A short time later,
The sounds of life within the Uchiha Clan's compound had completely died down.
The Four Violet Flames Formation enveloping the compound also vanished.
Of course,
This was not good news for the Uchiha Clan.
Because there were no living Uchiha left within the entire compound.
Aside from those fortunate few who were not in the village at the time, all other Uchiha Ninjas had been completely slaughtered by the Konoha's Ninjas.
The Konoha's Ninjas who carried out the task were either Anbu or the Third Hokage's direct subordinates. Even if they felt some reluctance towards their former comrades, they still ruthlessly completed the mission.
The one who contributed the most was naturally the Nine-Tails' Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Kushina.
Minato's death had clearly been a massive shock to Kushina. If the Uzumaki Clan had a Kekkei Genkai like the Sharingan, she probably would have directly awakened the Mangekyo.
Naka Shrine's Ruins.
After slaughtering all the Three-Tomoe Uchiha, the ferocity in Kushina's eyes finally diminished considerably. Reason once again took hold of her mind, and she dismissed the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
Turning around,
She swept a cold glance over the Konoha's Ninjas, including the Third Hokage, but felt no desire to speak. With a stern expression, she simply left, silently disappearing from the spot.
No one stopped her.
The Uchiha Clan was annihilated, and someone had to handle the aftermath.
Soon,
The non-directly affiliated Ninjas were all dismissed to stand guard outside the ruins of the Uchiha Clan's compound, preventing any curious onlookers from entering.
As for the Anbu directly under the Third Hokage, they wore masks, concealing their faces, and busied themselves within the Uchiha Clan's compound.
Busied themselves with what?
Of course, the Sharingan.
The Uchiha Clan, hailed as the number one clan in the Ninja World, relied on their powerful Sharingan. Now that a large number of Uchiha Ninjas had been slaughtered, those precious Sharingan could not be allowed to fall into outside hands.
Even though Hiruzen had no personal interest in the Sharingan, he still had to task his Anbu with collecting them.
"Tsk... I never imagined the Uchiha Clan would exit the stage of history in such a manner. It's truly unexpected!"
"The Naka Shrine is destroyed, the Uchiha Clan's members are almost all dead. This is the price of their evil."
"From the moment the Rotting Wood Plague began spreading in the village, the Uchiha's fate was sealed."
"Let's focus on collecting the Sharingan carefully first! These are precious research materials, they absolutely must not fall into the hands of other villages."
Several Jonin-level Anbu murmured quietly amongst themselves. Their hands moved quickly, swiftly gathering the Uchiha corpses from the ground.
For those smashed to pieces by Kushina's punches, they attempted to piece them back together as intact as possible.
The Anbu were the Hokage's action team, emphasizing discipline. They weren't as fanatical as the Root, and some reasonable communication was permitted during missions.
A short while later,
The corpses of the Uchiha Clan's members were all collected. 519 bodies, some intact, some mutilated, were laid out evenly on the streets inside the compound.
White cloths covered the corpses, concealing the cruel manner of death, yet it still gave off a shocking and horrifying feeling.
A leading Anbu listened with a steady and grave expression to his subordinate's report. He nodded and soon walked over to Hiruzen.
"Hokage-sama…"
"Uchiha Fugaku's body was not found at the scene. He must have received some information and escaped in advance."
Upon hearing this,
The surrounding Konoha's higher-ups all had serious expressions.
'Uchiha Fugaku escaped?'
This was really not good news for Konoha.
It even faintly reminded Hiruzen, Homura, and Koharu of Madara back in the day. Let's not forget, that man also left the village, only to return for revenge not long after, indirectly causing the death of the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama.
If Fugaku, a powerful Missing-Nin capable of repelling the Fourth Mizukage, were to escape and watch from the shadows, it would be a truly terrifying situation.
"Overthinking is pointless."
"Issue a bounty."
"List Uchiha Fugaku as an S-Rank Missing-Nin. Mobilize all the village's intelligence resources to capture him as soon as possible, dead or alive."
After a moment of silence, Hiruzen issued the final order.
Simultaneously,
From an angle unseen by the others, an Anbu wearing a blue fox mask had a flicker of a seemingly smiling yet not expression in their eyes.