Chapter 83 - The Calm Before the Storm (3)
Chapter 83 - The Calm Before the Storm (3)
The Hokage's office was blanketed in a silence so thick it seemed to press against the walls.
No one dared speak.
No one challenged Hiruzen's decision.
Because they all knew—there was no other option.
In a world without Hashirama Senju or Madara Uchiha, the title of "Strongest Shinobi Alive" now rested squarely on the shoulders of A—the Third Raikage of Kumogakure.
He was a living fortress.
A man who could restrain the rampaging Eight-Tails with his bare hands.
A warrior forged in the fires of endless war, whose sheer physical might could turn tides on the battlefield alone.
He was, in every sense, a juggernaut.
And now he stood at the doorstep of the Land of Fire.
To send anyone else to confront him would be to send them to their deaths.
Only Hiruzen Sarutobi—the Professor, the man who had mastered all five chakra natures and countless jutsu—stood even a chance. He would not defeat A easily, But he could stall him.
He could buy time.
Time Konoha desperately needed.
However—
Before Hiruzen could issue a single order, a thunderous knock shattered the fragile stillness like glass.
"Lord Hokage! Emergency report from the frontlines!"
The doors burst open as an ANBU wearing a dog-masked porcelain helm sprinted inside, scroll in hand. His black armor gleamed with damp sweat, as if he'd run the whole way without stopping.
Hiruzen's expression stiffened.
Another report?
So soon?
Danzo wasted no time. He reached forward, snatched the scroll from the ANBU's grasp, and unraveled it in one fluid motion. His eyes scanned the contents rapidly.
Halfway through, his face contorted.
By the time he reached the final line, his hand trembled, nearly crumpling the parchment.
A shaky breath left him, rough and jagged.
"The Third Tsuchikage—Ōnoki—has entered the battlefield."
Danzo's voice rang out like a hammer striking steel.
"He's brought Iwagakure's elite division with him."
"Orochimaru is holding the line, but just barely. Our forces have taken massive casualties. If Iwa pushes forward again… we'll lose everything."
The words crashed over the room like a tidal wave.
One calamity hadn't even passed before the next arrived at their doorstep.
The tension in the office spiked like a blade being unsheathed.
They had barely recovered from the shock of the Raikage's assault.
Now Ōnoki—master of Particle Style and the most cunning of the Five Kage—was pressing in from the west.
From two ends of the continent, Konoha was being cornered like a dying beast.
Hiruzen's fingers tightened around his pipe. The wood creaked faintly beneath his grip.
His shoulders—once broad and unshakable—now bore the weight of an entire village's fate.
Since the day he had succeeded Tobirama Senju, Hiruzen had fought and bled for Konoha. He had endured wars, betrayal, loss, and the politics of peace.
But this… this was the first time he felt the chill breath of death looming over the entire village.
The first time he saw, with terrifying clarity, the shadow of destruction approaching—unstoppable and final.
"Hiruzen!"
Danzo's voice broke through the storm of thoughts.
"You can't go to the northern front!"
"You must head west—now!"
"If you leave Orochimaru unsupported, Iwagakure will rip through the Land of Fire like a blade through paper!"
"We might survive one loss—but not both."
Danzo had risen fully from his chair now, his wounded leg forgotten. The weariness in his old bones had been swallowed by the gravity of war.
For once, his voice wasn't cloaked in manipulation or venom.
This was the Danzo of old—the one who had stood beside Hiruzen as they buried their comrades during the First Great Ninja War.
The one who had walked into death willingly for the sake of Konoha's survival.
"This is not about ambition anymore."
"If we don't act—Konoha will fall."
Danzo raised his hand and barked an order.
"You two—leave us."
The ANBU hesitated. They turned toward Hiruzen, awaiting his decision.
Only when the Hokage gave a slight nod did they bow and vanish into the shadows beyond the door.
Danzo's eyes narrowed.
Even the ANBU no longer followed his word without Hiruzen's approval.
The balance of power was slipping.
But there was no time to dwell on that now.
"Hiruzen," Danzo said, lowering his voice, "You, Orochimaru, Minato, and the Uchiha clan should fortify the western front."
"If we lose to Ōnoki, the Land of Earth will march straight into Konoha."
"As for A…"
Danzo's gaze sharpened like a drawn blade.
"Send Kazane."
Koharu and Homura jolted at the suggestion.
But Danzo pressed on, unflinching.
"I want him dead as much as you do, but still,
for Konoha's sake, I'll personally lead the entire Root division to support him."
"Even if we can't kill the Raikage, we can weaken him."
Danzo didn't finish the sentence—but the implication hung in the air like smoke.
Two threats, one solution.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
"Danzo… You would truly go to battle alongside him?"
Danzo nodded without hesitation.
"This is war."
"If Konoha is reduced to rubble, all our schemes—our titles—our legacies—will mean nothing."
"Kazane is a monster…"
"But for now, he is our monster."
For the first time in years, Hiruzen looked at Danzo not as a rival, but as the comrade he once knew.
The Danzo who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Tobirama Senju.
The man who had offered to be the sacrifice during the ambush that took their sensei's life.
Beneath decades of shadows and blood—
That Danzo still existed.
"I understand," Hiruzen murmured at last.
He inhaled deeply from his pipe, then exhaled long and slow, the smoke curling toward the rafters like rising prayers.
"I will take Orochimaru and Minato and hold the line against Iwagakure."
"You lead Root and reinforce the northern front."
"Summon Kazane."
The order fell heavy into the room.
No one objected.
Because this was no longer about internal power struggles.
It was about Konoha's survival.
And in this hour of crisis— They would need every demon in their arsenal.
"Konoha will not fall under my watch!"
Hiruzen gripped his pipe, his resolve solidifying.
Then, he turned away from the window and back to his desk.
This meeting was no longer about how to deal with Kazane.
It was about how to defend Konoha from annihilation.
---
Meanwhile…
After departing the war-torn Land of Rain, Kazane didn't head straight for Konoha.
Instead, he traveled deeper into the Land of Fire and checked into a secluded hot spring inn nestled between dense pine forests and mist-shrouded hills. There were no guards. No attendants. Just silence.
A place untouched by the world's chaos.
Steam coiled up from the hot spring like lazy spirits rising into the open sky. Kazane leaned back into the stone basin, his arms stretched along the edges, his breathing steady and unhurried.
"Haahhh…"
The scalding water wrapped around his body, melting away layers of tension and grime from days of battle. The deep ache in his muscles faded as his thoughts finally slowed.
For the first time since arriving in this world—
He felt peace.
No missions. No threats. No mentors breathing down his neck.
Only the quiet ripple of water and the distant rustle of leaves.
He tilted his head to the sky above. Cloudy, but beautiful.
"So this world has more than blood and betrayal after all."
Kazane's thoughts wandered.
It had always been like this—training, fighting, surviving. From the moment he stepped foot into this life, every path had been paved in corpses and conspiracies.
Even his quietest moments had been spent under the moonlight, drenched in sweat after another grueling day of pushing himself to the brink.
"Maybe I'll take a detour…"
"See the world. Walk some unknown paths. Breathe air not tainted by war."
"Then… I'll return to Konoha and rip the masks off Hiruzen and Danzo myself."
But his moment of clarity wouldn't last.
After soaking in the spring a while longer, Kazane rose and stepped out onto the inn's polished wooden floor. He wrapped himself in a green yukata, tied loosely around his waist, his still-damp silver hair trailing droplets behind him.
His bare feet made no sound as he moved toward the veranda—
Then stopped cold.
His body tensed instinctively.
Something's coming.
A pressure in the air—subtle, fast, disciplined.
A shinobi.
Within seconds, a figure appeared like smoke unraveling before his eyes.
A masked ANBU kneeled before him, holding a sealed scroll with both hands.
"Lord Kazane," the shinobi said in a voice devoid of emotion, "I bring an urgent message from the Hokage."
Kazane's gaze narrowed.
He wasn't surprised they found him. He hadn't exactly hidden his presence since returning to Fire Country. But this…
They contacted me first?
He expected to hear whispers. Surveillance. A coward's silence.
Not this.
Not a direct summons.
"So Hiruzen finally dares to face me—before I knock on his door?"
He stepped forward and accepted the scroll, his eyes locked onto the masked figure even as his fingers broke the wax seal.
His eyes scanned the contents quickly, yet thoroughly.
Kumogakure and Iwagakure had launched a coordinated invasion.
Orochimaru had been forced to confront Ōnoki at the western border.
Jiraiya had been gravely injured fighting the Raikage to the north.
And most surprising of all—
Hiruzen had stated, in writing, that once the war was won, he would step down from the Hokage seat.
Even more absurd—
Danzo's Root division was to be placed under Kazane's command for the duration of the conflict.
A scoff escaped Kazane's throat. Amused. Disbelieving.
"You think I still believe your empty promises, Hiruzen?"
"How many times have you lied to me?"
The words on the page were meaningless. Deception wrapped in ink.
But Kazane wasn't naïve.
He understood something critical.
Konoha couldn't afford division in the face of annihilation. Internal grudges could wait.
The war couldn't.
And as much as he despised them both—
Even now, he found the corner of his mouth lifting.
"The Third Raikage…"
A warrior so unrelenting, so monstrously durable, that in the legends of the Fourth Great Ninja War, his body bore only a single scar—a wound he had inflicted upon himself.
"I've always wanted to see… if my blades could carve a second."
Kazane turned to the ANBU without a hint of hesitation.
"Tell Hiruzen…"
He paused.
Then smiled.
"…I'm on my way."