Hiruzen's Fury

Sarutobi Hiruzen, panting heavily in a fit of rage, slammed the letter in his hand onto the desk.

The letter had been sent by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire; the paper was of the finest quality, the calligraphy neat and orderly, every stroke radiating official solemnity and authority. Yet, at this moment, the paper felt like a blade in Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes—a blade stabbed into his back.

"Investigate." He snapped his head up, his voice low, as if squeezed from his throat. "Send men to investigate. Even if you have to chase them to the Land of Sound, find out for me!"

The Anbu kneeling before the desk kept his head bowed, not daring to look up. He had served the Hokage for many years and rarely saw him like this. The last time he had seen him this angry was, well, the last time.

"Yes." The Anbu gave a brief acknowledgment, rose, and retreated. When he closed the door, his movements were as light as a cat's, terrified of making even the slightest extra sound.

The office was left with only Sarutobi Hiruzen, who sat motionless in his chair.

His chest still heaved violently, his breathing heavy and ragged like an enraged old ox; his face was flushed deep red, the veins on his forehead bulging as if they were trying to crawl out from beneath his skin; his lips were pressed tightly together, the corners pulled downward. That face, which usually wore a kind smile, now looked somewhat hideous.

After a long while, his breathing finally began to steady.

Sarutobi Hiruzen reached out and picked up the pipe on the desk—he didn't know when it had gone out. He did not relight it, merely holding it in his hand, his fingers stroking the wood that had been worn smooth.

He began to reflect.

From the night of the Uchiha Clan massacre until now, not even a few short weeks had passed. A few weeks was not even a blink of an eye in the history of the Ninja World. Yet, in these few short weeks, the sky over Konoha had been turned upside down.

Before the Uchiha massacre, Uchiha Setsuna had feigned illness in bed, and everyone thought he was dying. As it turned out, before that old thing died, he used a sound-amplification ninjutsu to shout his words across all of Konoha.

He tore open the darkness Sarutobi Hiruzen had always hidden, laying unspeakable matters bare before everyone.

The annihilation of the Senju Clan, the death of the Fourth Hokage, the identity of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki... every word was like a knife stabbing into Konoha, stabbing into Sarutobi Hiruzen.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had thought these matters would be buried by time and faded by the years, but Uchiha Setsuna had dug them all up before he died, letting the entire Ninja World hear them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen still remembered the firelight from that night.

Then, the secret of the Caged Bird was made public; the hand seals for the curse mark and the chakra circulation paths were written out clearly, like an instruction manual.

Hyuga Hiashi acted decisively, recalling all clansmen on missions abroad and shutting the gates of the Hyuga Compound. Since then, no one had seen a ninja of the Hyuga Branch Family walking in the village.

The Hyuga Clan's retreat dealt a heavy blow to Konoha's reconnaissance capabilities, and other ninja clans were also gripped by a sense of crisis.

Although the Ino-Shika-Cho trio continued to operate normally on the surface, they had begun to tighten their internal defenses. The Inuzuka, Aburame, and smaller clans were even more nervous, terrified that one day Danzo or Sarutobi Hiruzen would turn their gaze toward them.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could understand their fear. The Uchiha were wiped out, the Hyuga had retreated; who was next? No one knew, but everyone was guessing.

Following that, at the same time on the same day, Yugito, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki of Kumogakure, was abducted, and Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki of Iwagakure, was also taken.

The perpetrators acted swiftly, leaving no traces behind, and their level of sealing jutsu was extremely high.

Both Kumogakure and Iwagakure pointed their fingers at Konoha, the reason being that, on the surface, only Konoha possessed the complete inheritance of the Uzumaki Clan's sealing arts.

The Raikage of Kumogakure was furious and threatened war; Ōnoki of Iwagakure, while not as agitated, had also sent a formal letter demanding that Konoha hand over the culprits.

The clouds of war hung over Konoha, pressing down on Sarutobi Hiruzen until he could barely breathe.

Originally, he had been full of expectations for Tsunade's return. Sarutobi Hiruzen knew he was getting old and that it was time to find a successor. Since there was no one suitable in the Sarutobi family, it had to be his student.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had planned it out: let Tsunade learn by his side for a few years, let him continue to shine for Konoha for a few more, and when he could no longer work and Konohamaru was older, he would have Tsunade take Konohamaru as a student, allowing him to retire in peace and pass the position to her.

Moreover, although Tsunade was his student, she was also the granddaughter of Senju Hashirama. With her there, Konoha's current problems would be easy to solve. The Caged Bird issue on the Hyuga side needed someone to redesign it, other clans needed someone to appease them, and Konoha's research system needed someone to lead development. Tsunade doing these things was more appropriate than him, the Hokage, stepping in personally.

But—Tsunade did not come to see him.

She returned to the Senju Compound, closed the doors, and met with those who had once branched off from the Senju.

These branches that had split from the Senju Clan had long since declined, not even qualifying as a third-rate clan in Konoha! The first people Tsunade met upon returning to the village were not the Hokage, nor any clan head, but a group of people from small families that had been in decline for decades.

She closed the doors and talked with them for an entire afternoon. No one knew what they discussed. But it was precisely this lack of knowledge that made it even harder to accept.

This morning, Sarutobi Hiruzen was still waiting, thinking that perhaps Tsunade would come in the afternoon:

She had just returned in the morning, needed to tidy up her residence, settle Shizune, and handle miscellaneous tasks; surely she would have time in the afternoon.

Jiraiya had waited with him all afternoon, the two of them sitting in the office, exchanging sporadic words. Jiraiya held a book he had authored, flipping through it without reading a single word, occasionally standing up to walk to the window, then sitting back down like an ant on a hot pan.

At dusk, Jiraiya finally couldn't sit still. He said he was going to have dinner with Naruto and stood up to leave. When he reached the door, he paused, wanting to say something, his mouth opening and closing. In the end, he just glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen, pulled the door open, and left.

After Jiraiya left, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat alone in the office.

Outside the window, the sky shifted from orange-red to dark red, from dark red to gray-blue, and finally turned completely black.

Smoke from dinner fires rose in the village, drifting straight up in thin wisps; there was no wind, and even the smoke was too lazy to move.

Sarutobi Hiruzen had never stayed in his office at this hour before.

He could almost smell the aroma of food drifting through the air; someone on the next street was stir-frying, and the sizzling of the oil pan could be heard across several streets.

In the Anbu lounge just a wall away, people were speaking in low voices; he couldn't make out what they were saying, but the tone was calm, as if there were no emergencies.

All of Konoha was functioning normally.

Only Sarutobi Hiruzen's Hokage Building was as quiet as a tomb.

He was waiting for Tsunade. Waiting from morning to afternoon, from afternoon to dusk, from dusk to nightfall.

Tsunade did not come.

What arrived was a letter—a notification sent by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire.

Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up the letter on the desk and read it again. He recognized every character, but strung together, he wished he didn't.

"Notice to Hokage Sarutobi Hiruzen of Konoha: Following verification, Fujiwara Orochimaru is the long-lost son of the Daimyo of the Land of Sound. He has now returned to his ancestral roots and had his status restored. Effective immediately, the wanted warrant for the rogue ninja Fujiwara Orochimaru is rescinded. Fujiwara Orochimaru voluntarily renounces his status as a ninja and will no longer identify as one from this day forward; he has been naturalized into the Land of Sound as a member of its nobility. Konoha is expected to acknowledge this and cooperate accordingly. Office of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire."

"Fujiwara Orochimaru." Sarutobi Hiruzen read the name aloud, the corner of his mouth twitching.

He truly could not understand what was so good about the Land of Sound that Orochimaru would even go so far as to change his surname!

Orochimaru was no longer an orphan, no longer a rogue ninja, no longer a sinner of Konoha; he had a father, a home, a status, and a future. He was to become a noble, joining the very class of people he had once despised the most...

The reason the Daimyo of the Land of Fire rescinded the warrant was precisely out of consideration for the dignity of the nobility. A descendant of a Daimyo could not be a rogue ninja. This was a matter of face, a question of status, and an unspoken understanding among the aristocracy.

When the Anbu delivered the letter, they also brought back information gathered from the Daimyo's subordinates—

The Daimyo of the Land of Sound had personally traveled to the Land of Fire with gifts, requesting in person that the Daimyo of the Land of Fire cancel the warrant for Orochimaru.

It was said that the Daimyo of the Land of Fire had initially refused—the things Orochimaru had done, the human experiments, the defection; none of those were easy to sweep under the rug! But the Daimyo of the Land of Sound had stated that he intended for Orochimaru to inherit his title.

Inherit the title of Daimyo!

This meant that the future ruler of the Land of Sound would be Orochimaru!

An heir to a Daimyo certainly could not be a rogue ninja, nor could he ever be one!

This was not just a matter of personal favor, but a matter of national decorum. The Daimyo of the Land of Fire could afford to slight the Daimyo of the Land of Sound, but he could not afford to slight the status of "Daimyo" itself. That was how the rules among the nobility worked: you help me, I help you, and everyone avoids tearing off the mask.

Sarutobi Hiruzen could understand the decision of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire. But—understanding was one thing, and anger was another.

He set the letter down, picked up his pipe again, packed it with tobacco, and lit it.

The flame danced in the pipe bowl before quickly extinguishing, leaving only a glowing ember that pulsed in the dark. Smoke drifted slowly from his mouth, spreading through the office like a thin veil.

He closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair: Orochimaru is the son of the Daimyo of the Land of Sound?

He did not believe it—Sarutobi Hiruzen knew better than anyone who Orochimaru's parents were. One had to remember that Orochimaru was his own student; would he have taken someone on as a disciple without having investigated them thoroughly?!

Orochimaru had grown up in Konoha, his parents were ordinary Konoha ninja who died in the war. All this talk of the Land of Sound, of a long-lost child—it was all fabricated.

But it was fabricated well, well enough for the Daimyo of the Land of Fire to believe it, well enough for the Daimyo's Mansion to issue an official notice. Now, Orochimaru was no longer a rogue ninja of Konoha; he had a new identity, a new nationality, and a new future.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took another deep drag of his pipe, forcing himself to calm down.

The angrier one is, the more one needs to remain calm. This was what Senju Tobirama had taught him back in the day. That Second Hokage had said—a Hokage may feel anger, but he must never make decisions while angry.

Sarutobi Hiruzen began to analyze everything that had transpired:

Uchiha Setsuna had feigned illness for years, only to erupt on the night of the clan's annihilation. It was not a spur-of-the-moment decision; he had been prepared: the sound-amplification ninjutsu, the explosive tags, those words—none of those were things one could just pull out of thin air.

How long had he been preparing? A year? Two years? Or even longer? Could he have done all this alone? Or was someone helping him from the shadows? Since he had guessed his own actions, why hadn't he taken the Uchiha clansmen and left?

Few people knew the secret of the Hyuga Caged Bird: the Hyuga clan head, the core members of the Main Family, himself and Danzō, and... possibly the late Uzumaki Mito.

Tsunade's grandmother, the wife of Senju Hashirama, the princess of the Uzumaki Clan. While she was alive, Uzumaki Mito had been exposed to many forbidden techniques and secret arts; she might have even studied the Caged Bird curse seal. To whom had her legacy been passed? Tsunade? That granddaughter of Senju Hashirama and Uzumaki Mito, the direct bloodline of the Senju Clan.

Moreover, Tsunade's behavior today was also strange. Upon returning to Konoha, she hadn't come to see him, but instead locked herself away to meet with the descendants of the Senju branch families.

Sharing the same blood, was Tsunade meeting them to consolidate the remaining power of the Senju? What was she planning? To rebuild the Senju? Or did she have other motives?

The Jinchuriki of Iwagakure and Kumogakure had disappeared strangely at the same time. The person behind it possessed extremely powerful sealing techniques; in the Ninja World, aside from the Uzumaki Clan, no one else possessed such a level of skill.

But the Land of Whirlpools had already been destroyed. Although the other four ninja villages had obtained some of the Uzumaki Clan's legacy to varying degrees, it certainly wasn't as comprehensive as Konoha's.

Within Konoha, only a handful of people could access those complete legacies: Danzō, Tsunade, Orochimaru, and Jiraiya.

Setting the others aside, Orochimaru had studied the sealing arts of the Uzumaki Clan, as well as the Sharingan and Hashirama Cells. His mastery of sealing techniques ranked in the top three in the world today.

But why would Orochimaru do this? He had no grudge against Kumogakure or Iwagakure, and the Jinchuriki were of no use to him.

Unless... someone was pulling his strings from behind the scenes, or... thinking of Orochimaru's "reunion" in the Land of Sound, Sarutobi Hiruzen could not rule out a connection between Orochimaru and these events.

These events had occurred independently, and Sarutobi Hiruzen hadn't initially thought much of them, but the Ninja World was never short of accidents; what it lacked were people capable of stringing so many accidents together.

The more Sarutobi Hiruzen analyzed, the more he realized that these recent events, one after another, seemed like a meticulously orchestrated plot.

Every step had been taken on a razor's edge, precisely piercing Konoha's soft underbelly, striking at his own weaknesses:

First, the Uchiha annihilation tore open Konoha's scars, then the Hyuga's withdrawal weakened Konoha's defenses, followed by the disappearance of the Jinchuriki bringing the clouds of war, then Tsunade's return disrupting the internal power structure of Konoha, and finally, Orochimaru's escape, completely slipping out of Konoha's control...

They were all linked!

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a flash of insight in his mind and suddenly opened his eyes, his red-rimmed gaze piercing through the smoke.

Who had the motive? Who had the ability? Who could be manipulating all of this from the shadows?

The first name that surfaced in Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind was his friend and partner of several decades—Shimura Danzō:

Danzō had always wanted to be Hokage, always wanted to control Konoha. As long as he himself was in power, Danzō couldn't rise. But if Konoha were thrown into chaos and he could no longer keep it under control, Danzō's opportunity would arrive.

Danzō had the means; the Root had been operating for decades, and his subordinates were capable—infiltration, assassination, intelligence, he excelled at it all. Furthermore, Danzō knew too many secrets: the downfall of the Senju Clan, the death of the Fourth Hokage, the truth behind the Nine-Tails Incident—he knew it all. If he were to leak these things, it would be effortless...

But Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head; it wasn't Danzō, at least not entirely.

Danzō's hands and eyes had been sealed by Uchiha Fugaku; the nerves in his hands were necrotic, his left eye was blind, and the vision in his right eye was so weak it was almost non-existent. Most of the Root's personnel had also been pulled away, leaving it severely crippled. He was currently struggling to survive; how could he have the energy to orchestrate such a massive scheme?

Moreover, Sarutobi Hiruzen knew Danzō's character too well. The man was insidious, ruthless, and unscrupulous, but he had a fatal flaw—he only focused on immediate gains and losses; he lacked the vision to lay out such a grand design.

If it wasn't Danzō, a second name surfaced in Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind—Tsunade.

Tsunade was the granddaughter of Senju Hashirama. Konoha had been founded by Senju Hashirama, and she had always felt that Konoha should be protected by the Senju, or at the very least, that it shouldn't have turned into what it was today.

For this reason, Tsunade had always held grievances against Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzō, feeling that they had betrayed the ideals of Senju Hashirama. And Tsunade had the ability, the background, and the resources. Upon returning to the village, she had immediately gathered the members of the Senju branch families; she was accumulating power, reintegrating the remnants of the Senju.

Sarutobi Hiruzen picked up his pipe, then set it back down—but there was a question—would Tsunade really do such things?

Tsunade had feelings for Konoha, that was certain: it was the village her grandfather had built, the place where she had grown up. Although she had been gone for over a decade, she had never done anything detrimental to Konoha.

The disappearance of a Jinchuriki would bring war, and war would destroy Konoha. Would Tsunade wish to see Konoha swallowed by war? Sarutobi Hiruzen did not think so. She was not that kind of person.

But Sarutobi Hiruzen dared not completely rule out the possibility.

People change. In the dozen years Tsunade had been away, no one knew what she had experienced. What if she had changed? What if her disappointment in Konoha had turned into resentment?

Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples. Danzo and Tsunade, the two most likely people in Konoha at the moment; he could not rule out either one, yet both had points that did not make sense.

Was there a third person?

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought of Jiraiya. Jiraiya was a man who had spent his entire life avoiding responsibility: avoiding his duty to Konoha, avoiding his duty to his teacher, and avoiding his duty to Naruto. Would he orchestrate such a massive scheme? Sarutobi Hiruzen did not believe it. He knew Jiraiya's capabilities, and he knew Jiraiya's character. This disciple, who was most like him, would not betray him.

Orochimaru? He was currently the biggest beneficiary on the surface. Sarutobi Hiruzen suspected he was involved, but it was unlikely he was the mastermind. Orochimaru was a man who preferred research over power; what he wanted was immortality, not the seat of the Hokage.

Hyuga Hiashi? The Hyuga were currently being targeted; after the secret of the Caged Bird was made public, the Hyuga had suffered the most. He should have no motive, but Sarutobi Hiruzen dared not rule him out.

Sarutobi Hiruzen thought for a long time until his head ached, yet he still had no answer.

Outside the window, the sky had turned completely black, and the lights in the village homes began to flicker on one by one. Looking down from the Hokage Building, they looked like scattered stars. Sarutobi Hiruzen watched those stars, and suddenly, he felt as if they were all gazes secretly coveting his position as Hokage...

Someone knocked on the door. Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and sat up straight. "Come in."

An Anbu pushed the door open and knelt on one knee before the desk. His mask hid his face, but his voice carried a suppressed tension.

"Lord Hokage, there is urgent intelligence."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart sank. Why were there so many pieces of bad news today? "Speak."

"We have just received the latest intelligence: Kumogakure and Iwagakure have already begun massing troops at the border! Furthermore, our garrisoned troops in the directions of Kirigakure and Sunagakure have also sent back warning notices; they have observed that the borders of those two villages are also..."