The day before.
Hyuga Naraku had read it all—every memory, every hidden record—buried in the dying mind of Shimura Danzo.
And what he found would shake Konoha's foundation.
Hokage's Office – Present Day
"The tragedy of Konoha's White Fang was no accident," Naraku said, his voice like a blade cutting through the air.
"It was a conspiracy."
Silence gripped the council chamber.
Eyes widened. Breath held.
"Hatake Sakumo, hero of the Second Great Ninja War… forced to commit suicide after a so-called 'mission failure'?"
He scoffed.
"A lie. A trap. And I will name every architect."
He raised his hand, fingers tight with fury.
"Sarutobi Hiruzen. Shimura Danzo. Mitokado Homura. Utatane Koharu. All of you played a part."
"Lies!" Hiruzen shouted instantly, almost too quickly.
But Naraku didn't even turn his head.
He began to walk slowly before the assembled clan heads and Jonin Commanders, his voice rising like thunder.
"Let me explain what really happened."
"In the 41st year of Konoha, Hatake Sakumo, then serving as Captain of the Anbu, was dispatched on a top-priority mission," Naraku said.
"The mission was authorized directly by Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"The goal?""To meet a contact in the Land of Wind and retrieve an unspecified item."
Naraku's eyes narrowed.
"But the so-called 'item' never existed."
There was a collective gasp across the room.
"There was nothing to retrieve. No meeting. No contact."
"What Sakumo didn't know was that, after he left, Hiruzen personally ordered one of Konoha's embedded spies in Sunagakure to leak false intel."
"He told them: 'Konoha's White Fang is heading into the Land of Wind.'"
"And he gave coordinates."
The silence in the chamber turned hostile.
"Sunagakure panicked," Naraku continued. "During the Second Ninja War, Sakumo personally killed the commander and deputy of the Sand Puppet Legion. His name alone struck fear."
"So when they learned White Fang was returning to their lands… they didn't wait."
"They sent a force led by none other than the Third Kazekage himself."
"And yet—even then—they couldn't stop Sakumo."
Naraku's voice echoed with intensity.
"He sensed the ambush. He escaped. He even saved his captured teammates on the way out."
"But the 'mission' was deemed a failure. Because there was nothing to retrieve in the first place."
"It was a set-up. Designed to break him."
Murmurs filled the room.
"No way…""White Fang was set up?""That mission was impossible from the start…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen slammed his hand against the desk.
"Nonsense! That's a fantasy! Fabricated slander!"
"You said there was no item. No contact. That a spy betrayed him to Sunagakure."He sneered."Do you have any proof, Hyuga Naraku?!"
Before Naraku could speak, a trembling voice rose behind him.
"I do."
Everyone turned.
From the back of the room, a figure stepped forward—tall, silver-haired, with a mask covering the lower half of his face.
Hatake Kakashi.
He approached the center, breathing heavily.
"I have proof," Kakashi repeated, holding up a file. "This is a mission report retrieved from our intelligence division archives."
He opened it, his hands shaking.
"It's from the 41st year of Konoha. A Sand-aligned spy we had embedded returned to the village abruptly in September. He cited 'compromised status'—believed he was exposed after leaking information about a Konoha operative to Sunagakure."
He looked straight at Hiruzen.
"That Konoha operative… was my father."
Kakashi's voice cracked.
"I was seven. My birthday is September 15th."
"I remember my father promising me—he said he'd be back in time. That he wouldn't miss my birthday."
His hands curled into fists.
"But when he returned, everything changed."
"Rumors started spreading through the village. That he abandoned a mission. That he cost the village lives."
"That he was a disgrace."
He paused, trembling.
"One of the men he saved came to our house. Called my father weak. Asked why he saved them instead of completing the mission."
His voice fell to a whisper.
"Days later, before the morning of my birthday… I found him."
His gaze was hollow now.
"My father. In a pool of blood."
Gasps rippled across the room. Some clutched their chests. Others bowed their heads.
Even hardened veterans winced at the image.
Kakashi raised his voice again, raw and broken:
"Why?!""Why did my father have to die?!"
"Why was he forced to choose between saving his comrades and completing a fake mission?!"
He turned to Hiruzen, fury in his lone eye.
"Answer me, Sarutobi Hiruzen!"
Hiruzen was speechless, his mouth dry.
He looked at Kakashi—the boy he had personally groomed, the one he had intended to elevate to Anbu Commander.
Now standing against him.
"Kakashi…" he muttered.
But it was too late.
One of the elder Anbu, face scarred by time and battle, stepped forward.
"I served under White Fang," he said. "He saved my life more than once."
"He was a hero. He was everything the village stood for."
"I remember the mission logs being sealed. I remember the rumors. But now—now it makes sense."
He turned to the other elders.
"I want the truth."
One by one, the clan leaders spoke.
"We want justice for Hatake Sakumo.""Disclose the original mission details.""What were the 'major losses' from that failure, Hokage-sama?""There was no war. No enemy invasion. What could Sakumo possibly have lost us in 41 A.L.?"
The accusations built like a rising storm.
One whispered:
"What kind of pain must he have felt, dying alone… as the village whispered lies?"
Naraku turned slowly toward Hiruzen, his voice like steel:
"You killed a hero."
"You made a man who saved this village take his own life. All because his growing prestige threatened your grip on power."
The final words fell like a death sentence:
"That is your legacy, Sarutobi Hiruzen."
The old man looked around—and saw not allies, but judgment in every eye.
And for the first time in decades…
The Hokage stood alone.