Hiruzen Sarutobi jerked his head up.
His eyes widened, and Jiraiya's face, twisted with shock, was reflected in his pupils.
"You're the one who's crazy!"
"It wasn't me!"
"I didn't do it!"
"Stop talking nonsense!"
Denial after denial burst from Hiruzen Sarutobi's throat, every word charged with fury and agitation he could no longer suppress.
"Why would I kill them? Those men in black did it!"
"They impersonated me! They used the Five Release Great Combo Technique to frame me!"
"One of those men in black was Kakashi! He used the Lightning Blade to kill a survivor who made it to the gate! I saw it with my own eyes!"
Jiraiya stared at him.
At his black clothes, at the cloth covering his face, at the blood beneath his feet, at the marks the Five Release Great Combo Technique had left across the Ruins.
His lips parted, then closed. Parted again, then closed.
Finally, he could not hold back.
"...There are traces of the Five Release Great Combo Technique everywhere!"
"And look at what you're wearing!"
He raised a finger and pointed at Hiruzen Sarutobi's black clothes, then at the cloth over his face.
"Why would you, the Hokage, dress like this and come to the Shimura Clan compound in the middle of the night?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi froze.
His mouth opened and shut. Excuses surged up his throat, but they lodged there, and he could not get a single word out.
Dressed like this.
In the middle of the night.
At the Shimura Clan compound.
Why?
To kill Danzo's son and grandson!
To avenge his grandson Konohamaru, whom Danzo had killed!
To fulfill their three-for-one bargain so the plan to surround and kill the Masked Man could go ahead! To let Uchiha Yongye and Madara Uchiha wear each other down,