Questioning the Fire Shadow

Night, the Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Hokage's chair, the mountain of scrolls piled on his desk casting mottled shadows under the flickering candlelight.

He gently rubbed his aching temples.

"Lord Hokage," an Anbu member emerged from the shadows and said respectfully, "it is past two in the morning. You have spent two hours longer reviewing documents today than you usually do."

"Xiang, how long have you been with me?" Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the pipe on his desk, the copper bowl glowing with a warm, yellow light in the candlelight.

He slowly packed the pipe with tobacco, the fine shreds falling with a soft rustle.

The Anbu member named Xiang paused for a moment before answering without hesitation, "Reporting to Lord Hokage, it has been thirty-three years and four months."

The Third Hokage chuckled softly and lit his pipe with a match. Wisps of white smoke rose, blurring the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "Twenty-three years... longer than most of the ninja I have trained."

Xiang knelt on one knee, his black cloak spreading out across the floor. "It is the honor of my life to follow by your side, my lord. But you have been working too hard tonight; Konoha still needs your long-term protection."

He looked up at the Hokage, his eyes filled with concern. "The calming decoction Zhu specially prepared will be cold if you don't drink it soon."

"Heh, no rush." Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up from his seat and turned to look out the window, gazing down at the entirety of Konoha.

"Xiang, come here and look at the night view of Konoha with me," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle.

"Yes!" Xiang came to Hiruzen Sarutobi's side.

Outside the window, thousands of lights flickered like stars, blinking in succession.

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff of his pipe, the white smoke exhaled turning into curling clouds in the moonlight. "Look, these lights are like the hope of Konoha, passed down from generation to generation, never to be extinguished."

Xiang gazed at the brightly lit village, the look in his eyes beneath the mask softening. "Every time I return from a mission and see these lights, I feel a sense of peace in my heart. This is all the result of your protection, my lord."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head gently. "It is not my achievement alone; it is the collective heart and blood of all Konoha ninja."

"Hiruzen! Save me!" The voice of an old acquaintance instantly shattered Hiruzen Sarutobi's good mood.

He turned toward the door, and with just one glance, his pupils constricted sharply.

Danzo leaned against the doorframe, bandages wrapped messily around his blood-stained right arm. One eye socket was empty, and streaks of blood hung from the corner of his mouth.

This man, who was always so gloomy and ruthless, now looked as pathetic as a candle flickering in the wind.

"Danzo?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi hurried forward, his pipe clattering to the floor.

The Anbu, Xiang, instantly blocked the Hokage, his hand resting on his sword hilt as he scanned the surroundings vigilantly.

"Who wounded you like this!?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked angrily.

Although the two often clashed, seeing his old comrade-in-arms in such a state left Hiruzen Sarutobi filled with shock and worry.

Just as Danzo was about to answer, a childish voice came from behind him.

"Lord Hokage, Danzo getting into this state is only what he deserves."

"Hiruzen, don't listen to him! They are the ones who wounded me!" Hearing the voice, Danzo struggled to move closer to his old friend.

But before he could take a single step, his body suddenly collapsed.

A young boy dressed in black tactical gear with a short blade tucked into his waist stepped out from behind Danzo, a cold, chilling smile on his youthful face that belied his age.

"Who is this little brat?" Hiruzen Sarutobi narrowed his eyes.

"Me?" Uchiha Ao looked toward Fugaku, Shisui, and the others behind him. "Why don't you tell our dear Lord Hokage who I am."

"Fugaku? Shisui?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart skipped a beat as he saw who had arrived.

"Lord Hokage, it has been a long time." Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward, coming before Hiruzen Sarutobi. "As you can see, I am no longer the head of the Uchiha clan."

"Fugaku, what are you saying?" The unease in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart grew stronger.

"Lord Hokage, Lord Fugaku has voluntarily stepped down," Shisui stepped forward to answer. "He is the current head of our Uchiha clan."

"Lord Hokage, that is how it is. My identity is the head of the Uchiha clan," Uchiha Ao said with a smile.

Hiruzen Sarutobi found it hard to believe and looked at Fugaku.

"Fugaku, you aren't trying to trick me, are you?"

A ten-year-old child as the head of the Uchiha clan?

Was he just too tired from paperwork to see straight, or had the Uchiha clan gone insane?

"Lord Hokage, every word I say is the truth." Fugaku's tone was flat, his eyes devoid of any fluctuation, as if he were stating the most mundane fact.

Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time before finally accepting the reality.

The Uchiha clan had gone mad!

"Then what is your business with me?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's clouded gaze swept over the three faces, finally resting on the new Uchiha head.

These people had broken into the Hokage Building without a sound; he did not believe Danzo could have made it here alive.

There was only one possibility...

Their target was him.

At that thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank.

"Lord Hokage, there is no need to worry," Uchiha Ao said with a smile. "As I said before I arrived, Danzo is only getting what he deserves."

"Several of our clansmen went missing recently. By tracking them through a secret clan technique, we discovered that all clues pointed to a laboratory deep beneath Konoha."

A bloodstained forehead protector slid from Uchiha Ao's sleeve, bearing the unmistakable insignia of Konoha's Anbu Root: "When we finally located those missing clansmen, we found that their eyes had already been gouged out, and their bodies were being preserved in formalin."

"When we attempted to retrieve our clansmen's remains, we were obstructed by Danzo."

"Lord Hokage, if it were your own clansmen, your wife, or your son who had their eyes gouged out and their bodies soaked in formalin, what would you think?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's temples throbbed, and he felt a deep sense of dissatisfaction with Danzo's actions.

Does he even acknowledge me as the Hokage anymore?

It was one thing to do such things without informing him, but to have someone show up at his doorstep to confront him about it was another!

Useless fool!

Hiruzen Sarutobi calmed his emotions. Although he was somewhat suspicious of the Uchiha clan possessing such a secret technique, the most important thing right now was to send them away as quickly as possible.

He looked at Uchiha Ao: "This matter is indeed Danzo's fault, and it is also the fault of this Hokage for failing to discover and stop it in time."

Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath, his hunched back straightening with effort: "Effective today, I will strip Danzo of his position as the leader of Konoha's Root and exile him to the borders of the Land of Fire."

"As for the losses suffered by your Uchiha clan, I will have someone thoroughly audit all of the Root organization's accounts and return everything that rightfully belongs to you."

His gaze swept over Fugaku and Shisui, and after a brief pause, he added, "But before that, I hope you will not incite any further unrest within Konoha."

Uchiha Ao chuckled, noncommittal toward Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.

Stripped of his position as leader of Root and exiled to the borders of the Land of Fire?

To put it nicely, it was a punishment; to put it bluntly, it was nothing more than Hiruzen Sarutobi protecting him.