Konoha.
Hokage Tower—central district.
"What's going on with Danzō?" Koharu Utatane slammed her palm down on the desk, her wrinkled face turning icy. "A sure-win extermination operation—don't tell me it's still not finished."
"It's already daylight," she snapped. "Why hasn't he returned?"
Homura Mitokado's expression was just as ugly.
"If I'd known it would drag on like this, we should've gone home and slept."
He narrowed his eyes, voice cold.
"This time, Danzō owes the elders an explanation. This doesn't just 'blow over.'"
"I already had ANBU go to press him," Hiruzen said, stretching as if he were merely tired—though there was something pointed in his tone.
"After wiping out the Uchiha, Danzō's probably busy collecting Sharingan."
As he said it, irritation flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes.
As Hokage, he knew plenty of things he pretended not to see.
Including one particularly unpleasant truth:
Danzō had been secretly entangled with Orochimaru for a long time.
"Let's hope that's all it is," Homura muttered.
Koharu and Homura exchanged a look, then sat back down, both deeply annoyed.
Not once—not even for a moment—did any of them consider the possibility that the Uchiha extermination plan had failed.
And they certainly didn't consider the possibility that Danzō was already dead.
In their minds, the Uchiha massacre succeeding was as certain as sunrise.
Then—
The office doors burst open.
An ANBU shinobi rushed in, face pale with disbelief.
"Third Hokage—something happened!"
Hiruzen frowned, his pipe still between his fingers. He assumed Danzō was causing problems again—refusing to report in, playing games.
His expression darkened immediately.
"What is it?"
The ANBU swallowed.
"Danzō… Uchiha Itachi… Root's elite operatives… and the Uchiha clan members…"
He looked like he couldn't believe the words he was saying.
"…They've all vanished."
"Vanished?" Hiruzen stared at him.
For a moment, he genuinely didn't understand.
Danzō went to carry out the extermination.
So how did he "vanish" together with the Uchiha?
What was Danzō doing?
Homura's face changed sharply.
"Could Danzō have stolen the Uchiha's wealth and fled Konoha?"
The words were ridiculous—
And yet the room went cold.
Koharu's expression also shifted, unease crawling up her spine.
If Danzō had really taken a fortune and a huge number of Sharingan and disappeared…
Then that meant they'd all been played.
Then—
Another voice, frantic, crashed into the office.
"Third Hokage! Something terrible happened to the Sarutobi clan!"
A young Sarutobi genin stumbled in, clutching a black box with both hands, almost crawling from panic.
Hiruzen's heart sank.
That ominous feeling he'd dismissed last night returned like a blade.
"What happened?" he demanded. "What happened to the Sarutobi clan?"
The genin was shaking so hard his teeth clicked, cold sweat pouring down his face.
"D-Dead… dead… they're all dead…"
"What do you mean, dead?!" Hiruzen barked, fury exploding in his voice.
The genin flinched like he'd been struck—but forced himself to speak.
"All the Sarutobi clan's shinobi… are dead."
Bang—!
Hiruzen slammed the desk so hard the office rattled.
"What did you say?!"
The genin collapsed to the floor, terrified out of his mind, but still managed to stammer through the details.
Last night—
Every Sarutobi clan shinobi had been killed.
No signs of a fight.
No chaos.
Just clean execution cuts—one strike, one kill.
Clang.
Hiruzen's body locked up.
The pipe slipped from his fingers and hit the floor.
He didn't even notice.
Cold sweat had already beaded across his forehead.
Koharu's face went bloodless.
Homura stared like his mind had stopped functioning.
"Impossible…"
"The Sarutobi shinobi… wiped out?"
This wasn't just "an attack."
In Konoha, who dared touch the Sarutobi clan—especially to this degree?
Killing all their shinobi was practically the same as declaring war on the Hokage's faction itself.
Hiruzen felt the world spin.
His ears rang.
His mind turned into a blank, buzzing void.
He couldn't understand it.
Who could erase an entire clan's shinobi in one night without a single battle?
And worse—
Last night was supposed to be the Uchiha extermination.
So why was the Sarutobi clan the one bleeding?
"Investigate," Hiruzen snarled at last, voice rough with rage.
"Investigate with everything you have."
"ANBU mobilizes at full force."
"I want to know who did this."
The Sarutobi genin—still trembling—lifted the black box with both hands like it weighed a thousand pounds.
"Third Hokage…"
"This… was found in our clan district."
Hiruzen was already boiling. He didn't even look.
He grabbed the box and hurled it across the room.
The black case hit the wall with a heavy crash—
Crack.
It sprang open from the impact.
Something dropped out.
And the moment Hiruzen saw what it was—
His expression froze solid.
Koharu went white as death.
Homura…
went completely blank.
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