Sarutobi Hiruzens Worries

In the next few days, rumours about disappearances appeared in Konoha. Panic and unrest spread among the villagers, for fear they would be the next victims.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was sitting in his office and smoking, of course, knows that this rumour is indeed true.

He pulled out a report from the Anbu ninja who is responsible for the investigation of the disappearance cases.

The more he read it, the more of a headache he got.

Fifty-six, that is the number of people, who inexplicably disappeared in the last three days.

According to the report, apart from a strong stench of blood, no other clues were found at all.

He is not distressed about some ordinary people, but someone dares to blatantly kidnap people from his territory and does not take him, Sarutobi Hiruzen dubbed as 'the strongest Hokage in History' and 'Dr. Ninjutsu', into consideration at all.

Although he himself knows that the titles he got are blown out of proportion and do not confirm reality at all, other people do not know it.

As Hokage, forget Senju Hashirama and Tobirama, even Minato Namikaze, who has not even reached the peak of his strength before his death, could defeat him without too many difficulties.

When it comes to ninjutsu, he is not even qualified to hold the shoes of both his teacher Tobirama Senju and his student Orochimaru.

He himself is very clear about this, but through his propaganda and manipulation, the outside world thinks that his titles are true to a certain extent. Except of course, for the ninjas still left from the old era, like Ohnogi, who had personally experienced the terror of Uchiha Madara. If you tell him that Sarutobi is the strongest Hokage in history, he would probably laugh out loud.

Still, the younger ninjas are not sure.

To prevent his image from crumbling, he rarely even participated in a battle since he became Hokage.

Even during the third ninja war, when little children like Itachi who was four years old at that time went to participate in the war, he still sat back in his comfortable Hokage seat with tobacco in his hand and stayed back under the veil of protecting Konoha and commanding the troops.

During the Nine-tails attack on Konoha, he hit it once with his stick and then sent cannon fodder to hold it, until Minato arrived. Even then the dying Kushina Uzumaki, who just had experienced childbirth, had to use her remaining vitality to launch Uzumaki chains to hold the Nine-tails down.

So no one is really clear how strong his actual combat effectiveness is and because being safe is better than being sorry, large scale trouble rarely happens directly in Konoha.

While Sarutobi Hiruzen was having a headache about what to do, Danzo walked straight into the office.

"Danzo, how often have I told you to knock on the door when you come in."

Danzo paid no attention to Sarutobi at all, he is in a good mood these days.

First, the Uchiha made trouble and with his own manipulation, bad rumours about Sarutobi spread in Konoha, lowering the Third Hokage's prestige a bit.

But because the image of Sarutobi Hiruzen was really too good before, the effect of the rumours was limited.

Now, this thing happened and it really made Danzo happy.

He had already ordered his Root to let every last person in Konoha know, that someone does not care about the third Hokage at all and blatantly kidnaps people.

Because of Danzos actions the villagers are now in panic and questioning the ability of the Third Hokage, who had not dealt with the situation for three full days.

Sarutobi's expression darkened when he saw the happy look on Danzos face.

He knows his old friend too well and understands that this guy is gloating over his predicament.

"Danzo put away the happy look on your face. Do you not care about the poor villagers at all?"

Danzo froze when he heard this and looked at Sarutobi with a puzzled expression.

"Hiruzen, no one is here, why are you still maintaining that disgusting good old man act of yours?"

Sarutobi also noticed that he subconsciously maintained his act and got shocked.

'What's wrong with me? Have I used this fake face for too long and it's becoming real?'

Danzo who noticed Sarutobis expression, thought back to a book about psychology he read, as a preparation for when he becomes Hokage.

'Is Hiruzen developing a split personality? It seems to be in the early stages. Hahaha, this old man is actually becoming senile. Hiruzen, you are really not suitable to be Hokage, can't even handle a little bit of pressure. Sure enough teacher, I should have been Hokage.'

Sarutobi noticed that Danzo seems to be sinking into fantasies and immediately got annoyed.

"Danzo, go immediately and mobilise all Roots and find the culprit of the kidnappings now!"

Danzo, whose mood was the best since Sarutobi became Hokage again, after the Nine-tails attack, rarely did not refute.

"No problem Hiruzen, leave it to me. You seem to be under pressure, maybe you should retire and look for a psychiatrist."

Sarutobi snapped when he heard this and started shouting:

"Shut up, Danzo. Don't talk to me like that, remember I am Hokage."

Danzo's good mood fell a bit at the words 'remember I am Hokage' and he left the office.

'How often have I heard these words over the years Hiruzen. After I exterminate the Uchiha clan and transplant Hashirama cells, we will see who has the last laugh.'

Sarutobi who was sitting in his office in a bad mood immediately called for his Anbu.

Throwing the report on the ground, he screamed:

"Go find the one responsible for this. I will give you two days, if you have no clues until then, you can bear the consequences yourselves!"

"Yes, Sir!"

The Anbu ninja got scared when they heard this and immediately use instantaneous technique and left the office.

Sarutobi sat back onto his chair and took out his pipe again and took a deep drag.

Quietly glancing at the picture of Minato Namikaze, Sarutobi thought of Naruto, who was suffering.

'Don't blame me Minato. Everything I do is for Konoha.'

After that, he went home tired.