The lights in the Hokage's office were still on at three in the morning.
The ANBU on duty had already changed shifts twice, and the lights in the document room had long since gone out. Only the candlelight in this office still flickered. Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, holding an anonymously submitted report. It bore no signature, no date, no marks that could be traced back to its source. It had simply been wrapped in a manila envelope and left outside his office door. Only four words were written on the envelope: "For the Hokage's Eyes Only." The handwriting was neat, with thin strokes, as though it had been written against a ruler—not calligraphy, but a disguise.
The report was divided into three sections. The first contained detailed evidence of Danzo issuing the assassination order for the Uchiha Clan massacre. The second contained a complete inventory of the Sharingan Danzo had recovered on the night of the massacre, as well as the original record of Shisui's eye being retrieved by a Root member. The third summarized correspondence between Danzo and the masked man regarding their conspiracy, accompanied by financial records showing that Root had continued to provide Orochimaru with shelter and funding after his defection. Every piece of evidence came with excerpts from the original text, storage locations, and clues that could be independently verified. There were no comments, no accusations, no "recommended course of action"—only facts.
The Third Hokage read the report from beginning to end three times. His fingers trembled during the first reading, not from fear, but rage—he was not unaware of what Danzo had been doing, but seeing those codenames and figures restored one by one into specific names and dates struck far harder than any intelligence briefing. On the second reading, he began comparing