Konoha was unusually active these days. Every was busy dismantling Root bases, and ninja were either on missions or resting after them. Even civilians noticed something was amiss. The vilge's stant activity felt like the movements of wartime, causing tension among its residents.

  "I think this has something to do with those bsts a few days ago," an old man said.

  "Yeah, even the Hokage came to visit the site, but nothing was disclosed about the attaow, Anbu ninja are raiding pces all over the vilge," another man added.

  "Maybe they're searg for whoever was responsible for the attack?"

  "I hope they crify the situation soon," the st one of the group said.

  Such discussions were happening all around Konoha, and everyone was tense about the situation. However, the person most affected by all this was...

  "What a drag. That old geezer was really thh and shrewd. Not only are Root bases spread throughout the world, but he also made sure no one in Konoha could act against him without risking those bases turning into a sword that strikes Konoha down. I don't think he ever trusted aher than himself," Shikaku said.

  "Don't tell me what I already know and focus on your work, Shikaku. There are still ten bases left for us to close," Hiruzen replied.

  "I haven't slept for two days, Lord Third. I need some time off. I'm sure you hahis much better than me," Shikaku said, shamelessly evading work.

  "Yes, but I want you to be trained for when I'm not around. You rest after making sure everything is taken care of," Hiruzen said, using his age as an excuse.

  Both of them were equally shameless, making them a perfect team. This was why Hiruzen was fident they could mahout Danzo. Shikaku had enough intelligeo do so; he just needed someone as shameless as Hiruzen to make him work.

  "At least give me a short break. I want to see my family," Shikaku made his st effort.

  "I call your wife here if you miss her so much," Hiruzen said with a smile.

  "No, I 't let my feelings obstruct my work. Let's focus on the remaining bases, Lord Third," Shikaku said, finally being fully alert.

  'Hah, everyone o have such a wonderful wife,' Hiruzen thought.

  ...

  The Root bases, once spread across the ninja world, were now a thing of the past. Some of the bases, located in small vilges far from Konoha, were left for st because they had minimal tact with Konoha. However, when Hiruzen and Shikaku learned what was happening in those bases, they decided to destroy them along with their residents. The ninja there had beonsters, experimenting nant women to create super ninja, strong from birth—simir to inja.

  It would be a lie if Hiruzen and Shikaku said they weren't ied in the results of these experiments. However, two things were certain: the experiment was not plete, and the children died along with their mothers a month after delivery.

  The number of women and children who died to reach this stage was siing, and tinuing the experiments would require the same amount of sacrifice. One reason Danzo never informed Hiruzen about these experiments was that they didn't have the resolve to kill so many i people, including children and women, for a little strength.

  During the war, Hiruzen had to make many tough decisions, resulting in the deaths of i people. But at that time, the safety of his vilge was at risk. He had to choose between the lives of his ninja or those civilians and did what any leader would do. Even theried to save as many young ones as possible and gave women a ce to save themselves.

  Hiruzen wouldn't say his hands weren't covered in the blood of is, but he was still not a monster. If Danzo had informed Hiruzen about these experiments, Hiruzen would have surely stopped them.

  ...

  The discussion on how to hahose bases and whom to se on for an hour. Finally, the st question, whione of them wao discuss, came up.

  "What should we do about the results of those experiments, the findings they made?" Shikaku asked.

  "You already know the answer. We 't just burhat would make those deaths meaningless. Even if we aren't going to tihose experiments, it doesn't mean we 't use the results of the ones already done," Hiruzen said.

  Even oh, there have been hundreds of cases where people or panies ducted resear humans to make cures for diseases or treatments for oncurable diseases. People would most likely question if those researchers were even human if they knew what they did.

  However, would humanity stop using the medie developed after those experiments? No. Even if they don't do it now, not using already built medie just because it was developed at the cost of many lives aing more people die would be utter foolishness. Humans were everything but foolish when it came to survival.

  Using simir logic, Hiruzen didn't want all that research to go to waste. Many ninjas from all the great vilges and many civilians from major and minor vilges lost their lives because of those experiments.

  "What about the civilians in those bases?" Shikaku asked.

  "Just bring them here. I'm sure they don't know anything about the Root ninja statiohere, let alone Konoha. From what they've experiehey won't be able to go back to their usual lives anymore. Even if the vilge has to stretch its budget to manage such a number of people," Hiruzen sighed, thinking of the additional number of civilians who came to Konoha i couple of weeks.

  He could even form a new from the people who became part of Konoha tally. It should be hat every normal person in the world dreamed of beiher rich or ected enough to get the opportunity to live in one of the five great vilges. Konoha was the first location that came to the mind of every civilian.

  The five great ninja vilges were the safest pces in the world during wartime. Sure, they would have wars, but it never reached the main vilge as they would make some agreements before that. During such times, every civilian outside those vilges was at the mercy of thousands of Shinobi.

  They could kill them just because they were tense and wao relieve their stress. That's why everyone wao live in one of the five great ninja vilges. Sihe vilge normally focused on ninja, one way was to have a very talented ninja, and you might get recruited into the vilge.

  Sed, bee riough to get nd in the vilge, which was very costly pared to outside, almost ten times the amount even for the cheapest property in the vilge.

  Lastly, you could somehow bee useful to ninja, like a plumber, gardener, or chef. However, there was heavy petition for such roles. In shetting to live in the vilge was very much depe on luck.

  Those people would get this for free, but if someone asked them if that torture was worth it for this price, the answer would most likely be,

  'Are you mad? I'd rather live ireets of a war-torn vilge than face that.' But beggars 't be choosers. Now, getting to live in a safe pce for the rest of their lives should be enough for them to find some peace with life.

  "I don't think the budget will be a problem for the ing years, Lord Third. For some reason, Danzo had stored twice the vilge budget in his funds," Shikaku said.

  "I know what you want to say. Yes, I already knew about his pn to remove me from my position and bee Hokage. But e on, I am still strohan him, and there is no way he would have goo war with me. In the end, I didn't want to lose one more friend.

  I should have done something from the start, and I didn't. I've aowledged this a thousand times, so don't bring it up again. This is an order," Hiruzen said, his tone being stricter by the end of the sentence.

  "Yes, sir," Shikaku said, his zy attitude vanishing. The order was from the Hokage, not the friendly old man everyone knew. Shikaku could ay way he wanted because of his mind and talent, but only until Hiruzen allowed him to do so.

  With the pn ready, Hiruzen called Eagle, the head of the Anbu guard, and gave him a scroll.

  "Arrahe teams as mentioned in the scroll," Hiruzen said. Only that much was needed; Eagle uood the task ahe office.

  " I go now, sir?" Shikaku asked.

  "Yes, but I will call you when the reports about other missions e," Hiruzen said, once again smiling as if his little outburst never happened.

  'What a drag,' Shikaku thought but didn't say anything. He just nodded his head and headed towards his house.