Naruto: True Darkness

Inside of Konoha, the Sun shined brightly as it came into the night sky, the light illuminating the area as it showed a young boy with a mask on his face sitting on a training ground, his face extremely serious as he thought about why he had truly come to the battle ground now.

Was it because he slightly felt that he somewhat resonated with the Elder Danzo and the story that he told him?

Or was it due to him mistrusting the man enough that he decided to take it upon himself to watch him and prevent him from doing anything they may do harm to the Leaf.

Either way, Kakashi refused to allow Danzo the free will to do whatever he wished.

And that was what drove him towards coming to the field, yet he jumped into combat position when he felt someone appear beside him.

"Captain Kakashi?" Shisui asked as he looked at the individual who was also on the training grounds with surprise, as he thought only he and Danzo would be present for their training.

"Are you also training with Danzo-Sensei?" Shisui asked, with his question making Kakashi's eyes narrow.

'So he also is getting Shisui into his group? But why? The issues between the Uchiha and the higher echelon of Konoha are well known.' Kakashi thought to himself.

At that moment, another voice, this one extremely boisterous, spoke.

"Kakashi!! My eternal rival!! Are you going to compete against me today under Elder Danzo?" Might Guy asked as he approached, his smile being so white that Shisui felt that he was being blinded.

"So he invited you three as well?" Kurenai spoke as she walked over, joining the group of four.

"I wonder what Elder Danzo could be wishing to do with four members of the future generation?" Kakashi asked sarcastically, but his words made everyone grow slightly serious.

But, at that moment, Kakashi jumped into a combat position, with the other three doing it as well upon seeing him do so.

"What's wrong?" Kurenai asked as she held her kunai, her eyes darting around the surroundings but not discovering anything wrong.

"There's no sound." Kakashi said solemnly, with all of their eyes widening as they realized the fact that they could not hear any birds in the sky or animals in the forest even though it was early in the morning.

The group then turned once they heard the tapping of a cane, as the one armed and one eyed Danzo appeared from a clearing, his sole showing eye narrowing at the entire group.

"Your mission is very simple. You are to take me down. You can use whatever means you believe will allow you to do that. Their will be a prize if you succeed, but far greater punishments if you fail." Danzo spoke as he pulled a sword from out of his cane.

'I truly like this new cane better. It makes me look like an old monster rather than a schemer.' Danzo thought to himself happily, though his mood was growing slightly frustrated when he saw none of the group move.

"I see." Danzo said as he closed his eye before opening it again.

Then, as if he was using his teacher's Flying Raijin Technique, Danzo appeared directly in front of Kakashi, with him grabbing him by the throat and slamming Kakashi directly into the ground, shattering it due to the immense force behind it.

Guy was the first to respond as he went for a heel kick towards his head, yet Danzo easily dodged it before delivering an elbow to his chest.

"Lesson 1: Taijutsu." Danzo said as he then moved towards Kurenai and and delivered a punch straight to her jaw, with it sending her flying through a tree.

Shisui Body Flickered behind Danzo and attempted to slash at him, yet Danzo bit the blade, shattering it.

He then kneed Shisui into the chin, after which he was sent flying towards Kakashi.

Danzo then slowly weaved signs as if to mock them in Kakashi's eyes, yet he had never seen the Justu that Danzo was preparing before.

"Wind Style: Atmospheric Pressure."

Kakashi, Guy, Shisui, and Kurenai all felt the air around them grow heavy, with only Kakashi and Guy able to remain standing as the other two fell to their knees.

"Lesson 2: Ninjustu." Danzo spoke as he appeared in front of Kakashi and blasted him with a blast of flames that was sent from his hand.

He then grasped Guy and Kakashi's shoulders, with him channelling Lightning Chakra into his hands and electrocuting them both.

Danzo then threw the two of them into Kurenai and Shisui, with them all feeling the heavy atmosphere disappearing, yet they found Danzo had disappeared again when the looked up.

"Lesson 3: Genjutsu." 

The four felt the air around them grow colder, the grass beneath them beginning to bind them, and the world around them twisted into a myriad of colors.

All of them attempted to disrupt their Chakra Nature's, yet they found themselves unable to do so.

Then, they all simultaneously felt their Chakra draining from their systems, with them seeing Danzo reappear while sitting in his chair and drinking tea, with all of them finding themselves unable to move due to them not having any remaining Chakra.

"Lesson 4: Fuinjutsu."

Danzo then stood, his sword now sheathed in his cane again as he walked over to the group.

"That was a disgraceful demonstration. You four showcased no unity with each other and didn't even attempt to overcome me other than your feeble attempts at Taijutsu. You walked into the battle with a slight bit of arrogance, thinking that I was a weak old man and that you would be able to easily defeat me as long as I fought you head on. But let this me a lesson to each and every one of you. A Shinobi who lives to old age is always a dangerous Shinobi. Now, even though all of you are pathetic right now, I plan to turn you into monsters that will put even the Sannin to shame once I'm done. Now go get breakfast, together, and meet me back here tomorrow morning at the same time. I want you to reflect on this loss and examine what ways you could have won." Danzo said, with him then vanishing, his position replaced by nothing but the wind.

"Incredible." Shisui said to himself as he finally deactivated his Sharingan.

He had trained in being able to use Genjustu and his Sharingan should have gave him a greater level on affinity towards breaking out of them, yet he was unable to do a thing to Danzo.

Kurenai possessed the same feeling, with her feeling utterly useless, as her skill in Genjutsu and title as a upcoming Genjutsu master seemed like a lie when looking at someone who could use it with such skill like Danzo.

'Could I have defeated him if I used the Gates?' Guy questioned to himself.

Guy at this point could only use up to the Sixth Gate, and even then he only gained strength on the level of Jonin.

And if he were to use his eternal rival as a benchmark, then it seemed like Elder Danzo possessed strength that far surpassed that of the average Jonin.

'This could be bad.' Kakashi thought to himself. 

He still deeply distrusted Danzo, and seeing him imprint himself into the minds of the other three people present.

He would continue to report the results of his training sessions to his Sensei, but deep down, he was beginning to form a slight thought that Danzo may not have a scheme brewing and he may just truly wish to teach them.

"So where are we eating breakfast?" Shisui asked with a smile.

~

Danzo sat in his backyard, with him preparing to go meet with perhaps the most dangerous Summoning Beast in the Shinobi World.

While he knew that the Dream Tapir in the Anime was dangerous, the version that he was contracted to seemed to echo the version that Obito spoke on.

He didn't know if the Baku would know if he had become a brand new person or not, but he would need their strength if he wanted to accomplish many of his future plans.

From the Akatsuki to the Otsutsuki, an increase in his power (And by extension, his students) would be a requirement for his Village to survive.

Danzo performed the subsequent hand signs, bit his thumb, and then slammed it into the ground, with a large cloud of smoke appearing.

"Baku." Danzo said as he looked at him.

Baku said nothing as he walked around Danzo, with him looking at him with narrowed eyes.

"You've... changed. You are not Danzo, but you are." Baku said.

"Glad to see you have noticed, old friend. I need to meet with Lady Bato." Danzo said.

"Are you sure about that?" Baku asked cautiously, as he knew how dangerously this could be.

Danzo nodded, with Baku unsummoning himself, yet the smoke from his summoning flowed into the nostrils of Danzo, sending him to sleep.

Danzo reopened his eyes, with him no longer being in his courtyard, but instead being in a seemingly infinite space of darkness that was filled with stars.

"You wished to speak with me, child. What could an anomaly like you wish to speak to me about?" An ethereal voice spoke, with the stars converging to form the shape of a Dream Tapir.

'An anomaly?' Danzo thought before he was about to respond, yet Bato cut him off.

"Yes. An anomaly. Through a series of events, the predestined sequence of events have been changed greatly. The world has already corrected it somewhat by giving their chosen one a new power to offset the change you made. But that categorizes you as an anomaly." Bato answered his unasked question.

"So are you some form of higher lifeform?" Danzo asked as he saw no use in pretending before the Godlike entity.

"Perhaps. More correctly, I could be attributed to a being capable of seeing the dreams of the past, present, and future, and doing so gives me a version of what you being might attribute to being all knowing. But I am unable to see the dreams of the new future that you are creating yet, and that greatly intriuges me. I'm guessing you've come here to learn a variation of our Sage Mode?" Bato asked, her voice growing kinder near the end.

Danzo nodded, with the stars making up her body shining greatly at that.

"Then prepare, Danzo Shimura, for I will not simply be teaching you our Sage Mode, but also grant you the ability to use our unique techniques. This will be draining on your body, as your training will take place during your sleep. Are you prepared for that sacrifice?" Bato asked.

"Yes. If you truly can see some versions of the future, then you know of the threats that I will have to face. I will prepare myself and others to face those monsters no matter what." Danzo said determingly.

"I will call upon you tonight during your rest. See you soon, Danzo Shimura." Lady Bato said, with Danzo fading.

Danzo then opened his eyes, finding himself inside of his backyard once again, yet he now had a new pathway for him to grow towards.

'You better be prepared Hiruzen, otherwise I'll take that title of 'Shinobi No Kami' from you.' Danzo thought to himself as he prepared his teaching plan for his new students.

The Shinobi World continued it's budding era of peace after the end of the Third Great Ninja War.

But this fragile peace was threatened three years later, with the events threatning to send the World into a fourth war.

[AN: Timeskip!!]