Sarutobi Hiruzen's miserable wails once again triggered Mito's anger.
After beating him up again, she drove everyone else out of the room.
To onlookers, Mito's fury seemed less about revenge and closer to despair-grief spilling into violence unchecked.
Konoha's higher-ups, once confident in the stability of their plans, abruptly found themselves unraveling under pressure. The ambitious were the first to panic. They had been riding high on Akira Senju's influence-pushing boundaries, enriching themselves. Without the "God of War," they were exposed. Vengeance on the battlefield loomed large.
Retreat began quickly. Ninja from implicated families pulled their forces back and rushed to cement alliances through marriage and contracts, weaving their survival into Konoha's political fabric. If Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to punish any of them now, he'd have to tear through half the village to do it.
Among the most reactive were the Aburame and Yamanaka clans. Both specialized in support roles-one in insect-based techniques and the other in mental manipulation. Neither could stand alone in war. When Akira had stood behind them, they'd dared to act boldly. Now that protection was gone, they scrambled to reposition themselves beneath Sarutobi Hiruzen's robe tails.
They found him in the Hokage building, mid-discussion with Danzo about border security. Sarutobi Hiruzen had inherited Tobirama's sense of justice and duty-blunt but idealistic-and had no interest in entertaining side deals disguised as courtesy calls before actual combat broke out. Requests for mercy only burdened the war effort.
Danzo's reaction was entirely different. Her eyes lit up when she heard who had come calling. Where Hiruzen saw parasites, she saw tools. Their skill sets aligned perfectly with clandestine work-interrogation, surveillance-the bricks she needed to build her version of Konoha's future: the shadow state beneath the leaf symbol.
"Wait," Danzo said. "Hiruzen, there's no harm in meeting them."
"No," Hiruzen snapped back immediately. Exhaustion and unwillingness etched deep into his tone. "They're not getting anything from me."
Danzo glanced over at him but stopped arguing aloud. She switched tracks fast.
"It was Master Akira who taught me," she lied with confident ease.
Only... the moment she said it, her mind flickered to Akira's half-smile-the kind that always looked as if it knew too much before anything happened.
"Danzo? Danzo?"
Hiruzen tapped her shoulder lightly. She flinched back to reality and forced out a smile.
"Ah-nothing, sorry-I just remembered...something else."
Hiruzen waved it off. "You said Akira taught you?"
"Yes." Danzo leaned into the story. "I asked Lord Akira how I could better support you at the Five Kage Council… He laid it out for me."
Hiruzen leaned forward slightly. "And did he say anything about what comes next?"
Danzo offered nothing but the shake of her head.
Disappointment stung across Hiruzen's face like cold wind cutting through cloth. A long breath left him as if dragged from deep under his ribs.
"That bastard… left me holding the line again."
He whispered it low enough only Danzo could hear.
"But he must've had his reasons… So be it." Hiruzen softened just enough to wave her toward the hallway. "You go handle them."
Danzo nodded quickly and turned to leave-but whatever sympathy she had cracked for him vanished just as quickly beneath her resolve. She didn't have time for sentiment.
With official permission granted from both Hiruzen and the Thousand Stars Mountain faction, Danzo walked the two clans right into her palm. They left that building looking satisfied-leaders of Yamanaka and Aburame wearing polite smiles worn thin by compromise and false reassurance.
Nobody knew how those negotiations went-not even where they were held precisely-but by the time those ninja departed, their eyes carried submission rather than strategy.
Back inside, Danzo stood by herself and looked out across Konoha's skyline through the floor-length windows of the tower office.
"Hmph… Last era's fool," she said to herself with amusement curling her lips. "Leave this one to me… Danzo Shimura will shape what comes next."
Her thoughts didn't get further before Sarutobi Hiruzen shoved open the door again-panting hard as he ran up to her desk.
"Danzo-we have trouble!"
"What happened?"
"The Uchiha have rebelled."
"What?" Danzo's face turned immediately hard-too fast for it to be shock alone.
…
Few understood just how devastating Akira Senju's death felt within the Uchiha clan itself-not even many inside Senju territory realized it. The fires of hatred between Uchiha and Senju had cooled under Hashirama's ideals and Tobirama's law-but it was Akira who made Uchiha feel trusted again for the first time in generations. He extended his hand, acknowledged their strength, and demanded nothing but honesty in return.
Among the villagers, none mourned as bitterly as Uchiha did-not even Senju.
Without Akira, everything they'd clawed toward might be taken back again by whispers from behind closed doors or backwards glances cast their way in markets and council halls alike. That fear twisted inward-festered into rage-and many of them discovered that grief could fuel evolution.
Eyes bled red with new tomoe across multiple bloodlines overnight.
By early morning, war-ready Uchiha in full battle uniforms gathered in silence outside Akira's mansion-their numbers strong but their voices absent. It wasn't protest or negotiation. There were no banners raised or demands shouted through gates. It was mourning with steel edges and clenched teeth-an army of grief standing motionless at dawn's light.
Sentries ran to warn Sarutobi Hiruzen before anything could escalate further inside city walls-but Mito wasn't one to retreat from confrontation.
When her butler reported their presence waiting outside, she didn't hesitate for even one second before assembling what remained of her strength and heading for the door herself.
"Mito-sama!"
All of them fell to their knees at once when she stepped out onto the threshold-their heads lowered without hesitation or pride left standing between them and humility.
Mito froze midway across the entry stones-caught between confusion and instinctive suspicion.
"… Aren't you here to make trouble because I was too rude yesterday?"
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