The conference room door slid open.
Akimichi Torifu sighed heavily, exchanged a glance with Uchiha Kagami, and silently departed.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado walked over to Hiruzen Sarutobi and stopped.
"Hiruzen, we're leaving first."
Homura Mitokado adjusted his glasses, his eyes filled with genuine approval.
"We support you."
Utatane Koharu's words were brief but weighty.
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded slightly.
"Thank you for your hard work."
The two said no more and turned to leave.
In the empty conference room, only Hiruzen Sarutobi remained, along with Danzo Shimura, who stood in place with a grim expression.
The last rays of the setting sun slanted in through the window, casting long shadows of the two.
"Hiruzen."
Danzo's voice was low, suppressing some emotion.
"Why would you do this?"
"Are you trying to humiliate me?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around and looked at him calmly.
"Humiliate you? No, Danzo, I'm saving you."
Danzo's eyebrows furrowed.
"Saving me?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't answer directly.
He walked to the window and looked at the Hokage Rock behind the Village.
"Follow me."
Before his words finished, his figure instantly blurred into an afterimage and vanished from the spot.
Danzo's pupils contracted, and he followed without hesitation.
The two figures leaped swiftly across Konoha's rooftops, finally landing on top of the Second Hokage's stone statue.
The wind was strong, fluttering their robes.
From here, they could overlook the entire Konoha Village.
Smoke curled from chimneys, people bustled in the streets, children laughed and played—a scene of peace and tranquility.
"Danzo, look."
Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, his voice somewhat carried away by the wind.
"This is what our teacher protected with his life."
Danzo remained silent, his gaze also fixed on the Village below the mountain.
"I know."
"No, you don't know."
Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted him.
"You only see the threats facing the Village, but you don't see what the Village itself is."
"The Village is every single person living here. It's the lazy ones of the Nara Clan, the fat ones of the Akimichi Clan, the patrol squad of the Uchiha Clan, the ramen shop owner, the crying children in the Ninja Academy."
"It's not an abstract concept, Danzo."
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to face his former teammate directly.
"Your Root, its starting point might be good. But it will only create something more terrifying than darkness."
"That's called panic and distrust."
"A secret, unsupervised organization, covertly monitoring and judging everyone in the Village. Today it can eliminate enemies, tomorrow it can eliminate dissenters. The day after, it will create enemies to sustain its own existence."
Every word Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke struck Danzo's heart.
These were words Danzo had never considered.
He had only thought about how to use the most effective and ruthless means to protect Konoha, but he had forgotten that the means themselves could become the root of Konoha's destruction.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's description showed him a path to destruction he had never anticipated.
"A Root that is entrenched in darkness and never sees the light will ultimately have only two outcomes."
"Either it rots away itself, or it turns into a poisonous vine, in turn strangling the very tree it was meant to nourish."
Danzo's lips moved, but no sound came out.
He found himself unable to refute.
What Hiruzen said was not impossible.
He looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi before him, this man he had always considered too lenient.
Overnight, he seemed to have become a different person.
His vision was too far-reaching, too profound.
"Power is a tool to protect them, not a toy to satisfy personal ambition."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice returned to calm.
He patted Danzo's shoulder.
"But I need you."
"I need that ruthlessness and decisiveness of yours, willing to dirty your hands for the Village."
Danzo suddenly looked up, his eyes wide with astonishment.
"So, the leader of Root is still you."
A glimmer of hope rose in Danzo's heart.
Hiruzen had gone to such lengths, only to still rely on him in the end.
However, Hiruzen Sarutobi's next words plunged him into an icy abyss.
"However, I need someone to assist you."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression remained unchanged.
"Uchiha Kagami will serve as the deputy head of Root."
"What did you say?"
Danzo cried out in disbelief, his face filled with incredulity.
"That's Uchiha, after all! To let him into Konoha's most core secret organization? Hiruzen, have you gone mad?!"
"Have you forgotten the Second Hokage's precautions against the Uchiha?!"
"I haven't forgotten."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone was beyond dispute.
"I understand the Second Hokage's concerns better than anyone. But I also trust the Second Hokage's judgment; he trusted Kagami until his death."
"Appointing Kagami as deputy head is to tell everyone in the Village, especially the Uchiha Clan, that we trust them."
"This is a trust, and also a shackle. When Uchiha members join Root, they must adhere to the Hokage's will as the highest will, not their clan's."
"This is the best opportunity, and the only way, to fully integrate the Uchiha into Konoha."
"We cannot push them to oppose the Village again."
Danzo's mind went blank.
He looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, feeling a chill rise from the soles of his feet.
Appointing Uchiha Kagami as deputy head was equivalent to placing a monitor absolutely loyal to the Hokage by his side.
And it was done under the guise of 'trust.'
What a brilliant move, killing two birds with one stone.
"And that's not all."
Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to have seen through his thoughts.
"The first batch of Root members will be selected from the most loyal offspring of each major clan."
"Including those from my Sarutobi Clan."
Danzo was completely stunned.
At this point, he had completely lost his temper.
With all major clans sending members to join, Root would be transformed from Danzo Shimura's private army into an elite unit directly under the Hokage, composed jointly by all major clans.
His role as leader would be more like a figurehead chief instructor.
Any small maneuvers he tried would be exposed under everyone's watchful eyes.
This was an overt strategy.
This was a thoroughly overt strategy… Hokage's Office.
Uchiha Kagami stood before the desk, his expression solemn.
"Lord Third Hokage, you sent for me."
Hiruzen Sarutobi put down the documents in his hand and looked up at him.
"Kagami, the new department established recently is generally for handling matters that even the Anbu cannot fully address."
"I hope you will serve as the Deputy Head of Root."
Uchiha Kagami's body trembled suddenly.
He had thought Hiruzen would heavily rely on him because of the Second Hokage.
But he never expected such significant trust.
To let an Uchiha take charge of a core part of the Village's power.
This trust was too immense.
He instantly understood the profound meaning behind the Hokage's appointment.
This was sending a signal to the entire Uchiha, no, to the entire Konoha.
The Third Hokage intended to resolve the rift between the Uchiha and the Village.
A warm current surged through his heart.
He saw it.
He saw the hope for the true integration of the Village and the clan.
That was what Lord First Hokage pursued throughout his life, and also the future he himself yearned for.
Uchiha Kagami took a step back, knelt on one knee, placed his right hand over his chest, and bowed his head deeply.
"Thank you for your trust, Lord Third Hokage!"
"From now on, Kagami's life, and these eyes, shall fight only for Hokage-sama!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stepped forward and personally helped him up.
"Kagami, I trust you."
"I also need your strength."
Uchiha Kagami's eyes were slightly red, and he nodded heavily.
As he left the office, he brushed past Danzo, who was waiting at the door.
Their eyes met, and the atmosphere was somewhat tense.
Finally, Uchiha Kagami nodded slightly and departed first.
Danzo entered the office, looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi seated in the main chair, his emotions incredibly complex.
He had lost.
All his calculations seemed so ridiculous in the face of Hiruzen's overt strategy.
He could only grudgingly accept it.
"Hiruzen, you will regret this."
He finally uttered those words.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze lifted from his documents and looked at him calmly.
"Danzo, I am the Hokage."
With one sentence, all of Danzo's unspoken words were choked in his throat.
He gave Hiruzen Sarutobi a deep look, then turned and left the office.
Picking up a document, he handed it to the Anbu behind him.
"Deliver my orders."
"Root's first mission."
The Anbu knelt on one knee, respectfully accepting it.
"Thoroughly investigate the list of orphans of fallen Ninja, and verify the distribution of condolence payments."
"Anyone who embezzles, withholds, or misappropriates funds…"
A cold glint flashed in Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes.
"Regardless of which clan or what status they hold."
"Execute them all, without mercy."
"Yes!"
The Anbu's figure disappeared.
A few days later.
Within Konoha Village, several notorious moneylenders and Ninja responsible for material allocation were found dead in their homes.
Next to their bodies, a tree root symbol was drawn in blood.
At the same time, numerous condolence payments, withheld for many years, were quietly delivered to the homes of those impoverished orphans.
The entire civilian class of Konoha was stirred.
People didn't know what Root was.
But they knew that the newly appointed Lord Third Hokage was using the most decisive means to deliver justice for them, the victims of war.
For a time, Hiruzen Sarutobi's prestige among the civilians reached its peak.
Inside the Hokage's Office.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado looked at the report in their hands, their faces showing undisguised admiration.
Late at night.
The candlelight in the office was still burning.
Hiruzen Sarutobi leaned back in his chair, rubbing his temples tiredly.
Dealing with the mountain of official duties was more exhausting than fighting Kinkaku and Ginkaku.
His gaze fell on a thick list on the table.
"Konoha's Annual War Orphan Statistics Record."
He flipped through it page by page; behind every name was a broken family.
Suddenly, his finger stopped.
On one line of the list, a name was written.
"Orochimaru."
Both parents were Konoha Jonin, sacrificed at the end of the First Ninja World War in a conflict with Iwagakure.
In Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, the bloody scene from the simulator, where the Kusanagi Sword pierced his chest, involuntarily flashed.
Just then, a cold mechanical voice sounded in his mind.
"Key destiny node character detected: Orochimaru."
"Consume mental energy to simulate multiple possible futures for him?"