The Mission

Danzo's gaze sharpened as he stared at Sarutobi Hiruzen. "You're planning to send him alone?"

"According to you, the Akatsuki are at war with Amegakure. The Land of Rain is extremely dangerous right now. Even a Jonin would face considerable risk there. We can't waste Konoha Ninja lives in the Land of Rain," Sarutobi Hiruzen said calmly.

"This isn't appropriate." Danzo narrowed his eyes. "You can't see through Uchiha Akira. We don't know how much Konoha means to him. What if he slacks off after entering the Land of Fire?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen fell into thought. "You're right. We'll have to assign him a team."

"Do you have anyone in mind?" Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his eyes to Danzo.

We're setting a wolf against a tiger, but we can't make it too obvious, Danzo thought. Then he said, "Just give him a standard team. But Root needs to assign one member to make sure they don't slack off after entering the Land of Rain."

"Do you have any recommendations for Uchiha Akira's team?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked calmly.

"You're the Hokage. I won't interfere with your arrangements!" Danzo said with a teasing smile.

"Hmph!" Sarutobi Hiruzen snorted. "You won't interfere? Then you can keep your Root members out of it!"

"I... Hiruzen, you..." Danzo was at a loss for words, his smile freezing on his face.

"Tell me which of your Root Ninja you want to send along," Sarutobi Hiruzen said evenly.

"Aburame Shigang. He's a rare talent from the Aburame Clan, a Special Jonin," Danzo replied.

"Fine. You can leave now." Sarutobi Hiruzen waved him away.

Danzo took a deep breath, feeling deeply aggrieved.

He knew his old friend was displeased with him for accomplishing nothing in the negotiations over the past three months.

Now Sarutobi Hiruzen had no other outlet for his frustration.

Sarutobi Hiruzen watched Danzo's retreating figure, his eyes narrowing. His instincts told him that Danzo was keeping a lot from him.

"What exactly is Danzo hiding...?" Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered for a long while, then shook his head helplessly.

His personal Anbu had all been sent to other great nations to gather intelligence or to deal with foreign Ninja who had entered the Land of Fire. He simply didn't have the time to pay attention to what was happening in the smaller countries.

Knock, knock~

Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped on his desk. An Anbu wearing a dog mask appeared in front of it.

Sarutobi Hiruzen ordered, "Go notify these people to come by the Hokage Office sometime today."

"Yes!"

As soon as he replied, the Anbu disappeared from the Hokage Office.

Before long, Uchiha Akira arrived at the Hokage Office.

He still had to show the Hokage proper respect, even if he'd been told to come by anytime that day.

As soon as he entered the Hokage Office, Uchiha Akira greeted him. "Lord Hokage, I'm here."

"Jonin Akira, you're here." Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his smiling face from the desk and looked at Uchiha Akira. "There's a mission I need you to carry out."

Though Uchiha Akira was confused, he knew all he needed to do for now was nod.

A mission personally assigned by the Hokage wasn't something he could refuse. At least, he didn't have the ability to refuse one right now.

"I understand. I'll make sure to fulfill the village's important task." Uchiha Akira nodded solemnly.

"Here's what happened. There's been trouble in the Land of Rain. An organization called the Akatsuki has been disguising themselves as Ninja from our great nations and setting the Ninja of those nations against one another. They've also been attacking villages throughout the Land of Rain, deliberately trying to reignite a war between our great nations... According to reliable reports, Hanzo is at a disadvantage in these clashes..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen briefly explained what Danzo had told him to Uchiha Akira.

"So I want you to lead an elite team of Konoha Ninja to the Land of Rain and try to obtain intelligence on the Akatsuki!" Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Uchiha Akira with a serious expression.

Uchiha Akira looked astonished at Sarutobi Hiruzen's words.

How had things developed so differently from what he knew? Had the butterfly effect already spread this far?

The Third Hokage already knew about the Akatsuki?

By rights, the Third Hokage shouldn't have found out about the organization until the day of the Uchiha Clan Massacre, when Uchiha Itachi told him he was going undercover in a very dangerous organization.

As Uchiha Akira remembered it, the Akatsuki was an organization that had inherited Jiraiya's ideals, believing that people could bring peace to the world by understanding one another.

How had they become an organization that disguised themselves as Ninja from other nations and went around destroying the peace?

Was everything completely reversed?

What exactly changed? Uchiha Akira's thoughts grew tangled. Could that bastard Danzo be twisting the truth?

If that's the case, I'll have to be careful on this mission!

Seeing Uchiha Akira's astonished expression, Sarutobi Hiruzen assumed that the news had come as too much of a shock. He said,

"Akira, this can't be helped. I've looked everywhere, and you're the only one in Konoha who can make a trip to the Land of Rain right now."

Hiruzen looked at Uchiha Akira apologetically. "Jiraiya has disappeared again. Who knows where he's wandering? By the time we find him, it'll be too late. Minato and Orochimaru are preparing for the Hokage election, and the others aren't suitable."

"Lord Hokage, leave this to me. I'll complete the mission," Uchiha Akira said solemnly.

Sarutobi Hiruzen smiled at his words. "That's a relief. With you on the job, I feel confident about this mission."

"Lord Hokage, will I be going alone, or will I be assigned a team?" Uchiha Akira asked.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe, and the office soon filled with smoke. His voice drifted out from within it:

"Considering how dangerous this mission is, I've assigned you a standard team."

"Thank you, Lord Hokage," Uchiha Akira said.

I hope he hasn't assigned me a bunch of useless deadweight.

Sometimes, having more people didn't mean having more strength.

If they only held one another back, he'd be better off going alone.

At least then he could come and go as he pleased without having to worry about so much.

He could slack off whenever he wanted and adjust how he carried out the mission to suit the circumstances.

After all, he knew the Akatsuki very well. At worst, he could reveal some information about them.

Now that he'd been assigned teammates, he couldn't slack off openly. At the very least, he'd have to put on a good show.

Of course, with his Mangekyō Sharingan, Uchiha Akira could use genjutsu to keep his teammates immersed in an illusory world.

There was always a way to slack off.