Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu left the Hokage Office in a daze.
They exchanged glances and only then realized that cold sweat had soaked their backs.
Looking back, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face seemed five or six years younger, while his presence was even more terrifying than it had been in his youth.
At the slightest provocation, Homura felt that Hiruzen would grab his staff and kill someone the very next second.
It made Homura feel like a scholar who had run into a soldier.
More importantly, Hiruzen's attitude suggested that he might soon make a major move.
Because of Danzo's betrayal and loss of control, he might even purge the Council of Elders of its power!
Danzo, Danzo, what on earth were you thinking?!
Homura gritted his teeth. He believed the main reason for Hiruzen's overreaction was that Danzo had tried to assassinate the Third Hokage.
And since that had affected his own interests, Homura couldn't help but hate Danzo too.
Sure enough, Danzo's frail old back had been made to carry far too many blames.
"Those two old bastards."
Hiruzen completely ignored the fact that he was about the same age as Homura and Koharu.
Although he had used his presence to scare them, he hadn't actually planned to do anything to them.
After all, the two had some ambition, but nowhere near as much as Danzo.
More amusingly, their abilities barely measured up to even their modest ambitions.
Hiruzen naturally wouldn't bother with people who posed little threat.
Besides, they did have some ability. Otherwise, Tobirama wouldn't have taken them on as his students, and they wouldn't have stayed among Konoha's leaders for so many years.
They had even remained part of Konoha's leadership into Boruto's era,
unlike Danzo, who eventually did little but scheme in the shadows and act like a rat ruining the grain.
Hiruzen wasn't planning to take on all the Hokage's work himself.
"Lord Third."
An Anbu suddenly knocked and reported to Hiruzen.
"The two you asked about are in the prison."
"They've been eating quite enthusiastically."
"Everything is ready."
Hiruzen nodded, looking somewhat expectant.
He hadn't yet put the biological technology he'd acquired in the Demon Slayer World to use in the Ninja World.
Although there were plenty of test subjects in the Demon Slayer World, Hiruzen hadn't mass-produced Perfect Beings there. The cost of bringing them to the Ninja World was too high.
He had brought back just one Perfect 1 as experimental material, and it had cost him 2,000 points of Source Energy.
There was another reason...
"The people in the Demon Slayer World can't compare to the shinobi of the Ninja World, with their 130 trillion cells..."
Hiruzen thought to himself.
"Even though the Demon Slayer World has rare blood types and people with monstrous strength, they're still small fry compared to shinobi."
With that, Hiruzen followed the Anbu to Konoha's prison.
They didn't go deep into the cells. In an area outside the main prison, two men sat cross-legged on the ground. Each stood two meters tall and was built like a mountain.
Their hands and feet were wrapped in countless chains. They had no distinct muscle definition, yet radiated the strength of a mountain.
Their arms were thicker than an ordinary person's thighs, and their thighs were thicker than an ordinary person's waist.
"Fujin! Raijin!"
Seeing the two sitting around unconcernedly, the Anbu couldn't help but snap at them.
"Lord Hokage is here! Aren't you going to pay your respects?!"
Fujin and Raijin looked alike, though one was taller than the other. They were obviously twins.
"Hokage? That name sounds familiar."
"Brother, do you know him?"
"I vaguely remember. I think the Hokage's in charge of this prison."
"So what? If he's in charge of the prison but doesn't feed us, I'm not showing him any respect."
"You're right, little brother. Being fed is what matters."
The Anbu frowned.
"You two—"
But the next second, he fell silent.
Fujin and Raijin had grown impatient with him. The brothers were staring at the Anbu with dangerous, greedy eyes.
Combined with their extraordinary physiques, the brothers gave off a tremendous sense of pressure, enough to make even the battle-hardened Anbu back down.
"That's enough!"
Hiruzen stepped forward, interrupting Fujin and Raijin's terrifying stare.
"You're the brothers Fujin and Raijin?"
The two brothers nodded.
"That's right. I'm Fujin! And I'm Raijin!"
"Looks like our reputation really does precede us."
"Even this Hokage guy knows about us..."
"Reputation's no use, little brother. You can't trade it for food!"
"Then I guess I got excited for nothing, brother."
Hiruzen smiled at their exchange. Just as in the original story, the brothers weren't particularly bright.
"I hear you're very strong."
"Could you show me?"
Hiruzen took out a flatbread.
"Whoever puts on the better demonstration gets the bread."
The moment they saw the bread, the brothers became very obedient—and eager.
"Me, me!"
"I'll go first!"
"Big brother should let little brother go first!"
"Who says? Little brother should let big brother go first!"
Seeing them argue over who would go first, Hiruzen cut them off.
He named the older brother, Fujin, to go first.
"Ha ha ha!"
Fujin chuckled, looking rather pleased with himself.
Then he barely moved before tearing the chains around his hands and feet apart as easily as ripping paper.
"How's that?"
Raijin seemed unconvinced.
"That was child's play, brother."
"Now watch me!"
He gathered up the chains scattered around Fujin and kneaded them together like putty, turning them into a massive iron ball.
"Well, Hokage?"
"Are you satisfied now?"
Raijin looked extremely pleased with himself, as if proud of his ingenuity.
Hiruzen nodded in approval and tossed each of them a large flatbread.
As Fujin and Raijin dug into their food, Hiruzen formed Hand Seals.
"Genjutsu: Temple of Nirvana!"
White feathers drifted down from above, and Fujin and Raijin's eyelids immediately began to droop.
But a moment later, Hiruzen was surprised to find that the brothers hadn't fallen asleep. They even seemed close to breaking free of the Genjutsu.
With Hiruzen's level of Chakra and skill with Genjutsu, even Jonin couldn't resist a targeted illusion like this.
"Looks like being dim-witted doesn't mean they have weak spirits."
"On the contrary, physical strength and mental strength often go hand in hand..."
"A robust body naturally means a strong spirit."
Thinking this, Hiruzen increased his Chakra output and knocked the brothers out completely.
With two heavy thuds, the two mountains of flesh collapsed, making the entire prison tremble.
Hiruzen looked at the brothers' bodies with satisfaction. They were the finest experimental material imaginable.
Especially when it came to physical strength.
It would be difficult to find anyone in the entire Ninja World who could match them.
In the original story, their raw physical strength alone let them easily defeat Jonin in close combat. Even when Ino-Shika-Cho joined forces, they could only barely restrain the brothers—and they still managed to break free.
Pure strength could unleash destructive power on par with many powerful Ninjutsu,
which showed just how terrifying their physical gifts were.
"It's a shame to have such incredible physical gifts—just their strength alone surpasses Jonin and reaches the level of Nintaijutsu."
"If they could train..."
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