Tasks... tasks..." Sarutobi Hiruzen muttered absentmindedly as he sat back in his chair, his thoughts clearly elsewhere. Though he appeared to be considering missions, in reality, his mind was still preoccupied with Haruto Saito.
"Sensei!" Tsunade called out impatiently.
"Haruto Saito mastered Strength of a Hundred in one day?" Hiruzen asked, looking up at her.
Tsunade froze for a moment, surprised by the sudden shift in topic. After a brief pause, she put on a grim expression and said, "Yes, that brat did learn Strength of a Hundred in one day. But he must have used some special method! Sensei, you must investigate him thoroughly. He could be a threat to Konoha! You should lock him up and only release him when you're sure. If you can't find anything, then just keep him locked up! I'm not skilled enough to see through his tricks, so I leave this to you!"
Tsunade bowed deeply, looking utterly aggrieved.
Jiraiya twitched at the corners of his mouth. Wasn't this a little excessive? What kind of grudge did she have against the kid?
"Hmm, I'll consider it," Hiruzen said, tapping his desk. "Tell me about how you taught him Strength of a Hundred."
"The process... there wasn't anything special about it. He did study very seriously, but he kept playing dumb. I had already explained the key points numerous times, yet he kept asking me to repeat them and demonstrate again. You know, Sensei, Strength of a Hundred isn't complicated—it's actually quite easy to explain. But that little brat acted as if he couldn't understand, making me repeat everything over and over again. From yesterday morning until dawn today, it was the same thing! Most of the time, I was just teaching him things I had already explained..."
As Tsunade spoke, her anger grew. She clenched her fists and finally slammed the table. "Sensei, you must order his arrest!"
Hiruzen frowned slightly. This was suspicious.
Haruto Saito learning Strength of a Hundred while making Tsunade repeat herself constantly? That was definitely unusual.
"Nothing else worth mentioning?" Hiruzen asked.
"Nothing," Tsunade replied, shaking her head.
"Hmm..." Hiruzen hummed thoughtfully, opening a drawer and pulling out a thick dossier. "You three only finished your last mission a few days ago. I planned to give you half a month to rest before assigning another mission, but since you're so eager... hmm... Go to the Land of Rain. It's just a reconnaissance mission, but it's extremely dangerous. It suits you."
"Understood, Sensei! We'll complete the mission!" Tsunade quickly agreed before she even heard the details.
"White Fang, hand them the classified Mission 2369," Hiruzen ordered.
"Yes, Lord Hokage!" White Fang bowed.
"Go file it in the records," Hiruzen instructed before dismissing them with a wave of his hand.
"Hurry! We're in a rush!" Tsunade grabbed White Fang and bolted out of the room like a madwoman. Jiraiya and Orochimaru followed immediately.
Once the door shut behind them, Hiruzen fell deep into thought. After a moment, he turned toward the window. "Summon Danzo."
"Yes!" came a reply from outside.
Before long, Danzo materialized in the office, removing his mask as he looked at Hiruzen. "Hiruzen, what is it?"
"It's about Haruto Saito..."
"What about him? I was in seclusion. Did something happen?"
"He mastered Strength of a Hundred in a single day, under Tsunade's full supervision, without any apparent trickery," Hiruzen explained, giving Danzo a concise summary. He skipped over the gambling aspect—irrelevant details. What mattered was the core issue.
"Replication! Replication is the most likely explanation!" Danzo immediately deduced. "He made Tsunade repeat herself countless times. That means his replication ability doesn't have a high success rate. Strength of a Hundred isn't like other jutsu. Even the Sharingan struggles to copy it, which explains his approach."
"But if he truly had that ability, how could he have been just a genin before we captured him?" Hiruzen questioned. "Why would Hanzo assign him such a mission?"
"Maybe Hanzo was planning something... And before we caught him, we couldn't fully assess his real strength. He might have been hiding it and only displayed genin-level ability."
"Hmm..." Hiruzen lapsed into silence again.
"Kill him!" Danzo suggested grimly. "His problems run deeper than we expected. Instead of trying to unravel the mystery, we should cut him down quickly."
That was just Danzo's way. If he couldn't control or understand something, he would eliminate it.
"This isn't like Hanzo's style," Hiruzen countered, shaking his head. "And if Haruto Saito really were Hanzo's planted spy, then he's being far too obvious about it. He's actively drawing attention to himself—this doesn't make sense."
Danzo hesitated. Hiruzen was right.
No spy would act this recklessly.
"Hiruzen, what are you hesitating for? We could end this problem at the root!"
"If he is Hanzo's agent, then he must be important to Hanzo," Hiruzen mused.
Danzo understood. Hiruzen wanted to use Haruto Saito to manipulate Hanzo. This was a larger strategic play—one that required calculated risk.
"Send him to the Land of Rain," Hiruzen decided suddenly.
"What?" Danzo frowned, trying to follow Hiruzen's logic.
"Find a way to assign him a mission to the Land of Rain. Once he leaves Konoha, the Hyuga clan will definitely make a move on him. That will alert the Rain Village. If they try to save him, he's a spy. If they still see him as a traitor and try to eliminate him, then we clear his name. If he's not a spy, then his strange abilities could be an asset. We can never have too many geniuses."
Hiruzen paused, then stood and paced the room. Raising a finger, he added, "Have the Uchiha clan handle it. But don't let them know the real reason. Can you manage that?"
"No problem," Danzo responded immediately.
At 10 AM, by the lakeside cabin.
Haruto Saito was still asleep. Outside, noise gradually grew, becoming louder and louder as more people gathered. The commotion woke Haruto up for a moment, but sensing that they were just ordinary people, he ignored them and fell back asleep.
At 10:30 AM, the disturbance escalated. Shouts rang out, waking him again.
"Come out, you fraud!"
"You scammed us!"
"Liar! Face us!"
"Get out here!"
"What the hell...?" Haruto muttered groggily, sitting up in bed. It was way too loud outside. Annoyed, he rubbed his temples and listened more closely.
It sounded like debt collectors.
"What did I even do?" Haruto muttered, confused. Clad in his sleepwear, he stepped outside.
The moment he did, he was utterly stunned.
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