After Kakashi left Seiryu, he immediately sought out Asuma. Kakashi had always cared about this classmate from his own year.
The once-vaunted Twelve Guardian Ninja were now a thing of the past.
In recent days, after Asuma and Chiriku collected the remains of their fallen comrades, they buried them within the Land of Fire's capital. Chiriku chanted sutras daily for the departed, while Asuma loitered nearby with nothing to do.
When Kakashi visited, Asuma first expressed surprise at Kakashi's current appearance—he was without his mask—before asking why Kakashi had come.
"Asuma, recently the Hokage has mobilized many of the village's shinobi, leaving the village's defenses rather thin. Therefore, he hopes you can return to strengthen the village's defense," Kakashi said calmly.
"Return to the village?" Asuma was stunned. "Why? If the Hokage needs anything, I can help. I've been active in the capital for years and know the terrain well."
Kakashi looked at Asuma speechlessly. While the Third Hokage had become softer and more hesitant with age, he still possessed basic political acumen. In the same situation, the Third would have already returned to Konoha. After the death of the Daimyo, the Twelve Guardian Ninja bore inescapable responsibility. The wisest course would be to escape while the bureaucrats were distracted, not foolishly stay in the capital waiting to be held accountable.
Of course, if Asuma had that kind of sense, he wouldn't have rebelled against the Third and run off to become a Guardian Ninja. Kakashi knew the story: the former Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had mapped out Asuma's future clearly. Had Asuma chosen the prescribed path, he might never have become Hokage due to his ninja talent, but he would have easily secured the position of Jonin Squad Captain. Instead, he insisted on being a rebel.
"The Fifth Hokage is thinking of you. After the Third retired, he's been bored. As his son, you ought to return and fulfill your filial duty." Kakashi glanced at Chiriku, still chanting at the memorial tablets, but didn't say more.
"What happens to that old man is none of my business," Asuma muttered.
"By the way, before I came, Kurenai asked me to tell you that she hopes you'll come see her," Kakashi said, playing his trump card.
"...Fine. I'll leave tomorrow," Asuma said, blushing.
"Don't linger in the capital. There's a shipment of supplies departing for the village tomorrow morning; you can escort it. You'll pass by the Fire Temple on the way. The Third is there now, praying for the village with Konohamaru. Pick him up and bring him back," Kakashi reminded.
"Alright, alright, I get it," Asuma replied, lighting a cigarette. "I never thought you'd become so naggy, Kakashi."
...
The next day, Asuma and Chiriku left the capital together.
However, not long after, Kazuma appeared, exhuming the remains of their former comrades.
Meanwhile, the capital's court was roiling with undercurrents.
At Seiryu's instruction, Kikuchi brought up rumors circulating in the capital at court.
"Your Highness, lately the people of the capital say that our nation's Dragon Vein is exhausted and can no longer protect our kingdom. Yesterday, I gathered diviners and onmyoji, and their conclusions matched the rumors."
How could they not? The clergy Kikuchi summoned were the same group who'd attended the Naka River theological conference in Konoha. After a harsh lesson from the police, they well understood which power truly mattered. Now, even if their own gods descended, their words would mean less than those of a Konoha ninja.
"What should we do?" the four-year-old Yoshinori asked in alarm. For a child, superstition still held sway.
"The masters say our only recourse is to find a new place where Dragon Veins converge and move our capital there, so the current site can rest. Otherwise, disaster may befall us," Kikuchi said.
"Dragon Veins, prophecies—Kikuchi, since when did you believe this nonsense?" Abe Taiichi retorted. "Are you saying we'll be destroyed if we don't move the capital?"
"I don't mean that," Kikuchi replied. "But an event like a rogue ninja assassinating the Daimyo has never happened before. Maybe there's some truth to these rumors."
"Kikuchi, how dare you!" Abe Taiichi shouted.
As the two sides prepared to argue, Seiryu stepped forward.
"Your Highness, I have stayed in the capital for some time, and the situation has stabilized. However, Konoha's affairs have piled up and require my attention," Seiryu said.
"Why do you say that, Grand Minister?" Nagano Kiryu interjected. "The late Daimyo trusted you so much. How can you repay his trust by leaving now?"
"Teacher, you can't go!" Prince Yoshinori also left the throne, toddling over to Seiryu's side.
"Sigh," Seiryu said. "I feel I am failing the late Daimyo's trust, but I am still the Fifth Hokage of Konoha. I shoulder the village's Departments and Thirteen Clans, and must also defend the country's borders. I'm stretched too thin."
At this, Kikuchi spoke up: "I may have a solution."
"Please speak," Yoshinori said eagerly.
"I asked the masters if there are other Dragon Veins in our land. One, who has traveled the ninja world, asserted that the Naka River near Konoha is ideal—a perfect place for the new capital. If we move to Konoha, the Grand Minister can manage both military and civil affairs. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"
Kikuchi's words struck Abe Taiichi like a thunderbolt. Only then did he realize Seiryu and Kikuchi were playing a double act.
"Nonsense!" Abe Taiichi shouted. "Our capital has been here for centuries. How can we just move it? And to a ninja village, no less?"
"I don't see what's so bad about moving," Miura Kazuo said with a sinister smile. "Why are you so upset, Left Minister? Can't bear to leave your assets in the capital?"
"Hmph, you—" Abe Taiichi glared at Miura and Seiryu, but as he opened his mouth, Seiryu's killing intent pinned him in place, breaking him out in a cold sweat.
Meanwhile, Yoshinori happily tugged Seiryu's sleeve. "Teacher, did you hear? If we move, you can't say no anymore."
The pampered Yoshinori, untrained in imperial ways, didn't understand what moving the capital meant. He only knew his teacher would stay to protect him.
Seiryu smiled meaningfully down at the child and nodded. "Alright."
After court, Abe Taiichi knew the plan to assassinate Seiryu could wait no longer. As soon as he got home, he used a secret passage to send a letter to Kazuma.
...
That night, Seiryu was maintaining his ninja blade in his residence. Soon, chakra fluctuations sounded overhead, and in an instant, crackling thunder formed a cage over the sky.
Seiryu stood up, stepped outside, and looked up impassively.
Shuriken rained down from all directions—but without even glancing, Seiryu stopped them midair, suspending them beside him.
At that moment, a figure lunged at Seiryu from the courtyard. Seiryu calmly raised a finger, catching the attacking kunai.
The assassin revealed his face: Kazuma, once of the Twelve Guardian Ninja.
"I already gave you a chance. Looks like you didn't treasure it," Seiryu said coldly, holding the kunai. "Didn't your sensei teach you what it means to be called a Kage?"
"Hmph! Kage should not exist at all!" Kazuma roared, releasing the kunai and punching at Seiryu.
Seiryu merely shifted aside, not even moving his feet, dodged the blow, and with a quick motion, severed Kazuma's left arm.
"Argh!" Kazuma screamed, collapsing as blood gushed across the floor.
Kazuma tried to rise, but Seiryu stepped on his shoulder, chuckling. "Actually, I agree with your point. The Kage system and ninja villages shouldn't exist. The nation's ninja power should be held by the supreme ruler. But since I'm already the Fifth Hokage, I can only become the ruler of the Land of Fire."
Kazuma spat blood, staring in disbelief at Seiryu.
"You... you won't escape," he croaked. Tonight, he had been prepared to die, hoping to pin Seiryu down for Raime and Raiman's attack.
"Is that your trump card?" Seiryu looked up at the massive lightning technique gathering above. "Didn't you think to ask what my old nickname was?"
"Before I became Hokage, my friends in the village called me Azure Thunder Seiryu," Seiryu smiled. "But I preferred my Kirigakure title: Raijin the Lightning God."
With a snap of his fingers, the raging thunder above began to flow into his raised left hand. The wild lightning, uncontrollable by its users, pooled gently at Seiryu's fingertips, forming a half-meter blue sphere.
Seiryu tossed the sphere skyward, and it exploded like a firework, illuminating the capital's night.
Kazuma's eyes filled with terror—Seiryu's power was beyond his wildest imagination. Finally, he understood what it meant to be called a Kage.
But the next instant, everything spun, and Seiryu's blade fell, severing his head. Kazuma's expression froze forever.
Soon, the commotion drew the elite jonin guarding the palace to Seiryu's door.
Seiryu emerged, grim-faced, carrying Kazuma's head.
"Some people in this city are truly lawless—conspiring with traitors to assassinate the Daimyo, and now even targeting me, the loyal Grand Minister," Seiryu declared to Kakashi and the elite jonin. "Tonight, everyone with me—we purge the insects hiding in this city and restore peace to the Land of Fire!"
"Salute to Lord Hokage!" Kakashi shouted at the front of the squad.
"Salute!" all the elite jonin saluted and shouted.
Seiryu strode toward the home of Matsuda Kiyosuke, Abe Taiichi's loyal lackey.
That night, blood flowed in the capital. Kakashi and Seiryu split into two groups. Not a single person who had been in Abe Taiichi's secret chamber survived. By dawn, their sealing scrolls were filled with heads. The two regrouped before Abe Taiichi's house and entered together.