When Hiruzen stepped inside, Azula was sitting sipping tea with the same delicate posture and the same unhurried elegance as Mito.
She even smiled at him.
"Hokage-sama." She set down her cup. "I see word of our arrival travels swiftly."
Hiruzen chuckled, spreading his hands. "I'm the Hokage. Of course I'm aware of every movement in the village."
You aren't beating the allegations with this one, Hiruzen. Azula thought. It means the future you did know about Orochimaru's future abduction of villagers, about Danzō's root operations, the children stolen and modified in darkness and most importantly about the Uchiha because no barrier sealed an entire district without a Hokage's awareness.
The question was never whether he knew. The question was what he allowed.
She pressed forward. "Then you're also aware of what happens beyond the village. To our allies."
The Uzumaki, their almost annihilation while Konoha watched.
Hiruzen's smile tightened. Troublesome brat.
Then something even more troublesome happened, because Mito spoke.
"Don't speak like that to the Hokage, Azula." Her voice was very calm, almost as if it wasn't sarcasm. "The village couldn't spare manpower at that time. Completely understandable."
He knew that tone. Mito didn't do sarcasm—until Azula.
Corrupted. She's been corrupted.
Everyone in the village knew of Azula's hundred titles, one particular: The Queen of Sarcasm.
The woman who made the Raikage burn with impotent rage.
Hiruzen offered Mito an apologetic smile. "The world situation was complicated. Every village had ninja stationed at our borders, ready to strike. We could only prepare for the worst."
Azula's lip curled. "Since when do we care about other villages' reactions? They attack Konoha, that's what they do and that's what they've always done. So what changed? Did we become too weak to make our own choices?"
She simply couldn't bother with him. One day he played the strong leader; the next, he bent to any wind, just spineless. And she had no use for spine.
Years ago, she would have played the game—smiled, deferred, calculated. But she had the Uchiha now. And she stood at the limit of Kage-level strength, strong enough that anything hardly mattered.
She planned to overthrow him anyway.
So why pretend?
Hiruzen saw the open contempt, the lack of pretense. And it surprised him.
Did one year of achievement make her this arrogant?
She had always been particular, always sharp with opinions about him, but she had never been so openly dismissive."
He glanced at Mito, seeking support. Her expression, however, was stone—her gaze weighing him and finding him lacking.
It was then that Hiruzen realized that the situation was far worse than he and his advisors had imagined.
"The situation is indeed worse than you think," he admitted, delivering Azula a verbal jab. "But there are some secrets you can't access yet, all I can promise is to have been planning for a way to save the Uzumaki while protecting as many villagers as possible."
"My role is first and foremost as Hokage to protect the villagers no matter what. If I were to support Uzushio openly, Kiri, Suna, Kumo and Iwa would have attacked 'Konoha' at the same time, which would have started a war."
"My plan was to support Uzushio secretly while stalling time, enough time so that you, Tsunade, Orochimaru, Jiraya, Sakumo, Shikaku and all the rest would grow up so that the village would need to fear no one, but I underestimated you all."
He was 'sincerely' stating his thoughts.
"Hiruzen, do you know why the village was created?" Mito suddenly asked.
This surprised Hiruzen because the question appeared somewhat nonsensical, but he didn't dare to voice it.
Still, he gave it a few seconds of thought for respect toward Mito and just in case he overlooked something, but it didn't seem to be the case.
"I have always believed in what Tobirama-sensei said," he invoked his teacher's name for cover. "The village was created to prevent clan chaos and endless conflict, maintain order, protect the Land of Fire and protect the villagers."
Mito shook her head. "I know Tobirama's view, what I'm asking is why do you think the village was created?"
"Not only that, when you first became the Hokage, what was your ideology, and what about now?"
She was looking at him with eyes that seemed to be staring at his soul. Azula was also doing the same.
Hiruzen remembered those eyes, they were the same as when they had returned, when informing about Tobirama's sacrifice and how he was designated as the next Hokage.
He was also aware of her ability to sense emotions; he knew lying or some deception would simply not work here, so he could only truly contemplate her question.
Why was the village created? "Konoha, founded by the First Hokage despite defeating the Uchiha clan, wanting to end the cycle of endless wars between clans, uniting them and bringing order. Hashirama-sama is someone who doesn't like war, Konoha's creation was to end these wars."
He murmured unconsciously. Although Mito didn't agree with him – after all, her husband had told her everything – she nodded because, as Tobirama's student and being raised by the Sarutobi clan, it wasn't strange that he had such a reason for the creation of the village.
"I still remember clearly what happened and when Tobirama-sensei said word by word I would be the next Hokage, at that time, my feeling was despair and guilt, because from the teacher's eyes, there was that resolve to die, while it was our fault because we were just a burden to him at that time."
"But I didn't dwell on these sentiments. Death is the most permanent thing in this world, and I was entrusted with a heavy responsibility. I swore at that time I would never let such a situation happen and be a burden; I swore I would do anything to protect the village like Tobirama."
Then Hiruzen appeared helpless. "Alas, I underestimated the position of the Hokage because things weren't as simple as 'just' protecting the village; to do so, one must have the resolve to take decisions that are against his beliefs."
"All for the village," he murmured.
Does he think he is slick, that he looks wise or that what he said would make people pity him? Azula asked herself.
Hiruzen was giving her the impression of someone with a victim mentality.
Her expression suddenly became serious, and she said something that almost gave Hiruzen a heart attack. "Hiruzen Sarutobi, you are no longer fit to be the Hokage."
"I may not know what quality the second Hokage saw in you that makes you superior to Kagami, Torifu Akimichi and the latter, but I'm sure the you standing here isn't someone worthy."
As if she thought of something, she relaxed. "Unless it's leading it to chaos of course."
Hiruzen frowned. "Azula Uchiha, you know what you're saying is enough to have you accused of rebellion, right?"
He was very displeased, but well, she was pleased with his displeasure. "Do you dare to? I don't mind waking up some people who have completely lost contact with reality."
What was even more despairing, Hiruzen didn't see a hint of a joke in her expression. And with her personality, she really wouldn't feel the slightest burden to become a missing-nin.
Suddenly, Mito knocked Azula on her head.
"You shouldn't disrespect the Hokage like this," Then she turned to Hiruzen with her narrowing. "You should never mention making my student a missing-nin for something like this, you know if she were to become a Konoha enemy, this isn't a responsibility you can take."
She was the one who said her initial plan was to take the Uchiha clan and leave somewhere, and in fact, she has access to all Jutsu Konoha has to offer, leaving the village wouldn't matter much to her. Mito thought, knowing Azula wasn't bent to Konoha as much as Hiruzen believed.
(END OF THE CHAPTER)
Yeah, I feel 80% today, if nothing goes wrong, I should write a second chapter in four hours, as for why I published such a short chapter, I don't feel confident because this wasn't my usual writing style, I applied what I've learned in the past few days.