Chapter 70.4- One Thousand Hands

“No. No killing him. Hiruzen will live to see me build the village into something he never could.”

“Then I’ve got bad news for you, Shori, if you want the job you’ve got to find a way to get rid of the guy before you. Is he going to abdicate? Is that the plan?”

“No. We can’t even give him the chance to abdicate. He’d name anyone but me for a successor and I won’t stand for that” I said.

“Okay, so what’s your plan.”

“If the Clan Council vote for it with the right reason and the Daimyo approves it, the Hokage can be forced out of his position” I said.

“Do we have the votes?” I smirked when she mirrored my earlier phrasing. And somehow, the fact that she used ‘we’ rather than ‘you’ made me feel warm inside. It was the strangest thing.

“Not yet”

“Does anyone even like the Monkey?”

“He’s the Hokage. They don’t need to like him” Uraume said. Wasn’t that the truth?

“Okay, run me through everything” Uzume said, and we began to bring her up to speed.

XXXXXXXX

Nara Kagame lived in a simple building. It was a bungalow. My byakugan— I’d scanned the building before knocking— told me it had a single bedroom, and a meditation room as its only amenities other than the kitchen we presently sat inside. Looking at it, one wouldn’t have been able to tell that this woman singlehandedly invented most of the medicines Konoha used today, pioneered medical ninjutsu in the village, set the standards for the Hospital when she founded it.

“You look very little like him, you know?” She said. Those were the first words she’d spoken since she’d ushered me in and began to make tea.

“I’m told I get my looks from my mother” I replied.

“Yes yes, Hyuga looks. Hyuga men were always so delicious” She said, and I did my best to pretend she wasn’t looking at me like a piece of meat on a slap.

“But those eyes. Those eyes are all Tobi. The darkness, the cruelty, the boundless curiosity. That’s all him” She said stepping closer and placing a wrinkled hand against my face. It took all my self control to avoid relieving her of it. The smile that suddenly cut through her weathered face told me she noticed.

“Cruelty? My granduncle wasn’t cruel. He was a good man” I wasn’t sure I felt more uncomfortable with her words or her actions. She’d gotten very close now. I gained a temporary reprieve when she turned away laughing heavily. She laughed so heavily that she had to take two steps back to rest against the sink. And then the coughing began.

“I never in my life met a man crueler than Tobirama Senju. And I met Madara Uchiha in his heyday” She said between coughs. A hand pressed to her chest. I narrowed my eyes, tempted to activate my byakugan as I got the feeling she was using some sort of jutsu. Especially either how she straightened up in a matter of seconds, hale like nothing had happened.