Inside the Hokage Building office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair with his eyes lowered in silence, a pipe clenched between his teeth as smoke drifted in slow breaths. The air felt heavy, like a sealed jar under pressure, making one want to break the walls or pry the lid open just to escape.
"Cough, cough!"
Only when Koharu Utatane could not hold it in and coughed did the suffocating stillness finally break.
"Hiruzen, about this matter…"
Homura Mitokado let out a quiet breath of relief, glanced at the stubborn Danzo who refused to lower his head, and then looked back at Hiruzen Sarutobi as he tried to persuade him. "This time, Danzo really did go a bit too far…"
"Conducting Wood Release experiments in secret, hiding the results, and even concealing Wood Release shinobi. Is that still not too far?"
Before Homura Mitokado could continue defending him, Hiruzen Sarutobi cut in with a blank expression. "That is Wood Release. Do not tell me you do not understand what that means."
At those words, Homura Mitokado's aged face flushed slightly as he looked helplessly toward Danzo Shimura. Yes, that was a Wood Release shinobi, something no one would have expected Danzo to dare hide.
If not for the investigation into Orochimaru's defection, they still would not know that Wood Release had appeared again. Danzo's current grip over Root even made Homura Mitokado uneasy.
"Root is Konoha's Root, it is the Root of ANBU, and it is also my Root. Yet now it dares to hide such critical intelligence from me as the Hokage. Does that mean…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi paused, narrowing his eyes at Danzo as he questioned him. "That it has become an independent organization serving certain people's private interests?"
Hearing this, Danzo, who had remained expressionless, spoke in a low voice. "Everything I do is for Konoha."
Listening to the firm reply of his old companion, Hiruzen Sarutobi silently exhaled smoke. His face was obscured by the white haze, unreadable from Danzo's angle.
"Hiruzen…"
Even Koharu Utatane, who had stayed silent, could not help speaking up.
"That is enough." Hearing them about to plead again, Hiruzen Sarutobi waved his hand in irritation, signaling them to stop.
After his teacher Tobirama Senju died due to a plot from Kumogakure, he had taken over the position of Hokage in a time of crisis. Yet the role was nothing like the dream he once had, as war and clan pressure shattered his illusions the moment he stepped into office.
In the beginning, neither the Hyuga Clan nor the Uchiha Clan truly respected his authority, obeying orders but ignoring decrees. Fortunately, when competing for power he held the moral high ground, and aside from the Sarutobi Clan, he also had the support of Ino-Shika-Cho.
Thus, he adopted a strategy of suppressing some while winning over others. With Danzo and others assisting him, he used certain methods to set the Uchiha and Hyuga, the two great clans, against each other.
Only then did he finally stabilize his position as Hokage, grasp the authority that belonged to it, and place his confidants into key posts. In Tobirama Senju's era, Root had merely been a training arm of ANBU.
It was only after he handed Root to Danzo, to handle matters that could not be done in the name of ANBU such as monitoring clans, that it gradually became an intelligence organization. In essence, the Root under Danzo was equivalent to an ANBU squad, and by regulation he should have commanded only four teams, seventeen people in total.
However, with Hiruzen Sarutobi's deliberate or unconscious tolerance, Root kept expanding. Under Danzo's influence, its methods grew darker and darker, until today.
If Root were allowed to continue like this, it would eventually become impossible to control and turn into Danzo's personal armed force. Therefore, it had to be restrained.
"The matter of the Wood Release shinobi 'Tenzo' will not be discussed further. I have already transferred him into ANBU. There is something else."
Ignoring Danzo's resentful expression, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at the three before him with deep eyes. "Reports from the border say that Kumogakure seems to be moving troops, possibly preparing some new provocation. What are your thoughts?"
As soon as he said this, Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado frowned at the same time.
"Again? Disgusting."
Homura Mitokado furrowed his brows and spoke seriously. "No matter what, we cannot act rashly."
"En is right," Koharu Utatane nodded. "No matter what they intend, we only need to stay alert. We must not give them any excuse to start a war."
Hiruzen Sarutobi neither agreed nor disagreed. He tapped his pipe lightly and looked at Danzo. "What do you think?"
Danzo's shadowed eyes narrowed slightly, and after a moment of silence he answered bluntly in a hoarse voice. "We hit them hard."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing. With the pipe still in his mouth, he took a deep draw, held it in his lungs, and then slowly exhaled.
Although the Third Shinobi World War had ended, the shinobi world was far from stable. The main reason was the severe lack of top-tier combat power in Konoha.
First came the suicide of the White Fang of Konoha, who had risen to fame during the Second Shinobi World War. Then the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, Kushina Uzumaki, died in the Nine-Tails incident.
The forces depleted during the Third Shinobi World War had yet to recover, and many more shinobi perished in the chaos caused by the masked man. No matter how large and deep-rooted Konoha was, it could not bear such losses indefinitely.
Anyone could see the awkward gap in generations within Konoha. Though Kumogakure and Iwagakure had been struck hard before, they could not help but feel tempted when faced with such an opportunity.
As a result, both kept probing the borders of the Land of Fire. Almost every few months, border clashes erupted due to provocations from Cloud and Stone, with the number of wounded steadily increasing.
There was no helping it. Konoha's consistently restrained stance made it look easy to bully, greatly feeding the arrogance of Kumogakure and Iwagakure.
Fortunately, not much time had passed since the end of the Third Shinobi World War, and war weariness among the citizens of the Land of Lightning and the Land of Earth was still strong. Kumogakure and Iwagakure did not dare to openly declare war on Konoha without cause.
Still, all it would take to escalate things into full war was a single legitimate excuse. One excuse capable of stirring the war sentiments of daimyos, nobles, and civilians alike.
That was why Hiruzen Sarutobi kept choosing patience in the face of repeated provocations. He truly did not dare to gamble, and Konoha could no longer afford to gamble either.
"Huff."
With that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi exhaled smoke and lowered his gaze to the intelligence submitted by ANBU. His aging face was hidden in the haze, unreadable even in the sunlight streaming through the window.
"Iwagakure, Kumogakure…" After a moment, he sighed. "Endure for now. Assemble a group of shinobi and send them to the border to guard against the Cloud."
Danzo frowned and retorted instinctively. "Doing this will only make those bastards even more arrogant."
Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at him and replied calmly. "In that case, draw a group from 'my' Root to reinforce the border."
"What?" Danzo froze.
Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, his tone meaningful. "Is there a problem?"
Any further objection would mean losing his position as head of Root. Realizing this, Danzo's expression darkened and shifted. He snorted, turned away, and spoke with resentment. "Hmph, what problem could I have? After all, that is your 'Root'!"
He walked toward the door, then suddenly stopped and spoke unwillingly. "Sarutobi, remember today's choice. You will regret it."
"Watch your attitude, Danzo," Hiruzen Sarutobi said in a low voice as he tapped his pipe. "Remember, I am the Hokage."
Danzo's face twitched at those words. "Then be your Hokage properly!" he growled, grabbing the handle.
Bang.
The door slammed shut with a loud crash, making Koharu Utatane flinch. Seeing this, Homura Mitokado sighed inwardly, feeling that Danzo was still firmly in Hiruzen's grasp.
Hopefully, after this lesson, Danzo would behave himself a little more.
"By the way, Hiruzen."
As if recalling something, Homura Mitokado frowned and lowered his voice. "With the village already short on strength, is it really fine to let Jiraiya remain outside?"
Hearing this and thinking of Jiraiya leaving the village under the pretext of pursuing Orochimaru, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed inwardly and replied evenly. "When it is time for him to return, he will."
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane exchanged a look, saw that Hiruzen Sarutobi did not wish to elaborate, and could only stand up and leave with helpless shakes of their heads.
Click.
Staring at the closed door, Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time. The room held only the sound of his breathing.
After a while, he rose stiffly and walked to the window. His clouded eyes were hard to see clearly through the smoke rising from his pipe.
After the rain, Konoha always looked clean. Droplets hung from the eaves, and scattered reflections shimmered on leaves, street lamps, and tiled walls, all mirroring the village's prosperity.
Looking at the scene outside, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of many things. He thought of the hard-won peace of Konoha, the troubles hidden beneath it, Orochimaru and Jiraiya who had left the village, Tsunade numbing herself at gambling tables, the orphan left behind by Minato and Kushina, and the hopeful gaze of that child from the Hyuga Clan.
"Hiss…"
Hiruzen Sarutobi drew a deep breath, the bitter smoke filling his lungs before he slowly exhaled. The pipe flared faintly, pressing all those feelings deep into his heart.
"It is fine." After a moment, he murmured in a hoarse voice, as if speaking to himself. "No matter the sacrifice, we must protect everything Konoha has gained."
At the same time, at Training Ground 44 on the edge of Konoha, deep within the Forest of Death, sunlight filtered through the leaves and scattered golden flecks across two figures' shoulders.
"Senior, power rises from the ground, force flows through the spine, balance hard and soft…"
"Yah!"
Both wooden posts before Ryuji and Might Guy had shattered, but the former's was clearly blown apart from the inside. The latter looked as though it had been brutally smashed by sheer punches.
Looking at Might Guy's almost completely unrefined, brute-force style, Ryuji could barely maintain his smile after teaching all morning. Even so, Might Guy, who could usually run around Konoha all day without tiring, was drenched in sweat and panting as he scratched his head with a wry grin.
"Ryuji, this improved version of Gentle Fist is really hard to learn."
"You have trained Strong Fist for over ten years," Ryuji shook his head. "Adjusting your body's instincts will take some effort. Let us stop here for today."
During the second round of the chunin exams, the Neji versus Hinata match had sparked discussion among Might Guy and Rock Lee about taijutsu classification. Techniques focused on direct damage like breaking bones were called Strong Fist, while the Hyuga's style that attacked the chakra network and organs was Gentle Fist. Those combining ninjutsu and taijutsu, like Tsunade or the Fourth Raikage, were called nin-taijutsu.
What Ryuji was attempting now was to combine the strengths of Strong Fist and Gentle Fist. In the future, on the foundation of the Eight Gates, he aimed to develop a taijutsu system best suited to himself.
"All right, then…"
Might Guy had barely begun speaking when Ryuji suddenly felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. A deep chill surged up without warning.
It was abrupt and terrifying. Ryuji's muscles tightened as veins bulged around his Byakugan.
Hiss.
Sure enough, almost the instant he reacted, a faint sound of air being split reached his ears. This was an assassination attempt, aimed at him, carrying lethal intent.
At this distance and speed, there was no time to search for the source and dodge. Realizing this, Ryuji's dark gaze suddenly calmed, and he closed his eyes under the drive of instinct.
In the next moment, an invisible ripple spread from his body, as if he had stepped into another world. All physical senses shut down, leaving only mental perception.
There was no wind, no insects, no breath, no heartbeat. The world was silent, as if time itself had stopped.
And so, he saw it. He saw the kunai behind him, wrapped in razor-sharp currents of air.
Wind Release, Vacuum Blade, a technique that infused wind nature Chakra into a weapon, turning it into something impossibly sharp and fast. The assassin had mastered it to the extreme, so fast that even Might Guy had not reacted.
Yet to Ryuji's intuition, the kunai that should have been impossible to see seemed to drag a line with no end, sliding toward him in slow motion. He did not turn around, instead raising his hand and spreading his fingers like a crane's wing, the calluses on his knuckles faintly yellow in the sunlight.
He caught the kunai by the handle. The wind blade cut into his palm, yet it was as if it struck an invisible wall, stopping abruptly in midair.
Ryuji opened his eyes, calm as snow. Reflected in his pupils were Might Guy's tense face and the forest depths broken by falling leaves.
Whoever comes and gives without receiving in return is no gentleman. "Then I will give it back to you."
He turned and flung the kunai, his movement as swift as leaves scattered by the wind. As his clothes whipped around, his lean waist showed, his spine rising and falling like a drawn bow as he unleashed all his strength.
The kunai left his hand. A piercing hum tore through the air, exploding beside Might Guy's ears.
In an instant, drifting leaves were shredded by the force, and the yellowed litter on the ground was swept up into spirals. Almost at the same time, a distant sound of a blade piercing flesh rang out.
Thud.