"Captain...we found these two things on this young man." A Konoha ninja handed over the two items retrieved from the unconscious Haseo to the leader of the operation.
One was a bloodstained forehead protector, and the other was the piece of paper Haseo valued greatly.
The instant the captain laid eyes on those two items, his expression darkened with urgency. Without hesitation, he ordered his subordinates, "Mission aborted. Take this young man back to the village at the fastest speed possible."
"But Captain, our mission is..."
"Carry out the order, no delay!"
"Yes!"
Guessing some possibility from the objects carried by Haseo, the captain immediately stopped the ongoing mission and rushed back to the village with him.
No one dared question his command. The ninja squad returned to Konoha in just a little over a day from the border. Throughout the journey, Haseo remained deeply unconscious.
Konoha was one of the largest shinobi settlements. Despite being the main base of Fire Country's ninjas, it was not like the heavily fortified, tightly closed military camp many would imagine. Instead, its gates were always openly welcoming.
Even in times of war, ninja villages continued to take in outside missions. Receiving visitors from all directions, handling their requests, solving problems, and collecting payments—this formed the main source of income for a ninja village.
Near the entrance stood a table where several ninjas sat. They were responsible for communicating with outside visitors, receiving them, and screening people entering the village.
Early that morning, the squad carrying Haseo rushed straight into the village at full speed.
"Hey, you guys!" Such an act immediately drew suspicion and hostility from the guards at the gate. However, before they could speak out in protest, the squad had already run deep into the village.
"Emergency mission!" Was all the captain left behind as explanation.
Furious, the gatekeepers left one to guard the post while the other quickly followed—only because they recognized these people as the squad who had left two days earlier on a mission, or else they might have attacked directly.
At the same time the team entered the village, news had already been passed upwards—since Haseo's capture yesterday, the squad had secretly sent word back to the village.
In truth, Konoha's top leaders had been waiting anxiously for their return.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi-sama, the squad has arrived at the village and will be here shortly," the messenger reported to the young man before him.
At that moment, Konoha's top leadership had gathered in the room—primarily consisting of Hiruzen Sarutobi, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, Danzo Shimura, and others, all former students of The Second. Currently, they were the actual controllers of the village.
"Already here? Is he alright?" Hiruzen asked impatiently.
"He seems to have suffered severe injuries."
"Call a medic ninja immediately."
"Understood," Sarutobi immediately replied upon hearing further explanation from the messenger.
"Yes, Lord Hokage." Just as this ninja was turning to leave, he was unexpectedly called back again.
"Wait. Bring Yamanaka along too." This time it wasn't Sarutobi giving orders, but Danzo Shimura, who had remained silent up until now.
". . . Yes, Lord Danzo."
Sarutobi cast a quiet glance at Danzo without speaking further. Soon enough, those they had summoned arrived, and Haseo followed shortly after.
"Can he be woken up?"
The medical ninja who had arrived earlier stepped forward immediately. After some emergency treatment, Haseo slowly opened his eyes.
An eerie silence settled over the room.
"Where is this..." Instinctively, Haseo asked as blurred figures stood before him. He couldn't quite tell where he was. But then, he recalled the last memory before passing out... Had he finally fallen into Iwagakure's hands?
"The Hidden Leaf Village of the Land of Fire."
Haseo's eyes widened at the reply.
"The Hidden Leaf?"
He shook his head vigorously, trying to clear his thoughts, and finally got a clear look at the figure standing before him. The face looked somewhat familiar, but... far too youthful.
"One day ago, our ninja found you and retrieved these two items from you… Could you tell us how you obtained them?" Hiruzen Sarutobi pointed toward the forehead protector and secret letter belonging to the Second Hokage while questioning Haseo.
Haseo opened his mouth but finally said only this: "According to an agreement with someone, I came here to deliver a message to your village... Two days ago, I encountered a ninja claiming to be Tobirama Senju from the Hidden Leaf Village. He entrusted me to come here and deliver a message to a man named Hiruzen Sarutobi."
His reasoning made sense — hearing Sarutobi's words immediately confirmed it: he'd met the Second Hokage exactly two days ago.
Even when spoken in the most neutral tone, the information Haseo gave still hit hard. When his voice fell silent, all gazes around him locked tightly onto his form.
Rumors about the Hokage's disappearance had long been circulating through the village. Yet who could possibly have imagined that their next piece of news regarding the Hokage would come from an outsider with no connection to the village at all? These past few days, the village's intelligence system had been searching frantically for the Second Hokage—yet found absolutely nothing. Compared to that, this situation felt absurd indeed. And precisely because it felt so utterly absurd, it instead felt believable.
Approximately five days earlier, the Second Hokage traveled to the Land of Lightning with his apprentice, preparing to forge an alliance with the Raikage of Kumo. However, during the ceremony itself, they were suddenly attacked by rogue ninja from Kumo, resulting directly in the Raikage's death. Although the Hidden Leaf ninjas led by the Hokage initially managed to escape, facing numerous elite pursuers, they quickly realized retreat was impossible. At this moment, demonstrating his selfless spirit, the Hokage himself became bait voluntarily, creating the chance for his subordinates and apprentices to escape... Simultaneously entrusting the future of the village into the hands of the young.
The Hokage's apprentices were able to escape, but the Hokage himself had vanished without a trace. Now, five days later, although everyone had already braced themselves for the worst regarding the Hokage's fate, facing this outcome directly was not something easily accepted.
The Hokage's former students—none other than Sarutobi and his companions—now stood before Haseo. The Hokage's last belongings were now in Sarutobi's hands.
"There's no need to be nervous, young man," Sarutobi Hiruzen said to Haseo. "Tell us everything you know about what happened… I'm the ninja called Sarutobi."
Haseo had half-expected an imposing reception like this, so his upcoming explanation needed to be handled with utmost care. Ever since he arrived at Konoha, his fate had slipped from his grasp entirely.
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