A Little Bit of Luck (Part 1)

Falling into the hands of Hidden Leaf Village ninjas was, it must be said, a stroke of great fortune. It was not that his destination had been the Hidden Leaf Village itself, but rather that compared to the consequences of falling into the hands of Iwagakure ninjas, the current situation was truly excellent. If the ninja squad that surrounded Hanyu when he collapsed had been from Iwagakure, things would have been truly dire; firstly, an Iwagakure ninja had died at his hands, and secondly, he would have had no way to explain the fact that he was carrying a secret letter from the Hidden Leaf.

To think it would be the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf... who could have possibly imagined it?

Hanyu's mind was a whirlwind of thoughts, yet he did not hesitate, carefully and cautiously recounting his encounter with the Hokage from beginning to end.

"Yes, that day, it happened like this..."

Who could have imagined that the "Third Hokage" would appear before them in such a youthful guise? The Sarutobi Hiruzen before them looked to be only in his early twenties; it was truly... overly young.

From meeting the Hokage to the encounter with the Iwagakure ninjas, Hanyu's narration was steady and unhurried, meticulous and striving for total accuracy. Because the matter itself was extremely grave, he made sure not to mix in any unnecessary or false information while speaking.

"Can you confirm that you burned the body of the Second Hokage?"

After Hanyu finished his explanation, someone asked in a voice filled with profound grief.

"Yes, according to his request, I cremated his remains." Hanyu said this with great certainty; in any case, the Hidden Leaf could not hold him accountable for such an act. Strictly speaking, it was a meritorious deed, not a fault.

Upon receiving the secret letter, Sarutobi had already confirmed its authenticity. Whether it was the handwriting or the seal and code, there were no issues. Furthermore, it took almost no time at all for the secret letter, written in a special cipher, to be successfully decoded. The content was deceptively simple: first, it appointed Sarutobi Hiruzen as the successor to the Hokage, and second, it emphasized that the future of the village was entrusted to the new Hokage.

The lack of regrets in this life and the earnest expectations for his successor were written clearly on the page.

After Hanyu finished his account, Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered his head, speechless and silent for a long time; one could imagine his eyes were brimming with tears. Because his physical state was dire and his awakening had been forced, the recent explanation had severely drained Hanyu's energy. By now, he was unable to stand, swaying unsteadily.

Seeing this, the medical ninja quickly walked to his side and pressed gently on the back of his neck, causing Hanyu to fall back into unconsciousness.

There was no longer any need for him as a narrator here. The medical ninja prepared to take him away, but a cold, sharp voice halted the ninja's movements.

"Wait, the matter is not yet finished... Yamanaka, go and verify whether what he said is true."

"But, Danzo-sama, given the child's current physical condition, I fear..." The medical ninja tried to argue, but his gaze met the other man's cold, piercing expression.

The matter could not be stopped. The ninja named Yamanaka had already stepped forward—words were not enough to be trusted; only the memories within the brain would not lie.

Yamanaka placed his palm on Hanyu's forehead. In his unconscious state, Hanyu had no idea that an unprecedented crisis had descended upon him.

However, the people present no longer focused their attention on Hanyu. Danzo's actions were an overly cautious, redundant gesture—subjectively speaking, everyone here already believed that Hanyu was telling the truth.

Yet, probing his memory was the established procedure.

At this moment, Sarutobi and the others were concerned with the aftermath of the Second Hokage and the subsequent direction of the Hidden Leaf. No longer harboring unrealistic fantasies, some things were already beyond saving:

The younger of the two brothers who led the Forest Senju clan, the great hero who had pacified the chaotic world and enabled the founding of the Hidden Leaf Village, had passed away.

As a ninja, Senju Tobirama was immensely powerful, having developed numerous formidable ninjutsu and forbidden techniques. As the ruler of the Hidden Leaf, his meticulous establishment of the village system was impeccable. However... there is no such thing as an immortal ninja in this world.

For the Hidden Leaf Village, having lost the world's number one, the First Hokage Senju Hashirama, followed by Uchiha Madara—who was his equal—and now the Second Hokage Senju Tobirama, its power to intimidate the ninja world had all but vanished.

An era had ended.

The sacrifice of the Second Hokage was certainly a sorrowful event, but everyone had more or less prepared themselves for such an outcome over the past few days, so no one was on the verge of losing their composure. With the Hokage gone, organizing the current state of the Hidden Leaf was the most important task... for the war was still ongoing.

From the perspective of maintaining the stability of the Hidden Leaf, the last words of the Second Hokage brought back by Hanyu were of significant importance.

The Second Hokage had passed away suddenly. It was supposed to have been a simple alliance activity with the Cloud Village; who could have foreseen that it would lead to both ninja villages losing their leaders? Therefore, the Hokage had not arranged his affairs before departing, let alone designated his successor.

He had only appointed his disciple, Sarutobi Hiruzen, as the new Hokage successor just before his sacrifice. To everyone else in the village, this was a very "temporary" decision. Moreover, the only ones who could provide testimony were the guards who had accompanied the Hokage at the time, so it was not enough to convince everyone.

Not everyone was willing to see such a young man in his early twenties become the leader of the village.

However, with the Second Hokage's written appointment, the legitimacy of Sarutobi Hiruzen as the Hokage successor was now beyond dispute... setting aside the undercurrents for the moment, at least on the surface, this was the case.

"Although we had the support of Mito-sama previously, the rumors and voices of opposition could not be silenced. After all, we are too young. But now, with the Second Hokage's final written appointment, Sarutobi, your situation will improve significantly... In fact, you are already the Third Hokage." Mitokado Homura said, looking at the blood-stained note.

This was the difference between word-of-mouth and written decree.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head and said, "It is still too early for 'Third Hokage,' but... at least for now, I can be the acting Hokage."

"...You are right."

Compared to directly seizing the highest authority of the village, Sarutobi preferred to strive for a smooth transition. Regardless, questioning of him was inevitable, and such skepticism would persist for a long time—compared to the world-renowned First Hokage and Second Hokage, Sarutobi, as the successor, would inevitably be compared to them. The brilliance of his predecessors was so bright that it made the successor seem dim by comparison.

With the war raging outside and the internal conflicts following the loss of the Hokage, it must be said that even the consistently steady and proactive Sarutobi could not help but feel that the world was a difficult place.