At the Konoha hospital, Dazen was talking to Hideki and Ayume about the fight, the three were talking excitedly and so time passed quickly.

Hideki looked at his watch and said: “I think we're going to have to finish this conversation another time, it's getting late, I'm going to have to go home, my parents are picking on me after this last mission.”

Dazen laughed and said: “No wonder the last mission was really dangerous, we’ll see another time.”

Hideki said goodbye to Dazen and Ayume and quickly left the two alone.

Dazen then spoke: “And you, Ayume, were your parents worried after learning about the problems in our mission?”

Ayume nodded and said: “Yes, when I got home, I had to answer a full interrogation before they let me go.”

Dazen laughed and said, “Well of course they were going to do that.”

Ayume laughed and soon the room fell into an awkward silence, Dazen looked at Ayume who seemed strangely nervous, 'I don't know what to say, it's the first time I've seen her so nervous.'

Dazen then scratched his head and broke the silence: “Are you okay, Ayume? You are restless.”

Ayume looked away and spoke shyly: “I just wanted to thank you for helping me during the fight, if it weren’t for you, I would have died.”

Dazen laughed a little: “Ahh, so that's what a relief I thought you were going to declare yourself to me or something, what a shock I don't know how you would react after being dumped.”

Ayume's nervousness disappeared as soon as Dazen finished speaking and the girl stood up with a red face and said angrily: "You damn thing... I can't believe I actually got worried about you."

Dazen laughed loudly at the girl's reaction which only infuriated Ayume even more, "Dazen you better stop laughing now or else I'll ignore the fact that you're in the hospital and end you."

However, Dazen ignored the girl's threats and continued laughing without caring.

Ayume, irritated, approached Dazen's bed, raising her fist in a threatening manner. "I'm serious, Dazen, don't make me punch you right in your bruised ribs."

Dazen then tried to control his laughter and said: “Okay, okay, I stopped, it was just a joke, don’t take it too seriously.”

Ayume crossed her arms and said: “You can be really unbearable sometimes.”

Dazen laughed and spoke more seriously: “But anyway, you don’t need to thank me, without you we had no chance of winning the fight against a jounin so I couldn’t let you die.”

Ayume turned her head and said, “I know, but I still want to say thank you.”

Dazen nodded and said, “Okay.”

The two remained silent and then Ayume said: “It's getting late, I'll let you rest and I'll come by tomorrow with Hideki.”

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Dazen nodded: “Okay, I’ll wait for you.”

Ayume then turned and left, leaving Dazen alone in the room, 'I think I'll have to stop training for a few days, well there's nothing I can do I'll take advantage of these days to completely rest my mind, in the last few months all my time has been focused on training and missions, it will be good to have a few days off.”

Dazen then lay down again and closed his eyes to rest.

.................................

In the next few days Dazen tried to rest as much as possible, Ayume Hideki and Kenji visited him every day to check on him, so there was only one day left for Dazen to be released, but a tragedy would shake Dazen's calm days.

Dazen was lying down, the atmosphere in the hospital was always a little tense, but today everything seemed to have a heavier and sadder atmosphere, Dazen looked at the ceiling while thinking, today Konoha learned of the death of one of its heroes Sakumo Hatake had taken his own life due to failure in his mission.

‘So, it finally happened, the atmosphere in the hospital is terrible I think a death like that lowers everyone’s morale.’

Dazen sighed sadly and tried to go back to sleep.

.............................

At the same moment in the Hokage's office Hiruzen was furious and stared at Danzo as he spoke: “You did it this time Danzo, can you understand the impact of your actions? Because of your actions Konoha lost one of its most powerful ninjas in the middle of a war all because of your political schemes.”

Danzo, with his expression impassive, replied coldly: "My actions serve to ensure Konoha's long-term survival, Sakumo was an excellent ninja, but his sentimental decisions put our village at risk, his actions could not go unpunished, we need ninja let them follow orders.”

Hiruzen slammed the table, anger showing on his normally calm face, "This loss will not strengthen the village, it will only create a great loss of morale among our ninjas."

Danzo crossed his arms, his cold eyes fixed on the Hokage, "You talk about morale, but in war its survival that matters feelings only make us weak, Konoha needs strength not emotional weakness."

Hiruzen continued to glare at Hiruzen with an angry expression: “You can say what you want, but effectively the only thing your actions caused was the death of one of Konoha's strongest ninja, how do you think our enemies will react to this news? They will see it as weakness and will use it to lower the morale of our ninjas.”

Danzo, still maintaining an impassive expression, replied: "They can face it however they want, Hiruzen, but make no mistake, Konoha's true strength will come from discipline and the unwavering fulfillment of missions, sentimentality only weakens us."

Hiruzen took a deep breath to control his fury: "This conversation is over, Danzo get out of my office."

Danzo nodded slightly before turning and leaving without another word, Hiruzen watched the door close and sat in his chair still angry and regretful thinking about what his next actions would be.

.......................................

Back at the hospital, Dazen was sitting on the bed, looking out the window when Hideki and Ayume entered the room, Hideki was carrying a small bag of sweets.

“We brought some sweets to cheer you up.” Hideki said with a smile.

“Thank you, Hideki,” Dazen replied, accepting the bag of sweets.

Ayume sat on one of the chairs and I asked: “Did you hear the news about Sakumo?”

Dazen nodded as he spoke: “Yes, everyone is talking about it, no one expected something like this.”

Hideki and Ayume nodded silently, Dazen then asked: “And how is Kenji-sensei?”

Hideki shook his head as he spoke, "We don't know he didn't show up at the training camp today."

Dazen nodded and again the room fell silent, this time it was Ayume's turn to speak: "Well let's not talk about this subject anymore, Dazen you will be released from the hospital tomorrow, right?"

Dazen nodded, "Yes, I have to admit that I missed the training, sitting around doing nothing is very boring."

Hideki laughed and said: “Well I’m sure Kenji-sensei will make you regret those words.”

Dazen chuckled and took one of the sweets as he spoke, “I’m sure so.”

The three then started talking, the next day Dazen was released from the hospital in the morning, Dazen left the hospital while thinking: 'Finally I couldn't stand staying in this hospital any longer.'

Dazen then headed towards the training field and soon saw Ayume and Hideki, he then approached the two, “You guys are early.”

Hideki and Ayume smiled and the former said: “We came early to wait for Kenji-sensei.”

The three then started talking while waiting for Kenji and they didn't have to wait long when a short time later Kenji quickly appeared at the training ground.