After finishing their dango, Shizune and Rin walked home together.
Ever since Tsunade had taken Rin as her apprentice two or three years ago, the girl had moved from her empty little house to 66 Mingcha Street in Konoha.
Though the kind old lady next door had always cared for her, being alone at night had still made six-year-old Rin feel lonely and scared.
But since moving to Mingcha Street, that loneliness had never returned.
Skillfully taking out her key to unlock the door, Rin and Shizune entered the spacious courtyard.
On the veranda near the yard, their teacher Tsunade lay sprawled lifeless on the floor, staring at the ceiling with hollow, vacant eyes, muttering nonstop.
"Damn old geezer! The moment I get back, he's got me doing grunt work!
Konoha Hospital has so many doctors and nurses—how am I supposed to teach them all?
One after another with endless questions. Nearly worked me to death!
Ugh~"
In the corridor, Shizune and Rin watched Tsunade lying there spread-eagle, both wearing faint smiles.
Checking the time—3 PM—Rin quietly approached and said gently:
"Sensei, have you had lunch? Should I make something~"
Hearing this, the prone Tsunade raised her right hand and waved it twice, her chest trembling as she replied weakly:
"Already ate.
Konoha Hospital's food is as terrible as always!
Ugh~
Every cook in that hospital kitchen should be thrown in the lake to feed the salamanders!"
Pausing, Tsunade slowly turned her head toward Shizune and continued:
"Where's your Uncle Rinjin? Have you seen him?"
Both girls shook their heads in unison.
"Should we check the kitchen?" Shizune asked timidly.
"No need. I just came from there—that bastard withdrew all his chef clones from the kitchen!"
As she spoke, Tsunade's eyes rolled as she muttered quietly:
"That guy's definitely been avoiding me lately!
Could he be... cheating?!
That can't be right. With my figure, how could he cheat?"
While Tsunade was grumbling, at Amegakure's main gate, Rinjin and Sakumo sat in the guard station, chatting casually.
"Dog-bro, almost time to clock out. Let me take you somewhere fun later."
"Not going!" Sakumo refused with absolute determination.
"Last time you took Kagami somewhere 'fun,' he called in sick the next day."
Hearing this, Rinjin chuckled and threw an arm around Sakumo's shoulder, lowering his voice:
"That was Kagami's own problem.
That day he was beating his chest, bragging:
'In my house, I'm the boss. My wife's just a servant who washes dishes and clothes.'
So we went to have some fun, and when he got home, his wife beat the hell out of him and made him kneel on the TV remote all night."
At this point, Rinjin proudly raised his head, pointing at himself before jabbing Sakumo's chest.
"My wife's in Konoha, yours is in the Pure Land.
What's there to be afraid of!"
Hearing this, Sakumo still stubbornly shook his head:
"Even if you talk until the sky falls, I'm not going.
Tonight I'm going home to catch up on my show. 'From Daughter-in-Law to Mother-in-Law' finale—if I miss it, it's gone!"
"..."
Hearing this, Rinjin instantly deflated, rolling his eyes speechlessly.
Dog-bro!
Sakumo Hatake, the White Fang of Konoha!
The man who made Sunagakure tremble in fear!
And you're watching some crap called 'From Daughter-in-Law to Mother-in-Law'?!
After mentally berating Dog-bro's fall from grace, Rinjin covered his face and slowly asked:
"Who's the star?"
"Star of what?" Sakumo asked blankly.
"'From Daughter-in-Law to Mother-in-Law'—who's the female lead?"
"Uh..."
Just as Sakumo was stunned,
far on the horizon, at the lake's edge, a sky-blotting sandstorm surged toward them.
At the same time, in Konoha's Hokage office, urgent knocking shattered Hiruzen Sarutobi's good mood.
"Enter!" His voice rang out, still full of vigor.
The door burst open instantly. The Intelligence Division chief strode quickly into the Hokage's office and slapped a palm-sized scroll in front of Hiruzen.
"Lord Third, this is intelligence from our operatives in Iwagakure and Kumogakure!"
Hearing this, Hiruzen's gentle expression vanished. He grabbed the scroll and quickly unrolled it.
As the scroll opened, his brow gradually furrowed.
After quite a while, his gaze finally left the scroll. He looked seriously at the Intelligence chief before him and said gravely:
"The intelligence is accurate?"
"Accurate!" The Intelligence chief nodded emphatically.
"What about Sunagakure?"
Hearing this, the Intelligence chief bit his teeth, his face showing an expression that was either worried or pleased:
"Sunagakure's movements are unknown, but large numbers of ninja have left the village on missions, heading generally toward Amegakure."
"Reason? Scale?" Hiruzen asked concisely.
"Specific reason unknown, but based on intelligence analysis, it's very likely because of Sakumo Hatake!
As for scale, conservatively sixty people, probably deployed in squad formations."
As his words fell, the office fell into prolonged silence.
Hiruzen quickly waved at the Intelligence chief:
"Bring Nara Shikanao here."
After speaking, he lowered his head to look at the scroll again.
The scroll recorded crucial intelligence observed at great risk by operatives embedded in Kumo and Iwa villages.
Kumogakure's high-level meetings had been unusually frequent lately. The ninja squads going out on missions showed no obvious changes on the surface—
But! In reality, chunin squads made up the vast majority of outbound teams,
while jonin squads were mostly staying in the village to rest.
On the other side, Iwagakure's actions were even more blatant, with frequent movement of various supplies.
Though there was no definitive news, Hiruzen knew that Kumo and Iwa were preparing for war again.
After all, in the previous Second War, aside from the severely wounded Iwagakure, Kumogakure had profited considerably.
Plus, Kumogakure possessed the Heavenly Transfer Technique—a space-time transmission secret that allowed undetectable communication between Iwa and Kumo.
Thinking of this, Hiruzen's heart gradually became shrouded in heavy clouds.
Konoha certainly wanted to fight, but didn't want to battle both Iwa and Kumo simultaneously.
After all, just the Fire-Earth front and Fire-Lightning front alone could drag Konoha into a deep war quagmire.
After much consideration, Hiruzen slammed the table hard and called for the ANBU standing ready outside.
"Immediately notify Danzo—have him go to Amegakure!
Tell him to inform Rinjin: no matter what happens, he must stop Sunagakure. If he does, I'll absolutely build him a statue!
Also, have Tsunade come see me immediately!"
"Yes!" The ANBU nodded emphatically and quickly departed.
After giving his orders, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly stood up, gazing at the blood-red sunset outside and the dark clouds gradually covering the sky, murmuring:
"The sky... is about to change~"
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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