"What?!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had only been lying down for a short while, was woken up by the Anbu with an urgent intelligence report. He was still a bit grumpy when he opened his eyes.
However, the moment he heard the intelligence report, he immediately threw off the covers and jumped up, staring in astonishment at the young ANBU member in front of him.
The figure opposite remained calm and repeated:
"Third generation sir."
"Just now, the outer ANBU squad noticed the abnormality of the barrier and went to investigate. They discovered that it was a specific chakra trace left by the Hyuga clan leader Hiashi and a group of clan elders."
"By now, they should have been away from the village for some time."
How is this possible?!
Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression was stiff.
The Hyuga clan elders had spoken with Danzo last night, and today they personally took Danzo to the hospital room, but neither Hiashi Hyuga nor any of the clan elders seemed to react.
But now, why are they suddenly leaving the village en masse?
As the head of the village and a descendant of the ancient ninja clan Sarutobi, Hiruzen Sarutobi theoretically possessed countless top secrets of the entire village, and his understanding of the Hyuga clan was far deeper than that of others.
Don't be fooled by the fact that the main members of the Hyuga clan spend their days holed up in their clan's territory like recluses. If they were to actually go out together, it would cause quite a stir in history.
According to the records of the Sarutobi clan, the last time such an anomaly occurred was two hundred years ago during the Warring States period.
The Uchiha clan, which was then fighting the Hyuga clan, suffered heavy losses after the battle.
They then had to recuperate for quite some time before returning to the ninja world to continue their tyrannical ways.
However, there have been no large-scale battles between the two races since then.
This suggests that the Hyuga main family must be hiding some kind of secret weapon.
These days, out of the most basic respect for the 'enemy', Hiruzen Sarutobi has read through all sorts of secret records related to the Hyuga clan many times.
"No, that's not right."
As Hiruzen Sarutobi was thinking this, he recalled the scene in the hospital room earlier that day, where the elders of the main clans had bowed and scraped to him with politeness, and his brows furrowed slightly.
"This hostility is not directed at me."
Immediately afterwards, he remembered the matter that Danzo had reported to him earlier.
—Hyuga Hiashi, the lord of his clan, was controlled by the powerful Mangekyou Sharingan.
Almost instantly upon mentioning those eyes, Hiruzen Sarutobi naturally thought of the person he had been secretly wary of lately.
"Oh."
Gradually, a confident smile appeared on his lips, and his expression calmed down as he put his hands behind his back.
"I see."
He understood somewhat.
Since Hiashi Hyuga was caught in a genjutsu, even if a Byakugan master like him couldn't resist it, he should have at least seen through the opponent's true identity while under the genjutsu.
Upon waking, knowing the other party's true identity, yet not daring to immediately confront the Hokage, he chose to immediately retrieve the Hyuga clan's secret trump card...
This is clearly aimed at the real culprit under his command!
However, since Uchiha Shisui dared to be so reckless and go it alone, then I should indeed take this opportunity to give this young man a good talking-to.
His expression regained its composure, and his voice became crisp:
"Go and summon Shisui."
"yes."
Just as the ANBU in front of him was about to leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi seemed to suddenly remember something and raised his hand towards him again.
"etc."
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood there, his expression shifting between light and dark as he pondered for a moment, then continued, "Also, inform Jiraiya, Kakashi, Danzo, and Shinnosuke to come to the Hokage Building rooftop together."
"I'll be waiting for them there."
"yes."
The person in the shadows immediately jumped out of the window.
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned around unhurriedly, put on his heavy Hokage robe, and looked indifferent.
Shisui-kun.
I hope you truly have no ulterior motives.
...
Forced to wake up in the middle of the night, Uchiha Shisui had no idea what was going on. Upon hearing that it was the Hokage's order, he immediately followed the Anbu members ahead at top speed, rushing towards the agreed-upon Hokage Building.
However, when he arrived at the rooftop of the Hokage Building, he saw a group of figures already waiting there quietly.
Uchiha Shisui was taken aback at first, then immediately jogged over to Hiruzen Sarutobi, respectfully knelt on one knee, and asked:
"Lord Third Generation, may I ask...?"
As he asked the questions, he carefully scanned the figures in front of him.
Finally, their gaze fell upon Danzo.
It wasn't that he was being cautious, but rather that Danzo Shimura had previously brought him an extremely heavy price.
Even now, there's still a bead in his eye that isn't his own.
This is a case of Danzo Shimura having PTSD.
As soon as he raised his head, he saw that Jiraiya, Kakashi, Shinnosuke Sarutobi, and Hiruzen Sarutobi were subtly surrounding him.
On the contrary, Shimura Danzo was excluded, looking furrowed in the brow, seemingly not understanding what was going on.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood with his back to him, his hands clasped behind his back, his tone heavy:
"Shisui-kun, repent!"
Under the moonlight, his short figure appeared exceptionally tall, and despite his heavy tone, he seemed menacing.
As Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke, he turned to look at him, his wide-brimmed hat slightly lowered, his voice deep and resonant:
"Mr. Hiashi has already explained this to me today."
"You used the Kaleidoscope Eye Technique on him a few days ago, didn't you?"
Uchiha Shisui was stunned upon hearing this.
What? Hyuga Hiashi? And he's been hit by the Mangekyou Sharingan?
I?
Could it be that even a highly respected elder like the Third Generation Elder is coveting my only remaining eye?!
In an instant, Uchiha Shisui's vigilance reached its peak.
However, he still answered in a very formal and methodical manner:
"Lord Third Generation, this is slander!"
"I guarantee that this is absolutely not true!"
Almost as soon as he finished speaking, his whole body tensed up, ready to flee or retaliate at any moment.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had already planned to use this opportunity to "send a warning" and then "redeem" the other party by giving face to the Hyuga clan, perfectly playing the role of a tolerant and magnanimous leader, immediately stopped in his tracks as he was about to turn around.
Um?
Refuse to admit it to the death?
How am I supposed to save you now?
In that brief moment, Uchiha Shisui seemed to have grasped a glimmer of hope and quickly added, "Third Hokage, I've been handling official business within the clan's territory these past few days. The personnel reshuffle of the security force hasn't been completed yet, and my actions these past few days have been supervised!"
"Among them are members of the Hyuga branch family!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's brows furrowed even more.
This is not the script he envisioned.
There are only two people in the entire village who can use the Mangekyou Sharingan. One of them, Uchiha Itachi, has been by my side every day these days. So who else could it be but you?
What's the point of this sophistry?
He subconsciously thought this and turned to look at Shimura Danzo beside him.
Or are you giving me false information?
Just as the atmosphere on the platform was gradually reaching a stalemate.
"Tap...tap..."
The sound of footsteps gradually grew closer.
Everyone suddenly turned to look over.
A dozen or so members of the Hyuga main family were seen surrounding a tall, white-haired young man as he slowly walked from the end of the street.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze darkened.
Sure enough, they came knocking on our door.
His gaze lingered on the young man at the front, then inadvertently fell upon Hiashi Hyuga, who followed closely behind like a servant, a hint of confusion in his eyes.
Is this young man... the 'trump card' passed down through generations of the Hyuga clan?
It's not just Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Everyone around turned their gaze toward the strange-looking young man in front of them.
Almost the instant their eyes met.
Suddenly, the young man below laughed and asked a question.
"You are Hiruzen Sarutobi?"
"Who are you..."
Before Hiruzen Sarutobi could finish speaking, the young man downstairs suddenly raised his hand towards him as if sweeping away ants.
The next moment.
A deafening, scorching roar suddenly engulfed the entire rooftop.