The Hokage Building, top-floor office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood before the wide floor-to-ceiling windows, looking down at the outline of Konoha.
The flames near the Uchiha Compound had already been extinguished by the Anbu, but everything that had happened tonight still filled him with unbearable grief.
He could no longer tolerate Danzo's reckless behavior.
Always claiming he was acting for Konoha. Did that mean he could slaughter his own people at will?
The office door was tightly shut.
Itachi Uchiha knelt before the desk and began his report.
"The Uchiha Clan has only one survivor: Sasuke..."
Hiruzen turned around and looked at the young man who had shouldered everything for the sake of the village. He let out a deep sigh.
"I'm sorry, Itachi. Even in the end, I couldn't find a way to resolve this peacefully."
He paused for a moment.
"I have one more question. What was that surge near the Uchiha Compound?"
Itachi raised his head. His red Three-Tomoe Sharingan looked especially dim in the low light.
"I used Tsukuyomi on Sasuke."
"But during the final stage, to completely shatter his mental defenses, I forced my eyes beyond their limits and tried to layer another forbidden technique on top of it."
"I wanted him to hate me. That way, he'd push himself to grow stronger, and Konoha would become his ally. He won't pose a threat to Konoha."
Hiruzen listened in silence.
The power of the Mangekyō Sharingan had always been the stuff of legend. Konoha didn't have complete information about it.
"You went to such lengths to protect him." Hiruzen shook his head.
"Lord Hokage, I have only one request."
Itachi looked directly at the highest authority in Konoha.
"If Danzo or anyone else dares to go after Sasuke, I'll sell every one of Konoha's classified secrets to an enemy nation. I promise I'll do it."
Hiruzen closed his eyes, concealing the complex emotions in them.
"I understand. I swear in my name as Hokage that the village will protect Sasuke and never let anyone interfere in his life."
Itachi stood, transformed into a flock of crows, and vanished from the office.
Only a few minutes later, the office door opened.
Shimura Danzo walked in, half his face wrapped in bandages. His single eye was fixed on Hiruzen.
"He's gone?" Danzo walked forward, his voice cold.
"What was that energy that erupted near the Uchiha Compound? There must be something wrong with that brat Sasuke."
Hiruzen struck his pipe hard against the desk.
"That was a chakra rampage caused by Itachi losing control of his Mangekyō Sharingan."
Hiruzen stared at the old friend he had known for decades.
"This matter is over. Sasuke is just an ordinary boy. From today on, no one is to interfere in his life without my permission."
Danzo gave a cold snort.
"Hiruzen, you're always so weak. That brat will become a calamity for Konoha sooner or later. You'll regret this."
Danzo turned and left the office, leaning on his cane.
He didn't believe that flimsy excuse about the Sharingan losing control.
That brat was definitely hiding some unknown power that could threaten Konoha. Danzo had to confirm it himself.
Konoha Hospital, private ward.
Sasuke lay on a white hospital bed. The smell of disinfectant filled the room.
He opened his eyes and assessed the condition of his body.
The medical ninja's chakra had healed the internal bleeding, and the tears in his muscle fibers were under control.
Footsteps sounded outside the door.
An old man with his right eye and right arm wrapped in bandages walked in.
At first sight, Sasuke had already marked him as extremely dangerous.
He gave off the same repulsive air as the higher-ups in Jujutsu Society.
Danzo walked up to the bed and sized up the boy lying there with his single eye.
"My name is Shimura Danzo. I'm the former leader of Root—the one who trained the Anbu for Konoha."
"You have a Sharingan that could awaken at any moment. You're dangerous wherever you go."
Sasuke said nothing.
"You must have seen it, right? That energy that erupted near the Uchiha Compound that night. What was it?" Danzo began probing him.
"I don't know. It was probably Itachi."
"Wasn't it your power?"
"If I really had that kind of power," Sasuke said, looking at Danzo, "you'd have been the one lying on the ground that night. You wouldn't be standing here questioning me."
Danzo narrowed his eye.
The boy was far too calm.
Faced with an interrogation, he showed none of the panic of a normal child.
"Don't you want to see the Uchiha Clan rise again?" Danzo said slowly. "Don't you want to see your family again and take revenge on that traitor?"
"I'm not interested in revenge. Don't use those lines you save for children to test me." Sasuke cut him off.
Appreciation showed in Danzo's eye.
Well, well. Interesting. He could get Sasuke to join Root.
"You claim you don't care about your dead clansmen, but is that even possible?" Danzo changed tactics and played his trump card.
"The power of the Shinobi World is far more profound than you can imagine. The Second once developed a forbidden technique called the Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu."
"Once you've mastered the technique, all you need is a medium from the deceased, and you can forcibly pull their soul back from the underworld into the living world." Danzo studied the boy's expression.
At the mention of bringing the dead back to life, Sasuke's expression briefly softened.
Forcibly pulling a dead person's soul back into the living world from another dimension.
Two names surfaced in his mind—Tsumiki Fushiguro and Satoru Gojo.
If the Impure World Reincarnation could overcome the boundary between life and death...
If he could combine the shadow medium of the Ten Shadows Technique with the Space-Time Ninjutsu of this world...
Could he break through the barrier between dimensions and pull their souls into this world?
Sasuke lowered his gaze, concealing the thoughts churning in his eyes.
Danzo noticed the brief change in the boy's breathing.
Heh. He claimed not to care, but he'd taken the bait all the same.
As long as Danzo kept him firmly under his control, whatever power the boy had would belong to Konoha.
Once Sasuke revealed it, Danzo would have plenty of ways to take it for himself!
"If you're willing to work for me and join Root, one day you'll come into contact with that power." Seeing the boy's head lowered, Danzo assumed he had taken the bait.
The ward door suddenly swung open.
Hiruzen hurried in. The moment he saw Danzo standing by the bed, his expression darkened.
"Danzo, what are you doing here?" Hiruzen's tone carried a clear warning.
Danzo gave a cold snort but didn't answer. He glanced at Sasuke, then turned toward the door.
"If that power really exists, I'll take it for myself." Sasuke suddenly spoke as he watched Danzo's back. "I don't need to grovel to anyone."
Danzo didn't respond. As long as the seed had been planted, sooner or later the boy would come to him on his own to pursue that forbidden technique!
He glanced back once, then left through the door.
Hiruzen watched Danzo leave with a frown, then pulled up a chair and sat beside the bed.
He looked at Sasuke, wrapped in bandages from head to toe, and his expression softened.
"Are you feeling any better, Sasuke?" Hiruzen reached out as if to pat the boy on the shoulder, but stopped with his hand in midair and finally rested it on the edge of the bed.
"Is what he said about the Impure World Reincarnation true?" Sasuke turned to look directly at the old man in the Hokage Cloak.
Hiruzen froze, then anger churned in his chest.
That bastard Danzo had actually used a forbidden technique to manipulate a child who had just suffered the massacre of his clan!
He forced down his anger toward Danzo and looked back at Sasuke.
The boy's eyes were much too calm, calm enough to break your heart.
No child should have to react this way.
It was all his fault.
Hiruzen sighed inwardly.
The boy was too deeply traumatized. To keep himself from falling apart, he could only wrap himself in this cold façade, forcing himself to face everything like an adult.
"Sasuke, you don't have to force yourself in front of me."
Hiruzen's voice softened. "If you want to cry, then cry. You're still just a child. You don't have to pretend to be an adult and shoulder all of this."
"I just want to know if that jutsu is real." Sasuke ignored Hiruzen's reassurance. Right now, all he cared about was the possibility of bringing Tsumiki back to life.
Looking at the boy's stubborn expression, Hiruzen knew there was no point trying to lecture him right now.
"It is." Hiruzen nodded. "It's a forbidden technique left behind by the Second. But it's extremely dangerous and defies common sense."
Hiruzen looked at Sasuke and made his promise. "When you're older, when you've become a truly excellent ninja and earned my approval...I'll give it to you."
Sasuke looked into the old man's eyes. He saw sincerity and guilt there, completely unlike Danzo's pure exploitation.
So this was the Third Hokage...
Just as Gojo-sensei was held back by the Jujutsu Higher-Ups, Konoha wasn't a place where the Hokage could decide everything alone.
"I'll do it," Sasuke replied.
Hiruzen nodded in approval, the wrinkles on his face relaxing.
"From today on, Konoha is your home. As long as you carry the Will of Fire, everyone in the village will protect you."
Hiruzen stood up. "I'll send people to clean up the Uchiha Compound. You can return whenever you want."
"No need." Sasuke didn't want to go back. He had no fondness for places like the Zenin Clan's compound. "Please find me a new place to live."
"No matter what glories people have in life, they mean nothing after death."
Hiruzen fell silent for a moment.
As expected, the compound had become a nightmare the boy couldn't face.
"By the way, if there are any assets or supplies left, please sell them for me, Lord Hokage."
"I'm sure you won't cheat a child out of his money, will you, Lord Hokage?"
That was Sasuke's real goal. None of the things associated with the clan mattered to him.
If anything, his dislike of clans ranked just below his hatred of Zenin Maki and Satoru Gojo.
It would be better to sell the clan's belongings and get some money. Money mattered more to him now.
Hiruzen had just taken a drag from his pipe. When he heard that, he nearly choked. "Cough, cough...you little rascal."
"All right. I'll take care of it."
Hiruzen opened the door and walked down the quiet corridor.
Since Sasuke didn't want to return to the Uchiha Compound, Hiruzen would have to find somewhere suitable for him.
Hiruzen exhaled a ring of smoke, and another lonely figure came to mind.
The apartment next door to Naruto's was vacant. Perhaps putting the two of them together would be a good idea.
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