Konoha.
Hokage’s Office.
“Hiruzen.”
“Wake up!”
“He even dares to beat up the Anbu. Do you really think he still cares about you as Hokage?”
“Once a person like this fully matures, he will become Konoha’s greatest threat!”
“Only Root can control him.”
“Hand him over to me.”
“I will erase his emotions and brand him with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.”
“I will completely dissect his body and research the secrets of the Senju clan’s bloodline!”
Danzo put forward his objective once more.
In his sole exposed eye, a gleam of greed flickered—a craving for ultimate power.
He didn’t believe for a second that Chiba had awakened Mokuton.
How could a godlike power like Mokuton manifest in a mere junior?
Ever since the First Hokage passed away, no one in the Senju clan had been able to master that power.
In Danzo’s eyes, Chiba was merely extraordinarily lucky—a rare case of genetic atavism whose bloodline purity simply far exceeded ordinary people.
As long as he could drag Chiba into Root, he could extract Chiba’s cells to perfect the arm he had transplanted with the First Hokage’s cells.
He would obtain a longer lifespan and far greater power!
“No!”
Yet, even as Danzo’s logic forced cold sweat to seep from him, Hiruzen Sarutobi still grit his teeth.
He abruptly stood up, the aura belonging to a Kage-level powerhouse exploding in an instant.
He stared directly into Danzo’s eye, refusing to yield a single inch.
“I said absolutely not!”
“As long as I remain Hokage, don’t even dream of reaching your hands toward Chiba!”
Hiruzen Sarutobi was no fool.
He understood that Chiba posed a massive threat.
But he understood even better that Danzo was an insatiably greedy viper.
Handing Chiba over to Danzo was no different from drinking poison to quench a thirst.
If Danzo actually unlocked something from his research or used Chiba’s power to stage a coup, Konoha would be plunged into true, irreparable ruin.
“Hiruzen!”
“You are pushing Konoha into the abyss!”
Danzo roared in rage.
The chakra in his body surged in response, causing cracks to spiderweb across the wooden floorboards surrounding his cane.
The two stood toe-to-toe, neither willing to back down half a step.
The air inside the Hokage’s Office felt as though it were about to freeze solid.
Right at this critical juncture, a set of steady footsteps echoed from outside the door.
“Enough.”
A slightly aged yet authoritative female voice resounded.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado entered the office side-by-side.
These two Konoha elder advisors usually kept low profiles, yet today they arrived together against all precedent.
Clearly, the news regarding Chiba had already reached their ears.
Koharu Utatane furrowed her brow, glancing at the bloodstains on the floor before turning her gaze to the locked-in-conflict pair of Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo.
“Look at the state of you two.”
“Where are your manners?”
“Anbu and Root are watching from outside.”
“Are you trying to turn yourselves into the laughingstock of the entire village?”
Koharu Utatane reprimanded them without holding back.
Homura Mitokado pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose.
His expressionless face now carried an unprecedented gravity.
“Hiruzen, Danzo.”
“Now is not the time for your power struggles.”
Homura Mitokado’s voice was calm, yet it struck directly at the heart of the matter.
“We are already aware of Chiba’s matter.”
“A Senju bloodline who concealed himself for sixteen years.”
“A dangerous individual who severely injured elite Anbu purely through his aura.”
“He is currently residing at the former Senju clan compound.”
“What can the two of you possibly change by arguing until you’re blue in the face here?”
Homura Mitokado raised his head, his gaze sweeping over Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo.
“Indeed.”
“Whether Chiba is loyal or traitorous, what his attitude toward the village actually is—these aren’t things you can deduce sitting in this room.”
“Since he is unwilling to come meet the Hokage…”
“Then we will go meet him.”
Koharu Utatane picked up the conversation, her tone dripping with cold, calculated logic.
“Only by speaking face-to-face can we verify his true intentions.”
“Only then can we decide…”
Speaking up to this point, Koharu Utatane paused, a flash of murderous intent glinting in her eyes.
“…on how to handle subsequent matters.”
“Subsequent matters.” Those words caused all three people in the office to fall silent simultaneously.
Everyone present understood full well.
If Chiba was willing to obey the high command’s arrangements, they would continue using the village’s bonds to constrain him.
But if Chiba showed even a shred of rebellious intent, what awaited him would be the ruthless, total crushing weight of Konoha as a whole!
Even if he was of Senju bloodline, even if he was Tsunade’s disciple—so long as he threatened Konoha’s stability, he had to be eliminated!
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag from his pipe.
The pipe that had fallen to the floor earlier had been picked up at some point, but the tobacco inside had long gone out.
He inhaled a draft of cold air, trying his best to steady his pounding heart.
“Very well.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi tapped the pipe against the corner of the desk, producing a crisp clack.
“Then let’s go meet him.”
He turned his head and looked at the Anbu squad leader waiting outside the door.
“Deliver my orders.”
“Mobilize five Anbu squads.”
“Barrier Corps and Sealing Corps, all to assume positions.”
A flash of resolve glinted in Hiruzen Sarutobi’s eyes.
If Chiba was willing to yield, he wouldn’t mind playing the benevolent elder—after all, Chiba was Tsunade’s disciple, making him Hiruzen’s grand-disciple.
But if Chiba intended to tear down all pretense, then he had to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Danzo snorted coldly.
He signaled to the Root ninja behind him.
“Notify Root.”
“Class-A battle readiness.”
“Everyone, converge on the Senju compound.”
Danzo’s line of thought was simple.
If the negotiations fell apart, he had to capture Chiba before the Anbu could!
Capturing Chiba alive was his primary strategic objective.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado exchanged a glance; neither raised an objection.
Facing a monster of an unknown level, no amount of caution could be considered excessive.
A few minutes later, below the Hokage Residence.
A dense crowd of ninjas gathered like phantoms.
Not a whisper of noise was heard, save for the occasional faint metallic clink of weapons colliding.
A suffocating atmosphere of slaughter instantly enveloped Konoha’s core area.
Hiruzen Sarutobi changed into battle gear he hadn’t worn in a long time—a black bodysuit layered with specialized armor.
Although he was old, and although his face was lined with wrinkles, the moment he donned this gear, he remained the Shinobi Professor who struck terror into the ninja world!
Danzo stood beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, leaning on his cane as always, his sinister gaze sweeping across the surrounding squads.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado stood behind them.
Surrounded by a legion of elite ninjas, the four elders standing at the apex of Konoha’s power marched imposingly toward the southeastern corner of the village.
Along the way, all civilians and ordinary ninjas sensed that something was terribly wrong.
They gave way one after another, staring in terror at this formidable force.
“What happened?”
“Why is the Hokage-sama personally deploying?”
Whispers spread along both sides of the streets, yet no one dared to speak loudly, for everyone felt the stifling, extreme killing intent hanging in the air.
Hiruzen Sarutobi paid no heed to his surroundings.
His gaze remained locked onto the southeastern direction—where the former Senju clan compound lay.
Once, it had been the most prosperous and sacred place in Konoha.
But after the First and Second Hokages fell in succession, the Senju clan had voluntarily dismantled its family structure to integrate into the village.
Countless Senju clan members concealed their names and blended in among the civilians.
That massive compound had gradually fallen into ruin, becoming an untouchable scar in Konoha’s history.