Konoha
News spread through Konoha faster than anyone could control.
The shinobi who had gone to Amegakure had returned not long ago, and with them came the kind of story that no one could keep contained. Pain was dead. The leader of the Akatsuki had fallen.
And the one responsible was Naruto Uzumaki.
Everywhere Damon walked, eyes followed him. Some villagers congratulated him openly, others whispered in disbelief, and more than a few shinobi stared at him with an entirely different kind of respect than before. The destruction in Amegakure and the condition of those who had returned told the story well enough. Whatever battle had taken place there, it had been monstrous.
Damon ignored the praise.
If anything, it only confirmed what he already knew.
More trouble was coming.
And right on cue, more problems kept showing up.
His gaze landed on an old man slowly making his way toward him, wrapped in bandages that covered half his body and even part of his face.
"Uzumaki, you have a lot to explain."
The old man's cold voice cut through the noise, and once it did, the crowd moved aside almost immediately. They stepped back to give Damon and Danzo room, wanting to watch from a safe distance.
"Uzumaki, you have a lot to explain."
The old man's cold voice cut through the noise, and once it did, the entire crowd moved out of Damon's way. They stepped aside to give both him and Danzo room, wanting to watch the conversation from a safe distance.
But the second Danzo tried to take another step closer, a giant white she-wolf appeared beside Damon and stopped him cold. Kaia growled low, baring teeth sharp enough to tear through armor.
Damon reached down and stroked the wolf to calm her before lifting his eyes to meet the old war hawk in front of him.
"I don't owe you any explanations," Damon said flatly. "And much less to you, Danzo."
Danzo's face was mostly hidden, but beneath it he was burning with rage.
How dare some mutt bare its teeth at him?
Arrogant thoughts for a decaying old man whose only real talent was conspiring against his own village just to hand power to a man who never deserved it.
"You're standing before the next Hokage," Danzo said, trying to draw himself up as much as he could, making it clear that he was the one in charge now.
The only thing he got in return was Damon raising one eyebrow, which annoyed him even more, even if he tried not to show it.
"Pff." Damon let out a mocking breath. "Danzo, you will never be Hokage."
Damon stepped closer, his voice dropping into something colder. "I know what you've done over the years. I will never let you become Hokage."
The tension did not go unnoticed.
The villagers and the few shinobi still standing did not know what to say, but the tension in the air became suffocating. Some of them did not want to believe it, but the facts were right there.
Sure, he was a legend in the minds of many, Tobirama Senju's old student and the so-called War Hawk who had survived things that killed others, but legends meant nothing if he hid while the village burned.
A simple question now hung in everyone's mind.
Was he even fit to be Hokage?
"If the rest of Akatsuki show up now, are you going to crawl back into your little rat nest and hide again?" Damon asked without looking away from Danzo for even a second. "You are not qualified to lead."
Then Damon took one step forward, enough to make Danzo tense beneath his stoic mask.
"It should have been obvious the day Tobirama chose Hiruzen over you."
Damon's voice stayed calm, but every word hit harder than the last.
"Hashirama Senju gave his life for the village. Tobirama Senju stepped into a battle he knew he might not return from just to get his team out alive... and died doing it. Hiruzen Sarutobi fought Orochimaru face to face and gave his life trying to stop him. Minato Namikaze faced the Kyubi with nothing but a seal and threw away his life to save his people."
His eyes hardened.
"And you? You hide. You send others to clean up your messes. What exactly have you ever done?"
Danzo's hand tightened so hard around his wooden cane it nearly cracked. The humiliation was eating him alive, but he could do nothing. Right now, if he moved against the blond, he would almost certainly turn the people against himself.
One wrong step, and he would lose everything.
Damon leaned in just enough for only Danzo to hear his next words.
"If you ever try to put me under genjutsu with that eye you're hiding, I'll rip it out and force-feed it to you afterward."
For the first time, Danzo's expression truly shifted.
How the hell does he know about Shisui Uchiha's eye? he thought, shocked. Everything had started falling apart because of a single boy….. a few words., that was all it took.
Far too dangerous.
Danzo stared at Damon's back as he walked away with the wolf. "This won't stay like this, Uzumaki," Danzo muttered before turning away.
"I don't think having that old man after you from now on is going to help," Kurama said inside Damon's mind.
"I don't need to do anything. He'll collapse under his own weight."
"Tch. Too sure of yourself, brat," Kurama muttered, though there was clear disbelief in his voice at what Damon had just pulled.
One of Damon's eyebrows twitched a little at being called a brat by a beast younger than him, but he let it slide.
"Everyone reaps what they sow," Damon said while walking toward his destination, still getting praised by some villagers along the way. "And Danzo's time to reap what he planted is getting close."
"That mortal is strange. I don't know why, but a part of him smells... different," Kaia said, joining the conversation between Damon and Kurama.
One of the benefits of having wolves as sacred animals was that he could communicate with all of them, but Kaia and Orien were special. The bond he had with those two went beyond the others. They could feel each other's positions, and they could hold entire conversations mentally, just like he was doing now.
"They experimented with the DNA of one of my old bodies to make it theirs," Damon answered Kaia as she walked beside him. "If that old man becomes a problem later, bite off the hand covered in bandages. I'll take care of the rest."
Kaia gave a small nod.
Kurama decided to stay silent. Damon's existence was already an enigma with legs, and from experience the fox knew asking too much would only bring more questions than answers. Better to wait and see things with his own eyes than get even more confused.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Mannnnn fck danzo hahahahaha
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