Hidden Leaf Village

"Captain... we found these on this boy." A Hidden Leaf Village ninja presented the two items recovered from the unconscious Hanyu to the leader in charge of the operation.

One was a blood-stained forehead protector, and the other was the note Hanyu held in such high regard.

The moment the captain saw these two items, his expression turned incredibly grave. He immediately ordered his subordinates, "Mission aborted. Take this boy and return to the village at maximum speed."

"But Captain, our mission is..."

"Execute the order, not a moment's delay!"

"Yes!"

From the items Hanyu carried, the captain had guessed at a certain possibility, so he immediately terminated the ongoing mission and rushed back to the village with him.

His order was executed to the letter. It took this squad of ninjas just over a day to return to the Hidden Leaf Village from the border, and throughout the entire journey, Hanyu remained in a coma.

The Hidden Leaf Village was a town of considerable scale. Although it was the base of operations for the Land of Fire's ninjas, unlike the closed-off, heavily guarded, and strictly controlled military camps one might imagine, its gates were wide open for all to see.

Even during wartime, the ninja village still had to handle external business. Receiving guests from all directions, accepting various commissions, and obtaining payment after solving problems—to a large extent, this was the economic lifeline of a ninja village.

A table was set up not far from the entrance, where several ninjas sat. They were responsible for communicating with and receiving outsiders, as well as screening those entering the village.

On the morning of that day, the squad carrying Hanyu rushed into the village at top speed.

"Hey, you lot!" Such behavior of barging into the village immediately aroused the vigilance and hostility of the gate guards. However, before the warning could even leave their mouths, the squad had already dashed deep into the village.

"Emergency mission!" was the only explanation the captain left behind.

The gate guards were furious, but one had to stay behind to guard the entrance while the other quickly followed... If they hadn't recognized these men as the ninjas who had gone out on a mission two days prior, they would have launched an attack immediately.

Just as this group arrived at the gate, ninjas had already relayed the news—shortly after discovering Hanyu the previous day, the squad had used a covert method to send word back to the village.

It could be said that the power-holders of the Hidden Leaf were waiting anxiously for their arrival at this very moment.

"Lord Sarutobi, the squad has arrived at the village and will be here momentarily." The messenger reported to the young man before him.

At this time, the high-ranking officials of the Hidden Leaf were gathered in this room, primarily Sarutobi Hiruzen, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, and Shimura Danzō—the disciples of the Second Hokage, who were currently the de facto controllers of the village.

"They've arrived? Is the person alright?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked impatiently.

"He seems to be severely injured."

"Call for a medical ninja." Upon hearing the messenger's further clarification, Sarutobi immediately gave the order.

"Yes." The ninja was about to turn and leave, but was unexpectedly called back.

"Wait, bring the Yamanaka along as well." This instruction did not come from Sarutobi, but from the previously silent Shimura Danzō.

"...Yes, Lord Danzō."

Sarutobi glanced at Danzō silently but said nothing more. Soon, the people they had summoned arrived, and shortly thereafter, Hanyu was delivered.

"Can you wake him up?"

The medical ninja who had arrived early stepped forward, and after some emergency treatment, Hanyu slowly opened his eyes.

The surroundings fell unnaturally silent.

"Where is this..." Hanyu asked subconsciously. His vision was blurry, and he wasn't quite sure where he was, but then, he recalled his final memory before losing consciousness... Had he ultimately fallen into the hands of Iwagakure?

"The Hidden Leaf Village of the Land of Fire."

The answer he received was beyond Hanyu's expectations.

"The Hidden Leaf?"

He shook his head vigorously, finally seeing the appearance of the person standing before him. They looked somewhat familiar, but... far too young.

"A day ago, our ninjas found you and recovered these two items from you... Can you tell us how you came to possess them?" Sarutobi Hiruzen asked Hanyu, pointing to the Second Hokage's forehead protector and the secret note.

Hanyu opened his mouth, and in the end, he said, "According to an agreement with a certain person, I came here to deliver a message to your village... Two days ago, I met a ninja from the Hidden Leaf Village who called himself Senju Tobirama. He entrusted me to come here and deliver a message to a man named Sarutobi Hiruzen."

His logic was clear; he immediately confirmed based on Sarutobi's words that his encounter with the Second Hokage had been two days ago.

Yet, even with such a plain delivery, the information revealed in Hanyu's words was far too shocking. The moment his voice fell, the gazes of everyone in the room were fixed firmly upon him.

News of the Hokage's disappearance had long since permeated the village. However, who could have imagined that the next piece of information they heard regarding the Hokage would come from an outsider with no connection to the village? The village's own intelligence system had been searching for the Second Hokage with all its might these past few days, yet had found nothing... By comparison, this seemed somewhat absurd, yet it was precisely because it seemed so absurd that it felt real.

About five days ago, the Second Hokage had taken his disciples to the Land of Lightning, preparing to form an alliance with the Raikage of the Cloud Village. However, during the alliance ceremony, they were ambushed by rogue ninjas from the Cloud. The Second Raikage was killed on the spot. Although the Hidden Leaf group led by the Hokage managed to escape at the time, facing the pursuit of a large number of elite ninjas, they realized they could not all get away. The Hokage himself, with a spirit of sacrifice, acted as bait to buy time for his subordinates and disciples to escape... while entrusting the future of the village to the younger generation.

The disciples subsequently escaped, but the Hokage himself had vanished without a trace. Now, five days later, although everyone had prepared for the worst regarding the Hokage's whereabouts, when the result was truly laid out before them, it was not something that could be easily accepted.

The Hokage's disciples were the very people standing before Hanyu, including Sarutobi. The Hokage's mementos were in Sarutobi's hands.

"Young man, don't be nervous. Tell us in detail everything you know about what happened... I am the ninja named Sarutobi," Sarutobi Hiruzen said to Hanyu.

Hanyu had anticipated the grand reception before him. He had to be extremely cautious with his upcoming explanation, because after arriving at the Hidden Leaf, his fate was no longer under his own control.