Kabuto Yakushi pushed up the round glasses on his nose. His gaze behind the lenses was deep, like a bottomless pool of dark water. He smiled gently, trying to reclaim control of the conversation.
Naruto's ice-blue pupils reflected none of the man standing opposite him, only the cold light of the sky.
He did not answer that question.
Instead, in a matter-of-fact tone devoid of warmth, he began dissecting something else.
"Orochimaru's anger has always been directed at the Third Hokage."
"Because the Third Hokage did not pass the position of Hokage to him, but gave it to Minato Namikaze."
"His plan is to destroy the Third Hokage's rule and prove to the entire Shinobi World, atop Konoha's ruins, what a foolish mistake it was not to choose him back then."
The smile on Kabuto Yakushi's face did not change, but the caution in his eyes deepened another layer.
The higher-ranking ninja could all more or less guess these things, but hearing them laid out so clearly by a twelve-year-old boy felt entirely different.
Naruto took a step forward, the sand beneath his feet scraping softly.
"And Danzo wants to be crowned on those same ruins."
"An 'ally' who waits for you and those behind you to exhaust all your main forces, then emerges as a savior to clean up the mess, is more dangerous than the most vicious enemy."
Naruto's voice was even, yet it was like a saw blade, cleanly slicing open the hypocritical skin called "cooperation" and exposing the bloody calculations of interest beneath it.
He paused, his gaze passing through the lenses to meet Kabuto's eyes directly.
"Orochimaru wants him dead even more than I do, doesn't he?"
The words were like a stone dropped into deep water, finally sending a ripple through Kabuto's deep-water eyes.