The return trip to Konoha was even more silent than the journey there.
Along the way, Minato-sensei hardly spoke a single word.
His golden hair seemed to have lost its luster under the overcast sky.
Roy followed behind him.
He could sense that Minato-sensei's mood was terrible.
A complex mix of anger, helplessness, and disappointment was radiating from him.
Roy understood that feeling well.
It was probably the sensation you got when you discovered that what you had sworn to protect was already rotting from within.
Both Tokuma and Yakumo had keenly sensed the tense atmosphere.
They wisely remained quiet the entire trip.
They returned to the village late at night.
Minato didn't dismiss them.
He led Roy directly toward the Hokage Building.
"Tokuma, Yakumo, you two go home and rest first." He stopped in front of the building. "Remember, keep every detail of this mission to yourselves."
"Yes, sir."
The two acknowledged, shot a worried glance at Minato and Roy, and then turned to leave.
"Let's go."
Minato led Roy into the building that represented Konoha's highest authority.
The hallway was empty.
Only the sound of their footsteps echoed monotonously.
"Wait for me here."
At the Hokage's office door, Minato stopped.
He looked at Roy.
"No matter what happens next, don't act impulsively."
"I understand." Roy nodded.
Minato pushed the door open and walked inside.
The door closed behind him.
Roy didn't actually wait there.
He walked to the corner of the hallway where a window was.
He pushed the window open, his figure flickered, and silently, he appeared in the shadows on the outer wall of the Hokage Building.
Like a gecko, he clung to the wall, slowly moving to a spot beneath the window of the Hokage's office.
He couldn't hear the sounds inside.
The walls were thick, and the window was shut tight.
But he didn't need to use his ears.
He closed his eyes and pushed his Observation Haki to its utmost limit.
He began to listen to the two voices inside the room.
Inside the office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was puffing on his pipe.
Smoke curled around his wrinkled face. He had listened to Minato's report.
From beginning to end, he hadn't interrupted.
When Minato mentioned the name Danzo Shimura, his eyelids merely twitched slightly.
And then, that was it.
"I understand."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a drag from his pipe and slowly exhaled.
His tone was very calm.
As if he were listening to some trivial matter, like how the weather was nice today.
Minato's fists clenched tightly within his sleeves.
"Lord Third!" His voice, for the first time, carried a trace of anger he couldn't suppress. "Elder Danzo established a human experimentation lab without your permission, sent men to test us, and even tried to eliminate us, the village's shinobi!"
"This is already an act of treason against the village!"
"Minato."
Hiruzen cut him off.
"You're too agitated."
He tapped his pipe against the ashtray.
"We are in a time of war."
"Konoha needs unity."
"Danzo… he has done some extreme things, I know."
"But his intentions were also for the village's sake."
Minato's face showed an expression of disbelief.
"For the village's sake?" He countered. "What about the innocent civilians used as test subjects? Were they for the village's sake too?"
"What about the comrades discarded like trash by Root? Were they for the village's sake too?"
"Minato." Hiruzen's voice deepened. "You still view things too idealistically."
"Konoha is like a great tree."
"It needs leaves bathed in sunlight, but it also must have dirty roots buried deep underground."
"For a Hokage who stands in the sunlight like me, there must be someone willing to handle all the trash in the darkness for me."
"Danzo and I are like two ends of a scale."
"Only with both of us present can Konoha maintain balance."
"Do you mean…" Minato's voice grew a bit hoarse. "We're just going to let this matter slide?"
"I didn't say that." Hiruzen shook his head.
"I'll talk to Danzo."
"I'll warn him to be more restrained in his future actions."
A talk... A warning...
That was it.
Minato's heart sank, little by little.
He understood.
The Lord Hokage had known from the start what Danzo was doing.
It wasn't that he didn't know, he was simply condoning it.
"I understand." Minato stood up.
"Then, I'll take my leave."
His voice had returned to calm.
But beneath that calm lay a volcano on the verge of eruption.
"Go ahead." Hiruzen waved his hand. "Remember, what happened today ends here."
Minato said no more, turned, and walked out of the office.
Outside the window.
Roy slowly opened his eyes.
He hadn't heard their conversation.
But he had heard, he had heard Minato-sensei's voice, blazing like the sun, filled with anger and a sense of justice.
Then, he had heard how that voice was gradually suppressed, little by little, by another voice, older, more fatigued, filled with compromise and helplessness.
Until it was extinguished.
He didn't need to know the process.
He already knew the outcome.
He slid down from the wall and returned to the corner before Minato left the building.
He pretended he had been waiting there all along.
Minato approached.
His expression had returned to its usual gentleness.
But the sound of his body told Roy that his mood was now utterly terrible.
"Let's go, Roy," he said. "I'll walk you home."
Roy silently followed behind him.
He watched his teacher's somewhat desolate back.
He suddenly felt that this genius hailed as the Yellow Flash, this future Fourth Hokage.
Was a little pitiable.
He wanted to use his own light to illuminate the entire village.
Yet he didn't realize that the darkness within this village was bottomless.
Even the person sitting in the highest position had already been half-consumed by that darkness.
Roy walked along Konoha's streets.
He looked at the shinobi on patrol, the closed shops, the villagers still full of hope for the future.
He used to think that as long as he became strong enough to handle the known events of the future, he could live on safely.
Now, he knew.
He was wrong.
The dangers of this world had never been the enemies on the surface.
Not the Akatsuki, not Madara Uchiha.
The true danger was this system, already beginning to rot from its very core.
The Hokage was just an old man who compromised.
This village was unreliable.
To survive, he couldn't just hide in the shadows.
He had to…
Seize power for himself.