Chapter 34 – Waltzing with a Schemer in Paradise
After dropping that final line, Uchiha Yujiro really did turn on his heel and leave, leaving Fugaku alone, wind-blown and bewildered.
It took the clan head a long moment to gather himself before he finally roared in frustration:
"What the hell was that supposed to mean?! How are we supposed to even contact Orochimaru? And why would Danzō want to meet you of all people—wait, where'd you go?!"
Yujiro had left mid-sentence, tossing out a world-shaking idea, then vanished—leaving Fugaku itching all over with unease.
But Yujiro didn't care. By then, he had already slipped out of the compound and was making his way toward the Forest of Death, striding cheerfully to a one-on-one meeting.
---
From a long-term perspective, Danzō absolutely had to die. Nothing less would appease the clan's hatred.
But even a pile of dung had its uses—and Danzō, unlike dung, was still alive and dangerous.
The real problem was Sarutobi Hiruzen's stance.
At this point, Danzō and Hiruzen hadn't yet reached the "sleeping in separate beds" stage of their toxic partnership. His funding of Orochimaru's human experimentation hadn't come to light yet.
To Hiruzen, Danzō was still that tsundere childhood friend—sharp-tongued, grim-faced, but with a burning Will of Fire, who loved Konoha deeply, did its dirtiest jobs, and shouldered its darkest burdens. The Third would protect Danzō to the bitter end.
Killing Danzō now meant declaring war on the Hokage faction itself. Even Minato would have no choice but to oppose Yujiro.
Conversely, killing Yujiro would be just as bad—it would mean declaring war on the entire Uchiha clan.
Danzō wouldn't dare. Not now. The Hokage was Minato, not Hiruzen. And Minato wasn't his friend.
If Danzō struck first, Minato would likely crush him without hesitation, sever his head, and hand it over to the Uchiha to avoid civil war—while swallowing ANBU whole into the Hokage's direct command.
Originally, ANBU should've reported only to the Hokage. But after the Third's retirement, he'd never truly let go of power. Instead of handing ANBU to Minato, he'd split authority, with himself as "advisor" and Danzō as commander. Danzō wasn't just the leader of Root now—he was the de facto head of all ANBU. The true "Darkness of the Shinobi."
Yujiro suspected that Danzō's eventual retreat to Root alone was forced by the scandal of Orochimaru's human experiments. With no way to explain himself, he had to relinquish command. Only then did ANBU return to Hiruzen's direct control.
Even so, many would later mutter, "Tch. He got off easy."
Because by then, most of the Uchiha—his greatest enemies—were dead. Orochimaru's defection had happened under Hiruzen's reinstated watch, and Danzō had walked away intact.
But what if Orochimaru's defection happened earlier—during Minato's reign? Heh… now that would be interesting.
And so, Yujiro smiled brightly at the man across from him.
Shimura Danzō: "?"
Looking at the warm, almost gentle smile on Yujiro's face—eerily reminiscent of an someone who hadn't bothered with hair gel—Danzō's instincts screamed danger.
In his eyes, a Uchiha who could smile gently without shame was far more terrifying than a thousand arrogant, nose-in-the-air Uchihas.
Worse still, this one had brains.
With him whispering in Minato's ear, the Yellow Flash was growing at frightening speed.
Hiruzen might have mixed feelings about Minato's rapid rise.
Danzō, however, felt only dread—and resentment.
His desire to kill Yujiro grew stronger. But his reason whispered back: such a man could not be confronted head-on. Better to draw him in.
Danzō had always trusted his own tongue. He was confident he could persuade Uchiha Yujiro to join ANBU—becoming the sharpest blade in his hand.
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In the world of Naruto, there were three undisputed masters of persuasion.
First, of course, was Naruto himself—the Crown Prince of Talk-no-Jutsu, whose tongue seemed enchanted with a built-in Kotoamatsukami.
The other two?
Danzō. And Orochimaru.
The former made Root shinobi follow him with fanatical loyalty.
The latter lured broken children to call him "Father" and "Mother," happily offering up their hearts in devotion.
Official sources never said whether Orochimaru or Danzō was the better persuader. Yujiro, however, figured Danzō probably had the edge.
After all, Orochimaru's audiences were mostly juveniles; Danzō's were Root operatives who'd seen and done things. People liked to scoff at the fanciest literary methods for creating fanatic soldiers—train them that way and the backlash could be brutal. Danzō proved those critics wrong: youngsters are still too young to resist a well-crafted spiel.
A couple of rousing lines about "For the sake of Konoha!" and a good dose of fervor was enough to make ill-educated, hot-blooded Root kids throw themselves into the fire. The key word was "ill-educated."
Yujiro was different. He'd finished university in his previous life. People joked that college grads had the same clear, naive stare as everyone else, but compared to the propaganda-drunk illiterates of the shinobi world, Yujiro looked positively learned.
Danzō didn't know this. He still basked in his own performance art: "Everything I do is for Konoha. If Hiruzen and Minato are the flourishing branches, I am the root—my selfless devotion is why this village thrives!" He delivered it with conviction; whether anyone believed him or not, he believed himself.
Watching Danzō's self-righteous swan song made Yujiro itch to retort. Was this the reason Danzō ducked and hid during the Nine-Tails incident, the Pain invasion, the Anbu attacks, and Orochimaru's betrayal? All that high rhetoric, and when things got real he stayed rooted in Root.
He wanted to say it, but he didn't. Yujiro let the remark go and wore a faintly thoughtful expression instead. Lies were trivial; the truth cuts faster. Yujiro's kind of truth wasn't a mere paring knife—it was a solid iron rod that could knock Danzō senseless. If he pushed Danzō that far and the man had a stroke, would Hiruzen come after him?
Still, Yujiro would need Danzō eventually. And he would need Orochimaru too. In the current political balance, Orochimaru and Danzō were allied—politically useful to one another—and Orochimaru served as Danzō's escort on assignments delegated by Hiruzen. For someone of Orochimaru's talent, such a post was beneath him, but after failing to gain the Hokage seat his heart had left Konoha anyway. Even without the scandal of human experiments, Orochimaru would have drifted away, looking for his own path like Jiraiya or Tsunade.
"I need Lord Orochimaru's support," Yujiro said calmly. "I need his techniques and research. I can join ANBU—briefly. I won't be a blind yes-man; I will accept assignments, but I will judge whether to follow them. If you agree, fine. If you don't, forget this conversation."
"I think we're agreed," Danzō said, and offered his hand. Yujiro hesitated a beat, then took it.
So two schemers—each sincere only in his own calculation—shook on an alliance that, by design, held no real trust.