"Phew… I didn't expect him to move this fast—and he really managed to talk Tsunade into it."
Mitokado Homura had been closely tracking the currents of opinion across the village. Uchiha Chizumi's decisiveness exceeded anything he'd imagined.
The man behaved as if he didn't need careful deliberation or a detailed plan—he went straight to Tsunade and urged her to run for the next Hokage of Konoha.
Bear in mind, Hiruzen was still in the Hokage's seat with no intention of stepping down. By that measure, this was tantamount to a coup.
It made the Uchiha clan's former radicals look like clowns. They had drafted countless plans to overthrow Konoha's leadership and even prepared to act—only to accomplish nothing, and later they were wiped out in one sweep by Chizumi himself.
Yet the moment Chizumi moved to unseat the Hokage, he didn't even need a plan to put Hiruzen on the back foot. Sometimes the blunt, straightforward play is the most inescapable open gambit.
"Maybe… they really can pull it off." Homura's mood was heavy as he let out a quiet sigh. "Hiruzen has lost too many hearts. Even the Sarutobi clan's own people have lost their loyalty and respect for him."
"Under these circumstances… if Tsunade aims to be the Fifth Hokage, the Sarutobi clan might turn its back on Hiruzen and swing over to support her instead. Of course, that's assuming they don't realize how close she is to Chizumi, or that her bid for Fifth Hokage is really Chizumi's handiwork behind the scenes…"
Homura could already see it: Hiruzen's Hokage's seat was tottering, on the verge of collapse. To keep that seat, what you need most is the village's affection, loyalty, respect, and recognition.
Hiruzen once had all of that—at his peak, no one could compare. But now… he'd lost most people's affection. Conspiracy theories about him occasionally circulated through the village, recasting him in many minds as a scheming politician.
People here don't like that type. That, in turn, eroded the respect and recognition he received. As for loyalty… once he failed to protect members of the Sarutobi clan, and those few Anbu, that loyalty was already gone.
Homura realized he was facing his own choice—if Tsunade wanted to become Fifth Hokage and force Hiruzen from office, she would certainly seek out, or at least inquire about, the stance of a senior advisor like him. The moment she came to his door, he'd be forced to choose a side. Or perhaps Hiruzen would get there first.
"What a headache…"
Homura knew he couldn't keep a neutral position.
Just then, a junior from the Mitokado clan hurried over and reported anxiously, "Homura-sama! T—Tsunade-sama of the Legendary Sannin is here! And she specifically asked to see you by name!"
"…" Homura's face went blank.
His crow's-mouth premonition had come true—Tsunade had arrived first.
…
At the same time, elsewhere—
"That's it? Just a bit of light prep and we head for Kirigakure?" Biwa Jūzō was a little stunned. He watched Uchiha Chizumi merely tidy up some gear and ninja tools, then, with a ninja cat so overweight it probably had every metabolic 'three-highs' issue under the sun, and a young female subordinate hugging a notebook and scribbling away, he was already set to depart.
"Don't you need to bring more shinobi? The Konoha Police Force has, what, a hundred or two hundred ninja?" Jūzō couldn't help suggesting. "Even if some have to stay in Konoha to carry out justice, you could still bring twenty or thirty, right?"
To him, Chizumi taking only one subordinate who might not even be of age yet felt like an insult to the scale of the Land of Water's current tragedy.
"No need," Chizumi said flatly. "I'm not invading the Land of Water—what would I do with that many ninja? The purpose of this trip is to kill deserving villains and to awaken the sense of justice in some of Kirigakure's shinobi."
"So long as there are still ninja in the Mist with justice in their hearts—even if only a handful—it means the village can still be saved. It hasn't reached the point of no return."
Hearing that, Jūzō swallowed without letting it show. Trying to keep his voice steady, he asked, "If—just if—Kirigakure can't be saved?"
Chizumi slowly turned to look at him. "If it's a den of monsters beyond redemption, twisted by a warped creed, where anyone might be steeped in sin… what do you think I'd do?"
Jūzō's mouth went dry. "Kill?"
"Right." Chizumi nodded as if it were nothing. "Kill every last one—hack open a clear sky—and replace everyone in the village with a different stock."
Every hair on Jūzō's body stood on end. He had thought he'd already overestimated Chizumi's ruthlessness; in the end he'd underestimated it. If the Mist truly couldn't be saved, this man would exterminate everyone in it.
He drew a sharp breath.
Had he made a mistake, defecting to this man and asking him to turn his gaze on Kirigakure? Was he about to doom the very village he wanted to save? Would the one who most wanted to rescue the Mist end up, by accident, leading it to destruction?
The thought made Jūzō's scalp prickle. And yet, looking at Chizumi, fully kitted out and ready to move, he found he couldn't get the words out to stop him. Things had come this far—was he supposed to step in front of Chizumi now? He dreaded that the moment he tried, he'd eat a molten-lava fist for his trouble.
"Lead the way."
Those two curt words snapped Jūzō back to himself. He tightened his expression and moved out quickly to guide them.
Behind him, Uchiha Izumi, with Jujirō perched on her shoulder, hurried to follow.
…
"Tsunade, you're here…"
Seeing her, Homura sighed inwardly, though he kept it off his face. He gestured for her to sit, then asked, "Have you truly made up your mind? Remember, Hiruzen is your teacher—he personally trained you into an excellent Konoha kunoichi. To some, what you're doing… won't look good."
Even as he asked, Homura offered a gentle, earnest reminder. It was as far as he could go for Hiruzen's sake.
Homura sat formally in seiza. Tsunade sprawled with the casual indifference of a Sannin, grabbed the teapot without ceremony, poured herself a cup, took a sip to wet her throat, and then said, "Precisely because the old man is my teacher, I can't let him keep making mistake after mistake. If Konoha continues to run on his will alone, the Will of Fire will only collide with Chizumi's Absolute Justice again and again."
"If the old man can't tolerate Absolute Justice, then why not pick a Hokage who can? Personally, I don't see anything wrong with Absolute Justice. In times like these, harsh laws are what restore order."
She held Homura's gaze. "The Fifth Hokage… I've already given that bastard Chizumi my word. I'm going to win."
"I will bring fundamental reform and change to Konoha. Once I've chosen my next move, no one is going to stop me."
"As for the old man, all I can do is offer an apology from afar."
"So…" Tsunade asked, "what's your stance?"
"Old as I am…" Homura began, but before he could get the words out, another Mitokado junior came rushing in.
"Homura-sama! T—the Hokage is here with two Anbu to pay a visit!"
Homura's expression froze. The words "this is bad" echoed in his head. Of all things, he had never imagined Tsunade and Hiruzen would both come calling on the same day—at the same time.
He understood—this situation wasn't tormenting Hiruzen. It was tormenting Mitokado Homura.
"Can we stall him a bit? Have Third wait a few minutes?" Homura tried to get his clansman to buy some time. If Hiruzen and Tsunade bumped into each other here, the most awkward person in the room would be him.
The junior grimaced. "I've already escorted Hokage-sama inside… He is the Hokage, and you and he have always been close… I couldn't very well leave him waiting outside the clan compound."
"…"
Footsteps approached from afar, drawing nearer. Homura saw Sarutobi Hiruzen; Hiruzen saw Homura—and Tsunade seated before him.
In that instant, the smile on Hiruzen's face went stiff.
"Old man, it's been a few days. You look worse than before," Tsunade said lightly, lifting her eyelids to glance at him. "If the burden's too heavy, maybe it's time to relax. Some loads can be carried by us."
Hiruzen slowly shifted his gaze from Tsunade to Homura, a silent look that held wordless doubt and reproach. Under that stare, Homura lowered his head, embarrassed, wishing the floor would swallow him.
"…" After a long, quiet beat, Hiruzen ignored Tsunade's jab and spoke to Homura instead: "I see. I've intruded at a bad time."
Homura hurried to explain, but Tsunade waved a hand and cut in. "If you know you're intruding, then head back."
"You've worn the hat twice already—call it back-to-back wins. You've had your turn, old man. Why cling to it?"
Her tone and expression sharpened. "I don't want this to get ugly between us. But if you stand in my way, I won't hesitate to tear the mask off."
"…" Homura wanted to cry—please stop talking like that. You're making it sound like I'm already on your side.
"…" Hiruzen drew a long breath. "Truly my student. Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and you—each has chosen a path that surprises me. Perhaps I've been a competent Hokage, but I have not been a competent teacher."
"Homura, do as you think best."
He had no desire to hear Homura's stammered explanations. With two Anbu in tow, Hiruzen turned on his heel and left. Since his old friend and partner had chosen to meet Tsunade first, he didn't have the face to stay and be an ill-timed listener.
…
"As I feared… Orochimaru-sama and Ryūchi Cave have both run into trouble."
Somewhere in the Land of Fire, Yakushi Kabuto had slipped back in secret and now stared at the devastation before him. He stood there, stunned, unsure what to do.
After more than a minute in a daze, he tried to locate Orochimaru's corpse, but found nothing—only bodies of Orochimaru's subordinates, charred to cinders.
Thinking that Ryūchi Cave itself might have been the battleground, Kabuto muttered, "Did the final fight break out inside Ryūchi Cave? Is that where Orochimaru-sama's body is?"
The problem was, getting into Ryūchi Cave wasn't simple. The easiest way was to have one of its sages reverse-summon him in. But no matter what summoning technique he tried, he couldn't establish contact with the snake sages within.
"One more try… the last try…"
With that thought, Kabuto attempted the summoning again. He wasn't expecting much—until a puff of white smoke flashed before his eyes. As it cleared, the White Snake Sage stood there.
"You—are Orochimaru's student, aren't you?"