Koharu Utatane might have her fair share of flaws—often painted alongside Mitokado Homura by many fans as a pair of fossilized, stubborn old-timers obsessed with power—but as an Elder Consultant, she was undeniably efficient.
By the time she received the intel from the front lines, she had already moved to suppress the village's unrest. Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could even set foot back in the village, she had completed the initial mobilization and prepared the necessary supplies.
Of course, this efficiency was partly due to the fact that Konoha had been in a state of constant war. As a nation's engine of violence, Konoha was a machine that had been running for years; once it geared up, every facet of the village served the conflict. Habit is a powerful force.
Thus, as soon as Hiruzen's orders were issued, a ragtag force consisting of Uchiha and Hyuga elders, retired veterans, and even children from the Ninja Academy's graduating class left the village under the leadership of Sakumo Hatake, heading south.
The Uchiha and Hyuga shinobi split off toward the coastline, while the remaining three thousand troops led by Sakumo marched toward the border of the Land of Rivers. Under the Hidden Sand's sudden assault, the Konoha forces stationed there had been caught off guard and pushed back to the very edge of the border, suffering heavy casualties while desperately holding the line.
"Danzo."
After seeing off the final four thousand reinforcements—a mix of the old and the young—and ensuring they were alone, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally summoned Danzo to the Hokage's office.
There were matters that, in a moment of crisis, he could tolerate for the sake of public appearances. He could even swallow his pride to save Danzo's face before the council. But that didn't mean he intended to let the man off scot-free.
"This time, you went too far."
"You're the one who won again," Danzo replied, his face dark and weary. Deep in his eyes, however, burned a fierce, unyielding resentment.
His teacher had admired Hiruzen. His teammates trusted Hiruzen. The generation of Sakumo and the Sannin looked up to Hiruzen, and now even the younger generation, like the Namikaze brothers, supported him with everything they had. Danzo couldn't understand it. He was bitter and indignant. Why did everyone think Hiruzen was better? Why was he always the one everyone relied on? Why would no one give him a chance to prove he was no less capable?
Bang!
Danzo's attitude finally snapped Hiruzen's patience. Even though he had just come off the operating table and his wounds had barely begun to scab over, Hiruzen closed the distance with a Body Flicker. He seized Danzo by the collar and slammed him violently against the wall.
"Danzo, you are testing my absolute limit!"
Looking at Hiruzen—whose face showed no explosive rage, only eyes filled with a terrifying, glacial light—Danzo instinctively swallowed.
In that moment, Hiruzen finally reminded him of the old friend he had once stood beside on the battlefield: the man known by Konoha and rival villages alike as the "Shinobi Hero," the Third Hokage.
"So, Danzo, this is your one and only chance. I won't confine you to your quarters, and I won't dismantle Root. But if your Root cannot produce results for this war that far outweigh the damage caused by your recent actions, I think you know exactly what I will do."
Hiruzen leaned in close to Danzo's face, his voice a low, guttural growl that sounded like a lion's warning.
"The friendship we once had was buried by your own hands. If you want to keep your status and keep Root alive, then show me that you and your organization still have a reason to exist."
The wound on Hiruzen's chest reopened from the exertion, staining his white Hokage robes with brilliant red blood. Yet, it didn't make him look weak. On the contrary, the blood-soaked "Lion" looked far more menacing than the usually genial Third Hokage.
Having defended his territory like a king, Hiruzen violently shoved Danzo's collar aside. He spared a glance at the man as if looking at a dead dog before issuing one final, cold command.
"Now, get out!"
Though he hadn't slept in nearly twenty-four hours, Hatani felt no fatigue as he marched with Konoha's final reserve army.
He didn't really care that they hadn't been able to follow through with the plan to kick Danzo's head around like a soccer ball; there would be plenty of opportunities for that in the future. What truly kept his sleepiness at bay was the system.
Between the massive battle in the Land of Grass, the high-speed escort of Hiruzen, the ambush, and the counter-coup to break Danzo's scheme, he hadn't had a moment to breathe. Now, he finally had the time to check his status.
By killing Hanzo, he had exposed the Phantom Lancer template and his unpolished "Flying Raijin," but the leader of the Hidden Rain—acting as a mid-tier boss—had provided a very handsome payout.
862 Gold Coins.
For Hatani, this was no small sum. It helped replenish the coffers that had been nearly emptied after purchasing the Blink Dagger.
However, when he performed his routine check on the unlock cost for the Juggernaut template, he noticed a strange shift. Marci, who was originally next in line, had been bumped down to third. Replacing her was a hero who had previously been ranked quite low: Storm Spirit.
The unlock cost for Storm Spirit, which was originally 8,000 gold, had inexplicably dropped by half. It now only required 4,000 gold to unlock.
Hatani wasn't the type to just accept things at face value. It was his constant analysis that allowed him to unlock the Phantom Lancer at one-third the cost and master the Juxtapose talent so quickly. He focused all his attention on the Storm Spirit icon, determined to find the reason for the discount.
After all, Storm Spirit's skills in the game were entirely centered around lightning. As someone with zero natural affinity for Lightning Style, he shouldn't have been eligible for such a "gift."
Wait... could it be that the elemental attributes in this system aren't based on the Naruto world, but on the world of Azeroth from Dota 1?
A spark of inspiration flashed through his mind as he recalled the lore. In the world of Azeroth, there are four Great Elemental Lords representing the fundamental building blocks of the world: Fire, Water, Earth, and Air (Wind).
In that logic, lightning was an offshoot of the Air element.
Was it my "suicidal" act of letting the wind into my body that gave me total mastery over the element, thereby granting me the chance to control the storm?
Hatani began to theorize.
If that's the case, does it mean that by unlocking Storm Spirit, I can actually grant myself a Lightning nature transformation?
Looking at Storm Spirit's jolly, middle-aged face, Hatani suddenly felt like the masked Juggernaut wasn't quite as attractive as he used to be.
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