Someone Had Reached Where They Shouldn't

The Hokage Office.

Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk with a pipe in his mouth. He took a deep drag, and white smoke curled in front of his aged face.

Seated upright before him, his expression grave, was Fugaku.

"Fugaku, this is the first time you've come to me of your own accord."

Looking at Fugaku, the Third Hokage's eyes flickered with complicated emotions: wariness, relief, and exhaustion.

Fugaku didn't respond. He simply took out what he'd brought with him and gently set it in front of the Third Hokage.

"...Lord Hokage, please take a look at this order. It sent six members of the Uchiha Clan's Police Force out on a mission."

Fugaku's voice was low. "I'd like to ask whether you personally issued this mission. If you did, why were they attacked on the way there?"

The Third Hokage picked up the order, his gaze falling on the Hokage seal on the mission scroll and the handwriting that was nearly indistinguishable from his own.

His brow furrowed slightly. The ember in his pipe flickered as he took a deep breath, but he didn't exhale right away.

"Fugaku," the Third Hokage said, looking at Uchiha Fugaku, "I didn't issue this mission scroll."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was furious. He was certain the order in front of him was forged, which meant—

Under his authority as Hokage, someone had reached where they shouldn't have.

The moment he saw the seal on the mission scroll, Hiruzen Sarutobi had already thought of someone.

Danzo.

"Lord Hokage," Fugaku said, his voice almost entirely devoid of emotion. "A seal can be forged, and handwriting can be imitated. But the process for sending Uchiha clan members on a mission has to go through Anbu's internal channels."

"The attack happened along an unavoidable stretch of the route listed in the mission scroll. To pinpoint it—or even set an ambush in advance—they must have had intelligence from inside the village."

"In Konoha, there are no more than four people capable of doing that."

Fugaku didn't name anyone, but his meaning was clear.

The Third Hokage's expression darkened. He didn't argue, because Fugaku was telling the truth.

"Fugaku," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, "I need time to verify what happened."

"Verify what?"

Fugaku cut him off. The Three-Tomoe Sharingan had already appeared in his eyes.

Whoosh!

Several figures appeared in the Hokage Office, all on guard against Uchiha Fugaku.

The Shadow Guard.

Fugaku paid them no mind. He simply stared straight at Hiruzen Sarutobi.

"Stand down."

The Third Hokage's voice was hoarse. The Anbu who had appeared withdrew.

Then he looked at Fugaku and said, "Konoha is a great tree, and its roots spread even farther than its crown. Some places never see the sunlight. The roots sink so deep that even I, the Hokage, don't know what they're feeding on."

His words were quiet, but Fugaku understood.

The Third Hokage was tacitly admitting that Konoha's power didn't rest in his hands alone. But—

"So our Uchiha Clan just has to put up with it?"

His words plunged the office into deathly silence.

Sunlight streamed in through the window, dividing the office into light and shadow. Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in the light; Fugaku stood in the dark.

Looking at Fugaku, Hiruzen Sarutobi took his pipe in hand. For the first time, his voice carried a note of guilt.

"The Uchiha Clan is part of Konoha. I'll investigate this myself. I won't hand it over to Anbu or the Council of Elders. I'll investigate it personally."

"If I confirm that someone from within Konoha is responsible, whoever they are—for forging the Hokage's orders and killing fellow villagers..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi paused. Each word seemed forced out of him. "I'll give you an answer. Not an attempt to pacify you, and not compensation. A real answer."

Fugaku closed his eyes. The figures of those who had fallen began appearing in his mind, one after another.

The Third Hokage was sincere. Fugaku could tell.

The shock, fury, and guilt in those eyes from the start hadn't been an act. If they had, then the Third Hokage would be the greatest actor in the Ninja World.

Fugaku believed that the Third Hokage really hadn't known before he came to see him.

But so what?

The Third Hokage didn't know, but he was the Hokage.

If the Hokage didn't know something, did that mean it wasn't the truth about Konoha?

The Hokage might not know, but Uchiha blood had already been spilled. If Fugaku continued to pin his hopes on the Third Hokage—

Then, one day, even more Uchiha blood would flow, just as he'd seen.

Fugaku opened his eyes again and looked at the aged Hiruzen Sarutobi before him.

"Lord Hokage, do you know what it'll mean if you fail to deliver that answer?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi froze. The Fugaku before him was different—at the very least, he wasn't the Fugaku he'd known before.

He wanted to ask Fugaku what had happened, but the Third Hokage opened his mouth and said nothing for a long moment. At last, he spoke. "...Fugaku."

At that moment, all he could do was call him by name.

He didn't know how to answer.

If he acted and discovered that Danzo was responsible, taking action against Danzo would mean taking action against Root. It would mean exposing Konoha's dark side with his own hands.

It would also leave a wound between the village and the Uchiha that could never heal.

But if he did nothing, the Uchiha Clan—or at least Fugaku—would lose the last shred of trust they had in the Hokage and Konoha.

Fugaku felt neither sorrow nor anger. He simply gazed quietly at the Third Hokage before him.

He had wondered about that future, asking himself and guessing what might have happened.

Could it have been the Third Hokage's doing?

The Third Hokage before him gave Fugaku the answer he needed. He hadn't issued the order, but even if he learned the truth after it happened, he wouldn't do anything about it. The entire clan had already been wiped out.

Given the Third Hokage's usual conduct, even if it had happened, there was nothing he could do. He might even have accepted the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

"I understand."

Fugaku rose and bowed slightly to the Third Hokage. His voice held an indescribably complicated note. "I'll wait for your answer."

Just before turning to leave, Fugaku gently placed the scroll Hayato had brought back on the desk.

"Lord Hokage, this is intelligence brought back by the two members of the Uchiha Clan who were lucky enough to make it home."

With that, Fugaku walked out of the office.

The door closed softly.

The pipe slipped from Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand and struck the desk with a dull thud.

He stared blankly at the scroll before him, then at the forged mission scroll. The sunlight outside slowly faded.

He had been in office for decades. After Minato's death, Konoha had been left without a leader, and for the sake of the village, he had taken on the burden of the Hokage once more, despite his old age.

Even so, his old friend continued to undermine him behind his back, making Konoha's already dire situation even worse.

He had constantly weighed his options and struggled for power... This farce of politics.

Recalling Fugaku's expression and his parting words, Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly closed his eyes.

He, Hiruzen Sarutobi, was a sinner.

As Hokage, he had failed to stop any of this from happening. He was the one who had let Danzo's power grow unchecked.