Chapter 82: The Shinobi World Trembles
Swish! Swish! Swish!
With a series of sharp whistles, Hiruzen Sarutobi led the Konoha shinobi down from the sky, landing in the ruins of the Uchiha district.
"It's over?" Hiruzen glanced at Fugaku Uchiha's body on the ground. His gaze then settled on the wooden spikes piercing Fugaku's body, and his eyebrows rose slightly.
'Wood Style! Danzō was the one who killed Fugaku? Does he already possess the power to take down a Mangekyō Sharingan user?'
His gaze moved up to Fugaku's bloody, empty eye sockets, and Hiruzen's brow furrowed tightly. If they could have recovered a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan, it would have helped the village recoup some of its losses. Even if a non-Uchiha couldn't unlock their full potential, they would still be a powerful trump card for a Kage-level shinobi. But all that remained was a body.
Just then, Shimura Danzō stepped forward and said impatiently, "I killed Fugaku Uchiha on the spot. Of the hundred or so Uchiha who stayed behind, only a few managed to slip through the net. Hiruzen, what's the situation on your end?"
Hearing this, Hiruzen's expression turned ugly. "The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was captured."
"What?!" Shimura Danzō froze, and then his chest nearly exploded with rage. He had never imagined things would develop this way. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was supposed to be his prize, yet he was stolen by an outsider.
The two elders, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, also looked grim. A Jinchuriki was a weapon of war; having one fall into enemy hands was the last thing they wanted to see. The only saving grace was that Naruto was young, and the Nine-Tails itself was violent and difficult to tame, making it hard for anyone to use.
Danzō's face was laced with doubt. "Hiruzen, you intervened personally and still couldn't stop them?"
Hiruzen's expression darkened. He said defensively, "The enemy's strength was unfathomable, and he was able to draw on the Nine-Tails' power. I was careless for a moment, and he escaped."
At his words, Koharu and Homura exchanged a look, their brows locking together. If the enemy could use the Nine-Tails' power, it meant taming the beast might not be as difficult as they thought.
"Hiruzen, stop making excuses for your incompetence!" Danzō finally snarled, his anger boiling over.
The more Danzō thought about it, the angrier he became, but before he could continue, Koharu cut in. "Danzō, what's done is done. Berating Hiruzen now is detrimental to the village." She was brazenly defending him. To be fair, Hiruzen letting the enemy escape was a massive failure, and he bore full responsibility. But he couldn't be allowed to fall right now. If Danzō gained power, Konoha would be in an even worse state.
"Indeed, Danzō," Homura added, "for the enemy to abduct the Jinchuriki at this exact moment, it must have been a long-premeditated plot. Anyone else might have failed to protect him." Homura's interests were deeply bound to Hiruzen's. Protecting Hiruzen was the same as protecting himself.
"You... you two—" Danzō was speechless with rage. These two were so deeply tied to Hiruzen that they would do anything to keep him from becoming Hokage.
Fwoosh!
Just then, an ANBU agent rushed over. He hesitated, glancing at Danzō and the others.
"Speak freely," Hiruzen waved. "There's no need to hide anything."
"Yes, sir." The ANBU agent nodded and reported, "Lord Hokage, a short time ago, the secure archive room was breached. The 'No. 1' Hashirama cell sample has been lost, and the Scroll of Seals is gone."
Hiruzen's face turned as dark as water.
"The archive room was breached? What in the world happened?" Homura and Koharu exchanged a look, their minds reeling. The No. 1 cell sample was cultivated from the First Hokage's healthiest tissue; it was priceless. And the Scroll of Seals contained numerous forbidden jutsu, many of which had no living masters. If these items couldn't be recovered, the consequences would be severe.
Danzō suppressed his own shock, his eye narrowing. Based on the current information, there were at least four factions at play: the Uchiha, the village, the mysterious masked man, and the Cloud. He had no idea which of them was responsible for the theft.
With a grim expression, Hiruzen said, "Danzō, Koharu, Homura, I'm leaving the Uchiha district to you. I must get to the archive room immediately."
He didn't wait for a reply, his old body flickering away and disappearing from sight.
A few moments later, Hiruzen arrived at the lowest level of the Hokage Tower. He glanced at the four dead ANBU outside the archive room. As he was about to step inside, his brow suddenly furrowed. He sensed a faint killing intent nearby. It was well-hidden, but it couldn't escape his perception.
'Who is it? A surviving Uchiha? Or the thief who broke in?' The hidden assassin was clearly a master of infiltration. He had caught a wisp of killing intent, but he couldn't pinpoint the exact location.
Hiruzen took a breath, his hands flying through seals. "Barrier: Dome Method Formation!"
In an instant, a barrier invisible to the naked eye expanded from his position, and all chakra signatures within it were clearly mapped in his mind. Two breaths later... "Found you."
Hiruzen looked up into the shadows above. "Fire Style: Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" He formed new seals and spat out a dozen fireballs that shot toward the ceiling.
"As expected of Lord Hokage!" A voice of genuine admiration came from the shadows. Before the fireballs hit, the intruder revealed himself. He pushed his palms forward, and a massive swarm of insects appeared, blocking the probing attack. The intruder was hanging upside-down from the ceiling, looking down on Hiruzen.
"Insects? The Aburame clan... Are you Torune?" Hiruzen asked in surprise, his mind reeling.
Hiruzen stared at Aburame Torune, completely bewildered. "Torune, was it you who stole from the archive? Are you acting alone, or on Danzō's orders?" he demanded.
"Those questions..." Torune pushed up his glasses, a murderous grin on his face. "I'll be happy to explain them to you after I've cut off your head."
As he spoke, a vast swarm of insects flowed from Torune's body, spreading rapidly toward Hiruzen.
'Why am I assassinating Hiruzen?' Torune had asked himself this before infiltrating the tower. The reason was simple: To make Lord Danzō the Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was guilty of four great crimes.
First: He coveted his position and allowed rumors to spread, forcing the Konoha White Fang, who threatened his status, to commit suicide.
Second: His diplomacy was weak and incompetent, sacrificing Hyūga Hizashi in exchange for peace.
Third: His hesitation and indecisiveness caused the Uchiha clan to defect.
Fourth: He failed to protect the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, resulting in his capture by the Cloud.
These four crimes were proof enough. Hiruzen was old. He was no longer capable of being Hokage. This assassination, ordered by Lord Danzō, was for the sake of giving the village a brighter future. Only Lord Danzō could make Konoha great again.
As for whether he could actually kill Hiruzen? A Root ninja only needs to complete his mission to the best of his ability, without considering other factors. Besides, Danzō had tried to use Kakashi to assassinate Hiruzen years ago. This logic was perfectly in line with a Root ninja's conditioning and Lord Danzō's methods.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi, once you are dead, Lord Danzō can become Hokage and lead Konoha to greatness once more!" Torune's hoarse, low voice echoed in the dim room, and Hiruzen's aged face twitched in pure fury.
Meanwhile, after leaving Konoha, Neji flew for dozens of kilometers, carrying Yugito, until the Nine-Tails chakra finally dissipated. He floated down into a dense forest.
Before, running for his life, his mind was in a state of high alert, and he hadn't felt the strain. Now, having reached a safe area, the tension left him, and an immense wave of weakness washed over him. Chakra is a combination of physical and spiritual energy. Neji had completely emptied his own body's reserves during the series of battles. Although the Nine-Tails had supplemented his chakra, the physical toll was real. A six-year-old's body was, after all, still too young.
He couldn't control his limbs, and he nearly collapsed. Yugito quickly moved to support him, pulling him into her arms. She removed his mask, her expression filled with concern as she looked at his paper-white face. "Neji-kun, are you okay?"
"I'm fine... just out of chakra. My body is completely drained," Neji-kun panted, his eyelids too heavy to keep open.
"I can't rest yet," he forced himself to say, opening his eyes. "I don't know how long that rearguard I left behind can stall them. We have to rendezvous with the Uchiha, and we must prepare for the worst. From here on... it's all up to you."
To have completed the mission and escaped without any casualties was already a miracle. Honestly, if it had been the Fourth Raikage in his place, he might not have been able to pull this off. And they were far from safe.
The Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion had made Hiruzen wary, and he wouldn't dare pursue Neji-kun and Yugito, who were only protecting Naruto. But the main Uchiha convoy was different. They were burdened by thousands of civilians and moving slowly. Hiruzen would surely dispatch a large, elite force, traveling light, to run them down. The Uchiha clan was bound to suffer heavy losses.
Neji-kun was completely exhausted. Yugito, in contrast, was still full of energy, her condition near-peak. She had mostly used the Two-Tails' chakra, spending little of her own. Most importantly, she was incredibly durable. Even after taking several heavy blows from the Adamantine Staff, she was fine. Most shinobi were glass cannons; even someone as strong as Madara Uchiha could be killed by a sword. Jinchuriki, however, were born to compensate for this weakness. It was one of the reasons they were called weapons of war.
"Neji-kun, you get some rest. I know what to do." Yugito stroked his pale cheek, her heart aching for him. She pulled herself together, took out the Kohaku no Jōhei (Amber Purifying Pot), and sealed the sleeping Naruto inside. Then, carrying Neji-kun on her back, she got her bearings and leaped away, continuing their journey without rest.
About ten minutes later, the sleeping Neji-kun sensed the faint mental connection between him and Aburame Torune completely sever. He knew Torune was finished. The only way to break the Cursed Mandala Sealing Heart was for Neji-l to release it or for the target to die.
'I hope that bought us a little time,' Neji-kun muttered, before succumbing to exhaustion.
Time passed.
The news that the Uchiha clan had defected from Konoha spread like wildfire, sending a massive shockwave through the shinobi world.
The kidnapping of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki and the theft from the Hokage Tower were successfully suppressed by Hiruzen, shared only among Konoha's high-ranking officials.
But the defection of the entire Uchiha clan—two or three thousand people—was impossible to cover up. Moreover, the massive battle that took place before their departure, which involved hundreds of casualties, was too big to be silenced.
Spies from every major nation soon discovered the signs of a large-scale migration and the subsequent battle. The intelligence they sent back was unanimous: the Uchiha clan had left Konoha.
At first, their superiors refused to believe it. The Uchiha, co-founders of Konoha, were unquestionably the most powerful clan in the shinobi world. Who could imagine they would defect en masse, and that their clan head, Fugaku Uchiha, would be killed in the process?
This news was even more sensational than the kidnapping of a Jinchuriki. It was an event significant enough to trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The moment the leaders of the other countries and hidden villages received the reports, they were thrown into chaos.
The first to be informed was the Daimyō of the Land of Fire. Although he rarely interfered in Konoha's internal affairs, it was only because he lacked the power to do so. In reality, every daimyō constantly schemed for ways to control their nation's hidden village. The Land of Fire held its place as the top nation precisely because it had Konoha. The Daimyō knew exactly how important the Uchiha were to that strength and had even felt indignant about their treatment over the years. But Hiruzen was the Hokage, and it was not his place to intervene.
But he had never imagined the Uchiha would be pushed so far as to defect. He was instantly enraged and dispatched his ministers with a personal letter to Konoha to demand an explanation.
The daimyō of the other nations also sent emissaries, partly to understand the situation, and partly to see if their opportunity had finally arrived.
The Uchiha clan needed a new home. Almost every major leader, in every village, was now fantasizing about luring the Uchiha clan to their own territory.