I Am Fire, You Regret

Sarutobi Hiruzen's brows furrowed instantly, and an aura of natural, unforced authority surged forth.

Having perfectly integrated the original memories of the Third, Sarutobi Hiruzen possessed the same dignity befitting a Hokage.

"Sarutobi!"

An old man with a sinister air entered, leaning on a cane, showing not a shred of respect for the Hokage.

"Why did you have Kakashi withdraw from the Root!"

The newcomer began with a demand, and Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't even need to look up to know the identity of the man before him.

Shimura Danzō.

The one-eyed elder walked in slowly, also carrying the weight of someone who had held a high position for a long time.

"You should know that, given Kakashi's aptitude—"

"Only in—"

"Shimura Danzō!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was now inhabited by a different soul; he was no longer the sentimental and soft-hearted Third of the past.

In his place was a visitor from Blue Star who held not a sliver of affection for Danzō.

"I am the Hokage!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression was cold as he cut off Danzō's impending interrogation, having no desire to dance around the subject with Shimura Danzō and choosing instead to get straight to the point.

"..."

Shimura Danzō was momentarily stunned. Looking at the indifferent Sarutobi Hiruzen before him, he suddenly felt a sense of unfamiliarity.

He felt that Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed a little different today.

At the very least, if such a scene had occurred in the past, Sarutobi Hiruzen would have at least offered some explanation or back-and-forth, eventually leading to the classic theme of "I am the Fire, you are the shadow."

"Hmph."

Shimura Danzō's face darkened until it seemed ready to drip water; the Third's indulgence over the years had left him with no sense of awe toward this Hokage.

"You will regret this."

"Sarutobi..."

Shimura Danzō seemed to think of something, a flash of blatant killing intent crossing his eyes, before he turned around without hesitation and left the Hokage office.

However, Shimura Danzō did not see the naked killing intent brewing in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes as well.

Shimura Danzō...

The Pot Kage, is it?

A deep gloom flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart.

As the king of trouble-making among the Konoha F4, basically all the rot within Konoha could be blamed on this guy.

Therefore, knowing the plot, Sarutobi Hiruzen naturally wanted to get rid of this guy first.

After all, keeping him around was not only useless but also served to draw a mountain of hatred toward Konoha.

And I can obtain a significant amount of Source Energy.

Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly seemed to think of something and flipped open the scroll left behind by the Anbu.

It was clearly written on it that the Daimyo of the Land of Fire had already agreed to Sarutobi Hiruzen resuming the position of Hokage, requiring only a trip to the capital of the Land of Fire in three days to meet with the Daimyo.

According to the procedures for taking office as Hokage, the incoming leader must receive the consent and authorization of the Daimyo.

Although it was just a formality and the Daimyo generally did not oppose or interfere with the choice of Hokage, it was a mandatory process.

Only in this way could the unique status of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire be demonstrated.

"In other words..."

"In three days, Danzō will attempt to assassinate me on my way to the capital of the Land of Fire..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression was intriguing as he recalled this plot of the brilliant cooperation between Wolong and Fengchu.

"He even attempted to rope in Kakashi..."

"To have him join in the assassination..."

"I can only say he is truly worthy of being the Fengchu of the Wolong and Fengchu duo."

Sarutobi Hiruzen was absolutely impressed by this one-eyed cutie.

"To think he could actually pull off such a low-success-rate, exceptionally stupid assassination attempt."

Not to mention that Sarutobi Hiruzen's strength as a Kage was the real deal; although he was over fifty and his chakra and taijutsu had declined slightly, his experience with the five elemental ninjutsu had only grown deeper.

He couldn't even scrape together three tactical ninja squads, yet he wanted to assassinate the Kage of a village.

"Though I don't have much room to talk about Shimura Danzō..."

"The Third, who was originally the Wolong, was an even bigger idiot..."

"He actually forgave Danzō after being assassinated by him."

"Not even a proper punishment."

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a twinge of toothache whenever he thought about the actions of his predecessor.

He could only say that he and the Pot Kage were a match made in heaven; he would respect and bless that union.

Fortunately, he was a brand-new Sarutobi Hiruzen now, so he naturally wouldn't repeat such brain-dead behavior.

"That guy Danzō is completely beneath notice..."

"He probably hasn't even transplanted the Sharingan or Wood Release yet..."

"So I can naturally mold him however I please."

Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't really take the Pot Kage too seriously.

Compared to the troubles that would follow, such as Orochimaru, Uchiha Madara, and the Otsutsuki, Shimura Danzō was truly too pathetic.

"The only variable..."

"Would be if Danzō decided to fight to the death and took me down with him; that would be hilarious..."

He wouldn't let Danzō off the hook as lightly as his predecessor did; anyone who wanted Sarutobi Hiruzen dead deserved to have their whole family wiped out.

Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his gaze back to the system.

"So, I still need to activate a cheat to test the waters."

"Fire Release: Great Fire Annihilation!"

A massive fireball with a diameter of several dozen meters was spewed out by Sarutobi Hiruzen, instantly engulfing a large patch of trees.

Under the intense heat amplified by his chakra, the forest before him was scorched dry in an instant.

"So this is the power of ninjutsu."

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the incinerated trees with a hint of wonder.

Having obtained extraordinary power, Sarutobi Hiruzen was naturally impatient to experience it.

It could also be considered a way to familiarize himself with the strength of this body.

"It's no less impressive than the incendiary bombs from my past life..."

"Against ordinary people, it would be nothing short of a massacre."

"So this is what it means to be extraordinary."

Undoubtedly, Hokage, which was rated as a four-star world, had a unique advantage in its chakra power system.

Even this Fire Release technique, which was the most common in the original work and rarely killed anyone, was exaggerated to an absurd degree when unleashed by Sarutobi Hiruzen.

It was comparable to the continuous bombardment of several incendiary bombs.

Under Sarutobi Hiruzen's skilled nature transformation of Fire Release, the temperature within the flames could even reach several thousand degrees.

It was simply not something a mortal body could withstand.

"Now, besides Fire Release."

Following the instincts within his memories, Sarutobi Hiruzen's hands moved as fast as lightning, forming seals in an instant.

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

"Earth Release: Earth Flow River!"

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!"

"Lightning Release: Earth Flash!"

"Boom! Bang! Crackle!"

As the smoke from the aftermath of the ninjutsu cleared, Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded with satisfaction as he looked at the devastated forest, now crisscrossed with gullies and with its terrain almost completely altered.

"As expected of the Professor of Ninjutsu."

"He has mastered all five elemental releases to the limit of nature and shape transformation."

"As long as I use these five elemental ninjutsu, none of them will have a power level lower than B-rank."

"Not to mention that my taijutsu and genjutsu are currently standing at the pinnacle of ordinary ninjas as well."

Sarutobi Hiruzen examined the original Third Hokage's strength from a much higher vantage point.

"And besides,"

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt the surging chakra within his body; even after continuously using five B and A-rank ninjutsu, his chakra levels showed no signs of a significant decline.

2023 new book setting sail, please follow along, everyone!