"So do you think the Monkey was directly involved in this incident?" Mito asked.
She had her own thoughts on the matter but wanted Shiki's opinion first.
Still quite close to her sensei despite not being as attached due to her grandmother's more active guidance when compared to the original timeline, Tsunade was still quite worried for the old man and hoped he was not involved.
The Senju princess was getting progressively more disillusioned with her sensei who had felt so invincible and wise in the past.
"Honestly. I'm not sure." Shiki replied, making the two women look at him strangely.
That kind of answer was an actual rarity from him.
The boy always seemed so sure of everything he said, thought and believed.
Though seeing the possibility that her sensei was not as guilty as she originally believed he might be, Tsunade felt her mood rise.
Shiki however, would be sure to make it drop once more with a dose of the hard truth.
"The Hokage had to have known something was going down. I'm just not sure how deeply he was involved." The boy clarified.
'So the old man was at least aware that a young prodigy of his village was being schemed against by that bandaged bastard and still did nothing.' Tsunade internally grumbled but did not interject.
"I see." Mito nodded.
"From my point of view, the Monkey had no part in the planning but definitely knew what was meant to take place, however, everything spun out of control." She confidently declared.
"Why does Mito-sama think that?" Shiki asked out of pure curiosity.
He might have known some of the characters through the series but there certainly might be aspects, nuances and such that were not clearly depicted.
The difference between a story, likely adapted by an author to be more marketable and an actual real world.
Because of this, while he always took advantage of his meta knowledge when he could and was certainly planning on continuing to do so, he was also always on the lookout for opportunities to better understand this world and the people in it through experience.
"Because he lacks the absolute power that Hashirama relied on to maintain his hold on power and the sheer jutsu talent and prodigious mind that allowed Tobirama to do the same, the Monkey was forced to develop his own way of handling the burden of his position." Mito started.
"He thinks he should maintain an absolute hold like his sensei, the Second and so was forced to rely a lot on political scheming and maneuvering." She continued.
"This system relies on him constantly keeping tabs on everything and everyone so that no clan or individual slips away too much but also so that he does not mistakenly push those who are not a threat so far that they become problems."
"Information. That is the Monkey's biggest reliance to maintain a balance. Even if Danzo tries to slip something by unnoticed, it is highly unlikely he will be successful." The Uzumaki matriarch concluded.
"Fair enough." Shiki nodded.
"Though I can still think of a way for Danzo to hide stuff, it does not really apply to this situation so it is likely the Hokage was well informed if we go by Mito-sama's words." The boy added.
"Oh?" The redhead was slightly intrigued.
"If there is a way then that bandaged bastard has certainly thought of it with his devious and paranoid mind. He fancies himself a true successor to Tobirama's philosophy but his grasp of it leaves much to be desired."
"My brother-in-law's students certainly misunderstood and perverted many of his policies." Mito sighed with disappointment.
"Regardless. What way of hiding did you come up with?" The redhead asked Shiki.
"The idea is simple but so long as it is done well, it is very likely to work. Establish an operation with the Hokage's knowledge or even cooperation and then create a hidden expansion of said operation that goes beyond the original parameters." The boy proposed.
"So long as Danzo can successfully not draw too much attention, it is very likely the Hokage will not dig too deep considering their relationship." He concluded.
Mito raised her eyebrows with a bit of surprise but ultimately nodded.
"That could indeed work but, like you said, is not the case for this little incident centered around you so let us get back on topic." The redhead moved the discussion along.
"Considering you are the main victim Shiki, what do you want?" Mito asked the boy.
"The impulse is to kill them all but while possible with Mito–sama's cooperation, it wouldn't do me any good and would cost Konoha dearly." Shiki started.
"Regardless of how intolerable I find the leadership, Konoha is my home so I don't want to destroy it just because."
He was being truthful as well.
Growing attached to a place you grew up on for years is only natural even if at the end of the day, Shiki's connection to Mito and the Uzumaki matriarch's own attachment to Konoha, the village she had helped create, were the main sources of his positive attitude towards the place.
"So I think it is better to take advantage of their mistake to improve our position in the moral hierarchy and extract as many benefits as we can reasonably get away with while maintaining our moral high ground." The boy finally proposed.
Mito nodded with satisfaction.
"Yes . . . Let us move on to specifics then shall we?" The redhead's eyes gleamed with wicked intent, as did her ward's.
Tsunade, watching the two devils causally discuss plans to extort and mentally torture her sensei and his cohorts could only be thankful for her wise decisions not to get involved in these political matters.
She had yet to understand that her identity itself meant she had indeed been involved since her birth.
*
While discussions took place in the Uzumaki matriarch's house, Inori and the rest of Team 6 finally arrived at Konoha, immediately going straight to the Hokage's office with the Yamanaka not giving either of her students an opportunity to speak to anyone else first.
Along the way, Mei had woken up while being carried on her sensei's back, with Shiki's condition being the first thing on her mind then.
Inori was not quite sure how to break it to her that the boy, at least as far as she believed, was dead, so she spoke a technically true statement.
"Tsunade managed to at least temporarily stabilize him. So when she took Shiki he was still alive."
"So he can be saved!?" Mei had questioned with hopeful surprise.
"I . . . Don't know . . ." Was Inori's answer at the time.
The older kunoichi knew the likelihood of a shinobi surviving the degree of injury suffered by Shiki was non-existent but she did not want to callously say that to her likely traumatized student until she was more calm and recovered.
And so, Mei had hung in the Limbo for a while but, by the time they had reached the village, the young Uchiha had been forced to acknowledge the unlikelihood of Shiki's survival that her sensei did not want to outright tell her.
So with a somber and downcast look, eyes burning with hatred she was not even sure where to point, the bespectacled girl mindlessly followed Inori to the Hokage building.
Shinka, still yet to fully settle her confusions, hoped this meeting with the Hokage would firm her resolve in the correctness of her previous actions and so, she obediently followed as well, not even trying to establish contact with the Root agents that likely awaited their arrival.
Aware of the existence of these agents and wanting to speak with the Hokage first before having to deal with Danzo, Inori made sure not to take the fastest and most direct route to the Hokage Building and instead, chose the most populated area.
Considering the sensitive nature of the incident and Mito's existence in the village, the Yamanaka had figured the Root would not dare stop them in public.
And she was right.
Being in his younger years, Danzo had yet to gain almost free reign to do whatever he pleased in the village.
Outright detaining shinobi in the middle of a densely populated area, specially in a matter connected to Uzumaki Mito herself, was simply not something he dared to do at this time.
As such, the group peacefully managed to reach the Hokage's office, only to be greeted by a rather somber looking Hiruzen.
"Come in."
+++++
Hey, Author here!
Just a reminder that you can read up to a FULL MONTH ahead of this site on pa-treon.
I'm trying to become a full time Author now and I'm not going to be starting any new novels just so I can make sure this one is properly completed.
Find those sweet advanced chapters on pa-treon.com/lusoba without the -