Falling into the hands of Konoha ninjas was undoubtedly a stroke of luck—not because his destination had originally been Konoha, but rather when comparing the consequences of falling into the hands of Iwagakure ninjas. The current situation was indeed favorable… If the ninja squad that surrounded him when Haseo passed out had belonged to Iwagakure, then things would truly have turned bad for two reasons: first, he had already killed one Iwagakure ninja with his own hands; second, there was no way he could explain the fact that he was carrying a secret letter intended for Konoha.
Who would have imagined it was the Hokage himself…?
Though many thoughts swirled through Haseo's mind, he wasted no time in carefully recounting everything that had happened between himself and the Hokage.
"I'll start from that day…"
Who could have thought the "Third Hokage" would appear before him looking so young? At present, Hiruzen Sarutobi looked no older than early twenties—far too young, considering who he was.
From the moment he encountered the Hokage until the confrontation with the Iwagakure ninja, Haseo narrated everything at a steady pace, thoroughly and truthfully. Because the matter itself was very serious, he refrained entirely from adding unnecessary or fabricated details during his explanation.
"Can you confirm that you burned the Second Hokage's body?"
After Haseo finished explaining, someone asked with an extremely sorrowful voice.
"Yes, following their request, I cremated the body." Haseo said this firmly. After all, Konoha wouldn't hold him responsible for something like this—in fact, strictly speaking, he had done something commendable, not blameworthy.
As soon as he received the secret letter, Hiruzen had already confirmed its authenticity. Both the handwriting and hidden seals were clearly authentic, and almost immediately, the encoded message written in special cipher script had been successfully deciphered. Its contents were remarkably simple: first, appointing Hiruzen Sarutobi as the successor Hokage; second, entrusting all future affairs of the village to the new Hokage.
It overflowed with lifelong devotion and deep hopes for the future generations.
Once Haseo's narration ended, Hiruzen lowered his head and remained silent for a long time—undoubtedly holding back tears. Additionally, due to his already extremely poor physical condition worsened by forcibly staying conscious, the effort of explaining had seriously drained Haseo's energy. Right now, he already stood unsteadily, nearly collapsing.
Seeing this, the medical ninja quickly walked to his side, lightly pressing on his neck, causing Haseo to fall unconscious once again.
There was no longer any need for him here as a witness. As the medic prepared to take him away, however, a cold, clear voice stopped the medical ninja's movement.
"Wait. This matter isn't over yet… Yamanaka, go verify whether what he said is true."
"But, Danzo-sama, given the child's current physical state, perhaps…" the medical ninja tried to intercede, meeting only a cold expression from the other party.
The course could not be changed. The ninja named Yamanaka was already walking over—words could be deceptive—but memories stored in the mind never lied.
One of the Yamanaka clan members placed his palm on Haseo's forehead. Unconscious, Haseo had no idea that an unprecedented crisis had already befallen him.
But none of those present were still paying attention to Haseo. Danzo's actions were overly cautious—needlessly so. Subjectively speaking, everyone here believed what Haseo had said was the truth.
Still, reading his mind was part of the standard protocol.
At this moment, Sarutobi and the others were focused on the aftermath of the Second Hokage's death and the future direction of Konoha. With no illusions left, some things could no longer be undone:
The younger brother of the Senju clan leaders—the ones who brought peace to a chaotic era—and one of the greatest architects of the Hidden Leaf Village had now passed away.
As a ninja, Tobirama Senju possessed formidable strength, developing numerous powerful ninjutsu and kinjutsu techniques. As Konoha's ruler, he had meticulously established the village's systems without flaw. Yet... no ninja could live forever in this world.
For Konoha, after consecutively losing Hashirama Senju—the First Hokage, recognized as the strongest shinobi alive—alongside Madara Uchiha, whose power rivaled Hashirama's, and now Tobirama Senju, the Second Hokage, its overwhelming might that once dominated the ninja world had nearly faded entirely.
An age had come to its end.
The death of the Second Hokage was undeniably tragic, but over these past few days, everyone had more or less mentally prepared themselves for such an outcome, so no one lost their composure. After losing the Hokage, organizing Konoha's current situation became the most critical matter… because the war still continued.
From the perspective of maintaining Konoha's stability, the written last words of the Second Hokage brought back by Haseo Yu carried considerable significance.
The Second Hokage had died suddenly. Originally just a diplomatic mission to ally with Kumo—who could have foreseen it would lead both villages to simultaneously lose their leaders? Therefore, even before departing, the Hokage hadn't even made arrangements for succession—let alone named a successor.
Only before his death did he appoint his student Hiruzen Sarutobi as the next-generation Hokage. To others within the village, this decision appeared quite "temporary." The only ones able to testify to this were the bodyguards accompanying the Hokage at the time, hence it wasn't enough to convince everyone completely.
Not everyone was ready to accept someone so young—barely in his early twenties—as the leader of the village.
However, now that the Second Hokage had formally appointed Hiruzen Sarutobi in clear written terms, his legitimacy as the next Hokage was unquestionable—at least outwardly speaking. Beneath the surface, tension remained—but on paper, at least, that was settled.
"Although you had Lady Mito Uzumaki's support back then, rumors and resistance couldn't be avoided—after all, you were still very young at the time," Homura Mitokado said, looking at the blood-stained note. "But now with the final written appointment from the Second Hokage, Sarutobi, your position will significantly improve. In fact, you are already the Third Hokage."
That was the power of ink versus spoken word.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, however, shook his head and replied, "It's still too early to name me the Third Hokage. Still... at least now I can serve as acting Hokage."
"Sarutobi replied, 'You're right.'"
Rather than directly assuming supreme power over the village, Sarutobi hoped for a smooth transition. Inevitably, doubts about him were unavoidable and would persist for quite some time. Compared with the legendary First and Second Hokage, as their successor, Sarutobi was inevitably going to be measured against them. The brilliance of his predecessors was so overwhelming that it left any successor looking pale by comparison.
With constant external wars and internal unrest following the loss of the Hokage, even the usually composed and optimistic Sarutobi couldn't help but feel the heavy burden of worldly affairs.
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