The Hidden Leaf After the Battle

The dust settled.

A perfectly rounded crater had formed where King Piccolo had exploded.

The only discordant sight was the mound of earth where Uchiha Itachi had originally been hiding, standing out conspicuously.

"Cough, cough, cough! What exactly was that?" Someone pushed the mound open from within. The surviving Uchiha Itachi, protected by Susanoo, forced himself to his feet as blood spilled from his mouth.

At the critical moment, the protection of Earth Release and Susanoo had spared him any new injuries.

Most importantly, the explosive force had been an aimless outpouring, which was why he had been able to defend against it so easily.

He stared in shock at the unfamiliar scene before him.

"This was clearly the Uchiha Compound! Why did it become like this?!"

As far as the eye could see lay ruins, while the center had been blasted into yellow sand by the explosion.

The ruins stretched for more than a dozen kilometers, even affecting some of the Hidden Leaf Village's buildings. Fortunately, the Uchiha Compound had been confined to the edge of the village.

Boom—

A small explosion jolted Uchiha Itachi awake.

At the edge of the blast zone, the Hidden Leaf's Anbu were surrounding and hunting down a green monster.

Uchiha Itachi moved, his gaze settling on the green creature.

It was one of the three eggs King Piccolo had spat out—the wingless monster.

There were also two more battlefields deeper within the Hidden Leaf Village.

"It's time to leave!"

In the end, Uchiha Itachi did not join the battle. That monster was nowhere near King Piccolo's level.

It was merely at the quasi-Kage level. The Hidden Leaf had the strength to deal with it.

What he cared about more was Uchiha Sasuke. Only if he, as Sasuke's older brother, became a powerful rogue ninja and made Shimura Danzo wary could he protect Uchiha Sasuke.

He began moving toward the edge of the village.

He had to pass these developments to the Third Hokage through secret intelligence channels.

After a night of fighting, the three monsters that had inflicted enormous damage upon the Hidden Leaf were surrounded and killed.

Hokage Building.

The Third Hokage held a pipe in his hand, his face full of sorrow as he looked at the devastated Hidden Leaf Village.

"Everything had been so carefully planned. Why did such a huge complication arise?!"

He picked up the Anbu report in his hand and looked over the figures, his feelings incomparably complicated.

Leaving aside the investigation into the Uchiha Clan and the economic losses caused by the three strange creatures, the ninja casualties alone made his heart ache.

"Jonin: 23 dead, 7 seriously wounded, 45 lightly wounded.

Chunin: 67 dead, 3 seriously wounded, light injuries uncounted.

Genin: 34 dead, injuries uncounted."

The numbers were truly shocking. Every ninja, especially every jonin, was an important fighting force for the village.

Even during wartime, the death of a jonin was a major matter.

The deaths among civilians had not even been carefully counted.

The two winged monsters had simply slaughtered indiscriminately, resulting in the casualties among chunin and genin.

The wingless drum monster, meanwhile, had faced only elite Anbu ninja. Half of the jonin deaths had been caused by it.

This was no less than a small-scale war. Someone had to take the blame for losses like these.

"Hiruzen, yesterday's losses were severe," said an old man standing at the office door, half his body wrapped in bandages.

The gloom on his face was plainly visible.

"Danzo, there was a flaw in your plan this time, and it caused the village such enormous losses. Someone must take responsibility. You know what I mean."

The Third Hokage took a deep drag from his pipe, slowly exhaling a large cloud of smoke. Then he turned to Shimura Danzo. He had found his scapegoat!

"I can approve the funding request you submitted last time."

The Third Hokage placed a hand on Shimura Danzo's shoulder, firmly pinning the blame on him.

Shimura Danzo's face had been filled with anger, his brows tightly furrowed as he prepared to argue. But after hearing the Third Hokage's words, he already understood what his old companion intended!

Isn't it just taking the blame? I don't even know how many times I've ended up carrying it without meaning to! As long as there's something in it for me, that's enough!

After a moment's thought, he said, "What about Uchiha Sasuke's arrangements? Give him to me. He will become the finest tool."

The Third Hokage frowned, a trace of anger in his expression. "If you want to bear Uchiha Itachi's wrath, I can hand him over to you!"

There was a clear threat in his voice.

Even if Danzo was his old companion, there were some things he could not be allowed to touch. The incident with Shisui Uchiha had already been the limit of his tolerance!

"Hiruzen! You are still too soft-hearted!" Danzo showed no fear of the Third Hokage. The current Hiruzen Sarutobi had already lost the power to intimidate him.

First Sakumo Hatake, and now the Uchiha Clan. There were fewer and fewer cards left in his hand!

The current Uchiha Itachi was probably no longer entirely under the Third Hokage's control either.

As for the ninja clans within the Hidden Leaf Village, they were becoming more and more disappointed in the Third Hokage.

"Danzo, until your formal punishment is carried out, remain confined in the elders' office!" The Third Hokage tapped his pipe against the desk, announcing Danzo's punishment.

"Hiruzen, you..." Shimura Danzo still wanted to argue, but the sound of the pipe striking the desk cut him off.

Knowing Hiruzen Sarutobi well, Shimura Danzo understood that Hiruzen was now on the verge of exploding in rage.

Bang—

He turned and left the Hokage's office, slamming the door shut behind him.

That loud bang seemed to vent the dissatisfaction in his heart.

"Danzo... I am the Hokage."

Watching Shimura Danzo leave in a huff, the Third Hokage refilled his pipe with tobacco.

"Jia, come in."

He called for the Anbu who was standing by at all times, and an Anbu member appeared.

"Gather all jonin captains for a meeting!"

Having given the order, the Anbu member turned and left to carry it out.

He had to give those ninja clans an explanation. No matter what, the Uchiha Clan had been one of the ninja clans that founded the Hidden Leaf Village.

More importantly, when a whale fell, all things flourished.

Those ninja clans were all waiting to divide the benefits.

From a hidden compartment in his Hokage desk, he took out a detailed report on the Uchiha Clan.

The Third Hokage began studying the report in his hands once more. At the very end was secret intelligence sent by Uchiha Itachi.

"A new force? Who exactly are they?

That masked man not only had the Mangekyo Sharingan, but also the power of Wood Release?

And those monsters with entirely different kinds of power... could they really be just isolated cases?"

The more he studied it, the more alarmed he became. Was the ninja world about to be thrown into turmoil again?

Several hours later, at the Hidden Leaf's jonin assembly.

In the end, Shimura Danzo, the Hokage's advisor, took the blame.

"Announcement: Shimura Danzo acted arbitrarily in the Uchiha Clan extermination incident, obstructing the best opportunity for rescue. Effective immediately, he is relieved of his duties as the Hokage's advisor, and the Root under his command is to be disbanded."

"Announcement: The culprit behind this incident is the Uchiha Clan's rogue ninja, Uchiha Itachi.

An S-rank wanted notice is hereby issued, with a bounty of thirty million."

As the Hidden Leaf's enormous machinery began to turn, the matter was unexpectedly settled within the village.