When he woke up, it was already evening.
As soon as he opened his eyes, he realized there was an extra person sitting beside him.
Once his vision cleared and he saw who it was, he scrambled out of bed with a kip-up. "Lord Hokage? Why have you come?"
He never imagined the Third would actually show up at his house—and from the looks of it, the old man had been waiting for quite a while.
What kind of play was this?
The Third just waved his hand, signaling him to sit down and talk.
After they both sat, the Third took the pipe from his own mouth and offered it to Gisei. "Want a puff?"
Gisei eyed the pipe with considerable disdain, then pulled out his own cigarette instead.
Something that was just in your mouth a moment ago, and now you want to stuff it into mine? Even if you don't find it disgusting, I do.
The Third didn't seem awkward about the rejection. He just chuckled and said, "Kaori came to find me today. She was adamant about kicking you out of the hospital. I had to use all my persuasive skills just to get her to drop the idea."
He paused, his gaze softening. "Can you tell me what's on your mind?"
Is this going to be a heart-to-heart?
Gisei scratched his head. "I wasn't thinking much, really. The director wanted me to change my clothes, cut my hair, and even wanted me to quit smoking. I didn't agree, so... it turned into that whole mess."
The Third sighed. "You... are still grieving over Eisawa's death?"
"No, I'm much better now."
"That's good. Can you tell me about the situation when Eisawa died?"
Gisei gave the Third a strange look. The man is dead; what's the point of digging this up now?
"Uncle was fine when he died. He ate well, drank alcohol. I wanted to have a drink with him, but he got anxious and wouldn't let me."
"After entrusting me with a few things, he committed suicide. There wasn't much pain; he went peacefully."
The Third seemed slightly emotional hearing this, a faint, bittersweet smile appearing on his face. "That's good. That's good."
He took a long drag from his pipe, exhaled a cloud of smoke, and looked at Gisei. "Did Eisawa tell you why he committed suicide?"
"He couldn't live much longer anyway. Lord Hokage should know better than anyone that this is the final destination for our clan."
"What do you mean by 'couldn't live much longer'?"
Gisei paused for a moment, then remembered that the only person in the village who knew the full extent of Eisawa's failing health was Shuichi Takemoto. That old fox wouldn't have leaked that kind of intel.
"After returning from that mission, he was heavily injured. He'd been using sealing jutsu just to hang onto his life."
The Third fell silent before whispering, "Is that so? It must have been incredibly hard on him."
"So you entered the hospital to try and save his life?"
Gisei nodded. At this point, there was no need to hide it.
The Third smoked in silence, and Gisei joined him, lighting one cigarette after another.
After a while, the Third spoke up again. "You are a good child. It's really been hard on you these past two years, even developing medical ninjutsu yourself. If you had told me earlier..."
The Third trailed off. He knew perfectly well that Eisawa would never have allowed Gisei to tell him about something like that.
"I want to establish a medical unit in the hospital. What do you think?"
"Sounds pretty good."
"Is that so?" The Third turned his head, staring intently at him. "Then are you willing to take a position in this medical unit?"
Gisei fell silent.
If he joined the medical unit, there was no doubt Nonō Yakushi would be there too. What difference would that make from just staying in the hospital under surveillance?
"No need, Lord Hokage. Now that Uncle is dead, I don't have a reason to stay in the hospital anymore. I want to rest at home for a few years."
"Rest for a few years?" The Third looked displeased. "Gisei, tell me the truth. Is it that you don't want to put in effort for Konoha anymore?"
Still talking about "putting in effort." The more effort I put in, the more you people want to kill me. Why are you such a lousy old man?
Gisei frantically complained in his heart. Although the Third wasn't actually that old right now, the image of him as a "lousy old man" was already deeply imprinted in Gisei's mind.
He understood why the Third had come to his house personally.
It was simple politics. The Third just needed an attitude from him—a display of willingness to serve Konoha.
If he wasn't willing to serve, then the ninja clans led by Takemoto would be difficult for the Third to mobilize. Conversely, as long as Gisei showed he was on board, the Third could use him as a lever to mobilize those clans.
The current Konoha wasn't the withered village of the post-Third War era; right now, it was basically the world of the ninja clans.
Eisawa had said that the Hokage was just the spokesperson for the ninja clans' interests. Even Danzo—Eisawa had made moves against him. From this alone, one could see how massive the current ninja clan forces were.
Losing these powers would cause Konoha's strength to shrink drastically, which obviously didn't fit the Third's political strategy.
Of course, Danzo wouldn't care about that. He couldn't wait to kill Gisei and then absorb the scattered clans behind him.
But the Third was a sensible person. He knew very well that Danzo's methods would likely lead to a riot among the clans.
Actually, even if the clans did riot, the Third could suppress them, but the cost would be massive damage to Konoha's strength. That was something the Third couldn't tolerate, even as a possibility.
Thinking it through, Hiruzen felt a headache coming on.
He now knew exactly how many clans supported Gisei and how massive their collective power was. Although he seemed like just one person, after Eisawa took him to visit those clans, he effectively had a direct line to them.
When he was in the hospital, he realized he didn't need anyone to protect him. No matter how rampant Danzo was, he couldn't possibly kill Gisei openly in Konoha.
If Danzo tried that, Konoha wouldn't be far from falling apart.
The clans supporting Gisei would absolutely not tolerate it. They might not riot openly, but they would definitely pressure the Hokage to hand over Danzo.
Danzo could only handle these clans later, when their power had declined. If he had to face them right now, the Shimura clan behind him would probably abandon him to save themselves.
Moreover, such an action would signal to the neutral clans that the Hokage wanted to control them. That was a situation no clan could accept.
Either the Hokage steps down, or Konoha fractures from top to bottom. Expecting the current commoner ninjas to prop up the village alone would be living in a dream.
Commoner ninjas wanting to get ahead had to risk their lives for the Hokage in exchange for cultivation resources.
Ninja clans were different. As long as you were born into a clan, there was basically no shortage of these resources. Perhaps your talent wasn't great and you weren't valued by the clan, but as long as you had time, your life was always better than those commoner ninjas who had to risk everything.
This was the true reality behind Konoha's peace.
Class gaps always exist. Even pigs in a pigsty are divided into those that grow fast and those that grow slow. Those that grow fast naturally eat more from a young age, and those that grow slow get pushed aside.
However, growing fast isn't necessarily a good thing for a pig. Just like Gisei right now—he felt like the pig in Konoha that grew the fastest.
Danzo, the butcher, had started sharpening his knife a long time ago.
Fortunately, Gisei wasn't a real pig. A real pig would probably walk under the butcher's knife voluntarily for just a mouthful of food. Gisei relied on the protection of "other pigs" to survive the butcher's knife time and time again.
It's just that in this world, there is no such thing as giving without asking for anything in return.
If he really just messed around at home waiting to die, those "pigs" would probably dig him out immediately and send him under Danzo's knife themselves.
Unless he had the power to crush everything, like Madara Uchiha or Hashirama Senju. Otherwise, why should other pigs risk their lives for you? Do you really think pig lives are worthless?
Gisei was worried. He had reached the point where he had to maintain the food supply for the other pigs to ensure his own survival.
Those clans would wait at most until he came of age. If he still didn't show the intention to protect their interests by then, he would probably be abandoned.
Thinking of this, he simply laid his cards on the table.
"Is Lord Hokage really willing to let me put in effort for Konoha?"
The Third was stunned for a moment, staring at Gisei. "You are already a Konoha ninja. No one can stop you from serving the village."
"Then what about Nonō Yakushi? Lord Danzo might have some other ideas."
Gisei knew very well that some matters must be dealt with quickly; beating around the bush would only make others push their luck.
"Nonō Yakushi?"
The Third realized what was going on and finally understood that the child in front of him wasn't so easy to fool.
Danzo's Root had already been established, and the candidates entering the hospital were all selected by Koharu and Homura. It would be as easy as flipping a hand for Danzo to plant someone inside to monitor Gisei.
The Third hadn't known about this, and the two advisors hadn't told him either. As a result, the spy had barely arrived before being detected by Gisei.
The Third's brows furrowed tightly, secretly surprised by the boy's insight. The establishment of Root was top secret even within the Anbu; how could he know?
Gisei didn't need to guess to know what the Third was thinking. He waited leisurely for a reply.
The Third fell into deep thought. He understood Danzo's personality very well; the man was definitely not someone who gave up easily. Perhaps he could transfer Nonō away, but Danzo would definitely send others to monitor Gisei.
Some things can only happen once. If it happened a second time, the trust between him and Gisei would be completely destroyed. And once Gisei no longer trusted him, he would become a political enemy.
"Gisei, join the Anbu. I will send people I absolutely trust to form a squad with you. If you're not at ease, you can also arrange the candidates yourself. I'll decide the captain."
This was the third time the Third had asked him to join the Anbu. Gisei thought for a moment and didn't refuse, instead asking, "I wonder who the captain is?"
"Sakumo!"
The Third shouted the name, and then a figure appeared before the two like a ghost.
"Lord Hokage."
The signature white hair and the short sword on his back—Gisei's eyelids twitched slightly. His sensory abilities had been active ever since the Third arrived.
He hadn't detected where this man was hiding at all.
And that speed just now... was that a normal Body Flicker Technique?
Gisei was a bit uncertain, but that speed was almost no slower than his own Lightning Body Flicker.
His Lightning Body Flicker had many restrictions, but for Sakumo Hatake, this looked like just normal movement.
It was simply too astonishing.