The Second's Second Chance

The War Hawk

Time was a strange thing. It healed wounds, distorted memories. Over the years it changed people's perception so much that they wouldn't even recognise their past selves.

Shimura Danzo realised this the day he heard the news that the Niidaime had somehow appeared in Konoha, alive and not a day older than he was last seen. His first reaction had been disbelief. There was no way that an alive (and supposedly immortal) Senju Tobirama would remain away from Konoha when it suffered through two wars.

When Yamanaka Inoichi performed a mind walk on the individual and declared him to be the real Senju Tobirama who had time travelled because of a sealing accident, Danzo's reaction hadn't been joy at his sensei being alive, as he had expected it to be. It was dread.

Over the years, even after the death of his sensei, Danzo had served Konoha in a way he had imagined that the Niidaime would be proud off. Hiruzen was a soft Hokage and unlike Tobirama-sensei, he didn't have the guts to make hard decisions. Danzo, therefore, immersed himself in darkness to give Konoha a fighting chance in the wars.

But now that he knew that the Niidaime was back, Danzo wasn't so sure that his methods would meet the approval of his sensei, who had decided to take the hat again.

He was proved right when he was summoned to the Hokage's office a day after the Niidaime's second inauguration.

"Danzo." Tobirama-sensei greeted as he entered the office, without looking up from his paperwork.

"Hokage-sama." He replied, keepin his voice emotionless. "You summoned me?"

"Yes. I would've thought that a change in regime would be enough of a reason for the Hokage's council to meet the new Hokage, but now that I can sense Kagami's Sharingan under your bandages, I see why you wouldn't want to meet me." The Hokage answered.

Danzo didn't reply. He didn't need to.

"I'm assuming that since their hasn't been any record of Kagami bequeathing you his eye, you took it from him?"

"I took it from his corpse, yes." He confirmed.

Tobirama-sensei looked up and Danzo felt those red eyes pierce his soul. "I've been going through the records. Who started the Third Great Shinobi War?"

"I did. Hatake Sakumo's mission had been sabotaged. War would have started eventually anyway, but at that time Konoha would have been the village that benefited the most from it." Danzo felt he had to explain, even though the man in front of him was decades younger than him.

"And did it? Did Konoha benifit from the war?"

"It didn't." It stung him to admit.

"War never benifits anyone, Danzo. I thought I had been successful in teaching you that lesson, but apparently not." The Hokage noted. "I have a mission for you."

"A mission?"

"Yes. It is one suited to someone of your capabilities. You are to track down the missing nin Orochimaru, defeat him to bring him back to Konoha, dead or alive, and rehabilitate any victims he kidnapped to experiment on, regardless of their nationality. This is a solo mission. Orochimaru is an S class opponent. Sending even three teams of ANBU wouldn't be enough to match him, and wasteful when he can be handled by a single shinobi."

That was an embellishment. Danzo, while a war veteran and accomplished ninja, was an old and crippled shinobi, while Orochimaru was still in his prime. He would certainly be capable of defeating Orochimaru, but this mission was as likely to end in his death.

Still, it was a mission given to him by his Hokage, a Hokage he respected. A Hokage that was ruthless enough to send his own former student to his death when he wanted it out of the way. Danzo didn't fear that Konoha would be in safe hands even if he perished at Orochimaru's hands.

"As you command, Hokage-sama." He answered, bowing his head, before leaving to prepare for what could be his last mission in life.