Konoha in Turmoil!

After the patrol guards took the children away, Roy returned to his room.

"Itachi, take a look at this."

Roy handed Itachi a box.

"Hm?"

"This is..."

When he opened the box, there was a note inside.

The contents were exactly what they were looking for: information about Benteng Village.

"Our deduction was right. This must be one of the Satori Organization's larger strongholds."

"It might even be one of their branches."

"We should be able to get plenty of information here."

Roy said it plainly.

"But..."

Itachi had clearly seen the battle earlier.

Roy had made it look easy, but Itachi knew that even the weakest ninja Roy had just killed had been a Special Jōnin.

And that had only been in an outlying village. If they went to Benteng Village and charged straight into the enemy's headquarters...

What would happen to Izumi?

Itachi didn't dare assume that he could protect Izumi while facing countless powerful ninja.

"Worried about Izumi?"

"Actually, Izumi is pretty strong."

"Right, Izumi?"

Roy smiled and looked over at her.

"I... I think I can protect myself."

Izumi nodded, a blush spreading across her face.

After all, she was a girl determined to follow in Uchiha Itachi's footsteps.

Though she was too shy to show how she felt, she had worked tirelessly all the same.

She was only a Chunin, but her strength was at least that of a Special Jōnin.

And she had her Sharingan and her special Medical Ninjutsu.

Most importantly, she didn't look like she could fight at all.

That made it easy to catch opponents off guard in battle.

It was another subtle advantage.

The only reason Roy had kept Itachi watching over Izumi was that he wanted to bring them closer together.

Of course, Roy had no intention of playing matchmaker.

He just wanted Itachi to realize that, aside from his little brother, he had other bonds in the village too.

"All right, let's go."

"We've wasted quite a bit of time."

"I don't want everything to have been settled by the time we finish our mission and get back to the village."

With that, Roy set off.

Itachi and Izumi followed.

Inside Konoha.

In an underground palace.

"The second group of Uchiha have returned to the village, bringing back a group of children."

"They've all been sent to the Uchiha Compound, where separate living quarters have been prepared for them."

"Uchiha Roy and the other two are still out on their mission."

"Nothing much has changed in the village. Things are proceeding as you arranged, sir."

A Root ninja knelt on one knee before Shimura Danzō and quickly reported the situation.

"Hm. Leave the Uchiha outside the village alone for now."

"That boy is unusual. Our ordinary members can no longer handle him."

"Let's deal with matters inside the village first."

"In half a month, I want the Uchiha driven back to the outskirts of Konoha!"

After Danzō finished speaking, the Root ninja vanished as well.

"I need Hashirama Cells."

Just as the Root ninja disappeared, Orochimaru appeared.

He got straight to the point and asked for Hashirama Cells.

"I recall I already gave you this month's supply."

Danzō narrowed his eyes and spoke with some displeasure.

Orochimaru had been coming by rather often lately.

Danzō had the unsettling feeling that Orochimaru was slowly becoming impossible to control.

"Some problems came up. I've obtained a large number of high-quality test subjects, and I need plenty of Hashirama Cells for the experiments."

"After this, I expect the experiment to be nearly complete."

"Don't you want to obtain this power as soon as possible, Lord Danzō?"

Orochimaru extended his long, snake-like tongue, his expression sinister.

"I'll arrange for someone to deliver them. You—"

"I need them now. Twenty vials!"

Orochimaru cut Danzō off and raised his hand.

"Fine."

Danzō wanted to lash out, but the importance of the research results made him swallow his anger.

Inside the Hokage Office.

"Orochimaru has been acting strangely lately, sensei. You—"

A ninja appeared in the Hokage Office and spoke calmly.

"I know."

"But... what are you going to do?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at the white-haired man before him, curiosity showing on his face.

This man usually had nothing to do with the affairs of the village.

He rarely even followed Hiruzen's orders.

They only got in touch when Hiruzen had a special mission for him.

That's right. The white-haired man was Jiraiya.

One of Hiruzen's students.

Hiruzen knew what Jiraiya resented about him.

But Hiruzen had already set down this path, and there was nothing he could say about it now.

"Detain him."

"Otherwise..."

Boom!

At that moment, a massive explosion sounded in the distance.

The nighttime village of Konoha was jolted awake.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Shinnosuke... he's been killed!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen stood and looked toward the explosion.

As he was about to go investigate, an Anbu ninja appeared.

The ninja spoke in a panic.

"What?!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's composure finally broke. He staggered and nearly fell to the ground.

Fortunately, Jiraiya caught him.

"Who did this?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to age ten years in an instant, the wrinkles on his face deepening.

"It... it was... Orochimaru..."

The Anbu ninja stammered out the killer's name.

"Orochimaru?"

"Jiraiya, you—"

Before Sarutobi Hiruzen could finish giving the order, Jiraiya had already rushed out.

He had been planning to detain Orochimaru and find out what he had been doing lately.

In Jiraiya's eyes, those evil experiments would eventually destroy Orochimaru, and might even threaten Konoha.

Who could have imagined that Orochimaru would make his move tonight?

Could he have already completed his research?

At the thought, Jiraiya sped up even more.

The village's ninja sprang into action at once.

In a grove within the village.

"Are you going to stop me?"

Orochimaru looked at the familiar figure before him and spoke calmly.

"No, I'm just out to buy something."

The person who had happened to pass by was none other than Hatake Kakashi.

He had been out of touch with the Anbu lately and had spent all his time watching over Naruto.

So he didn't know about the order to pursue Orochimaru.

The two passed each other without a word.

Orochimaru wasn't among the very strongest when it came to combat, but few could stop him if he wanted to leave.

At least, there weren't many in Konoha who could be sure of stopping him alone.

Late that night, Sarutobi Hiruzen stood at the entrance to the Scripture Pavilion, looking at the two bodies on the ground.

One was his son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke. The other was his daughter-in-law.

He had planned to pass the title of Hokage to Shinnosuke in another two years, but now...