In Konoha, Sasuke Uchiha watched in confusion. He had been so young back then.
At the time, Naka Shrine had seemed enormous, imposing, and a little frightening to him.
He remembered how strange the atmosphere in the clan had been throughout the year before the Night of the Massacre.
The adults had always been rushing around with grim faces. No one had time for him, even though he was the clan leader's son.
All he remembered was how tired his father had looked.
His older brother had rarely played with him anymore, either. He was always discussing something with Brother Shisui.
The images on the Canopy Screen made Sasuke Uchiha understand one thing: the tragedy that destroyed the Uchiha had not happened overnight.
In the Hokage's Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi's pipe had gone out long ago, but he hadn't noticed.
What he saw on the Canopy Screen was not a band of traitors plotting an uprising.
It was a proud family, wounded and driven to the edge of a cliff, giving one last anguished cry.
The composure Fugaku Uchiha struggled to maintain, and the helplessness buried deep in his eyes, pierced Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart like a needle.
Then there was Shisui Uchiha, that bright young man who had inherited the Will of Fire. His earnest sincerity seemed so precious on the screen, yet so... fragile.
And the man responsible for all of it bore a name Hiruzen Sarutobi did not want to face, but could no longer avoid: Shimura Danzō.
"Danzo."
Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed soundlessly and sank deep into his chair.
Had things truly gone that far? he asked himself. Was there really no chance of a peaceful resolution? Did it have to end in drawn blades and rivers of blood?
He already knew the answer.
That was precisely why it hurt so much.
He had known what Danzo was doing back then.
Root members had conducted increasingly frequent, provocative "patrols" outside the Uchiha Compound.
There had been several disappearances and clashes cleverly pinned on the Uchiha.
And whispers about the "Sharingan controlling the Nine-Tails" had quietly spread fear among the villagers and non-Uchiha ninja.
All of it had been Danzo's work: precise, vicious, efficient, and utterly unscrupulous.
But now, watching those living faces on the Canopy Screen and hearing their desperate cries, he could no longer look away.
For the first time, Hiruzen Sarutobi realized with painful clarity that the price of his tacit approval might have far exceeded anything he had imagined.
He had thought he was maintaining a balance, countering Danzo's extremism with a gentler policy of conciliation.
Now his efforts looked feeble against Danzo's relentless schemes.
Worse, he had become part of Danzo's strategy—a figurehead of "weakness and ineffectiveness" who only strengthened the Uchiha's belief that negotiation was useless and resistance their only choice.
Was I truly wrong? The question struck Hiruzen Sarutobi with crushing weight.
At last, he slowly set down his pipe. It made a soft click, but in the deathly stillness of the office, it sounded as heavy as thunder.
At Root, Shimura Danzō felt little as he watched. He was more curious about when he had ever come into contact with Nine Nether and Naraka.
After this string of revelations, Shimura Danzō had begun to wonder whether he was going senile.
The other Great Shinobi Villages and the Akatsuki Organization felt little, either. After all, wiping out a clan was hardly Konoha's specialty.
Since the First Shinobi World War broke out after the death of Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi, no one knew how many Kekkei Genkai clans had vanished from history forever.
The Uzumaki Clan and the Hozuki Clan, for instance...
The next day, the Canopy Screen began playing as usual.
[The scene shifted to a secret underground meeting room at Root.]
[A massive stone table stood in the center of the room. Shimura Danzō sat alone at one end, staring coldly at the figure opposite him.]
[The air across from him rippled faintly. A dense black shadow, formed from concentrated malice, hovered there—a Clone of the Demon Naraka.]
[It had no fixed shape. One moment it formed a sneering human face; the next, it dispersed into an ominous mist.]
["Tsk, tsk, tsk..."]
[Naraka let out a string of contemptuous chuckles.]
["Danzo, is this all you can do? Skulk like a rat in the gutter, spreading harmless little rumors?"]
["And send your skulking underlings to pace outside someone's home? It's laughably childish."]
[The shadow writhed into a vague hand and waved dismissively at Danzo, as if shooing away a fly.]
["Look at them. Just look."]
["Those Uchiha at Naka Shrine made plenty of noise, but what happened? Fugaku Uchiha and that brat Shisui calmed them down with a few words."]
["The little spark you lit didn't even singe their clothes, and it's already about to go out."]
[Naraka's voice dripped with mockery and inhuman malice.]
["You think these childish games will drive a powerful clan with a Kekkei Genkai into rebellion?"]
["Danzo, are you insulting me or yourself? How utterly boring!"]
[Shimura Danzō's fingers tightened slightly on his knees. His exposed eye fixed sharply on the shadow as he spoke in a low, rasping voice, hard with authority.]
["Watch your words, Naraka."]
[He paused, seeming to hold back his anger.]
["Konoha is not a place where I can do whatever I please."]
["Hiruzen Sarutobi is still Hokage. He turns a blind eye to what I do."]
["But any move too aggressive would bring unwanted scrutiny and resistance."]
[A flash of bitter resentment crossed his lone eye.]
["I've stirred fear among the villagers, used the old Nine-Tails incident to drive a wedge between them, sent Root members on intimidating patrols, and arranged several 'accidents' that can't be traced back to me."]
["Under the current constraints, that is as far as I can go."]
["I am not Hokage yet. I cannot openly use my authority to condemn them, much less start a civil war without cause!"]
His voice carried suppressed frustration, both a retort to Naraka's mockery and an expression of hatred for the limits on his power.
["Fugaku Uchiha is no fool, and several Uchiha elders are formidable in their own right."]
["Push them too hard, and they'll grow wary before we're ready. They may even take desperate action and throw all our plans into disarray."]
["What I want is a perfect 'uprising' that lets us eliminate them completely, not a sloppy disaster that leaves Konoha itself crippled!"]
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