One hour later.
A woman with an impressive figure and a mark on her forehead, ignoring the mess of her light yellow ponytail being ruined by branches, huddled tightly, holding her breath, and remaining motionless.
The next second, two fierce-looking men holding large blades came over, looking around quickly.
"Where is she?"
"How did she disappear?"
Suddenly, one of them saw some traces on the other side.
"Go over there and check!"
"Let's go!"
Seeing this, the woman hiding in the canopy let out a sigh of relief, jumped down, patted the dust off her body, and looked very smug.
Catch me? I'm a debt-evasion expert!
She walked through the forest with a smile on her face, heading in the opposite direction of the two men.
Suddenly, she saw a girl lying on the road ahead. From the delicate skin exposed, the calluses on her hands, the Kunai, Shuriken, and explosive tags hidden on her body, as well as the bandages and medical supplies, she quickly made a judgment.
"A medical ninja? From Konoha?"
"She looks a bit familiar."
She curiously wiped the face of the unconscious girl lying on the ground. As soon as she saw clearly, her pupils couldn't help but shrink violently, and she was very startled.
Jiraiya's grand-student, Minato's student?!
"She... isn't she dead?"
She couldn't help but recall her younger brother and boyfriend who had also died.
At this moment, anxious shouts from a girl came from afar. "Tsunade-sama! Tsunade-sama! Where are you! Tsunade-sama!"
Among them, there were a few pig squeals mixed in.
Hearing this, the woman looked impatient. While helping Rin up, she shouted, "Stop shouting! I'm here, hurry over and help!"
—
Konoha.
The news that the Fifth Hokage Shisui was going to abdicate spread throughout Konoha.
The villagers expressed that they couldn't understand.
"Why?"
"Yeah. The village is getting better and better under the leadership of the Fifth Hokage, why abdicate at this time?"
"Who said this? It's a rumor again, right?"
"It's a rumor? That's great!"
"Yeah! Whoever is so wicked to spread such ominous rumors!"
"Exactly! If he really abdicates, see if I don't beat you to death!"
"It's not a rumor, it's posted on the bulletin board, and it even has the Fifth Hokage's seal on it!"
"Huh?"
The villagers were dumbfounded.
"Is the Fifth Hokage really going to abdicate? Then who is suitable to serve as the Sixth Hokage?"
"There's no one suitable in the village."
"And the Fifth Hokage is only in his twenties, that old guy Third Hokage was still occupying the position in his sixties."
"Hey! If you want to talk about Hiruzen, talk about him, don't drag the Hokage into it."
"That's right. The position of Hokage is not wrong, the one who is wrong is Hiruzen."
"Don't get sidetracked, the Fifth Hokage is going to abdicate now."
"Hiss..."
Once the topic returned, the villagers felt their scalps tingle.
In the past five years, they had held a mass protest demanding the Uchiha clan move back to the center of the village, but it had no effect at all.
The Fifth Hokage even encouraged them: "If you want to protest, protest properly. The banners must be held well, don't let anyone get trampled, the formation must be neat and impressive, don't let other villages think that the villagers of my Konoha are incompetent. Most importantly, don't affect others."
As soon as these words fell, those who were originally going to protest looked at each other in dismay.
Immediately after, one or two villagers couldn't help but disperse and leave. In less than half an hour, the protest team of thousands was gone.
Through the protest, the villagers understood how firm Shisui's will was—"Say what you want, protest if you will, but I won't change for you."
If it were any other Hokage who ignored them, whether the First or the Second Hokage, the villagers would definitely have rioted. After all, they joined Konoha as members, not as servants.
But with the Fifth Hokage, they really had no way.
He's not even being the Hokage anymore, what can you do?
Force him? He'd just walk away!
Who could possibly control the Uchiha?
The villagers worried that without Shisui, Konoha wouldn't continue to improve, and their quality of life would decline.
If they returned to the era of Hiruzen...
They couldn't help but recall the time they knelt to beg Kumogakure to sign a peace treaty, or when Sunagakure was brought in to suppress their own clans...
They couldn't help but feel terrified and anxious.
"No! We can't go back to that nightmare era!"
"We must get the Fifth Hokage back!"
Just then, another piece of news arrived—"The Uchiha clan has announced their withdrawal from Konoha."
The villagers were dumbfounded.
"???"
They just found it absurd.
With so many enemies outside the village, no matter how strong the Uchiha were, they wouldn't dare leave Konoha, right?
For instance, in the Fourth Great Ninja War, if it were only the Uchiha clan, Iwagakure and Kirigakure would have occupied Konoha long ago.
So, they instinctively didn't believe it.
"This must be fake."
"Exactly. No clan has ever left Konoha before."
"It's true."
"Was it posted on the Bulletin Board?"
"No."
"Then it's fake."
The villagers felt relieved.
But one villager was sweating profusely with anxiety, frustrated by their ignorance.
"The Uchiha clan is already moving out of Konoha, and you're still calling it fake!"
"No way?!"
"Damn!"
The villagers panicked and rushed over.
—
Uchiha Clan Compound.
The once quiet and bustling streets were now completely deserted.
The Uchiha clan had sealed important or unused items into scrolls, such as the Stone Tablet altered by Black Zetsu, original Ninjutsu documents of the Uzumaki Clan, copies of the village's Forbidden Technique Scrolls, stockpiled ninja tools, and so on.
Other commonly used items, like clothes, food, medical kits, and ninja tools, were being pulled on carts.
The elderly and children couldn't keep up with the adults, so they were placed on the carts.
Some naughty children climbed onto the adults' shoulders to ride horseback and look into the distance, their eyes sparkling with curiosity. Others jumped off to run along, then hopped back on when tired, enjoying the affection of their grandparents.
Among the Uchiha Clan Members, many felt reluctant to leave the compound, as it was where they grew up. But they were even more filled with anticipation for the future.
The Uchiha clan left in an orderly fashion.
When the villagers arrived, they only saw departing backs showing no lingering attachment, it was too late to catch up. This caused the villagers to break down.
"How could we just let the Uchiha leave like that!"
"Without the Uchiha clan, what's left of Konoha?"
The villagers were filled with sorrow.
One survivor, who hadn't gone out to curse the Uchiha back then because of illness, had a face full of hostility toward them and sneered, "This is the Uchiha's revenge against the village."
The surroundings fell silent. There was no agreement like the survivor had imagined.
The villagers all turned to look at the woman as if she were a fool.
"Is there something wrong with your head?"
"If the Uchiha really wanted revenge, they could have just lost the Fourth Great Ninja War and let Konoha be occupied."
"Exactly, if you're sick, go get treated. If you have no money, don't come out and annoy people."
"What an idiot!"
"The same kind as Hiruzen! Bitch!"
Many people pushed forward from behind, crowding the villagers in front.
The survivor was squeezed in the middle of the crowd and shouted angrily, "Stop pushing! Get lost!"
The villagers around her had flickering gazes, and their hands and feet began to get rough.
"What are you doing!" The survivor grew even more furious.
"Stop! I told you to stop... Ah!"
Screams rang out as the crowding continued.
But after a while, the screams grew weaker, and the villagers began to get angry.
"Stop pushing from the back!"
"Look, a trampling incident like the Fifth Hokage mentioned has happened!"
"Luckily it was just an idiot who got trampled!"
"Yeah, luckily."
The villagers turned their heads with cold expressions, looking at the Uchiha clan who had already disappeared at the end of the road, their expressions darkening.
"Sigh."
Suddenly, someone noticed something and asked, "Why is there no one guarding the Village Gate today?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the villagers' eyes widened.
Right, why?
If there were guards, maybe they could have stopped the Uchiha clan.
At this moment, a villager came running over in a hurry.
"The Nara Clan... the Nara Clan is also leaving Konoha!"
Before they could even be shocked, a dozen villagers ran over, sweating profusely.
"The Yamanaka Clan is also leaving Konoha!"
"The Akimichi Clan too!"
"The Aburame Clan..."
"The Inuzuka Clan..."
The villagers were stunned. They were about to say it was fake, but recalling the Uchiha clan's departing backs, they fell into total despair.
They seemed to have been... abandoned!