Intelligence from the fortress battlefield was sent back to Konoha at top speed through summoned ninja beasts.
In just one hour, news of the front-line battle had spread through Konoha's inner circle of high command.
Yet inside the Hokage Office, the atmosphere was oppressively silent.
The fingers gripping the intelligence scroll tightened slightly in Third Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand.
Every line of text on the page overturned his judgment of where the war was heading.
Konoha's allied forces on the front line had engaged Kumogakure's main army at a border fortress in the Land of Lightning.
Uchiha Kazuhiko and Tsunade had joined forces against A, the Fourth Raikage.
In the midst of the melee, the S-rank rogue ninja Orochimaru had launched a surprise attack on the battlefield, stabbing Tsunade in the back.
Yet the final result was:
Orochimaru died on the spot, the Fourth Raikage was severely wounded, and Kumogakure withdrew across the entire front.
The note at the end of the scroll shook Sarutobi Hiruzen to the core.
[Uchiha Kazuhiko awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan and mastered an unknown space-time ocular technique.]
[In a red-and-white-eyed state, he distorted space from over 1,000 meters away, leaving Orochimaru separated from his head and body. The whereabouts of the head are unknown.]
[----]
In the corner of the office, Danzo sat within the shadows, half his face concealed in the dimness.
After hearing the report from his direct Anbu subordinate, the hostility in his chest rapidly accumulated.
Orochimaru was dead.
After years of effort spent drawing him in, one of the few Kage-level combatants who could reach a consensus with him had died so easily!
Now that you're dead, how am I supposed to continue the Sharingan transplantation plan?
And who will help me realize my plan to become Hokage?
Danzo had originally planned