Shouts, the crash of breaking windows, screams… In what had begun as a protest, Old Konoha, left unsupervised by the Anbu, slid into chaos in an instant.
Hokage Building.
Jiraiya stood at the window of the Hokage Office, watching the turmoil outside. Rage coursed through him, yet his mind was blank.
There was nothing he could do.
He might be strong, but faced with a scene like this, no solution came to him.
The more he heard his teacher's roars, the more restless he became.
But, sadly…
Hiruzen Sarutobi knew none of that. The Old Man was nearly out of his mind, bellowing at the Anbu kneeling before him.
"Worthless! Incompetent! Idiots!"
"An operation this large, sweeping the entire Village tonight, must have been planned for ages."
"What the hell is the Anbu even for? You didn't catch even a whiff of it?"
"The riot's been raging where are your people?"
"Get out!"
"Deploy every man you've got. Suppress this, whatever it takes."
Hiruzen's face was now cold and sinister.
Clearly,
he had no intention of playing the kindly elder any longer. The real man beneath was ruthless and grim, and the temperature in the office plummeted.
As for that…
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado were pale with dread.
They had come for the so called supreme council, yet there was no joy on their faces; even a sieve could see the truth Old Konoha was finished.
Once the uprising hadn't been crushed at the very start, restoring order at this stage was nearly impossible.
All they could think of now was an escape route.
That was why neither had uttered a word.
They had given up on the Village, and Danzo's absence only confirmed their guess the man had the sharpest nose for danger.
"Speaking of which, where's Danzo?"
"Why hasn't that bastard shown up?"
"Anbu!"
"Find Danzo at once. Have Root deploy everything and put this down fast."
"Koharu! Homura!"
"Return to your clans immediately. Mobilise every shinobi you have. Crush the chaos, no matter the cost."
"We have nowhere to retreat to Old Konoha will not forgive us."
"Do you understand?"
Hiruzen's voice was ice.
He was more frantic than anyone; anyone could surrender to New Konoha except him.
Yet, likewise,
the Utatane and Mitokado clans could not flee either, so his face was savage.
At that,
Koharu and Homura shuddered, but clenched their teeth, nodded, and strode from the office.
Once they were gone, Hiruzen slumped in his chair.
Exhaustion lined his face; he had never imagined New Konoha would strike so hard.
Yes…
He had no proof, yet he was certain Uchiha Jin was behind it. Without New Konoha's backing, the Village's mere Civilian Ninja would never dare rise so boldly.
And truth be told he looked down on those civilians; even if they wanted trouble, they could never be this precise.
"Damn it… I was wrong."
"Two quiet years from New Konoha I thought Uchiha Jin's ambition was sated."
"I… was… wrong!"
"They mean to swallow the Village whole."
Hiruzen muttered,
his eyes a mix of fury and regret. When Jin had led the clans out to found New Konoha, he had breathed easy, thinking that was the limit of the man's ambition.
It had even seemed acceptable without the great clans hampering him, the Sarutobi could truly rule; a lesser Konoha was still Konoha.
Who could have known…
Barely two years later, with New Konoha only just stable, they struck.
Only then did he fully grasp
that Jin's method was the same slow boil he himself had once used against the Uchiha
dismantling power bit by bit, each step gentle enough to bear, until you woke to find every weapon gone.
What now?
His eyes were bloodshot, praying his forces would move faster.
Just then Jiraiya spoke: "Old Man, why don't you show yourself?"
"If you took all the sin upon yourself and cut down indiscriminately, you could still terrify them into submission."
"Hold out until the Anbu and the Four Great Clans appear, and the Village can be stabilised for now."
"Then, as Hokage, I'll step forth and kill you, the festering tumour let the Village breathe again."
"So… teacher."
"Are you willing to die for the Village?"
His tone was cold.
The rage had drained from his face, replaced by an uncanny calm.
Clearly
he had seen the light.
Perhaps New Konoha had a hand in tonight's chaos, yet if Old Konoha had truly been united, could any of its Ninja have been lured away?
In the two years since he had taken the hat, he had done nothing save shuffle papers in this office.
The Anbu should be the Hokage's blade, yet he could not command them.
Come to think of it, no department obeyed him at all.
He had vowed to pay out the war commissions and pensions from the Third Great Ninja War two years on, not a single coin had moved.
No money.
Still no money.
It seemed the Village would never find those funds.
So where had the money gone?
Even a puppet Hokage like Jiraiya knew the answer.
Straight into the coffers of the Four Great Clans.
The reparations to New Konoha two years ago had bled the Sarutobi and their allies dry; to recover, they kept dipping into the Village treasury… He had lacked the heart to turn on Hiruzen, and the matter had dragged on.
Now it could drag no longer.
The people had been squeezed past their limit; they would risk death to reach New Konoha.
Therefore…
he longed to cut down Hiruzen, the true tumour.
Yet remembering all his teacher had done for him, and though his own heart was ash, he offered one last path.
Kill.
If Hiruzen could harden his heart, shoulder the blood guilt, and crush the riot, Jiraiya would step in to take the aftermath.
Force the Four Great Clans to disgorge half their wealth, and the Village would know peace again.
Then,
when Konoha's rivers ran clear, he the Fifth Hokage would see it bloom anew.