Konoha’s like this — as long as the ninja complete their missions, no one cares what they do. But us academy students? We’ve got way more on our ptes.

  “Maybe you’re pressing too hard, Miketsuki?” Rin’s soft voice murmured by his ear.

  “Nope, it’s perfect like this,” he replied zily.

  Css hadn’t even started yet, and Shimizu Miketsuki was already chilling at his desk, enjoying Rin’s massage.

  Yesterday had been all fun and games — literally, a whole day of ninja tag. And now? Back to this boring school life.

  Yūhi Kurenai and Anko strolled into the cssroom, giggling as they chatted. The moment Anko spotted Rin, she walked over with a skewer of dango gripped like it was a kunai, her eyes sharp as ever.

  “Don’t spoil Miketsuki too much, Rin. If you two end up married, he’ll walk all over you for life.”

  “Married? (〃°ω°〃) Me and Miketsuki?”

  “Of course! Didn’t you say it yourself on the first day of school? ‘My name is Shimizu—mmph!’”

  Rin’s face turned scarlet as she lunged to cover Anko’s mouth, only to get dango syrup all over her hands.

  “You two, try to act a little more dylike,” Kurenai sighed as she stepped in to separate them.

  “Come on, Miketsuki, weren’t you the one going on about how life isn’t some stage py with an audience watching your every move?” he said, raising a brow. “And Anko, didn’t you cim you didn’t even catch my introduction on the first day?”

  “Ha? If I didn’t hear it, how would I even know to tell you I didn’t hear it?”

  “...”

  Miketsuki ignored the girls’ bickering around him. Judging the time to be about right, he activated his Six Eyes and shifted his focus toward the Hokage’s office.

  Ever since gaining the Six Eyes, nothing in Konoha was truly private anymore — not to him.

  Even how many times Danzo hit the restroom in Root every day? Miketsuki knew it down to the flush.

  Unfortunately, most of Root’s information was transmitted in encrypted formats. Without access to their cipher book, even the Six Eyes couldn’t fully decipher what Root was up to tely.

  Still, he had managed to get a crucial tidbit yesterday: Hatake Sakumo was going to submit his resignation to the Third Hokage today.

  Now that was something he couldn’t afford to miss.

  Let the show begin!

  Meanwhile, on the other side of the vilge…

  Hatake Sakumo was a man of action. By the next morning, he was already marching toward the Hokage’s office, resignation papers in hand.

  In Konoha, most ninja only retire due to injuries or other unavoidable reasons. Voluntarily stepping down? That was rare — usually a sign of fear or a broken spirit.

  Inside the Hokage’s office…

  An Anbu agent flickered into view. “Hokage-sama, Hatake Sakumo requests an audience.”

  In wartime, anyone wanting to see the Hokage had to go through Anbu screening.

  Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up from a pile of mission scrolls. “Let him in.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Sakumo knocked politely on the door before entering.

  “It’s you, Sakumo. There’ve been some unpleasant rumors about you going around the vilge. Try not to let it bother you too much.”

  Honestly, Hiruzen hadn’t pnned to punish Sakumo at all. The war was already stretching his mental bandwidth to the brink — starting a witch hunt over a failed mission would be beyond foolish.

  But apparently, some fool had already taken it upon themselves to light that fire — namely, his dear old teammate Danzo, who leaked the story behind Sakumo’s mission failure without even informing him.

  Now that the news was out in the open, Hiruzen had no way to walk it back. Sakumo had, after all, failed the mission. The vilge had suffered.

  Letting him go unpunished was already as far as Hiruzen could stretch things.

  If he tried to forcibly suppress the story, he’d be dragged into the mud right alongside Sakumo by the next day.

  Being Hokage came with a whole lot of image management.

  And as a veteran political pyer, Hiruzen could clearly see who stood to benefit the most from Danzo’s little stunt.

  Orochimaru — once Hiruzen’s favored successor — had grown disturbingly close to Danzo tely.

  Hiruzen was beginning to worry that handing the title of Hokage to Orochimaru might end up a very bad idea.

  But Sakumo wasn’t thinking about any of that. He had come for one thing, and one thing only:

  To quit. To quit. And to quit again, just in case they didn’t hear him the first time.

  “Hokage-sama, I know the failure of that mission caused serious damage to the vilge. I accept full responsibility.”

  “No one succeeds every time. As Hokage, I share some of that bme—”

  “There’s no need to comfort me. After what happened, I’ve realized I’m not cut out to be a ninja anymore. Here’s my resignation.”

  He offered the carefully prepared document with both hands.

  “Hmm, that works out since I just—what the—?!” Hiruzen shot up from his chair, stunned.

  “Resignation?!”

  Let’s skip the rest of the conversation — over on the other end, Miketsuki was enjoying every minute of it.

  Especially the part after Sakumo left and Hiruzen roared, “Get Danzo in here — now!”

  Hiruzen was furious.

  The war front was already a mess, and now Danzo was screwing things up back home too.

  He missed his old teacher Tobirama more and more these days. How had he not realized back then just how much of a disaster Danzo could be?

  “Where’s Danzo?”

  “I’m here, Hiruzen. What’s the matter?” Danzo entered the office, leaning on his cane. As the Hokage’s advisor, he didn’t need permission to enter — especially since it was Hiruzen who had summoned him.

  “See for yourself.” Hiruzen tossed Sakumo’s resignation scroll at him.

  Danzo narrowed his eyes as he caught it and scanned the contents. He knew he was partly to bme, but of course he wasn’t going to admit that — not to Hiruzen.

  Neither man spoke. They just stared at each other in heavy silence.

  Which was starting to drive Miketsuki crazy. Seriously? Are you two staging a silent drama now?

  Finally, Danzo broke the silence. “You accepted it?”

  Hiruzen took a deep drag from his pipe. “What else could I do? You leaked the mission details in the first pce. What right do I have to deny Sakumo his resignation?”

  “You’re too soft, Hiruzen,” Danzo snapped.

  “And you were way out of line, Danzo.” Hiruzen’s fury surged again at Danzo’s utter ck of remorse.

  “Everything I’ve done was for the vilge!” Danzo shot back.

  “More like for Orochimaru.”

  “You serious right now, Hiruzen?!”

  They traded a few more heated barbs before Hiruzen finally calmed himself. What was done was done. No point throwing bme around — better to figure out what came next.

  At that moment, the office doors swung open. Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado stepped inside — the two elders of Konoha, both of whom needed no Anbu clearance to barge in.

  Hiruzen didn’t even need to ask. It was obvious Danzo had brought in reinforcements.

  “Hiruzen,” said Koharu, “Danzo may have made a mistake, but right now we must prioritize the war front.”

  “She’s right,” Homura chimed in. “Without Danzo’s Root, the situation at the front lines would deteriorate even further. Whatever happened, let’s wait until the war is over to deal with it.”

  Hiruzen stared at the two of them, speechless. They didn’t even know what had happened and were already covering for Danzo?

  He slowly sank back into his chair, one thought echoing in his heart:

  Tobirama-sensei, please save us.

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