Another possibility began to form in their minds.
The one who could land such a fatal blow on Shisui might not have been a stronger opponent in open battle, but rather someone close to him—someone he trusted completely.
Only a trusted ally could bypass Shisui's keen instincts.
Only someone familiar, someone with enough strength, could get close without triggering his defenses and strike a killing blow to the heart.
And this was Root territory. Who else could kill Shisui here and deliver his body?
The answer was already looming before them.
Shisui was Uchiha by blood, but he had voluntarily joined Anbu. He had earned the trust of the Third Hokage himself.
According to everything they knew, Shisui's loyalty to Hiruzen Sarutobi was absolute.
Which left a chilling possibility: the Third Hokage had betrayed him.
Who else had the strength to kill Shisui in a single strike, remove his eyes, and quietly transport his body into Root's labs?
The thought made their stomachs turn. The image of the noble, wise Hokage they had revered for years was crumbling into dust. If Hiruzen had done this, was he truly any different from Danzō?
Even Akimichi Chōza, usually the most straightforward among them, was shaken. His voice trembled as he asked,
"Wait… don't tell me this was really done by the Hokage?"
No one answered him.
Their silence was answer enough. The weight of suspicion pressed down heavily.
Perhaps Uchiha Yatsushiro had remained vague about the killer earlier precisely because he feared they would refuse to cooperate if they knew the truth.
Chōza's face twisted in disbelief. A village leader—murdering his own Anbu, and worse, an Uchiha heir of such promise. If this were true, it was nothing short of a scandal that could shake Konoha to its core.
Yamanaka Inoichi broke the silence with a practical question.
"Shikaku… should we hand the body over to the Uchiha now?"
Nara Shikaku exhaled slowly, his face lined with fatigue.
"Hand it over. We're part of the Guard now. We won't side with the Uchiha blindly, but neither will we protect the Hokage. If the Third Hokage is guilty… he'll bear that weight himself."
He thought back to what they had seen earlier in the base: jars of preserved organs, countless corpses, and the grotesque evidence of experimentation.
Even worse, Shikaku had glimpsed one label that chilled him to the bone:
Senju Nawaki.
Nawaki—the younger brother of Tsunade, heir of the Senju clan.
History recorded that he had died on the battlefield, obliterated by explosive tags so thoroughly that even his organs were destroyed. No remains were ever recovered.
And yet here, in Root's storage, Shikaku had seen his body parts preserved like samples.
The implication was horrifying. Had the official report of Nawaki's death been fabricated? Had Danzō's Root intercepted the remains to fuel their experiments?
This tied directly to the whispers from years ago—the rumors that Konoha had tried to artificially recreate Wood Release after the death of the Second Hokage.
If Nawaki had been a victim of such human experiments… then Hiruzen must have known. There was no way Danzō could have undertaken this alone.
Shikaku rubbed his temples, the weight of revelation pressing down.
Had he truly misjudged Hiruzen all these years? If this was the truth, then the Hokage wasn't just guilty of negligence—he had sanctioned atrocities in the name of the village.
No wonder the Uchiha were enraged. No wonder they demanded justice.
Soon, Shisui's body was transported to the Guard Headquarters, and word was sent to the Uchiha clan.
Elsewhere, Hyūga Hiashi personally led a team to raid another Root facility.
With the Byakugan piercing every hidden chamber, resistance was futile. The Root remnants could not stand against the Hyūga head.
Inside, Hiashi and his men were horrified. Bones of children, shelves filled with evidence of inhumane experiments—it was undeniable proof of Danzō's cruelty.
Even though Shisui's body wasn't found there, the sheer scale of the evidence made it clear: Danzō had deserved his execution. Perhaps even a thousand deaths would not have been enough.
Back at the Hokage Tower, Uchiha Fugaku and Yatsushiro received the news.
At the same time, Ryousuke—already holding the Third Hokage in custody—was summoned to the Guard Division.
This was the moment they had been waiting for.
Hiruzen Sarutobi would stand trial.
And this time, Ryousuke swore, they would not let him escape.
The clan had already eliminated Danzō, the man of a thousand schemes. Now, the last great enemy of the Uchiha within Konoha—the Hokage himself—would be brought to judgment.
Once Hiruzen fell, no power in the village would dare threaten the Uchiha again.
Read ahead with 90+ chapters now and daily updates!
patreon.com/Zefyrus