The Substitute Sacrifice: Hatake Sakumo

In Konohagakure, there was a massive rock that seemed to watch over the village.

Giant faces had been carved into the cliffside.

The rock faces, modeled after the Hokages and known as Kage Rock, watched over everyone who lived in the village.

The villagers went about their lives with the comforting feeling that the Hokages were watching over them.

For now, there was only the face of Hashirama, the First and current Hokage, but the rock faces would surely keep growing as the Second and Third Hokage succeeded him.

The face of Hashirama, gazed upon by the people, had been carved with great skill. It bore the fierce look of a battle-hardened warrior who had brought an end to the Warring States Period, yet still carried Hashirama's natural warmth. Even Hashirama himself thought it was something to be proud of.

But at that moment, he stood atop his own stone face, looking gloomy.

His long hair fluttered in the wind, brushing coldly against his cheek.

Hashirama had watched over the village's growth since the day it was founded.

The village, still expanding, spread across the fine view before him. It was the most precious treasure he had finally won, the very thing he and his dear friend Uchiha Madara had once sought together.

Madara and Hashirama had talked about their dreams together when they were children.

The two, who had recognized each other as their one and only friend, lost important family members because of their respective clans and were forced apart.

At the time, they had been two boys tossed about by fate. In the end, they had grown into the leaders of their clans.

After a long history of fighting, they had gone their separate ways and clashed countless times. Yet Madara had been moved by Hashirama's generosity in still calling him a friend, and after decades of twists and turns, the two had finally joined hands.

They reconciled with their friend and brought the Warring States Period to an end.

They founded an organization where children would not die in vain.

Although they had obtained everything they once longed for, Hashirama and Madara had ultimately gone their separate ways as their ideas gradually diverged.

Even so, to Hashirama, the peace they had finally attained after struggling through the Warring States Period was something he wanted to protect more than anything.

The village had allowed him to meet the family he cherished, and that only strengthened his resolve.

"Madara..."

But his dear friend Madara was not there.

Madara's ideas clashed with Senju Tobirama's political policies. Not long after Hashirama became the First, Madara finally left the village.

Afterward, consumed by hatred over the village's "betrayal," Madara became a vengeful demon. Using the power of his Mangekyō Sharingan, he controlled the Nine-Tails and led it in an attack on Konohagakure, intending to destroy the village.

Hashirama faced Madara with overwhelming sorrow and helplessness.

The fierce battle that lasted all night ended in Hashirama's victory.

Beside a newly formed waterfall, in terrain reshaped by their battle, Hashirama quietly gazed at the face of his dear friend, who lay dead as if asleep.

The helplessness of wondering why things had turned out this way, and the absolute resolve to show no mercy to anyone who threatened the village.

It was easy to imagine how painful a decision it had been for gentle Hashirama to kill his dear friend Madara with his own hands.

The tangled emotions could not be put into words.

But Hashirama did not regret killing his friend with his own hands. He was left with only a trace of loneliness.

"Hey—! Grandpa—!"

"Oh, Diejian... Hm?"

At dusk, Hashirama heard the familiar voice of his grandson. He immediately changed his sorrowful expression into that of a useless old man doting on his grandson.

But Diejian was nowhere to be seen.

As Hashirama looked around for him, he heard a call of "Over here!"

Looking down, he saw Diejian standing vertically on the stone face, waving.

Hashirama hurriedly jumped over to him and scooped him up.

This technique of sticking to a wall was an advanced form of chakra control.

Hashirama did not think it was very difficult, but if someone neglected the basics, mastering it became much harder.

When he heard that Diejian had taken Tobirama as his teacher and formally started learning ninjutsu, Hashirama had been depressed, wondering why it could not be him. But he was, after all, the head of his clan and the Hokage, the leader of the village.

He had not failed to notice Tobirama's intentions, so he had reluctantly given up the position of teacher.

He was glad that Diejian had already mastered chakra control well enough to walk on walls, but he also worried that Diejian might lose focus, disrupt his chakra control, and fall.

Hashirama himself had mastered precise chakra control from a young age, such as sticking to walls and standing on water. He figured Diejian would be fine too, but he was an overprotective grandfather, after all.

Holding Diejian, Hashirama leaped higher up the stone face and stood at the edge of a cliff.

The view from here offered an even more sweeping look over the entire village than the one from Kage Rock.

"Whoa—it really is amazing!"

Diejian exclaimed in awe.

A long time had passed since "that incident," and nostalgia welled up in Hashirama. The sight before him made his heart grow warm.

Hashirama had once talked about his dreams with Madara right here.

Back then, they were both still children.

The stone faces had not yet been carved into the cliff, and the area now lined with houses had been a forest thick with trees.

They had chased after their unfinished dreams: to end the war and bring peace, to protect their families, to protect the children, and to build a village here.

Now, the friend who had once shared those dreams with him was gone, but the village remained, and so did the family who lived there.

It was the far shore of a dream he had only just managed to reach—

"Diejian... do you have a dream?"

After the words slipped out without thinking, Hashirama looked back over everything he had done and suddenly grew anxious.

All Hashirama had taught Diejian was how to care for bonsai and gamble, both of which he enjoyed, along with showing off the various ninja tools he had collected.

It was entirely possible that Diejian would say he wanted to become a gambler.

Mito had given him a mild scolding about it just the other day.

—What will Diejian say?

Seeing Diejian look as if he had figured out, "It can only be this, right?" Hashirama realized his grandson had already settled on an answer.

His heart filled with both anticipation and unease. He urged Diejian to speak, waiting to hear what kind of dream would come out of his mouth.

"I want to become Hokage and protect everyone."

Diejian had already started to seem quite grown-up, but to Hashirama he was still a grandson of the most adorable age.

He had probably thought long and hard before deciding. He did not even fully understand what being Hokage meant yet.

That was not a bad thing. It was something very important.

Just as Hashirama had once pursued the unfinished dream of building a village.

Then all Hashirama could do was pray that, along the long road of life ahead of Diejian, this dream would carry him straight forward.

He hoped Diejian would not take a sorrowful path like Hashirama's—building a village so his family would not die, only to part ways with his closest friend. Nor did he want him to take a sorrowful path like Madara's—witnessing darkness in a village built on dreams of peace, having his heart shattered and falling into darkness.

Hashirama let out a deep sigh and stilled his trembling lips.

He hesitated over whether to pass on the "Will of Fire" he had once taught his disciple, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

His only concern was whether it would constrain the possibilities of a young leaf just beginning to bud.

Even so, Hashirama wanted to give Diejian an answer.

He believed Diejian would not let that answer bind him, but would use it as a signpost and eventually find a dream of his own.

Was that selfishness? Or trust?

By the time he understood, Hashirama would probably already be dead.

Even so, if his grandson could inherit the "Will of Fire" and reach the far shore of the "true dream" Hashirama had always pursued, then any suffering in this life would be worth enduring.

"Diejian. The Hokage is someone who bears everyone's hopes. Everyone in the village believes in me, and I believe in everyone. That is what it means to be Hokage."

"I see... Okay, I'll remember that."

Looking at Diejian as he nodded earnestly, Hashirama broke into a smile and said, "Is that so? Is that so?"

A leaf caught in the wind danced skyward before Hashirama's eyes.

After that, Hashirama was unable to stop Tobirama from suddenly appearing and taking Diejian away.

"Sorry I'm—late!"

Long past the agreed time, Diejian still had not shown up. Just as the blonde girl was about to lose patience, he finally appeared, showing no remorse whatsoever.

With one hand in his pocket and the other dangling lazily at his side, he looked so utterly unrepentant that the corner of Yamanaka Ina's mouth twitched.

"Why are you late every single time?!"

Watching Diejian saunter over without a care, Ina pointed at him and shouted.

It was a familiar scene: Ina worked up into a fury, while Diejian looked awkward and seemed at least somewhat apologetic.

The silver-haired boy, Hatake Sakumo, wore an expression that said, "Here we go again," and irritably covered his ears.

"Nothing much. I overslept. Sorry."

"Couldn't you put that a little more tactfully?!"

Faced with such blunt proof of his insincerity, Ina's eyes narrowed even further.

She was breathing hard, but when she saw Diejian shrink back a little, she let her shoulders relax as if she were tired.

If she had known, she would have preferred that he make up some excuse, like "I helped an old lady find her way" or "I helped a lost child."

Sakumo, looking a little impatient, interrupted:

"Come on, he was only about five minutes late. I don't think it's good to get mad every single time."

At this sudden reproach, Ina's eyes widened.

She had never expected Sakumo to defend the late Diejian and criticize her when she was the one who was angry.

Why?

Surprise and frustration muddled her feelings, and her emerald-green eyes suddenly grew damp.

"But ninjas have to be punctual... Sniff... Sniff—!!"

She did not want to cry, but the tears fell anyway. Was it because she had not yet mastered emotional control?

Ina felt ashamed.

Diejian was the one who got a fright. To make her stop crying as soon as possible, he gently rubbed the shoulder of the trembling Ina, who was desperately trying to hold back her tears.

Sakumo sighed. "Women really are such a pain, crying over something this small..."

But he still felt guilty about making her cry.

Yamanaka Ina was strong-willed, but she also had a tendency to cry when someone happened to point something out.

She was very good at arguing head-on or trading insults with other girls, but seemed weak when someone called her out while she was relaxed.

"There's somewhere I want to go today."

After Ina had calmed down, Diejian suggested the three of them take a trip to a somewhat strange forest outside the village.

Diejian casually pointed toward the forest with his fingertip.

Sakumo questioned him:

"Weren't we going to train here? Diejian, didn't you say Lord Tobirama told you to practice Taijutsu? That's why we met here."

But Diejian simply strolled ahead with a cheerful grin.

"Once we go out the gate and walk for a while, there's a forest bigger than the ones around here. It's more overgrown... or maybe tangled up. It's kind of strange..."

Ina silently followed along too.

"Ah, I knew it."

Sakumo, treated like he was talking to himself, said, "Do what you want. I'm not getting involved if something happens."

Actually, when something went wrong, it was usually Diejian, not Sakumo, who got scolded, so he really did not mind.

It had happened a few years ago.

Hashirama had snuck out of the village with his young eldest grandson—though he had gotten Tobirama's permission first. The boy had only just started learning ninjutsu and kept pestering Hashirama to show him his techniques.

But that grandson had actually declared that, when it came to Water Release, Tobirama had a wider variety of techniques and used them more often.

And apparently, that cheeky kid had even said that Earth Release was boring.

To cheer his grandson up—and because he had been unable to resist the boy's pleading—Hashirama showed him the Wood Release Secret Technique: Deep Forest Emergence.

Hashirama, fired up by his grandson's begging, seemed to have put his whole heart into casting the technique. As a result, the whole area had turned into a twisted, chaotic forest filled with trees with unnatural trunks.

"So the ecosystem got weird because of you, then."

"You really haven't changed at all."

Sakumo's shoulders slumped in dismay.

Diejian smiled sheepishly.

Ina was just as surprised. She jabbed Diejian in the side and said, "Don't get the wrong idea. I'm not praising you!"

"Quit it, quit it," Diejian said, batting her hand away, but Ina found his reaction incredibly amusing.

Before things could get out of hand, Sakumo cleared his throat to draw their attention.

Noticing, Ina gave a deliberate "Ahem," covering the corner of her mouth with her fist, though her cheeks flushed slightly.

"W-well, that was Lord Hokage's Wood Release technique. My big sister said she saw it. Apparently, it can make flowers grow as well as trees, and my sister even got some flowers from Lord Hokage."

Hearing this unexpected piece of trivia, Sakumo earnestly echoed, "Huh—"

Diejian clapped and said, "You know a lot!" but somehow did not sound very enthusiastic.

Ina puffed out her chest a little proudly, emphasizing her firm abdomen, which was covered in bandages.

Although her outfit left her midriff bare, Ina had covered the skin that should have been showing with wound bandages.

It was a strange fashion choice, but Diejian thought it had its own charm.

But Diejian himself wore simple yet conspicuous armor on his hips and chest. His outfit stood out in the village, so he had no right to judge anyone else.

Only Sakumo, the one wearing an understated ninja outfit, had any right to say something.

Even so, as village children, they were naturally curious about the forest said to have been created by the Hokage, whom they admired.

Unlike Sakumo, who was getting excited, Ina was a little hesitant.

"But my mom said we're not allowed to play here..."

"Really? Then should we go back?"

As soon as Diejian said that, Ina smiled.

"I already told her, so it's fine. Don't worry."

"Really?! Then let's go!"

"You change your mind fast."

Sakumo looked puzzled.

"Uh, what do you mean? When?"

"Shadow Clone."

Hearing Ina's answer, Sakumo nodded in sudden understanding.

Ina immediately hurried outside, with Diejian and Sakumo following behind her, looking both surprised and impressed.

"Hmm... Since it's a forest, you can't practice Fire Release, Diejian."

"Right."

They crossed the main road through the village, passed through the residential district, and arrived at the massive gates.

This was the village entrance.

Each of the three carried a bag containing fruit they'd bought with their pocket money to snack on during breaks in their training.

"Good day, young master."

"Thanks for your hard work."

The guards at the gate noticed Diejian and nodded in greeting.

Diejian was used to it and didn't pay it much mind, responding casually. But Ina and Sakumo felt a little awkward seeing adults treat a child with such deference.

Diejian told them they were leaving the village to have some fun.

The war had ended, and it had been some time since the armistice was signed.

Although Uchiha Madara had attacked them, the village was at peace diplomatically.

The gates stood open, and people could come and go freely.

After chatting for a bit, Diejian and the others passed through the gates and set off on foot.

Seeing a forest that was even more lush than he'd imagined, Diejian drew in a breath.

The other two seemed to be somewhat awed by the atmosphere as well.

"We can use Earth Release as much as we want here."

"Actually, we messed up the Training Ground once before and got scolded for it."

"Don't lump me in with you! I tried to stop you. You two were the ones who got carried away!"

"Ahahahaha! Yeah, that did happen."

A few days earlier, Diejian had learned "nature transformation" from his great-uncle and teacher, Tobirama. During a match with Sakumo, he'd immediately tried to put it into practice.

Nature transformation was a high-level ninjutsu that changed colorless Chakra into one of five elemental natures—fire, wind, water, earth, and lightning. It was also a fundamental skill.

People had different affinities for the elements. Some had no affinity at all, while others had two or more.

Diejian had affinities for earth, fire, and water.

There was also something known as Kekkei Genkai.

These included special physical traits inherited through bloodlines, as well as advanced ninjutsu that fused two elemental natures to create a new one.

Diejian's grandfather, Hashirama, possessed two Kekkei Genkai: a special constitution that gave him extraordinary regenerative abilities, and Wood Release, which came from combining the water and earth natures.

Diejian had been delighted by Tobirama's explanation and by learning some simple basic jutsu. But when he was told that proper ninjutsu training would begin next time, he'd been disappointed and thought:

If Wood Release is inherited, I should be able to use it too.

Having learned nothing from his previous failure, Diejian had impatiently tried to use Wood Release during his sparring match with Sakumo. Naturally, he'd failed spectacularly.

Instead, he'd performed a completely different technique: "Landslide Technique," which spewed a Turbid Current from his mouth.

When a ninjutsu failed, it meant losing control. The technique that actually went off was Earth Release: Earth Flow Technique.

It was a basic Earth Release technique that spewed sand, but the addition of water nature made it grow to an abnormal scale.

—Aaaaaaaah!

What was more, the rampaging technique showed no signs of stopping. The wave of earth, rocks, and wood fragments swallowed Sakumo and Ina, then spilled into the streets, causing extensive damage to part of the village.

Houses were swallowed up, and people screamed as they fled in all directions.

Thinking they were under attack, Tobirama had used Flying Thunder God to rush to the scene and suppress Diejian. While Ina and Sakumo were unconscious, Hashirama rescued them with Wood Release.

That was when Ina's older sister had seen Wood Release.

"That's no reason to laugh!"

"Ouch."

Ina smacked the back of Diejian's head as he tried to laugh it off.

After the incident, Tobirama, who served as an adviser to the village, and Diejian's parents had lectured him for hours and subjected him to genjutsu attacks. It wasn't something he could just laugh off. It had nearly become a psychological scar.

After that, the Landslide Technique was designated a Forbidden Jutsu—within the village.

"It's not like it happens all the time. Aren't you holding a bit of a grudge?"

"Ugh..."

"Ah, it's about time we headed back! Otherwise, we'll be late getting home!"

Diejian all but forcibly took the hand of the teary-eyed Ina and coaxed her along as they entered the forest.

Sakumo followed behind them, looking resigned.

Sakumo bit into a piece of fruit from his bag.

It was a little sour.