Bang!
The Hokage's office door was violently slammed open from outside.
An Anbu wearing an eagle-faced mask stumbled and crawled his way inside, his voice trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.
"H-Hokage-sama! This is bad! Those... those monsters from Iwagakure have entered the village!"
Behind his desk, Hiruzen Sarutobi had been pinching the bridge of his nose, his head aching from the uproarious rumors outside.
Hearing this, he abruptly raised his head, a flash of severity passing through his clouded old eyes.
"What are you panicking for?! Aren't they just a few brats here to take the exams?! Have the reception staff arrange accommodations for them!"
"N-No, sir!"
The Anbu was nearly in tears as he frantically slapped an urgent report and several secretly taken photographs onto the desk.
"Y-You should see for yourself!"
Frowning, Hiruzen Sarutobi skeptically picked up the top photograph.
The background showed Konoha's newly renovated front gate.
At the center of the photo, a young man in a black trench coat walked casually at the front with his hands in his pockets.
Behind him followed several arrogant-looking brats, along with two mysterious masked Anbu.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's pupils abruptly contracted.
Uchiha Yoru!
That bastard who had turned all his plans upside down actually dared to come to Konoha himself!
"Hiruzen, calm down."
Beside him, Mitokado Homura pushed up his glasses, his voice dry.
"He... he's now Iwagakure's Supreme Elder. Nominally, he's the envoy leading the delegation. We can't touch him."
Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing and merely picked up the second photograph.
In it was a little blond, blue-eyed boy holding a candied apple and looking around curiously.
That face, that expression—it was practically carved from the same mold as Minato Namikaze in his youth.
Click.
The hand holding Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe trembled violently.
Scalding ash