🚨Insert Some Funny Memes or GIF🚨
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The next day, just like the day before, Tsunade and Uchiha Hikaru rushed to the Police Department and the Hokage Building.
The difference was that Hikaru didn't have to make breakfast today. Now that Shizune was around, he could leave the housework to her.
After preparing breakfast, Shizune returned to her room. No—this was no longer a guest room. From now on, it was her room.
She crawled back into bed to get some sleep. After all, she'd gone to bed later than both Tsunade and Hikaru the night before.
Time passed. Tsunade handled documents all morning, then headed to visit the Hokage Monument sculptor at noon, followed by a stop at the tailor for her robes.
When she finally returned to the Hokage's office, she felt oddly relieved.
Apparently, having a model made for the Hokage Rock required them to apply the clay directly to her face.
It had eaten up far more time than expected.
Then came another eight hours of document processing. Thankfully, she was mentally prepared this time and barely managed to endure it.
It wasn't until evening that she had a moment to leave the office—and she headed straight to Sarutobi Hiruzen's residence.
When she arrived at the door, she knocked gently.
After a moment, it opened—but it wasn't Hiruzen who answered.
His eldest son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, stood there. A moment later, little Konohamaru peeked his head out from behind him.
"Who's the pretty big sister?"
Shinnosuke quickly picked Konohamaru up, then looked at Tsunade with a complicated, slightly hollow expression.
"You're here to see my father. He's in the study, reading. Go ahead."
With that, he opened the door fully, carried Konohamaru over to the living room sofa, and forced a smile as he played with the child.
"This big sister is amazing, Konohamaru. She's the Slug Princess—one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin."
Tsunade stood silently for a moment, watching the father and son. Then she exhaled and steadied herself, remembering something her granduncle used to say:
A Hokage must be ruthless.
She had always hated hearing that. But now, standing here in this house, she finally began to understand the weight behind those words.
The child was innocent. But Shinnosuke—he had once worked in ANBU, and helped both Danzo and Hiruzen with far too much. Once Tsunade learned the truth about everything, her fury had nearly exploded.
She walked toward the study with a stony expression. At the door, she took a deep breath to calm herself… then opened it and stepped inside.
Hiruzen sat cross-legged on the tatami mat, pipe in hand, reading a book.
When he heard the door open, he stopped flipping pages, closed the book, and set it aside.
He looked up at Tsunade, his expression complicated, eyes filled with unresolved emotion.
"You've returned."
"That's good. Compared to Jiraiya, I feel more at ease leaving the position of Hokage to you."
Tsunade's anger, which had simmered beneath the surface all day, burst back to life at the word "responsibility."
"Responsibility?" she snapped. "You're talking to me about responsibility right now?"
"Do you even know why I left the village?"
"Was it not because of what you did? Because you betrayed everything we stood for? You disappointed me more than anyone."
"And now you want to act like you know nothing?!"
Faced with her outburst, Hiruzen's face showed some guilt—but the stubborn glint in his eyes didn't fade.
"So… you really did learn the truth back then."
"I have nothing else to say. Everything Danzo and I did… we did for the good of the village."
"It's just… I failed to control Danzo properly. Failed to consider the consequences on the clans."
"Otherwise… I wouldn't have lost to Uchiha Hikaru."
As he spoke, Hiruzen's tone grew more agitated.
Outside the door, Shinnosuke quietly listened, heart sinking.
He knew his father had made grave mistakes. But as the Hokage's son, he had felt powerless to stop them. He had followed orders—some of them he hadn't even believed in—because he couldn't bring himself to disobey the man who raised him.
When faced with the choice between justice and loyalty, he chose loyalty. Even if it meant carrying shame on his back.
He slowly lifted Konohamaru into his arms. The smile on his face was still forced, but the child, barely over a year old, couldn't see through it.
"Konohamaru, let's go home. It's getting late. Mommy's probably missing you."
"Okay! I miss Mommy too. Let's go!"
And with that, they left quietly.
Inside the study, only Hiruzen and Tsunade remained.
Grief twisted Tsunade's features. In the next instant, she moved—
Her fist shot toward Hiruzen's face, sleeves billowing from the speed.
But she stopped.
The strike halted inches from him, trembling in the air.
She wanted to hit him. She wanted to break his face, to make him feel just a fraction of what she'd carried all these years.
But she couldn't.
This man—this man had raised her. He had taught her ninjutsu. He had watched her grow up. Even if he had condoned the death of her brother, Nawaki, even if he had betrayed the Will of Fire itself… he had once been her sensei.
She couldn't do it.
Her clenched fist shook. Tears of fury and grief streamed down her face, landing with soft splashes on the wooden floor.
"When Nawaki was barely out of the Academy, you sent him to the front lines."
"Orochimaru was watching over him, but the enemy found out anyway. He was targeted. Slaughtered."
"I still regret not seeing it coming. But I never thought—even Orochimaru was used by you."
"And you... you wanted to use Nawaki's corpse for experiments."
Tsunade slammed her fist into the ground.
BOOM!
The floor of the study caved inward. A crater three to four meters deep opened beneath them, dust and stone flying as chunks of wall cracked from the force of her strike.
Hiruzen didn't flinch.
He looked at her calmly. His eyes flickered—but he still refused to repent.
"Tsunade! The Senju have sacrificed too many already."
"Once the first wave of deaths happened, there was no turning back!"
"Either the Senju clan would be wiped out—or we'd succeed in recreating Wood Release."
"You have to understand. After Lady Mito passed away, Kushina's sealing abilities weren't nearly as refined. We needed those advancements."
"Everything we did… it was for the good of the village."
At that moment, Tsunade finally saw the truth.
This man had never changed.
It wasn't him who had changed—it was her, Jiraiya, and even Orochimaru.
The three of them had once seen Sarutobi Hiruzen as kind, patient, nurturing. The loving master who had guided them.
But none of them had ever truly seen him.
The villagers waved to Hiruzen in the streets. They praised his leadership. They spoke of his efforts to support civilian ninjas, his many reforms.
It was all a lie.
He had used her—used her as Hashirama's granddaughter. Used her identity to polish his own legacy. He used Orochimaru and Jiraiya's tragedies, their losses, their pain, to build up the image of the wise and benevolent Third Hokage.
Behind that smile, he siphoned money from the Civil Affairs Division and Medical Department under the guise of reform.
That was the real Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Even Danzo, who had lived in the shadows all his life, was just another pawn.
Hiruzen had exploited Danzo's hunger to become Hokage—manipulated him, whispered, "Remember, I am the Hokage," and pushed him deeper into darkness.
Danzo bore the blame. Hiruzen stood in the light.
Honored. Untouched. Powerful.
That was Sarutobi Hiruzen…
…
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