Dusk Till Dawn

26

Madara sat regally on a stark white chair as Danzou approached the building. He was being led by Kisame and the man glanced sideways before nodding to the Uchiha before him and leaving Danzou in the centre of the room. The remainder of the Akatsuki sat to the side, around a table, and watched as their leader regarded the traitor with cold eyes.

Danzou looked everywhere but at Madara, choosing the floor to focus the main brunt of his attention. He heard shuffling to the side and glanced over to see Uchiha Sasuke amidst the ranks of Akatsuki. If it had been under any other circumstances then Danzou knew that he would have been shocked yet, amazingly, he felt nothing.

It was as if all the life had simple been sucked from him and it took all of his energy to remain standing before the man he had 'betrayed'. It was a fact, now, that Danzou was tired of life, tired of playing games, and he had accepted death. He wasn't a fool; he knew very well that there was no way he would walk from this room - or at the very least this building - alive. He would simply be another notch on the Akatsuki's list of dead people and it suited him fine.

He was, after all, doing a duty for his Hokage and by doing that he could go down in grace.

"Danzou."

Even the air in the room fell still as Madara's voice cut through the silence. The former ANBU leader nodded his head, keeping his eyes downcast and away from Madara.

"You intentionally kept information from us. You claimed that the Hokage seat was empty and yet we were informed by Sasuke that Namikaze had taken the seat. I will give you one chance to explain."

Danzou's visible eye widened slightly; he had not been expecting Madara to give him a single chance to explain but he knew it made sense. Madara would try to get every little bit of information he could out of the former Konoha Nin before killing him; simple.

"I merely wished to protect my Hokage, Uchiha."

Danzou was almost surprised at his tone; his voice was strong and cool as he spoke to the man who had controlled him for so long and he was glad for it. He needed to show the masked man that fear would not be the way in which to rule the world, that Madara's ideals were false images and selfish ones at that.

"I suppose you know, then, that it has set out goals back. We planned to take the Kyuubi with the absence of a Hokage... if I hadn't found out then I doubt we would have delayed an attack upon Konoha. Imagine that... if this information had come to use a little more than a week later then you probably would have all been safe. You probably would have been able to destroy my organisation and claim victory. It's all thanks to Sasuke really."

Danzou looked the youngest Uchiha dead in the eye and turned his head.

"You may be trying to guilt me into something, Madara, but we decided what needed to be done. It was inevitable that it ended in the clan's destruction but there is no way we can go back on that now. You can hardly say that the Uchiha were honest people... plotting a coup d'état and fraternizing with demons, people notice things like that."

Madara scoffed and shifted in his seat.

"And yet who is before me? I lead the Uchiha clan now and I control the Akatsuki. The Senjuu? Where are they? Sure you have Tsunade who is a direct descendant but she wouldn't be able to stand up to me."

Madara paused, as it to think, and slumped in his chair. At the same time, Danzou appeared to have reached the conclusion.

"And yet Minato was an indirect descendant wasn't he? The Senjuu clan made up the backbone and obviously this was going to create some interbreeding between a few clans... the Namikaze may have been a standalone clan but I believe that, somewhere, there is Senjuu in his blood. You also have to take into account of his mother; such a strong willed woman who was a fantastic Kunoichi before she came to Konoha."