Naruto : A Fool's Errand.

As soon as the genjutsu broke, everyone looked around them in panic.

Those who were suffering from the excessive pain of being riddled by the sharp rain drops collapsed to the ground due to the sudden relief.

Other people rushed to their windows or doors to look outside at the Hokage office and see if gigantic wooden stakes had pierced it.

Shikaku who woke up immediately saw Hiruzen in front of him, but just as he was about to orient himself and speak, his eyes landed on Hinata.

A clear *sigh* of relief left his lips as Shikaku looked at Hiruzen again and bowed.

"I'm sorry Hokage-sama, something unexpected seems to have happened…"

Hiruzen's brows furrowed but he didn't scold Shikaku, instead, he asked something else-

"Are there any immediate actions that need to be taken regarding the people of the village? What about the enemy?"

Shikaku shook his head quickly.

"No Hokage-sama, I don't think there have been any casualties and I think we can't catch the culprit just yet, but I would like to make sure. I'm sorry, this was a big oversight on my part."

Hiruzen's frown instantly vanished, replaced by a soft smile.

"It wasn't your fault. Even I couldn't break you out of the genjutsu. It was something that was beyond our capabilities to react to. Hinata here can attest to that." Hiruzen said with a kind smile, choosing not to discuss sensitive matters in front of her.

Shikaku got the point and immediately nodded before speaking calmly, "I can escort her back to the Hyuga clan compounds Hokage-sama. I think every one must be worrying about the Hyuga princess."

Hiruzen nodded with his simple smile and Shikaku quickly escorted Hinata away while Hiruzen left behind in the room of the ANBU commander frowned deeply.

'This…what just happened?'

'Shikaku said something unexpected happened…'

'Something even he was surprised by?'

'Was it the strength of the enemy?'

'But no one seems to have died…I guess things are going to be alright…'

'How was Hinata-chan able to break out of the Genjutsu though?'

'I didn't ask her earlier because I was in a hurry to wake Shikaku up, but I guess he does know something about it since he decided to escort her to the Hyuga clan himself."

Hiruzen waited patiently for Shikaku to return to the ANBU office, having to wait only fifteen minutes more for Shikaku to complete the trip.

During this time, Danzo rushed out of the ROOT base to go to the ANBU headquarters because of Hiruzen's emergency flare that signalled for help.

Once he arrived at the secret entrance and entered the village, Danzo noticed the intense unspoken resentment floating around the people in it.

He walked along with his ROOT personnel disguised as random civilians and hence they heard the discussions around them very easily.

"Do you really think it was the Hokage that did all those things written in the paper?"

"I don't know myself, but I saw several parents cry in realisation during the genjutsu. They all really lost their children. Especially the Hyuga clan whose princess was killed by the ghost in front of everyone."

"Do you think they succeeded in remaking the first Hokage?"

"No. I heard that the first Hokage's spirit was angry with the village for doing such a thing which is why we've had three wars in the world that all targeted Konoha, because he didn't like us anymore and stopped protecting us."

Danzo frowned as he heard this-

'Someone revealed to everyone about the experiments we performed on the first Hokage?'

Danzo was slowly panicking as he heard people complain about the experiments done on the First Hokage's body which would easily implicate him. But as he heard more he realised the hatred of the people wasn't towards him but towards Hiruzen.

A strange thought gripped his mind and he entertained an even stranger idea.

'Whoever did this…'

'Perhaps I can use this to sideline Hiruzen because of 'his' crimes and become the Hokage?'

Hiruzen noticed the serious look on Shikaku's face and instantly turned serious himself.

"What happened, Shikaku?"

Shikaku was a little traumatised because of the incident. He didn't know what or how he would break the news to Hiruzen since he was the one blamed by the ghost of the little girl in the genjutsu.

Even still, Shikaku paused and explained everything patiently causing Hiruzen's eyes to widen as he heard each detail.

"Are you serious!?" Hiruzen asked with furrowed brows and Shikaku nodded quickly.

"The atmosphere in the village is tense. People are currently reeling from the effects of the genjutsu and the revelation, but I don't doubt that this incident will soon cause deeply burrowed resentment among them. I'm sure the bubble will burst at most in a couple of days."

Hiruzen nodded since that was his estimate as well.

He thought for a few seconds before turning to Shikaku for help.

"Do you know of any way the situation can be calmed down? Can we tell the villagers that a foreign nation did this to destabilise our village?"

Shikaku closed his eyes and thought for a bit before shaking his head.

"Unless you want people to sever the good ties we have built with the other shinobi nations and push things towards a war, it would not be a good thing. Beucase the people in the village are looking to pin the blame onto someone for their terrible experience."

Hiruzen frowned even more.

That was when Danzo stepped into the office. He had removed his transformation disguise the minute he stepped into the ANBU building so that he wouldn't be stopped and so Hiruzen had an idea as soon as he looked at Danzo who walked into the room boldly.

'This…'

The gears in Hiruzen's head turned as he realised a way to save himself from political and societal death.

Almost immediately, Hiruzen rushed to put his hand on Danzo's shoulder as he exclaimed-

"Danzo, won't you help your old friend?!"

A day later, Tachibana and co. still outside the ROOT headquarters, waited for a few more minutes before they all grew tired until Tachibana suggested-

"Should I perform a divination for us to check if it is dangerous for us to go inside?"

Naruto nodded the fastest.

Tachibana looked at everyone's eager eyes and pulled out his trusty pendulum.

"It is safe for us right now to go into the cave that is being used as headquarters by the child trafficking shinobi."

Tachibana repeated the statement seven times while entering a partial sleep state using cogitation before he finally opened his eyes and looked at the pendulum spinning anti-clockwise quickly.

"It isn't safe!" Tachibana announced causing Naruto to be dissapointed.

But this only confirmed Yamato and Tsunade's suspicions, since it meant that the cave was the ROOT headquarters.

Sasuke and Sakura were both wondering similar things too.

But while Sakura was wondering if they would find evidence or not since everything felt too easy, Sasuke wondered if the ROOT was involved in the massacre of the Uchiha clan.

On the other hand, Tachibana pondered a different question.

'I assumed that after the friendship between Hiruzen and Danzo broke down when Hiruzen would've asked Danzo to become his replacement in the tragedy that Mito caused, Danzo might've rebelled. But it seems like the ROOT is still mostly functional.'

'Did Hiruzen not ask Danzo to help him and resign from his position?'

'That's unexpected…I don't think that could've happened…'

'I can't even use dream divination with everyone around here…'

Yamato was the one who spoke then-

"Since it is dangerous for all of us to go inside, let's split up into teams and cause a distraction for the surface guards so that we can sneak into our enemy's headquarters."

Team Seven looked at him and nodded.

"Sakura and Naruto will be the distraction." Yamato said before looking at Sasuke and Tachibana, "You two will follow me."

The two of them nodded before Yamato quickly explained Sakura and Naruto the plan.

'I'm sure the ROOT shinobi will be unable to resist Naruto-kun since he's the jinchuriki. They will likely try to cause him to lose control so that Hokage-sama gives him to the ROOT.' Yamato thought as he explained his plan.