Disclaimer: Listen well and listen all, I own Jackshit. Meaning no property of J.K. Rowlings, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoat Books or Warner Bros. Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended. Also, I own nothing of Masashi Kishimoto.

Summary: "For the last time, Hokage-Sama. I am a kickass Dark Lord and not a stupid shinobi." Minato Namikaze has never been more stunned by this Naruto Slytherin...

Thanks for encouraging comments.

Shimura Danzo Interlude: King of Shadows

Even as Danzo sat down in front of the entirety of the Konoha Council, he couldn't help but wonder the genius of Slytherin's actions.

He had never expected this level of Unslytherin guile!

Frankly, Danzo was almost insulted at himself, at how impressed he felt.

Slytherin had intentionally refrained from making any commitment to Konoha village in his years of dealing, either as a ninja or as a civilian. The long-range mind reading capabilities were bad enough as they were but a full blown Mokuton?

Mokuton was a legendary bloodline for a reason. The capacity to nullify what were essential Weapons of Mass Destruction.

Forget tilting, it completely obliterated the balance of powers.

No doubt, many would love to add him into their arsenal. There was just now only one problem. Danzo didn't believe any of that will happen.

Slytherin had little to gain from actually joining any faction and everything to lose.

Internally speaking, Konoha alone had multiple factions. The civilians, Minato and every single clan of Konoha. Oh, Danzo was aware of every one of them trying to gain some form of leverage over Naruto, he had been the one who had dealt with all of them after all.

And that was why, they were all here, wasn't it?

"The Jounin have told me that you are quite close to my son. Is that correct?" Minato asked him.

This was the sole fundamental issue, Danzo personally had with Minato as Hokage. He was strong but he was a family man. Danzo would have preferred a more solitary candidate but Namikaze was still a mile better than the alternative.

Even better than himself. Danzo had always trusted his now long dead sensei. If Tobirama Senju didn't believe him to be Hokage material, Danzo would trust him, even if the Nidaime had been long dead.

"That is correct." Minato took a moment to think over his response, intentionally making the silence uncomfortable.

And wasn't that something that he actually liked about Minato? He was smart. He was good at playing the word game. A rarity in world of ninjas. Fortunately, Danzo knew he was better. Unfortunately, Minato probably knew that too.

"I was unfamiliar that you knew Naruto-kun on one on one basis. Can you explain regarding your interactions with Naruto?" Sarutobi said. He was sitting on the head table with Koharu and Homaru at his side.

Smart of Namikaze to pit his own teammates against him. Unfortunately for Namikaze, Danzo was far more prepared. The Mokuton was something of a blind sider but knowing Slytherin meant he had known for years that this actual confrontation was years in making.

Even in absence of Mokuton, Slytherin's mind penetration skills would one day lead him to uncovering way to valuable intel someday and a scenario like this would have happened, one way or another.

Now Danzo knew he had two options. Play long word games like he was used to and lose as he was virtually a single man against the entirety of Konoha Council.

Or let lose the chaos and watch the council tear itself apart.

Danzo smiled, intentionally waiting for the moment when Minato was taking a sip of water, before answering, "I am his wingman."

Minato choked on the water.

The rest of council, choked too despite the absence of water.

Danzo continued smiling.

When everyone seemed to have achieved a semblance of calm, it was Shikaku who asked the question.

"What do you mean by wingman?"

Danzo answered like talking to a two-year-old, "A guy who sets up another guy with dates."

"Dates as in?" Sarutobi seemed faint. Danzo had actual forgotten that Hiruzen was something of a social conservative.

"Date as in the time, I set you up with Biwako after you got failed for seventh time." Perhaps, Hiruzen had been selected as Hokage out of pity. The sage knows that the Nidaime had not been impressed with his protégé's inability to talk with women.

So even as Hiruzen stammered out denials, Danzo wondered if the sole reason that he had not ended up a Hokage was because of his lady killing skills back in the day.

Looks like he dodged a bullet.

"As interesting as that is." Like always Koharu was a mood killer. Danzo had told her that she was too old and wrinkly to play the Ice Queen routine but off course he was the evil one.

"You don't mean to imply that you set up a thirteen-year-old on sexual relationships."

"Nope, I don't imply that at all."

Danzo had suspected for a long time that Slytherin was not thirteen actually. The way he talked was more reminiscent of a man in his late forties but again he couldn't actually say that.

"Then can you expand on your role as a wingman?" That was Shikaku Nara. Just as sharp as his father and grandfather. Dangerous.

"It means that I set up meeting between him and women who request to meet him. What happens later is none of my concern. Seriously you should know, your niece was one of them."

"What?" And there goes the Nara brains. A surprised genius was no different from a surprised fool. Utterly useless.

"Women who request to meet him?" Hiashi asked him.

Danzo actually took a while to think over how to respond to that.

"Okay, you guys know about mind reading thing?" Danzo asked finally opening up. It had always been something of an insider thing for everyone but Danzo was pretty sure that every other village already knew about it.

Slytherin himself had wanted to be sure of it. Danzo had been confused but the amount of money that Naruto had offered was enough that Danzo had not asked any questions.

Off course, he had charged other villages practically an extortion but Slytherin probably had thought that one out.

The Konoha council looked at each other before realizing that everyone knew about what amounted to a practically open secret.

They seemed to nod collectively.

"Well the clans wanted to add him to their faction."

A pin drop silence could be heard.

"That is a grave accusation." Minato summarised. Danzo felt disappointed at the Hokage pre-emptively stopping another shouting session.

"I am not accusing anyone of anything. If a kunoichi wants to try their hand at bagging Slytherin for the sake of her clan, I say more power to her." Even as he said that Danzo wondered if he was going to feature on this month issue of Feminist Today.

"And what role do you play in all this?" Hiruzen asked.

Danzo sighed before answering, "Look Naruto is a very private individual and I told him that he should socialise more and when he admitted that he didn't know many people, I offered to set him up."

"And you did this, how many times?" Hiruzen simply asked

"Four hundred ninety-six times." Danzo simply answered

"Okay, so you did it 496…" Suddenly the absurdity of the number settled on everyone.

"I have been setting him up for two years." Danzo said as an explanation. Danzo knew the others may feel more than socially outraged but Danzo had made a killing on those deals and with the way he looked/talked, it was very hard for Danzo to not treat Naruto like an adult.

"I didn't know there were that many kunoichi even inside village!" Danzo couldn't help a smile at the sheer jealousy he could feel from the outraged Toad Sage.

The look on the Slug sage to his side however caused any form of amusement to quickly die down. Tsunade looked like she was wondering which part of him to cut off first.

That kunoichi was dangerous. More than any other here, for sure.

"There aren't. There have been many civilian women interested in meeting him too. Many of them as a matter of fact related to civilian councillors here." It was now Civilian council looking uncomfortable.

Slytherin was rich, Danzo didn't blame them.

"Why?" Minato Namikaze was smart. He was the only one asking the question one should be asking.

Unfortunately, that made him terribly predictable.

"Slytherin has practically no reason to be loyal to Konoha. I was trying to help it along." Play himself as a Konoha loyalist now. would be useful later.

"Practically no reason, he is the Hokage's son!" Somebody said.

"A fact that no one told him of." Danzo refuted. He doubted Slytherin was unaware however and playing that card was a barrel of monkeys.

"He is a member of Senju clan." The Senju clan head was smart. Unlike Tsunade, he was a civilian but unlike her, he was at the very least good at the talking game. He who strikes first, strikes twice. The custody battle was inevitable, might as well go for a pre-emptive strike.

"On what basis?" One of the civilians challenged. His daughter was particularly enamoured with the Slytherin if Danzo remember correctly.

"Mokuton." He didn't say 'duh' but everyone heard it regardless.

"Can it be like Tenzou?" Koharu asked him. Another open secret amongst Konoha Council.

It was Tsunade who shook her head before answering, "No Senju or Uzumaki blood could tolerate Orochimaru's infusion process. They have too much internal resistance to my grandfather's chakra. It is much more likely to awaken Mokuton on its own."

And awakening on its own meant a likely full-blown variant unlike Tenzou's remarkably weakened variant.

"So, he does belong with the Senju clan due to the Clan Bloodline Act?" The Senju clan head seemed slightly smug. Danzo decided to correct him.

"Unfortunately, he is not a Konoha citizen."

And the chaos erupted once more.

Danzo smiled in midst of it all, realizing just why Naruto liked doing this so much.

Important announcement

This story will be on a one-month hiatus while I work on my new Worm story A Will To Shatter Stars (my new personal favourite)

and

FSN DxD Xover Hold The Heavens

I actually like this story but my time constraints are getting worse. Expect new update by Early November. I will probably figure out the plot by then and the ending.

Author's Note: So, RATE, REVIEW AND SUBSCRIBE!

Also, check out my other stories.