Asuma was accompanied by Kurenai Yuhi, along with three other Jōnin: one from a branch of the Hyuga clan, one from the Akimichi clan, and one from the Inuzuka clan. A visibly anxious white ninken trailed behind them.
As the son of the Hokage, Asuma's presence was the only reason these elite ninja dared to approach the forest at this hour. The woods were chillingly silent, littered with corpses and heavy with the scent of death and ill omens.
Kurenai's striking red pupils trembled. She clenched her small hands, her heart pounding with unease. To mask her growing anxiety, she glared at Asuma and said sharply, "Put that out!"
Kurenai despised Asuma's smoking habit. However, because his father—the Third Hokage—was also a heavy smoker, she found it difficult to criticize him too harshly.
Asuma gave a sheepish grin, revealing teeth slightly yellowed by tobacco under the moonlight. He reached out an arm, attempting to pull Kurenai into a half-embrace. "Don't be angry. It'll burn out on its own."
Slap—
Kurenai swatted his hand away, her voice cold. "Focus on the task at hand."
"Haha, alright, business first. Though, I'd argue courting you is my business." Asuma shoved his hands into his pockets, his tone flippant and smooth.
Kurenai sighed, choosing to ignore his thick-skinned banter, but she remained close to the group. She hadn't officially accepted his advances yet, but the reality was becoming harder to deny.
"Let's get to work, everyone. If we wrap this up, it's a massive achievement!"
Asuma snapped his fingers with performative flair. The portly Akimichi ninja moved to guard his flank, while the Hyuga and Inuzuka Jōnin began their sweep. One activated his Byakugan to scan the battlefield, while the other released his ninken. Surprisingly, the dog immediately tried to bolt in the opposite direction, forcing the baffled Inuzuka ninja to chase after it.
Seeing this, Asuma's eye twitched.
"There's a Root survivor over here! Minor injuries!" the Hyuga ninja called out. He moved quickly into the deeper thicket, with Asuma and the rest following close behind.
The survivor—a Root captain—had lost several fingers, and his thigh was pinned to the earth by a shinobi blade. He groaned in agony as they approached. "It was... Uchiha Kuroya. He killed Lord Danzō... then led nine Uchiha... defected from the village!"
"Uchiha Kuroya?" Asuma's brow furrowed. He turned slowly to look at Kurenai, whose face had gone pale.
Kurenai looked away, unable to meet Asuma's questioning gaze. The moonlight illuminated her porcelain skin, exposing the panic she tried to hide beneath the dark, wavy locks of hair framing her face. She wore a red mesh undergarment beneath a white dress wrapped like bandages, the design accentuating her mature, elegant silhouette.
Asuma didn't have the heart to press her. He looked away, a hint of annoyance flickering in his eyes. "There's only one Uchiha by that name. He must be our former classmate from the Academy."
Kurenai bit her lip, whispering a denial. "He's not that kind of person. Besides... how could Kuroya possibly be a match for Shimura Danzō?"
Kurenai was as beautiful as a blooming red rose. She was in the prime of her youth, possessing a sophisticated charm and a mature "big-sister" aura that influenced every word and gesture.
"Kurenai, you're right. I find it hard to believe he could kill Danzō either," Asuma muttered, his expression darkening.
During their time at the Academy, Uchiha Kuroya had been their peer—gentle, kind, and remarkably attentive toward the girls. Back then, the class was split: half the girls adored the cold and distant Kakashi, while the other half were drawn to the sun-like warmth of Kuroya. This Uchiha had been just as brilliant as Kakashi.
In fact, Kurenai, Shizune, and even the then-oblivious Anko had held immense affection for him. Fortunately for the other boys, Kuroya had been a prodigy; like Kakashi, he graduated early and was deployed to the front lines during the end of the Third Shinobi World War. It was only after Kuroya's departure that Asuma had found the opening to get close to Kurenai.
But that was in the past. Asuma had no intention of digging up old history. He took a deep breath to steady his nerves and turned back to the Root survivor. "Tell us every jutsu those Uchiha used."
The Root captain gritted his teeth against the pain. "Control... it was an irresistible type of ocular control. Their leader, Uchiha Kuroya... he has awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan!"
The five ninja were struck with visible shock. They exchanged looks of pure dread. The Inuzuka Jōnin actually took a half-step back. None of them had ever faced a Mangekyō user, but they had heard the legends of the terrifying destructive power those eyes wielded—eyes that symbolized death and carried god-like abilities.
"Please... send me to... the hospital..." the Root captain pleaded.
Asuma glanced at him coldly. "Hold on for five more minutes. Someone will be along to pick you up."
With that, he signaled his team to push deeper into the forest.
"Asuma... maybe we should forget about the 'achievement' and head back," the Inuzuka ninja suggested, his voice trembling. He was struggling to restrain his ninken, which was now baring its teeth and whining in pure terror, refusing to go any further.
Asuma shook his head. "Just a bit further. We need more intel before we decide."
They hadn't walked more than a dozen paces when they reached a clearing. There, they froze. A massive, pale tree dominated the space. A sword hilt protruded from its trunk, and in a dark, recessed hollow, a lifeless face hung low—Danzō Shimura. His body was fused into the wood.
"Shimura Danzō??" Asuma gasped, recognizing the face in the moonlight.
Kurenai and the others stared in horror. The man who usually sat at the pinnacle of power, the "Shinobi of Darkness," had been reduced to this. He looked as though he had been tortured before he died—and he had died miserably.
"Kuroya... really did this?" the Hyuga ninja whispered. This was the man who controlled the shadows of Konoha, yet he had been broken like this by an Uchiha.
"Did Kuroya really... do this?" Kurenai's face flushed, her mind racing. The boy she once admired had grown to such a terrifying height?
"This is impossible!" Asuma's face went white. He fumbled for a cigarette, his hands shaking as he tried to spark his lighter.
Clack— clack— clack—
He struck it several times before a flame finally caught. He took a long, deep drag, trying to settle the storm inside him.
"What's the plan, Asuma?" the Akimichi ninja asked. In his clan, following orders was the primary duty.
Asuma rubbed his temples, forcing himself to be logical. He looked at the sea of Root and ANBU corpses, then back at the lifeless Danzō. A plan began to form. Kuroya must have awakened the Mangekyō; otherwise, he never would have risked this assassination.
But even so... killing this many elite ninja and Danzō himself must have pushed Kuroya to his absolute limit.
A smile slowly spread across Asuma's face. He dropped the finished cigarette and crushed it under his boot. "Uchiha Kuroya killed the Assistant to the Hokage and slaughtered dozens of our men. He must be exhausted. He's at the end of his rope!"
His eyes gleamed with ambition. "After tonight, his bounty and his status as a traitor will be no lower than Orochimaru's. If we seize this chance... if we capture him or bring back his head..."
He looked at his comrades. "Every one of you will become a core legend in your respective clans. So, I propose: we hunt down these Uchiha defectors!!"