A wave of silence passed through the room. Despite being only 15 years old, Fujin's feat of killing Juzo by himself was beyond what several of the Clan Leaders and Elders could do.
Though they had various other ways by which they contributed a lot to Konoha, they all realized that they were weaker than Fujin in combat. The three Elite Jounins from non-ninja clans were obviously not comparable to Fujin in this aspect.
Danzo frowned on seeing the reactions of the clan leaders. He thought, 'Hiruzen was ready to reveal that in public? It looks like my previous assessment was wrong. Their relationship is still very close. Since Fujin doesn't have any mental scars like Kakashi, influencing him is very difficult.'
Danzo glanced across the room to see the shocked expressions on the faces of the clan leaders. He frowned and argued, "Even then…"
However, before he could make his point, he was cut off by loud laughter. The Senju Clan Leader laughed loudly and said, "This boy sure is good. I now see why Renjiro always keeps singing his praises, haha.
Killing Biwa Juzo implies that Suzuki Fujin is a rank S ninja. It's been a long time since we had a new rank S ninja join the council. I agree with Lord Hokage's choice. There is no need to discuss any further."
Danzo's frown deepened. He wanted to butt in again, but wasn't allowed to as Shikaku said, "I agree as well."
He thought, 'That boy has increased my workload so much. Once he joins the council, I'll return the favor.'
Inoichi followed and said, "I agree as well. I have heard very positive things about Fujin from some youngsters in my clan. Though he is still very young, us old-timers can help him adapt to this position."
Choza added, "I agree as well."
Tsume chuckled and said, "I had seen that brat during the Chunin exams. I still remember how hardworking and dedicated he was back then. To think that he would surpass us so quickly... He will be a good addition to the council."
Following Tsume, Hiashi and Shibi supported Hiruzen's choice as well. With all the 7 clan leaders supporting him, Hiruzen already had 8 votes in his favor. Even if the remaining 8 voted against him, they won't be able to overturn Hiruzen's decision.
One of the civilian council members spoke, "Though I was a bit sceptical at first, considering his future prospects, I believe that Lord Hokage's decision is the best. The council and our village will benefit from getting such a talented youngster among our ranks. I agree too."
The council member who spoke was against Fujin's selection. However, after realizing that he couldn't stop Fujin's selection, he immediately changed his tone.
He thought, 'Though it's a shame that I can't push someone more favorable, I shouldn't make things difficult for me. Though I don't have much of a relationship with this boy, my relationship with him isn't bad. Instead, it is just neutral. I can try to influence him by appealing to his civilian background and creating a good relationship with him. Then I'll be able to get him to vote for the stuff I want.'
The other civilian council members weren't slow. They immediately realized his thought process. All 4 of them began singing Fujin's praises and agreed with Hiruzen's choice.
Since the votes were unanimous so far and the decision was fixed, none of the three elders bothered voting. Unlike the remaining council members, Homura and Koharu saw no need to try and curry favor with Fujin. As for Danzo, voting against Fujin was completely pointless. So he didn't say anything either.
Hiruzen said, "Since everyone agrees, Fujin will be appointed to the Council to represent ninjas that aren't a part of any ninja clans."
The meeting ended and everyone except Hiruzen and Danzo left. Hiruzen was about to leave as well when Danzo said, "I know what you are trying to achieve, Hiruzen."
Hiruzen turned around and looked at Danzo curiously. Danzo said, "The Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi clans support you blindly. By including another who will support you every time, you will have an even easier time getting your way in the council and won't even have to depend on your second vote to break any deadlocks."
Danzo was angry. By dissolving Root, Hiruzen had cut off a large part of his political power. Only after he started inducting the orphans from the Land of Water did he start seeing hopes of reviving his political influence.
However, even before he could increase his influence, Hiruzen had already increased his power. If Hiruzen made a few more moves and inducted a few more people who were loyal to him in the council, Danzo wouldn't have any method of influencing the council without getting Hiruzen onboard first,
Hiruzen could see Danzo's thoughts at a glance. He turned around and began walking while shaking his head. He said, "I don't control Fujin. If I did, he would still be in Anbu and you wouldn't have got a chance to attempt to recruit him. Besides, he shares some of your ideals when it comes to dealing with our enemies.
In fact, he is far more aggressive than what you were when you were 15. He almost reminds me of Sensei. So, you might see him supporting your policies more than mine."
Danzo was surprised by Hiruzen's words. Hiruzen chuckled and added, "Of course, if you want to control him, then that isn't possible. I don't know what you or Root did to piss him off, but I'm sure you felt his alertness and preparedness when you met him."
Danzo's expression became dark upon hearing Hiruzen's words. It hadn't been a long time since he met Fujin. He still recalled how prepared Fujin was to make a move. Despite thinking for a couple of weeks, he couldn't understand why Fujin was so alert against him.
Hiruzen continued, "Danzo, three years ago, I dissolved the Root. Though you kept a few loyal subordinates, I didn't interfere with you and even gave you a chance to rebuild the Root. However, if you even think of overstepping your boundaries again, I'll take away each and every subordinate that you have, no matter how loyal they are to you."
After warning him, Hiruzen's figure disappeared from the meeting room, leaving Danzo alone in the Council room. His expression was extremely ugly. He completely understood Hiruzen's threat.
He thought, 'Damn you, Hiruzen! If it was anyone else, no matter how strong they were, they wouldn't be able to make my Root ninjas betray me and change their allegations. My Root ninjas would rather commit suicide. But Hiruzen…
He has already inducted the majority of my former subordinates into the Anbu. Not a single one of them listens to my commands anymore. Hiruzen has changed their allegiance from me to Konoha.'
The Root ninjas that Danzo trained were indoctrinated to put the village above everything else. Even their own life could be discarded if it benefited the village. That was the basis due to which Danzo could influence so many. Danzo merely took advantage of it and made every Root ninja believe that Danzo was the only one who could lead Konoha to glory and that Hiruzen and his students were incompetent.
For Hiruzen, who could wield the Will of Fire better than anyone else, changing their allegiance back to only Konoha and not Danzo was a doable task despite the difficulties involved. The Sannins or others wouldn't have been able to do that, but Hiruzen did it extremely quickly and efficiently, leaving Danzo at a loss.
Danzo muttered, "His attitude towards enemies is comparable to Sensei? Is Hiruzen lying? If not, what all about him has Hiruzen kept hidden? Was Fujin behind some other big event other than fighting Roshi and Kitsuchi? Or did he intend to do something about those two events but was stopped by Hiruzen?"
Danzo snorted and began leaving. A couple of Root ninjas flickered behind him after he left the room. Danzo thought, 'I need to dig for more information about him. And, I need to see his attitude. With time, everything will become clear.'
Danzo decided to increase surveillance on Fujin. He also decided to go through the official documents in Konoha to dig out more information. Of course, he faced headaches towards implementing both tasks.
Spying on Fujin was very difficult. Even the bugs raised by the Aburame clan would get detected and destroyed by him. On the other hand, Shikaku had already destroyed all the paperwork that was related to any important mission Fujin had undertaken and had created a lot of fake missions that Fujin had never performed. So Danzo had a very difficult task of analyzing which of his missions were real and which were fake.
As for the person about whom the entire Konoha Council was so curious, he was lying in his bed. Exhaustion could be seen on his face.
Fujin thought, 'Damn, the training is becoming more and more chakra intensive. It will be even crazier once my control over the Wind Domain improves further. Even Hiruzen's soldier pills won't be very effective for long. Sigh, I need something better.'
Fujin closed his eyes and was about to sleep when someone rang his doorbell.
Fujin got up with an annoyed expression and wondered, 'Who is coming here to disturb me? I already told Naruto to take today's day off.'
