Chương 14: New Team Member

The air in the Hokage's office felt heavy and stagnant. Weak light from the window cut through the thick tobacco smoke, blurring Sarutobi Hiruzen's face in the haze. Shimura Danzo's voice was low and firm, "Hiruzen. That injury report is right there in black and white. Penetrating wounds of that degree, the blood loss, the ruptured organs... Theoretically, survival is impossible." His finger tapped the Konoha Hospital report spread on the desk. His knuckle rapped against the paper, producing a dull thud.

Hiruzen remained silent. They both knew it. That report mapped a direct path to the underworld. Yet the boy who should be resting at the Memorial Stone was currently walking around in the sunlight. A heavy, unspoken answer lingered in the room, refusing to fade away like the smoke. Most of the Senju clan's jutsu resided in Konoha's forbidden scroll library, contributed by the Second Hokage, Tobirama. Even after the Senju disbanded, they might have developed new techniques.

But for a jutsu dangerous enough that Toka waited until the absolute last second to use it to save Shuji... it wasn't hard to guess what it was. Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe. The sharp smoke swirled in his lungs. He looked at Danzo through the haze.

"What are you trying to say?"

"He is not fit to lead Uchiha Itachi." Danzo cut straight to the point without hesitation.

"Give Uchiha Itachi to me." His motive was clear. Shuji was just an excuse. Danzo's real target had always been the young Uchiha genius. Hiruzen saw right through it.

"Impossible." His voice was firm, leaving zero room for negotiation. Even if he considered moving Itachi into the ANBU for special training, he would never let the boy fall into the hands of Root.

"Fugaku will not accept it." He pointed out the obvious flaw. Every single member of Root carried a cursed seal. Their lives, deaths, and honor were entirely bound to Danzo's whims. Normal Uchiha clan members already viewed Root with dread. There was no way they would surrender the clan leader's son, the genius carrying the entire Uchiha clan's hopes.

"Uchiha Fugaku does not need to know." Danzo's voice carried a cold confidence. Manipulating human hearts was second nature to him.

"I have ways to make Uchiha Itachi... join willingly." Hiruzen slammed his pipe against the edge of the desk. The sharp crack sent a few embers scattering.

"No."

"They are already getting restless!" Danzo raised his voice. Hiruzen took a deep breath, exhaling his frustration along with the smoke. The swirling haze temporarily masked the heavy exhaustion in his eyes.

"Kumogakure has signaled for peace talks." He forced a change in subject.

"Our immediate priority is resolving this." Danzo let out a short, cold scoff through his nose. But he followed the Third Hokage's lead.

"After their last failed operation, Kumogakure has indeed quieted down at the border."

"The village is reaching its breaking point as well." Hiruzen stated the reality calmly, his fingers mindlessly rubbing the warm bowl of his pipe. If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Three years of border stalemate had cost Kumogakure more than just front-line casualties. The Land of Lightning was highly mountainous with little flat terrain. To maximize profit, their limited arable land was used for cash crops.

Once they went to war with the Land of Fire, grain trade between the Land of Lightning and any nation under Konoha's influence practically vanished. On paper, Konoha was just a military mercenary organization. They had no authority to interfere with the Land of Fire's internal politics, let alone make demands of other nations. However, Shimura Danzo's Root was never bound by such surface-level etiquette.

They struck from the shadows, systematically slaughtering any merchant caravan attempting to head toward the Land of Lightning. Those spoils of war were then funneled back as supplies to feed Konoha. The total paralysis of land-based trade routes forced the Land of Lightning to rely entirely on maritime shipping. Grain prices skyrocketed. Basic goods became rare. The standard of living for civilians plummeted.

Even if Kumogakure could barely maintain front-line supplies through reserves, their home front was drowning in complaints. The Land of Lightning's Daimyo had already requested the Raikage multiple times to demand a resolution. The Kumogakure ambush that wiped out Shuji's squad had been their desperate, final struggle. Following that failure, the silence from Kumogakure was proof of total exhaustion. Konoha, on the other hand, wasn't lacking food or supplies.

But years of war was like a heavy grindstone, slowly crushing the villagers' patience and hope. Anti-war sentiment was spreading like wildfire in the silence. Kumogakure offering peace meant this war of attrition had finally reached its end for Konoha as well.

"The village is desperately short on manpower these days. We have too many backlogged commissions. Rogue ninja are breeding over by the Land of Woods and Deai Port, disrupting local order." Hiruzen's voice returned to a cold, businesslike tone.

"Send some Root operatives to check it out. Stabilize the situation." Hiruzen added.

"I will make the arrangements." Danzo agreed. His voice revealed nothing. He leaned on his cane and turned. Two Root operatives wearing animal masks stepped silently out of the shadows, trailing closely behind him with presences like dead water. The heavy door to the Hokage's office pulled open. Bright light from the hallway flooded in, briefly cutting through the gloom and smoke inside. In that intersection of light and shadow, Danzo came face to face with Shuji, who had just raised his hand to knock.

"Councilor." Shuji stopped and gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. His voice was perfectly calm, reflecting his professional and understated authority. Shimura Danzo didn't pause his steps for even a fraction of a second. His sunken, hawk-like eye swept over Shuji with cold sharpness. It was a gaze that tried to pierce straight through flesh and bone to scrutinize every secret hidden beneath. In the end, the Councilor simply let out an ambiguous, breathy sound from his nose.

Carrying his lingering, chilling aura, he and his two Root operatives vanished down the end of the hallway. Shuji watched the three figures completely dissolve into the dim hallway before withdrawing his gaze and pushing open the Hokage's door. The smell of tobacco and old paper hit him immediately. He walked up to the large desk and gently set down a paper envelope containing his mission history and personal files from the past few years.

"Hokage-sama." His voice broke the room's brief silence. Hiruzen seemed to deliberately pull back some of the heavy exhaustion on his face. He set his pipe down, looking at Shuji with a warm, elder-like gaze.

"You're here. About those recommendation letters..." He pulled open a drawer.

"Hayami and Kachi already sent them in." He retrieved two sealed scrolls and placed them on the corner of his desk.

"Your evaluation mission is set as a specialized assessment of ninjutsu proficiency. Your elemental releases have always been excellent. So, it shouldn't be a problem, correct?"

"Yes. I will be ready." Shuji answered with pragmatic calculation, lacking any unnecessary words.

"Also," Hiruzen added, as if suddenly remembering something. He pulled a thin file from the drawer and handed it over.

"Regarding your squad member. This child... due to some special circumstances, the village hasn't assigned her a proper team yet. After some thought, I believe joining your squad would be a perfect fit." Shuji took the file. He looked at the photo attached to the profile page. A girl with short purple hair stared back. Her eyes carried a trace of untamed wildness, and the corners of her mouth curved in a careless, dismissive smirk. Mitarashi Anko.