"Lord Third, the Kumogakure front is in critical danger. Lord Danzo has been defeated by the Third Raikage, A. Our forces are taking massive casualties!"
"Hiruzen, the Iwagakure front is collapsing as well, Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade are trapped in the Land of Earth!"
"This is bad, Sarutobi. Intelligence from Amegakure says Hanzo is likely planning to form an alliance with Kirigakure!"
…
Inside the Hokage's office, Hiruzen listened to the endless stream of reports from Homura, Koharu, and the others, each more dire than the last.
Even he, once hailed as the strongest Hokage, felt his head pounding.
It wasn't that he lacked composure.
Konoha's situation had simply reached the brink, the kind where life and death were decided.
And the root of it all…was caused by one person.
The White Fang of Konoha had taken his own life.
By losing Sakumo, Konoha hadn't just lost a Jonin. It had lost a blade sharp enough to intimidate all Five Great Shinobi Villages.
Sure enough, less than a month after news of his suicide spread, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and Kirigakure launched a full-scale assault on Konoha, even Amegakure began to stir restlessly.
"Ah… if I'd known it would end like this, I would have never let Danzo run wild."
Faced with one disastrous report after another, Sarutobi felt bitterness flooding his chest.
He truly regretted it.
He shouldn't have let momentary stupidity lure him into approving Danzo's plan to smear Sakumo.
He only wanted to use Danzo to suppress Sakumo's growing influence, preventing a threat to his Hokage position.
But he never imagined Danzo's talent for sabotaging his own people was actually maxed out,
he pushed Sakumo all the way to suicide.
"Sarutobi, say something."
Seeing Hiruzen remain silent, Koharu panicked like a cat on hot bricks.
Konoha's council had always been experts at internal conflict and completely incompetent at fighting outsiders.
Against their own people? They were fierce, ruthless, and unstoppable.
Against other villages? They folded instantly.
"All three fronts are collapsing. Jiraiya and the others are still waiting for your reinforcements."
Homura was anxious as well.
As Konoha's high-ranking elders, no one understood the village's desperate condition better than he did.
He was terrified.
Terrified that Konoha would not withstand the assault of the three great villages,
and even more terrified that Hiruzen might decide they should go to the battlefield.
At this point Konoha truly had no shinobi left to send.
All except the council had already been deployed to the various warfronts by Hiruzen himself.
"Lord Third."
It wasn't just the two elders, Dan Kato, who came to deliver the reports, was also distraught.
He might not yet be together with Tsunade at this point, but he cared deeply for Konoha's fate.
"Enough… don't panic. I have a plan."
Pressed by everyone, Hiruzen knew he could no longer pretend to deliberate.
"Sarutobi, you're going to the battlefield yourself?"
Koharu and Homura looked both startled and relieved.
"Ahem. I want to… but as Hokage, I cannot move unless absolutely necessary. Someone must remain in Konoha to oversee all operations."
Hiruzen rejected the idea instantly.
Are they kidding?
Did they think he was still the brilliant, heroic shinobi from the First and Second Great Wars?
Unless the enemy was at the village gates, he wasn't going anywhere.
"If you're not going, then who? Konoha has no one left."
Homura cursed inwardly. Of all times to posture, Sarutobi chooses now?
"Sigh… it seems we can only ask that person to return. Though it may disrupt his peaceful retirement, I have no choice."
Hiruzen rose to his feet, eyes drifting toward the Hokage Rock with a complicated expression.
"You mean…"
The two elders exchanged a knowing look.
"Lord Third… who are you referring to?" Dan asked in confusion.
"Garp the Fist!"
"A man who ended the Warring States Period, once suppressed both the First Hokage and Uchiha Madara, a hero revered throughout the entire shinobi world."
After speaking, Hiruzen left the office, the others quickly following behind him.
"Ended… the Warring States Period?"
It took a long time before Dan finally snapped out of his shock.
…
Behind the Hokage Rock
"Lord Third, can he truly save Konoha from its crisis?"
After hesitating for a long while, Dan finally voiced his concern on the way there.
"Are you doubting Garp-sama?"
Hiruzen didn't stop walking, but his brows twitched faintly.
Normally, he wouldn't care, but right now, Konoha's survival depended on convincing Garp to return.
"Lord Third, that's not what I meant. I just worry… since Lord Garp is a shinobi from the Warring States Period, he must be extremely old by now.
Even if he was once a legend, at nearly a hundred years old, how much of his peak strength could he possibly still retain?"
That was Dan's fear.
"Dan, do you know how the Second Hokage once described Garp-sama?" Homura replied before Hiruzen could speak.
"I do not."
"Tobirama-sama said that Garp is the only man in the shinobi world… unaffected by age. A man whose strength never weakens, no matter how many years pass."
Homura enunciated each word slowly.
"What?"
Dan shuddered.
Did that mean Garp the Fist… did not age?
Impossible!
Not even the Sage of Six Paths could escape time.
"We're here."
Hiruzen's voice cut through Dan's thoughts.
Dan quickly looked in the direction Hiruzen was facing.
And saw a man nearly three meters tall, with a massive, muscular physique stretching a white shirt so tight it looked ready to burst.
"T-that's Garp the Fist?"
Dan's jaw dropped.
This man was far, far too strong-looking.
This old shinobi was supposed to be seventy or eighty years old?
Judging from his physique alone, he looked like someone in his twenties.
Add the slightly pale hair and mature face, at most he looked like a man in his mid-thirties, still at peak condition.