The Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, was dead.
But the village wasn't as grief-stricken as one might expect.
Mourning for the departed couldn't wash away the hard-won joy or the hope for peace.
The dead are gone—the living must move on.
In the Hokage's office, Hiruzen Sarutobi, dressed in ceremonial robes, stared at the reports scattered across his desk with a look of growing frustration.
It had been less than a week since Tobirama Senju's passing, and already the Konoha Police Force had arrested seven or eight villagers for drunken brawling.
Countless other petty and complicated issues came flooding in, leaving Hiruzen utterly overwhelmed.
For the first time, he truly felt the crushing weight his teacher had carried.
These administrative matters couldn't be resolved with strength. In fact, strength felt utterly useless in times like this.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had been pestering him to join the administration and help lighten the load.
Danzō Shimura, as expected, offered, "Hiruzen, you need someone to take control of the ANBU. That someone is me."
Meanwhile, Torifu Akimichi—whom Hiruzen deeply trusted—flat-out refused. "Brother Hiruzen, I'm done. I'm tired. I've got over a dozen barbecue restaurants waiting for me back home."
As for Kagami Uchiha, ever since their teacher's death, he'd gone completely off the rails.
He spent his days at home obsessively talking about making his son Reiji's student. His dream? For Reiji to train the boy into the next Uchiha Clan Head and Fourth Hokage, to carry on Hashirama-sama's will and discard the cursed Uchiha name.
The mere thought of Kagami lurking around the Academy gates waiting for Reiji to finish class gave Hiruzen a splitting headache.
What made things even more absurd was that the unpredictable Kagami had actually teamed up with the always-unreliable Reiji. The two were constantly huddled together, whispering who-knows-what.
And the child those two were raising?
Sharp as Reiji, with a Sharingan to boot.
They just might actually become the Fourth Hokage.
It would be like a super-charged version of Madara Uchiha.
The thought alone made Hiruzen feel like something was lodged in his chest.
"Every damn one of them is just adding to my stress," he muttered as he glanced out the window.
The evening sun painted the sky, casting its last warm rays over Konoha.
Hiruzen had lost all desire to deal with paperwork. Standing abruptly, he ordered the nearby ANBU,
"I'm heading to the cemetery. I want to see my sensei."
And with that, he walked out of the Hokage's office on his own.
To be honest, those first few days in office did come with a thrill—having that kind of power.
But that thrill didn't last long.
Soon after, he found himself drowning under pressure and responsibility.
Whenever that happened, he would visit the graves of his teachers—the First and Second Hokage—and spend some time there.
He crossed the main street, playfully bantered with a few kids, and even chatted with an old lady about postnatal care for pigs before arriving at the Konoha Ninja Cemetery.
He wasn't the only one visiting today.
Reiji, now well-versed in the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique, had already handed off his blacksmithing duties to his clones.
He'd also dumped the tedious job of taking his sister shopping.
Along with those chores, he had skipped his daily classes.
In a way, he was living like he'd already retired.
Hiruzen stepped quietly into the cemetery and finally saw the other visitor clearly.
Reiji was sitting cross-legged before Tobirama Senju's tombstone. A low table sat in front of him.
As Hiruzen drew closer, he saw the table more clearly.
It was a small square board, neatly covered in black and white Go pieces.
Reiji sat on the ground, a black stone in his left hand, stroking his chin with his right, eyes focused on the board.
Hiruzen approached from behind.
The kid didn't even flinch—completely absorbed in thought.
"Ahem."
Hiruzen cleared his throat twice, snapping Reiji out of his thoughts.
"Reiji, what are you doing?"
Startled by the voice, Reiji turned his head. Seeing it was Hiruzen, he quickly stood.
"Old man Hiruzen, I'm playing Go."
"Go? With who?" Hiruzen asked curiously.
"With Tobirama-sama."
Grinning, Reiji pointed to the board and began explaining the rules as best he knew.
"This is Go. Pretty simple—one side plays black, the other white. Once a piece is placed, it can't be moved. You alternate turns."
As he spoke, he cleared the board, gathering the pieces into the container, then placed a black stone down.
"See? Once black is placed, it stays. These four points around it? They're called 'liberties'."
While explaining, Reiji placed four white stones around the black one.
"When a black stone loses all its liberties, it's considered dead." With that, Reiji picked up the captured black piece and pointed to the spot where it had been placed.
"This position becomes off-limits for black—it's called a 'forbidden point.' That's pretty much it. Simple, right?"
As soon as he finished, Hiruzen Sarutobi gave a nod.
"Compared to shogi, where every piece has a fixed movement pattern, this is much simpler."
"Want to give it a try?" Reiji grinned to himself. Simple? In a minute, I'm going to wipe the floor with you!
With that thought, he dragged the board closer and set up in front of the Second Hokage's tombstone.
To call it a match was generous—it was one-sided abuse.
Reiji laid traps all over the board, used underhanded tricks, and dismantled Hiruzen's pieces with ease.
Even when surrounded, Reiji left just enough "forbidden points" to stop Hiruzen from capturing a single stone.
After losing several rounds in a row, Hiruzen's face began to turn visibly stiff.
He hadn't expected this at all. During work, he'd been driven mad by everything involving Reiji and Kagami Uchiha—and now that work was over, Reiji was pummeling him on the board too.
Just as Hiruzen looked ready to explode, Reiji quickly reached out and wiped away the winning formation.
"Old man Hiruzen, this isn't fun anymore. Go's about a battle of wits. Let's do this instead—imagine you're Tobirama-sama, and we'll dare to emulate Hashirama-sama's intellect."
Hiruzen was about to refuse, but then the thought of how effortlessly Tobirama had run the village crossed his mind. Maybe it really was time to learn from his teacher.
So he nodded slowly. "Alright, let's do it."
The game resumed.
This time, Reiji dropped his usual crafty tactics and charged in headfirst—like a reckless brawler.
Hiruzen, on the other hand, grew far more cautious. Each move he made was calculated through the lens of what his teacher Tobirama would have done.
Before long, Reiji's black stones were in disarray, picked off one after another.
Yet even as victory loomed, Hiruzen showed no sign of satisfaction.
In fact, the longer he played, the more startled he became.
This simple game, with its unfamiliar dynamics, perfectly reflected the flow of real battlefields.
Compared to this, shogi felt constrained—too rigid and narrow.
Gradually, he began to get into rhythm.
His moves became increasingly fluid and precise.
Across from him, Reiji frowned, eyes fixed on his crumbling position—then suddenly broke into a grin.
"As expected, Tobirama-sama's brilliance really did surpass Hashirama-sama's."
Then, his tone shifted.
"But what made Hashirama-sama terrifying was that he had the strength to ignore the rules—and create new ones."
As he said that, Reiji suddenly swept his arm across the board, sending the stones scattering in a chaotic mess.
Hiruzen blinked in surprise, then shook his head and burst into laughter.
He wasn't a fool—far from it. He understood exactly what Reiji was doing.
This wasn't just a game.
Reiji was subtly nudging him, guiding him in his own way.
And Hiruzen wasn't angry about it. He had never been one to hoard power or be drunk on authority—otherwise, he wouldn't have shared his influence with Danzō Shimura, Koharu Utatane, and Homura Mitokado.
In truth, Hiruzen was the one who had truly inherited the Will of Fire.
So, he didn't mind Reiji's indirect guidance on how to become a better Hokage.
It wasn't easy—but it wasn't impossible either.
He could follow the path of Hashirama-sama, using overwhelming strength to suppress enemies.
Or he could follow Tobirama-sama's path—governing the village with composure and wisdom.
Hiruzen wanted both.
In that moment, the usually unambitious Third Hokage felt his heart stir with resolve.
"Another round?" Reiji asked with a smile.
"One more round!" Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded.
This time, their game moved at a much slower pace. The fierce back-and-forth from before seemed to vanish, replaced by an unexpected harmony on the board.
Taking advantage of the lull, Hiruzen casually asked, "So, I've been hearing you've been sneaking around with Kagami a lot lately?"
"Heh~" Reiji chuckled. "That's not on me. He waits for me outside the Ninja Academy every day. I've got no way out—it's all him."
Hiruzen, keeping the tone light, followed up. "And what are you two talking about so much? Can't get enough of each other?"
It wasn't that there was more to talk about—Reiji had long since had his fill. Kagami Uchiha was the one who just wouldn't stop.
Sighing internally, Reiji came clean.
"Not much, really. That guy's lost it. All he thinks about is making babies. He's driving his wife into depression."
Hearing that, Hiruzen looked up sharply, giving the still-young Reiji a strange look. Inwardly, he couldn't help but think—
This kid talks like an old man!
Completely unaware he'd just been judged, Reiji kept going.
"He keeps pestering me because he wants me to train his son. Even says he wants his kid to be as cunning as I am.
Old man Hiruzen, seriously—what kind of person says stuff like that?"
Reiji let out a long, aggrieved sigh.
Hiruzen sighed too, his face darkening.
"And get this—he actually asked me how to plant the Will of Fire deep into his child's heart."
That caught Hiruzen's attention immediately. He set the board aside and leaned in. "And? Do you have an answer?"
"Sure. I told him to make the kid first, then ask the Yamanaka clan to shove the Will of Fire directly into his brain."
Reiji said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Damn it. Why did I even ask?
Hiruzen's expression darkened like a storm cloud.
He took several deep breaths to calm the irritation bubbling up inside him.
"That's... a little shallow. Do you have a better idea?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steady.
Reiji nodded. "Kagami had the same reaction. Asked if I had a better plan."
"So I told him, just brainwash the kid first, then ship him off to the Jashin cult. Maybe he'll come back smart like me, awaken the Mangekyō, and have the Will of Fire carved into his soul. Sounds perfect, right?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi had officially given up on this conversation.
Then, a thought struck him. He hesitated for a moment before asking seriously,
"Reiji... what do you think about the Will of Fire?"
Reiji, just about to place a piece, froze mid-move. Slowly, he lifted his head and looked at Hiruzen.
"Old man... you really think someone like me, after everything I've been through, is fit to carry the weight of this village?"
He scratched his head, then added,
"The Will of Fire—it's an ideal, a goal.
Do you honestly think someone like me can have lofty ideals or grand goals?
What I do have... is just a little emotion. And that—" he smiled faintly, "—that's what I'll fight to protect with everything I've got."
With a carefree grin, Reiji dropped the piece in his hand, stood up, and left the cemetery without looking back.
Hiruzen watched his figure fade into the golden glow of the setting sun, then slowly bent down to pick up the fallen pieces.
To the empty air, he gave a quiet order.
"From now on, stop monitoring Reiji Sakuhō."
...
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