Beneath Sunagakure, in the quiet chamber belonging to Toyotomi Yinglang, the air still held traces of the fervor from the daytime testing grounds, but now it had returned to cold stillness.
Toyotomi Yinglang sat cross-legged alone. Before him floated a simplified map of Konoha's factions, outlined in chakra. His gaze moved slowly across the markers representing the Sarutobi, Shimura, Hyuga, Uchiha, Ino-Shika-Cho, and other clans, finally settling on the phantom image of the gently smiling old man at the very center of Hokage Rock.
"Heh." An extremely soft snort, laden with mockery, escaped his nose.
"Danzo certainly made a splash with this move. With an Otherworld Nine-Tails in his grasp, and convinced he holds the 'script of the future,' he probably thinks the Hokage position is his for the taking." His fingertip tapped the air over the shadowed region representing Danzo. That shadow writhed restlessly across the map, expanding, trying to swallow Hokage Rock at its center.
"Not a bad idea, but most likely... far too optimistic."
He understood Konoha all too well-or rather, he understood all too well that peculiar flavor produced by decades of pickling in the vat of "the Will of Fire."
"Given Hiruzen Sarutobi's decades as Hokage, his control over Konoha, and the 'filial devotion' of those fine students and grandstudents of his..." Toyotomi Yinglang's eyes were filled with an undisguised coldness bordering on contempt. "Even if Danzo slapped the evidence in those Konoha ninja's faces, pointed at Hiruzen Sarutobi's nose, and said, 'Look! This old bastard abused his authority for personal gain, expanded his clan, embezzled funds, and harmed Konoha,' how do you think those people with heads full of 'Will of Fire' paste would react?"
He could almost see the scene already-
Shock? Perhaps. Anger? Possibly. But in the end, there would always be