"Danzō… Lady Mito calling us this late… Did something happen?"
Shimura Danzō walked beside Sarutobi Hiruzen, murmuring under his breath. He glanced up at the moon hanging high in the sky—bright just moments ago, now swallowed by drifting clouds.
A moonless, windy night.
The kind people remembered for killings and arson.
Danzō didn't know why, but a chill kept crawling up his spine. Worse still, the way the Senju clansmen they passed looked at him and made his skin crawl.
His mood sank into something heavy and uneasy.
Meanwhile, Hiruzen looked… strangely calm.
"If it's fortune, it won't become a disaster," Hiruzen said quietly. "If it's a disaster, you can't hide from it."
They were meat on the chopping block now.
What else could they do?
At worst, they'd die.
Hiruzen wasn't afraid of death.
His only regret was failing to fulfill his teacher's final charge.
He quickened his pace.
Danzō hurried to keep up.
—
Inside the room, Homura Mitokado, Koharu Utatane, Uchiha Kagami, and Akimichi Torifu had already arrived.
Standing at the doorway, Hiruzen immediately noticed the two Senju jōnin stationed beside Uzumaki Mito.
Senju Mokuka.
Senju Mokuharu.
He knew them—both were veteran shinobi of the Senju clan.
Inside, two full lines of Senju shinobi stood at attention, flanking the room like guards at an execution.
The atmosphere felt less like a meeting and more like a tribunal.
Hiruzen and Danzō's hearts sank.
If they handled this wrong…
The trees in the Senju courtyard would probably grow a little fuller next year.
Koharu and Homura forced bitter smiles when they saw Hiruzen and Danzō finally arrive. A trace of relief flickered in their eyes.
They had been here first—surrounded by Senju shinobi, watching like prey.
It had been… unbearable.
At the head of the room, Uzumaki Mito sat in silence.
Her face showed no emotion at all.
Aside from briefly appraising Uchiha Kagami when they first arrived, she hadn't looked at any of them again. She simply sat there, slowly sipping her tea.
Homura and Koharu knew exactly what they were worth in this room.
They were like drifting weeds—easy to crush, easy to discard.
Their clans carried little weight. In Konoha, among the powerful bloodline families and secret-technique clans, theirs barely registered.
If they died… they died.
Who would dare raise a fuss in a village as vast as Konoha?
Torifu and Kagami were different.
Torifu was the son of the Akimichi clan head—one pillar of the Ino–Shika–Chō, a future core of Konoha's strength.
And Uchiha Kagami was a prodigy of the Uchiha. More importantly, his very existence as Tobirama's disciple carried political weight—a visible bridge between the Hokage's office and the Uchiha clan.
Those two were unlikely to lose their lives here.
Earlier, the Senju shinobi's gazes had never left them. Under the double pressure of danger and suffocating silence, Homura and Koharu couldn't shake the feeling that the true target of those eyes was actually them—
Because they were the easiest to "handle."
Mito continued drinking her tea in silence, clearly waiting.
Waiting for Hiruzen.
The Hokage's chosen successor.
Danzō was merely an accessory.
Hiruzen and Danzō paused at the threshold, not yet stepping inside. Faced with a scene this oppressive, it felt as though a string inside Hiruzen's mind snapped—his ears buzzing faintly.
Mito set down her teacup and looked toward the doorway.
"Since you've arrived," she said evenly, "come in."
Simple words.
Yet they made Danzō's scalp go numb.
His feet felt rooted to the floor. He instinctively turned toward Hiruzen, silently asking what to do.
Hiruzen forced his thoughts to steady. He drew in a breath, then stepped forward with deliberate calm, walking into the room.
Danzō hurried after him.
The moment they crossed the threshold, the Senju shinobi by the door closed it.
Smack.
The sharp sound made every heart in the room jolt.
Hiruzen.
Danzō.
Koharu.
Homura.
Torifu.
Kagami.
All of them.
Silence followed—thick, suffocating.
The others' gazes turned toward Hiruzen at the same time.
The meaning was obvious.
You're the future Third Hokage. If you don't speak, who will?
Hiruzen swallowed, his throat suddenly dry. He steadied himself and stepped forward.
"Lady Mito… calling us so late—has something happened in Konoha?"
Mito's eyes met his.
For several seconds, her gaze did not waver.
Hiruzen's heartbeat quickened.
"I believe I told you before," Mito said slowly, each word carrying weight.
"Tobirama's death is not to be spoken of. Not by anyone."
"But this afternoon…"
Her voice sharpened.
"The entire village of Konoha knew."
She slammed her palm onto the table.
The crack of impact snapped through the room like a whip.
Hiruzen and the others went pale, exchanging frantic glances.
They still didn't understand what had gone wrong.
That afternoon, they had all been confined in the rooms the Senju arranged for them. They had either been resting… or receiving treatment from Senju medical-nin.
They hadn't seen anyone beyond the medics.
"I want an explanation," Mito said coldly.
Her eyes swept across them one by one.
Her chakra began to surge.
A darker, more chaotic presence surfaced—Nine-Tails chakra seeping into the air, carrying a brutal, malevolent pressure that crushed down on everyone present.
We're dead. We're dead. We're dead.
Koharu, Homura, and Danzō screamed it silently in their minds.
"I swear to the heavens, I stayed in my room all day!" Koharu blurted out first, panic cracking her voice. "I didn't leave even once. I saw no one except the Senju medics!"
"If I leaked news of Lord Tobirama's death—I—I'll die a horrible death!"
"I swear on my clan!" Homura rushed out. "If I leaked it—may my entire family be wiped out!"
"Wiped out completely!"
Koharu's collapse shattered what little composure remained.
One after another, the rest began babbling frantic oaths like desperate parrots, clawing for survival.
"I swear too!"
"I swear too!"
"Me too—!"
Mito's expression remained unmoved.
"Hmph. You think vows are enough?"
"I don't want vows."
"I want an account."
She was not a woman who could be swayed by trembling promises. If these brats failed to produce something meaningful, she wouldn't hesitate to use… special methods.
Extracting information from a mind was something Konoha's black-ops excelled at.
Just as panic threatened to spiral out of control—
The door opened.
A man stepped inside.
Senju Momoki.
He spoke the instant he crossed the threshold.
"Lady Mito. We've traced the source."
"All of it leads back to Uchiha-owned shops."
The words struck the room like a thrown blade.
Hiruzen.
Danzō.
Koharu.
Homura.
Torifu.
All of them turned in unison toward Uchiha Kagami.
Kagami froze.
His face drained of color, disbelief flooding his eyes.
"Me…?"
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