=Shikano's POV=
Shikano stepped through the wide doors of the Hokage's building, the scent of ink, sweats, and tensions immediately filled his senses.
The corridors were filled with hurried footsteps, and anxious noises as shinobies, and kunoichies of many ages, darted back and forth, holding up stacks of papers, reports, and documents.
No one looked up to greet him, and he certainly didn't mind that. Being a clan head, Shikano often found himself dealing with lipspittles, and opportunists who sought to curry favor with one of Konoha's most powerful clans. So any moments of peace like this is always appreciated, even if that peace came at a huge cost
Shikano let out a long sigh as he looked around at the many faces. He didn't know most of them, and the ones he knew were either gone, or were scarred beyond recognition.
How many of these faces will still be here when it's over? Shikano wondered grimly, his gaze lingered on a Kunoichi rushing past, her eyes hollow. And will mine be among them… or just another name, carved onto the stone monument?
He shook his as he scaled the building before stopping in front of an ordinary wooden door. Nodding at the receptionist, sitting on the table on the far right side of the door, He said.
"Hello Himari, I have a one pm appointment with lord Hokage today. It should be on the list."
"Hai, he's in a meeting with the jonin commander right now, but he said to let you in when you get here." The brown hair, plain girl said with a nod before gesturing for him to go in.
Shikano smiled before turning toward the door. He steeled himself before mumbling under his breath. "And into the lion's den the deer walked." And opened the door.
__________________________
The Hokage office's large circular room perched at the top of the Hokage's building. One half of the curved wall was lined with a row of tall broad windows that bathed the room in sunlight. The other half are lined with mountains of scrolls, some half opened, others sealed shut with fuinjutsu script on them.
Turning forward, Shikano looked over the views of his treasured village. From this height, one could see tiled rooftops, and winding streets with tiny black shapes moving around like ants. Konoha looked deceptively peaceful, but if one looked close enough, one could see the signs of war approaching.
Plumes of smoke in the distance, toward the blacksmithing district, as Konoha and her people churned out kunais, shurikens in the thousands. On rooftops, fast moving blur in greenish, or grey color could be seen coming and going by the dozens, as shinobies, kunoichies, and anbus all came and went in an ordered chaos.
But it all paled compared to the ragged sight of the once dignified Hokage, sitting behind the desk at the far end of the room. Despite the weight, the pressure though, Hiruzen's eyes remained sharp, as he focused all his attention toward a man standing in front of him.
The man wore a normal black shirt with a high collar covering his neck, and on his back was the famous Uchiha's clan's emblem—a red and white fan. Kagami Uchiha, the current head of the Uchiha, and is also the current commander of the leaf, stood tall and proud as he conversed with his old time friend, and now superior.
"Ah Shikano," Hiruzen said with a warm fatherly smile as he noticed Shikano. "Punctual as ever I see."
Shikano bowed his head slightly, before Kagami himself interrupted. "Will that be all Hiruzen?"
The Hokage nodded as he gestured for Kagami to leave. "Yes, that will be all old friend, keep me updated if anything changes."
Bowing in deference, Kagami turned to leave, but as he did, his eyes locked gaze with Shikano with a meaningful glance, before dropping it entirely and walking out of the door.
Shikano's brow narrowed at that, but he disregarded it as he turned toward Hiruzen, and said. "You called for me lord Hokage?"
"Hm, yes. I heard that your nephew is recovering well from that whole terrible incident? Were there any complications with his recovery?" Hiruzen asked with what looked to be genuine worry.
"My nephew is fine, Lord Hokage, Konoha has one of the best medical ninjutsu programs in the world. Plus with my sister, and your student, Lady Tsunade's care, he's already fast on his way to the road of recovery." Shikano replied, before he prodded. "But you didn't call me here just to ask about my nephew's health did you, Hokage sama?"
Hiruzen nodded as he smiled a knowing smile. "Straight to the point as always I see? But yes I did not. No, I called you here to talk about your nephew's certain abilities that he has demonstrated in his rescue of young Kushi—."
Shikano interrupted before Hiruzen could go on any further. "Pardon me, lord Hokage, but I would like to know about the fate of my nephew's attacker. How was he able to spy on my nephew, and predict his movement. Why, or what does he want with Ashira, and what's his affiliation with Lord Danzo?"
Hiruzen smiled gently, and nodded despite being interrupted. "Very well, you deserved to know this at least. All of what you're about to hear now are S ranked secrets. You are forbidden from discussing without my permission. Doing so would be treason and you shall be executed for it, do you understand?"
Shikano's gaze narrowed at the seriousness of Hiruzen's words before he nodded. "I understand."
"Danzo was given my permission to conduct an operation on our soil using my anbu's force. The goal of said operation was to ensure our future's jinchuriki by kidnapping her, and rescuing her at the last mome—." Before Shikano could protest at the blatant manipulation, and traumatization of a young child, Hiruzen held out his hand, and released the hold on his chakra's coil.
The atmosphere turned heavy at that as Shikano felt like gravity itself had been dialed to 11, his lungs drew in more air to breath, his chakra's coil flooded his muscle with chakra to combat the pressure. As he looked on with pained exertion at his Hokage.
"Calm yourself Shikano." Hiruzen said, before he reigned in his chakra, as he waited for Shikano to recover, before he spoke. "Before you go on to lecture me about the unethicalness, and wrongness of this. I want you to answer this. You know what we do, Shikano, who we truly are. We're killers for hire, nothing more nothing less. So what difference does it make if we emotionally manipulate an important asset of our village to ensure that said asset remains ours in perpetuity. Better one young girl traumatized now than thousands of our people dead because we lost our greatest weapon, and deterrence."
Realizing the point Hiruzen was getting at, Shikano sighed in defeat, before he asked further. "So you orchestrated the kidnapping of our future jinchuriki to ensure her loyalty. It's something that even though I don't agree with, I understand that needs to be done. What I don't understand is who's the mysterious attacker that Ashira faced, what did he want with my nephew, and what's Danzo's involvement in saving said attacker from dying at the hand of the Senju's."
Nodding in understanding, Hiruzen explained further. "I was getting there. At first, our plan was to allow a group of carefully vetted, and low ranked Kumo chunins to infiltrate Konoha, and kidnap Kushina before rescuing her when they're outside the village's wall. But as you've already guessed, the plan went awry with the appearance of the foreign shinobi. We currently do not know his affiliation, how and why did he spy on, and predict your nephew's routine, since delicate, yet masterfully crafted fuinjutsu scripts were embedded in his mind to prevent the leak of information. But know that our T&I department is working hard on it. The current assumption is that we're under a level 3 security leak, and the matter is under investigation, a notice will be sent out to all high ranking members of the village later today."
"Then I will adjust my clan's security accordingly." Shikano nodded as he gestured for Hiruzen to go on. Though in reality, he truly did not believe what Hiruzen said, as he dropped the subject.
"As for Danzo, himself. He was always there in the shadows to oversee his own operation. He merely intervened because we needed this mysterious agent alive for interrogation. Do my answers satisfy you Shikano?" Hiruzen asked, his tone final.
Shikano shook his head, before he asked in frustration. His voice raised on the verge of yelling. "Then why did lord Danzo not intervene when this agent revealed himself to my nephew? Why did he and your anbus sit back as they watched my nephew, a six year old child, risking his life to save his friend?"
Hiruzen raised an eyebrow at that, before he asked, seemingly offended. "Are you questioning how we operate? It was your nephew who foolishly rushed after a group of experienced Kumo chunin, it was your nephew who foolishly initiated a battle against opponents he had no information of, and it was your nephew who interfered with an active anbu's operation. The fact is that the boy should consider himself lucky to get out of this whole debacle with only a minor case of chakra exhaustion, do you understand?"
Greeting his teeth, Shikano clenched his hands as he slowly nodded. Despite being the clan head of one of the largest clans in the leaf, despite being allied to many other great clans, Shikano, for the second time in his life, felt powerless against the man in front of him. He felt powerless against true powers, the kind that no amount of armies or men could ever compare, Shikano felt powerless against an S ranker, a Kage level shinobi.
"Good, now moving onto the important matters. Your nephew's newly revealed kekkei genkai, and what it meant for him, and his role in this war going forward." Hiruzen said, his head nodding in satisfaction.
"But lord Hokage!!! Ashira is just a child." Shikano protested, before he stopped as Hiruzen raised his hand.
"I understand, the child is still young, only six now. But this war will last more than long enough for him to participate." Hiruzen said, taking a pause as he sighed before continuing. "And trust me when I said he will participate. I do not want this as much as you think I do, Shikano, but the fact of the matter is that at one point in this war, we will have to throw everything we have at our enemies in order to end it. Even if it's the lives of our young children. Shadow storage, shadow teleport that's undetectable to most sensors, and all these chakra constructs your nephew has. His abilities would save many lives, Konoha's lives, when he joins the war. I just can't simply let him waste away inside the village."
Shikano stilled as he sighed in resignation. Like it or not, Ashira will have to participate in the war sooner or later, He knew this of course. But with Hiruzen forcing him, the old man could sway public opinion against the Nara clan to force his hand.
He could already see it. Why should we risk our lives while the clans, and their prodigies get to sit back and watch? These sentiments and more will only grow, and fester if someone special like Ashira remains inside the village.
Nodding Shikano said with gritted teeth as he looked toward Hiruzen. "Six years, give him six years, and he will join the war when he graduates."
Hiruzen shook his head, and bargained. "4 years, but he will serve as a backline genin on the supply transportation team for his shadow's storage."
"Six" Shikano repeated, his gaze unyielding.
"Five years, then he will serve as a backline genin on the supply transportation team. That's the best I can do." Hiruzen said, his tone firm with no room for negotiation.
"Five but under the condition that he served under Torifu Akimichi senpai as a backline genin." Shikano conceded before adding a condition of his own.
"Done!" Hiruzen said, shaking Shikano's hand before he continued. "Now onto the registration of your nephew's kekkei genkai. You are under no obligation to disclose its abilities or limitations, but under the clan's secret protection clause, section 4, article 5, I'm obligated to disclose its existence."
"I understand." Shikano nodded, before he continued. "Me and my nephew, and the rest of our clan have discussed this issue at length, and we would like to name kekkei genkai the Eight Shadows."
"So there are eight of them." Hiruzen said, narrowing his eyes in interest before he nodded. "Very well, that is all, Shikano. You may go."
Bowing in deference, Shikano stood up, and walked toward the door, but not before pausing, and turning toward Hiruzen. "Lord Hashirama created the village in order to stop children from being sent to war. I wonder what he would say now that his own successor is forcing an 11 year old to participate in one."
"Just food for thought." Smiling at the shocked face of his Hokage, Shikano hummed as he turned and walked out the door. His own mind filled with dread, and sadness at the thought of having to break this news to his sister.
"Troublesome." He muttered under his breath.
AN: Sorry for the delay but wn was bugging and I couldn't upload my stuffs