Tsunade, driven by a gut-wrenching premonition, arrived first.
She stared at the bisected mountain and the smoke pouring from the tunnels.
Ignoring the potential for a structural collapse, she dove into the ruins.
She knew Hiruzen and the Anbu were only minutes behind her.
Inside the hall, Saiki stood over Danzo's decapitated body.
Looking at the severed head—its soul entirely extinguished by the Senjutsu strike—Saiki felt no joy, no regret, and no fear.
He just felt... bored.
As a "salted fish," Saiki enjoyed the thrill of a fight, but he had no bloodlust.
He had killed nearly a hundred people tonight, but it was a chore, not a hobby.
He had slaughtered Root because Danzo threatened Nono'u and Tsume. It was as simple as clearing a path.
Saiki didn't sheath his sword.
He sensed the approaching signatures of Tsunade and Hiruzen's strike teams.
He knew he'd have to cut his way out of this mountain soon.
Swish!!
Tsunade landed in the hall a few breaths later.
She took in the scene: the carpet of corpses and Danzo's head resting in the dirt.
Through her sensory range, she realized there wasn't a single heartbeat left in the entire Root facility.
Saiki had committed a total genocide of the shadow-ops division.
To Saiki's relief, Tsunade didn't start with a lecture.
She lunged at him, grabbed his shoulders, and spun him around, frantically checking him for wounds.
Once she confirmed he was physically intact, the terror in her heart was replaced by a tidal wave of fury.
She raised her hand to slap him.
CLAP!
Saiki caught her wrist mid-air.
Tsunade looked like a mother whose child had just burnt down the neighborhood.
Seeing Saiki's flat, unbothered expression only made her angrier.
"What's the matter?! Lost your tongue now?! You're usually so full of smart remarks! SAY SOMETHING! Look at what you've done!" she screamed, her fists trembling as she fought the urge to pummel him.
Saiki's response was a bucket of ice water.
"You said you didn't want me anymore. Why do you care what I do?"
Tsunade nearly choked on her own breath.
The reminder of her rejection, paired with his current mass-murder spree, made her blood boil.
"Saiki Shiroya! Are you trying to kill me with frustration?! You've been acting like a lawless brat for weeks, but do you have any idea what you've just done? Do you understand the magnitude of this disaster? If I don't beat some sense into you today, you're going to think you're a god!"
She lunged again, putting her full strength into a haymaker.
She didn't hold back. At this point, she felt that beating him unconscious was the only way to save him from himself.
BOOM!
Their fists collided. The resulting shockwave cleared the dust from the hall and sent a gale through the tunnels.
Saiki blocked the strike with a single palm, but the kinetic energy was so massive that the concrete beneath his feet shattered into a spiderweb of craters.
Tsunade tried to swing her other fist, but Saiki caught that one too.
"Stop it, Sister Tsunade. You can't beat me. This has already happened. It's beyond your ability to fix. Don't waste my energy."
Tsunade pulled back, her chest heaving. "Do you even realize you've signed your own death warrant?!"
She lowered her voice to a desperate, venomous whisper. "Shut up and don't say another word. Let me handle Hiruzen."
The moment the words left her mouth, Hiruzen Sarutobi and several Anbu squads flooded the hall.
They stopped at the entrance, staring at the carnage.
They had expected a battle, but the sheer scale of the slaughter left even the most hardened Anbu veterans gasping for air.
Tsunade turned to face her teacher, opening her mouth to fabricate an excuse, but Saiki was faster.
He reached out and tapped a specific point on Tsunade's lower back.
Before she could react, a jolt of Senjutsu chakra surged into her system, instantly locking her chakra pathways and paralyzing her vocal cords.
She froze mid-turn, unable to move or speak.
Hiruzen was too focused on the blood-soaked hall to notice Tsunade's distress.
Even if she had tried to save Saiki, the Hokage was beyond reasoning with now.
Root was a massive strategic asset. Their intelligence network and shadow-warfare capabilities were irreplaceable.
For the entire division to be erased in a single night... the loss was incalculable.
Hiruzen's eyes locked onto Saiki.
The "Benevolent Professor" was gone, replaced by a man whose face was twisted into a mask of pure, unadulterated hatred.
"Saiki Shiroya. Did you do this?"
It wasn't a question; it was a condemnation.
Hiruzen's voice was a low, dangerous growl that vibrated with power.
Saiki stepped out from behind the paralyzed Tsunade, facing the Hokage with zero fear.
"I did."
As Saiki moved, the final piece of the puzzle was revealed: Danzo's decapitated body kneeling in the dirt, his head resting a few feet away.
Seeing his oldest friend's severed head, Hiruzen's composure finally shattered.
He staggered, his knees nearly buckling.
Two Anbu rushed to support him, but he shoved them away, his gaze fixed on Danzo's lifeless eye.
"You... you actually murdered Danzo?" he whispered, his voice trembling with a mix of grief and shock.
"Yes," Saiki replied simply.
The confirmation hit Hiruzen like an explosion.
Danzo had been his shadow for decades. They had fought together, bled together, and built Konoha together.
Through the good and the bad, Danzo was the only one who truly understood the burden Hiruzen carried.
Losing him felt like losing a limb.
His grief instantly curdled into a white-hot, vengeful fury.
"Saiki Shiroya... do you have even the slightest inkling of the crime you have committed?"
Saiki maintained his mask of indifference. "Don't be dramatic, Old Man. I haven't committed any crime."
Hiruzen let out a sharp, hysterical laugh.
"Good. Excellent. You have the arrogance of a god, don't you? To assassinate the Hokage's Advisor and destroy an entire village division... Saiki Shiroya, you will pay for this with your soul."
Tsunade was screaming internally, her face flushed with the effort to break Saiki's seal.
But the Senjutsu lock was absolute.
Saiki had prepared for "walking one path to the end" the moment he drew his sword on Danzo.
But he wasn't going to let Tsunade be collateral damage.
He knew she still felt a sense of loyalty to Hiruzen.
More importantly, if he defected tonight, he didn't want her to be forced to choose between him and her home.
"If you want my life, come and take it, Third Hokage!"
With those words, Saiki vanished with a Body Flicker.
He didn't head for the exit; he rocketed through the "skylight" he had cut into the mountain ceiling, heading for the open air.
Fighting here was too risky for Tsunade.
Facing an enraged Hiruzen and a dozen Anbu squads while protecting a paralyzed Sannin was tactically unsound.
He also had no intention of releasing Tsunade yet.
If he did, she would only interfere and make the situation more complicated.
Saiki materialized on the upper slopes of the mountain.
Thinking the boy was trying to flee, Hiruzen didn't hesitate.
"HUNT HIM DOWN! KILL HIM ON SIGHT! DO NOT LET HIM ESCAPE!"
The Anbu lunged into pursuit.
Hiruzen cast a cold, detached look at the paralyzed Tsunade.
He bit his thumb and slammed his palm into the ground, summoning Enma in his staff form.
Then, he charged into the sky after the boy.
They say you should never feed a stray, for they will eventually bite the hand that feeds them.
Hiruzen felt he was the ultimate victim. Tobirama had handed him the village, and he had spent his life "cleaning up" the Senju to ensure stability.
Seeing Danzo dead, he no longer viewed Tsunade as a student or a friend; he only saw her as the person who had brought this monster into his house.
Tsunade remained frozen in the hall, her heart breaking.
She couldn't move, but she knew Saiki had left a fail-safe in his seal.
The sliver of Senjutsu chakra in her veins would only release her if she was in genuine physical danger.
Chakra is a miraculous thing, carrying a fragment of the caster's consciousness.
As she stood in the silence of the morgue, she could feel Saiki's silent message in the energy: Stay safe. I'll be back for you.