The Konoha vegetable market was as lively as ever. Merchants shouted over each other to advertise fresh produce, the smell of grilled dumplings wafted through the air, and villagers bustled about with baskets in hand.
At the center of the crowd, several elderly women huddled together near a stall selling daikon radishes. Their chatter, sharp and unrestrained, carried louder than the merchants' calls.
"Have you heard?" whispered one woman with tightly curled gray hair, her eyes darting around as though sharing a forbidden secret. "Last night, Anbu and the Guards joined forces to wipe out the Sarutobi, Shimura, Tenne, and Mito clans!"
The other women gasped, nearly dropping the vegetables they were holding.
"What?" one exclaimed. "That can't be true! Those four clans have the backing of Lord Third Hokage and the two Hokage advisors. Who would dare lay a hand on them?"
"That's right," another scoffed. "If you're making things up, at least make it believable."
The curly-haired woman, known in the market as Auntie Noodle Roll because she once sold homemade noodles wrapped in paper rolls, crossed her arms proudly. "Why would I lie? My son is Anbu. He came home last night straight from enforcement duty. Said he was so busy they didn't even have time to drink water!"
The women leaned closer, skepticism turning to curiosity.
"And do you know what else?" Auntie Noodle Roll lowered her voice, savoring the moment. "Luckily, their captain is a decent man. We booked several private rooms at BBQ Q for the Anbu team, treated them to a real feast! My son told me their captain even gave each person a piece of A5 wagyu beef!"
Gasps rippled through the group.
"A5 wagyu?" one muttered. "That's at least 800 ryō a slice!"
Another woman, heavily painted with rouge and powder, sneered. "Hah! Where would an Anbu captain get that kind of money? Embezzlement, that's what it is."
"Go on, shut your mouth!" Auntie Noodle Roll snapped, hands on her hips. "Their captain is a veteran of three wars. He's completed S-rank missions as easily as drinking water! With his record, he probably earns more than enough mission fees. Treating his team to one good meal is nothing for a man like him!"
The painted woman sniffed and looked away, but the others nodded in agreement. Auntie Noodle Roll's loyalty to the mysterious captain seemed unshakable, and ever since her son's pay had been doubled along with a hefty bonus, she'd treated the captain like a savior.
But while the women quibbled over wagyu beef, an elderly man strolling by with a cage of birds under his arm couldn't keep silent. He stopped and glared at them.
"You ignorant old bats," he barked. "Instead of gossiping about your son's supper, why don't you realize what this means? The Third Hokage's clans, four of them, struck down in one night? If this is true, the entire village will be shaken!"
Auntie Noodle Roll whipped her head around and glared. "What's wrong with old women, huh? Weren't you born from one yourself? And you! All you do is walk birds and plant flowers every day. If it weren't for women like us, you wouldn't even have food on your table!"
"You—!" The bird-walking uncle nearly choked in rage, his wrinkled cheeks turning red. He wanted to storm off, but the juicy tidbit she had dangled was too much to ignore.
Taking a deep breath, he forced a smile. "Fine. I won't argue. Just answer me one thing. Is what you said really true? Anbu made such a move, yet the Third Hokage hasn't reacted?"
Auntie Noodle Roll sniffed disdainfully. "If you want me to tell you, then call me sister first."
The uncle's face darkened. "You—"
But his craving for gossip and his desire to dazzle his fellow uncles in the teahouse outweighed his pride. Trembling, he swallowed his disgust and croaked, "Ahem. Dear… sister, please, enlighten me."
Auntie Noodle Roll wrinkled her nose theatrically. "Ugh, that was disgusting. But fine. Listen well. Danzo was listed as a traitor yesterday—you know that, don't you?"
"Of course!" the uncle replied eagerly. "It was posted all over the village notice board. Hundreds of crimes listed against him—he was truly the scum of Konoha!" His sense of justice swelled, and he nearly crushed his birdcage in outrage.
Auntie Noodle Roll leaned closer, savoring the suspense. "Then you must not have heard… Yesterday, the Third Hokage himself defected. As for Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura, they were dragged off to the Guard prison!"
The uncle dropped his cage. His birds flapped and squawked wildly as gasps exploded across the market.
"What?!"
"The Third Hokage… defected?"
"Impossible! How could Lord Third betray the village?"
The crowd swelled around them. Farmers, merchants, and housewives stopped mid-transaction, ears straining to catch every word.
Auntie Noodle Roll raised her chin proudly. "Why would I lie? My son said it himself—today an official announcement will be made. The Third Hokage will be declared an S-rank missing-nin!"
Murmurs spread like wildfire. She basked in the attention, uncaring for politics but reveling in being the center of the market's gossip storm.
The bird-walking uncle, however, clenched his fists. "It doesn't make sense! Could this be nothing more than a struggle between the old Hokage and the new one? A fight for power during the transition?"
"There you go again with your conspiracy theories," Auntie Noodle Roll said with a roll of her eyes. Everyone knew the uncle fancied himself a justice-seeker, spinning wild theories with his circle of old men.
She jabbed a finger at him. "Danzo's crimes all happened during the Third Hokage's reign! Don't tell me Lord Third didn't know. Last night, Anbu and the Security Department seized nearly ten billion ryō worth of illegal assets from those four clans! The Sarutobi clan alone had swallowed over four billion!"
The crowd erupted.
"Ten… ten billion?!"
"That's impossible!"
"They robbed the village blind!"
Auntie Noodle Roll's voice grew louder, fueled by righteous fury. "That money was public funds meant for building the village! Some of it was the inheritance left by fallen shinobi for their wives and children! And what happened? Those widows and children suddenly disappeared, never to return. Do you understand now? The four clans devoured everything!"
The market went silent, then exploded into shouts.
"This is unforgivable!"
"They stole from the dead and the weak!"
"It's the same as robbing us all!"
Anger swelled like a storm. The villagers might not care who wore the Hokage's hat, but stolen public funds—that was personal. Every road, every well, every academy classroom had been built with their labor and taxes. To learn that billions had been stolen was like learning their own wallets had been emptied.
And the logic was clear. Could the Sarutobi clan have embezzled four billion without the protection of the Hokage himself? Impossible. Whether the Third Hokage knew or not, he was guilty—either complicit or incompetent.
The bird-walking uncle's mind raced. This was too important. Forget strolling with his birds—this needed to be shared immediately. He scooped up his cage and hurried toward the tea shop where the uncles gathered daily. Today, he would be the one to deliver the thunderbolt of news, exposing the Third Hokage for what he truly was.
"All for justice!" he muttered under his breath.
Meanwhile, similar conversations erupted across Konoha. In tea shops, in bathhouses, in ramen stalls and training grounds, the story spread like wildfire. At first, a few loyalists tried to defend Lord Third, but their voices were drowned in the rising tide of fury.
"Defending him? Then you must have been paid off by the four clans!" villagers accused, spitting at their feet.
One by one, dissenting voices fell silent, swallowed by the mob. Soon, no one dared defend the Third Hokage aloud.
By midday, the verdict of the people was clear.
The Sarutobi, Shimura, Tenne, and Mito clans—the so-called Konoha F4—were no longer noble families. They were thieves, parasites, and traitors, nailed forever to the pillar of shame.
The storm of public opinion had swept through Konoha with unstoppable force, and nothing would ever be the same again.
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