[My home is like a great tree with deep roots and lush leaves.]
[Grandpa Third is the trunk.]
[Sometimes mediating the internal, sometimes providing nutrients.]
[Father is the branches and leaves.]
[Sometimes protecting against the cold, sometimes shielding from the wind and rain.]
[Although they are old and their strength is failing, although they are riddled with holes from insects, they still sink their roots deep into the earth, supporting and sheltering the entire family and its fruits.]
[And we are the fruits.]
[The family rejoices at our birth. We suckle on delicious nutrients, and someone always shields us from the storm.]
[But we forget who provides us with nutrients, who shelters us from the wind and rain.]
[I was too high up.]
[Perhaps, when I fall, when I am eaten, when I am thrown to the ground...]
[As a seed taking root and sprouting... only then will I understand.]
Sarutobi Hiruzen was tired of the endless flattery from adults. He was tired of the blind, ignorant adoration of children.
But this essay...
It contained no flowery language. It was simple, childish, yet it perfectly encapsulated the "Will of Fire." It even subtly touched upon the friction between the clans and the village, resolving it with a perspective that was sincere and beautiful.
Especially those last three sentences. In an instant, they pierced straight through Hiruzen's armor, warming his weary heart.
Yes.
The ninja clans only taught their children to protect clan interests. They never taught them to see themselves as part of Konoha first. Those clan children only saw the "branches and leaves" that sheltered them; they never saw the trunk—him—supporting the entire tree and all its fruit.
Without a doubt, this was a good child. A child who had transcended the limitations of his clan, who looked at the village as a whole, and who had inherited the purest Will of Fire!
If anyone dared to tell Sarutobi Hiruzen that Hyūga Kumokawa was a bad seed, Hiruzen would summon Enma and beat that person's brains out on the spot.
But such a good child... was now...
Watching the boy slump onto the cold operating table, the complex mix of nostalgia and regret Hiruzen felt for Orochimaru evaporated.
Veins bulged on the Hokage's aged face.
"Orochimaru!"
He stared at his student with absolute fury. "What are you doing?!"
"What have you done?!"
Seeing Hiruzen truly enraged, Orochimaru's heart skipped a beat.
He hadn't expected this level of anger. Based on his understanding of his teacher—whose character had grown increasingly indecisive with age—Orochimaru had calculated that even if the experiments were exposed, Hiruzen wouldn't have the heart to kill him. The odds of escaping were high.
But now... why?
Before Orochimaru could connect the dots to Kumokawa, the enraged Hiruzen was already weaving signs.
Boar – Dog – Bird – Monkey – Ram!
"Summoning Jutsu!"
POOF!
White smoke exploded. From it emerged a muscular monkey wearing a tiger-skin coat and a Konoha forehead protector.
"Hiruzen, are you in trouble?"
Monkey King Enma spoke instinctively upon arrival. But as he looked up, he saw Orochimaru. "This..."
"Enma!"
Hiruzen roared, cutting off Enma's question.
POOF!
Enma instantly transformed, becoming a staff as thick as a pillar—the Adamantine Staff.
He's using Enma right from the start?!
Orochimaru's face turned ugly. He didn't have time to wonder why the old man was so furious today, or why his white snakes hadn't warned him of the intrusion.
If he hesitated, he would die here!
"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough!"
WHOOSH!!
A gale laced with razor-sharp wind blades erupted from Orochimaru's mouth. The shrieking air pressure sent ripples through the atmosphere.
Glass jars shattered instantly. Shards and fluid were weaponized by the wind, blasting toward Hiruzen and the Anbu, obscuring their vision.
Even now, Orochimaru intended to grab Kumokawa before fleeing.
But Hiruzen didn't even blink. The staff in his hand extended with explosive speed, smashing toward Orochimaru like a battering ram.
"Gah!"
Orochimaru, already drained of chakra from the surgery, was knocked out of the air as he reached for the boy. He vomited a mouthful of blood mixed with fragments of internal organs.
"Damn it! Damn it!!"
Orochimaru glared hatefully at the grim-faced Hiruzen below. Seeing the Hokage instantly Body Flicker to Kumokawa's side, he knew he couldn't take the boy.
Realizing this, Orochimaru forced himself to be cold.
"Earth Style: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"
Using the momentum of the blow, Orochimaru formed seals mid-air. His feet hit the ceiling, turning the solid rock into fluid. His body sank into the earth like a fish diving into water.
"Lord Third!"
The two Anbu stepped forward, looking at Hiruzen, whose head was tilted back, staring at the ceiling with cold eyes.
Hiruzen withdrew his gaze. His anger had abated slightly. He looked down at Hyūga Kumokawa.
"Take this child to the hospital immediately. You must save his life."
"Yes!"
The Anbu didn't ask questions. They scooped up Kumokawa and vanished.
Meanwhile, Orochimaru was tunneling rapidly upward through the earth. He clutched his chest, his face deathly pale.
Forget his current exhausted state; even at his peak, he couldn't defeat Hiruzen.
His only option was to escape Konoha. He would leave Kumokawa here for now and plot his retrieval later. He needed the boy alive, anyway, to keep the secret.
Thinking this, Orochimaru felt a suffocating humiliation.
How did things spiral out of control so fast?
Right. It was that damn brat!
Was everything that happened today part of his plan? Did he spend years plotting this, calculating even the old man's reaction?
That kid is only fifteen... is he a monster?!
Lost in thought, Orochimaru burst out of the ground—only to run straight into another figure.
An Anbu mask. A short white fang on his back. Iconic silver gravity-defying hair.
Hatake Kakashi.
"Lightning Blade!"
Without a single word of nonsense, Kakashi charged, the chirping of a thousand birds in his hand.
Orochimaru almost laughed in anger.
Do these brats have no sense of their own limits?!
Just as killing intent surged in Orochimaru's heart, a faint sound reached his ears.
Sssss!
"This is..."
Orochimaru looked down. He saw a black cat darting away from his feet. Before it disappeared, it looked up at him.
The cat's face wore a distinctly human expression of mockery.
And most critically...
"Byakugan?!"
Orochimaru's slit pupils contracted as he saw the white eye.
The next instant, before he could react.
BOOM!!
The roar of exploding tags shattered the silence of the night.
A terrifying force ripped through the ground. The flat earth caved in like a collapsing mountain. Flesh and rock were blasted into the sky in a rain of debris.
In the distance, the two Anbu carrying Kumokawa paused on a branch, startled by the tremors.
"Was that... Lord Third?" they wondered, fear in their voices.
They did not see the faint, imperceptible smile on the face of the unconscious boy in their arms.
'Still showed mercy, did you?' Kumokawa thought. 'I hope Orochimaru likes my parting gift.'
He hadn't expected Hiruzen's momentary rage to actually kill Orochimaru. Emotional attachments ran deep; they wouldn't be severed so easily. Once Hiruzen calmed down, he might even regret striking so hard.
But it didn't matter.
Kumokawa needed to clear his own name. Whether Orochimaru lived or died was secondary.
Besides, a pawn as useful as Orochimaru was hard to find. It would be a waste if he died before being fully exploited.
Kumokawa opened his eyes slightly, glancing at the sky.
It was 5:00 AM. The morning light was bleeding into the horizon.
The sun is always setting and always rising. As it extinguishes itself walking down the mountain, taking away the desolate afterglow, it is simultaneously burning as it climbs the peak on the other side, scattering the brilliant morning glory.
'Next... the Tenseigan,' Kumokawa thought, closing his eyes again.
Heh. Hyūga clan. Caged Bird.
Feigning weakness when strong. Feigning strength when weak. Truth hidden in lies. Lies dressed as truth.
From today on... the roles of hunter and prey are reversed.