Thousands of miles away in the Hidden Leaf Village—
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, urgently summoned the head of the Root Division, Danzo.
"Tell me, what exactly is going on here?"
The Third Hokage slammed the document in his hand onto the desk, his face stern with anger.
In all his decades of leadership, such an outburst was rare.
Danzo slowly opened his single visible eye.
"What happened?"
His tone was calm and indifferent, the cane in his hand tapping steadily against the ground.
Hiruzen glared at him coldly.
"Don't play dumb with me, Danzo."
"We received a frontline report: the Konoha forces led by Hanyu Simu were ambushed by Iwagakure and Sunagakure forces in the Land of Rain."
"Not only that—Hanzo of the Salamander himself took part in the attack against our forces!"
"Don't tell me this has nothing to do with you."
His tone was cold as ice, eyes fixed on Danzo's weathered face, looking for any trace of guilt.
Danzo acted as if he had just awakened and replied slowly, "Oh, that matter. Konoha is at war with Iwagakure and Sunagakure. Isn't it perfectly normal for our forces to be attacked?"
"Normal?!"
The Third Hokage exploded in anger, his eyes flaring.
"If I remember correctly, you've been maintaining secret contact with Hanzo, haven't you?"
Danzo's expression remained calm as he answered casually:
"Some communication, yes. But surely you don't think I can control Hanzo's every move?"
The Third Hokage was momentarily speechless.
He knew full well that Danzo was behind this.
But he had no evidence.
Root operated independently from the village leadership, and even as Hokage, Sarutobi had limited oversight.
Without hard proof, he couldn't punish Danzo.
Suspicion alone wasn't enough to convict him.
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed heavily and sat down in his chair, his voice full of sorrow.
"That's two thousand Konoha shinobi..."
Danzo glanced at him and finally responded:
"Hiruzen, you're getting old. Too soft-hearted."
He leaned on his cane and walked to the office window, gazing out over the entire village of Konoha.
Far off in the distance stood the great stone faces of the Hokage Monument.
"It's just two thousand shinobi. A small price to pay for Konoha's future."
Danzo turned back toward the Third Hokage.
"Hiruzen, I never supported your decision to let Hanyu Simu live."
"If it weren't for him, we wouldn't have fallen out with the Daimyō, and Konoha wouldn't be in this dire situation."
"The system of 'one village, one nation' was created by the First Hokage. If we let him continue down this path, that entire structure could collapse."
Sarutobi fell into silence.
Danzo took the opportunity to press further.
"Besides, many in the village now feel it's time for you to step down and make way for a new Hokage."
Danzo finally laid down his trump card.
As an old friend, he knew what Hiruzen valued most.
It wasn't just peace for the village—it was his legacy and the Hokage seat itself.
Power held for too long becomes a chain—hard to release.
Danzo tapped the floor lightly with his cane.
"This Hanyu Simu is no different from Hatake Sakumo back then. Are you really going to hand over half the Hokage robe again?"
He turned his head to look at Hiruzen.
"If Simu becomes Hokage, do you think Konoha's balance can be maintained?"
"Don't forget—his three little girlfriends."
"One's from the Hyuga Clan, another is the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, and the last is the daughter of the Uchiha clan head."
"If he takes power, do you think the Sarutobi clan can hold onto their current status?"
"He's also Jiraiya's student. He'll inherit all of your political influence."
Danzo's words struck deep, and Sarutobi Hiruzen fell into deep thought.
If Simu really continued to rise...
A flicker of reluctance appeared in his eyes.
Danzo was already at the door of the office.
"With Ohnoki and Hanzo involved—and over ten thousand shinobi on their side—Hanyu Simu won't survive this."
With those final words, Danzo left, ignoring the Third Hokage's darkened expression.
The office fell silent.
Hiruzen sat alone, the nearby Anbu having been dismissed in advance.
He clasped his hands together, pipe glowing in the dim light.
After a long pause, he exhaled a cloud of smoke.
His eyes finally hardened with resolve.
"Simu, Simu... I didn't expect you to grow so powerful, so quickly."
Turning his back, he looked out the windowsill and muttered to himself in a voice only he could hear:
"Everything I do... is for Konoha."
On the battlefield.
A blinding white light engulfed everything.
The entire battlefield fell into silence.
Even the distant Sand Shinobi and Rock Shinobi forces paused, staring at the scene as if witnessing a natural disaster.
At this point, the Rock Shinobi army was already devastated.
Even with 5,000 ninjas, it was too much to ask to fight against three tailed beasts simultaneously.
Of course, under the relentless assault from the Rock Shinobi,
Even the tailed beasts suffered significant damage.
The Two-Tails, Matatabi, saw the mushroom cloud rising in the distance, and her heart trembled.
It was a haunting flashback of the fear Simu had instilled in her years ago.
The Five-Tails, Kokuō, stood silently and said in a deep voice:
"Lord Simu reminds me of that man..."
Matatabi nodded in agreement.
"Even a Tailed Beast Bomb might not cause such destruction..."
The Four-Tails, Son Gokū, punched a Rock Shinobi into the ground.
Though he disliked being summoned like a beast, he had to admit—Simu's strength was enough to crush even them.
The terrifying shockwave from the explosion turned into a series of hurricanes, wildly ravaging the land.
Some exhausted ninjas were blown away like leaves in a storm.
The massive sphere of light gradually faded.
A towering mushroom cloud rose into the sky, leaving behind a horrifying crater, hundreds of meters wide.
Everyone turned their gaze toward the abyss.
The lingering smoke within slowly dispersed with the wind.
From within the smoke, a shadow emerged.
Grains of sand and dust drew thin trails across his charred body.
"...You've got to be kidding me. Even that explosion couldn't kill me..."
The Sand and Rock Shinobi were frozen in disbelief.
Simu slammed his mace into the ground, blade first, and stepped on the dying body of Hanzo.
Golden pupils gleamed from the shadows of the crater.
The Demigod... was dead.
He was the new God of this world.
The battlefield was dead silent.
Only Simu stood at the center of the abyss—
Now the center of the entire world.
After a long silence, Konoha's ninjas erupted in a roar of passion.
"Lord Simu is invincible!"
"Lord Simu! Lord Simu!"
"Hanzo is dead! Follow Lord Simu and crush the Rain Shinobi!"
The morale of Konoha's forces surged.
Even Aburame Shibi, Simu's second-in-command, couldn't help but be moved.
"This guy... he's terrifying."
With that, the remaining thousands of Konoha ninjas charged at the Rain Shinobi, weapons raised, morale sky-high.
The Katsuyu clone attached to each of them continued casting healing ninjutsu, quickly recovering their stamina and injuries.
Meanwhile, the Rain Shinobi...
From the moment they saw Hanzo being crushed underfoot, their defeat had already begun.
"This... this can't be real..."
"Lord Hanzo was the god of the Land of Rain... how could he lose?!"
The Rain Shinobi stared in disbelief.
To them, Hanzo of the Salamander was more than a leader—he was a symbol of faith.
He was the one who led them to challenge the three great nations during the Second Great Ninja War.
If others called him a demigod...
To the Rain Shinobi, he was a god.
But now, their god had fallen.
Their faith crumbled with him.
Faced with Konoha's high-morale troops, it was nothing short of a one-sided massacre.
"As expected... we were no match after all."
Ōnoki floated in the sky, face twisted in frustration.
Simu stood at the center of the crater, raising his head slowly.
The dragon scales on his body were charred black from the explosion.
A thin line of blood ran from the corner of his mouth.
The blast had been a light-based attack—an element even he couldn't fully withstand, even in his elementalized state.
Ironically, the worst injury he had suffered since arriving in this world...
Had come from Zhao Le's technique.
Simu stretched out his arms and flexed his body.
"You're next, old man."
He lowered his stance slightly, ready to strike.
Seeing this, Ōnoki immediately flew higher into the sky without hesitation.
"So quick to retreat?"
Simu blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected the Tsuchikage to flee so decisively.
After all, Rock Shinobi had sent 5,000 ninjas to avenge Konoha's attacks and reclaim the tailed beasts.
Ōnoki's voice echoed from above.
"Rock Shinobi, retreat immediately!"
He wasn't kidding—he had teamed up with Hanzo, only to be overwhelmed.
Now that Hanzo was dead, and he was the last one left, there was no way he could face Simu alone.
Sure, he could bet that Simu was bluffing—injured and worn down from the explosion...
But he didn't dare take that risk.
Rock Shinobi wasn't like Konoha.
When Hokage dies, Konoha still has the Sannin, other elites to take the lead.
But for Rock Shinobi? There was only him.
And with his son, Kurotsuchi's father, killed brutally by Simu...
If he lost, the entire village would collapse.
Without him, not only Rock Shinobi—but even the Land of Earth—could lose its place among the Five Great Nations.
So, Ōnoki had no choice but to abandon the Rock Shinobi army...
And flee alone.
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