The air reeked of antiseptic and burnt flesh. Rows of sealed scrolls—experimental data, forbidden techniques, months of research—lined the shelves. Danzo stood in the heart of the underground lab, Eiji at his side, the flickering glow of sealing arrays casting jagged shadows on the walls.
"It's time," Danzo said, his voice cold as steel.
Eiji's hands trembled, not from fear, but rage. "These experiments… the progress… you'd erase it all?"
Danzo didn't glance at the mangled test subjects strapped to tables, their hollow eyes staring into nothing. "Konoha will scour this place. Let them find only ash. Our future lies elsewhere." He pressed a hand to the central seal etched into the floor—a spiral of black ink, pulsing like a dying heart. "Activate the cascade."
Eiji hesitated, then slammed his palm onto the seal. Chakra flared, black ink covering everything, dissolving everything.
"The compound next," Danzo ordered. "Ensure the sound barriers hold."
[Konoha ANBU Outpost, Midnight]
Boku stood in the shadows, a satchel heavy with gold and gemstones—the Fire Daimyo's "gratitude." The ANBU captain materialized, hawk mask gleaming.
"You're late," the captain hissed.
Boku tossed the satchel. It thudded at the ANBU's feet. "Double the agreed sum. Forget the Shimura compound tonight. Patrol the Hyūga district instead"
The captain knelt, fingers brushing the gems. Greed thickened his voice. "Hiruzen will have my head if he discovers—"
"—If" Boku interrupted, smiling. "The Hokage's too busy begging the Hyūga for scouts and reinforcements for the Southern Borders. By dawn, there'll be nothing left to find."
[Shimura Compound, Outer Gates]
Yukiko stood atop the wall, her sensory chakra woven into the clan's sound barrier seals—a masterpiece of Eiji's design. The seals hummed, distorting the air like a heat haze. No scream, no explosion, no whisper of chakra would escape.
Below, the clan moved. Jonin herded civilians onto ox-drawn carts, their wheels muffled by cloth. Children clutched sealing scrolls stuffed with heirlooms, toys and books.
Byakuro's Support Corps stripped the armory bare, blades and scrolls vanishing into void tags.
Itoru's Wind Corps scoured the archives, leaving empty shelves and scorch marks.
Himaru approached Yukiko, his sword sheathed but his eyes unsheathed. "Kenjutsu scrolls—secured. The dojo's rigged to blow."
She nodded. "Danzo-sama?"
"In the vault. He's… saying goodbye"
[Shimura Vault, Ancestral Chamber]
Danzo knelt before the clan's sacred altar, where generations of patriarchs had sworn oaths to Konoha. The stone tablet bore the Shimura creed: "Strength in balance." He lit a match, its flame trembling in the stagnant air.
He tossed the match onto the altar. Fire consumed the relics—scrolls of loyalty pacts, portraits of Shimura elders bowing to Senju Hashirama, the first Hokage's faded signature on a treaty. The vault's explosives hissed to life.
He had found a new balance. Balance and order in his whims and obsessions.
[Rice Country Border, Dawn]
The clan waited in the mist, carts laden, children silent. Danzo emerged from the tree line, his robes singed, the stench of smoke clinging to him. Far behind, the horizon glowed orange.
Yukiko felt it first, a tremor in the earth, vibrations coursing the ground.
Seconds later, the sound barrier seals ruptured, releasing the cacophony they'd trapped. A thunderous roar split the sky as the Shimura compound detonated, the blast visible even from miles away. Flakes of ash rained down like black snow, debris hurrying the civilians out of their beds, the ANBU to the scene, the Hokage to the realization of their departure.
Byakuro grinned: "Not a single scroll left. No trace of us either"
[Konoha, Hokage Tower]
The ANBU captain knelt, mask cracked, voice shaking. "The compound… it's gone. The entire district—cratered. No survivors. No bodies"
Hiruzen stared out the window, the distant smoke staining the dawn. His pipe lay cold in his hand: "Danzo…My friend...Did I fail you?"
However, his shinobi senses came back at him quickly, as he ordered: "SEARCH FOR EVERY STREET, EVERY ROAD. SEAL OFF THE FORESTS. SUMMON ALL THE ANBU. THEY ARE TO FIND THE PERPRETATORS. ANY TRACE OF IWAGAKURE SCUM!"
[Land of Rice, Hidden Valley]
Three weeks later, the Shimura clan gathered two kilometers below the surface, beneath a lake. A compound of half-built walls stood solid, the sound of machines and chakra working together. One movement at a time, Otogakure's skeleton was coming alive. Danzo stood atop a scaffold, the clan's stolen wealth piled in front of him: Konoha's weapons, the Daimyo's gold, scrolls dripping with secrets.
"Today," he declared, "we become more than a clan. We become a nation."
The children raised stolen Konoha flags—set ablaze. The flames danced, twisting into the shape of a sound wave.