Night fell over the Hokage Building.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat in the Hokage's seat, the mountain of scrolls on his desk casting mottled shadows in the flickering candlelight.
He gently rubbed his aching temples.
"Lord Hokage," an Anbu member emerged from the darkness and said respectfully, "it's now a quarter past two. You've spent two hours longer reviewing documents today than usual."
"Xiang, how long have you been serving me?" Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up the pipe on his desk. Its copper bowl glowed a warm yellow in the candlelight.
He leisurely packed tobacco into the pipe, the fine leaves rustling as they fell.
The Anbu member named Xiang paused for a moment, then answered without hesitation, "It has been thirty-three years and four months, Lord Hokage."
The Third chuckled as he lit his pipe with a match. White smoke curled upward, blurring the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. "Twenty-three years... longer than I've taught most of the ninjas I've trained."
Xiang knelt on one knee, his black cloak spread across the floor. "It has been the honor of my life to serve at your side. But you've been working too hard tonight, Lord Hokage. Konoha still needs you to protect it for many years to come."
He looked up at the Hokage, his gaze full of concern. "Zhu specially prepared a calming herbal brew for you. It'll get cold if you don't drink it soon."
"Heh heh, there's no rush." Hiruzen Sarutobi rose from his seat and turned to look down on all of Konoha through the window.
"Xiang, come and take in the night view of Konoha with me," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a cheerful smile.
"Yes!" Xiang went to stand beside Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Beyond the window, countless lights flickered across the village, twinkling one after another.
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a puff from his pipe. The smoke he exhaled drifted in the moonlight like curling clouds. "Look at those lights. They're like Konoha's hopes, passed down from one generation to the next, never going out."
Xiang gazed at the brightly lit village, his eyes softening behind his mask. "Whenever I return from a mission and see those lights, I feel at ease. They're the result of your protection."
Hiruzen Sarutobi gently shook his head. "It isn't my achievement alone. It's the work of all Konoha's ninjas."
"Hiruzen! Help me!" The voice of an old friend instantly ruined Hiruzen Sarutobi's good mood.
He turned toward the doorway. The moment he saw it, his pupils contracted.
Shimura Danzō leaned against the doorframe, bloodstained bandages wrapped haphazardly around his right arm. One eye socket was empty, and traces of blood still clung to the corner of his mouth.
The man who had always been grim and ruthless now looked as battered as a candle flame flickering in the wind.
"Danzō?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi rushed forward, and his pipe clattered to the floor.
Anbu Xiang immediately stepped in front of the Hokage, his hand on his sword hilt as he warily scanned their surroundings.
"Who did this to you?!" Hiruzen Sarutobi demanded angrily.
Although the two of them often clashed, seeing his old comrade-in-arms in such a state left Hiruzen Sarutobi shocked and worried.
Danzō was just about to answer when a childish voice came from behind him.
"Lord Hokage, Danzō got what he deserved."
"Hiruzen, don't listen to him! They're the ones who did this to me!" Hearing the voice, Danzō struggled to move toward his old friend.
But before he could take a step, he suddenly collapsed.
A boy dressed in black, with a short blade at his waist, stepped out from behind Danzō. His face was young, but the cold smile on it didn't suit his age.
"Who are you, boy?" 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 sank at the sight of them.
"Lord Hokage, it's been a long time." Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward and stopped in front of Hiruzen Sarutobi. "As you can see, I'm no longer the head of the Uchiha Clan."
"Fugaku, what are you talking about?" The unease in Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart grew stronger.
"Lord Hokage, Lord Fugaku has voluntarily stepped down," Shisui answered as he came forward. "He is now the head of the Uchiha Clan."
"Lord Hokage, that's the situation. I am the head of the Uchiha Clan," Uchiha Ao said with a smile.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Fugaku, unable to believe it.
"Fugaku, are you trying to fool an old man?"
A boy of around ten had become the head of the Uchiha Clan?
Was he just seeing things because he'd spent too long dealing with paperwork today, or had the Uchiha Clan gone mad?
"Lord Hokage, every word I've said is true." Fugaku's tone was calm, and his eyes didn't waver in the slightest, as though he were stating the most ordinary fact.
Hiruzen Sarutobi fell silent for a long while before finally accepting the truth.
The Uchiha Clan had gone mad!
"Then what business brings you here?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's cloudy gaze swept across the three of them, finally settling on the new head of the Uchiha Clan.
They had slipped into the Hokage Building without a sound. He didn't believe Danzō could have made it here alive.
There was only one possibility...
They were after him.
At the thought, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart sank.
"Lord Hokage, there's no need to worry," Uchiha Ao said with a smile. "I already told you before I came: Danzō got what he deserved."
"Several members of our clan went missing. We tracked them down using a secret clan technique, only to find that every clue pointed to a certain laboratory beneath Konoha."
A bloody Forehead Protector slipped from Uchiha Ao's sleeve. It bore the symbol of Konoha's Anbu division known as Root. "When we found our missing clansmen, we discovered that their eyes had already been gouged out, and their bodies were soaking in formalin."
"When we tried to take our clansmen's belongings home, Danzō stopped us."
"Lord Hokage, if your clansmen, your wife, and your son had their eyes gouged out and their bodies soaked in formalin, how would you feel?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's temples throbbed. He was deeply displeased with Danzō's actions.
Did Danzō even acknowledge him as Hokage?
Doing such a thing without telling him would have been bad enough, but now he'd even let them come knocking at the door!
Useless!
Hiruzen Sarutobi calmed himself. He was puzzled that the Uchiha Clan had such a secret technique, but for now, the most important thing was to get them to leave as quickly as possible.
He looked at Uchiha Ao. "Danzō was indeed at fault, and so was I, as Hokage. I failed to discover and stop him in time."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep breath and forced his hunched back straight. "Starting today, I will strip Danzō of his position as the head of Konoha's Root and banish him to the borders of the Land of Fire.
"As for the losses suffered by the Uchiha Clan, I'll have someone thoroughly audit Root's accounts and return everything that belongs to you."
His gaze swept over Fugaku and Shisui. After a pause, he added, "But before that, I hope you won't cause any further unrest in Konoha."
Uchiha Ao chuckled, making no comment on Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.
Strip him of his position as head of Root and banish him to the borders of the Land of Fire?
Put nicely, it was punishment. Put bluntly, it was just Hiruzen Sarutobi protecting him.
Before you continue