The Hokage Office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sank back into his spacious chair, picked up his pipe, slowly packed it with tobacco, lit it, and took a deep drag.
Wisps of smoke rose, blurring his deep, complicated expression.
After a long while.
The Third Hokage looked at the black-haired boy before him and spoke gently:
"Yo, about the power you used today... Wood Release!"
"As far as I know, no one in Konoha has truly mastered this Kekkei Genkai since the First Hokage!"
"How did you manage it?"
The Third Hokage got straight to the point, without beating around the bush. Clearly, he took this matter very seriously.
Yo raised his head. "Lord Hokage, I'm not entirely sure myself!"
"When I tried combining the chakra natures of water and earth, I accidentally discovered that I could produce Wood Release with a life force of its own. After practicing a bit, I naturally got the hang of it!"
He definitely couldn't reveal the secret of his Sage Body. Even if he did, Hiruzen Sarutobi probably wouldn't believe him.
After all, he was an Uchiha!
The Third Hokage listened quietly, his eyes unreadable behind the smoke.
He didn't believe a single word of Yo's explanation.
But he had no proof.
Nor could he force answers out of a Kage Level shinobi who had just subdued a Tailed Beast.
The Third Hokage was old!
And the village's top fighters were either dead or had defected. There were few people left who could truly shoulder the burden.
If he drove Yo into turning against the village now, the consequences would be unimaginable!
The Third Hokage changed the subject, a trace of emotion entering his voice:
"Wood Release... The power the First Hokage relied on to pacify the warring era, establish Konoha, and subdue the Tailed Beasts."
"Seeing you use Wood Release today, I... felt as though I was seeing the First Hokage again!"
The Third Hokage paused, his gaze turning rather meaningful.
"Based on the strength you showed today, you have the potential to rival, or even surpass, the Hokages of the past!"
"Even this old bag of bones... probably isn't your match anymore."
The Third Hokage gave a self-deprecating smile. His voice was gentle as he asked with a grin:
"Yo, with talent and power like yours... would you be interested in becoming Hokage and protecting the village?"
Hokage?
Yo laughed coldly to himself. Here came the test, and so direct!
"Lord Hokage, you jest!"
Yo smiled. "As shinobi of Konoha, there's no one who doesn't dream of becoming a Hokage recognized by everyone!"
As Yo saw it, shinobi were nothing but dogs belonging to those in power!
They came when summoned and left when dismissed!
There were two ways to escape that fate: become the leader of a village, or become the strongest!
Yo hoped to become the strongest, but that clearly wouldn't be easy.
The Eternal Mangekyo, the Rinnegan, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, the Ten-Tails...
None of those would be easy to obtain.
Before he became the strongest, if he could become Hokage and shed the identity of a dog, Yo would gladly accept.
"That's right. The Hokage is the village's supreme leader, and everyone looks up to the position!"
The Third Hokage picked up on Yo's words, but his tone gradually grew serious. "But Yo, do you know what the title 'Hokage' truly means?"
Before Yo could answer,
the Third Hokage continued, "The Hokage's duty... is to protect!"
"To protect the village!"
"To protect everyone!"
"And to do so, they must be willing to give their lives!"
The Third Hokage's gaze suddenly sharpened. "Yo, let me ask you: do you have that kind of resolve?"
The air in the office seemed to freeze, stifling everyone in it.
Facing the soul-piercing question, Yo's smile remained unchanged.
"Lord Hokage, when the day comes that I become Hokage, I'll naturally take on the responsibility of protecting the village!"
That wasn't a lie!
Once he became Hokage, he'd be the boss of Konoha, the one in charge!
The villagers would be his people, and the shinobi of the village would be his dogs! His tools!
Every blade of grass and every tree in the village, every brick and tile—even the dog at the village gate—would be his property.
Of course he'd protect Konoha!
So...
Yo's logic was that he would protect Konoha after becoming Hokage.
Not that he wanted to become Hokage in order to protect the village.
"You'll protect the village only after you become Hokage?"
The Third Hokage's expression darkened. "Are you saying that if you can't become Hokage, you won't protect this village?"
That logic!
That way of thinking!
The Third Hokage was deeply disappointed. It ran counter to the Will of Fire!
It separated power from responsibility, treating protection as something that came with authority!
That was a dangerous way of thinking!
Under the Third Hokage's suddenly stern gaze, Yo merely smiled, a hint of mockery in his expression.
Instead of answering the Third Hokage's question directly, Yo asked with a smile:
"Lord Hokage, you spoke of protecting the village and protecting your comrades!"
"Then let me ask you this: did the Uchiha Clan, wiped out five years ago, count as part of the village?"
"Should the Uchiha Clan have been protected by the Hokage?"
"If so!"
"Then please tell me, Lord Hokage: on the night the Uchiha Clan was wiped out five years ago, whom were you, the Hokage, protecting?"
The questions rang in the Third Hokage's ears like thunder.
The air in the office instantly turned icy. The hand gripping his pipe suddenly stiffened.
The Uchiha Clan Massacre was one of Konoha's highest-level taboos, a sin the village couldn't reveal to the light of day!
And now... a Uchiha orphan had raised the matter again, in such a pointed way.
"The Uchiha Clan matter... was very complicated and involved many people. Besides, the culprit was proven to be your older brother, Uchiha Itachi. He..."
The Third Hokage instinctively tried to use the same official line as before to fob Yo off and mislead him.
"Lord Hokage!!!"
Yo suddenly raised his voice, cutting the Third Hokage off.
He stepped forward and looked the Third Hokage straight in the eye, his gaze sharp as a blade. "Lord Hokage, look closely!"
"The person standing before you isn't a three-year-old child who knows nothing about the world and can be easily fooled with a few words about righteousness and lies!"
"I hope you won't try to brush me off with such a ridiculous excuse!"
"You..."
The Third Hokage was momentarily at a loss for words at this near-insubordinate outburst. His fingers tightened slightly around his pipe.
He had governed Konoha for forty years, and it had been a long time since anyone dared defy him so bluntly.
Yet faced with Yo's sudden sharpness, even this shrewd Hokage was, for once, at a loss for words.
Yo was no ordinary person. He had just used Wood Release to subdue Shukaku!
Yo's voice grew colder, every word dripping with poison:
"Five years ago, the Uchiha Clan was slaughtered to the last person in a single night. No one was spared—not men, women, children, or the elderly!"
"The truth behind it all—I'm sure you, Lord Hokage, and certain high-ranking members of the village!"
"Know far more than I do, a lucky orphan who survived!"
"The Uchiha coup plot? Their inborn wickedness and ambition? The threat they posed to Konoha's safety and stability?"
"Heh..."
Yo scoffed. "Those were nothing but shoddy excuses, dressed up as righteousness to reassure the villagers and justify that bloody massacre!"
The Third Hokage's expression darkened, turning terribly grim. His grip tightened around the pipe until his knuckles turned white.
Yo continued, "The Uchiha Clan's greatest mistake wasn't wickedness or ambition!"
"Their only mistake!"
"Was losing the political struggle against the village leadership!"
"That's all!"
Yo stared straight into the Third Hokage's face, each word ringing with conviction:
"The victor writes history, and the strong prey on the weak! There's nothing more to say!"
Yo's expression was cold. "So I train desperately, and fight desperately to master my power, but it's not for the village!"
"It's so... when someone puts a blade to my neck again, I'll be able to fight back!"
"So..."
"Lord Hokage, don't give me that high-minded talk about the Will of Fire and protecting the village!"
"You can save that kind of talk for kids like Naruto!"
Yo curled his lips into a smile and looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"If I've said something that displeases you, Lord Hokage!"
"Then you can kill me just as you did when you wiped out the Uchiha Clan five years ago!"
With that,
Yo strode out.
The Third Hokage watched him go, his fists clenching and unclenching.
He understood.
Uchiha Yo had gone off the rails!
He was extremely selfish, with an independent mind that was difficult to control—completely at odds with the Will of Fire!
Whether someone like him would harm the village was uncertain.
But for him, the Hokage, it was certainly no good thing.
What should he do about Yo?
If he could, Hiruzen Sarutobi would have liked to take Yo into custody on the spot.
But unfortunately,
the Third Hokage couldn't do that.
He was sixty-nine, nearly seventy. His body had deteriorated, and his chakra reserves had dwindled.
And Yo... had just subdued the One-Tail Shukaku, displaying enough power to shake the entire village!
If he forced a confrontation,
the only possible outcome was that he, the Hokage, would be killed!
After all, it wasn't unheard of for a Kage to be killed by a shinobi from his own village.
Take the Second Raikage, for example.
He had been killed by his own subordinates, the brothers Kinkaku and Ginkaku!
"I really am old!"
The Third Hokage smiled bitterly.
Before you continue