Danzo's Temptation!

Konoha.

Hokage Office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen slumped back into his office chair.

His chest heaved violently.

Every clue in his mind tangled and collided wildly at that moment.

At last.

He pieced together a truth that made his blood run cold.

Why would the proud Tsunade think so highly of a civilian Chunin?

Why would she keep Chiba by her side even while hiding outside the village from debt collectors?

It was not because Chiba had any talent for medical ninjutsu.

Everything that letter said was bullshit!

Tsunade had taken him as her disciple only because he carried the bloodline of the Senju Clan!

Sarutobi Hiruzen gripped the armrests tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force.

The Senju Clan.

They were the founders of Konoha.

They were also the family of his teacher, Tobirama Senju.

But now.

That terrifying clan had actually left behind such a frightening bloodline!

Less than two years!

Tsunade had taken Chiba out of the village barely over a year ago!

In such a short time.

Chiba had risen from an utterly unremarkable civilian Chunin to this extent?

Just the force of his released chakra had severely injured three elite Anbu?

What kind of terrifying strength was that?!

Sarutobi Hiruzen knew very well that even he could not accomplish such a thing.

What did that mean?

It meant Chiba's bloodline purity was absurdly high!

The power within him had most likely already surpassed Tsunade's!

Perhaps...

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not dare think any further.

Those two imposing figures seemed to appear in his mind once more.

The First Hokage, Hashirama Senju.

The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju.

Could the Senju Clan be about to produce another monster capable of changing the balance of the Ninja World?

Just then.

Bang!

The solid wooden doors of the Hokage Office were shoved open violently.

The doors slammed against the wall, producing a dull echo.

Shimura Danzō stepped over the threshold and strode into the office.

Two Root ninjas without masks followed behind him.

"Hiruzen!"

"You were too slow!"

Danzo's voice was cold and hard as iron, filled with undisguised fury.

He had clearly received the news as well.

Root's intelligence network had never been inferior to the Anbu's.

In some respects, it was even more sensitive.

Danzo walked up to the desk and stared down at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

A crazed gleam flickered in his one exposed eye.

Half an hour earlier.

His Root subordinates had reported what happened at the village gate, along with Chiba's movements toward the Senju Clan Ruins.

At that instant.

Danzo felt as though he had been slapped viciously across the face.

Tsunade had played him!

A year ago, one of the Root members he had sent to watch her had died, while another was injured.

He had assumed Tsunade was simply hot-tempered and unwilling to be watched by the village.

He had assumed Chiba truly was an insignificant waste.

To avoid escalating the conflict, he had withdrawn the surveillance personnel.

But who could have expected it?!

It had all been a smokescreen devised by that madwoman Tsunade!

That useless Chunin was actually a remnant of the Senju Clan!

"Hiruzen, look at the mess you've made."

"A descendant of the Senju Clan wandered right under your nose for sixteen years!"

"And you noticed nothing!"

Danzo slammed his cane heavily against the floor.

Again and again, as though each strike landed upon Sarutobi Hiruzen's taut nerves.

"Danzo."

"Watch your words."

"This is the Hokage Office."

Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his head, his gaze icy.

Danzo did not fall for that at all.

He let out a cold laugh.

"Hokage?"

"If you could do your job as Hokage properly, you would not have allowed such a dangerous person to run wild in the village."

"Hand Chiba over to me."

"Make him join Root."

"I will use my methods to turn him into Konoha's sharpest weapon!"

At that point.

Danzo suddenly stepped closer and planted both hands on the desk.

His tone allowed no room for doubt.

"Never!"

Upon hearing those words.

Sarutobi Hiruzen blurted them out almost instinctively.

He knew his old classmate too well.

Danzo's desire for the position of Hokage had reached a pathological level.

If Chiba joined Root.

With the terrifying strength Chiba had displayed.

And his identity as a member of the Senju Clan.

Danzo would certainly use Chiba to threaten his position.

"Danzo."

"Don't push your luck."

"Chiba is Tsunade's disciple and a ninja of Konoha."

"He is not a tool for you to fight for power."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice carried a strong warning.

"A tool?"

Danzo laughed in fury.

He straightened up, his remaining eye full of mockery.

"Hiruzen, Hiruzen."

"Have you gone senile?"

"Do you think Chiba is still that civilian Chunin you could manipulate at will?"

"Do you think he is still that unremarkable little brat from the Ninja Academy?"

Danzo pointed at the bloodstains on the floor.

They had been left here by the three Anbu who had gone to find Chiba.

"Open your eyes and take a good look!"

"Is this respect for the Hokage?"

"Is this loyalty to the village?"

Danzo drew a deep breath and lowered his voice.

"Gengheke."

"Have you considered something?"

"How could he possibly have become this strong in just over a year?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart gave a violent jolt.

That was also the question he had been fearing all along.

But Danzo ruthlessly tore away that last veil.

"The Senju Clan's bloodline is not the Uchiha's Sharingan!"

"Those Uchiha lunatics only need a little stimulation. Their eyes change, and their strength can surge dramatically."

"But what do the Senju Clan rely on?"

"The body!"

"Chakra!"

"Those things are determined from the moment of birth. They need to be honed over many long years!"

"Even if Tsunade wanted to teach him."

"Even if he trained without sleeping every day."

"He could not possibly have gone from a useless Chunin to a monster capable of severely injuring Jonin with mere pressure in just over a year!"

Those words struck Sarutobi Hiruzen's chest like a heavy hammer.

He could not refute them.

Because Danzo was right.

In the world of ninja, there was no such thing as strength without cause.

Physical transformation and chakra accumulation could never be achieved overnight.

"The only explanation..."

"This Chiba had been pretending all along!"

"He hid his strength!"

"He deceived the Ninja Academy's teachers, deceived the ninja assigned to lead him, and even deceived you, the Hokage!"

"He hid it for sixteen whole years!"

Danzo narrowed his eye, killing intent churning within it.

As Danzo's words fell.

The Hokage Office sank into deathly silence.

Sarutobi Hiruzen fell silent.

Yet a fine layer of cold sweat seeped across his forehead.

If the truth was really as Danzo said.

Then Chiba was far too terrifying.

A child who had gone to war at the age of ten.

Faced with the meat-grinder-like brutality of the Third Shinobi World War.

He had actually managed to suppress his own power.

Watching his comrades die with his own eyes, watching himself fall into desperate situations with his own eyes.

What terrifyingly deep scheming!

What terrifying endurance!

"Why did he hide it?"

Danzo pressed forward step by step, giving Sarutobi Hiruzen no chance to catch his breath.

"Because deep down, he never trusted you as Hokage!"

"He does not acknowledge your rule!"

"And now, do you still dare claim that you are Konoha's Hokage?"

Every word Danzo spoke pierced the heart.

He had dug up every fear buried deep within Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart.

After Chiba returned to the village,

he neither went back to his home in the civilian district nor reported to the Hokage Office.

Instead, he headed straight for the desolate former grounds of the Senju Clan.

He had even shown no mercy to the Anbu who came to deliver orders, striking them heavily.

How was this returning to the village?

This was clearly a show of force!

He was declaring to him, the Third Hokage, the return of the Senju Clan!