Chapter 516: Sarutobi Konohamaru. A few years later.
Spring came late to Konoha. The cherry blossoms were only halfway into bloom when a sudden cold snap struck, scattering petals all over the ground.
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood atop the Hokage Office, watching several children running around the distant training ground.
One boy with his hair tied in a little bun was surrounded by older children who were laughing at him. His face was filthy, but he still puffed out his chest and refused to admit defeat.
Konohamaru.
His grandson.
Hiruzen raised his pipe, took a puff, and smiled.
When Konohamaru had been carried into the Hokage Office at three years old, he could still only mumble "Grandpa."
Looking at that little face then, Hiruzen had known perfectly well that this child could never learn who his father or mother was.
It was a rule he had established himself.
It was also that lord's rule.
It had all begun a few years earlier.
The "Shinnosuke" in the dungeon had been imprisoned for three years. The Sealing Chains had been replaced twice, but he was still alive.
Hiruzen visited once a month. Most of the time, he simply stood outside the iron bars and watched for a while without speaking.
In truth, Sarutobi Hiruzen also knew that man was not his son.
But seeing his son's appearance still stirred the longing of an old father in Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Once, the man who had taken over that body suddenly laughed, his voice hoarse. "You old bastard, are you just going to keep me like this? Until when? Until you die?"
Hiruzen did not answer.
He merely slipped a note with an address written on it between the bars, his voice level. "Cooperate. Don't think about resisting, and don't think about dying. Finish this, and