Several remaining Anbu ninja followed behind him, each bearing wounds. Their bloodstained uniforms and weary eyes silently spoke of the brutal battle they had endured.
Inside the office, Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at his desk, wisps of smoke curling slowly from the pipe in his hand.
Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu stood to one side, their expressions grave.
Danzo leaned against the window, shadows covering half his face and obscuring his expression.
Danzo spoke first, his voice low and cold.
"Hatake Sakumo, the mission has not been completed. Why did you return to the village without authorization?
"Do you not understand the importance of a mission to a ninja?"
Hatake Sakumo did not answer immediately. His gaze slowly swept across everyone present before finally settling on Danzo.
Those usually gentle eyes were now like a frozen lake, cold and unfathomable.
"The mission failed."
He spoke calmly, without a ripple in his voice.
"What?!"
Utatane Koharu abruptly rose to her feet, her face instantly turning pale.
"Where is the Old Lady? She is the mother of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire! If anything happened to her, the Land of Fire will never let this go!"
Mitokado Homura also frowned deeply and adjusted his glasses.
"Sakumo, what exactly happened?"
Hatake Sakumo remained silent, but his fists had quietly clenched.
The emotions he had been suppressing churned in his chest like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Danzo sneered, his gaze sinister.
"Hatake Sakumo, ninja are born for missions. Yet the Anbu under your command failed even an escort mission, and you recklessly brought these people back to the village. Have you truly lost all awareness of what it means to be a ninja?"
Those words were like a fuse, completely igniting Hatake Sakumo's long-suppressed fury.
His eyes suddenly sharpened, and