Another Day of Danzo Slamming Doors

Hanma stood atop a tall rooftop, his Predator Domain releasing a faint Blood Qi that blanketed all of Konoha.

The Blood Qi could smell the flavor of everyone's Chakra. Back when he was in the Anbu, Hanma had wanted to complain that Amegakure Ninja Chakra always carried the scent of mournful rain. Everyone seemed mentally unhealthy.

"Heh, there."

Hanma looked toward a luxurious carriage, where three strands of Chakra carrying the scent of rain were hidden.

His figure flashed, and he blocked the carriage.

The lead coachman looked at the towering Hanma and sneered. "Who are you? Do you know whose carriage this is? This is the Daimyo's personal carriage!"

Oh, spies disguised as the Daimyo's entourage. Pretty innovative. What a waste of brains on a ninja.

With a casual wave of his hand, the violent force of his fist shattered the carriage. The two hidden men and the coachman instinctively used the Body Flicker Technique.

Hanma smiled and asked, "Since when could the Daimyo of the Land of Rain use the Body Flicker Technique?"

The three Amegakure Ninja stopped pretending and bared savage grins. "Kill him!"

Smack. Smack.

Two dull thuds rang out.

Two more soft watermelons exploded.

The remaining Amegakure Ninja stared in disbelief at his headless companions, then looked at Hanma in terror.

"It's over. I ran into Blood Wolf."

Back when he was in the Anbu, Hanma had spent years operating along the borders, dealing with the Anbu of various nations every day.

His swift, violent taijutsu style and his habit of reducing enemies to pulp had made him famous throughout the Shinobi World's Anbu.

Blood Wolf was the nickname his enemies had given him.

Some people said that running into Blood Wolf was fortunate, though. Usually, you died quickly and without pain.

The Amegakure Ninja gritted his teeth and abruptly flipped a talisman from his wrist, about to activate it.

Hanma flashed forward and grabbed his neck. Two fingers swept across his spine like blades, and his hand struck repeatedly, crushing his remaining major joints.

The Amegakure Ninja was like a frog dissected on an operating table. He was still conscious, but he could no longer move any part of his body.

Hanma picked up the talisman the man had been about to activate and studied it with interest.

This was a sealing talisman. It probably contained some kind of secret technique?

At any rate, it was not an ordinary Explosive Tag.

Hanma carefully wrapped it in Chakra and put it away, waiting for the Anbu and Military Police Force to arrive.

He looked toward the so-called Daimyo's carriage and idly fell into a daze.

Come to think of it, Daimyo were also a strange part of the Shinobi World. They possessed no sufficient military strength, yet held such lofty status.

Still, the Land of Fire was understandable.

Back when the Senju Clan disbanded, the Senju name vanished, but blood ties could not be severed.

Nawaki would not cease to be Hashirama Senju's biological grandson just because the surname disappeared.

Roughly half of the Senju clansmen continued working as ninja and spread their branches. In truth, this was why Konoha's ninja and civilians could always produce geniuses.

Senju genes were improving Konoha.

The rest went to the Land of Fire to hold important offices, or married into the Daimyo's family and began new lives.

Thus, the most important supporters of the Land of Fire's Daimyo were actually the former Senju clansmen.

This was also an important reason why Danzo, no matter how bold he was, did not dare lay a hand on the Daimyo.

But for the Daimyo of a small nation like this, if he were killed, the other Daimyo might issue bounties for the sake of their own inviolability, but that would be all.

After waiting about two minutes, the Military Police Force and Anbu finally arrived. Hanma looked at them and said flatly:

"Anbu Numbers Twenty-Four and Fifty-Six, the Inuzuka Clan is ashamed of you."

"Tekka, Yanbu, the Uchiha are ashamed of you as well."

The four who had arrived lowered their heads in shame, bowed deeply, and said in unison, "We are deeply sorry, Senior Hanma!"

Hanma swept his gaze over them and felt the weight of history.

Twenty years had passed since the First Shinobi World War. The gains Tobirama Senju had purchased with his life had turned into economic dividends, allowing Konoha to gorge itself while material wealth greatly increased.

Yet it was precisely this abundance that had numbed the nerves of many Konoha ninja, leaving them without such a strong sense of crisis.

The starving small nations and neighboring countries had been sucked dry until their eyes glowed red. Their people had grown up hungry and survived through slaughter. They had long been drooling greedily over Konoha.

In the future, Sunagakure would be so poor that even the village's Kage would have to dig gold mines. How miserable would ordinary ninja and civilians be? They could only launch wars in despair.

Sure enough, history taught people that people never learned from history.

Hanma pointed at the Amegakure Ninja lying on the ground like a dead fish and ordered, "I left one alive. Don't make any more mistakes."

"Yes, Senior."

He waved his hand and headed home, pondering what dishes to make for Tsunade tonight and what he should say to her.

The more he thought about it, the more irritated he became. Hanma felt a long-forgotten, unfamiliar nervousness.

He even forgot the insights he had just been considering. History, reflections... they probably were not as important as love, right?

The young men watched Hanma walk away and all let out a long breath.

"Huh? Even you Uchiha are afraid of Senior Hanma?"

"You might not know this, but our clan head has been bedridden lately. I heard Senior Hanma nearly beat him to death a couple of days ago."

"We've heard about it in the Anbu too. During the commander selection, Jonin Hanma apparently fought two people at once."

"Wasn't it five? But that's normal for Senior Hanma. It's already good enough that no one died."

"Hey, tell us about Senior Hanma. I'm just a junior in my clan too, so it's hard for me to find out anything."

"Anyway, he's terrifying. A graze means injury, a hit means death. Got it?"

The dead-fish-like Amegakure Ninja was dragged along the ground across from them. He wanted to join in and say a few words too, but he could not speak. He could only let strange light shine from his eyes to show his agreement.

Hokage's Office.

Danzo shoved the door open in a fury. Seeing the smoke-filled office, he became even angrier and demanded:

"How could mighty Konoha be infiltrated by a few Amegakure Ninja to this extent?! Hiruzen, the Anbu are utterly disgraceful!!"

The Third's expression was not good either. He sighed and said:

"Yes. The pain of war comes quickly and fades quickly. The village's ninja have gradually lost the vigilance they should possess."

Danzo slammed the table and continued to demand:

"If ninja don't act like ninja, what use are they?! Hiruzen, you're too pedantic!

I told you long ago to apply to the Daimyo. Our Land of Fire trade caravans could handle foreign trade themselves. We shouldn't let foreign merchant caravans into the village!"

The Third stood up, stepped forward, faced Danzo directly, and shouted back:

"You make it sound easy. If foreign trade were that simple, then stop having your Root come begging me for funding!"

Still not satisfied, he added, "Your Root has taken so much funding. Where are your results? Root's results over five years can't even compare to half a year of Orochimaru's!"

At the mention of funding and results, the bandages on Danzo's face trembled with anger. My funding goes to Orochimaru! I just don't dare tell you, you old dog!

After thinking about it, he truly had no rebuttal, so he could only say those words.

"Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!

(The standard Hokage fanfiction procedure has been completed o(￣︶￣)o)

Konoha Torture Chamber. Morino Shigehiro summoned his inherited Torture House with a vicious grin and locked the Amegakure Ninja inside.

Anbu Captain Sarutobi Shinnosuke, also the Third's eldest son, wore a grave expression as he ordered:

"Summon Uchiha Fugaku, Yamanaka Shingen, and Yūhi Shinkō. Make sure to determine the intelligence that has already been stolen, as well as the number of infiltrators."

Had Konoha's Anbu truly become this lax?

With war approaching, that was no good news.

Still, fortunately, that bastard was around. He had managed to salvage the situation. He was unexpectedly reliable.

Thinking of how he had tried to establish authority in the Anbu back then by reprimanding Hanma, only to have his ribs broken by him, Shinnosuke merely smiled faintly.

That counted as a strange sort of friendship, perhaps. After all, Hanma had said they became acquainted through fighting.

Ninja still had to speak with strength!

Sarutobi Shinnosuke quietly reminisced about those past events.