"Iwagakure shinobi disguised as rogue-nin replaced the scroll carrying Hizashi's corpse with an explosive tag?"
"Root shinobi suddenly attacked, causing Akimichi Doto and the others to fight with Kumogakure's Toroi?"
"Wait… the aftermath of their battle just happened to release some humanoid monster that was sealed at the exchange site?"
"What do you mean that humanoid monster used some unknown, bizarre power to kill Toroi and nearly a hundred Kumogakure reinforcements?"
Mitokado Homura quickly stepped forward, snatching the scroll from Hiruzen's trembling hands.
As he read through its contents, his face gradually turned pale.
By the end, he was utterly dumbfounded, standing stiffly in place as though he were dreaming.
Every single character he recognized individually—but strung together in these sentences, they felt like a foreign tongue.
Was this really still the language of the shinobi world??
Bang.
Sarutobi Hiruzen staggered back to his desk, gripping its edge with trembling fingers as he collapsed into his chair.
"Toroi, a Magnet Release user who has long made a name for himself in the shinobi world… and nearly a hundred Kumogakure shinobi stationed at the border." His voice had become raspy to the extreme. "This blood debt—Konoha cannot possibly bear it."
Hearing this, Homura snapped out of his daze, his body trembling with dread as he blurted out:
"But those men clearly were—"
"No one will believe it."
Hiruzen cut him off before he could finish. Closing his eyes in anguish, he rasped:
"No one besides Akimichi Doto's surviving men and us will believe it. No one will believe those people died to some inexplicable monster."
That was Toroi, the Magnet Release shinobi!
That was nearly a hundred border troops from Kumogakure!
That was nearly a hundred men who had families and loved ones waiting for them back home!
All dead.
Now—who would ever believe only Konoha's words?
Not a single eyewitness survived. And even if there were… who would believe them to be a genuine witness?
Kumogakure?
Even though they lost Toroi and so many troops, this incident hands them the perfect justification to declare war against Konoha.
Even the Land of Lightning's Daimyō could not stop the hatred of the deceased families.
And Iwagakure?
They've been shadowing this matter since the start.
Nothing would please them more than seeing Konoha and Kumogakure tear each other apart, so they can swoop in as the fisherman profiting from the clams and crane.
So…
"Summon the jōnin. Prepare for a council meeting."
Hiruzen looked as though he had aged ten years in an instant. Sitting hunched, eyes closed, his hoarse voice carried an eerie calm.
"This time… war really is coming."
"Yes."
The kneeling Anbu's voice quivered slightly.
He didn't know all the details, but he had seen the broken, battered state of Akimichi Doto's men.
Out of more than a dozen shinobi, barely four or five returned. Clearly, the exchange with Kumogakure had gone disastrously.
This time, it wasn't something that could be smoothed over with words. This was the true spark of war.
No one—save for warmongers, power-hungry schemers, or the hatred-blinded—ever wished to face another bloody, brutal shinobi war.
Click.
The Anbu departed. Homura's expression darkened as he clenched the scroll tightly in his hand.
Just as he turned toward Hiruzen to speak,,
Tap… tap… tap…
The soft thud of a cane echoed as Shimura Danzo pushed open the office door and stepped inside.
Sensing the heavy silence, a faint smile tugged at the edges of his cold, rigid face.
"Hiruzen." Danzo's tone was flat. "I warned you. If they were determined to spark war, we could not avoid it."
"..."
Homura's heart skipped a beat.
Instinctively, he glanced at Hiruzen's reaction.
But Hiruzen said nothing. Head lowered, eyes shut, he remained silent.
Only after a long silence did he finally raise his cloudy eyes to his old comrade.
"Danzo… Danzo…"
Exhaling slowly, his forehead veins bulged as he fought to suppress his fury.
His hoarse voice cracked:
"Who… gave you permission to send Root to follow the escort squad?"
"How dare you do such a thing?!"
"Hiruzen." Danzo frowned, standing in the shadows the sunlight couldn't reach. "This truly had nothing to do with me. I only placed my men there as a safeguard. Those three who attacked the Kumogakure shinobi—"
Bang!!
Before he could finish, Hiruzen hurled his smoking pipe, striking Danzo across the face.
"Nothing to do with you?!" Hiruzen roared. "Do you even believe your own lies?!"
"Tell me the truth! Did you collude with Iwagakure? Did your spies collude with Iwagakure? Tell me!!"
The bloodied pipe clattered to the floor.
Danzo winced at the sting on his forehead, but the cold mask on his face cracked.
"I did not!" He abandoned his usual mockery, blurting out anxiously, "You know me, Hiruzen! Everything I do is for—"
This time, he truly wasn't lying.
He had ordered Aburame Ryoma to ensure that if Kumogakure complied quietly, nothing would happen!
And the spies he planted in other villages were truly for gathering intelligence.
"Get out!!"
Hiruzen's roar cut him off again. Danzo opened his mouth to protest, but Homura grabbed his arm, shaking his head.
Hiruzen was truly enraged this time.
He had even spat out accusations of treasonous collusion. Nothing Danzo said now would sway him.
"Hiruzen, I'll inform the clan heads and write to Jiraiya and Tsunade to summon them back." Homura said gravely.
Pulling the scowling Danzo toward the door, he cast one last look back at Hiruzen.
"Don't let this weigh you down too much, Hiruzen. In the end, it's just another war."
Even when outnumbered four to one, Konoha had prevailed before.
The only real problem would come after the war, when Hiruzen—bearing the brunt of the casualties as Hokage—would likely be forced to step down, just as he had ceded to Minato once before.
Click.
Danzo and Homura departed, leaving Hiruzen alone, motionless in his chair.
At that moment, he resembled a fine-looking machine on the outside, but one whose inner gears had long since rusted and cracked, creaking under unbearable strain.
He had sacrificed Hyūga Hizashi.
He had found what he thought was the solution.
He had resolved himself, given everything, even his pride as Hokage…
Why… why had it turned into this?!
For a long time, he sat like a stone statue.
Gradually, he regained his composure.
Anger and regret were meaningless now.
He had to learn exactly what had happened. Perhaps there was still a way to salvage the situation.
The details were still murky. He needed to hear directly from the survivors—Akimichi Doto, Hyūga Kumokawa, and the others…
Taking a deep breath, Hiruzen rose, bent down, and picked up the blood-stained pipe from the floor.
Then, vanishing from the office in a flicker, his silhouette raced across the rooftops toward Konoha Hospital.