This truly was not his doing. He had clearly instructed Aburame Ryoma that if Kumogakure behaved and returned, the matter was to be dropped. The agents he sent to other villages were also genuinely meant to gather intelligence.
"Get out!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's shout cut him off again. Danzo Shimura opened his mouth to argue, but Homura Mitokado grabbed his arm and shook his head.
Hiruzen was truly furious this time, even accusing him of colluding with foreign enemies. No explanation from Danzo Shimura would be believed now.
"Hiruzen, I will notify the clan heads and write to Jiraiya and Tsunade to bring them back," Homura Mitokado said in a deep voice. He pulled the grim-faced Danzo Shimura toward the door, then looked back once more at Hiruzen Sarutobi and said softly, "Do not worry too much. It is just another war."
Even when facing four enemies at once in the past, Konoha had still prevailed. The real issue would come after the war, when Hiruzen Sarutobi as Hokage would have to bear the main responsibility and eventually step down, just as he once did to pass the position on.
The door closed with another muted kacha, and both Danzo Shimura and Homura Mitokado were gone. Hiruzen Sarutobi remained seated, unmoving for a long time.
He sat there in silence, his body steady while his thoughts creaked under the weight of events. He had already sacrificed Hizashi Hyuga, already found a way out, and already steeled himself for every consequence. Yet everything had still ended up like this.
After sitting like a statue for a long while, Hiruzen Sarutobi gradually calmed down. Anger and regret were useless now, and he needed to find out exactly what had happened to see if anything could still be salvaged. There were many details unknown, and he would have to question the survivors like Tangdong Akimichi and Yunchuan Hyuga.
With that in mind, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, stood up, and bent down to pick up the blood-stained pipe. His figure vanished from the office, flashing across the rooftops toward Konoha Hospital.
Land of Hot Water.
This is a country where the nation and the village are one, unlike the Five Great Nations, and similar to the former Land of Whirlpools and Uzushiogakure. Because it has rich natural scenery and tourism resources, and because peace is valued from top to bottom, it is one of the few truly neutral countries in the Ninja World.
During both the Second Shinobi World War and the Third Shinobi World War, it was fortunate enough to avoid being drawn into the conflict. As war faded away, Yugakure gradually lost its military edge and earned the nickname "Village of Forgetting War."
Hidan grew restless and disgusted with a place like Yugakure, and because of that he slaughtered those around him, became a missing ninja, and joined the Akatsuki. Of course, the current Land of Hot Water was still calm, but that calm had already been broken at the border.
First came a brief earthquake, then violent explosions, and finally the aftershocks of battle that could be heard dozens of kilometers away. No civilians dared to approach, so word was sent to the ninja of Yugakure, but the Yugakure ninja had already been warned by Kumogakure and were forbidden from going near the area. With no other choice, the report was sent up to the Land of Lightning.
In the darkness, a four-person squad moved quickly through the forest, cold wind cutting past their ears as the rustling of leaves covered their footsteps. Leading them was a tall, well-built female ninja with light blond shoulder-length hair and pale skin. She was Samui, one of Killer B's swordsmanship students, promoted to Jonin by the Fourth Raikage for her calm nature and leadership ability.
At this moment, however, Samui looked grim, lacking her usual cold detachment. As soon as the news arrived, the Fourth Raikage had dispatched her to lead her squad to the border of the Land of Hot Water to investigate.
In fact, the Fourth Raikage had already received a report from the border guards, saying they detected strange sounds to the southwest and went to check. He had not paid much attention at the time, only contacting them through a communication beast, but no reply ever came back. It was only after receiving a report from Yugakure that he realized something was wrong and sent Samui out.
"Sis, the place ahead should be the handover site agreed on with Konoha, right?" The man behind her, with the tattooed character "hot" on his shoulder, frowned as he spoke. "This smells like another trick from those bastards of Konoha. If it really is them..."
"Atsui, calm down," Samui interrupted him flatly. "Even if it really was Konoha, we do not need to do anything extra. We only need to bring the information back safely to Kumogakure, and the Raikage will make the decision."
The siblings were as different as their names suggested, one cold and one hot. The older sister, a rational and detached Jonin, contrasted sharply with her optimistic and reckless younger brother, who was only a Chunin.
The squad finally broke through the dense forest, and Samui at the front suddenly stopped. The three behind her halted without thinking. "Sis, why did you stop all of a sudden?" Atsui asked.
"We are already here," Samui replied, her voice unusually low. Atsui froze and looked ahead, seeing only flat land, then turned his head to search around in confusion.
"Do not bother looking," Samui said, letting out a breath as she pointed into the distance. "Over there is our intelligence point, the handover site agreed on with Konoha."
Following the direction of her finger, the three saw a deep, sunken shadow in the ground. As their eyes swept over the surroundings, a shocking realization hit them all at once, and their eyes widened.
"This is the port?"
In their memory, this port jointly built by the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Lightning had been a place of green trees and flowing water. Fishing boats used to rest on the river, the water tinted green by the trees, reflecting a wide blue sky. But now there was only silence and flat emptiness, nothing left but a barren wasteland.
Ignoring the stunned looks behind her, Samui crouched down and touched the ground. Feeling the clear spiral scrape marks in the soil, a chill rose in her chest. As expected, the port had not vanished overnight.
Everything on the surface of this area had been stripped away, like a pencil drawing on paper erased in one rough motion, leaving only bleak blankness. kacha.
Atsui stepped forward unconsciously and seemed to crush something underfoot with a sharp sound. He looked down and pulled a piece of metal from the dirt, wiping the soil away. Only then did he see the fine scratches on it, and the blurred emblem of Kumogakure.
"This is a Kumogakure forehead protector?" he said in disbelief.
As if understanding something, Samui slowly stood and walked toward a raised area in the darkness. The three behind her followed, each drawing a kunai and gripping it tightly, their steps growing cautious. As they approached, a familiar stench of blood filled the air.
pata. Samui stepped into a pool of blood that had not yet dried, dark red splashing onto her pant legs. She looked at the rotting chunks of flesh, the scattered bones, and the strands of purple hair soaking in blood, and fell silent.
"Purple hair..." Atsui swallowed, his voice hoarse. "This is not Troy-sama, is it?" No one answered, and the silence only deepened.