In the golden autumn of October, Feng leaves swayed gracefully on their branches, their fiery red color mirroring the Will of Fire blazing in the hearts of Konoha's people.
Hiruzen sat on the stone steps by the road, smoking his pipe and admiring the scenery of red leaves reflecting one another.
Three months ago, he had received a letter and hurriedly left the village, only to return the next day.
Minato had specifically come to ask him about it.
But Hiruzen had merely said lightly that he had gone to see an old friend.
He said nothing about how Nagato had threatened him with Tsunade's life, forced him out of the village, and taken his Yin Release chakra pathways.
Just as Orochimaru had hoped, Hiruzen truly swallowed the insult whole, gritting his teeth and enduring the humiliation in silence.
His forbearance was all so that Minato and Nagato, the two disciples Jiraiya had placed such high hopes in, along with the Konoha and Amegakure each commanded, would not come into conflict again and shatter the hard-won stability.
Over these three months, Konoha had also undergone a major reshuffle.
As Minato had announced beforehand, he reduced Root's establishment from eight battalions to four.
With its ranks cut in half, Root under Danzo no longer held equal standing with the ANBU directly under the Hokage.
The four disbanded Root battalions, including their captains and trainee members, numbered a total of one hundred and fifty people... Before joining Root, all of them had been promising talents carefully selected and cultivated by Danzo.
How to settle these people concerned Konoha's long-term development.
Minato's arrangements also made Hiruzen see him in a new light.
The origins of Root's members fell into no more than three categories.
The first were those Danzo had forcibly recruited from