Hokage Tower, the office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen's hat rested on the corner of his desk while he kept his head down over a mountain of scrolls. His once-iron hair had gone shot through with white, tufts flaring in disarray. Three years back in the seat, the former "Ninja God" wore his age like a heavy cloak.
Across from him sat Shimura Danzō bandage over skull and right eye, cane clenched in both fists.
"Daytime," Danzō said, voice dry as old paper, "you need to take care of your appearance. Even if Koharu is gone, you are the Hokage. You are the face of Konoha. Look at you slovenly. Is this a kage."
Hiruzen coughed. "Danzō, we are old. Faces don't win wars. Unlike you and your miracle of black hair. Next to you I look ten years older."
You look old because you refuse to die, Danzō sneered in his head. Out loud he moved on. Black hair was… science. Best not to dwell.
"Once winter hit, Kumogakure halted everything. I hear the Raikage sent word for talks."
"Mhm." The pen scratched. End of war or not, a village still devoured paperwork. Without looking up, Hiruzen let the pipe clack lightly between his teeth and went on. "Three years and no breakthrough into Fire Country. Even a brawler like him feels it.
He wrote me. We agreed on a ceasefire signing two months from now, December twenty-seventh. We can run the celebration into the Reincarnation Festival. Konoha's been buried under war too long. This peace should be real. The village deserves to breathe."
"I don't care when you sign it." Danzō jabbed the cane against the floor. "I will lead the negotiation. You are too soft. This time we demand compensation from Kumo."
"Don't let anger steer you. Peace matters more than coin. Kumo gained nothing in three years. Their coffers will be thin. If peace requires it, Konoha can make modest concessions."
Hiruzen finally leaned back and rolled his shoulders, set ink aside and drew on the pipe twice, smoke drifting like pale rings of fog.
Danzō slapped the desk and rose. "Bakana. They invaded. We don't pay invaders for failing. Hand me the letter. You are not proposing what you did in the Third War, are you. Victors writing checks to sign peace."
Hiruzen's gaze cooled. He didn't reach for the message. "Widen your horizon. The Land of Fire is vast and rich. Supplies are supplies. Our most precious things are Konoha's shinobi and the lives of our people. Lose money and we can earn it back. Lose lives and there is nothing. I won't breed more tragedies."
"Fool. Kumo plundered border-state missions for three winters under the banner of invading us. Even if they somehow profited nothing, we bled. Great Hokage, do you know ramen is a luxury to many of our shinobi right now."
"Which is why we end it. I discussed this with Koharu and Homura. They agree."
"You. I refuse to buy peace."
"Danzō, this is not only the decision of three advisors. It's the will of the village."
"Traitor to prudence. You dare call yourself 'Ninja God.' Look at you."
"This is not up for debate. I am Hokage."
"You will regret this."
Silence fell like ash. Hiruzen stared at smoke while Danzō's fingers wandered to his wrapped right arm, savoring the throb of stolen vitality. In the dim of memory a cold-eyed man smiled.
You have rotted, Sarutobi. Orochimaru was right. Rotten leaves belong under the roots.
After a long hush he had the strange feeling he'd forgotten something.
Right. The door.
Without that one solid "bang," the scene felt incomplete.
He turned, hand half-lifted and froze as his head snapped toward Konoha's outskirts.
Hiruzen lifted his too. Somewhere beyond the walls, a terrible pressure rose like thunder.
Hyuga Atsushi was on his knees, hands braced in the snow, every vein on his face bulging until he looked like his Byakugan had burst open by itself. The weight that crushed him wasn't chakra. It was will.
He could not believe it a man had forced him down with aura alone. He wanted to ask who this red-haired stranger was, this man in black-and-white robes with the calm smile, but he dared not. One breath wasted and he might faceplant.
Mo Ke didn't spare him a glance. This sort of background jōnin would rate half a panel in the Fourth Great Ninja War at best. From the back. With no face lines.
Crimson force coiled off him in steady waves. Black red lightning flickered at its edges, appearing and dying like sparks in a forge.
He tuned the bleed so only those with adequate strength would feel it, then strolled to Hinata.
Mixed with his soul power, the crimson energy had taken on the quality of spiritual pressure. At a certain height it became choice. Those below simply didn't notice unless he wished it.
Up close, the girl seemed even more delicate. Pink-tinted Byakugan set in a blush-soft face. A paper snowflake cupped in winter.
She was shaking all the same.
Mo Ke crouched until his eyes were a head higher than hers. His smile warmed.
"Hey there, Hinata."
"H-hello, big brother." The softness in his voice leached the panic from her shoulders. Then the memory struck. "Big brother, that boy… Elder Atsushi hit him by mistake. Please check him. Please."
For a child who stumbled over simple greetings, she poured it out in one breath, then looked up at him the way a sprout looks toward sun. Mo Ke's grin tilted. No wonder readers loved this late-blooming heroine.
"Don't worry. That kid is Uzumaki Naruto. Tough as they come. Give him a little nap and he'll be fine."
"R-really."
"Really. I never lie to children."
Relief loosened her hands and only then did she notice his palm resting on her hair, and that he'd been studying her face. So young, yet he'd dropped a Hyuga elder to his knees. His eyes are so clear. They are red. If mine were that pretty, no one would call me a white-eyed monster…
The thought flushed her cheeks scarlet. Steam practically puffed from her bangs. She ducked her face not into her chest, she was too small for that but deep into her scarf.
Mo Ke chuckled and let her be. He rose and turned toward the village.
Konoha was neither small nor large, but for the strong, a few sentences and they would be here.
He had stepped on stage. Time to show these crooked leaves what stood beyond Kage.
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