"Immediately assign trustworthy ANBU to provide close protection for Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha, and Mikoto Uchiha."
After the ANBU received their orders and departed, Tobirama Senju turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"After this, you personally—" He paused. "No. I'll speak to them myself. We need to minimize their movements as much as possible."
Judging by what they'd seen in the footage, there was no telling how many people now knew the truth.
The Five Kage Summit was fast approaching.
Putting aside those who might covet the Sharingan, Danzo's suspicions had already been laid bare before the eyes and ears of every village. That alone would put the three of them in extreme danger.
Once the arrangements were complete, they resumed watching—
[The Nine-Tails' assault was overwhelmingly fierce. Every second spent hesitating meant devastating losses for Konoha.]
[The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, made a swift decision and entrusted Danzo with the protection of the civilians. "You'll handle the evacuation of non-combatants. Mobilize the ANBU and the Konoha police force as needed. No matter what, protect the village's younger generation!"]
[Danzo accepted the order. The scene shifted to Konoha Village, where the talented young members of the Uchiha clan were doing everything they could to guide civilians to safety.]
"Brother!"
In the crowd, Sasuke immediately spotted Itachi Uchiha.
The five-year-old boy stood among the women and children, clutching his two-month-old baby brother tightly in his arms as he followed the fleeing crowd.
Seeing how tense and protective Itachi looked over him stirred something deep inside Sasuke.
Before he even realized it, a soft "Brother..." slipped from his lips.
[For the children who had never truly experienced the terror of a Tailed Beast, this night etched fear into their souls.]
[Even the slightest leak of the Nine-Tails' chakra was enough to sentence a powerful ninja to death.]
Other villages—
"S-So that's Konoha's Tailed Beast… the Nine-Tails?"
"What terrifying power."
"When our village's Tailed Beast rampaged, it didn't seem anywhere near this level."
"Idiot! The Nine-Tails is the strongest of the Tailed Beasts! Back then, only the wife of the God of Shinobi, the Uzumaki princess, could suppress it and become its jinchūriki. After her death, another outstanding member of her clan took over the role."
"Then the Uchiha clan, who can even control the Nine-Tails—"
"That's horrifying!"
Konoha—
Naruto stared at the screen.
"So this is… the Nine-Tails' power?"
Something this overwhelming… was sealed inside him?
Why couldn't he feel it at all?
Aside from that time he thought Haku had killed Sasuke… and when he'd desperately tried to protect everyone from Orochimaru…
It seemed that whenever he wanted to protect someone—whenever he desperately needed strength—the Nine-Tails lent him its power.
Why?
The Nine-Tails was the reason everyone hated him.
So why was it helping him?
Was it really just a chakra monster, like the textbooks said?
Could it… have thoughts like a human?
Naruto's mind drifted.
Deep within his body stood a massive golden cage.
Inside, an enormous orange fox slowly opened its bloodshot eyes and muttered to itself, "That brat…"
"One day, I'll get out of here."
"Just you wait, Fourth Hokage."
Unlike Naruto, who was lost in thought, Sasuke's eyes remained locked on the footage.
He saw someone he hadn't seen in years—
His father, the head of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku Uchiha.
[Despite being elite combatants, the young Uchiha were assigned to evacuation duty.]
["Captain!" a young Uchiha called out to Fugaku. "Let us go to the front lines and provide support!"]
[But the reply was an order relayed from Elder Danzo: "The police force will focus on protecting non-combatants."]
["But Captain—!" the young ninja tried to argue further.]
["That's the village's order," Fugaku said gravely.]
As clan head, he understood all too well that the Uchiha had never been fully trusted by Konoha's leadership.
Which was precisely why, at a moment like this, he had to demonstrate his loyalty—obediently accepting the village's deployment. He couldn't allow suspicion of controlling the Nine-Tails to fall on the Uchiha.
He had to distance the clan from this incident.
The only one he could trust now was the Fourth Hokage.
As long as he could reseal the Nine-Tails…
[Boom!]
The explosion of a Tailed Beast Bomb once again forced everyone watching to confront the Nine-Tails' overwhelming might.
It felt as though the entire world trembled. Compared to this, the earlier battles in the footage seemed insignificant.
Gaara silently realized—
This wasn't a level of power his One-Tail could ever reach.
And that power… was sealed inside Naruto.
[The infant Sasuke, still wrapped in swaddling clothes, cried loudly in fear. Itachi held him close and gently soothed him. "Hey, it's okay. You're scared, aren't you? No matter what happens, I'll protect you."]
"..."
Standing before the screen, Sasuke looked like he wanted to cry—but no tears came.
His lips trembled. He turned his gaze away.
Brother… why?
Why would someone like you… massacre the clan?
[The battle lasted less than a single night, ending with the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice.]
Naruto blinked.
"Huh? There's no footage of the Fourth Hokage taking down the Nine-Tails? I was actually looking forward to that…"
Shikamaru Nara rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Looks like that's not the focus of this footage. Everything so far has just been buildup. Let's keep watching."
[The Third Hokage, along with his two advisors, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, as well as Danzo Shimura, gathered to conduct a post-war analysis.]
["There are too many suspicious points in this Nine-Tails incident."]
["At first, we thought Kushina's seal had been broken by the Nine-Tails itself. But that doesn't explain the deliberate killing of Biwako and the ANBU."]
Other villages—
"Twelve years ago, the Nine-Tails' attack on Konoha actually had a mastermind behind it?!"
"From the sound of it, the suspicion points straight at the Uchiha and their Sharingan…"
Before the Central Tower—
Naruto and Sakura both looked at Sasuke with concern.
So the Uchiha clan and Konoha had this kind of conflict in the past?
But Sasuke didn't notice their gazes.
He stared at the footage, desperate to know what happened next.
Why did Itachi do it?!
Could it be—
A terrifying possibility surfaced in his heart.
Could it really have been the Uchiha who killed Konoha's ANBU… released the Nine-Tails… and caused the Fourth Hokage's death?
If—if that were true, then why hadn't Itachi killed him too?!
How was he supposed to face Konoha? Face his academy classmates? Face the villagers whose families had died in the Nine-Tails' attack?
Most of all—
How was he supposed to face Naruto Uzumaki, who admired the Fourth Hokage and carried such a cruel destiny?
[In the footage, Danzo remained as distrustful of the Uchiha as ever. "Wasn't it the Uchiha?"]
[The Third Hokage maintained his fair stance. "Where's the evidence?"]
[Danzo said coldly, "If the Nine-Tails had merely broken free, it would've been a normal rampage. Without someone controlling it, the damage wouldn't have escalated to this extent!"]
A small detail made Tobirama frown.
Why?
Why was Danzo so certain someone was manipulating it from behind the scenes?
Based solely on the Nine-Tails' destruction in Konoha, that level of certainty didn't make sense.
Tobirama had already reviewed the mission reports from the night of the Nine-Tails' attack.
That night, all members of Root had been reassigned elsewhere on vague orders.
If they were available, why didn't they assist in suppressing the Nine-Tails or protecting the villagers?
Yet, the Uchiha—the only ones capable of controlling the Beast—were ordered to stand by on the sidelines.
["So that leads us to the Uchiha?"]
["After all, only the Uchiha clan's dōjutsu can control a Tailed Beast."]
["But what would their motive be?"]
["Power! The Uchiha seek to reclaim authority in Konoha. Isn't that obvious enough?"]
"Power, huh…"
Tobirama couldn't help but detect something else in Danzo's tone—an intense craving for control and authority.
["These are all assumptions," the Third Hokage rebutted.]
[But Danzo refused to back down, even against the Hokage himself. "No matter what, from now on, the Uchiha clan must be placed under stricter surveillance. Their district will be incorporated into a twenty-four-hour monitoring system, secretly overseen by the ANBU!"]
["We can't do that," the Third Hokage said firmly. "We can't conclude the Uchiha were responsible."]
[Danzo shot back, "That's exactly why we must! If no irregularities are found, wouldn't that prove their innocence?"]
The Hokage tried to block the proposal.
But on this matter, the other two advisors sided with Danzo.
In the end, it came down to one thing—
The Uchiha's power was simply too strong. Too frightening.
And the memory of Madara Uchiha leading the Nine-Tails in an attack on the village still haunted far too many people.
The spectators slowly turned their eyes toward the sole surviving Uchiha of Konoha.
Sasuke clenched his fists so tightly his knuckles turned white.
A raging fire burned in his chest—
But he didn't even know where to direct it.
Should he hate Konoha? Hate the Third Hokage and the higher-ups?
Unless he could prove the Uchiha were innocent.
Yet right now, he didn't even know why Itachi had defected!
Why had everyone kept the truth from him?
Alongside his anger, a sliver of fear hid deep within his heart.
He was afraid the Uchiha weren't as honorable as he believed.
Afraid it really had been the Sharingan that controlled the Nine-Tails.
"Dammit! Who controlled the Nine-Tails that night and dragged the Uchiha into this mess?!"
Hidden within the Kamui dimension, the man who was 'no one' sneezed.
"…Achoo."