The Shopkeeper of Konoha

"I hope you will think straight. You have Mangekyo, use it wisely." Fugaku said as Shisui got up and ready to leave. Shisui was surprised that Fugaku knew about it and he felt like Aoto wouldn't just snitch on him.

This meant Fugaku had always known. Then it hit Shisui. The reason why Fugaku knew of his Mangekyo was because, he himself had one. Shisui wanted to ask but this was not the right moment. They had discussed a lot in the past hour of how they would proceed with the plan Aoto had chalked up for them so he needed to get to work immediately. 

While Shisui went on to prepare for the upcoming plan, in the evening, Aoto had a guest. 

Hiruzen Sarutobi. 

"Good evening Aoto." 

"Good evening Hokage-sama, come in." Aoto said as he ushered him in. One could easily see the sadness in the face of Hiruzen. Not because of the attack on Danzo but the fact that they had lost contact with his other son. Aoto had only met his son once and mostly interacted with Asuma. Asuma was the better of the two and was kind of a genius. 

Though Hiruzen treated them equally, he still hoped that his son could do better. He was happy when he came to know that his son was going to get married almost after the death of his wife. The marriage brought lot of joy in the life of his. 

But now his son was missing and from the looks of it, he was probably dead. He also recently came to know that his daughter-in-law was pregnant. The news and emotions were kind of wild, but he didn't have time to mourn because his friend had come back with the bearer of grave news. 

When he came to know what had happened between Danzo and Aoto's friends, he was furious. he didn't give any orders to go after Shisui and this man went on to kill him. Of course Danzo didn't want to speak at first about this and only spoke how Unohana attacked him and his organization. 

He had known Aoto well so him actively participating in any political drama felt way out of line. Once he pressured his so called 'friend', truth was blurted out. For the first time in his life, he felt like executing this 'friend' of his.

He had turned a blind eye to many of his causes, but the fact that he tried to kill Shisui, someone who was actively trying to close the rift between them and Konoha. 

Hiruzen disbanded the Root organization and asked to send over all the Anbu members with the seal being removed. And each seal would be removed by Danzo himself in front of Hiruzen. Of course, Danzo protested and asked for an audience with the other council members. 

The response from Hiruzen was -

"Do you believe they will ever want to touch Aoto after what he had done before and what he had done to you. You better disband and hand over all the members to me. I will see what I will do with them and send to missions." 

This really made Danzo mad and almost was ready to fight. But Unohana had inflicted quite the pain. And in addition, he was also poisoned by Unohana. A poison which he hadn't seen before. 

This almost made him bed ridden and it was sheer will power that brought him to the door of Hiruzen, only to be humiliated back. 

But Hiruzen also needed to talk with Aoto and thus he arrived after meeting his daughter-in-law and consoling her. His heart broke seeing her like this but he needed to be strong for the sake of the village. 

"I am sorry for your son. Hope you will be able to find him." Aoto said. The news wasn't some secretive news, so he knew what was going on. 

"Thank you, I hope and pray for the same." Hiruzen said. Aoto served him some cake for him to eat while talking with. Hot Pie has been great cakes recently and he thought of serving that. Hiruzen also loved the taste. The things made by Hot Pie by now were well known in Konoha, and they almost make a queue early morning. By afternoon, the sales are almost done. This goes to show how popular Hot Pie was. 

"Aoto, did you mess with Danzo again?" Hiruzen didn't beat around the bush and asked. 

"Yes." Aoto too didn't seem to hesitate in answering.

"Hmm.. But I thought you are not interested in political drama and matters." Hiruzen asked. 

"I don't, but that doesn't mean I am an idiot. Killing them will mean less customers for me and who will distribute my business in the Fire nation and the neighboring countries. They have already established supply lines and I don't want to break them." Aoto said. 

Hiruzen was surprised by the answer. He expected Aoto to speak about how they should maintain peace and tranquility and he intervened because he cared about Konoha. But no, this guy was still only interested in the money and how he was trickling money through the Uchiha. 

"Is that all you care about?" Hiruzen asked. 

"Humans die and reborn every single day. One day, I will die to and in a few hundred or thousand years, depending on how famous I was, would be remembered. My works will turn to dust and all the power play which you are playing at the moment will just turn to ashes. I want to live my life here without any burden, so to answer your question I only care about my luxury and free life." Aoto said. 

Hiruzen had heard this view of his last time too but he didn't pay much attention. He thought that Aoto only said this because he was turning too much philosophical. One tended to think that if one person ever reached a sense of peace in their mind. 

But now he thought different. If Aoto never cared about his legacy, why was he trying so hard to keep a legacy.