A trace of impatience welled up in Uchiha Chen, but he quickly suppressed it.
He knew this was no time to lose his temper. If he weren't trying to bring Obito into the open to clear the Uchiha Clan of suspicion and buy enough time for Kotoamatsukami, he would have wanted to rush up and kill her for that attitude.
He took a deep breath, doing his best to keep his voice calm. "I was outside the village because I'd been assigned a special mission.
"The details involve the village's security secrets, so I can't tell you much right now. But please believe me: everything I've done has been to protect the village."
Utatane Koharu was clearly unsatisfied with his answer. She frowned and pressed on. "What kind of special mission required you to go outside the village alone in the middle of the night? And why had no one mentioned this mission before?"
Faced with Utatane Koharu's barrage of questions, Uchiha Chen felt a wave of irritation. He pretended to casually meet Danzo's eyes.
Under Danzo's knowing gaze, Uchiha Chen straightened and met Utatane Koharu's stare. "This was an order given to me directly by Lord Danzo. Only the Fourth Hokage, Clan Head Fugaku, and a few others knew the details. As for why it wasn't mentioned before, there was naturally a reason. I had no right to question it."
He paused, then continued, "The most important thing now is to tell everyone what I saw last night. The safety of the entire village is at stake. I hope you understand and stop dwelling on these irrelevant questions."
Utatane Koharu was displeased at being brushed off, and a nameless fury surged within her. She was just about to lash out when Danzo beside her rapped his cane sharply against the floor. With a grim expression, he said, "Koharu, this matter does indeed involve me. A few days ago, the Uchiha Clan reported an intruder. Though the intruder was eliminated, we can't be certain nothing was overlooked."
"Because we were short on manpower, Minato specifically asked Clan Head Fugaku and me to discuss putting together a team to spread out around Konoha's outskirts, with each member responsible for a separate area. His mission was the one I assigned him, and there's nothing wrong with it. So let him finish." After explaining, Danzo said no more and simply watched Uchiha Chen in silence.
Of course, Uchiha Chen had made up this mission on the spot. The three parties who had supposedly assigned it—the late Namikaze Minato, Uchiha Fugaku, and Shimura Danzō—were all either dead or his pawns. Now that the people involved had confirmed the story, no one could prove whether it was true.
So when Uchiha Chen saw Utatane Koharu's face, flushed livid with anger, the fury he'd felt at being questioned eased considerably.
He then ignored Utatane Koharu and continued, "All right, Lord Danzo."
"At the time, I was patrolling outside the village when I suddenly realized something had happened inside.
"I hurried back to the village as fast as I could.
"On the way, I saw Lord Hokage facing off against a mysterious man dressed in a black robe and wearing a mask. I was just about to go help Lord Hokage, but before I could reach them, the Masked Man had already been driven back by him."
"The whole thing happened incredibly quickly. I saw clearly as Lord Hokage's kunai pierced straight through the other man's head."
"Hold on, Chen!" Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly interrupted his account, his expression grave as he asked, "Are you certain it went through him?"
Uchiha Chen nodded without hesitation. "Yes, it definitely went through. And it wasn't some kind of illusion or clone technique. Right after that, the Masked Man was hit by Lord Hokage's Rasengan and lost an arm."
In the end, the Masked Man seemed to be absorbed by something. His body twisted gradually until he vanished completely.
After the Masked Man disappeared, Lord Hokage left as well.
"That's everything I witnessed with my own eyes. After that, I hurried back to the village, looked for a suitable opportunity to give Clan Head Fugaku a detailed report, and was eventually brought here."
At this point, every person present wore a grave expression, except for Utatane Koharu, whose face showed contempt. She was about to make a few sarcastic remarks when Hiruzen Sarutobi interrupted her once again. "All right, Chen. Based on your account, I can more or less guess what the enemy's jutsu does."
As he spoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi took another deep drag from his pipe. His expression solemn, he said in a low voice, "Space-Time Ninjutsu. There's no doubt that the enemy used a type of Space-Time Ninjutsu similar to Minato's."
His words struck like a bomb in everyone's hearts. The moment he finished speaking, the room erupted in an uproar. Everyone was stunned, and even Uchiha Chen put on an equally astonished expression.
After all, Namikaze Minato, Konoha's user of Space-Time Ninjutsu, had been so powerful that he'd changed the course of the Third Shinobi World War almost single-handedly.
The moment they heard that the enemy had mastered Space-Time Ninjutsu too—and that Konoha's own user had died because of the Nine-Tails—everyone's expression darkened.
Without a user of comparable Space-Time Ninjutsu to counter the enemy, all of Konoha would be like a defenseless, naked little girl, left at the enemy's mercy.
At this crucial moment, Uchiha Fugaku dropped another bombshell.
"Everyone, things are far worse than you imagine. The most troubling part is that last night, every Three-Tomoe Sharingan in the Uchiha Clan tried to seize control of the Nine-Tails—and we still failed!"
As he spoke, Uchiha Fugaku deliberately put on a deeply worried expression and swept his grave gaze over everyone present.
When he saw that everyone, including Utatane Koharu, who had been hostile toward the Uchiha Clan moments earlier, now looked uncertain and alarmed, he continued in a low voice. "This means that for the first time in many years, someone outside the Uchiha Clan has appeared with the Mangekyō Sharingan."
"This is the first Mangekyō since our ancestor, Uchiha Madara, passed away! Since ancient times, only the strength of the Mangekyō has been enough to overcome superior numbers through sheer quality."
"Ha! I never imagined that the greatest power of my Uchiha Clan would end up in the hands of an outsider. What a disgrace to our ancestors." A bitter, helpless smile crossed Uchiha Fugaku's face, his voice filled with regret and self-reproach.
Hearing this, everyone turned to look at the pain on his face, unable to help sympathizing with him.
After all, the Uchiha Clan had always taken pride in its strength and possessed the powerful Kekkei Genkai known as the Sharingan. That power represented the clan's honor and legacy, but now it had appeared in someone else's hands—a tremendous blow to the entire clan.
Everyone present understood that unless this matter affected the village's trust in the Uchiha Clan, the proud Uchiha would never have exposed their own shame so readily. At that thought, everyone's eyes filled with deep sympathy for Uchiha Fugaku.