Your Wife Is Really Fierce!

At six-thirty in the evening, the sun hung low, about to set, casting down its last rays of dusky light.

In the dusk, Danzo pushed open the half-closed gate and entered the courtyard.

As soon as he stepped inside, a familiar smell hit him, making him instinctively furrow his brow.

It wasn't the smell of home, but the scent of tobacco that clung to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Danzo looked around and quickly spotted the source of the smell: Asuma, smoking in a corner behind the garden's artificial hill.

A crooked beam made for crooked rafters.

Danzo silently criticized his old friend, then used his master-level silent infiltration skills to approach Asuma without a sound.

In the corner, Asuma held a cigarette in his right hand and took a deep drag. Smoke streamed from his nostrils in two long, twisting trails.

Danzo came up behind Asuma, pinched out the burning cigarette in his hand with one hand, and grabbed the back of his neck with the other.

"Smoking? You let someone sneak up behind you without noticing. If you went to the front lines like this, you wouldn't last a day." Danzo stubbed out the cigarette and reprimanded him sternly.

"This is home. What's wrong with relaxing a little?" Asuma looked at Danzo indignantly. "Besides, don't you smoke too?"

Danzo looked at Asuma with an imposing air. "I've quit, and you're not allowed to smoke either! Do you know that on the battlefield, during a mission, the smell of smoke can give away your position?"

"I don't smoke when I'm out." Asuma stuck out his chin and lied without a hint of guilt.

As an old hand, Danzo saw right through Asuma's lie. He warned him, "If I catch you smoking again, you can forget about going to the front lines."

"I..." Asuma tried to argue.

"Talk back again, and you won't be going to the front lines either," Danzo cut in.

Asuma glared at Danzo, seething with anger. But for the sake of getting to the front lines, he had no choice but to hold it in and trudge toward the house.

Danzo stayed where he was, watching Asuma's retreating back. When Biwako Sarutobi came out of the house at the sound, he forced a smile.

"You come home and start arguing right away. Why don't you just move into the Hokage Building and stay there? Don't come home at all." Using the incident as an excuse, Biwako expressed her resentment over Danzo's many days away from home.

Facing Biwako, Danzo felt awkward. He truly didn't know how to face his old friend's wife now.

"What are you standing there for? Come inside and eat!" Seeing her "husband" standing there dazed, Biwako said irritably.

After a few seconds of silence, Danzo managed to squeeze out a single word. "All right!"

Then, steeling himself, Danzo headed toward the house and Biwako.

Standing in the doorway, Biwako watched Danzo with a frown. Ever since his injury last time, she'd felt that something was wrong with Hiruzen. He'd been acting strangely, as if he'd grown distant from her.

That old coot! Was he starting to think she was too old?

A woman's suspicions inexplicably stirred in Biwako's heart, and she began to scrutinize Danzo.

Danzo was very sensitive to the change in her gaze. His heart tightened. Worried his identity might be exposed, he could only try his best to remain relaxed.

"The village is about to go to war with the Hidden Cloud, and there's a lot to do. I've just been too busy lately," Danzo explained as he took off his shoes and entered the house.

Biwako and Asuma followed him inside and went to the dining table, where they each took a seat.

Danzo sat at the head of the table. He looked at his wife and son on either side of him, then lowered his eyes to the food in front of him and quietly picked up his chopsticks.

At that moment, Danzo was glad that, as a friend, he'd attended many of Hiruzen Sarutobi's family dinners. He was familiar with Hiruzen's own eating habits, as well as those of his family.

In the brightly lit dining room, Danzo ate in silence. Biwako, seated to his right, said nothing either, only turning to glance at him from time to time. She was unusually quiet.

Only Asuma ate rather roughly, holding his bowl and shoveling the food into his mouth, making a bit of noise.

What should have been a warm family dinner felt strangely awkward in the silence.

That awkwardness lasted until the arrival of an unexpected guest finally broke it.

Hiruzen Sarutobi came to visit, wearing Danzo's identity.

Perhaps he was worried about his son, or perhaps about something else. Hiruzen was a little discourteous as he rushed straight into the courtyard and came to the house.

The noise outside in the courtyard made Danzo secretly breathe a sigh of relief. He promptly put down his bowl and chopsticks and said to Biwako, "It might be someone here to report something. I'll go take a look."

With that, Danzo maintained a natural expression while eagerly making his escape. He got up from the dining room and walked out of the house.

Outside, in the courtyard, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in what had once been his home, his heart full of complicated emotions. When he saw Danzo come out, those emotions turned to anger.

That bastard Danzo! He'd stolen his body, taken over his family, and now he even dared to threaten him with Asuma's safety.

Danzo had gone too far. If he hadn't been concerned about the village, he would have attacked him long ago.

Even if they both died, it would be better than letting that bastard Danzo brazenly steal everything from him!

"Danzo." Danzo stood on the veranda by the doorway, looking down slightly at Hiruzen Sarutobi in the courtyard.

"Hiruzen!" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo, who stood before him in his own body, his voice thick with anger.

"What do you want?" Danzo asked calmly.

Seeing Danzo's attitude, Hiruzen grew even angrier!

What kind of attitude was that? Didn't he know why Hiruzen had come?

"I need to talk to you!" Hiruzen said sourly, staring straight at Danzo with a hint of menace in his eyes.

"Fine. Let's talk outside." Danzo had been feeling painfully awkward at home with Biwako, and at last he'd found an excuse to leave.

"Fine. Let's talk outside," Hiruzen agreed. He didn't want to involve his family either.

With that, Danzo walked down from the veranda and came to stand in front of Hiruzen, ready to leave with him.

Just as they turned around, Biwako's chilly voice came from behind them. "You two, can't whatever it is wait until after dinner?"

Hearing his wife's voice, Hiruzen's body shuddered. He hurriedly turned around to look back at the woman standing in the doorway, arms folded and expression cold. His heart filled with longing.

"Danzo and I have something important to discuss. You two eat first. I'll be back soon," Danzo said as he turned to Biwako.

Beside him, Hiruzen couldn't help turning to look at Danzo when he heard that answer, his heart full of frustration and anger.

"Danzo, is it urgent?" Biwako asked coldly, looking at Hiruzen, who was wearing Danzo's body.

Hiruzen looked at his wife's cold gaze, his heart aching. Even so, he answered, "It's urgent. I need to speak with Hiruzen alone."

Biwako gave them one last look, then turned and walked straight back into the house.

After watching Biwako disappear inside, Danzo glanced at Hiruzen beside him without saying a word. But his eyes said it all.

Your wife is really fierce!