Yuzuki Uchiha Gaiden ~Book 1~

Chapter 47: Secret Meetings

Yuzuki watched in secret when Kakashi came into the Foundation base, she watched Kinoe try to apprehend the intruder using his wood style technique only to have Kakashi attack with his Chidori. To her surprise, Danzo stopped the boy and the wood retreated and Kakashi deactivated his Chidori.

"I called him here." she faintly heard Danzo say.

Kakashi then handed a scroll to Danzo and wondered what could possibly have made Kakashi do that. Whatever information the scroll contained it pleased Danzo. Regardless, Yuzuki confronted the silver haired boy. She appeared before him on the rafters of the base once Danzo retreated inside.

She folded her arms. "Why are you here?" she questioned. "What was in the scroll?"

Kakashi was startled to see her standing in the shadows behind a mask. "I..." he wasn't quick enough to think up a lie. "Danzo invited me to join."

"I thought you didn't want to."

"I don't."

"So why are you here, Kakashi? Nothing good ever comes from Danzo."

"Then why are you still serving him?" he turned the interrogation light to her. "Why don't you come serve under Hiruzen. I'll accept you into my team."

"Don't change the subject. Answer my question. What was in the scroll?"

"I can't tell you."

"You should stay away."

"Who's that boy with the wood style?"

Yuzuki stepped out of the shadows and came inches from Kakashi to say, "The worst thing you can do around here is ask questions."

"Why?"

"You're still asking questions." Yuzuki's eyes trailed behind Kakashi to see the small boy curiously looking. His wide brown eyes were emotionless. "Kinoe?" she said. He remained quiet.

Yuzuki sighed and met with Kakashi's eyes. "You should go." she said softly and stepped around him to follow Kinoe.

Kakashi gazed after her as she followed the strange boy inside the base leaving him alone in the cold shadows of the rafters.

"Why was he here?" Katsuko revealed herself in the doorway when Kakashi finally left the base. They watched him jump back up from the dark hole they called home base.

"He gave something to Danzo." replied Yuzuki. "I don't know what it was. He wouldn't tell me."

"That's unlike him."

"Whatever Danzo's told him, it has him hooked."

Katsuko hummed curiously pressing a hand to her chin in a thinking manner. "Should I follow him?"

"No, he's too smart for that. He'll see you coming from a mile away, no offence."

"Then what do we do?"

"Nothing." Yuzuki sensed Danzo approaching and she turned to greet the man in the dull corridor. Orochimaru was at his side. He shuffled towards them on his cane and Orochimaru's snake like eyes gleamed down on the two girls. His pale white skin was still bright even in the dark. Orochimaru's entire demeanour was unsettling.

"Sensei?" Katsuko greeted mostly in confusion.

"Don't you have duties to attend to?" Orochimaru spoke with a chilling voice. Katsuko bowed her head to her sensei as he passed, except Yuzuki who locked gazes with the snake man. Orochimaru merely grinned in response and a snake like tongue licked his white lips.

Orochimaru and Danzo crossed the bridge to the other side. Whatever business they got up to, it was no good. The Sannin spent an awful lot of time in the Foundation and Danzo always seemed to be behind it.

鬼

"People are beginning to speculate that the Uchiha was behind the Nine Tails attack." spoke Fugaku in the room hiding beneath Naka Shrine, accessible beneath the seventh tatami mat on the far right. In this secret meeting place sat the Uchiha clan elders and select chosen.

"They have sent ninja to spy on us!" shouted someone.

"We were ordered to do nothing and help civilians." said another.

Yuzuki stood leaning against the back wall with her arms crossed as she listened to the nonsense the paranoid old men spoke about. But what they said was true.

"I'm aware." said Fugaku.

Daichi who stood at his brothers side said, "My daughter is in the heart of Konoha. She serves in the Root foundation working directly under Danzo Shimura..."

His words were cut short by the distain the clan members expressed for Danzo. They shouted things about his incompetence and what a snake he was among them. "He cannot be trusted." they said.

"... My daughter will provide valuable information regarding the Leaf's actions concerning us, won't she?" Daichi motioned to his daughter at the back of the room and all eyes turned to her.

Yuzuki scanned the faces before coming to her fathers. She and her father had no prior discussion about this, she agreed to nothing. "That's not why I joined." she explained. "I joined to protect the village from within, which is what I have been doing."

"Like when you were ordered to stand down and do nothing while the Fourth Hokage and his wife were killed in the attack they blame us for?" her father questioned. Yuzuki's eyes fell to her shoes in realisation of his words. "And now they blame us for something we didn't do. Tell me, Yuzuki, how is that protecting your village? The same village who think they can hold you responsible."
"What do we do?" a person asked from the small crowd.

"We gather intel." Fugaku announced. "We find out exactly what the Hidden Leaf intend to do with us and we act on that. Yuzuki will be our spy. We will meet here fortnightly to discuss plans."

"What if I don't want to?" Yuzuki announced with distaste dripping from her lips. Again, all eyes turned to her in shock. Her father's eyes bored the most disappointment.

"You are Uchiha. You are apart of this clan. Your own village would seek to throw the blame on us and we will not allow that- The village you say you want to protect, looks to destroy us. What would you rather do? Stand by like you did during the Nine Tails attack or stand and fight against the threat?"

Her father had a point. "Fine." she agreed. Whether it was her resentment for being ordered to do nothing while her sensei died, or the fact that the Hidden leaf was blaming the Uchiha for the attack, it made her feel... enraged.