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The cold morning air hadn't even subsided when tension started to weigh down on the hokage office. In front of Hiruzen, his three prized disciples stood, each of their own with their distinct style.
Tsunade was crossing her arms, her face showed just how angry she was. Probably because he summoned her so early in the morning when last night she had been drinking.
The most intelligent one amongst them just solemnly stood. Detached but glinting with curiosity. It seemed like he already partially heard about the mission brief. Probably from Danzo.
The last one of his disciples…
Hiruzen could only sighed. He didn't look interested at all. He just stood there with no care in the world. Probably thinking about what the Frog Sage told him.
"Old man." The blonde descendant of Senju opened her mouth, tone agitated. "Out with it already. You better have a good reason to summon me around this time."
Hiruzen lit out the tobacco on his pipe before exhaling it in. As the smoke left his lungs and dispersed into the air, he finally opened his mouth. "The information I'm about to share with you is confidential. Nothing should be spoken to anyone. Understood?"
Silence hung in around them for a heartbeat. Then, the three disciples of him nodded.
"A few months ago, a weird restaurant appeared in Konoha. It's a restaurant that has an ability to connect to multiple worlds. The first ones to stumble on that restaurant were Minato and Kushina. And from yesterday until today, Kushina hasn't come back after entering the restaurant."
The atmosphere became suffocating in an instant. Chakra started to leak from Tsunade, causing ripples around the air. As someone who lived with Kushina for so long and treated her like her own sister, it was only natural for her to react like that.
The other two were just looking at him like he had done the unforgivable. But before Hiruzen could open his mouth to tell them what he just told them was true,
"Why am I informed just now?" Tsunade exploded. "If she's there, we should go there now!"
Before Tsunade could wreck through the wall of the office, Hiruzen intervened. "Hear me out, first, Tsunade."
The blonde's furious eyes locked onto him. When he met those eyes head on without any intention to back down, Tsunade scoffed. "Fine."
Hiruzen looked at the eyes of his disciples one by one. "The owner of the restaurant is not a simple person. He can bend time and space to his will. Minato told me that the owner's understanding about space is way better than him.
"Moreover, ninja from Roots had experienced his power first hand. One turned into a shinobi so young he should be in the academy while another one turned so old it made me look like a teenager."
His disciplines feel silent at that moment. The chakra leaking from tsunade also stopped. But rather than confusion alone, he could see from their eyes that every single one of them were surprised by different things.
Tsunade was the first to move.
Her jaw worked, teeth grinding around unspoken curses before she finally managed, "You're telling me there's a place in my village that can just—" she cut through the air with her hands. "—turn a jōnin into a kid and another into an old man, and you let Kushina walk in and out of it for months?"
The killing intent in the room spiked, sharp and hot, but this time it wasn't directed outward.
Hiruzen met her glare without flinching. "I did everything to prevent her from coming after Minato brought me the information. But you know how stubborn she could be."
Jiraiya's eyes narrowing in thought. "A place that connects to multiple worlds owned by someone Minato says has a better understanding of space than him? How about the deed of the building? The process if the building is bought."
Hiruzen chuckled wryly. "That's the strange part. The building was bought by someone we can't trace. In other words, the deed is out of the village's hand now.
Orochimaru's tongue clicked softly against his teeth, clearly didn't listen to the words Jiraiya and him just exchanged. "To alter a human's age so precisely without leaving permanent damage…" His golden eyes glinted, sharp as scalpels. "Is it a bloodline? A contract? A personal technique? Or something that exists outside our usual understanding of ninjutsu?"
He leaned forward slightly. "When the Root operatives were changed… did the effect end when they left? Or did they remain that way permanently?"
Hiruzen took another slow drag of his pipe, more to buy himself a heartbeat than because he wanted it. "The one reduced to an academy-age boy is still a child even now. His chakra pathways were altered too, as if he was sent back to the past.
The one aged beyond his years however, is in critical condition. His body is that of a man far older than me, but his chakra coils are unstable, as if his life force does not agree with what was forced on it."
Orochimaru's eyes hooded, fascination barely concealed. "So it is not a simple genjutsu or surface-level transformation. It rewrites the vessel itself."
"Focus." Tsunade snapped, rounding on him. "You can dissect the theory later. Can it be reversed?"
Hiruzen shook his head once. "Not by any method we have. Even with your medical ninjutsu, Tsunade, I doubt you could restore them fully. Their condition defies everything we know about cell degradation and chakra exhaustion."
Her fists clenched at her sides, chakra flaring again but more controlled. "So we're dealing with someone who can play with age and space like it's nothing. And we've let Kushina walk in alone."
Jiraiya frowned. "How does the restaurant choose its customers? You said it 'appeared' months ago. Can anyone enter if they find it, or is it open only to certain people?"
"It's open to anyone." Hiruzen stated. "The only reason they don't have more and more customers from Konoha is because I stationed a few Anbu Ninjas around the place."
The three disciples of him looked at him as he answered. Their eyes were asking the question they knew they shouldn't ask. They knew me too well. Hiruzen sighed.
"The reason I only stationed a few Anbu Ninjas around the restaurant and did nothing more is because I deemed them not hostile to Konoha. Dangerous, yes, but I thought as long as we respect the restaurant, they will not turn their blade towards us."
"Until now." Orochimaru said.
Hiruzen's gaze hardened. "Until now."
Silence settled again, thick and heavy. Jiraiya rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Do we know if Kushina is being held there against her will? Or if something happened to the restaurant?"
"Anbu reported that the restaurant is still in business." Hiruzen said. "The signboard was still there. Lights could also be seen inside."
Tsunade took a step forward, palms slamming onto Hiruzen's desk hard enough to crack the wood. "Then why are we still talking? We stormed in and dragged Kushina out."
The other two also nodded their heads. Their reasoning was probably different.
Hiruzen just shook his head. "They shouldn't be opened right now. And from what I know from Roots' visit to the restaurant, no matter how strong we are, we wouldn't be able to break in unless they are open."
The three sannins looked at him blankly, clearly confused about something. Then, Orochimaru broke the silence. "Then, how did Roots' members fight against the owner?"
Hiruzen looked at his long-haired disciple for a moment before sighing. "From their reports, it seemed like the owner let them in."
Suffocating silence fell into the room. They were all Ninjas. Seasoned as well. Even them wouldn't be daring enough to let a hostile come to their house no matter how weak they were. It only meant one thing. He was confident he could take them on alone.
"So what's the plan, Sensei?" Jiraiya broke the silence through his doubt.
"We will move on to the restaurant together. You three, a full ANBU squad, and a contingent from Root. This will not be a covert visit, but it will not be a public spectacle either. Our goal is clear: establish contact with the owner, assess his intentions, and secure Kushina's return."
Hiruzen lied through his teeth. What he told his students was not everything. But pretext was important in this kind of situation. With this, everyone would march with one goal. With the owner not there, it shouldn't be too hard. But dangerous nonetheless.
Jiraiya's expression sobered. "And if the owner is hostile?"
"Then we adapt." Hiruzen said. "But we do not assume hostility from the start. Until now, he has not attacked Konoha or used his abilities to harm the village directly. For that, he is owed at least one proper conversation."
Tsunade clicked her tongue but didn't argue. "You're coming with us?"
"Yes."
All three of them looked at him. Jiraiya was the first to voice it. "You're the Hokage. If something goes wro—"
"That is exactly why I must be there." Hiruzen cut in. "This concerns the safety of the village, the stability of our world, and the life of one of our own. I will not sit behind this desk and wait for a report when I can face the man responsible myself."
For a moment, the old fire in his eyes burned as bright as it had in the days of the Second Great Ninja War.
"We move in one hour." He continued. "Tsunade, prepare any medical contingencies you deem necessary. Orochimaru, coordinate with Root and gather whatever sealing tools or instruments might be needed to analyze that space. And Jiraiya… don't disappear suddenly. Just stay here."
He set his pipe down with a soft clack.
"Once assembled, we advance together to the entrance. From that point on…" He allowed himself a small, humorless smile. "We will see whether the 'restaurant between worlds' is willing to receive the Sannin and the Hokage as guests."
Tsunade gave a sharp nod, anger tempered into purpose. "Fine. If Kushina's stuck in there, we're bringing her home."
Jiraiya's usual laziness had vanished, replaced with focused seriousness. "Guess today's research notes will have to be written live."
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed with that dangerous, hungry curiosity. "A doorway to other worlds and a man who reshapes time and flesh… This will be interesting."
Hiruzen rose from his seat, hat resting on its stand, but the resolve of the Third Hokage fully settled on his shoulders.
"Dismissed." He said. "Prepare yourselves. Next time we stand together in this room, it will be after we have stepped into that place and brought Kushina back."
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