Homura Mitokado rushed over when he got the news. He stepped into the Sarutobi compound, where the atmosphere felt off, and looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen standing beside the corpse.
Breathing in the sulfur in the air, Homura's expression shifted a little, but the more he thought about it, the more something felt wrong.
He swept his eyes over the Sarutobi clansmen around them, all wearing angry looks.
He walked up behind Hiruzen, lowered his voice, and asked under his breath, "Hiruzen, do you really think Uchiha Chizumi killed her?"
Hiruzen, who hadn't moved from his spot, drew a long breath. He turned his head to look at Homura.
A silent exchange of looks, and Homura gave a slight nod.
"Let's talk outside," Homura said.
The Sarutobi clansmen made way. Under everyone's gaze, the two Konoha elders walked out together. No one followed—they all knew the Hokage wanted a private word with Homura.
"Haa…"
Face like thunder, Hiruzen let out a long breath and said, "I do not believe Chizumi is the killer."
Homura blinked.
He didn't quite follow. Staring at Hiruzen's grim face, he couldn't help asking, "But I heard you were furious—furious enough to have Root and the Anbu handle this together.
"Especially Root. After your order, they've already stirred up trouble in the village. If you think Chizumi being the killer is unlikely, then why…"
Hiruzen cut him off. "Because I cannot show that I don't think Chizumi is the killer."
Hands clasped behind his back, eyes still burning, Hiruzen said, "Someone is using my daughter-in-law's life, trying to force me to order Chizumi's death—trying to spark a showdown between the Will of Fire and Absolute Justice, and throw Konoha into chaos.
"If I act like I can see through this trick at a glance, the rat hiding in the dark will be spooked.
"And once that rat leaves the village, finding him—finding out who he is—will be like searching for a needle in a haystack."
At that, Homura finally understood.
Hiruzen was deliberately playing the part of a Hokage whose daughter-in-law's murder had made him lose his cool, lowering the real killer's guard and buying time to drag them into the open.
Homura thought for a moment, then asked, "But Koharu really seems to think you're going after Uchiha Chizumi. Her Root subordinates didn't exactly hold back today…"
"Wait!"
The realization hit Homura. He stared at Hiruzen in shock. "You suspect Koharu? So you didn't tell her? And you're letting Root run wild on purpose?"
Hiruzen said flatly, "Right now I have reasonable suspicion toward anyone in the village who has serious conflict with Chizumi—or with me."
He added, "Koharu included."
Homura couldn't help clicking his tongue.
He could tell Hiruzen truly was furious and grieving over his daughter-in-law's death.
And yet, even now, the Third could calmly pick out the threads and turn the situation to his advantage.
"Hiruzen, I finally understand… why Tobirama-sensei chose you as the Third Hokage before he died. Among all of us, you're the one least ruled by emotion. You always notice what others miss."
Homura sighed. "If this has nothing to do with Koharu, it only shows how far apart the two of you are in ability."
Then he asked, "And telling me all this—does that mean you trust me?"
Hiruzen nodded without flinching. "Because you've never pushed back on some of my hardline decisions.
"And…"
"You don't have deep grudges with Uchiha Chizumi either."
Homura fell silent for a long moment. "So what are you going to do next?"
Rolling a small piece of volcanic rock between his fingers, Hiruzen said slowly, "In public, I said Kakashi and Yamato are to bring Chizumi and the others back.
"But that is not my real order. My true order is—Kakashi and Yamato will lead teams to monitor every jōnin in the village.
"And by 'every,' I mean the Utatane, the Uchiha, the Ino–Shika–Cho, the Hyuga…
"Even the Sarutobi jōnin."
A jolt ran through Homura. He couldn't help glancing at the nearby crowd of riled-up Sarutobi shinobi.
"Hiruzen, surely they—"
"Anything is possible," Hiruzen cut in again.
Some thought crossed his mind, and a shadow flickered in his eyes. He drew a deep breath and said, helplessly, "Never underestimate the evil in human nature."
The line rang familiar to Homura.
If he remembered right…
Uchiha Chizumi had said something similar.
…
Heavy-hearted, Homura left the Sarutobi compound. He racked his brains but still couldn't figure out who was trying to provoke an armed clash between the Will of Fire and Absolute Justice.
Could it be Utatane Koharu?
She did have a huge problem with Uchiha Chizumi—she'd criticized his Absolute Justice behind his back more than once.
And she'd often been unhappy with Hiruzen's indecision.
But by his understanding of her, she shouldn't go this far.
Or…
Could it be Fugaku?!
A guess surfaced—Uchiha Fugaku, the clan head, had basically been sidelined by the Absolute Justice faction. To take back control of the Uchiha, maybe he'd decided to gamble, using the Hokage's power to eliminate Uchiha Chizumi.
But would he really?
"The last thing Fugaku wants is for the village to fear the Uchiha. If he did that, Hiruzen, Koharu, and I would all be on high alert against his scheming."
Homura shook his head.
It couldn't be the Hyuga, could it? Like the main family members Chizumi had thrown into Konoha Prison?
They hated Uchiha Chizumi, sure, but they didn't have the strength to take him on. Would they really resort to such a plot?
That didn't add up either.
Sarutobi Nadeshiko… had once been one of Hiruzen's right-hand people, and a skilled jōnin in her own right. There was practically no one inside the Hyuga who could kill her in an instant!
Unless Clan Head Hyuga Hiashi did it himself—but he was in Konoha Prison, under guard.
Homura shook his head. Whoever was hiding hadn't slipped up yet, and he couldn't extract anything useful for now.
"Still, Hiruzen is being a little extreme."
He muttered, "Koharu thinks he's really going after Uchiha Chizumi, so she'll end up offending Chizumi over this. Hiruzen just dug a hole for her without meaning to.
"Then again, with how much she hates Chizumi, she probably doesn't care if she offends him."
He considered warning Koharu.
But then again, Hiruzen currently suspected her.
Better to watch quietly how this plays out.
"Who'd have thought the village would get even messier with Uchiha Chizumi gone…"
He sighed to himself.
…
Clang—two kunai collided midair. Red light flashed across Uchiha Izumi's three-tomoe Sharingan. She dipped low, slipping past the Root operative's blade.
Then she drove her ninja blade up on a diagonal. The sharp edge split his mask, exposing an utterly ordinary face.
Izumi let out a short shout, planted one hand on the ground, and kicked upward.
Caught off guard, the Root ninja took the full force to the gut.
"Cough, cough—"
Face twisting, he clutched his abdomen and staggered back. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and there was a hint of fear in his eyes as he stared at Izumi.
This brat…
Is she really only twelve? Really only just out of the Academy?
Koharu-sama ordered him to seize Uchiha Izumi, but he hadn't expected a hard target. Both he and Koharu had underestimated this Uchiha girl.
"Haa…"
Catching her breath, Izumi tightened her grip on the hilt. She stared at the Root operative and demanded, "Has Root decided to sink completely into the abyss? Why are you coming after me? Is this about Chizumi-senpai?"
The Root ninja ignored her. He bit his thumb, slammed both hands to the ground.
"Summoning Jutsu!"
A heartbeat later—
A hulking ninja hound burst forth and, at his command, lunged straight at Uchiha Izumi.
…
A pitch-black viper sank its fangs into a Root special jōnin's shoulder.
Mitarashi Anko swung a kunai back to parry, catching another Root ninja's sneak attack from behind.
More snakes shot from her sleeves, snapping toward the attacker.
Anko hadn't expected to be ambushed by Root twice in just two days! If she hadn't rested properly last night, she'd have been flattened the moment the two of them struck.
A nameless fury flared in her chest.
Do these Root bastards ever stop?!
What was that shortsighted old crone Utatane Koharu thinking—did she really mean to make an enemy of Absolute Justice?
After blocking again, a thought struck her. Locking blades with one of them, she frowned and demanded, "You're not just after me, are you? That old woman Koharu—is she taking advantage of Chizumi's absence to go after Izumi and Sasuke too?!"
As always, Root shinobi were tight-lipped. Even if they'd swapped in a new generation, the habit remained.
The two surrounding Anko didn't answer.
Which only made her mood sink further.
Because she was pretty sure she was right.
…
"It probably isn't Advisor Koharu." Yamato—sent out by Hiruzen—arrived at the Sarutobi compound and reported to the Hokage. "My Anbu squad has been watching Root's every move.
"So far we haven't found anything telling."
He paused, then added, "Also, Hokage-sama—Root's been going too far. Whether it's on Advisor Koharu's explicit orders or not, their methods have been unusually heavy-handed while trying to drag ninja who believe in 'Absolute Justice' back to Root.
"Should we step in to stop them?"
"No need." Hiruzen shook his stern, aging face. "Until we identify the mastermind, as long as Root and Chizumi's people don't cause any deaths, Anbu are not to interfere."
Yamato hesitated. The Hokage was using both Utatane Koharu and Uchiha Chizumi—dangling both sides as bait to lure out the rat.
On paper, for a Hokage, that wasn't wrong.
Even if Koharu realized later she'd been used, she probably wouldn't complain.
The question was…
Could the Hokage guarantee Uchiha Chizumi wouldn't mind?
To Yamato, the Hokage seemed impatient.
He was playing with fire.
Play it right, and the blaze would burn out the mastermind; play it wrong, and it could burn the one who lit it.
"Keep watching everyone's movements in the village," Hiruzen said, snapping Yamato out of his thoughts.
A complicated look flickered under Yamato's mask.
But bound by his position, he ultimately held back from warning Hiruzen.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
…
Meanwhile—
Just as two Root operatives were about to haul Uchiha Sasuke and Hyuga Neji back to the Root base, a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of them.
Both Root shinobi's pupils tightened.
"One of the Sannin… Jiraiya!!!"
Blocking their path, Jiraiya gave a light cough. "That's right—I am the one and only Jiraiya the Gallant!"
He glanced at Sasuke, still struggling, and Neji, who was unconscious.
"There's no need to be so rough with two kids, is there?" Jiraiya said, voice turning low. "Back at the Academy I heard you say this was on the Hokage's orders. What exactly happened? Mind filling me in?"
The two Root ninja looked at each other.
"Jiraiya, this isn't your concern." A sudden voice sounded behind him.
Jiraiya turned to see Utatane Koharu approaching, guarded by two Root escorts.
Koharu spoke first. Right in front of him, she ran through what had happened today.
Then she added, "That's why I ordered my men to seize these two brats."
Jiraiya froze.
The old man's daughter-in-law…
Was killed?!
"Hold on…" Jiraiya ran through the chaos in his head while he spoke. "If I'm remembering right, Uchiha Chizumi's eyes can see other people's sins. If he killed the old man's daughter-in-law, doesn't that mean she was actually a…"
"Jiraiya."
Koharu cut him off. "There are two ways to read Hiruzen's decision this time.
"One: Sarutobi Nadeshiko was innocent, but Uchiha Chizumi killed her by mistake—his eyes can't be infallible forever. In his rage, Hiruzen decided to settle accounts with Absolute Justice.
"Two: Sarutobi Nadeshiko wasn't innocent, but Hiruzen wants to use this opportunity to purge Absolute Justice, because he's finally realized it only harms Konoha.
"Avenging a family member is a fine excuse. Even if Hiruzen doesn't have the higher moral ground, it's hard to fault him too much."
Jiraiya: "…"
For some reason, he caught a hint of obsession in this Konoha adviser's eyes.
He felt Hiruzen didn't see it that way.
But all he had to go on was Koharu's version.
Hard to reach a solid conclusion on the spot.
"Advisor Koharu, what if this is possible?" Jiraiya said suddenly. "Someone is deliberately trying to pit the old man against Uchiha Chizumi. Someone is framing Chizumi on purpose."
One way or another, he had to keep Uchiha Sasuke—possibly the Child of Prophecy—out of Root's hands.
If they put him through Root-style interrogation…
Jiraiya figured when the boy came out,
He might be ruined.
"Absolutely impossible," Koharu snapped. "Who in the village doesn't know what Uchiha Chizumi has done? With that level of familiarity, who would try to frame him?
"And… with that extremist brat's abilities, he could haul any framer into the light with no effort."
Mm…
That did sound a bit plausible.
A spark flashed in Jiraiya's mind, and he offered another possibility: "What if it's from another village?! The Third Great Ninja War only ended not that long ago!"
Koharu paused.
"Another village…"
She forced a few more stubborn words. "What outsider has the skill to infiltrate the Sarutobi compound? That's supposed to be one of the most heavily guarded places in Konoha—in the end, the Hokage lives there after work."
But at that point, she stopped talking.
Both Koharu and Jiraiya fell silent.
In just a few curt exchanges, the same thought rose in both their minds—there might be an inside man working with an outside force.
And that person had to be very familiar with the Sarutobi compound; in fact, they were very likely a Sarutobi clansman.
Because only then could this be done.
Koharu went quiet.
Just as Jiraiya was secretly breathing a sigh of relief, a prickle of bad premonition crawled up his spine. He couldn't help looking up.
His pupils shrank.
—Boom!!!
A deafening blast rolled out, smoke billowing in every direction.
From within the roiling dust, Tsunade's voice rang out.
"Leave for one day and the old fossils are already making a mess."
Tsunade's cold eyes cut to Utatane Koharu.
"Let them go," she said.