Friday, the sky was clear and bright—a beautiful day.
Due to house arrest, Aozora hadn't worn his Konoha forehead protector in a long time.
Today, he took it out, gently ran his fingers over its engraved patterns, wiped it clean, then carefully placed it on his forehead.
After dressing properly, Aozora stepped outside.
"Halt! Uchiha Aozora, you're currently under house arrest!"
Two Anbu officers crossed their arms and blocked his path.
Aozora calmly replied, "My previous house arrest was because I trusted Lord Hokage. But now...I no longer believe in him."
"Disrespectful!"
"What do you mean by that?"
Under their angry gazes, blood filled Aozora's left eye as his Three Tomoe began spinning rapidly.
[Immense Illusion – Yan Dao!]
Before the two could recover, Aozora blurred into a shadowy figure, dashing straight toward the Hokage Tower.
At the Hokage Tower,
The high-level meeting hadn't started yet, but the third floor was already filled with early-arriving ninja murmuring in small groups.
"Still haven't found the truth yet?"
"Truth? Isn't it just that Uchiha Aozora and his team lost control of their Ninjutsu during the black market cleanup, killing villagers?"
"No way!"
"Why not? Rumor says their team always kills everyone during missions. Almost nobody survives!"
"That's only against enemies!"
"Don't defend them. If they're innocent, let them show evidence!"
"Drop that topic already. Did you hear? Today's meeting is mainly about discussing last week's contingency plan."
"What's there to discuss? If it really gets enacted, we won't survive! I don't get why the village keeps covering for Uchiha Aozora and his two teammates!"
...
They had barely finished talking when Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived early.
Today, he seemed especially impatient to get started.
As soon as Hiruzen took his seat, others quickly followed, filling the meeting room shortly after.
Just as Hiruzen was about to begin, Aozora pushed open the conference door.
"Uchiha Aozora?"
"How did he get here?"
"Isn't he under house arrest?"
...
Koharu Utatane ordered the Anbu to detain Aozora, but Kosuke and Torifu didn't agree.
In the uproar, Hiruzen frowned and scolded, "Uchiha Aozora, why have you left your home without permission?"
"I have one question for Lord Hokage," Aozora answered. "Do you remember what you once said—that we should endure temporarily, and you'd uncover the truth soon?"
Since Kosuke, Torifu, and others were present, Hiruzen couldn't deny it. He simply said, "Yes, I did say that..."
"Great!" Aozora immediately continued, "I've been on edge for eight whole days now. Now, where is that 'truth' you promised us?"
Everyone in the room turned toward the Third. Recent chaos in Konoha all stemmed from the accusation of "Aozora's squad massacring civilians." They too wanted to know the truth.
Hiruzen puffed his pipe slowly before saying, "Nothing has been found so far."
Aozora gave a cold laugh. "Do you mean you *can't* find anything—or did you never even try?"
"Daredevil!"
"Koharu Utatane immediately interrupted, "Uchiha Aozora! Do you have any respect for the Hokage at all? Seize Uchiha Aozora!"
"Hold on!" x3.
Kintai, Kosuke, and Torifu spoke out in unison to stop her.
Koharu swept her gaze across the three and snapped, "Aozora has violated house arrest orders! What more are you waiting for?"
Torifu said, "Aozora has made great contributions!"
Kosuke said, "Aozora is a ninja with the Will of Fire. He must have his reasons for coming here."
Kintai said, "Aozora is only suspected."
"House arrest?" Aozora sneered, "We've been under house arrest for eight days already. Surely you won't make me live under house arrest forever just because of the Hokage's incompetence!"
Koharu Utatane asked, "Uchiha Aozora, do you even understand hierarchy and respect?"
"Of course I do!" Aozora replied, "If it weren't for my respect and trust in you people, would I have accepted house arrest without resistance? Would I allow a bunch of ignorant villagers to slander me?"
Then Aozora sneered again before continuing, "Last month I lost my right eye defending Konoha's main camp. Now the village allows rumors defaming me to spread freely!
What kind of Konoha is this?
Heroic deeds go unheard while rumors slandering the accomplished spread like wildfire!"
As they listened to Aozora's sarcastic laughter and questions, watching Aozora's pale right eye, the Konoha leadership fell into silence. Many among them had actually spread these rumors themselves.
Even Kosuke and Torifu, who had tried to stop the rumors, felt a pang of guilt—they hadn't managed to halt their spread.
Hiruzen Sarutobi broke the silence saying, "The villagers were ignorant and manipulated. I apologize to you for that."
Faced with Hiruzen Sarutobi's insincere apology, this time Aozora didn't reciprocate with false forgiveness, but merely sneered.
"Ignorant villagers? Then what about the higher-ups? Why did the emergency plan leak publicly the very day it was released? Could there be spies from other villages present here today?"
Aozora shot off this accusation casually, then shook his head saying, "Forget it. Reputation means nothing to me."
Then locking eyes with Hiruzen Sarutobi, he asked again, "Hokage-sama, may I ask—are you truly seeking the truth?"
Hiruzen's eyes flashed coldly and dangerously as he stood up slowly enunciating each word, "Are you questioning me?"
He sensed a trap hidden within Aozora's words, so he attempted to overwhelm him leveraging the commanding aura built through decades of leadership.
At that moment, the kind old man persona vanished once more as he revealed his true might—as one of the legendary Kage-level warriors—his imposing authority sweeping through the room like a hurricane.
However, Aozora was no inexperienced fledgling. After battling several Kage-level experts, he had become basically immune to their oppressive presences.
His expression remained unchanged as he calmly responded, "Yes!"
These two simple syllables rang clearly through everyone's ears, leaving the Konoha leadership stunned and their expressions drastically changing.
This caused Hiruzen Sarutobi to grow angry as well, his face flushing red.
For a Hokage to be questioned by a village ninja—this was certainly among the most embarrassing situations he'd faced since he became a Jonin.
In the ensuing silence, Aozora stated, "Jonin can vote for or against the Hokage. Why wouldn't I question the Hokage?"
The stunned crowd started to think Aozora might have a point after all, especially about that trust vote.
Koharu Utatane snapped coldly, "Don't play with semantics. A trust vote is nothing like questioning the Hokage! If everyone acted like you, what kind of authority would the Hokage even have?"
"I've already shown plenty of trust in the Hokage!"
Sighing, Aozora locked eyes with Hiruzen Sarutobi and asked, "Hokage-sama, be honest — what did you find out? Are we really not guilty?"
Hiruzen hesitated briefly before replying, "Even a fly won't land on unbroken skin. Your squad just happened to be right there..."
At Hiruzen's words, many ninja below quickly chimed in.
"Yeah, why did it have to be you guys who got caught?"
"You probably killed those commoners and now you're acting like victims!"
"..."
Aozora shook his head. "Hokage-sama still hasn't answered my question! Even if you haven't uncovered the full truth, surely you found something?"
Torifu and Kosuke frowned at Hiruzen.
Aozora had already asked three times, yet Hiruzen still hadn't given a direct response.
Meeting Torifu and Kosuke's suspicious gazes, Hiruzen calmly said, "The Autumn Leaf Collection left behind very few clues, so we didn't find anything concrete.
As for the Anbu personnel involved this time, I personally reviewed all selections — everything checked out.
Regarding Bobcat, the Anbu member who suddenly attacked Aozora's group, investigation showed he had been oppressed by the Uchiha during his Academy years, hence his lingering grudge."
Is that all?" Aozora pressed.
Hiruzen said nothing.
"Tch!" Aozora scoffed. "Does the Hokage even know that another Fire Release ninja has attacked the Black Market again?"
"What?!"
"No way!"
"Aren't Aozora and his team confined to quarters?"
"..."
This time, instead of exchanging glances, Kosuke directly asked, "Hiruzen, do you know about this matter?"
Hiruzen remained silent. At this moment, answering either "know" or "don't know" would cause problems.
If Aozora's group was under restriction while another Fire Release ninja attacked the black market, it suggested they weren't the only possible suspects.
If he said "know," how could he justify not arresting other suspects and instead calling a meeting to discuss emergency plans?
If he said "don't know," wouldn't that imply negligence in his investigation?
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