Downstairs, in the main hall.
The Konoha shinobi were murmuring among themselves, speaking in hushed voices as they speculated about what had happened. Although the Third Hokage had not revealed any concrete information earlier, the change in his demeanor alone was enough to make everyone read between the lines.
Saru's group was probably in serious trouble.
The mission had very likely gone wrong.
The Uchiha jōnin all wore deeply furrowed expressions. If not for Uchiha Fugaku forcibly keeping them in check as clan head, some of them would have already rushed upstairs to demand an explanation from the Hokage. Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Obito exchanged glances, each seeing the worry reflected in the other's eyes.
Unlike most of their clansmen,
the boundary between village and clan was not so sharply drawn in their hearts. To them, the clan was part of the village, and the two could not be separated. But they also knew that those who shared this view were exceedingly rare within the Uchiha. The vast majority clearly distinguished between clan interests and village interests.
That reality left them deeply uneasy.
If their clan cousin Tsuruha had really met with misfortune, what would happen if the clan and the village came into open conflict?
In a corner of the hall.
The Kirigakure shinobi were equally tense, nerves stretched taut as they waited for Konoha's next move. They could not help but speculate about the fate awaiting them. Even Kyoichi found it hard to maintain a calm, untroubled facade at a moment like this, and could only follow the crowd in adopting a guarded, alert posture.
"Kyoichi, aren't you worried?"
Ringo Ameyuri leaned over and whispered.
"Of course not. My heart hasn't stopped hanging in my throat for a single second."
Kyoichi denied it flatly.
"...Liar."
Ringo Ameyuri stared at him for two seconds before decisively branding him one.
"..."
Kyoichi raised an eyebrow.
He looked at her with faint surprise. He had to admit that this girl, who inherited part of the Uzumaki bloodline, seemed to possess an unusually keen perception. Compared to ordinary sensory-type shinobi, she appeared able to sense far more than just fluctuations in chakra.
She had noticed something off about Mizushiro earlier, and now it was as if she had seen straight through his mental state as well.
Just then—
Two figures appeared at the stairway leading to the second floor.
The Third Hokage and Orochimaru.
Minato Namikaze was nowhere to be seen.
In an instant, everyone in the hall focused their attention on the Third Hokage and Orochimaru.
"Hokage-sama, what exactly is going on? Please tell me the truth. Is my clan cousin alive or dead?"
From behind Uchiha Fugaku,
a young man named Uchiha Inabi finally snapped and shouted the question.
"Inabi!"
Uchiha Fugaku's expression changed as he sharply reprimanded him.
"I was just about to inform you all," the Third Hokage replied evenly. "I regret to say that Uchiha Tsuruha has unfortunately been killed."
The moment those words fell,
the expressions of the Uchiha jōnin all changed. Deep sorrow and unease surfaced on the faces of Shisui and Obito. The sorrow was for Tsuruha, who had met such a fate at such a young age. The unease came from fear that the clan might clash with the village over his death.
"Hokage-sama, that's not what you said before," Uchiha Inabi snapped, his voice growing heated. "You rejected the clan head's request to intervene in rescuing Tsuruha, saying the ANBU were professionals. Is this what professionalism looks like? Getting my cousin killed?!"
Behind the Third Hokage,
Orochimaru's gaze instantly turned icy. He looked at Uchiha Inabi as if he were already a corpse, a walking dead man.
"It was not only Uchiha Tsuruha who was killed," the Third Hokage continued dully, as though he had not heard Inabi's outburst at all. "Saru and Kenshira's entire team also fell in battle. Saru—my eldest son, Sarutobi Takeo—managed only to pass on some intelligence to me through Enma before he died."
"What?"
"Saru was the Hokage's eldest son?"
"...Sarutobi Takeo is dead?"
Like a stone dropped into still water, his words sent shockwaves through the hall.
Not everyone knew, as Orochimaru did, that Saru was actually Sarutobi Takeo. The true identities of ANBU operatives were among the village's most tightly guarded secrets. Aside from the Hokage himself, only a handful of people knew the real identities of some ANBU members.
That was why,
even though many had already guessed from the Third Hokage's earlier reaction that Saru's mission had gone badly, they had not taken it too seriously. After all, shinobi lived by risking their lives; dying on a mission was hardly unusual.
What had puzzled them was the Hokage's visible grief. He was no novice who had never seen blood. How could the death of a few ANBU elicit such a broken expression?
Now,
they finally understood.
The ANBU operative codenamed "Saru" had been the Hokage's own eldest son, Sarutobi Takeo.
No wonder the Hokage had appeared so utterly devastated earlier.
"..."
Uchiha Inabi fell silent. The rage that had surged up moments ago was forcibly suppressed. Looking at the Hokage's numb, expressionless face, he found himself unable to say another word. The Hokage had lost his own son—how could he still accuse him of causing Tsuruha's death?
"Th-this… how could this happen?"
Even Uchiha Fugaku, the clan head, felt at a loss.
He had assumed that if Tsuruha died, the Uchiha clan would hold the moral high ground and could bargain with the Hokage.
Who would have thought
that the Hokage's own eldest son was also dead?
With that, Tsuruha's death could no longer be used as leverage. Worse still, Fugaku now had to worry about whether the Hokage might take out his anger on the clan instead. The more he thought about it, the worse his headache grew.
"Furthermore," the Third Hokage continued, "the one responsible for Uchiha Tsuruha's death was Mizushiro, a spy planted in Kirigakure by the Kumogakure. When escape became impossible, he used explosive tags to die together with Tsuruha."
He revealed this intelligence openly, in front of everyone present—including the Kiri shinobi.
The Konoha ninja erupted.
They had already suspected Mizushiro's connection to Kumogakure based on his movements, but that had only been conjecture. Now that the Hokage himself confirmed it, outrage flared instantly. Voices rose in curses against the Kumo, fists clenched, many itching to storm into Kumogakure and demand answers from the Fourth Raikage.
Yet not a single person dared to touch the minefield called
"the death of Sarutobi Takeo."
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