Danzo, the Fall Guy 1/2

Hayato stormed into the Hokage Building, furious at both Shimura Danzo and Sarutobi Hiruzen.

You two old foxes are fighting each other, so why are you sticking the knife in me?!

When the city gates caught fire, the fish in the moat suffered. Hayato was that fish.

Yet no ANBU ninja had stopped Hayato.

"You're here, Hayato... Hm? Why are you alone?" Sarutobi Hiruzen was processing documents. He looked up at the angry Hayato, froze for a moment, and asked, "What happened?"

"What happened? I almost died." Hayato angrily recounted everything in one breath, from Shimizu Shunsuke calling him out, to the ambush in the woods, and finally his escape using Smoke Release.

After running all that way and talking so much, Hayato was parched. He picked up the teacup on the desk and gulped it down, watching Sarutobi Hiruzen's reaction from the corner of his eye.

The ambush might have been the work of another village, but that was unlikely, and there was no reason to target Hayato. The most likely culprit was someone inside the village. The only one bold enough to act within the Ninja Academy's grounds was Shimura Danzo. Given Sarutobi Hiruzen's understanding of Danzo, he would naturally think of Root.

Honestly, Hayato did not expect Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo to fall out over this. If they were going to turn on each other, the nonsense between them would have been enough for them to do so a thousand times over. Hayato simply wanted to see Sarutobi Hiruzen's attitude, because that would determine his own attitude going forward.

Besides, it would be great if he could get some compensation for emotional distress.

What should I ask for?

Would it be too much to ask for a ninjutsu from the Book of Seals?

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression turned strange.

It was neither the unreadable calm of a deeply calculating man nor performative fury.

It was just... strange?

What the heck...

I can't read him at all!

Seemingly helpless, Sarutobi Hiruzen pointed toward the door. "Do your two ANBU look familiar?"

Hayato followed his finger and saw two ANBU standing at the doorway, one tall and one short.

"They do look familiar..." Hayato nodded, then nearly sprayed out his tea. "Holy crap, it's those two bastards."

The fact that they could appear here meant they were genuine ANBU, not Root ninja as Hayato had guessed.

Uh...

That was embarrassing.

So the genjutsu and assassination attempt had both been ANBU tests?

No!

That Reverse Kesa Slash had been fierce and unstoppable. If it had landed, Hayato would definitely have been dead. Are they expecting too much from a promising rookie?!

Sarutobi Hiruzen said sternly, "Come in."

Hayato caught a faint whiff of a foul smell and could not help feeling pleased with the effectiveness of his smoke stink bomb.

The shorter ANBU shot Hayato a vicious glare.

"Enough. You brought this on yourselves," Sarutobi Hiruzen said. "Take off your masks."

The two obeyed and removed their masks.

The taller ANBU was around twenty-four or twenty-five, with a sunny face and short silver hair.

The silver-haired ANBU bowed in apology. "Hello. I am Hatake Kaito. I sincerely apologize for today's offense."

The Hatake Clan?

Well, Kakashi had silver-white hair too.

Hatake Kaito's sunny-boy image was completely different from Kakashi's. His courteous manner made him instantly likable.

Though Hayato's anger had yet to fade, he hurriedly returned the greeting. "Hello, I'm Hyuga Hayato. Please take care of me."

The shorter ANBU was a girl around Hayato's age, only about four and a half feet tall. She had neat black short hair and delicate features. With puffed cheeks and wandering eyes, she said perfunctorily, "I'm Moonlight Sharoro. Please advise me."

That attitude... tsk, tsk.

Hayato sneered. "I wouldn't dare. Your swordsmanship is impressive. You almost killed me."

Moonlight Sharoro said, "Nonsense! I used a wooden sword. How could you have died?"

A wooden sword?

Hayato truly had not noticed at the time. It had been a life-or-death moment; how could he have had any attention to spare?

Besides, could a wooden sword not kill someone?

Stephen Chow had taught them that even a spear without a spearhead could still stab someone to death.

"Sharoro!" Sarutobi Hiruzen rebuked.

Moonlight Sharoro pursed her lips, lowered her head reluctantly, and said, "Sorry. I was wrong."

Hayato muttered quietly, "If apologies worked, what would we need ANBU for?" Only then did he say, "Forget it. A grown man doesn't hold grudges against a... lesser person."

Hayato looked down at Moonlight Sharoro and mouthed, "Shorty!"

Huh?

Moonlight Sharoro drew her blade. This time, it was a real sword.

Hatake Kaito rapped her on the head. Moonlight Sharoro clutched her head, tears welling in her eyes as she squatted on the floor in grievance.

Hatake Kaito apologized again. "Sharoro doesn't actually mean any harm. She's just too competitive."

As it turned out, Moonlight Sharoro was also Hayato's schoolmate. However, she had attended the academy for only one year before being taught swordsmanship by her family, so Hayato had no impression of her at all.

Moonlight Sharoro came from the Moonlight Clan and had inherited the same bloodline limit as Moonlight Hayate—Transparent Escape. When she learned that her new teammate was an outstanding student with the bloodline limit Byakugan, Sharoro could not contain her competitive spirit and begged Hatake Kaito to lure Hayato into the woods.

Hayato knew little about Transparent Escape. He only knew that it could erase one's presence and turn the entire body transparent, but the user could not move; the moment they did, the concealment would break. He had not expected Transparent Escape to make even the chakra system transparent, allowing it to evade the Byakugan's detection. In that regard, Transparent Escape countered the Byakugan.

Still, Hayato was not particularly shocked. The Byakugan's insight had never been invincible, so it was not strange for it to have counters. Ranmaru's Red Eye also countered the Byakugan so thoroughly that it could make Hyuga Neji question his life.

What should he do?

Simple—make good use of the Byakugan, but do not rely on it too heavily.

Unexpectedly, Moonlight Sharoro's sneak attack had failed, and the pair had fallen into Hayato's trap. Not only had they let him escape, they had also ended up covered in stench.

That was awkward.

"You two, leave. Kaito, stay," Sarutobi Hiruzen said.

After the two left, Hatake Kaito explained the stress test.

There were roughly five possible reactions to a stress test: being so dull that one failed to react, collapsing in fear, turning around and fleeing or retreating, remaining calm and unreadable, or attacking without hesitation like Hayato.

That showed Hayato was perceptive, decisive, and proactively aggressive.

Then he described how Hayato had noticed and seen through the genjutsu.

Considering the Hyuga Clan's ability to dispel genjutsu, that was understandable.

Afterward, Hatake Kaito focused on Moonlight Sharoro's surprise attack using Dance of the Crescent Moon in conjunction with Transparent Escape, as well as how Hayato had dodged and counterattacked.

Dance of the Crescent Moon was said to have been created by the ninjutsu-development genius, the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju. It was a secret technique of Konoha-Style Swordsmanship, considered an unavoidable lightning-fast sword technique.

Calling it unavoidable was somewhat exaggerated, but it was enough to show how formidable Dance of the Crescent Moon was.

Moonlight Sharoro had been in the ANBU for four years and had become a chunin last year. She was highly skilled in assassination. Her Dance of the Crescent Moon combined with Transparent Escape could even kill a jounin in a single strike if they lacked sufficient intelligence.

Taking all that into account, Sarutobi Hiruzen pondered, "Hayato has the strength of a chunin now."

"More than that." Hatake Kaito raised his right hand as he spoke. The web between his thumb and forefinger was injured, blood seeping from it—the wound he had received while blocking the Super Garrote for Moonlight Sharoro.

Hatake Kaito said, "A highly practical substitution technique, immense power, and a hand-seal-less ninjutsu comparable to an A-rank technique. Even among chunin, he would be no ordinary chunin."

Though he had repeatedly underestimated Hyuga Hayato's strength, Sarutobi Hiruzen was not angry or embarrassed. Instead, he was deeply gratified. Devoted wholeheartedly to Konoha, he was delighted to see the village produce such talent.

Sarutobi Hiruzen puffed on his pipe, exhaling rings of happy smoke.

[PS] Thanks to "Nine-Tenths s" for 7 recommendation votes, "Lemon Dango Sauce" for 6 recommendation votes, "Beautiful Shadow Summer Bath" for 4 recommendation votes, "Guarding the Core, Guarding the Heart." for 8 recommendation votes, and "Demon King Pterosaur" for the recommendation votes.

The next chapter will be at 8:00 tonight. Stay tuned.

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Happy Youth Day to all you handsome guys. May you become even more handsome.