Uchiha, Oh Uchiha!

Dawn had only just begun to break. Within Konohagakure, this sleeping steel jungle, countless residents had just awakened from their dreams, completely unaware of the bloody night in which so much had happened. They continued their busy yet ordinary lives, as though they existed in two separate Parallel Worlds.

At that moment, inside the Hokage Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi's furious roar was deafening. It was hard to imagine such a booming voice erupting from that thin, short body.

"Danzo! Have you gone mad? What kind of nonsense are you spouting? Did your broken spine stab into your brain?

"How could I possibly be that kind of person? You think... you think... I'm you?"

His aged face had flushed crimson. Extreme rage made him feel as though his lungs were burning; he could practically spit out a Great Fireball without even forming hand seals.

His fierce expression had split the corners of his eyes open, blood seeping out in thin streams. He was already an old man with one foot in the grave, yet Hiruzen Sarutobi had never suffered such humiliation before. The frustration, indignation, speechlessness, and fury nearly drove him out of his mind.

Especially since those words had come from Shimura Danzō, his lifelong "old companion," someone who had known and accompanied him for a lifetime. It hurt him too deeply.

Didn't he know how good Hiruzen had been to him? How much he had indulged him? Every ninja in Konohagakure knew how "doting" he had been toward him. As long as Hiruzen remained standing, no matter what mistakes Danzo made, he would be forgiven and let off.

Didn't he know how much criticism and secret gossip Hiruzen had endured because of that? How could he say something so hurtful now?

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt as though all his decades of sincere affection had been fed to a dog.

No, Shimura Danzō was worse than a dog!

Enough, enough. The Shinobi World wasn't worth it. Destroy it, destroy it, destroy everything!

Unexpectedly, Shimura Danzō looked even angrier than he was. At a time like this, Hiruzen was still pretending to be some innocent white lotus? The grievance and rage of having been deceived for decades by a "pure and innocent bitch" surged up within him all at once.

His emotions instantly became hysterical. You were heartless, cold, selfish. You only knew how to manipulate me, then make me take the blame for you.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's final words especially shattered his last restraint.

"Hehehe, that's right, I'm not as good as you. You're more ruthless than I am! I paid the price of bearing every sin, made myself hated by everyone in the village, and yet I never got to be Hokage for even a single day.

"You were Hokage for decades. After stepping down, you could make whoever you wanted become Hokage.

"You could become Hokage whenever you wanted.

"Minato Namikaze was in your way. If he didn't die, who would?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was so furious he nearly spat blood. What an injustice! He was practically being wronged to death! For the first time, he understood what it felt like to have no way to explain himself, to be unable to clear his name no matter how much he spoke!

"Forget it. I'm not talking to you anymore. You're seriously injured too, so suspend all Root affairs for now. I'll issue an order later to disband Root. Go home and rest properly.

"...Eat more walnuts. Nourish that brain of yours!"

Shimura Danzō, slumped in his chair, was so agitated that he repeatedly slapped the desk before him and roared, "Hiruzen, you'll regret this!"

"Danzo, I am the Hokage!"

At last, Hiruzen Sarutobi recovered a little of his usual familiar composure. He lit his pipe, took a deep drag, inhaled the smoke into his lungs, then slowly exhaled it through his nose, savoring the feeling of it passing through him.

His "old companion" was making an unreasonable fuss. What else could an old man do? All he could do was smoke to ease his worries, then forgive him afterward!

This tobacco tasted a little bitter.

Suddenly, a voice drifted in from afar. It was not especially loud, not enough to make anyone uncomfortable, yet under the effect of ninjutsu, it spread throughout every corner of Konohagakure.

"I am Shisui Uchiha. On behalf of the entire Uchiha Clan, who were slaughtered by Anbu ninja last night, I demand justice from the Third Hokage.

"Hiruzen Sarutobi, you despicable man! Even if you have destroyed the Uchiha Clan, do not think you can continue concealing the truth that seven years ago, you released the Nine-Tails and caused the death of the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze!"

Inside the office, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood frozen. Shisui Uchiha? Hadn't Itachi said he was dead?

And why was he spouting the same nonsense as Danzo? What exactly had happened last night? What had occurred?

Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly realized something. He turned to Danzo. Danzo had not told him the truth! At the very least, he had deliberately concealed part of the information...

"Hiruzen, I told you just now that you would regret it! This time, I mean it!"

Danzo laughed sinisterly, as though he could already see hope of becoming Hokage.

"You..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious, but he had no time to question him further. He leaped directly out the window, sprinting down the vertical wall of the tall building beneath his feet.

Each step carried him over at least one floor. He moved as nimbly as a monkey living in a steel jungle, while a squad of black-clad, masked guard ninja abruptly emerged from hiding and followed closely behind him.

At the center of Konohagakure's largest and most prosperous commercial district plaza, Daren Yi, disguised as "Shisui Uchiha," had taken the stage.

After his second stat increase, his physique and mental attributes had undergone a qualitative transformation, so this time, he intended to challenge his limits.

Today, the targets of his genjutsu hypnosis and deception were all of Konohagakure!

Though it was still early in the morning, the bustling economy and trade meant there were already quite a few pedestrians in the commercial plaza.

Many people who had spent the entire night out partying were calling to friends, shoving and shouting as they prepared to return home and sleep. Countless shop owners, employees, and service workers heading to work flowed through the plaza in an endless stream.

Since the commercial plaza stood at Konohagakure's busiest and most convenient transportation hub, the pedestrians and vehicles on the broad streets nearby were so numerous that traffic was nearly jammed. Car horns and pedestrians' shouts blended into a chaotic din.

If nothing unexpected happened, today would have been another peaceful and pleasant day. Unfortunately, someone shattered it!

First came a voice that could be heard with perfect clarity no matter how noisy one's surroundings were.

Then people focused on the content of those words. It was simply too explosive! There was far too much information!

All of Konohagakure fell silent for an instant. One could have heard a pin drop. The next moment, noise, shrieks, and heated discussion a hundred times louder erupted simultaneously throughout every part of the village, nearly blasting Konohagakure into the sky.

"The Uchiha Clan was wiped out? Then doesn't that make our Hyuga Clan the number one great clan in the Shinobi World?"

Hyuga Hiashi nearly choked on his tea water during breakfast at home. That was somehow the very first thought that came to his mind.

Having led his clan to "defeat" the Uchiha Clan without even doing anything, did that make him the most outstanding clan head in Hyuga Clan history?

"Something huge is about to happen!" Within the Akimichi Clan compound, Choza Akimichi swallowed the food he had nearly sprayed out. Never wasting food under any circumstances was a belief the Akimichi Clan would never abandon!

"What a drag!"

At Shikamaru Nara's home, the clever young Shikamaru immediately realized something. He scratched his pineapple-shaped hair, then flopped onto the dining table and could not be bothered to get back up. Beside him, Shikaku Nara wore a grave expression.

The little girls Ino Yamanaka and Sakura Haruno had arranged to go shopping early that morning. They were merely shocked by the words, not knowing whether they were true or false, and had yet to consider the many possible problems behind them.

However, they did think of Sasuke Uchiha, the boy they liked. Worried that something might have happened to him, they discussed whether they should ask their parents about it.

Sasuke Uchiha had endured a "nightmare" in the middle of the night, then spent another half the night having nightmares in his hospital bed.

He had been staring at the ceiling with dark circles beneath his eyes, tasting the bone-deep, soul-corroding flavor of hatred and pain. This would be the underlying tone of the rest of his life!

But upon suddenly hearing Shisui's words, it was as if a drowning man had found his final lifeline.

A faint spark of hope reignited in his eyes. Roaring, he stumbled out of his hospital bed and ran outside barefoot without a care for anything else.

He wanted to grasp even the slightest reason to live in this world beyond hatred.

Naruto Uzumaki's reaction was the exact opposite. He would never believe anything that so-called Shisui Uchiha said. For many years of his life, Third Hokage Grandpa Hiruzen had been his only light. He would never allow his "light" to be slandered or sullied by evil people.

His small figure leaped onto the nearest rooftop. Waving his arms and dancing about, he used all his strength to shout warnings and persuasion at the pedestrians below.

He wished he could tear open his chest, dig out his heart, and use his own life to prove to everyone that Third Hokage Grandpa was absolutely, unquestionably the best person in the world!

As for Might Guy and Rock Lee, the two Single-celled Organisms had already had their brains crashed by the overload of information and were blankly waiting to reboot!

At this very moment, under countless watchful eyes, "Shisui Uchiha" untied the large Sealing Scroll from his back and poured a Sea of Corpses and Blood into Konohagakure's most prosperous commercial plaza.

Countless Uchiha Clan corpses with eyes that had not closed in death were piled together, bodies stacked atop bodies, limbs pressed over limbs.

There were kind elderly women, tender children of four or five, youths in the prime of life, and radiant young girls.

There were fathers clutching their children and wives in their final moments, young married couples and lovers still huddled together even in death, and even infant corpses scattered messily across the mountain of bodies.

There were professional ninja in their prime, but far, far more were ordinary clanspeople without Chakra. Their only crime was bearing the surname Uchiha.

Within and beyond the thunderously noisy plaza, everyone suddenly fell completely silent... utterly still...