Hiruzen Sarutobi descended in a flash, the Adamantine Staff in his hands.
His speed was terrifying. His strength even more so.
When he landed, the ground beneath him shattered into a spiderweb of cracks.
The dust from the collapsed section of Konoha's wall was blown aside by the wind his arrival created.
Yako observed quietly from nearby.
Hiruzen's chakra reserves were immense—almost equal to his own current level.
At his peak, Hiruzen relied heavily on ninjutsu. A ninja like that inevitably possessed vast chakra reserves.
If he weren't burdened by the responsibilities of being Hokage—
If he acted as a lone assassin, roaming the battlefield and unleashing Five Element Grand Combos again and again—
his destructive power would rival a tailed beast.
Moments later, Yellow Dog landed as well.
He immediately questioned the jonin in charge of the prison.
"What happened here?!"
The man looked pale with fear.
"Someone attacked Jonin Hiyu! He was blasted out of the prison!"
"Then… then in the forest outside… they used a Five Element Great Combo and killed him!"
"I think I heard him shout something before he died… something about an unfilial son!"
"Yes—those were the words. 'Unfilial son.'"
The moment Yellow Dog heard the name of that technique, he already had a suspect.
By the time he heard the last words—
his final hope vanished.
Sarutobi Kanosuke.
How deep did that hatred run?
To infiltrate Konoha itself just to murder his own father.
Patricide… and matricide.
How could such a monster exist?
Puff.
White smoke appeared around Hiruzen.
When it cleared, the Adamantine Staff vanished.
In its place stood a massive monkey the height of a man.
The Monkey King Enma walked forward a few steps, staring at the enormous crater left behind.
"Enma," Hiruzen said quietly.
But Enma spoke first.
"Hiruzen… I never expected anyone besides you could produce a Five Element Grand Combo of this scale."
He walked back to Hiruzen's side.
"Hiruzen, your intelligence network is rotten."
"It's as good as being blind."
"Someone infiltrated Konoha. You didn't know."
"Someone attacked your people. You didn't know."
"You must rebuild your intelligence system."
"Information is the foundation of everything."
Nearby, Yellow Dog lowered his head in shame.
The intelligence network was currently under his command.
He had delegated its management to Long-Armed Ape.
Long-Armed Ape was extremely capable. Their spy networks across the great nations functioned well.
But against rogue ninjas at the Kage level—
that system was utterly insufficient.
To monitor the rogue organization led by Uchiha Madara required Kage-level operatives.
Konoha had very few of those.
None of them would lower themselves to hunt rogue ninjas full-time.
In the past, Danzo had been willing to handle the dirty work for the Third Hokage.
But after repeated political weakening, he had mostly withdrawn from power.
Yellow Dog glanced toward Fox.
Fox had arrived at the scene even earlier.
His strength was unquestionable.
Fox would willingly take on unpleasant tasks—
but recently he had been compared to the Third Kazekage, which had made the Hokage wary of him.
He was being deliberately sidelined for a while.
Yellow Dog spoke to him.
"Fox, deploy ANBU around the perimeter."
"Do not allow ordinary ninja to approach."
"Tell them someone was training ninjutsu here."
Yako nodded and went to arrange the cordon.
Of course, the surrounding ninja weren't fools.
A hole had been blown in the village wall.
That wasn't training.
Sarutobi Hiyu had been killed by his illegitimate son, Sarutobi Kanosuke.
For the Sarutobi clan, it was a disgraceful scandal.
When nearby shinobi saw ANBU sealing the area, they stopped approaching.
Outside the cordon—
Danzo slowly walked over.
The ANBU guards looked toward their deputy commander Fox.
Yako waved his hand.
They stepped aside.
Danzo noticed that the ANBU first sought Fox's approval before allowing him through.
His expression darkened.
He didn't look at the ANBU.
He didn't look at Fox.
He simply walked forward toward the prison ruins.
Standing beside Hiruzen, the two men stared into the crater.
The flames had been extinguished by ANBU.
Everything inside was charred black.
Hiruzen spoke first.
"Danzo. You cannot remain hidden any longer."
"Use the Hashirama cells you implanted."
"Build a new intelligence network."
"One capable of countering Wood Release infiltration."
"Sarutobi Kanosuke. Spiral Zetsu. White Zetsu."
"They all possess Wood Release stealth abilities."
"Konoha cannot be a place where they come and go as they please."
Danzo snorted.
"I cannot remain hidden?"
"How ironic."
"You stripped ANBU from me piece by piece."
"You took away the intelligence network as well."
"And now you want me to build another one for you?"
"Why not rely on your son Shinnosuke?"
"Or on Fox?"
"Fox also possesses Wood Release."
"Wood Release is not my primary method of combat."
"My mastery of it is far inferior to his."
"Danzo, don't cause trouble," Hiruzen said quietly.
"Fox's Wood Release is powerful."
"But his rise has been too rapid."
"He needs time to settle."
"He must be evaluated."
"He must be tested."
"The new intelligence system cannot be entrusted to him."
"Danzo, you will establish the new network using Wood Release."
"We cannot allow enemies to infiltrate Konoha so easily."
Danzo paused before replying.
"My Root division will expand."
"The Ten Heavenly Stems codenames are no longer enough."
"I want twelve additional Earthly Branch codenames."
"Twenty-two operatives in total."
Hiruzen sighed.
"You have already expanded."
"Whether I agree or not, haven't you secretly developed more than twenty subordinates already?"
After Danzo withdrew from public power, he had focused entirely on strengthening himself and cultivating loyal agents.
This conversation was little more than a formal acknowledgment of that fact.
Receiving Hiruzen's answer—
Danzo turned and left.
Hiruzen took out his pipe and lit it.
If Homura were here, he thought, he could offer some advice.
Looking at the enormous crater, Hiruzen felt a headache forming.
The pressure from rogue ninjas was growing heavier.
He had a bad feeling.
Would he truly live long enough to see Madara die of old age?
—
Under the Hokage's direction, the news of Hiyu's death quietly disappeared.
But something strange began appearing in the village.
Dead trees.
In spring, trees should have been sprouting new buds.
Instead—
these trees looked completely lifeless.
Yako raised binoculars, observing one of them from afar.
To detect White Zetsu, Spiral Zetsu, and Sarutobi Kanosuke—
Danzo had apparently developed a special Wood Release surveillance technique.
All the chakra inside those trees was concentrated in their roots.
They monitored chakra fluctuations beneath the ground.
Yako became extremely cautious.
He decided to test the trees' detection range when an opportunity appeared.
—
The full moon rose again.
The moment the next full moon arrived, Yako immediately used the technique inside Konoha.
He slipped underground—
his body dissolving into organic matter.
Twenty seconds later—
someone burst out of the Hokage Tower.
Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura had detected the anomaly.
Both wore armor.
Both looked ready for battle.
But Yako had already ended the technique.
Using Water Body Flicker, he vanished and hid in the darkness.
Twenty seconds.
That was the only time window he had.
After searching for a while and finding nothing—
Hiruzen and Danzo returned to the tower.
Since he had a resurrection available that month, Yako continued testing the technique night after night.
Danzo nearly collapsed from exhaustion.
Konoha eventually concluded that Madara's rogue organization was repeatedly probing the village.
—
At the end of the month—
Yako sought out Senju Hanaki.
He launched a surprise attack.
And died at Hanaki's hands.
Arc of the Waning Moon system activating.
From Hanaki, he gained Elite Jonin-level chakra reserves.
His chakra increased from 4.5 Kage-level to 4.7 Kage-level.
Hanaki was an ally.
Once Yako eventually revealed his Senju lineage, Hanaki would never harm him.
With how weak the Senju clan had become—
learning that Fox was secretly one of them would probably make Hanaki ecstatic.
—
Full moon.
April, Year 42.
Yako targeted Yamanaka Ino'en, the Yamanaka clan head.
As the clan's son-in-law, there would never be a life-and-death conflict between them.
For the Yamanaka clan, having an ANBU deputy commander as family was a tremendous advantage.
Arc of the Waning Moon system activating.
He gained Elite Jonin-level chakra reserves again.
His chakra rose from 4.7 Kage-level to…
4.8?
Logically speaking, an elite jonin's chakra should equal 0.2 Kage-level.
His reserves should have reached 4.9.
But they only increased by 0.1.
Yako lowered his head and stared at his hands.
Carefully sensing his body—
he understood.
Limit.
This body had reached its limit.
Chakra was a fusion of physical energy and spiritual energy.
Neither could grow infinitely.
Peak Kage-level.
4.8 Kage-level chakra reserves.
That was the ceiling.
For the shinobi world—
for ordinary humans—
Peak Kage-level was the ultimate limit.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Jiraiya.
The Third Raikage.
None of them had surpassed it.
Countless Senju and Uchiha had existed through history.
Very few even reached Kage level.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Wood Release.
Forbidden techniques.
Sage Mode.
Body modification.
All of these were Kage-level methods.
But each encountered the same ceiling.
To break past it required a qualitative transformation.
Throughout history—
only a handful of shinobi had exceeded that boundary.
They reached the level known as Super-Kage—
completely overwhelming ordinary Kage.
The most recent examples were
Senju Hashirama
and
Uchiha Madara.
Their ability to transcend the limit came from being reincarnations of Asura and Indra.
Of the two—
Hashirama's growth was even more unreasonable.
Madara's power progression could at least be traced.
Mangekyō Sharingan.
Eternal Mangekyō.
Summoning the Nine-Tails.
But no matter how strong Madara became—
Hashirama always suppressed him.
Yako's mind raced.
How could he break through the limit?
Several paths remained untested.
The first—
Sage Arts.
If he wished to confront the Ōtsutsuki in the future, natural energy would be essential.
Natural energy came from the world itself.
It was fundamentally different from the Divine Tree.
Mount Myoboku.
Ryuchi Cave.
Shikkotsu Forest.
Each Sage system specialized in different aspects.
Yako had no idea which one suited him.
The second path—
replicating Hashirama's method.
According to the scroll Tsunade had given him, Hashirama once visited the Fire Temple.
Afterward, his strength skyrocketed.
He awakened terrifying techniques like
Wood Golem
True Several Thousand Hands
and
Top Transformed Buddha.
Sage Arts fused chakra with natural energy.
Hashirama had fused chakra with the Fire Temple's inheritance.
Yako could not allow his strength to stagnate.
Next month—
he would attempt Sage Arts
or investigate the Fire Temple.
—
In the Land of Rain—
inside a hollow tree.
A cracking sound echoed.
The pipe feeding energy from the Gedo Statue snapped.
The statue stopped channeling power.
Uchiha Madara slowly stood up—
lifting his war fan.