Sarutobi Hiruzen and his colleagues successfully regrouped with Konoha's forces and began to evacuate the army out of Land of Hot Spring and return to Konoha and Land of Fire.
"Hurry up!" a jonin roared across the clearing.
"Burn any unnecessary documents! Do not leave a single page of text for the Kumogakure."
"Hey! Food rations go into the primary scrolls! Kunai and shuriken go into the weapons crates!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzō stood at the vanguard of the command tent, silently observing the Konoha forces executing their orderly but rapid evacuation out of the Land of Hot Springs. The critically injured and the bodies of the fallen had already been successfully moved across the border under heavy guard. The majority of the Genin and the bulk of the Chunin division had followed immediately after. Now, the camp was entering the final, high-priority phase of total extraction.
"Sensei..." Hiruzen murmured, his eyes fixed on the empty northern horizon, his heart heavy with an agonizing dread.
"Hiruzen! Don't be so weak-willed at a critical juncture like this!" Danzō barked, though his own knuckles were white as his fists clenched. "You know exactly how powerful Sensei is! He is the fastest shinobi on earth!"
Hiruzen slowly turned his head, staring at his lifelong rival for a long, heavy moment before offering a grim, resolute nod.
"…Danzō… you are right. Let us follow Sensei's command and secure the army's return to the village first."
But just as they reached for the final logistics scrolls to seal the perimeter—
Flash—
A sharp, violent pulse of spatial displacement illuminated the center of the command deck. To the horror of Hiruzen and Danzō, the mangled body of Senju Tobirama materialized out of thin air, collapsing forward.
""!!!!!!""
Thump!
"SENSEI!!!" Hiruzen screamed, his instincts overriding his shock as he lunged forward, catching the Tobirama's collapsing, heavy frame in his arms before it hit the dirt.
Danzō stood frozen right beside him, his mouth agape as a cold sweat broke across his skin. His jaw worked silently as he stuttered, desperately trying to formulate words, but his vocal cords refused to comply under the sheer weight of the horror before him.
Tobirama slowly forced his right hand upward. His vision was completely dark around the perimeter, a heavy, suffocating shadow narrowing his sight until he could only perceive the blurry, tear-stained silhouette of the young man holding him—the boy he knew to be Sarutobi Hiruzen. His consciousness was flickering like a dying candle.
Hiruzen frantically grasped his Sensei's cold hand, instantly attempting to funnel his own clean chakra directly into Tobirama's system to stabilize his failing heart. But the moment his chakra connected, his mind reeled in absolute terror as he sensed the devastating condition of Tobirama's internal pathways.
"MEDIC! WE NEED AN IRYŌNIN HERE! NOW!!!" Hiruzen roared, his voice cracking with panic.
Gasps of profound shock and the chaotic thunder of hurried footsteps instantly echoed throughout the camp as the commotion drew the rest of the jonins and guard squads sprinting toward the center.
Sensing the incoming chakra flow, Tobirama mobilized the last fragment of his physical strength to violently push Hiruzen's hand away, completely severing the chakra link between them. He refused to take a single, microscopic risk that the predatory Suna poison mutating within his circulatory system might migrate, exposing his chosen successor to the same fatal fate.
Instead, Tobirama pressed his fingertips directly against the skin of Hiruzen's palm, tracing fluid, urgent words in blood
[Saru. Konoha. Entrust.]
[You. Third. Hokage.]
The final stroke left his fingertip, and Tobirama's arm instantly turned completely limp, slipping away. But before the hand could fall to the earth, Hiruzen firmly caught it, gripping it with a fierce conviction as hot tears finally spilled down his cheeks.
"Do not worry, Sensei!" Hiruzen declared, his voice ringing with resolve he couldn't describe in words. "I will definitively safeguard Konoha! I will protect our village and its people at all costs! Rest well... Sensei!"
Hiruzen lowered his head, masking his grief for a fraction of a second before an elite Iryōnin—a veteran born of the Senju main lineage—rushed forward to take over the body. The medical ninja's fingers blurred through a rapid, silent sequence, his right hand instantly flaring with the brilliant emerald light of the Shōsen Jutsu (Mystical Palm Technique) as he pressed it over Tobirama's ruptured chest cavity, while his left hand systematically mapped the internal pulse.
"Well?! Say something?!" Uchiha Kagami exploded in pure panic, stepping over the threshold as his fully matured Sharingan began spinning frantically in his sockets. His chakra churned rampantly within his network, leaking a volatile, dangerously sinister aura into the air as the classic Uchiha emotional trauma threatened to break his composure. "How is Hokage-sama?! Is he stable?!"
Torifu and Danzō instantly sensed the explosive, dangerous nature of Kagami's chakra spike. Exchanging a rapid, unspoken tactical glance, the two ninja moved in unison, sandwiching Kagami from his left and right flanks. Danzō reached out, cautiously but firmly placing a heavy, restraining hand directly onto Kagami's shoulder armor.
"Kagami, calm down," Danzō commanded, his tone low and warning.
Kagami jerked his shoulder violently, snapping the armor plate out from under Danzō's grip as he spun to face his comrade. His crimson eyes Bore into Danzō's skull. "Calm Down? CALM DOWN! I am calm! What do you think you are doing?!"
Torifu closed the distance behind him, his heavy frame forming a physical wall to isolate the friction. "Kagami, this erratic behavior isn't like you. Cool your head. The medic is performing everything within his capacity to sustain him. Your pressure isn't helping."
Kagami slowly rotated his head, his gaze shifting to Torifu. Within his spinning irises, the three tomoe bled to a shade of crimson so deep it bordered on black, his outward aura instantly turning freezing, predatory, and borderline evil. Torifu's breath hitched; a hard lump formed in his throat as he froze mid-step. An intense, instinctual terror washed over him, making him feel as though a bucket of freezing ice water had just been poured directly down his spine.
"Are you finally choosing to show your true, fangs now... Uchiha Kagami?"
Danzō's cutting, ruthlessly cold voice sliced through the suffocating silence, instantly breaking the spell and drawing Kagami's lethal focus right back onto him. The air within the command tent grew thin as Kagami's chakra expanded, turning openly menacing.
"What are you attempting to imply, Danzō?" Kagami hissed.
Danzō didn't take a single step back. Flaring his own dense chakra to match the pressure, he leveled a hard stare at his teammate. "You heard me clearly, Kagami. Was everything you've performed for this squad up until this hour merely a well-orchestrated act? Wha—"
"ENOUGH!!!"
"You heard me, Kagami. Was everything you've done till now an act? Wha"
"ENOUGH!!!"
The earth beneath their boots fractured. Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up, unleashing a titanic, volcanic wave of raw chakra that rivaled Kagami's output and completely crushed Danzō's pressure, violently severing the internal dispute.
"Kagami! Danzō! Stand down this instant!" Hiruzen thundered with unyielding authority. "Sensei has collapsed into a severe medical coma and must be escorted back to the Konoha immediately! What the three of you are executing right now is actively destroying his chances of survival!"
Upon receiving confirmation that Tobirama's heart was still beating, the malevolent, defensive aura surrounding Kagami visibly receded, his shoulders dropping as his posture relaxed. However, his Sharingan remained fully active, tracking the medic's hand movements.
"Then there is no time to squander!" Kagami stated in steady voice. "We must leave immediately!"
Hiruzen offered a grim nod, turning away from his squad to face a masked figure standing in the shadows behind the command table.
Kenji, an Anbu commander wearing a carved wooden deer mask, had stood motionless near the rearguard since Tobirama's arrival. His sharp eyes silently recording every interaction, every word, and the blood-seal words traced on Hiruzen's palm.
"Kenji-san," Hiruzen addressed him cleanly.
"..." The deer-masked Anbu commander slowly turned his head toward the young prodigy. Dropping smoothly onto one knee, he bowed his spine in formal submission.
"What are your orders... Acting Hokage-sama"
"""...."""
The entire command tent fell into a profound, breathless silence. Every veteran Jonin, every Anbus, and the remaining disciples turned their collective attention onto Sarutobi Hiruzen, silently acknowledging his authority. The mantle of the Leaf had officially passed.
Hiruzen immediately straightened his spine, his youthful face hardening as he assumed the mantle of command.
"Deer! Form three Anbu team and execute a high-speed transit back to Konoha," the Third Hokage commanded with clarity. "Escort Mito-sama out of the village and guide her to Tonika Village. Our primary force will catch up with your team there. This matter requires absolute secrecy don't use messenger hawks or pigeons for this operation!"
Kenji offered a swift, disciplined nod, vanishing from the tent in a seamless blur of Shunshin before the command could even echo.
Turning back to face the remaining jonins and the gathered troops, Hiruzen's eyes burned red with a mixture of suppressed grief and terrifying resolve.
"The time is of essence! Tobirama-sama must be transported under maximum security immediately! Pack your high-priority gear! Double time it across the perimeter! Secure only the highest-tier scrolls and weapon reserves! Discard the rest of the camp structures!"
As his orders rippled through the ranks, the troops moved with frantic efficiency. Despite his youthful appearance, Hiruzen stood at the center of the camp, radiating a confident and powerful momentum—the unyielding aura of a leader perfectly befitting the future Third Hokage.