Chapter 24.1- Gamer of the Desert

XXXXXX - SHINOBI NO KAMI POV

"A twelve-year-old Kage, huh? The world changes every day, doesn’t it, Danzo?" I asked my old friend as I took a sip of my tea while staring at the latest report from our network in Sunagakure. An official announcement was still forthcoming, but the boy had been sworn in and anointed as Kage already.

"I told you we should have killed him when we had the chance," Danzo said, showing his famous shortsightedness. I just sighed before I replied,

"Yes, we would have robbed Suna of a powerful shinobi and maybe gained a jinchuriki of our own who would have become useful anywhere from a decade to two from now. But now, think of the benefits. The treaty with Sunagakure is bound to need some revision after so much time, and as inexperienced as Gaara of the Desert must be, Konoha will be able to get even more favorable terms."

"Why negotiate peace, though? Suna is weak. Their choice of Kage shows that. They would not have chosen a twelve-year-old boy, and a jinchuriki besides if they had any other options. They lack powerful shinobi, their Kage is a boy. This is the time to crush them beneath our boot."

"And then have Iwa and Kumo fall upon us as we gorge ourselves on Suna’s flesh? I doubt the other villages will consider it above them to use the same tactics we used on them after the fall of Uzushio on us after we defeat Suna. Besides, we can essentially turn Suna into a vassal with the right kind of treaty. We could achieve all we desire without ever spilling a drop of Konoha blood. Is that win not sufficient for you?" I asked him, staring over the cup of tea I’d raised up to my lips. It hid my smirk well when Danzo conceded my point. My friend was stubborn, so it was especially satisfying when I could get him to change his mind on matters like this.

"What about the rest of the report? Orochimaru killed Rasa," Danzo mentioned, a set to his lips that I recognized from our time on the front lines. He could read between the lines almost as well as I could.

"Rasa was planning on betraying us," I said the words we were both thinking.

"And he sought to partner with Orochimaru, that stain on the Leaf’s history."

"A dead stain," I pointed out, with a bittersweet feeling. I felt happy to know that the weight on my shoulders was gone. The burden I felt for all of Orochimaru’s atrocities was beginning to lighten as the man was now dead and gone. But there was still sadness. Sadness for the boy I’d taken under my wing over and above the granddaughter of Hashirama himself. The orphan boy I’d owed nothing to, but still saw as my son by every metric that mattered.

"Have you seen the body?" Danzo asked, and I very nearly scoffed at the suggestion that I would do anything less. The moment the Suna jounin had come to cash in the bounty and taken the payment for the corpse, I’d had the body sent to a private room in the Konoha morgue and booked an appointment to look at it. The separated head from the body had almost made me sob. Orochimaru had been a son, and his headless body made his death sink in even further.

"Yes. Yes, I have."

"Good. I have a request, Hiruzen."

I lifted an eyebrow. Danzo’s requests were always on the ridiculous end of the spectrum.

"I am listening."

"The body. I want it." Well, wasn’t that just interesting.

"Why?"

"Orochimaru was at the pinnacle of body modification science. My medical ninja will be able to find and harvest secrets from the body that can aid the entire Konoha ninja force. Just imagine the kind of progress he could have made in the last few years."

"Vile progress, Danzo."

"What do ends care for means?"

"Everything. Besides, I have medical nin of my own. Why should I give you the body to be swallowed in those roots of yours?"

"Let’s not pretend that you will consent to doing what is necessary to gain what we need. I will spare you that pain, my friend. I will. The roots strengthen and support the great tree, Hiruzen. You know this."

"Fine. You may have it. But I want real results." I decided after a few minutes of consideration. I can trust Danzo. Danzo is my friend.

XXXXX - THE FENCESITTER

"Hahahahaha," my laughter reverberated across the office, worrying my son and the gathered jounin.

"A twelve-year-old Kage. Now, this is rich. The entire world has gone insane," I said, continuing my mad cackling. This Gaara of the Desert would be the third Kazekage I’d have the displeasure of meeting during my reign as Tsuchikage. And the fifth I’d be seeing in my lifetime. Four so-called Kazekages had come and gone, and here I still remained. The will of stone, indeed.

"Reports indicate that the boy is the strongest shinobi in Suna at the moment, and even killed Orochimaru of the Dentsetsu no Sannin," Kitsuchi spoke up, ever attempting to play devil’s advocate.

"And so? The shiniest shit in a bucket is still just that, shit. Besides, those same reports say he managed to kill the Snake after the Snake had fought his father for close to an hour. Rasa was strong, almost worthy of the title of Kage, so I can see how Rasa was able to weaken the Snake enough for his son to get the kill. I saw the boy myself six years ago. He was at most at the level of a weak Jounin. To climb the precipice from Jounin to Kage in six years? You yourself know how impossible the idea of it even is. And for a twelve-year-old, not even a ninja in the prime of his life." I shook my head. No way the boy was strong enough to measure up with a true Kage.

All he had going for him was that tailed beast of his, and Iwa has two of them. Two more powerful ones at that.

"What will you be doing with this information?" Shin asked. I liked Shin. Solid head on his shoulders. Much more solid than Kitsuchi’s on some days.

"Suna is at the weakest they’ve ever been. Increase our border presence and prepare our shinobi. Recall Han and Roshi to the village. They must be at the ready for a concentrated push."

"What about their alliance with Konoha?" A jounin in the group piped up, and instead of glaring at him for mentioning our hated rivals, I actually dignified his question with a response.

"Konoha is weak. They are not in much of a better position than Suna at this point. We won’t launch our invasion until after the Chunin exams in Konoha. The tree huggers would be too busy managing their increased mission load to bother with an ally as weak as Suna."

"What of the other villages?"

"They won’t matter, boy. We and Konoha are the only ones who share borders with Suna. We will push in quickly and thoroughly. When we’ve taken Suna itself, with few casualties, we will be able to ward off Kumo with that. With the resources of Suna at our disposal, we can easily replenish what we lose in the invasion and prepare ourselves for the rest of the villages."

"This will break the peace," Kitsuchi commented.

"There was never peace, my son. Peace between hidden villages is nothing but the space between wars. It’s better we invade someone else now, than we find ourselves the ones being invaded in a year or two." I said, passing on some wisdom for the boy to pass to that daughter of his. Kurotsuchi would be my successor, but she was still decades away from being ready for the hat or seat. It would eat her up the same way I knew it would eat up Gaara of the Desert.

XXXXXX - UNRULY AY

"Has this been verified?" Darui asked the Anbu agent who delivered the report to us, and the agent nodded before being dismissed.

I turned to my right-hand man and possible successor and waited to see what he thought of the whole thing.

"I take it we are to prepare ourselves for war," he said, and I fought down the urge to smile. Darui had the brains for the seat. Just not the strength. Not yet, at least.

"Only a possible invasion at this point. We will let Iwa handle taking advantage of Suna’s weakness," I said.

"Would you let them strengthen themselves like that?" he asked.

"I know Ohnoki and Sarutobi, and I got the measure of this Gaara of the Desert. Ohnoki will invade at the earliest opportunity. Sarutobi will scramble to help his only ally among the five, and both Konoha and Iwa will bleed themselves dry in the deserts of Kaze no Kuni. None of them will find much in the way of strength in those deserts."

"So we just stay out of things? That doesn’t feel like you," he said, and I nodded. The thought of staying out of the fight wasn’t one I was entirely comfortable with, but I could no longer think for myself. I had a whole village to consider in all the decisions I made. That was why I could keep my brother essentially locked up, even though it pained me to see his yearning to leave whenever I saw him. Bee could hide it better now, but not from me. The village bored him, but I could not let him leave. Both for his safety and that of the village. More the latter than the former, if I was being completely honest. I kept a tough shell about it, but I could tell when I’d been surpassed, and Bee had done that years ago.

"We have enough problems to deal with on our own without shipping ninja halfway across the continent to participate in an invasion we have no business in. Speaking of, how are the repairs going?" I asked, pinning him with a stare.

"The fight bled into some commercial districts, but most of it was contained. The repairs will be complete in a week at the most," he said, and I nodded.

"I know how difficult that must have been for you," I said to him, trying to show my sympathy.

"No. it was not difficult. The Anbu were right. Noel had been in the process of deserting the village, and it was my duty as his sensei to stop him. I’ve scheduled a public execution for a week from now," he said, and ignoring the words he spoke to understand the feeling behind them with practiced ease, I saw the path I had to take.

"You understand why I could never promote him past Chunin, do you not, Darui?"

"Yes. Yes, I do. The Yatsuki clan intended to use him to stake their claim on Kumo. Me allowing him to learn the lightning armor without consequence had been a mistake. It gave them hope that one of their number could be Kage, and that is a dangerous thing."

"Good. Kumo has never been ruled by a shinobi from a clan for a reason. The clans had been unwilling additions to the village. They seek their independence even as they compete with one another constantly. Raising any one clan above the others can threaten Kumo’s integrity as a whole."

"Yes, Raikage-sama," he said. He still blamed me. Perhaps part of him would always do so. I should never have allowed Darui to take the boy under his wing. I should have seen this-

"Raikage-sama!" A messenger screamed as he entered the office, out of breath almost completely. "Straighten up, man. And speak," Darui chastised, bringing a smile to my face.

"The prisoner, Noel Yatsuki, has escaped. His cell was found empty," he said, and my table flew out of the window without me even noticing that I’d moved till I heard the glass shatter.

A/N: Yup, that’s how the rest of the world is looking. How’s the chapter? What do you think?