Hokage Office
The room was quiet.
Too quiet.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sat back in his chair, pipe between his fingers, smoke curling upward in thin layers. He did not look at the documents on his desk.
The silence stretched until Utatane Koharu coughed.
"Hiruzen," she began carefully, "about this matter—"
Homura Mitokado exhaled and turned toward the man standing rigidly nearby.
"This time, Danzō went too far," Homura said. "Secret Wood Release experiments. Concealing results. Hiding personnel."
"That is Wood Release," Sarutobi said flatly, cutting him off. "Do not pretend you don't understand what that means."
Homura fell silent.
Wood Release was not a technique. It was a symbol. Power. Deterrence. Control.
No one had informed the Hokage.
"That organization you call Root," Sarutobi continued, eyes narrowing at Shimura Danzō, "hid critical strategic assets from the Hokage himself. So tell me. Has it become an independent force?"
Danzō's voice was hoarse. "Everything I do is for Konoha."
Smoke obscured Sarutobi's face as he exhaled.
"Enough," he said, cutting off any further defense.
He remembered the past clearly.
After Tobirama's death, leadership had come with blood and crisis, not ceremony. Clan pressure. War. Distrust. Hyūga. Uchiha. Power that answered only when convenient.
Root had once been training infrastructure.
He had allowed it to grow.
Too much.
"Yamato," Sarutobi said. "Assigned to ANBU. That subject is no longer Root property."
Danzō's jaw tightened.
"There's more," Sarutobi continued. "Intelligence reports troop movement from Kumogakure. Border pressure."
Koharu frowned. "We must not respond aggressively."
"To strike now gives them justification," Homura added.
Sarutobi looked at Danzō. "Your opinion?"
"Hit them hard," Danzō replied immediately.
Sarutobi said nothing.
Konoha's strength was depleted.White Fang gone.Fourth Hokage dead.Jinchūriki lost.Veterans thinned by two wars and the Nine-Tails incident.
Everyone knew it.
Kumo and Iwa were probing because they sensed weakness.
But weakness could not be allowed to escalate into open war.
"We endure," Sarutobi said finally. "Deploy defensive forces. Reinforce the border."
Danzō snapped, "That only emboldens them."
"Then Root will assist," Sarutobi said calmly. "You'll send operatives."
Silence.
Danzō understood the warning.
Argue further, and Root itself would be dismantled.
"…Very well," Danzō said stiffly. "After all. It is your Root."
The door slammed behind him.
When the room finally emptied, Sarutobi stood alone at the window, staring at the village.
"I will protect this peace," he murmured. "Whatever it costs."
Training Ground No. 44 — Forest of Death
Morning light filtered through the branches.
"Force rises from the legs!" Might Guy shouted. "Channel through the spine!"
Two wooden posts shattered.
Guy's was obliterated by brute force.Hyūga Shinya's cracked inward, ruptured from internal impact.
Guy wiped sweat from his face. "Still can't get used to this hybrid style."
"It contradicts your muscle memory," Shinya replied calmly. "Adjustment takes time."
He was teaching.
That alone would have been unthinkable weeks ago.
Then his instincts screamed.
Not sound. Not sight. Pressure.
Shinya's muscles locked. Byakugan flared.
Assassination attempt.
No time to evade.
He closed his eyes.
—
All physical input vanished.
No wind. No pulse. No sound.
Only awareness.
He perceived the kunai behind him, edged with compressed Wind Release. A vacuum blade. Perfect for silent kills.
Time stretched.
His hand rose.
Flesh split as the chakra edge bit into his palm.
He caught it anyway.
Shinya opened his eyes.
"Returning property," he said quietly.
He pivoted.
The throw was pure structure, spine and rotation aligned.
The kunai vanished.
A distant impact followed.
Wet. Final.
Guy stared. "…That was fast."
Shinya flexed his bleeding hand, already sealing.
"They've started," he said.