Daichi stared at the blue box for another heartbeat and let it fade. 'So… That's that. I'm telling her.' The weight of the decision was heavy in his heart but it felt right.
Daichi crossed his arms, sat on a chair in the lab and leaned back. His eyes narrowed as he thought about the new problem in front of him. 'She deserves to know. But how do I even begin? She's not going to take this lightly… She's lived with this grief for decades. If I just show up and say, 'Hey, your brother and fiance's death wasn't an accident, but a plot,' she'll lose it. Or worse, she might not believe me at all. And that's not considering the questions I'll be asked from the 2nd and 3rd Hokage and Jiraiya.'
A thought flashed through his mind. 'Dragon.' The mysterious revolutionary persona he'd created for covert operations.
'I could appear as Dragon… tell her the truth, give her the evidence. That way I stay protected…'
But almost immediately, he shook his head.
'No. That's wrong. That kind of news isn't something she should hear from a stranger. She's not just some target for information delivery. This… this is personal. After everything that's happened, if I hide behind a mask to tell her this, it would be a betrayal.'
He exhaled slowly, running a hand through his hair as his mind raced.
'Then I'll tell her as myself. It should be me.' Which led to the next problem. Daichi's fingers tensed slightly as his thoughts continued. 'And when I tell her, she's going to ask how I know all this. How I got Nawaki's blood. How I'm sure it wasn't Madara. How I know about Zetsu. She'll have some difficult questions for me. About Dragon. About what I've been doing.'
Daichi's brows furrowed. 'I need a way to tell her without compromising my entire position.' Then, like a flicker of lightning, an idea sparked in his mind. He blinked and then slowly stood up. 'Yes… that might work.'
Daichi looked at the bench and saw the samples of the blood tests he had just conducted and the reports of the results. "Well, I can't have you guys lying around here."
The Gamer ninja quickly took all the samples and reports and stored them in his inventory. He thoroughly cleaned the residue of Nawaki and Dan's blood from the test tubes and made sure no trace was left.
Once he made sure he left no trace of his 'off-the-books' investigation, Daichi left the lab.
Home:
'Before I move forward with my plan, I need to check those mission reports. If there's evidence of his presence, even better.'
Daichi sat cross-legged in his room and from his inventory, took a medium sized scroll. The moment it was unsealed, numerous smaller scrolls, sealed folders, and a leather-bound ledger. These were the stolen documents from Danzo's personal archives—retrieved during Dragon's infiltration mission.
"Incident/Mission Reports." "Classified Field Notes." "Unsanctioned Encounters." Daichi's eyes scanned the labels and he nodded to himself. 'Taking everything from that place was the right thing to do. These are reports from all over the world. Danzo really was horny for intelligence on almost every other nation. This must have been what gave the village the edge to win in the last three wars even when we were outnumbered.'
Daichi quickly organized the reports and began going through them. 'Now I just need to find something that points to the existence of a master manipulator working in the shadows. If Zetsu did leave any trace of his activities, then this is where I'll most likely find them.'
'Hmm… Some of these records are incomplete and many of the higher priority ones are in codes. This will take some time.'
Daichi created three Shadow clones and each quickly began their work.
—-
Hours went by as Daichi and his doppelgangers began their work. Stacks of sealed scrolls lay across his desk. Daichi was reading Danzo's personal intelligence collection. His Parallel Processing skill had been running at full strength since he started reading the reports.
'Oh man. Spy network extractions. Battlefield scrolls intercepted from enemy couriers. Decrypted black ops missions Danzo had stolen from foreign shadow archives. Over two decades have passed and some of these can still be considered sensitive reports.'
Some of the mission reports detailed intelligence leaks, others tracked assassinations or kidnappings of minor nobles from minor clans.
Daichi's eyes slightly narrowed as he read certain reports. To even a shinobi like Danzo, the details in the reports were too random and didn't have any pattern. But Daichi was different. His high intelligence allowed him to spot which reports showed irregularities.
'On the surface these are isolated, unrelated events. Fragmented and inconclusive. But with context…'
Daichi was someone who had a far better understanding of the enemies hidden in the world and thus he could connect the dots easier.
One report from over 18 years ago from the Hidden Cloud village spoke of a failed alliance between the Lightning Daimyo's cousin and a high ranking shinobi with noble blood in the village. The mission notes claimed that the failure was a logistical misunderstanding.
But a hidden Root memo attached to the report referenced a successful disruption campaign by an unknown third party.
Daichi narrowed his eyes and studied the events that happened during that time.
'If this alliance had gone through, then the Hidden Cloud village would have received significant funds and they wouldn't have entered the war so soon. They would have increased their military strength and waited to see the best time. But because of the failure of the alliance, the Raikage was forced to enter the third world war and plunder for resources and cause more havoc.'
Daichi soon found another report that caught his eye.
– A report from 21 years ago. A joint Cloud-Stone infiltration of the Hidden Whirlpool village ended in a double betrayal. Both teams vanished. No evidence of enemy combatants. Outcome: Uzumaki seals removed.
—A Mist assassination mission leaked to a rival clan within their own ranks, sparking an internal civil war that lasted two years.
A field report from the Hidden Stone's western border describing a skirmish that led to the accidental death of two Uzumaki refugees. The event was marked as unfortunate collateral.
Daichi narrowed his eyes and frowned. 'That doesn't seem accidental. More like someone eliminating bloodlines on purpose… If it really was the Hidden Stone Village, they would have captured the refugees and would have made some effort to add the Uzumaki bloodline to their village. But this report proves that it's not them.'
Daichi skimmed another report that was written just before the Third World war.
"Escort caravan from Land of Whirlpools to border ambushed. Unknown assailant. No bodies recovered. Cargo lost: sealing texts, chakra resilience records."
Daichi took a look at another report. It was a redacted report the Hidden Cloud village had stored in their archives before Danzo's men had managed to get it.
"Subject: Senju bloodline remnants. Note: all targets reported deceased due to 'mission accidents' or 'natural causes' within 6 months of identification."
Below was Danzo's note: "Pattern too neat. Possible outside operator."
Daichi's eyebrow rose. "So even you smelled something rotten, huh. Considering you didn't know of Black Zetsu's existence, that's pretty sharp."
He kept reading through the documents.
– A Sand village Chunin slain near River Country. Wounds mimicked Five tails Jinchuriki of Hidden Stone village. Hidden Stone denies involvement. Tension rises.
Then came a report that made Daichi pause. This report was made by Danzo's direct Root ninjas.
"Genin Nawaki Senju under Jonin Orochimaru ends in casualty. No external factors detected. Death ruled as an accident."
Daichi read the extended report. 'Root ninjas have made an extensive investigation into this death and found nothing. Well, I can't exactly blame them. Zetsu is damn near impossible to trace when he wants to move unnoticed.'
All of the incidents shared one pattern. Indirect nudges. Subtle suggestions. Long-term consequences. Clan extinction, resource destruction, or war escalations and Jinchuriki deployments.
"Black Zetsu…" Daichi muttered. "You've been very busy."
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling. 'The Uzumaki, Senju, and Uchiha… all manipulated into conflict or crushed under manufactured circumstances. Makes sense. They were the clans with the most potential to stop a tailed beast, control or seal them away. The Uzumaki clan especially had the power to maybe even seal away Zetsu. He must have seen them as a threat to his plan and existence for centuries and never stopped planning to get rid of them.'
Daichi's fingers curled into a fist. He now had what he needed. A narrative. 'This is enough to make them listen. It's not solid proof but it'll be a nice trail of breadcrumbs for them to follow.'
Daichi and his clones made notes of certain information and stored the copies in his inventory. The real reports were sealed into a different scroll along with two vials of blood.
'Time to make my move… I need to make it look real. Better do this when the old man isn't here.'
—-
March 29th - Evening.
Daichi was in the backyard of his home, clad in his training gi, his fists wrapped with black tape. He worked through a light kata with chakra moving under his skin. The yard was quiet. Kensei had gone to visit the orphanage matron and reconnect with some old friends. Daichi estimated he had at least an hour before the old man returned.
As Daichi closed his eyes and took a deep breath,
"Hi there."
A voice suddenly greeted him from behind. Daichi snapped open his eyes. His body reacted immediately and sent multiple kunai at the masked man.
The mysterious ninja easily dodged the weapons and chuckled. "Now that's not a very nice greeting."
"I don't take kindly to strangers invading my home." Daichi replied and looked like he was ready for a fight.
Without another word, Daichi launched forward. Two kunai whistled through the air. The masked ninja tilted his body slightly, letting them sail past harmlessly.
Daichi met him mid-step, fist aiming for the ribs. But the enemy blocked and countered with a sharp palm to Daichi's shoulder. The two ninjas entered into a close-quarters taijutsu—elbows, knees, chops.
Their movements were precise and fast. Daichi suddenly snaked his arms around the incoming hands and swiftly grabbed his opponent's wrists and stepped on one foot.
Two pairs of hands popped out of the ground and grabbed onto each of the opponent's legs holding him in place.
Suddenly multiple shuriken with ninja wire came from several directions and completely ensnared the masked man and immobilized him. A moment later Daichi aimed a punch intending to knock him out but the mysterious man smirked. "Impressive skills, Daichi. But not good enough to capture me."
The next instant, powerful Lightning currents burst forth from all around his body and it forced Daichi back several meters. The lightning arc cut the wires and destroyed Daichi's shadow clones hidden under the earth.
The Genin immediately took several kunai and flung them at the man aiming at the vitals. The masked ninja easily dodged them but just then his danger senses screamed at him.
A sharp sword was coming towards his chest at incredible speeds.
'Tobirama.'
The tip of the blade was an inch away from piercing the man's green cloak.
A fraction of a second later he vanished from his position and appeared a dozen meters away.
The sharp blade slashed where the enemy was a moment earlier and Tobirama now stood at that spot. The Second Hokage was wearing his Anbu gear and mask and looked at the ninja with new vigilance. 'So he does know the teleportation jutsu. This is not going to be easy.'
The man wearing the strange Dragon themed mask looked at Daichi and then at the Anbu ninja and nodded to himself. "I see. That very first kunai you threw at me. It already had his mark. You already alerted him with that and then you were hoping he'd have arrived by now and wanted to take me by surprise. You had another marked weapon in that last throw didn't you? You two haven't even communicated with each other and yet, you both could predict the other's most likely strategy. Very impressive, Daichi, Lord Second Hokage."
Tobirama sighed as he knew keeping up the pretense wouldn't work.
The masked ninja, while keeping his full attention on Tobirama and Daichi, tilted his head to another location in the spacious backyard of Daichi's home. "You two might as well come out. I've already sensed your presence."
Seeing no movement from the shadows of the small forest, the man loudly groaned. "If you two don't come out, I'll destroy this house. I doubt our dear Genin here or his grandfather would appreciate that very much."
A moment later Kakashi along with Hiruzen appeared near Daichi.
"There goes the chance for a surprise attack." Kakashi sighed tiredly but he was completely vigilant.
"His senses are sharp. I tried to minimize our presence as best I could and yet he still found us. Not just anyone can do that." Hiruzen was trying to figure out the ability of the unknown in front of him.
Kakashi, Hiruzen and Daichi stood a few meters in front of the unknown while the Second Hokage appeared behind.
They had him surrounded.
The intruder looked at the small group and smiled. "Three unexpected guests. I was hoping to have a conversation with young Daichi alone but I suppose that won't be possible now."
His words made the three older ninjas tense.
"Who are you?" Tobirama asked even though he identified the man. He wanted to know if the enemy would use any other alias.
"Ah yes, this is our first meeting isn't it… Well, allow me to introduce myself."
The man took off his mask and looked at all of them. "I'm Monkey D Dragon. A revolutionary."
—--------------
Author's Note:-
I'm sure by now, most of you guys have figured out what I planned to do. It's a straight forward plan and if succeeded then No one will equate Daichi to dragon.
If you like my story and want to read ahead, then check out my P.a.T.R.E.0.N page. I've uploaded up to 30 additional chapters there.
Patre on.com/MonkWithAPen (No space)