Reborn in the Mist

"Lord Danzou," Kinoto began and Danzo could already smell the failure waft off his breath. It stunk. "Gamma Division, I believe they've been wiped out during the infiltration attempt. Their report places them farther than Beta and there is some vital information."

"Spit it out." Danzo groaned. The thin divide of the shoji door displayed his crouched and bowed subordinate while Danzo himself maintained his special arm. 

"Sir, Gamma, before they were taken out, claimed to have spotted Jiraiya of the Sannin moving between the streets and brothels of the Rain village."

Jiraiya? What would he be doing here? Danzo thought as he unwrapped the bandages, revealing the grotesque fusion beneath. The arm, unnaturally pale, was a patchwork of skin and muscle, slick with the residue of Orochimaru's twisted but ingenious experiments. Dark, jagged veins pulsed faintly beneath the surface, snaking up to his shoulder. The unnatural growth of tumour or more accurately, seeds, had started to spread—a side effect of the powerful cells that sustained it. 

He grimaced, his fingers twitching involuntarily as the foreign chakra coursed through his system. Orochimaru that traitor. Danzo cursed inwardly, the White Snake had failed to complete his task before revealing his true scales. When the time was right Danzo intended to ensure the boy brought the arm to full functionality, not to mention there was the matter of the Uchiha…

This Amegakure business was all wrong timing and yet the multitude of dead Root he continually incurred attempting to breach promised there was a need to breach after all, a dire one enough to draw the attention of the Toad Sannin.

Many in the village and even in the world knew of the Sannin for his strength but most knew him for his lecherous books and ways. Across the Land of Fire there was no brothel that hadn't raised a complaint against the man or at least had him banned from their hot springs.

But much of all that was a clever disguise few would bother questioning. Underneath was the Sannin in name and action, slipping through village defences and crossing borders wantonly because few would truly suspect him…until it was too late.

It seems that may be the case for Amegakure as well. Danzo reflected on his own mounting losses. Each division he'd thrown in had built their infiltration on information sourced from past successes but it grew on two and a half years since Danzo freely walked Amegakure's ins and outs. Starting intel was insufficient but at the very least one Root member returned with knowledge of dangerous paths and expectant enemies. 

It was already his fortune that his past self was wise enough to set up an underground base during the Third Shinobi War, there was an underground network that spat out his shinobi in various areas within the Rain village but apparently, such preparations were now insufficient. My subordinates are insufficient but I…

Wrapping the fresh, seal-inscribed bandages around it, Danzo cursed Orochimaru's failure. The arm was powerful, yes, but incomplete—an unstable weapon that could just as easily consume him if left unchecked. The seals would delay the arm's slow cannibalization of his own chakra pathways, allowing him to wield it for now. He tightened the final knot with a grim determination. It wasn't perfect, but it would have to suffice.

He finished his preparations and maintenance with a Root Mask of his own, donning it over the bandages that hid another special secret of his. A long, reliable sword was clasped at his back and a variety of pouches hung off his waist, bombs, pills, kunai and sealing scrolls at the ready.

It hadn't been long since he fought, he delivered gruelling training onto his operatives as regularly as he could manage but this was the first time in three years he had taken to the field as an active combatant, that he'd led his forces from the helm.

"Gather the others, we are done with infiltration, now we invade." Danzo said grimly, the taste of being forced to this point so soon did not settle well with him. An outright invasion of the village was well within his promise to the Hokage; that he would act in Konoha's advance interests.

The foolish Hokage might have sent Jiraiya to speed things along after not hearing from Danzo or….Or perhaps they've known all along as well what I do. The Root were here to investigate the Mizukage's suspicions which now passed onto the Hokage, but those suspicions were already confirmed even before Minato gave the order. Danzo, for three years, had known the power that lay within the sodden bowls of Amegakure.

And Jiraiya…Danzo let the anger welling up in him spread and die at his fingertips. The Sannin had played him for a fool as well, tricky toad. With all the time he spent in the Rain village after the Second Shinobi War Danzo knew it would be far fetched that he hadn't made note of the Akatsuki that was born towards the start of the Third Shinobi war.

Akatsuki, to think they would have killed Hanzo without anyone knowing. There was too much work to be done on his ROOT, they were not enough power to protect Konoha from her enemies as they too grew stronger. If it weren't for the Mizukage's meddling it might have come to his attention too late that the Akatsuki had overthrown the Salamander.

Mizukage…how much has he discovered? Danzo pondered the young one that had freshly come into power in that Bloody Mist village some eight months ago, barely a year and yet already uncovering tender world secrets much better left alone.

Danzo let out a steady breath and opened his eyes so he saw the world through the translucent end of the ROOT mask, its Fuinjutsu allowing him to see the world as though the mask wasn't there at all. He slid the door open and walked out of the scanty room, Kinoto had gone already to prepare the others and the bland, long hallway Danzo strutted down gave Danzo ample time to steel his nerves for the battles to come.

Invasion was always on the table but he would be remiss to admit he never wanted to pick it up, not after what he witnessed happen to Hanzo's men. That boy…Danzo thought back to that vicious day when he and Hanzo scarcely made it out with their lives. The last day he had freely walked Amegakure. If that boy managed to survive such a terrifying and self destructive jutsu then he was the one surely responsible for Alpha, Beta and Gamma's disappearances.

At the end of the hallway Danzo clicked the light switch and plunged the entire hidden base in darkness before climbing up the stairs. With his arm and the special eye beneath his bandages Danzo was halfway confident in bringing the boy to stick out a tongue and bear the curse seal, but it would be such a waste to only hand him over to the Hokage and that senile monkey Hiruzen. Especially after the inevitable deathly cost to his ROOT. 

Even as his feet pushed forward to battle, Danzo couldn't help thinking it was too convenient this was happening, that Jiraiya too was here. He was the Hokage's first choice to investigate the matter after all and yet, despite surely spotting his operatives Jiraiya hadn't stopped to offer they work together or even share information. Worse, the Hokage hadn't informed Danzo the Toad Sannin would be present either, it was far too suspicious.

Danzo grinded his teeth at the implication the Hokage was systematically setting things up to wipe out his organisation, likely under the guidance of his wrinkled predecessor, Sarutobi. If Jiraiya, and consequently the Hokage knew even half of what Danzo did it was possible he and his ROOT had become pawns, a distraction for the Sannin to pursue the true prize within Amegakure.

Rinnegan.

In the end, as Danzo rose from the underground to stand before his ROOT, he decided it made little difference. The lives of the ROOT were for Konoha, as was his own. Amegakure would not be the first to challenge the Will of Fire and it would not be the last. Whatever manipulations the Mizukage was pulling, Danzo would unravel and whatever hate the Akatsuki was cooking, Danzo would shatter.

The rain poured endlessly, soaking the earth in an ever flowing river of water. Danzo took in his men, walked between them, inspected their gear and counted the sensation of their curse seals as he passed.

"The ROOT finds sustenance!" He began, yelling over the hammering rain, "The ROOT brings life! The ROOT protects the tree! The ROOT lives to die!" 

His ROOT, all fifty-six Jounin level shinobi remained silent as they should. Danzo turned around and without another word, shepherded a small army at Amegakure. Today, tonight, the Rinnegan will be ours.