In Konoha: Starting by Slapping White Fang

Just as Gengetsu walked out of the tent with a disappointed look, Orochimaru's voice suddenly reached his ears.

"You weren't eavesdropping here the whole time, were you?"

Gengetsu turned to look at him.

Alright, Orochimaru had actually only come over after seeing him.

After all, Gengetsu did not have the strange habit of deliberately letting others eavesdrop.

Even when he was with Tsunade, he would use Observation Haki to check the surroundings beforehand.

"I don't understand what you're talking about, Orochimaru."

Gengetsu brushed Orochimaru off with the same answer he had given Tsunade earlier.

"Heh~ Human life is inherently fragile."

After leaving behind that rather philosophical remark, the philosopher Orochimaru said no more and turned to leave.

"Gengetsu, Shinnosuke, after the previous mission failed, the Second Kazekage will certainly strengthen the guards around him. You'd better avoid clashing with them head-on. Infiltrate the enemy camp and quietly wait for an opportunity to strike."

The next day, at the entrance to Konoha Camp.

Hatake Sakumo earnestly reminded Gengetsu and Sarutobi Shinnosuke as they prepared to depart.

Gengetsu could not help rubbing his temples, thinking that this old brother of his really was a political idiot in every sense of the word.

Not to mention Tsunade, who even knew where he had hemorrhoids.

Even Orochimaru could guess what he wanted to do, yet Sakumo had not the slightest suspicion.

Did he really think Gengetsu was taking Sarutobi Shinnosuke to assassinate the Second Kazekage?

"Got it, got it. We're leaving."

Gengetsu felt that if he kept listening, he might lose his mind himself.

After mumbling a couple of vague responses, he headed for the Land of Rain with Sarutobi Shinnosuke, then detoured into the Land of Wind.

With this detour.

What had originally been a journey of two days and two nights would take at least an extra week.

"I hope they'll be alright."

Watching the two figures quickly vanish from sight, Hatake Sakumo said with concern.

"One of them definitely won't be."

Tsunade, passing by, suddenly chimed in.

"What do you mean?"

Hatake Sakumo turned his head in confusion.

Tsunade remained silent, answering only with a strange smile.

During the Second Shinobi World War, the Land of Rain had fought the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth in succession.

Yet under such circumstances, it had not been destroyed.

That was enough to prove that although it was a small country, its military strength was not much weaker than that of the Five Great Nations.

Splash, splash—

The torrential rain that seemed as though it would never stop still poured down over the Land of Rain today.

Having been attacked by three major nations in succession, Gengetsu and Sarutobi Shinnosuke saw countless corpses left exposed in the wilderness by the war along the way.

There had not been a moment of respite.

"To fight the Land of Fire, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth in succession without falling behind—under Ibuse Hanzō's leadership, Amegakure's military strength is not much inferior to that of the Five Great Nations."

Wearing a straw hat that concealed the Forehead Protector on his forehead, Sarutobi Shinnosuke took the initiative to speak:

"Now that Hanzō has signed Ceasefire Agreements with both the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind, there probably won't be any more danger before we enter the Land of Wind."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke had not taken the initiative to speak because he was, like Naruto, someone who could not sit still.

It was simply because ever since they had entered the Land of Rain.

Gengetsu had not said a single word to him.

An eerie sense of fear rose in Sarutobi Shinnosuke's heart like poison.

The intense unease made him unable to resist speaking to Gengetsu first. "You think so too, right? Gen... Gengetsu?"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke had also changed how he addressed Gengetsu, reverting from "Eternal Genin" back to his real name.

As the Hokage's eldest son, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, there was no way he would address Gengetsu with the honorifics used by people like Nara Shikaku.

"Huh~ Were you talking to me?"

Finally, after two days in the Land of Rain, Gengetsu spoke of his own accord.

He turned around and slowly lowered the straw hat over his head, letting the torrential rain pour over him.

Gengetsu smiled faintly.

"Sorry, I just don't think there's any need to say anything to someone who's about to die."

"Sorry, I just don't think there's any need to say anything to someone who's about to die."

Rumble—

The instant Gengetsu said those words.

It was as though the heavens had answered him. Amid the dark clouds and torrential rain, a deafening clap of thunder suddenly crashed down.

The silver light of lightning clearly illuminated Gengetsu's face, bearing one part smile and nine parts killing intent.

But even clearer was the blade at his waist, already drawn a third of the way.

Kage-level killing intent transformed into overwhelming fear and surged into his heart, just like when Sasuke first encountered Orochimaru during the future Chunin Exams.

"You... you..."

Sarutobi Shinnosuke collapsed onto the muddy ground filled with puddles, staring in disbelief at Gengetsu as he slowly drew his blade.

That killing intent was completely real!

"Why—why are you doing this!?"

Overwhelmed by terror, Sarutobi Shinnosuke still could not help asking the question.

"Only 'people' are qualified to speak to me. Since when did Leeks earn the right to ask questions?"

Gengetsu said with an amused smile:

"Besides, you should have died during the last mission to assassinate the Kazekage, shouldn't you? Didn't you criticize my idiot brother as useless afterward? Then return this life now."

Whether he was doing it to vent his anger for his family or because of their personal grudge.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke was now completely certain that the man before him, Hatake Gengetsu, truly wanted to kill him!

Was that why he had asked me to carry out this mission with him?!

Sarutobi Shinnosuke could not help cursing himself inwardly for being too naive.

Blinded by the death of his fiancée, he had never considered why Hatake Gengetsu had spoken up for him back then.

Now that he thought about it carefully, on that day's battlefield.

The situation had been very strange.

When the war began, Hatake Gengetsu and Bunpuku's battlefield had clearly been far away from the Sarutobi Clan.

Yet somehow, it had gradually drawn closer.

In the end, Sarutobi Rie and dozens of Sarutobi Clan shinobi had all died from Bunpuku's ninjutsu collateral damage.

"You wanted to kill me back on the battlefield already?!"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke cried out in sudden realization.

He understood everything.

Gengetsu had deliberately shifted his battle with Bunpuku toward the Sarutobi Clan.

He had wanted to use Bunpuku's wide-area ninjutsu to kill him and the others!

Gengetsu's expression froze for a second. Apparently not expecting Sarutobi Shinnosuke to figure that out at death's door, he laughed aloud.

"Looks like you're not as stupid as I thought. But it doesn't matter anymore.

After all, you died at the hands of Saimon, the Second Kazekage. That's what I'll tell your father when I get back."

"In your dreams!"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke roared and swiftly bit his finger.

He stood no chance in a direct confrontation with Hatake Gengetsu.

Even his chances of escaping were extremely low.

Under these circumstances, there was only one move that could save him from certain death.

His father's trump-card Summoned Beast, the one that had saved his life once in the previous war—Enma!

"Ninja Art: Summoning—"

"You're too slow."

Of the five hand seals—Boar, Dog, Rooster, Monkey, Ram—Sarutobi Shinnosuke had formed only two.

The next instant, he saw Gengetsu fully draw his blade, the shining sword light from its edge swallowing his entire field of vision.

Then came an excruciating pain from his wrists.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke looked down and saw that both arms had been severed above the wrists.

Other than spurting blood, there was nothing there.

Then he looked down at the ground.

Two bloodied hands lay limply in the mud.

"Arghhhhh—!!!"

Who knew how long it took.

Before the intense pain from his severed wrists flooded through Sarutobi Shinnosuke's entire body.

He dropped to his knees, convulsing without end.

His agonized cries mingled with the occasional muffled thunder.

Adding another trace of bloodiness to this country that had never stopped crying.

"With this little strength, he could become Hiruzen Sarutobi's right-hand man in the future? Heh. Then again, that old man himself isn't very strong either. No wonder."

Thinking of how the original story described Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Gengetsu could not help finding it amusing.

Though he seriously suspected that Sarutobi Shinnosuke and his wife had gotten their positions among the upper ranks of the Anbu through connections.

"Don't... don't think you can really get away with this!"

At that moment, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, kneeling on the ground, struggled to raise his head. The moisture on his face could not be distinguished as rain or tears. His teeth were clamped over his lower lip so hard that he had bitten it bloody as he endured the pain.

"My father has long suspected your Hatake Clan! Do you think framing the Second Kazekage will make everything alright?!"

"I know he'll suspect me, but he'll never dare make a move. Your father has a good political mind. That's the only thing I acknowledge about him."