The Various Reactions

The news reached the Hokage Building at top speed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, already distressed after arguing with Danzo, leaped to his feet when he heard the urgent report from the Anbu. His face instantly turned ashen!

"What did you say?! Root sent people to assassinate Uchiha Ling?! At the hospital?! All three were killed in the counterattack?!" The Third Hokage's voice trembled with rage.

"Y-yes, Lord Hokage. The scene... was horrific. Uchiha Ling has new wounds, and he's extremely agitated. He... he demanded to know why the village wanted him dead..."

The reporting Anbu knelt on one knee, head bowed low.

"Danzo!" Hiruzen Sarutobi practically spat the name through clenched teeth, fury surging through him!

He had never imagined Danzo would be so reckless, so utterly shameless!

Sending Root to assassinate a Ninja Academy student who had just distinguished himself! At Konoha Hospital, no less!

It was a brazen slap in the face to him, the Hokage! A violation of Konoha's order and its most fundamental principles!

"Move Uchiha Ling to the highest-security ward immediately! Send the best medical ninja! Increase Anbu protection! No one is to approach him without my direct orders!"

The Third Hokage practically roared his commands. "Bring Shimura Danzō here at once! Now! Immediately!"

"Yes!" The Anbu vanished in an instant.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's chest heaved. He walked to the window and looked out at Konoha beneath the night sky, his heart turning cold. Danzo... you've gone too far!

Deep inside Root Base.

Shimura Danzō soon received word that the mission had failed completely and all three of his subordinates had been wiped out.

Danzō's bony fingers clamped around his cane. Disbelief flashed in his single eye, soon replaced by deeper malice and fury!

"Useless! Three Chunin, and you couldn't take down one wounded brat?!" His voice was low and hoarse, charged with a brewing storm.

And he had clearly ordered them to bring Uchiha Ling in. How had it turned into an assassination?

Just then, his informant near the Hokage Building brought him the latest news: Uchiha Ling had tearfully accused the village at the scene, claiming that it had sent people to kill him. The Anbu had taken full control, the Third Hokage was furious, and he was being summoned for an urgent meeting!

At the words "tearfully accused," Danzō froze. Then he immediately understood!

That brat... that Uchiha brat! His counterattack hadn't been a lucky fluke. He'd done it on purpose! He'd been putting on an act!

He was using this incident to turn the tables on him!

He was winning sympathy and stirring up public opinion, putting himself and Root at odds with the entire village!

"Uchiha... Ling!" Danzō nearly ground his teeth to dust, a surge of suffocating frustration and rage rising within him!

After a lifetime of plotting, he had been played and manipulated like this by a kid barely into his teens! And he'd even lost three elite Root operatives!

A disgrace beyond words!

[Extreme fury, frustration, and murderous intent from Shimura Danzō +80]

Danzō could almost see the anger and accusation on Hiruzen Sarutobi's face, and feel the tremendous pressure from the Hokage's faction.

Worse... the other ninja clans might now grow resentful and wary of Root and the advisory council.

All of it was because of that damned Uchiha brat!

His cane slammed against the floor with a dull thud. Murderous intent nearly radiated from Danzō's single eye.

"Uchiha brats are born evil..."

In the highest-security ward at Konoha Hospital, the smell of disinfectant had been replaced by a faint scent of sandalwood.

Uchiha Ling lay on a freshly made, soft bed. Medical ninja had personally treated his new wounds, and clean white bandages covered him.

Two Anbu wearing animal masks stood guard outside the door like statues. Unlike Root's chilling murderous aura, they carried themselves with a solemn, strictly professional air.

Uchiha Ling rested with his eyes closed, but his mind was already turning over what to do next.

Now all that's left is to wait and see how everyone reacts... Uchiha Ling thought. He had set the stage; the actors would soon take their places.

The first to arrive was Uzumaki Kushina, blazing into the room like a ball of fire.

She practically charged in, barely slowing for the Anbu's routine attempt to stop her at the door. When she saw Ling's pale face, fresh bandages, and feeble appearance, her bright green eyes immediately filled with tears.

"Ling!" She rushed to his bedside, her voice breaking with grief and furious disbelief. "Are you okay? How could this happen?! I heard... it was people from our own village... How could they do this to you?!"

Kushina had clearly heard the news on her way over. Now she was so emotional she could barely contain herself. In her innocent view of the world, Ling was a hero who had been injured saving her, a comrade who truly embodied the Will of Fire.

Kushina couldn't understand why someone like Ling would be subjected to such a vicious assassination attempt.

[Anger, heartache, guilt, and fear from Uzumaki Kushina +60]

Uchiha Ling opened his eyes and forced a "weak" but "brave" smile, comforting her in turn.

"I'm okay now, Kushina. It's just a small injury... Maybe... maybe there's been some kind of misunderstanding."

Uchiha Ling deliberately kept his words vague, even sounding as though he were making excuses for the village. That only made Kushina angrier.

"Misunderstanding?! What kind of misunderstanding means sending assassins to a hospital?! They were trying to kill you!"

Kushina clenched her little fists, her red hair almost lifting on its own.

Uchiha Ling caught the change at once. He reached out and took her hand, gently channeling chakra into her as he used his Sharingan to convey a calming emotion. "Calm down, Kushina. I'm fine, really. The Hokage has sent people to protect me. He'll get to the bottom of this."

Uchiha Ling's reassurance calmed Kushina a little, but her overwhelming anger remained. She gripped Ling's hand in return, as though afraid he would disappear if she let go. Biting her lip, she finally let her tears fall in great drops.

"This is all because of me... If you hadn't saved me, you wouldn't have been hurt or targeted by those bad people... They must have been after me. I dragged you into this..."

At that moment, Kushina's trust in and reliance on Uchiha Ling reached its peak, as did her hatred for whoever was behind this. She almost instinctively guessed that the culprit must be among the Konoha High Command, the very people charged with protecting her.

[Guilt and dependence from Uzumaki Kushina +40]

"Don't say something so silly." Uchiha Ling gently patted the back of her hand. "Protecting a comrade isn't a burden. As long as you're safe, everything I did was worth it."

His words struck the softest place in Kushina's heart like a perfectly aimed arrow.

She could hold back no longer. She bent over the bedside and sobbed quietly, her shoulders trembling.

After a while, Kushina lifted her head and wiped away her tears. An unprecedentedly fierce flame burned in her green eyes. "Ling, just you wait! I won't let them get away with treating you like this! I'm going to see Grandma right now! She'll make sure justice is done!"

Without waiting for Ling to respond, Kushina sprang to her feet and rushed out of the ward. Her red figure swept down the corridor like a whirlwind and disappeared at the far end.

Uchiha Ling knew the first domino had fallen exactly as he'd planned.

Although Uchiha Ling's calculations had factored Kushina into the plan and taken advantage of her feelings for him, they had spent nearly a year together. She was no stranger to him, and he had developed genuine feelings for her.