Danzo Shimura considered himself a good man.
"Damn it all... gone. All gone..." Stripped of power, authority, and status in a single day, Danzo walked down the deserted street, his shoulders slumped.
With nothing left, he had no choice but to obey the Hokage's order and return home for confinement.
The Hokage seat he'd spent his life vying for had ultimately come to nothing, leaving him utterly empty-handed.
*Sigh* Gazing at the quiet, deserted street, Danzo's expression was so forlorn he no longer seemed like Konoha's dreaded 'Darkness of the Shinobi,' but simply an ordinary old man leaning heavily on his cane.
After sitting at the bench near the park for an hour. 'Go back,' he thought. 'Let's just go back.' Danzo slowly pushed himself up from the bench, shuffling towards his house, resignation etched on his face. He'd spent years entrenched in Root, hadn't set foot in the place he still called 'home' for well over a decade.
But before he could take two steps, he staggered. A tightening sensation gripped his right arm, followed by an immense, pulling sensation. His chakra surged wildly towards the arm, as if desperate to escape.
An unprecedented feeling of weakness washed over him, as if his body had been hollowed out.
'Damn it!'
'That arm... It's the Hashirama-sama's cells!'
He immediately knew the cause. He started to bark orders for his subordinates to take him to the lab, but then the grim realization hit him: they were almost all dead.
The few who survived were either gone or utterly useless to him now. He was completely alone.
'Why now? Why did it have to flare up now?'
The sudden, massive drain on his chakra made his head swim. His body swayed like a drunkard, his legs giving way as he stumbled forward.
'Is this it? Is this how I die?'
The thought flickered through his mind. Resignation washed over him. He stopped struggling, letting his body simply crumple.
'I have nothing left anyway, he thought. 'Might as well just... let go.'
There was no greater sorrow than a hopeless heart, death was secondary to that. Tears flowed before words could be spoken.
Just as Danzo was about to hit the ground, a strong grip seized him from behind, and a pair of sturdy arms wrapped around him.
"Are you alright there, old man? Need a hand?" A clear, youthful voice piped up from behind him.
'Old man? huh? Never thought I'd hear someone calling me that... ha...'
"It's... nothing," Danzo rasped, a humorless chuckle escaping him. Saved by this stranger, he found he couldn't muster his usual sharp retort. But when he turned his head and saw his rescuer, a word almost slipped out: "Nine-"
He bit the word back.
The one holding him was none other than Naruto Uzumaki, likely heading home after training.
'The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... helped me?' he thought, stunned.
"You alright there, old man?" Naruto asked, glancing up at the darkening sky. "Need me to walk you home? It's getting late, not safe for someone your age to be out."
'This is my opportunity?! It's my lifeline!' he thought, a spark igniting in his chest.
The moment he saw Naruto, Danzo's back stopped aching, his legs stopped hurting, and he felt like he could scale five flights of stairs in one go.
'Hashirama-sensei's cells? Who cares!' he scoffed internally. 'You want to suck my vitality away? Suck as much as you want!?'
As if sensing his change in fortune, the arm implanted with the First Hokage's Cells did stop its frantic drain.
'Even fate is on my side,' Danzo smirked.
Danzo studied Naruto's seemingly 'innocent' face. An audacious idea began to form.
'This... this might be it,' he thought. 'My only chance to become Hokage.'
'Hiruzen' his thoughts sneered. 'You wanted the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to inherit your Will of Fire? To be completely loyal to you? For his dream to be becoming Hokage?'
'What if the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki became my successor?'
'What if he stood by my side?'
'Control the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki,' Danzo concluded, 'control the path to Hokage.'
Looking back at the history of the Hokage in Konoha, wasn't every Hokage connected to a jinchuriki in some way? Or had a close relationship with one? Or kept one firmly under their control?
Losing Root, losing his position as Hokage Advisor, losing his seat as a Konoha Elder, none of it mattered. What mattered was the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.
'If I could get my hands on the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki,' he plotted. 'If I could control him... that changes everything.'
The more Danzo turned the idea over, the more perfect it seemed. A glint of cold calculation lit up his single, open eye.
'Monkey' Danzo gloated inwardly. 'I told you you'd regret crossing me!'
At that moment, Danzo felt like he had grasped the key to becoming Hokage, and laughed inwardly.
At the same time, Naruto, sensing the shift in Danzo's aura, the sudden surge of cold calculation replacing despair, also smirked inwardly.
Danzo plastered what he hoped was a kind smile onto his face. "Thank you, kid," he rasped, his voice still rough. "What's your name?"
"I am Danzo Shimura, I am a retired Konoha Hero." He said with a smile that looked like a hungry dog staring at rabbit.
Naruto tilted his head, barely managing to suppress a twitch of his eyebrow. He grinned back, wide and 'innocent'. "Naruto Uzumaki!" he chirped.
"And I'm gonna be Hokage someday! Just like the Fourth Hokage!"
Naruto ended up walking Danzo all the way back to the Shimura compound. Danzo practically begged him to stay, but Naruto only lingered a short while, making small talk before excusing himself.
Danzo, ever the strategist, didn't push. He knew better than to overplay his hand.
In the days that followed, Danzo began to 'coincidentally' show up in places where Naruto was likely to be, every few days.
These 'chance' encounters were carefully timed, always managing to fall outside the periods when Hokage would likely be observing Naruto with his Crystal Ball Jutsu.
Their 'interactions' became increasingly common. Before long, Naruto had shifted from just 'Old man' to 'Grandpa Danzo'.
During one particularly 'chance' meeting, Danzo 'discovered' Naruto's intense envy of his classmate, Sasuke Uchiha, especially Sasuke's mastery of the Fire Release: Fireball Jutsu.
Danzo felt a surge of excitement. The hook was set.
Gazing into Naruto's bright, 'innocent' eyes, Danzo leaned in conspiratorially. "Naruto," he whispered, his voice attempting an ingratiating tone. "How would you like to learn some real ninjutsu?"
"Yeah! Sasuke's Fireball Jutsu is so cool!" Naruto burst out, his eyes shining with envy.
"Hmph," Danzo scoffed, a flicker of genuine disdain crossing his face. "Uchiha clan's Fire Release? Nothing special about it."
He detested Sasuke, just as he detested the entire clan, even now that they were all but annihilated, with only Sasuke and Itachi left. Konoha's remaining Uchiha were still loathful to him.
He shifted, lowering his voice to something confidential, almost ingratiating. "As your Grandpa Danzo, let can teach you," he murmured.
"Yeah, I know knows all sorts of jutsu," he boasted. "Back in my day, I was the finest Wind Release user in Konoha!"
If the malice radiating off him wasn't so strong, he might actually sound truthful.
At this, Naruto's eyes widened in exaggerated 'surprise'. Nodding his head eagerly.
"Yes!"
Seeing Naruto's feigned awe, Danzo's satisfied smile stretched across his face.
'Oh Hiruzen...' Danzo gloated inwardly. 'I cannot wait to see your face when this plan succeeds.'
But just out of Danzo's sight, Naruto's own satisfied grin spread.
'Okay, boomer, let's play!'
'It's your turn now.'
--**--**
Narrator: What was that sudden suction force? Did Hashirama, discover someone desecrating his corpse from Pure Lands and take an offense? or did fate just yank Danzo by the chakra collar?
If their meeting was destined by fate...Who's pulling the threads?
Why do so many 'coincidences' keep happening around Danzo and Naruto's meeting?
How will Hiruzen react when he finds out Danzo is handing out "Ninjutsu for Dummies" to Naruto behind his back?
Will Danzo succeed in turning Naruto into his personal Sharingan-seeking missile? And achieve his goal of becoming Hokage?
Or is Naruto the one playing reverse Uno with grandpa's chessboard?
Stay tuned for: "When Grandpa Gets Grabby: Danzo's Last Gamble Begins!"
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