What are you laughing at?

Orochimaru surveyed his surroundings; everywhere he looked was nothing but ruins, with Anbu and Root ninja sent flying by the shockwaves of the explosion scattered about.

On the other side, layers of defensive barriers constructed from high-level Earth Release collapsed with a roar, and several disheveled figures stumbled out, swaying unsteadily.

"Cough... cough cough!"

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were covered in dust, their eyes filled with lingering terror, while Shimura Danzō, standing before them, was already a mess, looking utterly wretched.

"Danzō?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen leaped forward in a few bounds, asking urgently, "What on earth happened here?!"

"Where is the enemy?!"

"Cough cough..."

Shimura Danzō did not offer much of an explanation; he coughed violently twice and cast a complex look at Sarutobi Hiruzen.

The moment their eyes met, Sarutobi Hiruzen understood Shimura Danzō's implication.

It was related to the Hyuga Clan again...

And it was connected to the events on the Rock Battlefield reported a few days ago.

"Lord Hokage!"

In the distance, members of the Uchiha, Nara, Yamanaka, and other major clans remaining in the village arrived in succession.

They had already been on their way, and they had witnessed that brilliant golden light with their own eyes.

When these clan leaders saw the scene before them, which looked like the wrath of a god, they all drew a sharp breath in unison.

"Save the people first..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen forcibly suppressed the raging storm in his heart and relayed the orders layer by layer.

That night, time in Konoha passed with agonizing slowness.

Panic spread through the core ranks like a plague of locusts, but under Sarutobi Hiruzen's iron-fisted suppression, the news was locked tightly within the ruins of the Hyuga compound.

Although the heads of the major clans were terrified, they understood that stability was paramount at this moment, and they unified their story for the outside world.

"An extremely dangerous external intruder launched a surprise attack and has been defeated by the combined efforts of the Hokage and the advisory council."

The common folk might have believed it.

After all, the actual casualties were not high; most of the dead were Anbu, Root, and members of the Hyuga Clan.

However, there would always be those who understood just how troublesome an enemy capable of causing such destruction truly was.

Take, for instance, Tsunade, who had just been "invited" back in a hurry from a casino on the other side of town.

She stood in the center of the Konoha Hospital corridor, with stretchers being carried past her feet one after another.

The smell of blood was pungent, and due to her hemophobia, Tsunade's body could not stop trembling.

In those eyes that were usually so spirited, fear fought a constant battle with her reason.

But as the granddaughter of the First Hokage and Konoha's top medical ninja, She still wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, suppressed the urge to vomit and flee, and commanded in a deep voice.

"Divert the critically injured! Leave the lightly wounded for now and wait for support..."

Tsunade's voice trembled, yet it still carried the resolve to command the entire scene.

By the time everything was properly arranged, dawn had broken.

A breeze carrying the scent of yesterday's war brushed against her face, helping Tsunade regain a bit of her spirit.

She wiped the cold sweat from her brow and, filled with suspicion, rushed toward the Hokage Building, desperate for an answer.

Just as she reached the top floor of the Hokage Building and before she could even push the door open, she heard a heated argument erupting inside the office.

"That guy named Ao has already come knocking at our door! The Hyuga Clan must have obtained something critical on the Rock Battlefield to make that fellow act this way!"

"And you actually want me to hush this up?! Instead of questioning Hyuga Hiashi, you want to restrict the investigation by Root?!"

"Hiruzen, you will definitely regret this!"

"Danzō, I am the Hokage!"

"..."

"Bang!"

The door was pushed open violently and then slammed shut just as hard.

A disheveled Shimura Danzō with a livid expression strode out.

He paused for a moment when he saw Tsunade arriving at the door, a flash of violence and impatience crossing his single eye, but he brushed past her anyway.

Tsunade's brows furrowed tightly.

If Shimura Danzō could be angered to this extent, it seemed the situation was far more serious than she had imagined.

"Old man, what on earth is going on?!"

She pushed open the ajar door and strode inside. "Who is Qing? And what does he have to do with the Hyuga Clan?"

"Ah, Tsunade..." Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples from behind his desk, his expression weary.

"Orochimaru, you're here too?"

Tsunade looked toward the window, where her former classmate was staring at the Hyuga compound, lost in thought.

"Indeed..."

Orochimaru turned back, his tone carrying a hint of profound meaning.

"After all, the Hyuga Clan... is hiding a world-shaking secret."

The eye of the sage, known as the Tenseigan.

The scroll that the mysterious man named Qing had traveled thousands of miles to retrieve.

Orochimaru felt the ancient, simple scroll hidden within his sleeve, lowered his eyelids, and watched silently as his teacher explained everything to his comrade.

Could it be that this scroll hides a secret that even Lord Qinglan and I failed to discover...?

"Is that so?"

Tsunade furrowed her brows, pondering the words.

Every word of Sarutobi Hiruzen's explanation seemed to carry a sense of absurdity.

A mysterious man named Qing had broken into Konoha without warning, slaughtering three high-ranking members of the Hyuga Main Branch with overwhelming force and expressionlessly breaking the legs of seven or eight Branch Family guards.

And the reason he gave was...

"The Hyuga Clan stole something of his."

"What kind of nonsense is all this?"

Tsunade looked up sharply, her confusion laced with a hint of anger as she glared at Sarutobi Hiruzen. "He broke into Konoha to cause destruction just to get his things back?"

"Besides, would the Hyuga Clan really go around stealing things?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head with a wry smile, reaching out to pack more tobacco into his pipe.

"That is the official statement provided by Hyuga Hiashi."

"It sounds absurd, but if you consider the strength of 'Qing', it seems to have some logic."

"However..."

He suddenly shifted his tone, his voice growing deeper.

"If we follow the clues gathered by Danzo, the truth of the matter... is likely a much darker version."

"The Hyuga Clan found something very important."

"They concealed the discovery, brought it back to the village, and... that thing was so useful to the Hyuga Clan that they were willing to break tradition and hold a celebration during such a tense period."

"They placed this 'thing' in their secret vault and arranged for several Main Branch elders to guard it in shifts. As a result, they attracted the owner of the 'thing'—that is, Qing—to come and collect his debt."

"He fought his way through the secret vault, retrieved what belonged to him, and took a pair of Branch Family Byakugan as interest."

Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, a flicker of complexity crossing his eyes.

"But the Hyuga Clan does not seem to have given up, or rather... they tasted the benefits that the 'thing' brought to their clan."

"For this, they were willing to take the risk again, sending people to the Rock Battlefield while 'Qing' was away to take the 'thing' back."

"And thus, we had that golden light that pierced through the Forest of Death last night."

The office fell into a deathly silence.

"Pfft..."

Orochimaru, who had remained silent the entire time, finally couldn't help but let out a low, raspy scoff.

Both of them turned their gazes toward him simultaneously.

What are you laughing at?