Main world.
Konoha Year 21, autumn.
Root base, secret chamber.
Dark red light cast twisted shadows on the chamber walls. Danzo sat cross-legged on a stone platform, his eyes closed and his breathing steady, but his expression kept changing-his brows sometimes knitted, sometimes relaxed, and sometimes a cold smile curled his lips. He was dreaming. A very, very beautiful dream.
In the dream, Hiruzen Sarutobi had died.
He had not been killed. He had died of illness. He lay in a hospital bed, his face sallow, his eyes sunken, his lips cracked, like a corpse drained of all moisture. The doctors said it was tuberculosis, but Danzo knew-it was not tuberculosis. It was poison. A slow-acting poison with no cure, one even Tobirama Senju could not detect. He did not know who had administered it, but he did not care. Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead. That was enough.
The Hokage position stood vacant. Konoha's major clans stirred, all calculating how to put one of their own in that seat. The Hyuga, Aburame, Inuzuka Clan, Kurama, Ino-Shika-Cho... every clan had its own calculations, its own ambitions. But in the end, the person who took that seat was someone none of them had expected-Kagami Uchiha.
"The Third Hokage, Kagami Uchiha."
When Danzo heard the news in his dream, he was wiping down a ninja blade in the secret chamber of the Root base. His hand paused, then continued wiping. The blade reflected his face. There was no anger on it, no surprise, only a deep, almost numb calm.
He had known all along. From the day Tobirama Senju took Kagami Uchiha as his student, he had known. Tobirama Senju trusted Kagami Uchiha more than he trusted Hiruzen Sarutobi. Because Kagami Uchiha was a "traitor"-he had betrayed the Uchiha, betrayed his clan, betrayed his