The Ninja Academy's training ground fell into an eerie, deathly silence after the fierce clash of cries of "hero" and "trash."
Uchiha Inabi's face, flushed a liver-purple, became the most comical sight there. He wanted to throw out a few threats, but when he met Senju Chen's cold eyes, so unlike a child's, then glanced at Kakashi Hatake beside him, already back on his feet with fire rekindled in his eyes, along with Might Guy, who might erupt with "youthful passion" at any moment, something seemed to block his throat. Unable to get a single word out, he could only slink away with his followers.
The tide seemed to shift subtly at that moment.
With the most overbearing, unreasonable approach possible, Senju Chen had forcibly torn an opening in the once-unanimous contempt and scorn.
The surname "Senju," coupled with the name "Tsunade of the Sannin," weighed on everyone's hearts like an immensely heavy mountain. The children might not have understood its political significance, but they instinctively knew it represented an authority they absolutely could not afford to offend.
The children who had been whispering now shut their mouths, watching the small figure standing in front of Kakashi with a mixture of awe, confusion, and curiosity.
Protecting your comrades... made you a hero?
That view, scorned by the adult world, took on a subversive magic when shouted by a five-year-old Senju orphan, beginning to plant seeds in the hearts of children not yet fully set in the mold of the rules.
Kakashi stood there in a daze, looking at Senju Chen shielding him while Might Guy cried beside them, his eyes brimming with tears, "These are the bonds of youth!" For the first time, he felt that perhaps he was not so alone.
The uproar at the Ninja Academy spread as though it had wings, reaching every street and alley in Konoha in less than half a day.
When Tsunade heard from Shizune that her little brother had "taken on a crowd in debate," confronting a Uchiha Clan brat at the Ninja Academy over the Hatake Clan's affair, the wine bowl in her hand shattered into powder with a crack.
"Good. Very good!"
Tsunade's fury had not been ignited. It had detonated.
Her original anger had been directed at the nameless people spreading rumors. Now that fury had a clearer target-the village leaders who had allowed those rumors to fester, even fanning the flames behind the scenes, trying to crush a hero with public opinion!
Could those old people who had lived for decades fail to understand something even her five-year-old brother knew?
It was not that they did not understand. They were doing it deliberately!
"Jiraiya! Come with me!" Tsunade vanished in an instant, then appeared beside Jiraiya as he peeped into the women's bathhouse. Without giving him any time to react, she became a golden blur and charged straight for the Hokage Building.
Jiraiya only managed a scream before he was dragged "flying" across the rooftops, yelling the whole way.
When Tsunade kicked open the Hokage's office door, the atmosphere inside was as oppressive as the sea before a storm.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat at the head, smoking his pipe with a troubled frown. Below him were the two expressionless elders, Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, as well as... a man whose entire body radiated a cold, sinister air, half his face hidden in shadow: Shimura Danzō.
Most surprisingly, someone who should not have been there stood in a corner of the room.
Orochimaru.
He leaned against the wall with his arms folded, a trace of amused interest in his golden snake eyes, as though enjoying a splendid play.
"Tsunade? What do you think you're doing?!" Mitokado Homura demanded with a frown.
Tsunade ignored him entirely. Her golden eyes fixed on Hiruzen Sarutobi at the head of the room, the fury in them almost enough to set the entire office ablaze.
"Old man! Tell me, what has happened to this village?!" Her voice trembled slightly with extreme anger. "A shinobi who abandoned a mission to save his comrades is now being condemned by the entire village! Even children at the Ninja Academy are calling him a 'sinner'! Is this Konoha under your rule? Is this the village Grandpa founded?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed heavily and tapped his pipe against the desk. "Tsunade, calm down. The village is discussing Sakumo's situation. No conclusion has been reached yet."
"A conclusion? What conclusion do you still need?!" Tsunade slammed a fist onto a nearby table, shattering the solid wood in an instant. "My brother, a five-year-old child, knows Uncle Hatake is a hero! Are you old people sitting in this office really worse than a five-year-old?!"
Those words struck every member of the high command like a resounding slap.
Utatane Koharu's expression instantly darkened. "Tsunade! Watch your words! You are questioning the decisions of the Hokage and the Council of Elders! Hatake Sakumo disregarded his mission and placed personal feelings above the village's interests. That is a fact! Rules are rules. If everyone acted like him, Konoha's shinobi village system would cease to exist!"
"Rules?" Tsunade sneered, her laughter full of contempt. "All I know is that the most important 'rule' Grandpa, the First, left behind was 'protection'! If we can give up even our lives to protect our comrades, what does a mere mission count for?!"
"A woman's shortsightedness!"
Danzo, who had remained silent throughout, finally spoke. His voice was hoarse and cold, like a venomous snake's flicking tongue.
"Shinobi are the village's weapons. Completing missions is their duty. To abandon intelligence capable of affecting the course of a war just to save two subordinates who should already have been prepared to sacrifice themselves is a betrayal of the many more comrades who died on the front lines! His actions were not heroic. They were foolish! Selfish!"
Danzo's gaze swept over Tsunade and Jiraiya like a blade before finally settling on Orochimaru in the corner.
"Tsunade, your feelings have blinded you. Jiraiya, you always try to smooth things over. Orochimaru, on the other hand..." A barely perceptible note of persuasion entered Danzo's voice. "Surely you understand that certain 'ruthless' decisions are necessary for the village."
Everyone's gaze focused on Orochimaru.
Jiraiya's heart tightened. He knew Orochimaru's nature. Orochimaru never believed in feelings or bonds, only power and interests. What would he say?
Orochimaru slowly straightened, licked his lips with his scarlet tongue, and let out a soft, hissing chuckle.
"Hehehe... you put it too strongly, Lord Danzo." His voice was rich, yet sent a chill through those who heard it. "I merely find this matter interesting."
His golden snake eyes swept around the room before finally settling on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face.
"Sensei, look. Isn't this a classic paradox? The 'rules' require us to abandon our comrades, while the 'Will of Fire' teaches us to cherish them. This incident involving Hatake Sakumo has merely laid bare on the table a contradiction that has always existed, yet which we deliberately ignored."
He had supported neither side, yet laid out the sharpest, most fundamental point of the issue with perfect clarity.
He continued, "A successful system must inevitably be cold and merciless. From that perspective, Lord Danzo is correct. Hatake Sakumo broke the rules. He was 'wrong.' But..."
Orochimaru shifted his tone, the corners of his mouth curling into a sinister smile.
"A village that makes its heroes shed both blood and tears, a village that turns the 'Will of Fire' into a joke... are the 'rules' of such a village truly 'right'?"
Those words plunged the entire office into deathly silence.
Tsunade froze. She had not expected Orochimaru to say such things. Jiraiya's eyes held conflicting emotions; he felt that Orochimaru was somewhat different today. Danzo frowned deeply. He felt Orochimaru was switching the terms of the argument, yet could not refute him.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression grew uglier still.
Orochimaru's words were like a knife, stabbing precisely into his weakest, most conflicted spot as Hokage.
He wanted both to uphold the shinobi village's iron laws and to carry on his teacher's Will of Fire. He wanted to balance all sides, but ended up offending both and pleasing neither.
"Enough!" Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed the desk, unleashing the imposing presence of the "Shinobi Hero." "I will handle Sakumo's matter personally! The rumors must be quelled immediately! But judging his merits and faults will take time! You are all dismissed!"
This was the only decision he could make as Hokage-stalling.
Tsunade wanted to say more, but Jiraiya held her firmly back. She knew there was no point in continuing. She gave her teacher a somewhat disappointed look, and the light in her eyes dimmed.
The fierce debate ultimately came to nothing as the Hokage smoothed things over.
The Senju residence.
Senju Chen sat beneath the veranda in the courtyard, holding a small kunai and carving a piece of wood with intermittent strokes.
He had not gone to eavesdrop, nor did he need to.
Tsunade's fury was the horn signaling the charge.
Jiraiya's mediation was the gear that kept things running smoothly.
Then there was the stubbornness of Konoha High Command.
He had already rehearsed everything that would happen in the Hokage's office countless times in his mind.
And Orochimaru... was the most exquisite piece he had placed on the board.
Senju Chen knew that Orochimaru's words, though seemingly neutral, were actually adding fuel to the fire. He had elevated the question from "whether Hatake Sakumo was right or wrong" to "whether Konoha's rules and will were right or wrong." This would make the Third Hokage even more wary of the consequences, reluctant to reach a hasty conclusion.
At the same time, he had subtly "acknowledged" the "validity" of Danzo's viewpoint. This would make Danzo believe even more firmly in his own ideals and refuse to yield an inch in suppressing Hatake Sakumo.
An indecisive Hokage.
An overbearing Root leader.
A crowd of villagers being stirred into an ever-greater frenzy.
A perfect, all-encompassing net called "public opinion" was slowly tightening.
The corners of Senju Chen's mouth lifted into a cold smile utterly at odds with his age.
Very good.
The hero was being driven toward the cliff, step by step.
Only when everyone believed he deserved to die, when everyone believed he was guilty, when the entire world had abandoned him... would his "death" have the greatest value.
Only then would his "disappearance" become natural.
Senju Chen lowered his head and looked at the little wooden figure in his hand, its rough form already taking shape. Its features were unmistakably those of Hatake Sakumo.
"Uncle Sakumo, wait a little longer," he murmured softly, in a voice only he could hear.
"When they have your execution block ready, that will be when I... offer you a new life."