fugaku's eyes.
Hiruzen wondered not for the first time why this man's words cut him so easily. "Crow, get Naruto home please.
"
"But-NO, NOT AGAaaaiiiinnnn-!" Naruto's voice faded into the distance before the window shut, re-activating the sound trapping arrays.
"I've some questions about your treatise," Fugaku said once calm returned.
"I'm sure there's nothing in there that you haven't all thought about yourselves," Masanari demurred. He wasn't even playing coy.
"No indeed," Fugaku said dryly, not saying what they were all thinking.
The fact that a mere civilian (and not even the only one) could talk so frankly and insightfully about something of that magnitude based entirely on public information was a slap in the face of each of them and the village as a whole. Shikaku was right.
If a mere civilian could pin all that down without any skullduggery, what the hell had they even been doing with this village?
"I have only one question about this. .
. treatise," stated the Uchiha Clan Head.
"When you spoke about 'clandestine factions', what specifically did you have in mind?"
"… Lord Hokage, I don't suppose my amnesty's still short of its expiration date?"
Oh dear. Hiruzen barely countered Danzo's hostile will burst before anyone noticed it.
Why did I let Fugaku get my hopes up? "… I'm willing to extend it to include today, notwithstanding anything… self-incriminating, let's say, about acts committed outside this period. "
"Right," Hanzo muttered. "In that case, I can only say that I earnestly hope you weren't actually trying to keep it a secret.
"
Fugaku's eyes flickered imperceptibly between Danzo's location and back. "This 'it' being…?"
Hanzo looked back to the Hokage uncertainly. Hiruzen sighed.
Ordering silence or anything else would make Hiruzen incriminate himself, and if a civilian had somehow found out, what point even was there? "Please speak freely. "
"Right, so… my wall. " What followed was a thorough description of Masanari Hanzo's basement shelf rack, the wall behind it, a tract on the material physics involved in the rusting of nails, and everything that didn't make sense about the whole thing, after which Hanzo finally finished with "-and so I'm really hoping the ones who clearly had the wrong idea about me have had their orders clarified.
While I understand that village security is important, I hope I've sufficiently proven I'm working for rather than against it by now. I'd appreciate if I could live without the uncertainty of whether or not I still have a sword hanging over me, if you get my meaning.
"
Why don't I have a harder time believing this is happening? "… You know what, Mister Masanari, I'm not sure I do get your meaning. Please elaborate.
"
Hanzo looked at him worriedly. "You know… them.
I couldn't say what you'd even call them, The Spooks? The Anbu's Anbu? The cleaners, the stealers, the nin-that-must-not-be-named, you know the ones. "
Fugaku casually walked around the office, incidentally stopping to lean right against the wall that Danzo was hiding behind. "That's quite the theory.
"
"Yes, it truly is," Hiruzen carefully didn't let his mood slip. "Quite the leap to make from just that suspicion, however.
"
"Suspi- Lord Third, at least half the village knows about them. "
Fugaku was suddenly holding Danzo's wall in place with his chakra-coated foot. Hiruzen hoped the man was just being overcautious.
". .
. Describe your thought process.
"
"… I guess? Even the blackest of Anbu have days off and can be contacted by their family through official channels, however delayed. So when academy students or genin get recruited only to vanish off the face of the earth without such official channels being available, parents tend to notice.
They also tend to notice when they're being stonewalled through said channels for literally the rest of their lives. The lack of non-disclosure agreements is another glaring sign.
I hate to say it, but when the occasional baby shinobi goes missing in action, don't be surprised if the parents assume it was the nin-who-must-not-be-named instead of the official story. "
Oh, how it must burn Danzo that he didn't eliminate this man as he clearly wished he'd done now. "I suppose those assumptions are reasonable, however unsupported.
" How far past my boundaries have you gone, Danzo, if the general population can see through you now? "Is that all?"
Hanzo looked to Fugaku now. "I'm sorry to cause offense, but this policy of inserting certain high-status children into Anbu for the express purpose of propaganda does its own part to convince people that Anbu aren't the real Anbu.
"
Fugaku crossed his arms with a glare. "Are you questioning my son's competence?"
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