Chapter 64: The Third Hokage No Longer Greedy
"Lord Hokage."
"Urgent matter!"
Just moments after Minato left, Hokage secretary Chiba Megumi entered the office, dressed in a short black skirt, her long white legs elegant in their stride, hips swaying alluringly as she quickly approached the desk.
She placed a red scroll and a small storage scroll before Hiruzen.
"A red emergency scroll?"
"Could something have happened on the front lines?"
The Third's expression shifted. He immediately picked up the red scroll and opened it.
Konoha's internal message system categorized urgency levels by color: white, yellow, and red.
White was minor—must be handled within three days.
Yellow was standard—must be handled within one day.
Red meant urgent—must be handled immediately upon reading.
The same system applied to intelligence reports.
Since the war began, red alerts had always meant critical intel from the front lines that he, as Hokage, had to know right away.
"Hmm… it's not the battlefield."
He exhaled in relief. The report came from an internal patrol unit—not the front.
It said that in a mid-sized town within the Land of Fire, a noble family had been massacred the previous night. Everyone—men, women, and children—was dead.
Of course, nobles being killed was a big deal, but not normally enough to warrant a red-level emergency.
What escalated it was that two Konoha shinobi had also been killed.
Their corpses were burned to ash, and the arriving patrol squad couldn't identify them.
But they had found two Konoha forehead protectors, warped and melted by flame, with faintly visible engravings of the word "Sarutobi" on the inside.
Based on this, the patrol suspected the two dead shinobi were from the Sarutobi clan and urgently sent the intel via red scroll to the Third Hokage.
"Sarutobi… no…"
The Third's brow furrowed, then suddenly his face fell. Without lifting his head, he barked at Chiba Megumi, "Quick, bring me the mission ledger!"
The ledger contained every registered Konoha shinobi's active assignments. He needed to check what his two nephews had been doing.
Opening a different storage scroll, Hiruzen pressed two fingers together and infused chakra into the "Unlock" seal.
Poof!
Two charred, melted Konoha forehead protectors appeared from the scroll.
He flipped them over, wiping away the soot. The characters engraved on the back became clearer—still not fully legible, but enough to recognize:
Sarutobi Tobirama.
Sarutobi Hashirama.
"No… it was you two?!!"
"Why… why you?"
He no longer needed to check the mission records. Gripping the protectors tightly, the Third's face filled with disbelief, his eyes reddening and moistening as sorrow engulfed him.
Most of the Sarutobi clan's shinobi had stayed in Konoha. A few had gone to the battlefield. The rest were assigned long-term protection duties for nobles within the country.
His two nephews—sons of his younger brother—had originally been meant for combat but were instead assigned to guard nobles in the Land of Fire.
He had personally arranged it so those boys—gifted with the names of the First and Second Hokage—could avoid the horrors of war and live on.
He had long felt guilty about his brother and sister-in-law, who gave their lives to save him in the First Shinobi War.
He had sworn to protect their sons in return.
But now… he, an old man, would bury the young.
His two nephews had died because of his decisions.
How could he ever face his brother and sister-in-law in the afterlife?
With their deaths piling atop the many problems now threatening Konoha, even the wise and composed Third Hokage sat in stunned silence, staring blankly at the forehead protectors on his desk.
Chiba Megumi, holding the thick mission ledger, turned back from the bookshelf and saw the scene. Her heart ached.
The man she admired—the heroic Hokage of legend—now showed a grief so raw it made her want to embrace him, to comfort him fully.
But she couldn't. And wouldn't dare.
Still, she stepped forward and gently placed the ledger on the desk, then moved behind Hiruzen, placing her hands lightly on his temples and gently massaging them in slow, soothing circles.
After a while, the Third regained his composure.
He retrieved a map and compared the location of the noble family that had been slaughtered.
At once, he noticed something critical.
"It was you… Li Yao!!!"
His sorrow turned instantly to fury.
The town where the noble family had died lay directly in the direction Li Yao had fled the previous night.
The Third didn't believe anyone else could've done it. Only Li Yao had both the motive and the power to kill his nephews.
They weren't prodigies—just chunin. But even so, random rogue ninja wouldn't have been able to take them down, especially during wartime.
And no powerful enemy from another country would waste time attacking a noble estate—nor slaughter everyone, including the elderly and children.
Only someone like Li Yao—twisted by half a year of unspeakable torment—could do something so brutal.
"Megumi, summon Tenchu and his wife immediately."
"Yes, Lord Hokage."
Chiba Megumi nodded and left.
Tenchu, full name Sarutobi Tenchu, was the Third's eldest son, ANBU commander, and a powerful shinobi.
If Li Yao could still kill, then clearly his injuries weren't as severe as Mito had believed.
The Third didn't want to wait any longer.
He had to send someone to hunt Li Yao down—right now.
Lighting his pipe, he puffed deeply.
Soon, the Hokage's office was filled with smoke. His silhouette faded, but his eyes burned with cold madness.
"This time… I won't be greedy."
The Third clenched his thoughts hard.
Everything that had happened stemmed from his past greed.
If he hadn't craved immortality… if he hadn't coveted Li Yao's immunity to genjutsu…
Li Yao would've been dead long ago.
His nephews would still be alive.
Knowing their deaths were his fault crushed the Third inside.
He regretted everything.
He regretted not killing Li Yao sooner.
But that would never happen again.
Now that he had no use for immortality, he no longer had a reason to hide anything.
His eyes narrowed coldly.
He didn't believe he was the only one tempted by immortality.
Could the other four Kage resist it?
Could Hanzō of the Salamander?
No.
They're all greedy.
If the truth about Li Yao's perfected Spirit Transformation Technique—the ultimate possession jutsu—spread across the shinobi world, more than half the ninja population would come hunting him.
The Third refused to believe Li Yao could survive endless pursuit.
All he needed was for Li Yao's secret to be fully exposed—then the time to seal him would come.
(END CHAPTER)
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