Snap—snap—snap!
A string of sharp buzzing sounds cut through the night as Hiruzen Sarutobi and a squad of Konoha shinobi landed heavily on the shattered grounds of the Uchiha compound. The earth still smoked from the battle's aftermath, scorched timbers and broken tiles scattered in every direction.
"Is it finished?"
Hiruzen's tired eyes swept the devastation until they found Uchiha Fugaku lying lifeless on the rubble. A wooden stake protruded through Fugaku's chest. Hiruzen's brow tightened.
Wood Release…
Danzo? Could that schemer truly have grown strong enough to kill a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder? Hiruzen's gaze dropped to Fugaku's empty, blood-rimmed eye sockets and his frown deepened.
If the village could have recovered a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan intact, it might have regained some of the strength lost tonight. Even if outsiders could not draw out the full power of those eyes, they would still be a formidable weapon for a Kage-level shinobi.
But all that remained was a corpse.
Danzo Shimura stepped forward, face alight with cold triumph.
"Uchiha Fugaku fell to me in an instant. Of the hundred or so Uchiha who stayed to cover their retreat, only a handful escaped. Hiruzen, what's your situation?"
"The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki has been taken," Hiruzen replied grimly.
"What?!"
Danzo's mask of control cracked. Rage surged through him—he had coveted the Nine-Tails' host for himself. To lose her to an unknown enemy was unthinkable.
Homura Mitokado and Utatane Koharu exchanged anxious glances. The Nine-Tails was a living weapon, the ultimate deterrent in any war. To imagine that power in foreign hands was intolerable.
At least, Hiruzen reminded them, the beast's vicious temperament made it difficult to tame. The new captor would not wield it easily.
"Even with you personally intervening, you failed to stop them?" Danzo pressed, eyes narrowing.
"The enemy's strength was…beyond understanding," Hiruzen admitted, voice edged with frustration. "He may have borrowed the Nine-Tails' own power. I misjudged and he escaped."
Koharu and Homura frowned, exchanging a silent message: if the enemy could harness the Nine-Tails' chakra, taming the beast might not be so difficult after all.
"Stop making excuses for your incompetence," Danzo snapped, anger rising.
"Danzo," Koharu interrupted sharply, coughing twice to steady herself, "blaming Hiruzen serves nothing. The crisis is real. We must focus on what comes next."
Homura nodded. "The abduction was clearly planned. Perhaps no one could have prevented it."
Danzo glared at them, teeth grinding. Their loyalty to Hiruzen was infuriating. They would rather defend a faltering Hokage than see Danzo rise.
Shfft—
An ANBU operative landed nearby and knelt, silent but tense.
"Speak," Hiruzen ordered. "Report everything."
"Hokage-sama," the ANBU said quickly, "the data vault has been breached. Wood-Release Cell Number One is missing, and the Scroll of Seals has been stolen."
The Hokage's face turned to stone.
"The data vault…robbed?"
Koharu and Homura stiffened, alarm flashing in their eyes. The First Hokage's cell tissue—priceless. And the Scroll of Seals contained countless forbidden jutsu, some with no known successor. If those secrets spread, the consequences would be catastrophic.
Danzo's mind raced. Four factions now vied in the shadows: the Uchiha, Konoha itself, the mysterious masked man, and possibly Cloud operatives. Which had dared strike the vault?
"I'll investigate at once," Hiruzen said, voice like iron. "Danzo, Koharu, Homura—contain the Uchiha situation."
Without waiting for their reply, he leapt away, his aging frame still swift as an arrow.
---
The Assassin in the Shadows
Moments later, Hiruzen descended to the lowest level of the Hokage Building. Four ANBU lay dead at the vault's entrance. He stepped forward, senses sharpened—then froze.
A faint killing intent brushed his awareness. Subtle, expertly hidden, but not beyond the perception of the Third Hokage.
Who's there? An Uchiha straggler? The vault thief?
Hands flashed through seals. "Barrier: Canopy Array!"
An invisible chakra dome spread from him in a ripple. Within its reach, every chakra signature lit in his mind.
"There you are."
He snapped his gaze upward. "Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire!"
A volley of blazing orbs streaked toward the rafters.
A quiet, almost admiring voice answered, "As expected of Hokage-sama."
From the shadows, a figure emerged upside-down on the ceiling, a swarm of insects swirling protectively.
"Bugs…" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "Aburame? Ryūma?"
Yume Ryūma adjusted her glasses, lips curling in a cold smile.
"Correct. And tonight, I take your head."
Insects poured from her sleeves like a living tide.
"Did Danzo send you?" Hiruzen demanded. "Is this personal, or his treachery?"
"I'll explain after you're dead."
Her voice dripped with conviction. In her mind, the justification was unshakable:
Hiruzen clung to power, spreading rumors and driving the noble White Fang to his death.
His weakness in diplomacy condemned Hyuga Hizashi to be sacrificed.
His indecision fractured relations until the Uchiha finally abandoned the village.
His failure allowed the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki to be kidnapped.
Four unforgivable failures.
"For the good of Konoha, Danzo-sama must become Hokage," Ryūma said, her whisper slicing the gloom. "Only then can our village be great again."
Hiruzen's jaw tightened. Anger flared behind his eyes as the swarm rushed toward him.
---
Neji's Flight
Far from Konoha, Neji Hyūga streaked across the night sky, carrying Yugito and the unconscious Naruto. Only when his borrowed Nine-Tails chakra finally ebbed did he descend into a dense forest.
Moments earlier, adrenaline had masked his exhaustion. Now weakness hit like a hammer. Chakra was both spirit and body; the Nine-Tails had replenished the former, but his young body was spent.
At just six years old, he collapsed to one knee.
"Neji!" Yugito caught him, easing him down. His face was pale as paper.
"I'm fine," he rasped. "Just…chakra exhaustion."
"You can't rest yet," he continued, forcing his heavy eyelids open. "We must reach the Uchiha and prepare for the worst. From here… I can only trust you."
It was a miracle they'd escaped without casualties. Even the Fourth Raikage might have failed where Neji succeeded.
Yugito nodded firmly. Throughout the fight she had relied on the Two-Tails' chakra and still felt strong. Gently, she placed the unconscious Naruto into the amber purifying pot, hoisted Neji onto her back, and launched into the night once more.
Fifteen minutes later, Neji felt the spiritual bond to Yume Ryūma sever—proof of her death. He exhaled a weary prayer that her sacrifice would delay Hiruzen long enough.
---
Shockwaves Across Nations
Despite Konoha's efforts to contain it, word of the Uchiha clan's mass exodus erupted across the ninja world. The Nine-Tails kidnapping and the vault robbery remained classified among Konoha's elite, but a migration of two to three thousand Uchiha could not be hidden.
Spies reported fierce fighting between Uchiha and Hokage loyalists, with hundreds of casualties and Uchiha Fugaku dead. At first, other nations dismissed the intelligence as impossible. The Uchiha—co-founders of Konoha and the most feared bloodline since the Senju's decline—would never abandon the village… would they?
But confirmation spread like wildfire.
The shock was greater even than the abduction of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. Leaders across the Five Great Nations sensed a shifting balance of power that could ignite a Fourth Great Ninja War.
The Daimyō of the Land of Fire, usually content to let Konoha manage its own affairs, reacted with fury. Though he rarely interfered openly, every Daimyō sought influence over their village's shinobi forces, and Konoha's might made his country preeminent.
To lose the Uchiha—its strongest clan—was unthinkable.
Envoys raced to Konoha demanding answers, while other nations' Daimyō and Kage sent emissaries with a different aim: to lure the Uchiha to their lands. A clan of such strength, seeking a new home, was a prize beyond imagining.
---
The night that began with quiet tension now echoed with turmoil from the heart of Konoha to the farthest borders of the shinobi world.
The Hokage's failure, the Uchiha's rebellion, and the theft of forbidden power had set the entire era trembling—
and the true storm had only just begun.
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