Hokage's Gamble
(Mako Kuruma POV)
Lord Hokage was nice enough to inform you that your daughter was going to be part of Danzo's Team five minutes after he sent down the orders and sensei's to the academy.
He knew you far too well of course, and had prepared a few seals to prevent you from screaming at the top of your lungs for all the village to hear.
There were children down there, and it would be very bad form for all of them to be gaining a colorful vocabulary before they became Genin.
"You put her with Danzo!" You gritted your teeth, and slowly put your hands on the desk. You were not in the mood to deal with ANBU right now. You still had to talk to him, and you did not want to be kicked out of the office again.
It was bad enough when you tried to demand for another ten thousand Ryu a year for turning your son into a goddamn jinchuuriki so that you don't have to take as many missions outside of your sensei duties to train the brats. Now Ayako was being thrown to the wolves.
"Mako… you understand why I put her with him." Hiruzen was being as cryptic as always with his answer.
"No Lord Hokage…" You glared at the wall and saw a shadow up there flinch before looking back to him. "I don't know. So enlighten me, before I go beat the hell out of that bastard."
Hiruzen sighed, his face wrinkled and he looked older than the 29 he was. The years of administrative service and stress weighed heavily on him, just as motherhood and your son's burden weighed heavily on you. Things beyond your control were happening everyday.
Maybe you just wanted that little bit of control in your life… You did not want anything else threatening to tear your family apart.
"Breath Mako." Hotaru stated, her voice soothing your mind. "It will be alright."
"I put her with Danzo because she is the only one whom I believe can help him."
The words caught you off guard. Help and Danzo did not belong in the same sentence. He was a cruel manipulative son of bitch who deserved to be dragged into the Shinigami's stomach and rot there for eternity.
He deserved it after all he has done to you, all the lies and broken promises of a better tomorrow… what he's done to the families whose children you stole for him.
Not even peace for a thousand years deserves to happen when it was on the backs of broken and dead children.
Wasn't that why the villages were founded? To stop the constant stream of dead children that soaked the fields of the continent.
"What do you mean by help?" you asked
"Danzo has been becoming far more… extreme in his distaste for my administration and how I run the village. He does not voice it openly, but I know he thinks that." That made you raise an eyebrow. "When I shut down the ROOT project, he told me that without it, the village would die within our lifetime. I issued a counter to that."
"And that counter was to train a genin team?"
"I planted the seeds in his mind. He could focus all of his time and effort on three students, instead of dozens. I told him to think how quickly they would learn if he gave them the proper guidance that ROOT, by its very nature, could not be afforded to him." There was a smile. "The more he thought, the more he realized I was right."
"And what does my daughter have to do with this?" you asked.
"Your daughter… and both her teammates are different from the other students. The other students who survived the ordeals on the road with Ayako and Tsunade or in Nanako's case, her flight from the border to steal a headband from Rain, but their personalities would clash, and cause Danzo to slip back into his old emotionless ways. They have been through trials that should have killed them but they came out stronger because of it."
"Get to the point." you muttered under your breath, impatiently.
"He will see in them, a younger version of himself. And see how much he has changed from that boy in the academy who was my friend." Hiruzen stated. "And hopefully, he will make them stronger and gain his Will of Fire."
You took a deep breath and walked to the window, to look over the village. "Your betting a lot on Danzo having a heart after all he's done."
Hiruzen laughed. "He has one… he just needs to find it again. And I believe your daughter will show him where it has been after all this time."
You glared out into the village towards the training grounds. "I hope so... or she won't survive."
Hiruzen frowned. "I know.
AN: Enjoy