(June, year 54 AK)
Inside the Hokage's office, as Danzo was about to take Yuta and Hikari into the Root, Yuta finally decided to prevent that by time-traveling and avoiding going on the mission with Shisui, but then he stopped himself from time-traveling just yet, to see how exactly this is going to play out, after all, he was still in the Hokage's office, and Shisui is still could show up in time and intervene or something, or so Yuta thought.
...
"Wait, Danzo! That is not what we agreed upon!" Hiruzen said loudly, his previous friendly demeanor is nowhere to be seen, "I didn't say that they are to join ANBU, I only said that it is an opportunity and that they are allowed to! Both of them are free to refuse and remain in the Shisui's squad if they want!"
'Huh? So that's what's going on!' Yuta finally realized, 'Hiruzen probably only allowed Danzo to "try" to recruit us, but Danzo declared that we already under him, as if it is already decided, Danzo probably thought that after that we wouldn't dare to refuse...'
"Then I refuse." Hikari immediately said, "I'd like to stay with Shisui-sensei's squad, I'm not ready to join ANBU."
Then Hikari looked at Yuta, and Yuta noticed a tense expression in her eyes, as if she was trying to warn him about something.
'Is she trying to warn me about Danzo? Does she know something about Danzo? How could she even know anything about him? Only Jonins and higher-ups know about him, and most of them only know that he was just a one of the Elders of the village, on the position of the Hokage Advisor, and only the select few knows that he leads the separate ANBU division – Root, and almost no one knows what exactly Root is...'
'Well, she doesn't need to warn me about Danzo, I'm not going to join Root anyway.'
"I also ref.." Yuta started speaking but he was interrupted.
"This is inappropriate! You are just ignorant Genins." Danzo said in a heavy and displeased tone, "I am in command of the separate ANBU division, and with my authority I am Second-In-Command after Hokage. When I order you something – you do it, no questions asked!"
"In the academy we were taught that the Jonin-Commander is the Second-In-Command after Hokage." Hikari said calmly with an empty expression on her face.
'Damn, never saw her like that... Does she even know who she is talking to?' Yuta thought surprised.
"How dare you talk back to..." Danzo started shouting angerly but was interrupted.
"That's enough!" Hiruzen shouted as he stood up, "Danzo, you are overstepping. These two Genins aren't under your authority, you can't order them around. If they refuse to join your ANBU division, then you can't force them to."
"They are just too ignorant to know what is good for them." Danzo said disapprovingly, then he continued more calmly as he looked at Yuta and Hikari, "Shinobi of my ANBU division gets the best kind of training and guidance there is, to raise one's strength quickly. And the missions they receive are the most important ones for the village and the best suited for gaining the most valuable experience to forge the best shinobi out of you. Your talents will be best suited in my ANBU division. In the regular ranks your talents will be just wasted."
"What talents are you talking about, esteemed elder?" Hikari asked with the same blank expression, "Talent to swing a sword or to cast a genjutsu? We sure did defeat a bunch of Mist ninja goons, but is that even worth mentioning? If so, Itachi had shown even more talents, he had clashed with the Mist Jonin after all, so why is he isn't here with us right now?"
'Why do I have a feeling that Hikari does know about who exactly Danzo is... And she wasn't afraid to argue with him at all...' Yuta thought, 'Not like I'm afraid of that either, but it's only because I have time-travel. If Danzo holds a grudge against her after this, what could she even do? Sure, she can fight against Chunins, but Danzo could send someone special to deal with her, besides, I won't underestimate Root ninjas, with their kind of training, brutal tactics and plenty of forbidden jutsus, a Root squad of three or four Chunins could easily deal with a Jonin most likely.'
'She could've just said "I refuse" and that's it, why talk back to this crazy petty maniac?' Yuta was puzzled as he thought about what Hikari was doing.
"This is not about Itachi right now." Danzo was starting to lose patience bit by bit, "And when I mentioned talents, I was talking not only about your combat abilities, those are important too, but I meant your mentality. Both of you fought while being outnumbered, and you fought staying cold-minded and efficient, and you didn't hesitate to take lives of the enemies of the village when that was your first time doing that."
Danzo made a brief pause to emphasize the importance of what he was about to say next, then he looked at Yuta and Hikari with his only remaining left eye, lingered his gaze on each of them for a second and finally said with conviction, "Those qualities and talents are best suited for the shinobi of the darkness, only in my ANBU you would be able to showcase them to the fullest. In the regular ranks, you will be only wasting them."
After a brief pause Hikari said nonchalantly, as if discussion the weather, "I just fight to my heart's content, there was nothing special about it, and my mind was far from being cold during the fight. Also, I'm not exactly a sneaky type, so I seriously doubt that ANBU suits me as you say it does, so no, I still refuse."
Danzo sighed and shook his head with displeasure, then he looked at Yuta, and before Yuta was able to say his part, Danzo said with steel in his tone, "Yuta Arai. The qualities of the shinobi of darkness are even more pronounced in you than in Hikari. I read the detailed report. You were outnumbered, every enemy was stronger than you, yet you didn't fear, didn't panic, didn't hesitate, you cut off all your emotions and fought efficiently and ruthlessly, you had displayed qualities that were way beyond of what most Chunins possess."
Danzo briefly closed his eye and then opened it with determination and finality in it, he said, "Hikari can refuse, but your true place in ANBU! You may not understand it clearly because of young age, but this is your purpose, follow me and you will achieve much greater heights than anywhere else!"
...
"I refuse." Yuta said after just a second, and there wasn't much of hesitation on his face either.
'What is this bullshit?' Yuta thought with irritation, 'Shinobi of darkness, best training, greater heights... What a load of crap! Go find yourself some expendable tools/ninjas somewhere else, I'm not interested.'
...
'Although to be honest, I am a bit interested...' Yuta thought a bit reluctantly, 'But still, I'm only at Chunin's level of strength at best right now, and I lack experience and more advanced ninja skills, it's too dangerous to join Root, who knows what could happen there. I won't put it past Danzo to have some Yamanaka to read minds of every recruit just in case, and I can't have that. Also, that cursed seal that Danzo places on each of his Root ninjas, who knows what else that seal might do besides preventing intel leaks, as it was mentioned in the original story...'
...
'Maybe I'll return back to this choice later, when I'm stronger and more experienced, it's not like it's going anywhere, this invitation will stay here, on June 25 year 54, forever open for me. Besides, this entry into the Root is much more convenient than the one that happens back in the orphanage when I'm only four years old. I'm not sure I even can go that far back into the past anymore, after all my spiritual energy has grown quite a lot since then. Will my four-year-old not trained body be able to safely contain all this spiritual energy? I'm not in a hurry to find out...'
While Yuta was thinking about his own things, Danzo's expression turned dark, he opened his mouth to say something, then he closed it and stormed out of the office without saying anything else and slammed the door behind him.
...
"Sigh..." Hiruzen sighed tiredly, but with a bit of satisfaction, "Don't mind elder Danzo. You a free to stay in Shisui's squad if you wish so. Although I must say that elder Danzo has a point, but let's leave it at that."
Hiruzen sat back behind his desk, pulled out his pipe and had a puff, his expression calmed down and relaxed, and he said, "Also, the content of that conversation with elder Danzo is classified, treat it as if it never happened."
"Yes, Lord Hokage." Yuta and Hikari immediately replied in unison.
Hiruzen laughed a little and now he looked at Yuta and Hikari in a slightly new light.
"Maybe the two of you are the best suited for the ANBU after all, but still, you are too young, maybe in a couple more years, who knows..." Hiruzen said with a friendly smile, "But enough about that, It's your day off, you should go rest, I'm sure you are still tired after your mission."
"Yes, Lord Hokage." Yuta and Hikari replied and left the office.
As they left, Hiruzen's expression changed from friendly to the thoughtful one, he had one more puff from his pipe and thought, 'Danzo, who said you could be so aggressive and forceful, I only allowed you to try to recruit them and you should've backed off as soon as they refused the first time! Either way, it's only your fault that you've lost face like that in front of Genins, serves you right!'
...
'It's better that way, although if they had accepted, Shisui wouldn't have any ground for complaining, it's their choice after all, but still, it's better to not worsen our relations with Shisui, we still need him, after all...'
Hiruzen's expression darkened with worry as he thought about the Uchiha clan.
...
--- AN ---
If you like the story, please consider writing a comment, a review, voting with power stones, or check out my Patreon.
11 advanced chapters are currently available (patreon.com/SycoreNovels).
Thanks to Krishna_Razz, G_Anderson_2314, Loalola, Zen_Slacker, Elijah_Thomas_1921, Jayroy_63 for the power stones.