Second Chances

Chapter 45

Fugaku, Kakashi, Hiruzen and Shikaku just stared at Dan. They were all tense from Dan releasing his chakra. The way he could shift from one personality to another was unnerving. To Kakashi who had watched him interact with the quads found this very worrisome. ‘From a calm gentle man one moment to a psychopathic man the next,’ thought Kakashi. ‘This man is dangerous.’

‘He’ll make a very powerful ally or a very dangerous foe.’ thought the third Hoekage as he stared at the smiling man in front of him. “Trust goes both ways.” said Fugaku. “I’ve already shown you how much I trust you, all I ask is for you to do the same for me,” said Dan. “You’ve had Kakashi and a few anbu watching us since we got here and I'm sure you’ve seen that you have nothing to fear at least from us.”

“You are a strange man but you have my trust,” said Fugaku after a moment of silence. “I promise your family will be safe here.” Dan smiled when he heard this and his eyes returned to their normal colour. “Lord third?” asked Dan when his gaze met the third Hoekage’s. ‘The Will of Fire,’ thought the astonished Hoekage when he looked into Dan’s eyes. ‘Well I’ll be! Never thought I’d see it in someone who’s not from the Leaf.’

The third Hoekage released a deep sigh. “You have our trust.” he said. Dan just smiled at him and took out a scroll from his pocket and put it on the table. ‘Here goes nothing.’ thought Dan as he opened the scroll. “This is a detailed report about an incident that occurred on our way here.” said Dan. “This is about the attack on you and your shinobi by the unconscious men you brought here.” said the third Hoekage when he read over the report.

“Yes it is. Those men were hired by the elders of my village and the leader of the Land of Waves.” said Dan shocking everyone in the room. “You knew who hired them before you got the report that’s why you don’t seem the least bit surprised.” said Shikaku. “Well they weren’t very discreet and I expected it. This just serves as proof to you.” said Dan. “To us?” asked Shikaku. “Yes. If you remember, during our first meeting we spoke about which village we could trust or not. I already knew that we couldn’t trust the Land of Waves but I couldn’t just accuse them without proof. This report is proof.” said Dan.

“Lord Dan this report just proves they tried to attack you not that they can’t be trusted with the mission. All this proves is that Lord Agari Kaisen doesn’t like you.” said Shikaku. “Oh? Did you read the entire report?” asked Dan. “If this is not enough you are more than welcome to interrogate those shinobi which will be easy since the Leaf has a clan that can read one’s mind but I suggest you choose someone you trust whole heartedly so as to keep this from spreading.” said Dan.

“I guess we’re crossing the Land of Waves from the list of allies.” said Kakashi. “Already? But you haven’t interrogated those shinobi yet.” said Dan. “As we said before we trust therefore we trust your judgement.” said Fugaku. “Besides this saves us a lot of time.” said Kakashi. “Yes it does. Now we can focus on formulating a strategy on how to approach this subject with the other villages so..."

“Is something wrong?” asked the third Hoekage when Dan paused.

Dan just sighed and rubbed his temples. “Why do they have to take after Kurama so much?” asked Dan as he stood up and made his way to the window. Dan opened the window and grabbed Aiko by her shirt collar then pulled her into the office much to everyone's surprise. Aiko tried to get her grandpa’s hand off her but he was just too strong. “The rest of you show yourselves!” said Dan and four other children appeared.

“I wonder what Iruka would do if he found out that his precious grandkids were spying on the village leader while he was in a very important meeting with the Hoekage?” asked Dan looking at the three quads hiding behind Kakashi. “We weren’t spying we promise.” said Ai with her eyes to the floor. “Oh? So what were you doing?” asked Dan still holding Aiko. “Well you see grandpa Kakashi promised to help us with our training then he didn’t show.” said the flaying Aiko. “Then Sarada said she sensed his chakra here so we came here to get him.” said Ai.

“How much did you hear?” asked Dan. “Nothing we swear!” exclaimed Ai and Aiko. Dan looked at the quads one by one. When he saw that they were telling the truth he let Aiko go then she ran to her fellow quads who were hiding behind Kakashi. Dan chuckled when he saw how uncomfortable Kakashi looked with the quads clinging to him. “Sarada?” asked Fugaku bringing everyone’s attention to her. “Grandfather.” said Sarada.

“Oh great, you’ve managed to bring someone else into your mischief.” said Dan making the quads pout. “Grandpa, we swear we weren’t eavesdropping. We came here looking for grandpa Kakashi then we saw some shinobi eavesdropping so Aiko distracted him.” said Akihiko. “Then Ai took out his companion. We were about to take out the rest of them but then you grabbed Aiko startling the others.” said Akihiro.

“I didn’t sense any shinobi outside.” said the third Hoekage. “What did they smell like?” asked Fugaku. “Cinnamon and seaweed.” they all replied. “Well that rules out rogue shinobi.” said Shikaku. “I’ll send some shinobi to look for them,” said the third Hoekage. “In the meantime I think the quads need to get acquainted with their new home.”

“I guess we can continue this meeting at a later time then.” said Fugaku to which everyone nodded, then Fugaku took his leave with Sarada and Kakashi behind him.

“Little ones follow them. I’ll join you in a minute.” said Dan. The quads nodded and left the room. “Lord Dan?” asked Shikaku. “The quads have a very strong sense of smell which is why they were able to spot those shinobi. The fact that we weren’t able to sense them or smell them is very worrisome. We’re just lucky that Fugaku thought to put up a silencing jutsu or else we would have alerted our enemies.” said Dan. “We might have underestimated the enemies’ abilities which was quite foolish on our part. If it were not for the quads or Fugaku’s jutsu who knows what might have happened.” said the third Hoekage.

“As I said, I will send some shinobi to do a full sweep of the village. The chunin exams are a day away, we won’t have a chance to talk like this once they commence. We need to use tomorrow wisely.” said the third Hoekage. “Tomorrow then.” said Dan then he made his way out.