At midnight, after the Root members had taken every scrap of profit they could get their hands on following the battle, they quickly left the Uchiha Clan Compound.
The Anbu left behind drew the short straw.
Normally, villagers handled cleaning up the village, while dangerous places like the training grounds were dealt with by Genin sent on missions issued by the village.
But sensitive areas like the Uchiha Clan Compound had always been cleaned by the Uchiha Clan themselves, with no outsiders allowed in. After the battle that night, the bloodstains and corpses littering the ground were all left for the Anbu.
"Well, at least it's easier than fighting those Red Eyes," the Cat-faced Anbu said with a grin, watching the Leopard-masked Anbu carry a body.
"Sure, sure. You've got it easy. You're so above it all."
Their Anbu squad had only been established recently and had just three members. Their captain had already gone to the Hokage Building to report, the Cat-faced Anbu was recording the identities of the corpses in a register, and Uchiha Jie was carrying the identified bodies into their coffins alone.
Like the other Anbu squads, they had to finish the entire cleanup before sunlight reached Konoha.
Meanwhile, the Hokage Building was also brightly lit. The Third Hokage hadn't slept all night, continuously using the Telescope Technique to remotely monitor everything happening at the Uchiha Clan Compound.
Only after everything was over did he stop the images in the crystal ball before him. He looked at the Anbu standing rigidly in front of him and asked softly, "Tiger, you seem angry?"
"I'm not, Lord Hokage," the Tiger Mask Anbu replied quietly, lowering her head.
"I know you're angry. I broke up your squad and made you wear a mask and join the Anbu..."
The Third Hokage had only just begun speaking when the Tiger Mask Anbu cut him off with a cool voice.
"And about what happened tonight, too, isn't that right?"
"There isn't a single member of the Uchiha Clan left—not even a Ninja Cat. Was this really unavoidable?" she continued.
"They lived in Konoha. They were villagers of Konoha. They wore Forehead Protectors. They were Konoha Ninja."
"I know you admired that teammate of yours, but I'm sorry about the Uchiha Clan. This wasn't something I could decide on my own." Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his head. His hat hid his face in shadow, and a plume of acrid smoke slowly rose.
"Hundreds of Uchiha Clan members had awakened the Sharingan. Most of them were nothing like Uchiha Jie. They were arrogant, conceited, bullies who looked down on everyone..."
"And most of them had serious mental illnesses," the Tiger Mask Anbu interrupted the Third Hokage once again.
"Uchiha Jie told you that? Mental illnesses?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned. It was a claim he'd never heard before, never even considered. Ninja privately called those Uchiha "Red Eyes," and some used even more vicious terms, but none of them had ever truly thought the Uchiha Clan was sick.
A clan of sick people had kept them on edge, made them wary, and driven them to do everything they could to push the Uchiha out of Konoha's halls of power. In the end, they'd exterminated them all, leaving only a little boy still attending the Ninja Academy.
"Yeah. He was even planning to wait until he became a Jonin, then apply for a mission outside the village to find Lady Tsunade and ask her to return to Konoha for a consultation," the Tiger Mask Anbu said slowly.
"Uchiha Jie really was an unusual Uchiha." The Third Hokage sighed deeply and raised his head. The wrinkles on his face gathered together, and his gaze was no longer as clear as it had been in his youth.
"I think you realized that long ago," the Tiger Mask Anbu said, looking at the Third Hokage's aged face and shaking her head slightly. "But you never believed him."
She knew her former teammate had written to the Third Hokage more than once and had tried more than once to speak with him face-to-face, but the Third Hokage had never given him the chance.
Perhaps he feared the powerful Sharingan Genjutsu, or perhaps he had other concerns. But she knew what Uchiha Jie wanted to say. Every member of their squad knew.
It wasn't some wild fantasy, nor was it treasonous.
"He didn't believe in the Will of Fire..." Under the Tiger Mask Anbu's scrutinizing gaze, the Third Hokage slowly said the words. Those words immediately ignited her fury.
"Bullshit, the Will of Fire!" she shouted.
"Do you believe in it? Or does Shimura Danzō? Or is it the Elders Koharu and Mito, who can barely squeeze out a single damn word while sitting in their seats?"
"Why did Orochimaru defect? Why does Lady Tsunade spend every day gambling away her life outside the village? Why does Lord Jiraiya never come back? Why did my cousin—your child—run off to the Daimyo to become a Guardian Ninja?"
Her fist pounded the Hokage's desk, making it thunder. But its owner lowered his head once again, secondhand smoke constantly curling out from beneath his hat. Seeing him like that, the Tiger Mask Anbu's voice grew louder and louder.
"Who are the people who believe in this bullshit? Tell me!"
"How was Kakashi Hatake's Father driven to suicide? And what did the Fourth Hokage die taking with him? Without them, how could you old bastards have lived this long and still be sitting in these seats?"
"Now tell me, who will live in the Uchiha Clan Compound? Which family's coffers will be filled with the money and Ninjutsu you confiscated? Is the largest Ninja Clan in Konoha going to take your surname?"
"And I'm about to take up my new post as head of the Konoha Security Force, while my good subordinates, Shikaru Nara and Hyuga Yue, have already been lined up as my deputy chiefs?"
"And in the end, am I supposed to replace my Sharingan like Hatake Kakashi, so no one can criticize me anymore? Heh. Maybe it'll even be Uchiha Jie's eyes."
"No..." The Third Hokage's voice grew even hoarser. Perhaps it was from smoking, but it sounded more like an old man bending over, weakly leaning on his cane.
"The Uchiha Clan Compound will be preserved. No one will live there except Sasuke Uchiha."
"The money confiscated will be taken into Konoha's coffers as a strategic reserve. The Anbu who took part in this operation will be allowed to learn the Ninjutsu for free, and it will also be sold to other Konoha Ninja at a low price."
"The Hyuga Clan will become Konoha's largest clan. Hiashi will have a greater say in the Konoha High Command, and the village's resources will be directed toward the Hyuga Clan."
"As for the Security Force, it will be reorganized and handed over to civilian Ninja. Its authority will be greatly reduced, and it will only be used to maintain public order in the village."
"As for Uchiha Jie's Sharingan, he was killed by Uchiha Itachi, burned to ashes by the Great Fireball Technique. All that remained was his cremains..."
As he spoke, the Third Hokage took a small sealing scroll from beneath his desk, then took out a piece of paper. It was Uchiha Jie's Special Jonin evaluation certificate, with a large "PASS" stamped on it.
The Tiger Mask Anbu furrowed her brows and took the scroll. Just as she was about to tear it open, the Third Hokage's withered hand grasped her wrist, firm and strong.
"It wouldn't be right to open it here..." he said softly. "Bury him near the Memorial Stone."
The Tiger Mask Anbu nodded and stared blankly at the scroll in her hands, until the Third Hokage's rough palm covered her hand and slowly helped her close her fingers around it.
"He won't be buried near the Memorial Stone. He'll be buried beside his clansmen." The Tiger Mask Anbu's voice had grown hoarse as well. She carefully put away the scroll, then looked back at the Third Hokage.
She still had countless things she wanted to say, but the anger she'd vented moments ago had completely drained away. Seeing the Third Hokage grow older before her eyes, her words seemed to have laid a thousand-jin burden on his shoulders. Then the next words from this old man, this elder, made the tears she'd held back all night spill over at once.
"Actually, if Uchiha Jie hadn't awakened his Sharingan, I'd have been more than happy to let him marry into your family and take the Sarutobi name, Kou."
He will, Sarutobi Kou thought silently.