Sister-in-Law, Please Forgive My Offense

"Old man, I was already late getting here. Some of the villagers weren't very cooperative; they didn't believe the Nine-Tails had appeared again."

"After all, this time the commotion was nowhere near as great as last time. The villagers living farther away didn't hear what happened here, so persuading them became very difficult."

Sarutobi Kou's voice was flippant. She turned to look around, yet failed to spot the culprit.

"Old man, where's the Nine-Tails?" she shouted.

At that moment, the Third Hokage also realized something was wrong. Uchiha Itachi had just chased the Nine-Tails far away, but now there was no sound at all. No one knew where they had gone.

"Maybe that was Genjutsu too..." Sarutobi Kou guessed quietly, but the Third Hokage shook his head, dismissing the idea.

That really had been the Nine-Tails, and that really had been Uchiha Itachi's Susanoo. That distinct, incomparably evil chakra could never be faked. It had simply fallen silent now, which made things strange.

Perhaps Uchiha Itachi had already subdued the Nine-Tails and sealed it away again. Perhaps the information carried by that crow had been false.

Though it felt incredibly strange, the Third Hokage could only believe that. With that explanation, perhaps Uchiha Itachi had not betrayed him and had never intended to kill him. Perhaps that note and all that information had merely been a small joke.

He would soon come before him, asking him to protect Sasuke Uchiha properly, then tell him everything that had happened in Amegakure. Konoha would truly reach even greater heights under his leadership as the Third Hokage.

"Everyone still deeply respects the Clan Head, but for the family's development, I'm sure the Clan Head would be willing to give his life, no matter how painful it may be."

"If it were you, you'd