Tsunade knew all too well that battling three immortal Raikages was a losing game.
No matter how brave the shinobi of Konoha were, no matter how fiercely the Will of Fire burned in their hearts, flesh and blood could not outlast enemies who simply could not die. If this meat grinder of a battle continued, the people of Konoha would be sacrificed for nothing.
Tsunade was a notorious gambler, and she lost constantly. But this was a gamble with the lives of her people, and it was the one bet she absolutely refused to place.
She decisively chose to scatter the embers of the village to ensure the fire would survive.
The young shinobi were devastated by the order to abandon their home. Naruto Uzumaki, predictably, was practically vibrating with outrage, his face flushed red.
"How can we just abandon everyone in the village?!" Naruto roared, slamming his fists together. "Aren't we supposed to protect our home? I'm not running! I'm going to fight those Cloud bastards to the bitter end!"
Tsunade's temper finally snapped. Why must this brat be so agonizingly stubborn?
With the situation critical and no time for a heartwarming lecture, she resorted to physical diplomacy. She grabbed Naruto by his collar and ruthlessly pummeled him until a towering stack of smoking lumps grew on his head.
"Shikamaru," Tsunade panted, dropping the dizzy Uzumaki. "I am officially appointing you as captain of this squad. Your mission is to lead this evacuation to Sunagakure. Am I understood?"
Shikamaru rubbed his temples, his inner slacker screaming in agony. Breaking through a Kumogakure blockade, babysitting a group of emotional teenagers, and dragging them across the desert... What a drag.
But he straightened his posture and nodded firmly. "Understood, Lady Fifth. I'll make sure they arrive safely."
Even half-unconscious, Naruto muttered stubbornly, "I... will live... and die... with the village..."
Shikamaru didn't miss a beat. "Choji, Kiba. Tie him up."
Seriously, this guy is too much work, Shikamaru thought.
Tsunade nodded, her expression softening. "Good. Then go. May the Will of Fire guide you."
"And just where do you think you're going?" a cold, raspy voice echoed across the balcony.
Everyone turned. Emerging from the shadows was the crippled hawk of Konoha, Danzo Shimura, leaning heavily on his cane and flanked by his two Root bodyguards, Fu Yamanaka and Torune Aburame.
Tsunade glared at the scheming old fossil. Even at the brink of annihilation, this snake was slithering around.
"Danzo," Tsunade growled. "What are you doing here instead of commanding your sector? What if the Cloud breaches your defensive line?"
Danzo sneered. "So what if they do? Tsunade, you know in your heart that Konoha will fall sooner or later. All your resistance is futile."
Tsunade took a menacing step forward. "What did you just say?! The shinobi of this village are not afraid of sacrifice! We will fight until our last breath!"
"Sacrifice?" Danzo scoffed, his visible eye sharp with disdain. "And what does this 'sacrifice' achieve? If everyone dies, Konoha ceases to exist. What is the point of a dead village?"
The brutal pragmatism of his words hung heavily in the air. For a moment, Tsunade and the Konoha 11 were rendered entirely speechless.
Danzo shook his head slowly. "The village that Hiruzen and I risked our lives to build cannot be extinguished like this. Tsunade, you are an incompetent Hokage. It is because of your reckless behavior—your foolish alliance and reliance on the Sand Village—that our home is in ruins."
Bound tightly in ninja wire, Naruto squirmed furiously. "What kind of garbage are you spouting?! Granny Tsunade has done everything for us! The village was getting better under her!"
"Getting better?!" Danzo bellowed, slamming his cane against the stone. "Tell me, boy! What is the purpose of a ninja?!"
The teens blinked, taken aback by the philosophical pivot.
Danzo's voice dripped with genuine bitterness. "A ninja is a sword. A sword's sole purpose is to be wielded. A ninja that no one hires, that no one needs, is a rusted blade with zero value! Look at what Suna has done! Mufasa has industrialized the world, bypassed the Daimyos, and monopolized the mission system. The world no longer needs our traditions! If we run to Suna to be his lapdogs, what is the point of calling ourselves Konoha Shinobi?!"
His twisted logic struck a terrifying chord. If a client no longer existed, what was the point of the mercenary? Danzo had weaponized their own existential dread. Tsunade was completely cornered.
Seeing their silence, a triumphant glint flashed in Danzo's eye. Fools. They don't understand the true essence of shinobi. Thank the heavens Konoha has me to save it.
"Tsunade," Danzo declared, "I have already brokered a treaty with the Cloud Village. You will step down immediately, and I will succeed you as Hokage. Once I take the hat, I will restore our traditional borders, and the Cloud will withdraw."
Tsunade's eyes widened in horror. "You sold us out to the enemy?!"
"It is not treason if it saves the village!" Danzo roared back. "And it is not just my will. The Daimyo himself has approved this."
He gestured to his men. A Root ninja hurried forward, placing a Suna-manufactured portable television on the balcony.
The screen flickered to life, revealing the panicked face of the Fire Daimyo. "Tsunade... looking at the current disaster, it is clear your leadership cannot secure the Land of Fire. I strongly advise you to step down and transfer the title of Hokage to Danzo Shimura. We must appease the Cloud to protect our nation."
Danzo smirked. "And the clan heads agree with me."
Right on cue, Elder Koharu stepped onto the balcony, followed by Hiashi Hyuga, Inoichi Yamanaka, and several other prominent clan leaders. Their faces were heavy with guilt, but their stances were firm.
Tsunade looked at her oldest allies, her heart sinking into an icy abyss. "You... you all agree to hand the village to Danzo?"
Koharu sighed. "You did your best, Tsunade. But Danzo is right. Following the Kazekage's path has stripped us of our identity. We must survive on our own terms."
"Step down, Tsunade," Danzo commanded. "If I take over, the Cloud retreats today. No one else has to die. No one has to run away like cowards. The choice is yours."
Tsunade stood paralyzed for a long time, the weight of the Hokage monument pressing down on her shoulders. Finally, her shoulders slumped. She let out a long, defeated exhale.
"Fine. I abdicate."
Danzo's lips curled into a victorious smile. Decades of scheming in the darkness, and finally, the sun shone upon him. He was the Hokage. I'm going to look majestic in the robes. And I'll need to commission the stone carvers immediately for my monument face.
"Excellent," Danzo commanded, his voice ringing with new authority. "Prepare the inauguration ceremony. Fu! Go to the Cloud Vanguard. Tell them the Sixth Hokage demands an immediate ceasefire!"
"Yes, Lord Danzo!" Fu vanished.
With the evacuation canceled, Shikamaru slung the violently wriggling, muffled Naruto over his shoulder, leading the utterly demoralized youth away. They couldn't defy their own clan heads.
Elsewhere, Jiraiya received the news of Tsunade's abdication. He stopped in his tracks, pulling his hat down to cast a shadow over his eyes.
"Kakashi," Jiraiya said quietly. "You take command of our remaining forces."
"Lord Jiraiya, where are you going?" Kakashi asked, his Sharingan narrowing.
"To find a hot spring," Jiraiya muttered, turning away. He couldn't bear to face Tsunade right now. The guilt of failing to protect her dream was too heavy.
High above the clouds, miles away from the village, Mufasa hovered in the sky, suspended by electromagnetic fields.
He listened to the sudden quiet. The relentless explosions at Konoha's gates had stopped.
"Hmm? A ceasefire?" Mufasa rubbed his chin. "Did Tsunade surrender? No, that woman would punch a mountain before yielding. There must have been a political coup."
He had initially flown out to personally vaporize the Cloud's Edo Tensei army and save Konoha. But pausing in the sky, his ruthless, pragmatic mind began to turn.
Konoha is my key ally, yes. But I am not their babysitter. If he descended from the heavens and obliterated the Cloud forces, he would formally declare war against the reincarnated Kage of the entire world. More importantly, barging into another village's civil dispute lacked a solid legal and moral foundation. He would look like an imperialist conqueror, validating Danzo's paranoia.
"The problems of Konoha should be solved by the people of Konoha," Mufasa concluded with a wicked grin.
He clapped his hands together.
From a storage scroll, four mass-produced chunks of white flesh dropped to the ground—bio-engineered material derived from Black Zetsu's cells. Perfect vessels.
Mufasa might have built his reputation on overwhelming, god-like Electromagnetic Release, but Suna's Kazekage was a man of science and endless curiosity. He had casually learned all of Orochimaru's forbidden jutsu just for the hell of it.
"Summoning: Impure World Reincarnation!"
But to summon these specific souls, he needed to unlock the Reaper Death Seal.
The air plummeted in temperature. Behind Mufasa, the towering, spectral form of the Shinigami materialized—a demonic entity with a wild mane of white hair, jagged horns, a burial shroud, and a ritual dagger clamped between its decaying teeth.
Normally, to release the souls trapped in the Reaper's belly, a shinobi had to sacrifice their own life, letting the Shinigami slice their stomach open. The law of equivalent exchange.
The Shinigami raised its spectral claws, reaching for Mufasa's soul.
Mufasa just chuckled. "Sorry, pal. My nickname is the Outlaw."
He reached into his system inventory and pulled out a standard, mass-produced Zanpakuto he'd bought from the system's discount store.
Shing!
In one smooth motion, Mufasa slashed backward.
The Shinigami—an untouchable deity to ordinary ninjas—shrieked in absolute agony as the Soul Reaper blade sliced it clean in half. The god dissolved into spiritual mist.
Mufasa sheathed the cheap sword. "Man, the ten-dollar bin at the system shop really has some bangers."
Freed from the Reaper's belly, four spheres of pure white soul-light drifted down and plunged into the Zetsu vessels. The flesh bubbled, twisted, and molded itself into human shapes. Ashes and dust rushed in from the surroundings, painting the bodies with familiar colors and clothes.
The four figures stood up, dusting themselves off.
The Senju Brothers: Hashirama and Tobirama.
The Professor: Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Yellow Flash: Minato Namikaze.
The Four Hokage of the Hidden Leaf had returned to the mortal realm.
Tobirama was the first to react. His crimson eyes scanned the area before landing on Mufasa. "Someone used my jutsu to pull us from the Pure Land."
Mufasa waved cheerfully. "Yo. That would be me."
Tobirama narrowed his eyes, catching sight of the Suna headband. "A Sand Shinobi? How the hell did you steal my kinjutsu, you desert rat?" He immediately raised his hands to weave signs.
Hashirama panicked, grabbing his brother's collar. "Tobirama, wait! Don't be so hot-headed! Let's just ask the nice young man what's going on! Hahaha!"
"Sensei!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, still wearing his battle armor and looking exactly as old as the day he died, rushed forward, tears in his eyes.
Hashirama and Tobirama blinked at the wrinkled old monkey.
"Uh... who are you, old man?" Tobirama asked bluntly.
Hiruzen froze, a little offended. "Sensei, it's me. Hiruzen Sarutobi."
Tobirama leaned in, squinting. "Hiruzen? Wow, you got old. So you died too, huh?"
Hiruzen nodded solemnly. Yeah, you two literally killed me during Orochimaru's invasion. Have you seriously already forgotten? The First and Second then turned their attention to the fourth man in the group—a handsome young man with spiky blonde hair and a white coat.
"Don't tell me," Tobirama said. "You're a Hokage too?"
Minato smiled politely, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yes, Lord Second. I'm the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze."
Hashirama gasped in shock. "So young! How did a kid like you die in office?!"
"I died using the Reaper Death Seal to stop the Nine-Tails," Minato explained humbly.
Hashirama scratched his head, looking utterly bewildered. "Wait... the Nine-Tails? That overgrown fox can actually kill people?"
Minato sweatdropped. (-_ - |||)
"Alright, gentlemen, reunions are lovely, but we are on a schedule," Mufasa clapped his hands, drawing the attention of the four undead legends.
"Who are you, kid?" Tobirama demanded.
Mufasa bowed with a theatrical flourish. "Greetings, esteemed predecessors. I am Mufasa, the Fifth Kazekage of Sunagakure. It is an absolute honor."
Before Tobirama could complain about a Kage from another village summoning them, Mufasa dropped his smirk, his eyes turning deadly serious.
"I pulled you all out of retirement today because your village is currently being invaded... and your newly appointed Sixth Hokage, Danzo Shimura, just surrendered Konoha to the enemy."
The four Hokage froze.
"WHAT?!"
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Word count: 2131
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