Naruto: Experience Pain, Start by Copying the Entire Shinobi World

In the courtyard of Hiruzen Sarutobi's mansion, the terrifying pressure that was enough to distort light came and went quickly.

It was as if it had never existed.

Mitokado Yan and Utatane Koharu remained kneeling on the ground, their bodies soaked in cold sweat, like two quails just pulled out of ice water.

They were panting heavily, each breath accompanied by a burning pain in their lungs.

For a brief moment, they really thought they were going to die.

It wasn't that they were killed, but that their spirits were brutally crushed by that unreasonable will.

Qianxuan put down his teacup, the bottom of which collided with the stone table, making a crisp "tap".

He stood up, not even glancing back at the two old men slumped on the ground, but simply nodding slightly to Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"My lord, the game is over, I'll be leaving now."

Before he finished speaking, his figure vanished into thin air, leaving only a fallen leaf swirling in the breeze.

It wasn't until that fallen leaf gently drifted to the ground that Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu felt the mountain that had been weighing on their souls finally being lifted.

The two exchanged a glance, and on each other's bloodless faces, they saw the relief of surviving a disaster, as well as a deeper, uncontrollable fear.

"Hiruzen..."

Mitokado Homura's voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded.

"How...how dare he..."

"dare?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the pipe that had fallen to the ground, put it back in his mouth, but did not light it.

He looked at his two old friends whom he had known all his life, his eyes filled with weariness and disappointment.

"What wouldn't he dare to do?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was soft, yet it struck the two men's hearts like a heavy hammer.

"Don't you guys understand yet?"

"Times have changed."

He turned around, his back to the two of them, and looked at the old tree in the courtyard that had witnessed the storms of Konoha.

"You always think that we are the students of the Second Hokage, the elders of Konoha, and that everyone in the village should respect us."

"But your prestige comes from your teachers and is earned over time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice suddenly rose a few decibels, carrying an barely suppressed anger at his lack of ambition.

"His prestige was earned by himself, sword by sword, on the battlefield!"

"Kannabi Bridge, he single-handedly destroyed Iwagakure's supply lines and turned the tide of the entire battle!"

"In the Land of Demons, he alone, with a single slash, shattered that so-called immortal and indestructible demon, the Wraith!"

"Outside Sunagakure, he cleaved a two-hundred-mile-long canyon with a single slash, forcing the Fourth Kazekage to sign that humiliating treaty!"

With each sentence Sarutobi Slash spoke, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu's faces grew paler.

They knew all of this.

But when Hiruzen Sarutobi said it in such an almost roaring way, it gave them an unprecedented, soul-stirring shock.

Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly turned around, and for the first time, his cloudy eyes revealed an almost icy indifference.

"Do you really think he wouldn't dare kill you?"

"Have you forgotten how Danzo died?"

That name, like a black lightning bolt, struck hard into their minds.

"If it weren't for my old face, and if it weren't for Tsunade's sake, he wouldn't be wasting his breath talking to you today."

"He will wipe you both, along with your clans, from Konoha just like he did with Danzo!"

"At that time, who will speak up for you?"

"Is it Minato? Is it Fugaku? Or are it the ninjas and villagers in the village?"

"No, they'll just clap and cheer."

Hiruzen Sarutobi slammed his pipe heavily onto the stone table.

"Because of you, you have long become the biggest obstacle on this village's path forward!"

His words were like daggers to the heart.

Mitokado Yan and Utatane Koharu slumped to the ground, their eyes vacant, as if all their energy had been drained away.

They finally understood.

Everything they relied on—status, seniority, connections—was as fragile as a piece of paper in the face of that man's absolute power.

And they were like two mantises trying to stop a chariot with their bare hands—a laughable sight.

……

Konoha Finance Department.

Kakuzu now has his own spacious and bright office.

He did not sit behind that desk made of precious wood, a symbol of power.

Instead, it was like a dragon guarding a treasure, coiled up in the center of the archives.

In front of him were scrolls and ledgers piled up as high as a small mountain.

He doesn't need to rest or eat; his five hearts are providing him with a continuous source of energy for his work.

His eyes, gleaming green, were like two high-precision scanners, rapidly reviewing each document.

No suspicious figure or irregular expenditure can escape his watchful eye.

There was a gentle knock on the office door.

"Enter."

Kakuzu didn't even raise his head.

The door was pushed open, and Mitokado Yan and Utatane Koharu walked in, heads down, like two children who had done something wrong.

Behind them followed several younger members of the family, each carrying a heavy box.

"Kakuzu... Your Excellency."

Mitokado Yan's voice was dry and humble.

Kakuzu finally raised his head.

He looked at the two distraught old men, then at the boxes behind them, and a cold smile curled at the corner of his mouth.

"What is it?"

"We...we're here to...explain our problems."

Xiaochun's voice was barely audible, like a mosquito's buzz.

Several younger people placed the box on the ground and opened it.

Inside were neatly stacked gold bars and silver notes.

"Over the years... we made a mistake and misappropriated some of the village's public funds."

Mitokado Homura said with difficulty,

"This is just one part... We... we'll finish the rest as soon as possible!"

Kakuzu stood up and slowly walked to the boxes.

He didn't look at the gold and silver, but instead picked up a newly compiled account book and threw it in front of the two men.

"The amount of funds spent on the purchase of ninja tools was falsely reported to be 73 million taels."

"The reward for D-level and C-level missions will be reduced by 45 million taels."

"Eighteen million taels of compensation for the fallen ninjas were intercepted."

Every time Kakuzu pronounced a number, both of their bodies would tremble.

"What you brought isn't even a fraction of what you've brought."

Kakuzu's voice was devoid of any emotion.

"You call this... 'some'?"

"us……"

"Shut up."

Kakuzu interrupted them.

He looked down at the two elders who had once held immense power in Konoha, his cloudy eyes filled with undisguised contempt and mockery.

"I heard that you are the personal disciples of the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju?"

The two of them instinctively straightened their chests, which was almost their last remaining pride.

"Oh."

Kakuzu laughed.

That laughter was more chilling than the cold wind of a winter night.

"Tobirama Senju was a ruthless character. He dared to confront even his own brother for the sake of the village, and he even suppressed the Uchiha clan."

"He spent his entire life scheming for the stability and strength of Konoha."

"If he knew that the two students he taught, instead of thinking about how to increase revenue and reduce expenditure for the village, were like two termites, clinging to the village and sucking the blood of their own people..."

Kakuzu paused, then leaned close to their ears and spoke, word by word, in an almost malicious tone:

"Do you think he'll be so angry he'll crawl out of his sanctuary and personally shove both of you down the toilet and flush you away?"

"You've all utterly disgraced him!"

Mitokado Yan and Utatane Koharu's faces instantly turned a deep liver color.

This is a humiliation that is even more painful than killing them.

But they couldn't refute it with a single word.

They could only watch as that traitorous finance minister, with the most cutting words, trampled their last shred of dignity underfoot and crushed them repeatedly.