Half a month later.
The Hokage's office.
Golden sunlight streamed through the window, revealing specks of dust swirling chaotically in the beams.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, puffing on his pipe, pushed aside a towering stack of important documents.
The past few days had been a headache, dealing with the Cloud Village's nonsense.
They flat-out denied any involvement in the attack on Konoha's students, offering no apologies or compensation.
As for the ironclad evidence—Yagetsu and the three jōnin who infiltrated the village—the Cloud had already issued a bounty on them back home, labeling them rogue ninja.
"It was the work of rebels."
With that single sentence, they brushed off any accusations of starting a war.
Of course, no one was naive enough to buy it.
These were just diplomatic games, a mutual step back to save face and avoid real conflict.
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Konoha wasn't eager for war either. The Cloud, known for its unity, had already lost face by branding their own ninja as rogues. Trying to extort them further was a nonstarter.
Sarutobi had always favored a softer approach. The only reason things escalated this far was because the attack targeted the Nine-Tails and the kids, hitting a nerve with many.
In the past, this would've been swept under the rug.
He was no longer the "Ninja Hero" of his youth. Now, he was the refined and mild-mannered "Ninja Professor."
War destroyed everything beautiful.
Konoha's hard-earned peace wasn't something he wanted to see shattered, nor did he want anyone to lose their lives.
As for the victims who paid the price? Sometimes, the harsh reality was that the justice of a few had to yield to the greater good.
It was a disgusting truth, but reality was cruel.
Years ago, when he went to the Cloud to sign a peace treaty, only to be betrayed and hunted by the Gold and Silver Brothers, leading to his teacher's death, Sarutobi had wanted to tear up the treaty and unleash his hatred through war. But thinking of the village's peace-hungry citizens and the children waiting to be fed, he'd swallowed his pride and signed his name.
The individual must yield to the collective.
That moment taught him the weight of that truth.
Knock, knock, knock.
A steady rap came from the door.
"Hokage-sama, Danzō-sama requests an audience."
"Come in."
Click.
The door swung open.
Shimura Danzō hobbled in on his cane, his single eye scanning the room's shadowy corners.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Hidden Anbu operatives emerged from the darkness, exchanging a glance with Sarutobi. With his nod, they swiftly left the room.
Thud.
The door closed behind the considerate Anbu, leaving the two men alone—one seated, one standing.
Sunlight bathed Sarutobi's wrinkled face, casting a golden glow, while Danzō's features looked even more sinister and grim in contrast.
"What is it?" Sarutobi asked.
"Your intel." Danzō, for the umpteenth time, glanced at the Hokage's hat emblazoned with the kanji for "Fire" before tossing a file onto Sarutobi's desk.
Unfazed by Danzō's brusque attitude, Sarutobi picked up the file, noting the label: Hikari Tsukiyo.
He had a hunch.
"You read it?"
"To get this intel out of the Mist, another Root spy died. Don't I deserve to see it?" Danzō shot back.
"Your Root no longer exists."
Ignoring Danzō's twitching face, Sarutobi tore open the file and pulled out a bloodstained report, surprised to find it was an Anbu wanted poster.
He squinted, holding it up to the sunlight for a closer look.
In the top left corner was the kanji for "Secret," adorned with the Mist's Anbu-specific pattern.
Below was a photo of a girl.
Surrounded by Mist Anbu, the silver-haired blind girl had blood dripping from her fingers, her face soft and vulnerable.
Name: Hikari Taketori (suspected)
Abilities: Anti-chakra detection, Kekkei Genkai: Shikotsumyaku (details unknown), long-range attack capabilities.
Key History: Killed three special jōnin.
Strength Rating: A+
Last Seen: Peichuan Port (suspected to have fled to the Land of Fire or Lightning)
Capture Orders: Dead or alive.
The back of the poster had a few scrawled lines in blood, barely legible, followed by a neat translation of the code:
"Taketori clan exterminated, ancient unknown treasure, Anbu Captain Shunsuke Kurio missing, Fourth Mizukage abdicated, Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumī—"
The rest was too messy to read.
Huff…
Thick smoke poured from Sarutobi's nose as his wrinkled, age-spotted face relaxed.
The photo, abilities, history, and the timing and reason for her clan's destruction all matched up.
Aside from the unclear source of her tailed beast chakra, Hikari's identity was solid.
Sarutobi looked at Danzō. "The source of this intel—"
"It's legit," Danzō interrupted, knowing his old friend's concerns after years together. "One of the three special jōnin she killed was 'Kiba's' younger sister. Back then, Shunsuke Kurio hadn't gone missing yet, so it couldn't be a Mist setup."
Hearing even the paranoid Danzō confirm it, Sarutobi nodded, finally convinced of Hikari's identity.
"No issues, then."
He sealed the intel and tucked it into a hidden compartment in his bookshelf.
Turning back, he noticed Danzō still standing there.
"Something else?"
"You're just letting the Cloud off like that?" Danzō's face twisted, his single eye glinting coldly. "They attacked our home, Sarutobi!"
"Don't do anything unnecessary," Sarutobi replied lightly, picking up a document to read, ignoring Danzō's murderous aura.
"Heh!" Danzō scoffed, fully aware of his old friend's tendencies. "Wear that mask too long, and you won't be able to take it off."
"Same goes for you."
The two old men fell silent, neither speaking for a long while. Finally, Sarutobi broke the tension. "You've been standing there forever. Just say what's on your mind!"
Danzō's wrinkled face contorted, as if he'd swallowed a fly.
After a pause, he spat out, "Hikari Tsukiyo—I want her for Root."
"I seem to recall someone saying they don't take disabled people," Sarutobi teased, smirking at Danzō's discomfort, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Danzō's face tightened, but he stayed silent.
The truth was, after leaving the Hokage's office that day, his subordinates had already delivered Hikari's intel. Regret was an understatement.
He'd wanted to go back and demand her, but his pride wouldn't let him. That morning, he'd loudly declared Root didn't take handicapped people—loud enough for his subordinates outside to hear. To backtrack the same afternoon was too humiliating, even for thick-skinned Danzō.
Plus, with the Uchiha situation spiraling, Root and Anbu had been focused on their rebellion, so Hikari's matter wasn't urgent and was shelved. He'd planned to revisit it after everything settled.
He hadn't even known about the Cloud's attack initially, too busy in Root's underground base sorting through Sharingan and secret techniques from the Uchiha massacre.
The Uchiha's thousand-year legacy was a treasure trove of complex history, jutsu, and rare knowledge. He still hadn't finished cataloging it.
If Sarutobi hadn't used a former Root spy to dig into the Mist, Danzō would still be in that basement, oblivious to recent events in Konoha.
He certainly wouldn't have known the blind girl he'd rejected was this extraordinary.
The thought of her talent—rivaling the First Hokage—made even Danzō's cold gaze burn with interest.
"A six-year-old elite jōnin? I've never heard of such a thing. If she joins my Root, I'll forge her into Konoha's sharpest blade."
"For the last time, your Root is gone," Sarutobi warned.
Root's actions during the Uchiha incident had gone too far, unsettling not just civilians but also Konoha's major clans.
Civilians were easy to sway—Hikari's genius reputation could distract them—but the clans with their secret techniques and kekkei genkai weren't so easily fooled.
Disbanding Root and stripping Danzō of his Hokage Advisor title was as much about punishing him as it was about reassuring the clans to prevent unrest.
"I'm not talking about Root," Danzō snapped, cutting off Sarutobi's deflection. He stepped forward, leaning on his cane, locking eyes with him. "You said you'd give me Hikari Tsukiyo!"
"You didn't want her then."
"I changed my mind!" Danzō declared, unapologetically.
With Root disbanded and his position revoked, his influence was crippled. To get Hikari, he was throwing caution to the wind.
Even Sarutobi was stunned speechless by his old friend's shamelessness.
But he'd already made up his mind: Hikari would never go to Danzō.
Chakra comes from mental and physical energy, with willpower as the driving force. Root's training stripped away humanity, turning people into tools without will or thought.
Such a person could never become a top-tier shinobi.
If Hikari were an ordinary genius or her identity was questionable, handing her to Danzō wouldn't matter. But the intel, bought with a spy's life, proved her clean.
Giving a prodigy like Hikari—potentially on par with the First Hokage—to Danzō would be like tossing gold into a cesspool. Even Konoha's vast resources couldn't afford to waste talent like that.
Sarutobi's face wasn't as thick as Danzō's. As the Third Hokage, he couldn't bring himself to say, "Well, I changed my mind too."
"You're neither the Hokage Advisor nor Root's leader anymore. Even if I gave her to you, what authority do you have?" Sarutobi spread his hands, hitting Danzō's weak spot.
Danzō, now just a former advisor—or, less kindly, an ordinary elite jōnin—had no grounds to command Hikari, who'd killed an elite jōnin herself.
Realizing his awkward position, Danzō's eye glinted as he devised a workaround.
"I've never taken a disciple in my life. She's skilled in Wind Release, so I'll take her as my student and pass down my legacy. We're both students of the Second Hokage—her talent won't be wasted under me. That's fair, right?"
"And if she doesn't want to be your disciple?"
"She'll want to, whether she likes it or not. Just agree to hand her over, and I'll handle the rest."
Danzō was determined to get Hikari, ready to use coercion, bribes, or deceit to suit her unique traits.
"No way," Sarutobi said, shaking his head, rejecting him outright.
"Why not?" Danzō's eye narrowed, his forehead wrinkles deepening like knife cuts.
After all he'd said, was his old friend really not giving him any face?
Sarutobi slowly looked up at Danzō, who was starting to seethe. "Half a month ago, I already took Hikari Tsukiyo as my final disciple."
"You're too late, Danzō."
Boom!
A surge of powerful chakra erupted from Danzō.
Whoosh!
A gust swept through the office, sending papers on the desk fluttering wildly.
"You want to fight me?" Sarutobi asked, pressing down on the flipping documents, his deep eyes fixed on Danzō's murderous glare, calm as an ocean.
Danzō's cane creaked under his grip, the cross-shaped scar on his chin almost distorting. It was just like back then.
The Hokage position had been within his grasp, but a half-second's hesitation let Sarutobi snatch it away.
Now, competing for Hikari, it was the same story all over again!
The disciple that should've been his was stolen by Sarutobi.
And he had the gall to say I'm too late?
The Third Hokage taking a final disciple, and not a whisper of it in Konoha after half a month? Who was he kidding?
This was blatant bullying!
Back then, and now—I was here first!
"You've gone too far, Sarutobi!" Danzō spat through gritted teeth.
Knowing he had no chance, he stormed out, face dark with fury.
Watching his old friend's angry departure, bathed in golden sunlight, Sarutobi began to understand the root of Danzō's outburst.
But even knowing, he couldn't give Hikari to him.
Their era was over.
Danzō, who once held his own against other village leaders, was visibly weakening, his chakra fading.
They could still hold the line now, but in ten years? That was uncertain.
The Sannin had all left the village.
The Fourth Hokage and Kushina were dead.
Konoha had plenty of jōnin and elite jōnin but lacked a decisive top-tier powerhouse.
Kakashi, whom he'd pinned hopes on, was held back by his Sharingan. Might Guy was strong but a one-use trump card.
Now, he'd found new hope in Hikari.
With her prodigious growth, reaching Kage-level in ten years shouldn't be hard.
She'd ensure Konoha's top-tier strength didn't falter after he and Danzō faded, buying time for the next generation to grow.
Hikari's true value wasn't as a blade or a shield but as a pillar to fill the gap in Konoha's elite forces.
He wasn't stealing a genius from Danzō.
He was paving the way for Konoha after their deaths.
Huff…
Sarutobi exhaled a long breath, looking down at the mountain of paperwork.
Soon, the sound of flipping pages filled the office once more.
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