The Late Iron Fist

Tejima Shinichi fell silent.

He lowered his head, watching the patches of light on the ground, shattered by the leaves into fragments. Turmoil surged within him. The impact of this news was simply too great; for a moment, he did not know how to respond.

Was this really the Third Hokage he knew, the one who often wavered between compromise and firmness?!

So decisive, so... unwilling to leave any room?!

He slowly raised his head and looked at the old man before him with a complicated gaze. It seemed that, at this very moment, the old man had straightened his back once more. Shinichi asked tentatively:

"...Was this worth it?"

He paused, as though weighing his words, before finally saying them aloud:

"I know a little about the origins of Root... It once handled countless threats that could not see the light for Konoha. To go this far for the sake of a single Genin... to completely break with Shimura Danzō, even at the cost of disrupting some long-standing... balance within the village. Isn't the price too heavy?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen met Tejima Shinichi's probing gaze but did not answer immediately.

He merely took a deep drag from his pipe, allowing the acrid smoke to swirl through his lungs, as if he too were savoring the bitterness and helplessness of decades of political struggle.

After a long while, he slowly exhaled a ring of smoke.

"It is."

Two simple words, yet they weighed as heavily as a thousand pounds.

"Shinichi, you ask whether it is worth it..." Sarutobi Hiruzen's resolve grew ever firmer. "Then let me tell you what truly makes something 'worth it.'"

"Where Konoha's leaves dance, fire burns on without end. Its light will continue to illuminate the village and make new leaves sprout." He slowly recited the creed carved into the bones of every Konoha shinobi. "But who should light that fire? And whose future should it illuminate?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze locked firmly onto Tejima Shinichi.

"The young are the hope of the future, the tender shoots about to break through the earth. What the older generation should do is cut through thorns for them, shelter them from wind and rain, and allow them to grow freely beneath the sunlight—not... throw them into the dark forge before they have even grown strong, tempering them into cold tools, or even... treating them as 'containers' that can be replaced and sacrificed at any time!"

When he spoke the word "containers," Sarutobi Hiruzen's tone suddenly sharpened, his condemnation utterly undisguised.

"Danzo was wrong—wildly wrong! He saw darkness as the only means, equated control with protection, and placed the village's future upon the ruthless exploitation and sacrifice of individuals. He had long since betrayed Root's original purpose!"

A faint, almost imperceptible hoarseness entered Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice, as though he had torn open an old wound in his heart:

"And I, in the past... was wrong as well. I once believed that preserving superficial peace and internal balance, even if it meant tolerating the existence of certain shadows, was a necessary kind of 'wisdom.' I underestimated how quickly darkness could spread, and I underestimated the corruption of the human heart by power... I indulged Danzo's obsession and even... indirectly acquiesced to many tragedies that should never have happened."

Regret flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, only to be replaced by an even more resolute light.

"But mistakes cannot be allowed to continue forever! Sacrifice should not be a fate imposed upon the younger generation! The true Will of Fire is inheritance, protection, and faith in the limitless possibilities of the future! It is not using the cruelty and calculation of an old era to snuff out the tender shoots of a new one!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped forward. The overwhelming aura of a Shinobi Hero spread out once more, making Tejima Shinichi's heart tremble.

"I am the Third Hokage, a shinobi raised beneath the will of the First Hokage and the Second Hokage! Perhaps I was once lost, perhaps I once compromised, but my resolve to protect Konoha and protect these children has never changed!"

"If one day, Konoha needs someone to step forward and exchange their life for the village, for a chance at life for all of you who represent its future..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice was resolute and unyielding, carrying an unquestionable determination and grandeur:

"Then I, too, will stand at the very front without hesitation, just as the Fourth Hokage did back then! With this frail old body, I will burn away my last light and warmth to... pave the road ahead for you!"

"This is what it means to be Hokage!"

"This is the... Will of Fire that I understand and have sworn to defend unto death!"

When his words fell, the entire secluded little park seemed to fall silent.

Tejima Shinichi quietly watched the Third Hokage before him, whose presence now blazed forth.

He did not doubt the sincerity of Sarutobi Hiruzen's words at this moment, nor his resolve to sacrifice himself for the village.

After all, in the original course of events, this old man had indeed fulfilled the Hokage's duty at the cost of his own life when faced with Orochimaru's invasion. He had sealed the First Hokage and the Second Hokage, and tried to perish together with Orochimaru.

That resolve was beyond doubt.

However, in Tejima Shinichi's view, that sacrifice was, in some sense, precisely one of the bitter fruits brewed by the Third Hokage's own political ideals and past indulgence.

Why?

Just think about it: Konoha, the village hailed as the greatest in the Ninja World, had hosted such an important international event as the Chunin Exam, yet its defensive system had been so fragile that a handful of elites led by Orochimaru from the Sand Village's main force, plus Sound Ninja, plus one out-of-control Tailed Beast... could turn it completely upside down!

It was simply unbelievable—and utterly humiliating!

As Tejima Shinichi understood it, Sunagakure could not possibly have sent a true large-scale force deep into the heart of the Land of Fire at the time. That would have been no different from seeking its own destruction.

The so-called invasion was, in essence, nothing more than one of Orochimaru's schemes. He had coerced part of Sunagakure's forces, added a Shukaku that had been forcibly released and did not even have a perfect Jinchuriki, and that was all.

Yet such a lineup had actually been able to charge straight in and create such enormous chaos in Konoha's very core?

Where was the village's warning system?

Where were its standing defensive forces?

And what were the elites of those so-called Konoha clans doing?