Hiruzen, you're too weak

"You helped me again."

Kushina Uzumaki twisted her hair around her fingers, her eyes sparkling.

Moonlight Ruyun replied casually, "Don't mention it."

Kushina studied his black hair and asked curiously, "What's that person's name? Did he make fun of you like that too?"

The teacher was saying something at the front of the classroom, but neither of them was paying attention.

He thought for a moment, sounding a little uncertain. "Hayato, I think. He made fun of everyone when we first started our first year."

"Huh? Everyone?" Kushina's mouth fell open.

He nodded. Konoha really was something else, like one enormous psychiatric hospital.

It was hard to imagine a little first-year brat mocking every single person without discrimination as soon as he started school.

His reasons were endless: hair color, favorite foods, hated foods, looks, verbal tics, dreams. He could always find something to mock.

She felt a little dazed.

In the Land of Whirlpools, a child with such a nasty disposition would have been strung up with Adamantine Sealing Chains and whipped.

"Didn't anyone teach him a lesson?"

He pointed at himself, then gestured with his chin for her to look toward the front row.

"See that blond kid? He was the second one to hit him."

Kushina blinked and gave a knowing smile. Looking at the back of the blond boy's head, she shook her head. "He doesn't look the type."

As though he had sensed something, Minato Namikaze turned to look back.

Seeing Moonlight Ruyun and Kushina Uzumaki chatting and laughing, he froze for a moment, then turned back with a blank expression.

Kushina soon moved on from the subject, tucking the loose strands beside her ear back into place.

"Um... do you still have my hair?"

Moonlight Ruyun glanced at the girl, who was pretending not to care even as her voice trembled.

He took a sachet from the ninja tool pouch at his waist. It carried a faint fragrance.

Kushina reached out and took it.

The sachet was blue-green, its stitching rather untidy and not particularly attractive.

A thin cord was knotted around its opening, with a red bead the size of a grain of rice hanging from the end.

There was only a single strand of hair inside.

The red strand had been carefully wound into a circle and lay quietly at the bottom of the sachet.

Kushina's eyes flickered, and her voice was soft. "This is..."

"I wasn't sure where to keep it, so I made this. My handiwork isn't great, so don't laugh."

That was a lie.

He had originally intended to give it to his aunt as a birthday present.

Before leaving home that morning, inspiration had struck, and he had put the red hair left over from yesterday into the sachet to carry with him.

"It's... it's really pretty..."

Kushina's ears had turned scarlet.

The Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the scene in the crystal ball, took out his pipe, and puffed on it twice, wisps of smoke curling around him.

Bang!

Just then, the office door burst open, striking the wall with a dull thud.

Shimura Danzō strode unceremoniously into the Hokage's office, wearing a dark outer robe with bandages wrapped around the right side of his face.

He walked up to the desk and fixed his lone eye on Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"You sent Kushina Uzumaki to the Ninja Academy?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi waved to the ANBU standing outside the door, and the operative silently withdrew.

Once the door closed, he looked up at his old comrade and pointed to the chair opposite him. "Sit."

Shimura Danzō did not move.

"Why didn't you hand her over to me?"

With his pipe between his lips and smoke drifting slowly upward, Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke evenly. "She's a nine-year-old child. How do you intend to train her?"

"She'll join Root, of course. I'll devote every effort to training her."

Hiruzen Sarutobi chuckled. "Danzo, Kushina is only nine."

"What of it? She's the next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. What she needs is the strictest training and discipline, not those childish ninja games at the Ninja Academy."

After delivering that speech in one breath, Danzo paused for two seconds before continuing resolutely, "Hiruzen, hand her over to me. Only I can train her into a proper weapon!"

"Kushina is not a weapon."

Hearing Hiruzen Sarutobi's airy reply, Shimura Danzō felt his blood boil.

"If she isn't a weapon, what is she? You should know the Nine-Tails' power better than I do. Letting her attend school like an ordinary child is a disgraceful waste!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched Danzo's furious face through the smoke, his tone still calm. "This is Lady Mito's wish."

Danzo's expression froze, and he cursed inwardly.

In today's Konoha, he, the leader of Root, seemingly stood "second only to one."

But that came with one condition: Mito Uzumaki could not be involved.

Though she held no official position, neither her status as the First Hokage's widow nor her strength as the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki could be taken lightly.

Even the Third Hokage had to give her decisions serious consideration.

"Hiruzen, you're the Hokage!"

Swallowing his distaste, Danzo said, "Lady Mito Uzumaki is old. She's already lost her ninja spirit. You're the Hokage now. Only you can decide what happens to Kushina Uzumaki."

Hiruzen Sarutobi choked on his smoke and coughed several times, then gently tapped his pipe against the edge of the ashtray.

"Don't... say anything like that again. Lady Mito and I agree. The Ninja Academy is a very suitable place for Kushina to grow."

Danzo took a deep breath, his eyes practically blazing. "Staying at the Ninja Academy will only make that child weak. I'm doing all this for the village!"

"Danzo, Kushina needs to form bonds. Root isn't suited to her."

"Hiruzen, you're too naive. A weak personality is unfit to control the Nine-Tails. When the Nine-Tails goes berserk, what will that child use to stop him? Those laughable bonds?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's narrowed eyes abruptly widened. He leaned forward and squared his broad shoulders, as solid and imposing as a mountain.

"I'll stop him."

The brief declaration rang with conviction.

The full force of the Hokage's presence bore down on him. Danzo's heart seemed to skip a beat, and he forced himself to regain his composure, envy and anger mingling within him.

"I understand that you're doing this for the village. But the matter of Kushina Uzumaki ends here. You are not to interfere."

"Hiruzen, you're too overbearing. Even if the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki wants to join Root of her own accord?"

"Even then."

"...Hmph. I have faith in the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's resolve. Root is the only place she belongs."

Unwilling to argue any further, Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his hand down on the desk. "Enough, Danzo! I am the Hokage!"

At those words, Shimura Danzō felt as though someone had seized his throat. His face flushed, and he could not speak.

Thud, thud, thud!

He struck the floor hard several times with his cane, then swept out, kicking the office door open once more.

Bang!

Only his parting words lingered in the air: "Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

A few minutes later.

Whoosh!

An ANBU operative appeared in the Hokage's office, dropped to one knee, and took a scroll from inside his clothes.

"Lord Hokage, this is Moonlight Ruyun's..."