Chapter 199: Tobirama, Pull Them Out by the Roots. Kill, Kill, Kill!
KonohaSouth Heoka River
Sakura stared expressionlessly at the newly completed riverbank construction before her.
"Ahem, Lady Sakura, what do you think?"
A plump woman regarded the girl before her with a cautious, ingratiating smile.
This woman was a member of the so-called Konoha Military Police Force.
After the Uchiha massacre all those years ago, the police force had become a pie carved up among every clan in Konoha.
The Military Police held legislative authority, judicial authority, law enforcement authority, and detention authority.
The scope of their power was frankly absurd — anyone with half a brain serving as police captain could hollow out the Hokage's authority entirely.
But greater power meant greater responsibility, and environmental management like this riverbank fell squarely within the police force's jurisdiction.
The woman standing before her was the officer responsible for this stretch of river.
"What's your name?"
Sakura looked at the completely renovated riverbank — no trace of the stench remaining — and spoke.
"Lady Sakura, my name is Shimura Mie."
The woman named Shimura Mie answered carefully.
And for good reason. The annotations this particular person had left on her report three days ago had been absolutely savage.
Sakura had chewed people out before — reduced them to whimpering messes — but she'd never before used language like "If this isn't finished, bring me your head."
Something stirred in Sakura's mind, but her expression betrayed nothing. She regarded the woman with cold indifference.
"How long have you held this position?"
"Reporting to Lady Sakura — five years now, all told."
Sakura's fist tightened inside her pocket.
If she wasn't just warming a chair and collecting a paycheck, then she was an outright waste of space.
Couldn't handle something this trivial on her own — had to escalate a problem this simple all the way up to the Hokage's desk for personal attention.
"If, after you submitted your report, I simply left your file sitting in a pile indefinitely — what would you have done?"
Sakura tamped down the anger bubbling up inside her and spoke with deliberate calm.
"Um... that... submit it again?"
Waste of space.
Beyond saving. Might as well lie down and wait for death.
I'm leaving.
Ignoring Shimura Mie's calls entirely, Sakura turned and walked away.
Over the past three years, under Sakura's relentless bombardment, Konoha's entire administrative apparatus had learned to live in constant terror of angering Pinky. On the whole, problems large and small were being handled with remarkable speed.
Solutions and outcomes were reported up to the Hokage's office, where the old man or Sakura would stamp them and that would be that.
There'd been some bumps along the way, sure, but things had generally stabilized. The people trained up during this period had gradually replaced those who couldn't adapt.
As for this Shimura Mie — Sakura genuinely had no idea how she'd survived three years of Sakura's random, unscheduled inspections.
Could've been dumb luck. But it could also have been...
Sakura walked the streets of Konoha with her hands in her pockets, a sliver of cold light in those emerald eyes.
Shimura...
This Shimura Mie's report had happened to catch Sakura's eye — and the sight of Hiruzen Sarutobi dragging his injury-riddled body around to personally handle this woman's petty nonsense was like walking straight into the barrel of a loaded gun.
Her eyelids lowered slightly, her expression darkening.
This was only what she could see. What about what she couldn't?
"Sakura?"
"Sakura!"
A delighted voice called out from up ahead, making Sakura lift her head.
A purple silhouette came bounding toward her.
Ino, now sixteen, wore a purple combat outfit with her long hair pulled back in a ponytail. Pretty face, gorgeous figure — an absolute stunner through and through.
"You're back and you didn't even tell me?!"
Ino threw herself into Sakura's arms, then seamlessly hooked her arm through Sakura's.
"...I've been back for three days."
"And you're the one who just got back to the village, Ino."
Sakura glanced at Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chōji standing nearby, still covered in road dust.
Three years on, all three members of Ino-Shika-Chō had been promoted to chūnin.
Among Sakura's graduating class — aside from Sakura herself — two jōnin had emerged.
Sasuke and Neji.
Everyone else had made chūnin, except Naruto, who was still a genin.
Kushina had also reached chūnin rank.
Though in terms of actual combat ability, she was already jōnin-level.
"Oh, hehe, I forgot."
It had always been Sakura going out on missions while Ino stayed in the village. Now that the roles were reversed, Ino found it a little disorienting.
"If you want to catch up, we should probably find somewhere quieter."
Shikamaru walked over and looked at his teammate with a resigned expression.
"Although, come to think of it — it seems like every shinobi I know has been called back to the village around the same time."
Shikamaru looked at Sakura, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.
Sharp as he was, he didn't need to actively gather intelligence. The breadcrumbs of everyday observation were more than enough for him to work out what was about to happen.
A new Hokage's inauguration.
And as for who — that went without saying.
"Huh?"
"Does that mean Naruto's coming back too?"
Chōji's eyes lit up at Shikamaru's words.
Naruto had only returned to Konoha a handful of times during his three years training on Turtle Island. The thought of seeing his friend again made the soft-hearted Chōji genuinely happy.
"Yeah, about Naruto..."
Speak of the devil.
Before Sakura could finish her sentence, she spotted a flash of orange at the far end of her line of sight, bounding up a telephone pole in a few quick leaps.
"IT'S ME!"
"THE GREAT UZUMAKI NARUTO!"
"I'M BACK!"
Reckless as always.
"Hey!"
"Is that Naruto?!"
Ino's face broke into a delighted grin at the sight of their long-absent friend.
They'd all grown up together, after all. Reuniting with friends after a long separation was always cause for joy.
"Naruto!"
"Over here!"
Chōji waved vigorously at Naruto.
"Chōji!"
"Shikamaru!"
"Ino!"
"And Sakura!"
Naruto's eyes lit up the moment he spotted them. He leaped off the telephone pole and sprinted over.
"Honestly, that kid..."
Jiraiya, who'd returned to the village alongside Naruto, watched his student's boundless energy with a helpless smile.
"Naruto!"
Chōji walked toward Naruto with arms wide open for a bro-hug, and Naruto happily obliged — no hesitation, pure friendship.
Then Naruto swept past Shikamaru and came to a stop in front of Sakura and Ino.
"Sakura!"
"Long time no see!"
"Heheh!"
Naruto grinned and scratched his head at the sight of Sakura with Ino hanging off her arm.
I'm pretty sure we saw each other three days ago...
Sakura was unimpressed.
"Hm?"
"What about me, Naruto?!"
Ino, noticing Naruto only had eyes for Sakura, was distinctly displeased.
"Oh yeah, Ino! Long time no see too!"
Naruto responded with a goofy grin.
Seeing his friends again made him genuinely, unreservedly happy.
"What the heck, that was so half-hearted!"
Ino was not satisfied with Naruto's performance.
Sakura was long past reacting to Naruto and Ino's dynamic. They'd been like this since childhood. Did she not know what these two were like?
"You're as loud as ever..."
"Naruto."
A breeze stirred black hair.
A cool, aloof voice drifted down from above.
That voice—
Naruto turned around almost on instinct.
"SASUKE!"
A figure stood atop a nearby rooftop, gazing down at the now-grown blond kid with a look of studied calm.
He wore the standard-issue Konoha jōnin combat uniform, his forehead protector tied neatly in place, a black ninja blade at his hip. His expression appeared composed, but hidden beneath it was the faintest trace of a smile he couldn't quite suppress.
Uchiha Sasuke, sixteen years old.
Konoha Jōnin.
Has arrived.
Beside Sasuke stood a red-haired girl and a white-eyed girl.
"Na... Naruto-kun..."
Hinata, wearing her white-and-purple tracksuit, caught sight of Naruto for the first time in three years and managed a small, quiet greeting.
Evidently, their squad had just returned from a mission at the same time as Team Ino-Shika-Chō.
Uchiha, Uzumaki, Hyūga — a squad composed of three top-tier kekkei genkai users.
But at this moment, Naruto had eyes for no one but Sasuke.
"Hmph. It's been a while. Somewhat... moving, I suppose."
Fighting to keep the corners of his mouth from curving upward, Sasuke lowered his gaze, maintaining his cold-and-mysterious act as he looked at the one person whose attention was fixed entirely on him.
And in truth, he was no different from Naruto — pretending not to care, while having eyes for nobody else.
"Oho!"
"Sasuke, I'm crazy strong now, you know!"
"There's no way you can beat me!"
Naruto spotted his best bro and immediately started hollering.
These three years hadn't been spent entirely head-butting the Nine-Tails' chakra with brute force. If that's all he'd done, then Jiraiya would've been a pretty sorry excuse for a teacher.
"Hmph..."
"Is that so..."
The black-haired boy on the rooftop flickered — and in the next instant, appeared at Naruto's side without any warning.
Naruto's eyes went wide.
Sasuke laid a hand on Naruto's shoulder. Naruto seemed to have no reaction whatsoever.
"So show me... just how strong you've become."
Sakura looked at this showoff and covered her face with her hand.
She'd admit it — Sasuke was strong. But did he really have to put on this much of a performance?
The harder you flex now, the worse it's going to look when it backfires...
"Heh... Sure thing."
Naruto turned to face Sasuke beside him. Orange pigmentation bloomed around his eyes, and his vivid blue pupils shifted into the horizontal bars of a toad's eyes.
To show off in front of Sasuke, Naruto detonated one of the shadow clones he kept stationed at Mount Myōboku for continuous natural energy absorption.
Perfect Sage Mode!
A state Jiraiya had spent his entire life failing to achieve — and Naruto had nailed it in two weeks.
"Oh, not bad at all."
Jiraiya leaned against a wall with his arms crossed, watching Sasuke with an amused grin.
"Uh, isn't going straight to Sage Mode just to say hello a little... excessive?"
Kakashi had appeared at some point, crouching beside Jiraiya, watching the standoff between Naruto and Sasuke with mild exasperation.
As the student of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, he naturally recognized Mount Myōboku's Sage Mode.
"Hmph. So you haven't been standing still after all."
"Good. That means you won't be dragging me down."
Sasuke looked at Naruto, whose aura had surged to a level rivaling his own, and let the corner of his mouth twitch upward.
"Huh?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Naruto — whose power had just spiked to match Sasuke blow for blow — blinked at this, then turned to Sasuke with a dopey, clueless expression. The explosive aura deflated instantly.
"You'll understand soon enough."
The stern-faced boy stopped hiding his smile, patted Naruto's shoulder, and left it at that — cryptic as a riddle.
As the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, there was no way Naruto wouldn't end up at the Hokage's side.
Sasuke and Kushina were already confirmed as the Fifth Hokage's personal guard detail.
The final member would almost certainly be the boy standing in front of him.
"Lively bunch, aren't they..."
Shikamaru watched Naruto and Sasuke and couldn't help but twitch.
Sasuke's Body Flicker — so fast it was nearly impossible to track — and Naruto's full-blown Sage Mode with that overwhelming pressure... Shikamaru felt like he'd accidentally wandered into a den of monsters.
And then there was the pink-haired one standing quietly off to the side.
Is Team Seven seriously this ridiculous?
Feels like they're from a completely different world.
"Wow, counting Neji and the others already in the village, our whole graduating class is here!"
"Let's all go to the hot springs tonight!"
Ino, social butterfly that she was, got fired up the moment she realized everyone was in one place and immediately proposed a group outing.
"YEAH!"
Naruto was the first to agree. Obviously.
"Hmph, something like that..."
Sasuke's lip curled as he started to refuse.
"Sure, but I'll probably be a little late."
Sakura nodded, already thinking about heading back to the Hokage's office to fire that waste of space first.
Then she'd need to comb through the personnel records of every department to see if there were any more chair-warmers like that one.
Every last one of them was going on the list. Then, one by one, Sakura would have them packing their bags.
"Something like what?"
Naruto, whose attention was permanently locked on Sasuke, jumped on the half-finished sentence.
"No, nothing. I'll be there."
Sasuke shook his head.
Na... Naruto-kun...
Hinata, who'd been silent this entire time, watched the blond boy while clutching the hem of her jacket.
"YEAH!"
"MEGA REUNION HANGOUT!"
Naruto cheered.
"Hm?"
"Hot springs?!"
"With sixteen-year-old girls?!"
Jiraiya, whose hearing was supernaturally sharp, lost all composure in an instant.
Whoosh!
A kunai grazed past his ear.
"Jiraiya and dogs — prohibited within five hundred meters."
Sakura's smile was ice-cold as she stared at the frozen Jiraiya.
"Violators will face... uncertain survival odds."
Cold sweat poured down Jiraiya's face, and the great Toad Sage found himself swallowing hard.
If Sakura caught him... he would definitely die.
After settling on a location, Sakura said goodbye to the group and headed to the Hokage's office alone.
The only person there was Tobirama Senju, dressed in his ANBU robe, sitting silently on the sofa and working through administrative documents.
The old man's health was poor. Tobirama refused to let Hiruzen Sarutobi drag his battered body around handling paperwork at his age.
Even though the volume of administrative work had decreased considerably compared to three years ago.
"You're here."
"How's the South Heoka River situation?"
Tobirama sensed her arrival and spoke without looking up.
"The river's back to normal."
Sakura settled into the Hokage's chair and laid out the situation with Shimura Mie's incompetence.
Tobirama frowned.
"The police force holds too much power."
Too much was an understatement. It was beyond absurd.
You could split the police force into four separate departments and each one would still have more authority than it needed.
Sakura shot Tobirama a pointed look.
And why, exactly, does the police force have this much power?
The culprit is sitting right there.
"Don't look at me like that. That department was originally given to the Uchiha clan."
"As co-founders of Konoha, they deserved that level of authority."
Tobirama subtly curled his hand into a loose fist and raised it to his mouth, coughing twice.
Sakura's eyes narrowed at the hand near his mouth.
Since when does a Reanimation cough?
"Anyway, I don't have time for ancient history right now."
"What matters is finding every single one of these seat-warmers clogging up the system, then replacing them one by one with people who can actually get things done."
"Then I'll deal with the police force issue."
Sakura chose to ignore Tobirama's painfully transparent deflection.
She'd give the Second Hokage that much face.
"Mm, good."
"Worthy of the successor Hiruzen chose."
Tobirama exhaled quietly, somewhat relieved that Pinky hadn't pressed the police force question further.
After all, his original intentions back then...
Well. Those who know, know.
He just hadn't anticipated that there was always a bigger fish. He'd been ruthless enough.
His students had been even more ruthless.
Such a fine blade — and they'd gone and snapped it.
Tobirama watched Sakura burying herself in the personnel roster, and something shifted behind his eyes.
"Speaking of which — Homura should have departed already, yes?"
He was referring to Homura Mitokado carrying Hiruzen's letter nominating Sakura for Hokage to the Fire Country capital.
"Yes, he left yesterday."
"Should be back within five days."
Sakura looked up at the old fox, wondering what new scheme he was cooking up.
"Sakura... what do you intend to do about Danzō?"
Tobirama hesitated for a moment, but ultimately asked the question.
As the Second Hokage — the de facto First Hokage in terms of building Konoha's systems — Tobirama could see at a glance that Sakura and Danzō were on a collision course.
"What, you want to protect him?"
"If that's what you want, after all, Danzō—"
But Tobirama cut her off.
His crimson eyes flashed with a glacial light.
"A Hokage must never be soft-hearted."
"The Hokage's mercy is for the villagers within these walls."
"For the shinobi under your command. For the citizens of the Land of Fire."
"Not for enemies."
Tobirama rose to his feet, his gaze boring into Sakura.
"Against enemies — pull them out by the roots. That is the only righteous path."
"Anyone who dares oppose Konoha, who dares oppose the Hokage — send them to the Pure Land."
Sakura looked at Tobirama and couldn't help the twitch at the corner of her mouth.
So that's why Koharu and Danzō had been so merciless with the Uchiha.
Tobirama himself had never truly treated the Uchiha as enemies.
But Koharu and Danzō had taken them as enemies completely.
As devoted executors of Tobirama's philosophy, of course they'd tried to destroy the Uchiha utterly.
"Even though Danzō is your student?"
"Even though Danzō is my student."
Tobirama closed his eyes. As the man who'd stood beside Hashirama Senju and built Konoha with his own hands — his love for this village was no less than his brother's.
"Understood."
Sakura lowered her head and returned her attention to the personnel roster spread before her.
Most of the names she recognized — these were the people who'd survived her three years of screening.
"Danzō is fixated on becoming Hokage."
"He's seventy years old now. If he misses this opportunity, he'll never have another chance."
"Sakura — do you understand what I'm saying?"
Sakura didn't look up, continuing to scan the roster as she responded.
"I know."
"Strike first, or be struck."
She slowly closed the file in her hands and raised her head, leaning back in the chair.
Sitting in the very seat Danzō had spent his entire life coveting, she laced her fingers together over her stomach and regarded Tobirama with a faintly mocking smile.
"But if I just took him down like that — wouldn't that be terribly boring?"
With Danzō, you didn't even need to fabricate charges.
He was already dirty enough on his own. No need to throw mud.
If she really wanted to dig up old business, the single fact that on the night of the Nine-Tails attack sixteen years ago, Danzō and Root hadn't lifted a finger against the Nine-Tails — and had instead blocked the Uchiha clan when they tried to respond — was more than enough to build a case.
And that was just one small stain on the filthy tapestry of Danzō's career.
Tobirama studied Sakura, his eyes narrowing.
He sensed something dangerous in this attitude of hers.
A Hokage shouldn't gamble with Konoha's stability to indulge her own amusement.
But considering Sakura was still young and could be tempered over time, Tobirama chose not to press the point.
Young people.
What kind of young person isn't a little hot-blooded?
Especially one with talent, strength, and a proven track record.
"If you're confident, all the better."
Tobirama looked at Sakura's self-assured expression and let the matter of Danzō rest.
Seeing Tobirama back down, Sakura's interest was piqued. She leaned forward with an air of studied nonchalance and said:
"By the way — what's your take on the Daimyo?"
Sakura refused to believe this scheming old Senju ghost was as much of a good little soldier as Hashirama had been.
"What do you mean?"
Tobirama sat on the sofa, seemingly leafing through documents at random — but a piercing gleam flashed in the corner of his eye.
"You don't understand?"
"I don't understand."
"I don't believe you don't understand."
"I truly don't understand."
"You know whether you understand or not."
"Whether I understand or not — wouldn't I be the one to know?"
"You're being no fun."
"What do you mean by 'no fun'?"
"No fun means no fun."
"If you don't say it, how am I supposed to know what you mean?"
"I shouldn't have to say it for you to know what I mean."
"How would I know what you mean?"
"You should know what I mean."
"I don't know what you mean."
"Can I just punch you across the room right now?"
"No. And as a Reanimation, I can't die anyway."
"Fine. Forget I said anything."
"What did you say?"
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Hollowborn
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you