The lights of the Hokage Building still shone brightly against the night. The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, had only taken a few hurried bites of dinner before preparing to return to his office to deal with paperwork—he simply had no appetite lately.
He sighed. The Hokage still had an enormous workload, but more exhausting than physical fatigue were the troubles concerning the Uchiha Clan.
Not long ago, Shisui Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha, both Anbu of Konoha, had brought him unsettling news. Within the Uchiha Clan, someone was planning to exploit Satsuki's close relationship with the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to lure Naruto into the Uchiha Clan Compound, intending to control the Nine-Tails and launch a coup.
Though it was still only in the planning stages, the news had already kept the Third Hokage awake at night. Through the Telephoto Eye Technique, he had personally witnessed the ever-deepening bond between Naruto and Satsuki.
If they were forcibly separated now... that child who had only just begun to feel a sense of belonging in Konoha would likely return to being that lonely "demon fox" from before.
Just as he was caught in a dilemma, Shisui proposed a shocking suggestion—he revealed the ocular technique of his Mangekyo Sharingan, Kotoamatsukami, the most powerful genjutsu capable of silently altering another person's will.
Silently altering one's will...?
At the time, the Third Hokage could scarcely believe his ears. He understood better than anyone what such an ability meant. But in the end, his indecisive nature won out.
He persuaded himself with the reason that Shisui was Kagami Uchiha's descendant, agreeing to Shisui's plan and allowing him to correct the hawks' will during the clan meeting.
However...
On the day of the operation, Shisui vanished without a trace. Neither living nor dead, he could not be found. The Third