Konoha's Reactions, Part Two

In the main hall of the Mitokado Compound.

The two paper doors were shut tight. Only two people were inside.

Mitokado Homura sat at the head of the room, his back rigidly straight. Utatane Koharu sat opposite him, sunk into her chair, one hand gripping the armrest while the other trembled faintly on her knee.

"The Third Hokage is dead..."

Utatane Koharu's voice was dry and hoarse. "Are we... next?"

Mitokado Homura slammed a hand against the armrest. "What are you panicking for?"

His voice was so loud that the paper doors hummed.

But his hand was shaking.

"We're still alive!" he added, though his voice was much quieter now. "As long as we're alive, we still have..."

He stopped before he could finish.

Still had what? Any cards left to play? The Third Hokage was dead. Danzo was dead. Everything they had left to use was gone.

They sat facing each other in deathly silence.

Outside the doors, several young members of the Mitokado and Utatane clans were arguing in hushed voices.

Some suggested "siding with the new Hokage to stay alive." Others gritted their teeth and said they should "flee Konoha under cover of night." Still others, eyes red, wanted to "fight to the death."

Their voices were low, but every word passed through the paper doors and reached the two elders.

Mitokado Homura closed his eyes. Utatane Koharu buried her face in her hands.

On a street in Konoha, outside a tavern that had yet to open.

Jiraiya sat leaning against a doorpost, three or four empty bottles scattered beside him.

He had drunk through the night. He had started before the news from Amegakure came back and kept drinking until dawn, when he passed out cold.

Then a burst of commotion woke him.

"Lord Third died