Three days had passed since the attack. The dust had settled, both literally and metaphorically, but the psychological scars remained fresh.
Sasuke Uchiha had been discharged from the hospital and now sat on a solitary bench, his dark eyes staring vacantly at the clouds drifting past Konoha's sky. The crushing weight of his inadequacy pressed down on him.
Is he really that strong? The memory of Uchiha Itachi's effortless dominance was a brand seared into his mind. The gap between them wasn't just wide; it was a chasm, vast and seemingly impossible to cross. His feeling was tragically accurate; before awakening his own Mangekyō, Uchiha Itachi would remain an insurmountable mountain, a demigod whose power defied his comprehension.
Then, a spark ignited in the darkness of his thoughts. Wait… Raimon-san! He sent Itachi flying with a single attack!
He straightened up abruptly, the despondency in his eyes burning away, replaced by a fierce, new determination. If he couldn't climb this mountain yet, he would find a taller one to stand upon and look down on it from there! He could feel it—his Sharingan was slowly growing stronger, its tomoe spinning with a newfound hunger.
"Sasuke-kun!"
The high-pitched, saccharine voice shattered his concentration. At the street corner, Sakura Haruno appeared, her pink hair perfectly styled and a fresh coat of lipstick on her lips. She was carrying a carefully prepared bento box.
"I thought I told you to rest a few more days!" she chirped, shoving the lunchbox into his hands.
Such an annoying woman, Sasuke thought, his brow furrowing in irritation. Women were nothing but a distraction, a hindrance on the path to power, and this one was as persistent as a bad cold.
Their sensei, Kakashi, was still hospitalized with severe mental trauma, and yet here she was, fawning over him instead of visiting their incapacitated leader. A total love-struck fool. The mere thought of having a girlfriend like her was enough to make him want to commit seppuku.
"What do you want?" Sasuke asked, his voice dripping with cold disdain.
His tone made Sakura's eyes instantly well up with tears. She felt utterly wronged.
『Cheer up, Sakura-chan! Don't you dare give up! Even the coldest steel can be warmed by a persistent flame!』 A loud, boisterous inner voice—the real her—yelled encouragement at the crying, timid personality huddled in a corner of her mind.
Bolstered by her own internal pep-talk, Sakura wiped her eyes and put on a brave face. She needed a new strategy to get through to him.
"Sasuke-kun, you haven't eaten properly in days! How are you going to get strong enough to defeat… that man… if you don't keep your strength up?"
It was the right button to press. The moment the words "that man" left her lips, Sasuke's demeanor shifted. He snatched the bento box and began shoveling the food into his mouth with a frantic, desperate energy.
"You're right," he muttered between bites. "I need a strong body to defeat him! If one year isn't enough, then I'll take three! If three years aren't enough, then thirty! Thirty years east of the sea, thirty years west! I will surpass him!"
… Um… Wrong verse!!!
But it's funny though.
His eyes blazed with a terrifying, almost feral fighting spirit. The moment he finished the last grain of rice, he tossed the empty box back to Sakura. "Don't get in my way."
With that, he was gone in a blur of motion, dashing off to his apartment to change into his training gear. The path of vengeance waited for no one.
****
Far from Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Waterfall (Takigakure) was a hive of frantic construction. The sounds of hammers and saws filled the air as the village was being systematically torn down and rebuilt, its layout meticulously copied from the blueprints of Konoha.
In the newly completed Hokage Office Building—a perfect replica of the one he had coveted for decades—Shimura Danzo sat behind a solid, polished oak desk, stroking its surface with his single remaining hand.
On the wall behind him hung a grandiose bust of his own likeness, and outside, on the face of the mountain, workers were already beginning the arduous task of carving his visage into the stone. Everything was unfolding exactly as he had envisioned.
Danzo closed his eye, savoring the sweet taste of ultimate authority, when a figure silently appeared in the office with a soft shunshin.
"Lord Danz—"
"Hnnngh?!" Danzo's eye snapped open, a venomous glare directed at the intruder, Shimura Kiba.
Realizing his grave error, Kiba immediately corrected himself, bowing deeply. "My apologies! Hokage-sama! There is intelligence from… the other Konoha."
The title "Hokage-sama" was a balm to Danzo's soul. His expression softened marginally.
"Report."
"Hokage-sama, Konoha has issued a formal announcement. They have officially classified you as a rogue-nin… and they've… placed a bounty on your head."
"A bounty?" Danzo's eye twitched. He took the scroll from Kiba's trembling hands and unrolled it. His face, which had been smug, contorted into a mask of pure rage.
"One hundred thousand ryo?! Is that all this old man is worth?!" he roared. He was a former elder, a contemporary of the Second Hokage! This paltry sum was a slap in the face, an utter insult!
"Hmph! Hiruzen Sarutobi, look at the fool you chose as your successor! Does she know no other way to fight than with these petty humiliations?!"
He hurled the intelligence scroll back at Kiba, striking him squarely in the chest.
"Konoha is rotten to its core! This old man is merely leading the true Root of Konoha to find fertile new soil! When the time is right, we will sprout anew, growing stronger wood and greener leaves than ever before!"
He looked out his window at his 'New Konoha' rising from the ashes of Takigakure.
"Spread this message: Hiruzen Sarutobi was forcibly ousted by the usurper, Senju Tsunade. I, Shimura Danzo, endured humiliation and hardship to escape the clutches of these villains and will rebuild the true Konoha here!"
He had a few… mature Wood Release experiments tucked away. Once he unveiled that power, who would dare call him a fake?
"And issue a counter-warrant! Declare that the old Konoha is the one harboring rogue-nin! Place a bounty on Hiruzen Sarutobi and Tsunade… make it one hundred million ryo each!"
Kiba looked at Danzo with a pained expression. "Hokage-sama… our treasury… it's empty."
"Empty? What about the funds from our contacts in the Land of Waves?" Danzo frowned. He had secretly profited from that mission for years.
"Hokage-sama, the cost of rebuilding the entire village is… astronomical," Kiba explained, feeling the weight of every problem landing on his shoulders.
"I see," Danzo closed his eye, thinking. "Fine! Lower the bounty then! Damn it… make it five thousand ryo!"
It was a purely symbolic gesture, meant only to annoy them. He didn't actually expect anyone to hunt a Hokage for such a meager sum.
After a moment, Danzo spoke again, a sinister plot forming in his mind. "Bypass Konoha. Send a discreet message to the other Four Great Shinobi Nations. Inform them that Konoha is harboring… Namikaze Raimon."
A cruel smile stretched across his lips. "This old man will convene a Five Kage Summit with the other four villages."
As a former Konoha elder, he knew the classified history. The hatred the Four Great Nations held for Namikaze Raimon was deeper than the ocean. This news would be a lit fuse on a powder keg.
"Namikaze Raimon, let's see you survive this! And Konoha… I'll deal with you in one fell swoop!" Danzo's face was a mask of twisted triumph. "The rotten tree must be cut down, so that the Root may grow anew!"
***
Back in the real Hokage's office in Konoha, the counter-intelligence scroll arrived. Tsunade read its contents, and her face turned a dangerous shade of crimson.
"OUTRAGEOUS! THAT TWO-FACED SNAKE DANZO DARES TO CALL HIMSELF THE FIRST HOKAGE?!" she bellowed, her chakra flaring. With a deafening CRASH, she brought her fist down, utterly obliterating the Hokage's desk into splinters.
"If he's the Shodaime, then what does that make my great-grandfather?!"
Jiraiya, sensing the imminent cataclysm, had already performed a tactical retreat out the door, Shizune hot on his heels.
"Women are truly terrifying when they're angry…" Jiraiya muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.
Shizune, clutching a folder to her chest, nodded in fervent agreement, seemingly forgetting she was a woman herself.
"That old fossil Danzo! A five-thousand-ryo bounty?! Who does he think he's insulting?!" Tsunade's gaze then landed on Namikaze Raimon, who was trying to quietly slip out the window. Her voice instantly shifted into a sickly-sweet, honeyed tone that was far more frightening than her rage. "Rai-Rai~ look, that mean old man Danzo is bullying me~"
The sound was so jarring it nearly sent Raimon's Edo Tensei soul straight back to the Pure Land.
"Cough! Cough! I was just thinking the same thing! I'll handle it!" he sputtered, quickly agreeing.
He had been wanting to leave the village for a while, but was worried Tsunade would insist on coming. Now he had the perfect excuse. As Hokage, she couldn't just gallivant off, not when she had already dumped all her work on Jiraiya, Shizune, and the long-suffering Nara duo, Shikaku and Shikamaru.
Dashing out of the ruined office, Namikaze Raimon found Naruto and gave him instructions. "Go find Sasuke and Sakura. Tell them to pack their gear and meet at the main gate in one hour! We're going on a mission!"
Kakashi, of course, was in no state to lead. The psychic damage from Tsukuyomi would keep him bedridden for weeks.
I just hope he doesn't end up a drooling vegetable, Raimon thought, not without a hint of schadenfreude.
By noon, Naruto and Sasuke were already at the gate, the latter looking impatient. Sakura Haruno arrived last, struggling under the weight of a massive, overstuffed backpack.
"Why aren't you two carrying anything?" she panted, looking bewildered at their travel-light approach.
Raimon ignored her complaint.
Carrying that will be good training for her, he figured.
"Alright, now that everyone's here," he announced, a mischievous glint in his eye. "Let's move out!"