"Lord Haseo..."
A surveillance Anbu ninja suddenly sensed someone appear behind him. When he turned around, he saw that it was indeed Haseo.
"What's the situation? Any problems?"
Haseo asked while looking toward a solitary grave in the distance—and the figure standing before it.
"Everything's normal, Lord Haseo... He's just been coming here every day for about a month now. Aside from that, there's been nothing unusual or suspicious at all," the Anbu replied respectfully.
"For how long will your mission continue under the Hokage's orders?" Haseo nodded slightly before asking. It would be best if Nawaki just kept doing this every day and stayed out of trouble forever.
"Currently, the mission will continue indefinitely, Lord Haseo."
The Third Hokage's decision to maintain constant surveillance wasn't unreasonable. The Senju remained an unpredictable undercurrent within the village, and Nawaki had become the nerve center of their most radical elements. Keeping watch on him was one of the most effective countermeasures available.
However, no one could be completely omniscient—sometimes even direct observation missed the point.
After a brief hesitation, the Anbu finally added, "Honestly, we're hoping this mission wraps up sooner rather than later."
What he meant was that they hoped the threat lurking within the village could be eliminated as soon as possible.
"I guess you don't enjoy family drama either. To tell you the truth, I don't either... I think everyone feels the same way about this plotline. I want to get through it faster too," Haseo said with a sigh.
The Anbu thought silently,...What are you even talking about?
Glancing once more at Nawaki, Haseo left the location and headed directly toward the Third Hokage's office, hoping to find out whether any new intelligence had been received.
"There hasn't really been any progress. The Anbu excel at focused, in-depth investigations, but large-scale searches aren't feasible right now—it's mostly due to limited manpower."
Anbu agents were finite in number and already burdened with other tasks. Thus, the Third Hokage offered what seemed like a rather disappointing explanation.
In short, there was currently no capability for proactive action from above.
Frowning, Haseo thought back to how they had dealt with the Uchiha… Maybe there wasn't much to rethink after all. The Anbu had been passive then too. It was one of their own who made the first move.
"The downfall of the Uchiha clan was essentially an internal disaster—an issue arising from within."
"Tsunade—has she sent any updates?" the Third Hokage then asked in return.
"Not at all. Tsunade has completely severed her ties with the Senju, which I'm sure the Hokage already understands... That must have been arranged intentionally when the Senju chose to retreat into obscurity.
Tsunade represents the visible face of the Senju. If members of the clan rallied around her, it would mark their return to power—which directly contradicts why the Senju chose to step back."
When the Senju stepped back from power, Tsunade had no choice but to stay in the spotlight—after all, she was the granddaughter of the First Hokage. At that time, her symbolic significance carried too much weight.
After the deaths of the First and Second Hokage, if Tsunade had been immediately "put on the shelf," it would have made the newly enthroned Hokage seem overly ambitious, to say the least.
Out in the open or behind the scenes, over the years all connections between Tsunade and the Senju had long been severed.
"If those people have any sense, they'll avoid dragging Tsunade into this entirely. And I really hope the village doesn't try to use her as a bargaining chip either... After all, Tsunade is ultimately a very fragile person. I don't want anyone hurting her.
Of course, that's just my wish—if someone's truly set on hurting her, there's little I can do in advance anyway."
The Third Hokage's heart almost stopped—he nearly dropped his pipe on the floor. Just listen to that—"there's nothing I can do in advance."
And saying something like "Tsunade is a fragile person"—probably only someone like Haseo could dare say that aloud. As her teacher since childhood, the Third himself strongly disagreed with such an opinion.
"I understand what you mean; don't get worked up."
But regardless, the Third now needed to give such a guarantee first.
As for Haseo, he wouldn't care whether the one harming Tsunade was from the Senju or Konoha. To him, anyone who hurt her was essentially the same.
A rabid dog is the most dangerous creature in nature—especially when it's already gone mad.
Konoha was now rife with unseen tensions. Once people started whispering about hidden tensions, it was clear the storm was going to break sooner or later.
Officially, all eyes were on Nawaki, which gave certain operations plenty of time to prepare.
"Lord Nawaki, how are you coming along with the new power?"
Inside a basement beneath a civilian house, Nawaki was gathered together with several individuals.
Clearly, even though he had lost Aruo as a 'connection point,' Nawaki still maintained contact with the Senju.
"Mmm. Fully under control."
Nawaki replied. A month after parting ways with Orochimaru, perhaps the biggest visible change was his skin becoming extremely pale—as if he'd been bleached thirty times over during this period.
"The Senju's true strength has returned to us at last. That's what makes us the real Senju again. However, there are two paths before us now. The first is we may take this opportunity to leave Konoha, and the second is returning to where we belong.
Frankly, the second path remains extremely difficult—we're facing many obstacles ahead."
One person hidden within the darkness spoke thus.
"There's no real choice here—it's only one. The Senju have no reason to leave Konoha."
If there were obstacles before us, we should try kicking them aside... After experiencing a battlefield mission, I no longer speak such arrogant words. Even so, at our most cautious estimation, we already have the strength to act.
If we possess strength yet refuse to make an attempt, it would be more than just cowardice or stupidity—it couldn't be described so simply.
That sounded like something said by a truly powerful individual, someone with the power to deliver the final blow. But could Nawaki really pull off something like that?
Well, if the Senju had both the strength and the will to give it a shot, then taking action wouldn't necessarily be a mistake—perhaps this was exactly what "history is written by the victors" meant.
However, since the last time the Senju took action over ten years ago, Haseo stood against them—and from that moment on, they viewed him as a traitor who repaid kindness with betrayal… In other words, the Senju had absolutely no trust in Haseo; he had become one of their so-called "obstacles."
This kind of hostility stemmed purely from their own wishful thinking. The theory wasn't wrong, but reality proved quite amusing... After all, who did Haseo—the traitor—think he was? Without the Senju's support, where would he even be today?
He might've been dead for years by now.
In short, the Senju now possessed the necessary strength for action, and they were ready to move forward. Then...
They launched their operation.
Looking back on everything, nobody remained as composed and calculating as Danzo Shimura.
A few days later, during a normal dawn.
A loud explosion jolted Haseo awake. Soon after came faint sounds of commotion breaking through the silence, night gradually giving way to lighter shadows accompanied by light raindrops.
"Haseo..."
Tsunade naturally woke up too.
"Stay home. You don't need to get involved tonight."
Haseo quickly got up and dressed himself in haste. He tucked two long blades behind his back and fastened his ninja tool pouch around his waist.
Leaving the cat, Katsuyu, and Tsunade behind inside, Haseo opened the door and stepped out. Swiftly, he vanished into the dimly lit alleys among Konoha's uneven rooftops as daybreak approached.
The explosion came from the direction of the Kagenami base.
The cool morning breeze quickly cleared Haseo's mind, and the drizzle even brought him a refreshing sensation… Honestly speaking, he'd grown tired of passivity and waiting these past days.
Konoha lacked effective means against those hiding in the shadows—a fact that was both inconvenient and frustrating. But compared to the pressure currently bearing down on the village, those attempting to initiate action likely faced no lesser tension, considering their opponent was the entire Hidden Leaf Village... This pressure inevitably pushed them toward taking action.
No matter what intentions the enemy carried, Haseo only had one response prepared:
Bring it on.
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