" Orochimaru, your chance has finally come."
Danzo stood in front of Orochimaru, eyes gleaming.
"Minato's gone. Hiruzen can't keep playing favorites between you two anymore. The Hokage seat is yours now. Once you're in charge, we'll run Konoha the way it should be run. Hiruzen's too soft. Too weak. Under him the village will never move forward."
Danzo smiled like a man who'd waited decades for this moment.
Minato's death had gutted Konoha, but Danzo saw opportunity. Real power within reach. The kind he'd craved for years.
"I understand."
Orochimaru watched Danzo walk away and shook his head.
"You keep saying you have no personal agenda, that everything is for the good of Konoha. But your face tells a different story. And even if I become Hokage, it'll be me—not us. There's only one Hokage."
Orochimaru was willing to work with Danzo, but he didn't respect him. Not really.
Inside Konoha the argument over who released the Nine-Tails was turning vicious. Most people were convinced it was the Uchiha. Whether it was the rebel faction led by Yashiro or the moderates under Fugaku, nobody knew yet. Either way, the entire clan looked guilty.
Shisui's situation got worse fast. Before, people still respected the young genius who'd earned Hiruzen's approval and carried the legacy of Uchiha Kagami. Now he felt the stares. Heard the whispers behind his back.
"Shisui was getting way too close to Lord Minato. He had to be planning something."
"Maybe he did it."
"Shisui's strong, but could he really control the Nine-Tails?"
"Who knows? He's a genius. Even if he didn't do it himself, he was probably following orders from the other Uchiha."
Shisui clenched his fists and lowered his head. "It wasn't me. I had nothing to do with it. Lord Minato's death hurts me more than any of you. I put all my hope in him to save the Uchiha. Now that hope is gone. I can't save my clan anymore. Why are you blaming me for something I didn't do?"
The words hit him like déjà vu. He remembered the way the Uchiha had been treated before the rebellion—hated, suspected, isolated. He'd never noticed because it hadn't touched him personally. Now it had.
"Was it never the rebels who were wrong? Was it always Konoha?"
Shisui looked up at the Hokage Tower, eyes full of pain and confusion. "What the hell am I supposed to do?"
Inside the tower, Hiruzen sat with a list of suspects.
First: the Uchiha. Multiple people had seen the Sharingan pattern in the Nine-Tails' eyes. But which Uchiha? Who had the power? Who even knew Kushina's exact due date?
Second: Orochimaru and Danzo. Orochimaru gained the most from Minato's death. Danzo had been collecting Sharingan eyes for years—plenty of material for Orochimaru to twist into a weapon that could trigger the rampage. But there was no hard proof.
Hiruzen exhaled. "The culprit doesn't matter right now. We have to stabilize the village first. The other great villages will smell blood. Iwagakure, Kumogakure, Sunagakure—they're all watching. We can't give them an opening. Thank god Minato never actually took the hat. If he had, this would be even worse. At least I can still hold things together."
He rubbed his temples. "I need to speak with Orochimaru soon. And I hope Jiraiya comes back and takes the seat."
An ANBU burst through the door, breathing hard.
"Hokage-sama! Bad news!"
"What is it? Calm down."
"A disgusting rumor is spreading across the entire Land of Fire."
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. A bad feeling crawled up his spine.
"What kind of rumor?"
"It's about you, Hokage-sama."
"Speak."
The ANBU swallowed. "The rumor says you're the one who orchestrated the Nine-Tails attack. You didn't want to step down, so you arranged Minato's death. You're obsessed with keeping the Hokage seat in the Sarutobi clan forever."
Hiruzen shot to his feet. Veins bulged on his forehead.
"What? Who started this?"
His face twisted with rage. This rumor could destroy everything he'd built over decades. His reputation, his legacy—gone in a single night.
"We haven't traced the source yet, but it's already spreading through the Land of Fire. Even inside Konoha, people are hearing it."
Hiruzen's fists shook. Pure fury burned in his chest.
"Shameless!"
"Utterly shameless!"
"How dare they slander me like this? Despicable!"