After Kakashi left, the Third Hokage remained standing by the window.
Rain drifted down in a fine, colorless veil, softening the outlines of the village beyond the glass. Hiruzen Sarutobi watched it for a long moment, pipe resting loosely between his fingers.
The Rain Country…
Too many years sealed shut. Too little information returned.
Spies vanished. Messages went dark. What little reached Konoha was fragmented, unreliable, and unsettling.
A ruler who no longer appeared in public.A village governed in the name of a god.A daimyō reduced to silence.
Hiruzen exhaled slowly.
Power that no longer needed justification was the most dangerous kind.
A knock sounded at the door. Measured. Unhurried.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Nara Shikaku stepped inside, flak jacket neat, expression already serious. He held a scroll in one hand.
"Lord Hokage," he said. "Tazuna has arrived safely."
Hiruzen turned. "Already?"
"Yes. ANBU escort. No complications."
Hiruzen accepted the scroll, but did not open it yet. "Where is he now?"
Shikaku hesitated. "A tavern. Drinking."
Hiruzen's brow creased.
Tazuna had been selected carefully. A civilian, but not a coward. One of the few in Wave Country still resisting Gatō's grip.
And yet, the first thing he did upon reaching Konoha was drink.
"Your assessment," Hiruzen said.
"He's acting," Shikaku replied without hesitation. "Intentionally sloppy. Loud. Like a harmless old man with no sense."
Hiruzen glanced at him.
"Why?"
"He intends to lie about the mission rank," Shikaku said. "And when it's discovered, he wants the village to hesitate before holding him accountable."
A pause.
"He doesn't have the money," Shikaku continued. "Every ryō he had went into the bridge. No one backed him. This trip was his last option."
Hiruzen closed his eyes briefly.
So it was a gamble.
"If the lie is exposed," Shikaku said, "he's betting Konoha's reputation will force us to continue anyway."
Hiruzen released a thin stream of smoke.
"A dangerous man," he said. "And a desperate one."
Lying about mission rank was not a trivial offense. It put ninja lives at risk. Villages had blacklisted clients for less.
But desperation had a way of sharpening resolve.
"Set him aside for now," Hiruzen said. "Tell me about Gatō."
Shikaku's gaze sharpened.
"Publicly, he's a shipping magnate," he said. "Privately, he controls smuggling routes, mercenaries, and missing-nin. He doesn't operate alone."
Hiruzen waited.
"The timing is wrong," Shikaku continued. "He took Wave Country too easily. Too cleanly. It looks less like ambition and more like placement."
Hiruzen's voice dropped. "Mist."
"Yes," Shikaku said. "Or someone moving through it."
The Bloodline Purges. The internal collapse. The Water Country sealing itself off.
And Gatō arriving at Wave Country just as the Mist withdrew inward.
Too neat.
"Continue monitoring," Hiruzen said. "Quietly."
Shikaku nodded.
When he left, the rain was still falling.
Later that evening, Hiruzen sat alone again.
Beyond the walls of the village, forces were shifting. Slowly. Deliberately.
And somewhere within Konoha, a newly promoted genin carried a blade once wielded by a Hokage.
The ripples had already begun.