Foolish Sons! Strive to Grow Stronger!

Sarutobi Residence, dining room.

The lights were warm, and the food smelled delicious.

This had once been one of Konoha's most enviable families.

Wearing an apron, Sarutobi Biwako was placing the last dish on the table.

When she saw Hiruzen walk in covered in blood, his expression vacant, she jumped in fright and hurried over.

"Old man? What happened to you? Did something go wrong at the front again?"

As she spoke, she picked up a towel and tried to wipe the blood from Hiruzen's face.

"...It's nothing."

Hiruzen pushed her hand away, his voice hoarse.

He walked straight to the seat of honor and picked up his chopsticks, but did not touch the food.

At that moment, the front door was pushed open again.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke and the still-teenage Asuma walked in, chatting and laughing.

"Dad! I heard there was a huge victory at the front? Lord Tobirama is incredible, isn't he?"

Asuma's face was full of excitement, completely oblivious to the strange atmosphere in the house.

Shinnosuke, however, keenly sensed that something was wrong. Looking at the blood on his father, he frowned tightly. "Father, what happened?"

Hiruzen said nothing.

He looked at the three people closest to him.

His wife. His sons.

They were his final ties to this world, and also the hope Tobirama had left him.

But for them to survive, for them not to be implicated in the sin of this clan's destruction, he had to finish this final act.

"Eat."

Hiruzen lowered his head and spoke mechanically.

Biwako looked at him worriedly and served rice to her two sons. "Eat first. Your father is probably exhausted."

Asuma had just picked up his bowl and had not even had time to take a bite.

Splat!

A cold glint flashed.

Blood sprayed out, staining the white rice before Asuma red.

"Uh..."

Biwako's eyes widened as she stared in disbelief at the kunai buried in her chest.

The hand holding the kunai belonged to her husband, Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Old... man... wh..."

Before she could finish, the light rapidly faded from her eyes, and her body collapsed limply into the pool of blood.

"Mother!"

Asuma and Shinnosuke froze for a second before letting out heart-wrenching cries.

"Father! What are you doing?!"

As an Anbu elite, Shinnosuke reacted fastest. He instantly drew the short blade from his back, shielding Asuma as he stared at Hiruzen in horror.

He had gone mad!

His father had actually killed his mother!

Hiruzen slowly rose to his feet. There was no expression on his face, only endless indifference.

He flicked the blood from his kunai and looked at his two sons.

"Too noisy."

"You should be quiet while eating."

"Bastard! I'll kill you!"

Asuma's eyes turned bloodshot, and the last of his reason instantly collapsed.

A Chakra Blade appeared in his hand as he charged at Hiruzen without hesitation.

"Don't go, Asuma!" Shinnosuke shouted, but it was already too late.

"Too weak."

Hiruzen did not even spare him a glance as he casually swung his hand.

Bang!

Before Asuma could get close, a fist slammed viciously into his stomach.

His body bent into an arch like a cooked shrimp. Foam spilled from his mouth as he smashed through the wall and flew into the courtyard.

"Father!"

Shinnosuke gritted his teeth and activated the Body Flicker Technique, attempting to attack from the side.

But before Hiruzen, known as the Ninja Hero, his meager skills were riddled with openings.

Crack!

Hiruzen caught Shinnosuke's wrist with one hand and gave it a light twist.

Then he kicked him in the chest.

Boom!

Shinnosuke flew backward and crashed down beside Asuma. He vomited blood in great mouthfuls, unable even to crawl.

In merely an instant.

The mother was dead, and the sons were wounded.

Hiruzen slowly walked into the courtyard and looked down at his two sons struggling painfully on the ground.

"Wh... why..."

Shinnosuke clutched his chest. Tears mixed with blood streamed down his face, his eyes filled with collapse and incomprehension.

"That was Mother... why..."

Hiruzen's face remained expressionless, his gaze hollow.

"For capacity."

"Huh?" Shinnosuke froze.

"I sat in the Hokage's seat for too long. I let so-called family, friendship, and bonds restrain me, causing my strength to stagnate. I was even trampled beneath the feet of that junior, Tobirama Uchiha."

Hiruzen's voice was cold enough to pierce the bone, as though he were stating an eternal truth.

"I understand now."

"To gain power beyond that of ordinary men, one must sever all bonds."

"Clan members are burdens. A wife is a burden. You... are burdens too."

"Just... for that reason?"

Asuma tremblingly raised his head, his eyes filled with desperate disbelief.

To grow stronger, he had to kill his wife and sons?

Was this still the father who had taught him the Will of Fire?

"That's right."

Hiruzen looked down at them. A trace of pain flashed through his eyes, so faint it was almost imperceptible, but it vanished in an instant.

He raised the kunai in his hand and aimed it at Shinnosuke's throat.

"I originally intended to kill you too, to sever these bonds completely."

"But..."

Hiruzen stopped moving and revealed an extremely contemptuous sneer.

"You are too weak."

"So weak that I do not even have the desire to kill you."

"Killing you as you are now would not prove my capacity. It would only dirty my hands."

"Foolish sons."

A terrifying killing intent erupted from Hiruzen's body.

"Do you want to kill me?"

"Then hate me. Despise me."

"Then live on in ugliness, constantly fleeing, constantly clinging pathetically to life."

"When you possess strength equal to mine, come before me again."

As the words fell.

Hiruzen's eyes abruptly formed a hand seal, activating a genjutsu.

"Uh..."

Shinnosuke and Asuma did not even manage to scream. Their eyes rolled back, and they passed out on the spot.

Looking at his two sons lying on the ground.

The indifference in Hiruzen's eyes instantly crumbled.

His hand trembled as he wanted to touch Asuma's face, but it stopped midway.

"Live on..."

"Live on with your hatred for me."

He turned around and did not look back.

His figure disappeared into the darkness.

Outside Konoha, deep within the dense forest.

Tobirama Uchiha leaned against a large tree, watching Hiruzen Sarutobi emerge from the darkness.

At that moment, Hiruzen had already removed his Hokage Cloak and changed into ordinary battle clothes. On his head was a Konoha forehead protector with a slash carved across it.

His entire body radiated a chilling aura of death.

"Finished?"

Tobirama raised an eyebrow.

Hiruzen stopped and stared fixedly at Tobirama.

His gaze was like that of a wounded lone wolf, ready at any moment to pounce and tear out the hunter's throat.

"Tobirama Uchiha."

Hiruzen's voice seemed to drift up from Hell.

"I did it. My clan, my wife, my reputation, everything is gone."

"Now it is your turn to fulfill your promise."

"If you dare touch even a hair on Shinnosuke or Asuma..."

"No matter how strong you are, no matter where you are, even if I become a vengeful ghost, I will crawl out of Hell and bite through your throat!"

This was the final madness of a man who had lost everything.

Tobirama shrugged, utterly unconcerned by the threat.

"Relax."

"I told you, I have no interest in the weak."

"As long as they do not come looking to die, I will arrange identities for them as Sarutobi orphans and let them live properly in Konoha."

Hiruzen's tense body relaxed slightly.

"However."

Tobirama changed the subject and tossed him a scroll.

"Since you are already a rogue ninja, make yourself useful."

Hiruzen caught the scroll, frowning tightly. "What is this?"

"Go to the Earth-Lightning Anti-Konoha Allied Resistance Army."

A teasing smile curled at Tobirama's lips.

"Since that trash Danzo contacted them before, it should be perfectly reasonable for you, as Danzo's accomplice, to defect to them, right?"

"Go undercover."

"Find out all their bases, their personnel roster, and their funding sources."

"When the time comes, I will notify you."

"Then we will strike from within and without. I want to wipe out these rats in one sweep."

Hiruzen clenched the scroll, humiliation flashing through his eyes.

Not only had he been made to slaughter his own family, he was now being sent to act as an undercover agent?

This man intended to squeeze every last drop of value out of him.

But he had no right to refuse.

"...I understand."

Hiruzen gave Tobirama one final cold look.

"I hope you keep your promise."

Whoosh!

The Body Flicker Technique activated.

The former Third Hokage vanished into the boundless night.

From that day onward, Konoha had one fewer Ninja Hero and one more S-Rank Rogue Ninja.

Tobirama watched the direction in which he had disappeared and stretched lazily.

"Done."