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Hiruzen didn't move immediately. He remained seated behind his desk, his eyes fixed on the door that Rob had closed moments ago, as if the room still held his shadow.
The room was silent… uncomfortably silent, not the kind that comes from peace, but from the void left by an irreversible decision.
Hiruzen slowly reached for his pipe but didn't light it.
He wasn't in the mood.
My current homeland is the Art Store.
The sentence echoed in his mind over and over again, like a hammer striking a stone. Rob's voice said it was still stuck there.
"He has chosen his new homeland," Hiruzen breathed deeply.
How many times had he heard similar words in his life?
How many times had he sat in this chair, listening to shinobi claim they no longer wished to remain shinobi?
But this time was different.
Since he had become Hokage, no number of shinobi had lightly wounded their headbands.
This time… the rogue shinobi was neither weak nor desperate.
He was someone who chose to cut the thread himself.
Hiruzen lowered his gaze to the desktop, where the marks from the imaginary kunai still lingered in his mind.
He hadn't seen blood… but he felt it.
"A young man cutting his headband himself…"
"No, not a young man."
He corrected himself. "A man."
A man who had made a decision that one takes only once in a lifetime.
He closed his eyes.
Memories flowed without permission.
'Danzo…' the shadow who had always walked behind him, claiming to act in the "interest of the village."
How many times had he closed his eyes, ignoring his actions?
How many times had he told himself: 'Not now.'
"I'll deal with him later."
"The situation cannot bear internal conflict."
He slowly opened his eyes, deciding. Apparently, he was still incapable of hating Danzo.
"And now?"
Now, a shinobi of Konoha… had cut his headband in front of representatives from three great villages.
Not out of betrayal, but out of refusal.
Refusal to stay silent, refusal to be a tool.
Refusal to live in a village that protects snakes, 'as he said,' and asks others to smile.
Hiruzen clenched his fist unconsciously, "I allowed this to happen."
It wasn't Rob's fault. Nor the Art Store's. Nor the manga.
The fault… was the accumulation.
Years of small concessions had become a heavy mountain that could not be ignored.
Hiruzen slowly rose from his seat and moved toward the window.
Konoha was quiet outside.
Children ran and played.
The markets operated.
The village breathed, even after the last war.
"How many of them will grow up to hate this place?"
"How many more 'Rubiro' will appear?" Hiruzen wondered.
It wasn't a question of whether Rubiro was right or wrong.
The real question was simpler… and harsher:
"Am I still the right man for this seat?"
He placed his hand on the hat he always wore with notable pride.
The Hokage's hat.
Hiruzen now realized, in his late forties, that its weight wasn't in the material.
It was in the decisions that were never made on time.
"Sigh~" He remembered Rob's last look.
It was neither resentful nor malicious.
"It was… calm," he said, nervously.
And that was what scared him.
"An angry person can be contained. But a calm person after making a decision… he is the most dangerous." He thought with fear.
"Danzo…"
He said the name quietly, as if testing its taste.
"We have passed the point of repair."
It was no longer about punishing Rob.
Nor appeasing the other villages.
Nor even preserving Konoha's image.
It was about the question he had long avoided:
"Will I protect the village… or will I protect myself if I am forced to face him one day?"
He returned to his desk and sat slowly.
This time… he lit his pipe.
Smoke rose slowly in the room, but it didn't give him the usual comfort. It only confirmed one thing:
The storm had not yet begun.
And the shinobi who had left moments ago… was no longer a shinobi of Konoha.
He was a rogue shinobi. More than that, a mirror reflecting everything Hiruzen had tried to ignore for years.
…
Elsewhere, underground, Danzo didn't show any anger as the Root member bowed before him.
No emotion appeared on his face after hearing the shocking news.
"So he cut his headband himself," he said calmly.
The bowing Root member nodded.
"Yes, and in front of representatives from the three villages, Danzo-sama."
A short silence followed.
At that moment, Danzo smiled lightly, barely visible.
"Fool. He is completely outside the system now… Does he think he can get away with it?"
"In this way, he is no longer under anyone's protection."
"Go… inform Hiruzen. It's time to destroy the Art Store." Danzo said coldly.
"Understood."
The Root shinobi vanished into the smoke.
'Now it doesn't matter if you have multiple copies, I'll play your game, my way.'
Danzo thought before turning to leave.
'I can also play in the light whenever I wish,' he thought with a smile.
…
The next day, what the villagers had been waiting for impatiently all month finally happened!
A bright green light spread from the Art Store, visible to everyone.
At that moment, everyone realized that the new Naruto volume was on the shelves!
Many abandoned what they were holding and rushed to the Art Store.
But when they arrived, they were surprised to find numerous shinobi blocking the way.
"The path is forbidden."
"Entry to this store is blocked by order of the village leaders."
"Return to your duties."
A Konoha shinobi said coldly, leaving the villagers in disbelief.
"What did you say!?"
"Why this!?"
"What do you mean entry is forbidden, for heaven's sake!?"
"You must be joking!?"
…
Rob stood before the Art Store's doors, calmly watching the scene unfold. He had expected this.
His precious customers in Konoha were being prevented from entering the store, and he had set multiple barriers around the Art Store within a 50-meter radius.
"Rubiro-sama! Why are they preventing us from entering!? Do something!"
"Rubiro-sama!!"
"I've done nothing all month but wait for this day!"
"Author-san!"
The voices of eager Naruto manga fans rang out from the crowd.
Rob heard them clearly.
"What happened?" Tsunade asked, confused, pushing aside the Konoha shinobi to enter.
"Princess… It's forbidden—" One of the shinobi tried to stop her, but was punched and sent flying, with the sound of breaking bones echoing.
The shinobi swallowed nervously and stepped back from the princess.
"Why all the commotion?" Tsunade asked Rob, who was folding his hands and calmly watching the scene.
"You're asking the wrong person," Rob replied.
"It seems the leaders no longer want the Art Store in Konoha."
"Huh!? I'll speak to the professor."
Tsunade tried to go to the Third Hokage's office, but Rob stopped her.
"No need for that," Rob smiled, then snapped his fingers. At that moment, something shocking occurred.
Within a 100-meter radius of the Art Store, everyone disappeared—both the Konoha shinobi blocking the readers and the readers themselves who had been prevented from entering.
Everyone appeared inside the Art Store in the blink of an eye.
"Now you can all enjoy Volume Three," Rob said calmly, smiling.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 83: System Level 4! First Chapter of Volume 3!
Chapter 84: You Can't Just Pretend—Enjoy Reading My Manga.
Chapter 85: Haku
Chapter 86: Iwagakure Reacts to the Events of the Manga — A Moving Story.
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BlackStar_BH:
The chapters currently available on Patreon are up to Chapter 110.
There are 29 advanced chapters available now:
5 chapters in the Silver tier ($5 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Gold tier ($10 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Platinum tier ($15 subscription), 5 more chapters in the Diamond tier ($20 subscription), and 8 more chapters in the Emperor tier ($30 subscription)
On Patreon and Ko-fi, too.
In the coming days, chapters will be made available for all tiers, reaching up to 50 advanced chapters… Enjoy!