Strange Events

In a ward at Konoha Hospital, a middle-aged man with a scruffy beard saw the patient wake and hurried over.

"Chiriku, what happened?"

"How did you end up here? What about the Fire Temple?"

Chiriku lowered his head, unable to hide his grief. "The Fire Temple is gone!"

"How could that happen?"

Asuma Sarutobi stood up. He had grown up there, and the temple had some exceptionally skilled monks. How could it have been wiped out so quickly?

"What happened?"

"It was Danzo's men. He demanded that the Fire Temple submit to him. We refused, so he brought Ninja who could use strange Ninjutsu and destroyed it!"

"Danzo? Ninja?"

"Hasn't he gone rogue? Where did he find so many powerful Ninja?" Asuma Sarutobi asked.

"I don't know! I don't know!"

"Hundreds of Ninja dropped from the sky and wiped out the Fire Temple. I barely managed to escape!" Chiriku said, his eyes filled with terror.

"All right. Get some rest. I'll report this to Lord Hokage!"

Seeing what a terrible state Chiriku was in, Asuma Sarutobi offered him a few words of comfort and left.

"Put every Jonin on alert! Send Kurenai and her team to the Fire Temple to gather intelligence. This time, we're going to kill Shimura Danzō for good!" Uchiha Itachi said.

"Yes!"

Trouble on every front. First Akatsuki, now Shimura Danzō. But anyone who wants to attack Konoha will have to get past me first, Uchiha Itachi thought.

After passing the mission on to Kurenai, Asuma Sarutobi walked off without another word.

He found a deserted spot, lit a cigarette, and exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Kazuma, Hokuto, Nanago, Seito, Tōbo... wherever you are now, does the Fire Temple's destruction hurt you too?"

They had once been his comrades. But their political differences had led him