Chapter 66.3- One Thousand Hands

“Your star will shine for a minute yes, but what goes up will most assuredly fall to the ground. The people of Konoha will see you for wha you are. Thy will see that you do not burn with the same fire that your Grandfather and Granduncle did. That I do. They will see that you do not embody the values that they hold dearest and closest. They will judge you and find you wanting. And when that happens, I will be here, waiting. I will wait for your fall because it will come” He said.

“Yeah that’s all nice and good. You do that, yeah? But let’s get to why I came here. You stay out of my shit, Hiruzen. You do it or I make you do it.” I said, not even bothering to sugarcoat the threat as anything but. This man had a way of getting on my nerves. It was more than anyone else could even think of. Maybe it was because I had actually grown up in my first life looking up to this man. I’d thought the way he sacrificed himself for the village was so cool, but now I could see him for the kind of man he was. He hadn’t hesitated to kill Orochimaru in canon for the love he held. He’d done it because he was weak. That was just the truth.

“Make me? What can you take from me that I have not already lost? I can tell you very easily that nothing you could take was ever worth keeping. Not when the alternative is seeing you pervert the village I hold and love so dearly” he said.

“So you will fight my appointment as Kage when the time comes? Even knowing that the village needs to be united to survive not just this war but its aftermath.”

“Konoha will survive. The great tree will always survive, but to do that we must prune the rotten branches. That is what you are, Shorirama Uzumaki, a rotten branch on the great tree”

“Uzumaki, not Senju, now?” I asked, amused.

“Mito was the one who raised you. And now I see it clearly. You’re just like the Uzumaki. Selfish— willing to take from Konoha, but never willing to give in return”

“To be honest with you, your yapping is getting a bit repetitive. You can tell me how you think I’m the worth thing since Madara himself to happen to the village, but what can you do about it? Whine and sulk, that’s it” I said, leaning over to meet his eyes with mine. He tensed as I stepped closer. So did the anbu. Cute.