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The night was quiet in Konoha.
The moon hung above the village, its light reflecting off the buildings and empty streets, while a few lights still remained on inside the houses despite the late hour.
Inside the Hokage Building, only one office was still illuminated.
Hiruzen sat behind his desk, the thirteenth volume of the Naruto manga lying in front of him.
The volume was closed.
Ever since returning from the Art Store, he hadn't opened it again. There was no need to.
The final scenes of Chapter 117 were still lingering in his mind.
Orochimaru.
His student.
The rogue shinobi who would one day return to Konoha at the head of a full-scale invasion.
And now…
The man he would fight to the death.
…
Hiruzen closed his eyes.
The final scene quickly resurfaced in his mind.
On the rooftop, his future counterpart stood facing Orochimaru. There was no longer a fake Kazekage and a trapped Hokage.
The act was over.
They stood before each other as former master and student, yet neither of them looked at the other that way anymore.
They were enemies.
Both moved at the same instant.
Their feet moved rapidly across the rooftop as their hands began forming seals.
Hiruzen immediately noticed something as he recalled the scene.
'Fast…'
He wasn't talking about himself.
He meant Orochimaru.
The student he knew now was already gifted, one of the greatest talents he had ever taught, but the man who appeared in the manga was different.
The speed.
The confidence.
The calmness.
Even while facing the Third Hokage, he showed no hesitation.
'Just how strong have you become, Orochimaru?'
…
Hiruzen's thoughts moved to the next scene.
A shuriken flew toward Orochimaru.
In the next instant, his future counterpart's fingers intertwined.
Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique!
One shuriken became two, then multiplied again.
Dozens of shuriken filled the air.
But Orochimaru didn't try to escape.
He also began forming hand seals.
A summoning technique.
Hiruzen recognized it immediately.
But what appeared afterward was what made his eyes open.
"Edo Tensei…"
He muttered the name inside the office.
…
In the manga, a massive coffin emerged from the rooftop.
There was a single symbol written on it.
First.
Immediately afterward, another coffin began to emerge.
Second.
At that moment, the expression of his future counterpart completely changed.
The current Hiruzen felt the same.
It wasn't difficult to understand whom Orochimaru was trying to summon.
The First Hokage.
Senju Hashirama.
And then the Second Hokage.
Senju Tobirama.
His teacher.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
"So you'll go as far as using this technique…"
He didn't know how Orochimaru would obtain it.
But the name alone was enough.
A forbidden technique.
A technique that should never be tampered with.
Yet his future counterpart didn't even have time to think about it.
A third coffin appeared.
Third.
…
Hiruzen's gaze changed.
In the manga, his future counterpart immediately realized the danger.
'I have to stop the third!'
He moved quickly.
He performed the technique before the summoning could be completed.
The third coffin began to emerge, but stopped.
Then it sank back down.
He succeeded.
But…
The first and second remained before Orochimaru.
"Hashirama-sama…"
Hiruzen fell silent for a moment.
"My teacher…"
He raised his eyes toward the window.
From where he sat, he could see part of the Hokage Rock beneath the moonlight.
The First.
The Second.
And then himself.
He had never expected to see those two again in his lifetime.
But the manga had now told him that, in the future, he might stand before them on a battlefield.
Not as comrades.
Nor as predecessors who had returned to the village.
But as weapons in the hands of his student.
…
Hiruzen pressed his fingers against the desk.
The Orochimaru he currently knew was more interested in ninjutsu than anyone else he had ever met.
That was no secret.
He always wanted to learn.
Whenever he mastered one technique, he immediately began searching for the next.
Whenever he understood something, he wanted to know what lay beyond it.
In the past, Hiruzen had considered that one of the reasons he admired him.
But now…
That curiosity was beginning to look different in his eyes.
If there was truly no limit to what Orochimaru wanted to learn…
Then how far could he go?
Hiruzen lowered his gaze toward the thirteenth volume.
Perhaps the answer was already in front of him.
Forbidden techniques.
The dead.
Edo Tensei.
…
But there was something else Hiruzen couldn't ignore.
Before the battle began, Orochimaru had said something to his future counterpart.
How I've longed to fight you again…
Then he smiled.
You anticipated your own last moments, didn't you?
Those weren't the words of someone who had come merely to test his strength.
Orochimaru wanted to kill him.
And the future Hiruzen knew that as well.
"My last moments…"
Hiruzen repeated the words quietly.
Strangely, he felt no fear.
He had been a shinobi before he became Hokage.
He had seen war.
He had seen death.
And he had buried many people he had known throughout his life.
From the day he accepted the Hokage's hat, he knew that his life no longer belonged entirely to him.
If his death could protect Konoha…
Then he would do it.
But the problem was something else.
Hiruzen raised his gaze.
"Will you really be the one to do it, Orochimaru?"
…
For a moment, he no longer saw the Orochimaru from the manga.
He remembered his current student.
The young genius who had stood before him countless times during training.
That child who learned techniques so quickly that even Hiruzen himself couldn't help but feel proud.
One of the three students he had personally trained.
Jiraiya.
Tsunade.
Orochimaru.
And at some point in the future…
One of them would become the man he had seen today.
A rogue shinobi.
Leader of the Sound Village.
An enemy of Konoha.
And then he would stand before his teacher and summon the First and Second Hokage to kill him.
"When…?"
Hiruzen muttered.
That was the question troubling him more than anything else.
When did all of this begin?
Would something happen in the future that would change Orochimaru?
Or were the signs already in front of him, and he simply hadn't noticed them?
…
Hiruzen rose from his seat.
He walked toward the window and placed his hands behind his back.
From above, Konoha was peaceful.
Completely different from the Konoha he had seen in the manga.
No giant snakes at the gates.
No forces from Sunagakure and the Sound moving through the streets.
No shinobi fighting across the rooftops.
And no barrier separating him from the rest of the village while he fought his student to the death.
But Hiruzen could no longer look at it the same way.
The future he had seen hadn't happened yet.
And that meant only one thing.
He still had time.
'Orochimaru…'
The image of the coffins appeared in his mind once again.
The First.
The Second.
And the Third, which his future counterpart had managed to stop.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed.
"I won't allow you to reach that day."
He didn't even know whether he meant the invasion of Konoha.
Or Edo Tensei.
Or the moment Orochimaru would become an enemy of the village.
Perhaps he meant all of them.
…
Knock!
A sound came from the office door.
Hiruzen stopped.
At this hour?
He slowly returned to his chair, sat down, and looked toward the door.
"Come in."
The door opened, and the sound of calm footsteps echoed faintly through the office.
Hiruzen didn't need to see the man's face to know who it was.
Danzo.
He entered and closed the door behind him.
For a moment, he said nothing.
His eye moved from Hiruzen to the thirteenth volume resting on the desk.
"It seems you're thinking about the same thing."
Danzo said.
Hiruzen didn't answer immediately.
"And what do you think I'm thinking about?"
Danzo stepped forward.
"Orochimaru."
Silence filled the room.
He stopped in front of the desk.
"The rogue shinobi, the invasion of Konoha, the Sound Village… all of that can be considered part of a distant future."
Danzo's eye narrowed.
"But Edo Tensei is different."
Hiruzen's expression changed slightly.
Danzo noticed.
"It's a technique that already exists."
Hiruzen said nothing.
Because that was the truth.
Danzo extended his hand and placed a finger on the cover of the thirteenth volume.
Then he raised his eye toward Hiruzen.
"We need to talk about your student."
Hiruzen silently stared at him.
Outside, Konoha remained peaceful beneath the moonlight.
But inside the Hokage's office…
The future had already begun to change the present.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 254: The Student or the Threat?
Chapter 255: Orochimaru's File!
Chapter 256: The Man Who Does Not Fear the Future!
Chapter 257: The World Beyond the Five Great Villages!
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