The Shopkeeper of Konoha

Maybe Danzo had sent this arrogant fool so that he could go after Aoto later and was actually expecting him to die. Sadly Aoto didn't want blood spilled in the doorway, especially when they were having their peaceful dinner. 

Naruto was numb to it because over time he did get to know that there were always some bad people around after his kidnapping. Though the Academy believed in the Will of Fire and so did Naruto but overtime he accepted the process that the fire that burns the will can also give out fumes which can be toxic. 

As Aoto had put it. 

"The fire can burn in many kinds of flames starting from orange, red, black, blue and all different colors." Aoto had said.

"Whoa... There are black flames?" 

"Yes, and one day you will see it at play. And a piece of advice Naruto, never touch the black flames. Not even with magic. Of course, if you unlock the celestial magic then you do what you see fit. Speaking of blue flames. Corazon we need to find the natural gas reserves....." Aoto was too distracted about the gas reserves to speak more about the Will of Fire or the black flames but those words had stayed with Naruto and it had an impact on him as he started to see the world without the tinted glass but still maintained his innocence. 

Anyways, coming to the point. The Anbu man slowly found his breath and calmed himself. A part of him wanted to rage at these fools who had continued to eat. But he knew that he couldn't negotiate this way and in no way Aoto was going to leave. 

He couldn't find the words and was just silently on his knees. Aoto felt a bit bad for him and thus said. 

"Tell that one eyed asshole that if he wants to talk he can come to me and talk like a man. But don't dish out orders like he is the Hokage. He is alive because I let him be. Not because I am trying to maintain some kind of status quo in the village." 

This made him speechless but he didn't speak any more words and just vanished from his spot. Arya, who was busy chomping down some noodles, said. 

"I wish I can be as fast as them." Aoto said.

"There are some Eldtrich magic that can help in speed." Edward said. 

"I can help you in refitting some clothing and boots that won't make you feel dizzy." Winry added. Arya's eyes shone as she then started to speak with Edward and Winry and try to figure out to maker herself faster. 

"Who was the man?" Naruto wanted to know as the drama had just happened in front of his eyes. 

"From the Anbu Roots. You will get to know about them later." Aoto said and didn't want to speak more about him. Naruto had already been exposed to too much of Danzo and his people. Knowing too much at his age was bad. 

As expected there was no response from Danzo, but another person did show up instead of Danzo. It was the day later when Hiruzen showed up. He seemed to be pretty high as he stepped inside his office pretty late at night after the shops were closed. 

"Ah Hokage-sama.. Had fun with her?" Aoto directly asked as it was almost known that Hiruzen was kind of dating Winry's grandma. They would sit and hang around quite a lot, talked about life and the general views of things around. 

Maybe that was one of the reasons why Hiruzen had a change of heart over the years. A lonely person could go down a very dark path of self sabotage and maybe Grandma had helped him get out of his bubble and express himself. 

"You make it sound like I am committing some sort of crime." Hiruzen clapped back.

"Of course not, I am just waiting for you to make it official." Aoto teased to which Hiruzen just rolled his quite red eyes. "You want me to get you something to make your high feeling go away?" 

"You better not think of doing something like this. Your weed gave me relief today for all the pain I have suffered today." Hiruzen said, and Aoto just put up his arms in surrender. 

But Aoto did bring out some tea for him to calm down as he was sure Hiruzen must have stumbled here for a specific purpose. After a good thirty minutes drinking session and calming himself down, Hiruzen said very seriously. 

"Danzo is now officially banned from Konoha'a administration. And the other advisors are sent away to the daimyo as an advisor to daimyo while a group of Anbu ops who are loyal to me will keep an eye on them always." 

This really surprised Aoto as he didn't expect for the Hokage to stick to his words the last time they spoke and carried out in action. 

"Doing this will break the clan." Aoto said. 

"I have used the same strategy you used. I humiliated them in open about the back deals with Danzo and how they kidnapped Naruto for their own power." Hiruzen said with a proud smirk. 

"So you stooped to their level." Aoto said. 

"For the better of Konoha, I am ready to be the villain." 

"You either die a hero, or Live long enough to see yourself turn to a villain." Aoto said those classic lines and this made Hiruzen shudder a bit. He knew what Aoto meant and was old enough to understand why Aoto was saying that. 

He was old enough that he was slowly turning to a villain. But there was nothing he could do. 

"When push comes to shove I hope you will look after my family." Hiruzen said as he got up at the end to leave. 

"You are thinking too much Hokage-sama, go and sleep." Aoto replied.