The meeting in the Hokage Building's council chamber had just ended, and the stifling air still held the lingering heat of a power struggle.
Meanwhile, beneath Kage Rock,
the setting sun stretched Danzo's shadow long—he gazed up at the rock face carved with the faces of successive Hokage, his back straight.
His hands were clasped before him,
and his bowed head, seemingly repentant, cast an illusion of "remorse in his twilight years" in the fading light.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was deeply gratified.
"Hmph~ what a touching performance."
That cold scoff came not from beneath Kage Rock, but from the Hyuga Clan Compound several miles away.
"But it really is painful to watch."
"What the hell is this, a trip down memory lane?!"
There were no lamps lit in Qingwu's courtyard, only a few dim strands of light and shadow intertwining at its center. They were "memory fragments" he had condensed with emotional power.
The sun sank in the west.
Qingwu stood before the images with his hands behind his back,
his robes stirring without wind. The green leaf pinched between his fingertips trembled faintly with the emotional fluctuations he sensed.
It was as though a silent conference on political maneuvering was taking place in his mind. Every scene involving the Konoha High Command just now, every trace of Danzo's emotions, was dissected into naked calculation.
Void asked, "True Self, what do you think?"
"Heh~ Danzo really put on a fine show."
Qingwu chuckled, and chakra instantly pulverized the green leaf between his fingers. "If I couldn't sense and dissect emotional power, I might really have been fooled by that sudden awakening and righteous demeanor. That old bastard's schemes run deep."
He looked up at Danzo's phantom in the images, a cold glint passing through his eyes—the emotions hidden within it were