As Hiruzen let out a heavy sigh, Zaraki immediately grasped the situation. Although he was at the absolute peak of the elite jonin tier, he had not yet stepped into the Kage level. Fugaku and the Uchiha clan were, in fact, an extremely powerful deterrent against the other villages and a solid shield for Konoha. For years, the Uchiha had been handling the village's internal security and investigations, which allowed the ANBU to operate much more freely. Thanks to this strict oversight, it was almost impossible for an enemy to infiltrate the village... unless, of course, there was treason from within.
Hiruzen snapped out of his thoughts and sighed once more.
"Besides, Kagami was my teammate. It makes me happy that someone still remembers him and speaks of him with respect. Shisui and Itachi are truly individuals with tremendous potential. There is nothing about this that bothers me... or rather, there is... My one-eyed friend will probably pay me a visit."
Hiruzen was already starting to feel a throbbing pain in his temples. The last thing he wanted right now was to have Danzo stand before him and whine about the Jinchuriki and the Uchiha clan. With a slight wave of his hand, he asked Zaraki to continue his report. Taking a deep breath, Zaraki resumed his explanation. He talked about Naruto's admiration for swordsmanship and the names Teuchi had listed for him. Hearing the name Kosuke made Hiruzen let out another deep sigh. Frankly, he deeply wished for a good, veteran ninja like Kosuke to hold the rank of an elite jonin, but Kosuke stood by that heavy oath he had sworn in his youth until the very end.
'Not even Sensei could convince him... I tried so hard, and Minato tried too, but convincing Kosuke is as impossible as achieving lasting peace in the ninja world...'
Zaraki continued his report, but this time he was paying particularly close attention to Hiruzen's reactions. He detailed exactly how Teuchi had spoken of Sakumo Hatake, Naruto's intense interest in the topic, and the reasons behind it. Hearing Sakumo's name instantly ruined Hiruzen's mood. The Sakumo Hatake incident was the biggest stain on his administrative career, his deepest shame, and an unceasing regret. Yet, as a Hokage during that era, his hands had been tied. Sakumo's failure in that mission had truly cost the village dearly; moreover, the fact that this top-secret mission had somehow been leaked had heavily incited the public. Hiruzen, alongside Danzo, had executed the ninjas responsible for the leak—after all, it was a classified ANBU mission, and secrecy was paramount. But no matter what they did, they couldn't stop the ugly rumors. Furthermore, right in the midst of that chaos, intelligence from Root agents indicated that the other villages were lying in wait to attack the Land of Fire. Out of necessity, Hiruzen had to act in tandem with the advisors and urgently assign many capable ninjas to the borders. His desk was overflowing, and there were massive crises he needed to focus on. Additionally, openly supporting Sakumo at such a critical time could have swayed the ordinary ninjas' sense of loyalty, potentially leading to the abandonment of vital missions during the looming war and plunging the village into a massive predicament.
In those days, Hiruzen could do nothing but trust in Sakumo's own willpower and resilience. Under intense pressure from the advisors and Danzo, he had ultimately removed Sakumo from duty and forced him into retirement. But what Hiruzen didn't know back then was how the trusted confidants he had leaned on for years were scheming in the shadows behind his back. Sakumo becoming the next Hokage directly threatened the personal interests of those three advisors. They had wanted to smear him to prevent his rise to Hokage; however, Danzo had gone a step further, weaponizing Sakumo's honorable character against him and deliberately pushing the man into that bottomless abyss. Hiruzen valued old bonds and teammate camaraderie so much that, because of this blind trust, he continuously—albeit unknowingly—harmed Konoha. In this weakness, he was actually very similar to the First Hokage, Hashirama. Frankly, the advisor system in the administrations of the other hidden villages was never utilized as heavily and dominantly as it was in Konoha. In Konoha, the advisors had a say almost equal to the Hokage's, and the sole reason for this was Hiruzen's absolute, unquestioning trust in them. This administrative negligence had caused many problems over the years. Hiruzen sometimes couldn't help but think to himself; if Kagami had become Hokage, such administrative troubles probably never would have occurred. But the one who established this flawed balance in the first place was his very own master, Tobirama.
Zaraki broke his silence and continued speaking. He relayed every single detail Teuchi had told about Sakumo in the shop, echoing the exact words used without missing a beat. As Hiruzen listened, his shoulders slumped further; his sorrow deepened. With a heavy sigh, he leaned his head back against his chair. Observing the Hokage's exhausted reactions, Zaraki slightly furrowed his brows, pausing his report to remain silent. Hiruzen took a deep drag from the pipe on his desk and slowly blew out a thick cloud of smoke.
"Zaraki, how are you feeling? I know how devoted you were to your Captain..."
Zaraki kept his tone as flat as possible, speaking calmly.
"...I don't know, Hokage-sama, and I really don't want to talk about it..."
Hiruzen sighed wearily from his seat.
"...I was truly caught in the middle back then... Frankly, I thought Sakumo's will was strong. The reports I received said he was doing fine... I never thought it would come to that... I honestly couldn't support him openly, because at that time it would have been too risky. If people started abandoning their missions while war was at our doorstep, it would have been a disaster... But I shouldn't have retired Sakumo. I should have reassigned him away; he should have stayed out of Konoha for a long time... I truly made a mistake back then, and the regret of it hasn't faded from my heart for a single moment."
Zaraki silently listened to the old man pouring his heart out, internally wondering about something he had sought the answer to for a long time.
"...Forgive me, Hokage-sama, but why did you retire Captain Sakumo?"
Hiruzen took another heavy drag from his pipe.
"That wasn't my decision alone; it was a collective decision by the advisors. They explained that it would be better politically, better for the morale of the ninjas, and better for Sakumo himself. So, I approved it."
Though a brief spark of realization flashed in Zaraki's eyes behind his mask, the stoic expression on his face never wavered. He thought to himself:
'I won't do anything until I speak face to face with Ryuma...'
To dispel the heavy atmosphere, he took a deep breath.
"Hokage-sama, there is one other minor matter you should know..."
Hiruzen immediately paid attention, furrowing his brows, and slowly nodded for him to continue. When Zaraki mentioned the little scheme Teuchi had planned involving Kakashi, Hiruzen was taken aback for a moment. He quickly weighed the situation in his mind and then let out a relieved laugh that broke the silence of the office. Zaraki was surprised by the Hokage's sudden reaction. Hiruzen spoke with a delighted expression.
"Hahahaha! Teuchi did a wonderful thing! What a beautiful coincidence! Kakashi will be returning from his mission tomorrow! I will grant him a long vacation! Maybe a 3-year-old Naruto will ease his depression! Hahahaha! This way, not only will Kakashi be forced to take responsibility, but Naruto will be under the supervision of our best ninja, and Kakashi might just have a chance to snap out of his depression! This is perfect!"
Hiruzen was genuinely thrilled by this news. He had tried multiple times to do something about the dark state Kakashi had fallen into, but none of his efforts had yielded any concrete results. Since he couldn't save him as the Hokage, perhaps the son of the Fourth Hokage could handle the job. From across the desk, Zaraki observed the situation in silence. In the past, he had repeatedly tried to talk to his old captain's son, but Kakashi had built an impenetrable, cold wall against him and the other remaining Wolves. Remembering this, Zaraki let out a soft sigh.
"Hokage-sama, may I request some leave? I haven't had a proper rest for the last 7 months..."
Since Hiruzen was in a rather good mood right now, he nodded approvingly.
"Alright, go get some rest for a few days. The village has relaxed a bit recently, but I can't grant too much leave. After all, many of the village's elites perished during the Nine-Tails rebellion."
Zaraki nodded and prepared to leave, but just before turning to the door, he asked about the final lingering doubt in his mind.
"...Hokage-sama, without overstepping my bounds, there is something I would like to ask..."
The Hokage nodded.
"Go ahead."
Zaraki asked.
"...Right before the 3rd Ninja War, you suddenly sent Ryuma and me to the border outposts. I couldn't find the time to ask back then, but why did you specifically send the two of us? The outpost commanders could have held those locations."
Hiruzen was surprised by this question.
"Why did you suddenly become curious about this?"
Zaraki remained silent for a second, gathering his words before he spoke.
"Because of that assignment, we couldn't see the captain, and we never saw him again..."
Hiruzen fell silent for a moment, weighed down by the gravity of that sentence, and then sighed wearily once more.
"...Danzo made those assignments. As you know, when Sakumo retired, Danzo temporarily took over as the head of the ANBU. I merely stamped the deployment orders. Danzo and the other two advisors suggested that we needed to reinforce the border outposts just in case... At the time, the ROOT intelligence network had reported that the 4 great nations wanted to attack us... Which is exactly what happened during the 3rd War..."
Looking at the documents on his desk, Hiruzen sighed as if lamenting to himself.
"My two foolish, disloyal students... I should have been retired and enjoying my days by now, but here I am, still sitting here dealing with paperwork, reports, and missions... If only someone would come and become the Hokage, how wonderful it would be..."
Of course, as Hiruzen said this, he knew very well that Tsunade wouldn't return; after all, the severe psychological trauma that caused his favorite student's hemophobia still hadn't healed. But his old bones truly couldn't bear the weight of this desk anymore. His lust for power and administration from his youth had completely faded in recent years; right now, all he wanted was to lie down in his home and rest in peace. Engraving what he heard into his mind, Zaraki nodded and asked for permission to leave the office. As he stepped outside, entirely different, dark thoughts were swirling in his head.
'Root, huh... Danzo Shimura... If all of this was truly part of that disgusting plot you orchestrated to eliminate my Captain...'
As Zaraki's steps quickened, his eyes narrowed with a cold and dangerous fury.
'I will tear down that Root of yours myself...'
Wasting no time, Zaraki vanished into the darkness of the night to meet his old comrade-in-arms, Ryuma.
At that exact moment, Naruto had already fallen into a deep sleep in his own apartment. Playing chess with Altay in the seal space had seemed quite fun at first, but for an energetic three-year-old child, the game was too slow and boring. Eventually unable to bear it, he had fallen asleep on Altay's shoulder and left the seal world. Altay, completely oblivious to the massive political turmoil he had just sparked in an entire village outside, was currently sitting with an ambitious smile on his face. He was having so much fun with his new best friend, Kurama, that he had completely lost track of time. The giant fox sitting across from him was returning his toothy grin. There was fierce competition in the room; both of them were sweating, but they were immensely pleased with the situation. Whenever Altay carefully reached for a chess piece, Kurama's giant eyes locked onto the exact same piece; the duo was rapidly formulating new counter-moves against each other in their minds.
As Altay watched the pieces, he muttered to himself.
'Man! Why is this giant fox playing even better than my manga commander? Is this normal? We've only played two matches, and on the third, he’s already figured out the entire mechanics of the game! This is not a good sign at all... if I lose...'
Altay's eyebrow twitched with anxiety.
'This narcissistic fox won't shut up about it for a whole week, and he'll constantly rub it in my face!'
In Kurama's mind, completely different calculations were brewing. His mind had slowly begun to be influenced by Altay's memories of the modern world, and this forced cohabitation over the past three months had brought the two much closer than they had expected.
'Man, this is seriously so fun! I've completely cornered Altay on the board!'
Before lifting his giant paw, the massive fox quickly glanced at the flow of the match and smirked with immense pride.
'HAHAHAHAHA! I WON THIS TIME!'
When Kurama thought about the last thousand years of his life, he had genuinely never had as much fun as he did in these past three months. He spent his days reading modern mangas, lazily lounging on his massive bed, and eating the various snacks Altay provided for him. When he got bored, he would bicker with Altay, and even relax in the custom massage chair Altay had created specifically for him. The seal space, which normally should have been a dark, cold, and gloomy fox prison, had transformed into a fully-fledged, 5-star luxury hotel room thanks to Altay's bizarre mind. How ironic was that?
While Kurama hummed in delight and waited, Altay finally made the move he had been pondering for a long time. Kurama smirked and played his counter-move without a second thought. Altay advanced another piece; Kurama swiftly went on the offensive, trying to back him into a corner. At that moment, Altay chuckled and pushed his actual intended move forward, striking Kurama with an unexpected trap. Faced with this unforeseen move, Kurama was in utter shock.
"NANI!!!"
Altay burst into a huge fit of laughter right where he sat.
"HAHAHAHAHA! THAT'S HOW THIS GAME IS PLAYED!"
Across from him, Kurama was so bewildered that his giant jaw practically hit the floor. With his mouth wide open, he protested.
"DAMN IT, DON'T PLAY DIRTY, ALTAY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN SACRIFICING YOUR OWN QUEEN!"
Puffing out his chest, Altay answered proudly.
"It's called strategy! Now the tables have turned! HAHAHAHA!"
Kurama reacted to this situation by snorting like a bull; he was incredibly pumped up by the spirit of competition.
"TAKE THIS THEN! KNIGHT, ATTACK!"
BOOM!
When the giant piece slammed onto the board with a loud crash, it was Altay's turn to be shocked.
"MAN, SINCE WHEN WAS THAT THERE!"
Kurama let out a booming laugh and pointed his giant claw at Altay.
"HAHAHAHHA! WHAT'S WRONG? WEREN'T YOU SO PROUD A MINUTE AGO?"
Altay's eyebrows twitched in anger; now he too was snorting furiously, just like Kurama.
"ROOK! ADVANCE!"
BOOM!
When the stone rook advanced at Altay's command, the mocking expression on Kurama's face vanished, replaced by sheer surprise. The game had suddenly escalated to an entirely different level, and Altay had started playing very aggressively. Kurama immediately made a new counter-move.
BOOM!
Altay retaliated instantly.
BOOM!
The violent sounds of chess pieces crashing and colliding continued to echo in the seal room at regular intervals. After this fierce battle lasting exactly half an hour, both of them stared at the final state of the board and froze in astonishment.
"Draw..." X2