The first time Dan met Garp, he had been utterly shocked.
But the longer he looked, the stranger his expression became.
He realized that even though Garp was clearly standing at the riverbank fishing… he had somehow fallen asleep.
"Sarutobi, do you think Lord Garp has been living the retirement life for too long? Has he completely lost his vigilance from back in the day?"
Koharu stared at the peacefully snoring Garp, who even had a snot bubble growing from his nose, and felt deeply unsettled.
With vigilance like this, if they really sent this legendary old shinobi onto the battlefield, wouldn't he fall asleep again and get taken out by a thrown shuriken?
"Don't talk nonsense. Lord Garp is not as bad as you make him sound."
Hiruzen scolded Koharu aloud, but even he didn't feel confident inside.
He admitted it, back in the day, Garp had indeed been unbelievably fierce.
Even someone as proud as Madara once had to step back in this man's presence.
But that was back then.
Even if the Second Hokage once said Garp was the only shinobi unaffected by age, who knew if that wasn't just mutual bragging?
"Lord Third, allow me to test Lord Garp."
Dan definitely didn't dare to entrust Konoha's future to a retired shinobi who could fall asleep while standing and fishing.
"But…"
Hiruzen was tempted, but he had to put up a front.
If Garp truly had grown old, then fine, but if everything was exactly as the Second Hokage had claimed, then wouldn't he be upsetting Garp by attacking him needlessly?
"Lord Third, after this, I will personally apologize to Lord Garp until he forgives me."
Dan clearly had no idea what kind of political calculations were spinning in Hiruzen's mind.
"…Only this once. And be careful."
Hiruzen reluctantly agreed.
"Yes."
Dan nodded, forming hand seals.
"Spirit Transformation Jutsu."
Just as his soul was about to leave his body, a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder.
But the strength behind that hand felt far too heavy.
It was just a casual arm around the shoulder gesture, yet it forced him straight down to his knees.
"Brat, it's very rude to disturb an old man's sleep… Uh, well, even if you did disturb my retirement, there's no need to kneel and pay respects this dramatically."
Garp paused mid-sentence when he realized Dan had dropped to his knees.
He had only lightly placed a hand on him, and he knelt?
This Dan was… really weak.
If Tsunade actually got together with him, their married life would be pretty rough.
This youngster was physically weaker than an old Konoha veteran like himself.
"So fast."
"When did he move?"
"Our teacher wasn't lying… Lord Garp really is a shinobi unaffected by age."
Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu were all stunned.
Aside from Hiruzen barely catching a trace of Garp's movement, the other two members of the Konoha council didn't even react.
If Garp had wanted to kill them just now…
The thought made cold sweat drip down all three of their foreheads.
But a moment later, terror turned into overwhelming relief.
"Konoha is saved."
The three looked at each other, seeing the same weight lifted from all their hearts.
"So this is the weight behind Garp the Fist…"
Dan knelt in a daze, completely stunned.
What just happened?
What was he even doing?
"Brat, if you like kneeling, go ahead and continue that. As for you three, why aren't you in the Hokage office making trouble? What are you doing interrupting my fishing?"
Seeing the four of them staring blankly, Garp felt a bit annoyed.
He had told Hashirama and Tobirama back when he started living quietly in the back mountains of Konoha, 'Don't come to bother me unless it's important.'
He wanted to peacefully retire all the way to Boruto's era.
Yet here they were, even before Naruto's generation had arrived, showing up as a group.
"Lord Garp, we have a reason for coming, please forgive us. It's like this, Konoha currently…"
Hiruzen quickly stepped forward and carefully explained Konoha's situation.
Whether it was Sakumo's suicide or the Sannin being trapped, he told everything without hiding a thing.
Facing someone like Garp, a relic who had survived since the Warring States Period, he didn't dare gloss over anything.
"Sakumo killed himself?
You really are Tobirama's student, you didn't learn his good points, but you mastered the part about destroying your own allies.
Back then, he only managed to drive Madara away, but you? You got Sakumo killed."
Garp frowned and gave Hiruzen a meaningful look.
"Lord Garp, it's not how you think. It was Danzo who… "
Cold sweat trickled down Hiruzen's forehead.
Especially when he saw Dan avoid his gaze, he grew even more anxious.
I'm a monkey, not a scapegoat.
I'm not built for this blame taking nonsense.
"Enough. I don't care about your mess. Bottom line, you've run Konoha into the ground, so now you want me to come out of retirement, right?"
Garp cut him off immediately.
"Yes. For the sake of both our teachers… and for Konoha, which wasn't easy to build, please step out just this once.
I swear Danzo will never be allowed to run wild again, and no one will disturb your peace afterward."
If it were anyone else, Hiruzen would've already buried them with schemes.
But right now, he didn't even dare breathe too loudly, he could only speak humbly.
"Hashirama, Tobirama… sigh."
At those names, a rare look of nostalgia flickered across Garp's usually carefree eyes.
Time was merciless.
The Senju brothers he once drank and laughed with… Their graves already had grass growing several meters high.