"Third Hokage."
"Itachi."
One was once the Hokage.
The other, once an Anbu.
Both of them had held important positions in the past, carrying heavy responsibilities. Yet as time passed, everything changed.
They were no longer superior and subordinate. No longer burdened by their old roles. Now, they stood before each other as equals.
The whole world could curse Uchiha Itachi as a madman who slaughtered his entire clan, call him an ungrateful beast who bit the hand that fed him, but Sarutobi Hiruzen had no right to say that.
Whether one said he was unaware or that Danzō overstepped his bounds, the truth remained, under Sarutobi Hiruzen's leadership, due to his poor management, the Uchiha clan was destroyed.
There was even a story circulating among the people,
That the real Uchiha Ryosuke had already perished on the night of the massacre, and that Ryosuke who appeared afterward was a demon summoned from hell by the collective resentment of the Uchiha clan.
The first half of the story made people skeptical. But when they heard the word "demon" in the second half, they clapped their hands in agreement, saying, "That must be it."
Back to Hiruzen, he had rushed out in a hurry, wearing striped pajamas and not even bothering with shoes.
But with his identity as the "Professor of Ninjutsu," just standing there made his frail, old body seem like an immovable wall, blocking their path.
"It's my fault," Hiruzen suddenly said. "I'm sorry, Itachi. I should have stopped Danzō back then."
Itachi's pupils narrowed slightly. After a brief silence, he said, "Is that your retirement speech? Lord Sarutobi, you're weaker than I thought."
"You don't regret it?" Hiruzen asked.
"Never."
As Itachi spoke, a kunai slipped from his sleeve into his palm.
"Everything I've done was for peace, for Konoha's future."
"Sorry to interrupt."
Kisame raised his hand, cutting in between the two,
"It's getting late, old man. You say you 'owe Itachi-san,' so what, are you planning to turn a blind eye and let us walk away?"
Hiruzen nodded slightly.
"That's right. I'll let you walk, straight to the afterlife, to reunite with your dead family."
He looked at Itachi.
"That's how people like us solve problems, isn't it? Rather than deal with problems, we deal with the ones who cause them."
Two kunai flew out almost instantly, colliding mid-air with a metallic clang.
Hiruzen clasped his hands together and slammed them onto the ground.
"Summoning Technique, Enma!"
A white-haired Enma appeared.
"Please, lend me your strength!"
Without any unnecessary words, Enma took one look at the Akatsuki cloaks and understood the gravity of the situation. He transformed into the Adamantine Staff and landed in Hiruzen's hands.
Almost at the same moment, a massive orange-red fist descended from above, smashing toward Hiruzen.
'Susanoo!'
Four years had passed since the night of the Uchiha massacre, and Uchiha Itachi could finally summon Susanoo freely.
However, it was still incomplete, just a skeletal frame, without flesh, armor, or the Yata Mirror and Totsuka Blade.
Even so, Susanoo's appearance marked a turning point in history, a symbol of the coming age of "ninja without hand seals."
Pain hadn't been wrong. Konoha was no longer the weak village it used to be, it was growing bolder, stronger.
If Itachi and Kisame were trapped here by Tsunade and Konoha's elite, forget capturing Naruto, they wouldn't even make it out alive tonight.
So Itachi attacked with his strongest technique from the start.
The Third Hokage, master of all five chakra natures, proficient in both nature and form transformation, as well as secret and illusion techniques, against him, Sharingan genjutsu was useless.
The only option was overwhelming force, using Susanoo's sheer power to suppress him, give him no chance to use high-level ninjutsu, and eliminate him before reinforcements arrived. That was their only path to survival.
Hiruzen gripped the staff tightly and met Susanoo's punch head-on.
Meanwhile, Kisame charged in, swinging his weapon straight toward Hiruzen.
As Hiruzen moved to block, he realized the "weapon" in Kisame's hand was actually the unconscious Naruto.
Kisame didn't care about Naruto's life at all. He swung him like a club, hacking and smashing down.
Hiruzen dodged, avoiding Naruto, then struck back, jabbing the staff into Kisame's chest.
He thought that even if this blow didn't kill him, it would at least paralyze his heart for a few moments so he could rescue Naruto.
But the staff hit something as hard as steel, Kisame only stumbled back half a step, unfazed, then lunged forward again.
"Watch out!"
Enma shouted.
The staff suddenly elongated, pushing Hiruzen out of the way, just as a mass of black flames erupted where he had stood.
Amaterasu.
Susanoo, Amaterasu, and Naruto as a hostage.
And during his brief clash with Kisame, Hiruzen had noticed something else, under that Akatsuki cloak, Kisame wore a thin but incredibly tough chakra armor.
Compared to them, Hiruzen, with his pajamas, his old bones, and his need to form hand seals, was practically a caveman.
The high-speed battle continued.
Though Hiruzen was fighting two opponents and one of them held a hostage, he didn't fall behind. But his face was gradually turning grim.
The reason was simple, his body couldn't keep up.
His strength, reflexes, and speed were all much slower than in his youth. The ninjutsu that once came to him in an instant now lagged by half a beat.
For now, he could fight on sheer willpower, but as the fight dragged on, his body naturally slowed down.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was truly old.
"Hiruzen, change your strategy," Enma warned. "Keep this up and you'll die."
After decades together, man and monkey were perfectly in sync.
Hiruzen knew exactly what Enma meant by "change strategy", abandon direct combat, switch to a hit-and-run style, harass and delay until reinforcements arrived.
That would be the safest option.
"No."
Hiruzen rejected Enma's advice.
"In Akatsuki, there are two others, one masked man who can use space-time ninjutsu, and one plant-like being who can burrow through the ground. I don't know if they came along, but if they did, either one could take Naruto in an instant."
He couldn't take that risk.
Hiruzen took a deep breath, his gaze firming.
"Old friend, I'll need your help on this one."
"Oh! Leave it to me!"
Kisame and Itachi's fighting style was like a storm, relentless and suffocating, giving Hiruzen no time to weave complex ninjutsu combinations.
They could already see Konoha shinobi leaping toward them in the distance.
One of them radiated bright green light, Might Guy. He was like a bolt of emerald lightning, thirty seconds away at most.
The two exchanged a glance and grew even more vicious.
Kisame, sensing Hiruzen's weakening strength and speed, grinned wide, revealing his shark-like teeth.
"You're old, just die quietly and stop blocking the path of the young!"
"That won't do."
Hiruzen glanced at the unconscious Naruto. "I promised Naruto I'd see what the new era looks like with him."
He slammed the staff into the ground. With a thunderous crack, the Adamantine Staff multiplied into dozens, forming a cube-shaped cage.
"Adamantine Prison Wall!"
Hiruzen and Kisame were both trapped inside.
Kisame sneered. "You think this can hold me?"
"Who said I wanted to hold you?"
From the cage's bars sprouted countless hairy arms, grabbing and pinning Kisame's limbs and body.
In that brief moment, Hiruzen completed a hand seal.
"Wind Release: Blade of Wind!"
A sharp wind blade formed at his fingertip. With one swift motion, he sliced through, severing Kisame's right arm, then immediately shielded Naruto in his arms.
Suddenly, Enma shouted, "Watch out!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Hiruzen saw a massive, gaping maw, Kisame, half-transformed into a shark-like monster despite being restrained.
Lacking Samehada, his transformation was incomplete, no fins, just a grotesque shark's head. He lunged, biting down.
The distance was too close, too sudden. Hiruzen's aging body couldn't react in time. He could only watch as the shark's jaws tore into his shoulder, ripping through his lung and heart.
BOOM!
The Adamantine cage shattered. Enma reverted to his true form and punched Kisame hard, sending him flying.
"Lord Hiruzen!"
Might Guy, seeing the blood gushing from Hiruzen's chest, roared, eyes wide with fury. His fists clenched tight.
"The Sixth Gate: Gate of View, open!"
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