"Hiruzen, you are becoming weaker by the day."
Danzo Shimura watched from the shadows as Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to the camp, laughing and chatting with the Namikaze brothers. He narrowed his eyes, his voice a haunting whisper to the empty air.
"A ninja is nothing more than a tool for completing a mission. To treat your tools with such warmth and kindness... Hiruzen, you have become a hostage to your own reputation."
Ever since that fateful moment before Tobirama Senju, where his hesitation cost him the position of Hokage by a matter of seconds, Danzo's psyche had been fractured. He had watched from the sidelines as Hiruzen ascended to the seat he so desperately coveted.
As time passed, the divide grew. Danzo had lost an eye and seen half his body mangled, forced to retreat into the darkness to become the "Root" of the Leaf—relegated to a sunless underground while Hiruzen basked in the village's adoration. The more brilliant Hiruzen's light became, the more twisted Danzo's heart grew.
He hated. He regretted.
If only I hadn't hesitated. If only Hiruzen had flinched. If only Lord Tobirama had made it back to the village...
In his mind, if he had taken the hat, it would be him standing in that glorious light. But like a man possessed by a self-righteous delusion, Danzo was incapable of admitting fault. To him, the world was wrong, and Hiruzen was the greatest error of all.
To distinguish himself from his rival, Danzo's methods became increasingly radical, both domestically and abroad. Perhaps it started as a simple desire to be different, but eventually, it became his gospel: only his iron-fisted approach was correct. In his eyes, Hiruzen's "softness" was a slow-acting poison that was destroying the village. Only by replacing the weak Third Hokage could Konoha truly achieve greatness again.
As Hiruzen vanished into his command tent, the look of determination on Danzo's mangled face shifted into something truly grotesque.
"Hiruzen... for the sake of the village, I will replace you. I will set this weakened village back on the right path!"
Powerless. Terrified.
Orochimaru and Jiraiya sat in a secluded cave, catching their breath after a humiliating retreat back into the Land of Rain. The confidence they'd felt upon entering the Land of Earth had vanished, replaced by a bitter sense of defeat and a lingering trace of defiance.
A year had passed since their encounter with Hanzo, and they had believed themselves much stronger. Yet, standing before the Tsuchikage, they had felt that same crushing weight of helplessness all over again.
The name that had inspired that dread this time was Ohnoki.
A day ago, they had received word that a massive Iwa force was splitting into two columns to pincer them within the Land of Earth. They had immediately ordered a retreat. They were never meant to be a conquering army; they were a distraction, a mobile strike force meant to disrupt Iwa's mobilization. Having forced the Stone to commit its main army prematurely, their objective was technically complete.
But neither Orochimaru nor Jiraiya wanted to leave without a fight. They had lingered at the border, waiting for the Tsuchikage's arrival. They wanted to test his mettle.
It didn't go well.
Even in his old age during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Ohnoki would remain a powerhouse capable of facing Kage-level threats without flinching. Now, in the prime of his life, he was a nightmare for a duo that had yet to reach their peak.
Particle Style—the only Kekkei Tota in the shinobi world—had completely shattered their understanding of ninjutsu. If not for Orochimaru's seemingly endless array of survival techniques, the two of them might have been erased from existence then and there.
They escaped, but the price was high. The Hidden Stone had capitalized on their rout, cutting down over three hundred Konoha shinobi—a third of their force.
If Ohnoki hadn't been worried about the situation in the Land of Grass deteriorating upon Hiruzen's arrival, he likely would have pursued them. He turned his army around to meet the main Leaf force, leaving the six hundred survivors to limp back into the Land of Rain.
After two days of forced marching and only eight hours of rest, the main force of nearly ten thousand Leaf shinobi finally crossed into the Land of Grass.
Unlike its neighbor, the Land of Rain—a swampy, rain-slicked territory that produced venomous creatures and the "Demi-god" Hanzo—the Land of Grass had never truly stood on its own feet since the end of the Warring States period.
Wedged between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth, Kusagakure was a perennial stage for the shadow wars between Konoha's and Iwa's Anbu. Once a full-scale war ignited, the entire country inevitably became a meat grinder for the Great Nations.
It was a pathetic existence, but the Grass ninja and civilians had long since grown numb to it. It was the tragedy of being a small nation caught between giants.
Hatani, however, had exactly three impressions of the Land of Grass:
Kannabi Bridge: The site of the battle where two "Sharingan Heroes" would eventually rise.Karin: Sasuke's Uzumaki "battery" with a slight penchant for masochism and a Lady Tengu personality.The Preta Path.
As for the Blood Prison movie and its "Master Mui" of Hozuki Castle, Hatani dismissed it as utter nonsense.
A Leaf ninja kills a few foreign Jonin and gets framed for an assassination attempt on the Raikage? Even if he did do it, why would Konoha—the strongest village—meekly hand over their Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to a third-rate prison?
If Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't crawl out of the Reaper's belly to beat the prison warden to death with his staff, I'd be shocked, Hatani thought. Would the Hyuga let their own be taken? Would Danzo let his 'assets' go? Please.
"Minato, Choza, Hatani—from today, you three are temporarily assigned to a squad under my command as the lead Jonin."
Before they could even settle into the new camp, Tsunade arrived with the latest orders.
"Understood!"
The three responded in unison. Once a ninja reached the rank of Chunin, being shuffled into temporary squads for specific missions was standard procedure.
"The Hokage has issued a directive," Tsunade continued. "By dawn tomorrow, we are to clear out every 'rat' within a twenty-kilometer radius. We are one of the teams assigned to this sweep."
If being assigned to Tsunade's squad had made Hatani feel relieved, her second command made him feel something far more potent: excitement.