Their fists collided.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura both held back. No jutsu. No Chakra. Just raw strength, testing each other in their natural state.
It was a habit from twenty years ago. Time had not erased it.
A classic opening.
After the clash, they separated almost in unison, as if the warm-up had ended. Each struck once and withdrew, returning to opposite ends of the training ground.
Danzo's face remained calm, but he casually pretended to reach for a Kunai and slipped his hand behind his back, rubbing it quickly.
It hurt.
Something's off with Hiruzen's strength… What's going on?
He's been cultivating the Yin Seal, sure, but this is stronger than when he was young.
Don't tell me he's hit some kind of second growth spurt?
The thought flashed through his mind, yet his movements never slowed.
In the blink of an eye, several Shuriken were already between his fingers. Wind Style Chakra wrapped around their blades, causing the edges to expand several times over.
With a sharp swing, he sent them howling toward Hiruzen from strange angles.
A crackling hum filled the air.
Lightning spread across Hiruzen's body, stimulating his muscles and sharpening his reflexes.
Facing the Wind Style Shuriken flying at him from all directions, he locked onto their trajectories. He did not dodge. He charged straight in.
Just before the blades could slice into him, Hiruzen leaped like a monkey, fluid and precise. He slipped through impossibly narrow gaps in the assault without losing speed.
His neural reaction time. His physical vitality.
Just as he had sensed, as the village flourished, he too had been experiencing a kind of "second growth."
His style's gotten more aggressive? Danzo narrowed his eyes.
He inhaled deeply and began forming hand seals at high speed, Chakra surging and condensing.
Wind Style: Vacuum Great Sphere.
A compressed cannon of air roared forward like something tangible.
Danzo believed that even a master like Hiruzen, who could cast multiple jutsu in succession, would struggle to respond while maintaining Lightning Style Armour.
The thought had barely formed.
A thick earthen wall erupted from the ground, blocking the Vacuum Great Sphere.
Then raging flames surged forth like a sea of fire, fanned by the wind and sweeping down on Danzo.
"Not this again…"
"Hiruzen's Fire Style is a perfect counter to my Wind Style."
"He dropped Lightning Style Armour in an instant? Impressive…"
Danzo retreated quickly. His clothes were blackened, and the smell of scorched hair lingered in the air.
He had not escaped unscathed.
As someone who specialized in Wind Style, he had no clean answer to this layered combination.
While appearing to withdraw in disarray, Danzo rapidly formed seals. Inside his mouth, Wind Style Chakra gathered and compressed again and again.
"My Wind Style's faster now, Hiruzen!"
This was his newest development.
Wind Style: Vacuum Heavy Sphere.
By refining both nature and shape transformation, he had increased its speed and penetration while making it harder to detect.
Perfect for feigning weakness and striking back at the moment an opponent grew careless.
The inspiration had come from his teacher, Tobirama Senju.
Tobirama once used Water Style: Heavenly Weeping.
The name sounded elegant, but in practice it meant compressing water needles beneath the tongue. In close combat, he would spit them out without warning and pierce his opponent through.
As wind and fire clashed, lightning flashed once more.
Hiruzen strode through the sea of flames, heading straight for Danzo.
Lightning Style Armour was too useful for adapting to chaotic battlefields. On terrain engulfed in fire like this, without that protective shell, crossing through would require slowing down. And slowing down meant giving the enemy breathing room.
Danzo deliberately turned his back, listening to the rush of air behind him and calculating distance.
Then he spun.
Like a heavy cannon, compressed Wind Style Chakra blasted out of his mouth, tearing through the air with thunderous sonic booms and trailing streaks of white vapor.
Got him! Danzo exulted.
Then his expression shifted.
This move was ruthless. It was not meant for friendly sparring. If something went wrong…
Hiruzen had no time to consider Danzo's concern.
In truth, this was exactly the kind of pressure he wanted.
From the beginning, he had been fully focused. Past victories meant nothing. He would never underestimate Danzo Shimura.
He was the Hokage of the Hidden Leaf Village.
The enemies he might one day face would be the strongest and most cunning in the entire ninja world. They would not care about fairness or honor. They would only seek to kill him by any means.
At almost the same instant Danzo turned—
Hiruzen pushed his Lightning Style Armour to its limit, then abruptly cut off the technique.
The expanded lightning cloak detached from his body, forming a spherical protective barrier.
He raised a finger, and his body shifted into the hardened state of Iron Skin.
The Vacuum Heavy Sphere smashed into the lightning shell. Wind naturally overpowered lightning, tearing through the barrier with ease, yet the impact was slowed.
Hiruzen adjusted mid-motion. One hand struck the ground, his body twisting to avoid most of the blast. Two compressed spheres grazed his shoulder and wrist, ringing with a metallic clash against Iron Skin.
The moment his palm touched the earth, a thick pillar of stone erupted behind Danzo and slammed into him.
Danzo whirled, planting his feet against the pillar, but the force still launched him forward.
Suspended in midair, he forced his body to turn, eyes narrowing as he saw lightning gathering around Hiruzen again.
So it was back to close combat.
He expelled highly condensed Wind Style Chakra from his mouth, shaping it into a blade.
Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.
But to his surprise, the lightning around Hiruzen flickered only briefly before vanishing. Hiruzen's hands moved through seals at blinding speed.
A massive surge of water burst from the ground, forming a sphere that trapped Danzo inside.
In this crucial exchange of jutsu, Hiruzen had won.
He flashed to the side of the water prison, lightning dancing around his palm.
Water and lightning intertwined.
Danzo's body convulsed instantly. His limbs went numb, shaking uncontrollably. Yet even then, he tried to gather Chakra, refusing to concede.
Hiruzen chuckled.
He pulled a cigarette pack from his pocket, slid one between his lips, and shook his head. "Then you can wait a bit."
After all, he was not the one being shocked.
Danzo's face darkened. At last, he blinked rapidly in surrender.
The water prison collapsed with a splash.
A stray arc of lightning brushed the cigarette tip, igniting it.
Hiruzen exhaled a thick plume of smoke and stretched. "That move of yours was impressive."
"If I hadn't known how strong you are and stayed on guard the whole time, I might've fallen for it."
He smiled. "Won by luck again, Danzo."
Danzo's lips twitched weakly.
Luck?
He had heard that Hiruzen trained every morning without fail, putting in the work behind the scenes while acting relaxed on the surface.
The great Hokage's advisor would not be fooled by that sly monkey.
After a moment—
"You always say it's luck… Forget it. I didn't expect to win that easily anyway," Danzo muttered as strength returned to his limbs.
"Rest a bit, or getting up?" Hiruzen bent down and offered him a hand.
Danzo hesitated, then took it and rose with his help.
"Hiruzen," he asked sincerely, "where am I lacking?"