Suspect: Danzo!

Blood gushed from seven or eight wounds, staining the white sheets, the shattered glass, and the entire floor red.

His eyes were still open, but his pupils had gone dull. Disbelief and horror were frozen on his face.

Yakushi Nonō covered her mouth.

She had seen countless wounded people and countless corpses, but never a scene like this:

The ANBU Captain, the Hokage's eldest son, had been murdered. Right here in Konoha Hospital. In the less than two minutes since she had left.

Trembling, she crouched and reached for Sarutobi Shinnosuke's carotid artery. No pulse. No heartbeat. No breath.

He was dead.

There was no chance to save him.

In the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi was reviewing documents. Blue smoke curled from his pipe, gathering into a hazy cloud beneath the lamplight.

His hand was steady and his handwriting neat, but the crease between his brows was deeper than usual.

Asuma had been badly injured, and Shinnosuke had suffered broken ribs. Both his sons had been hurt in a single day. As their father, he couldn't help feeling weighed down by it.

But he couldn't show it. He was the Hokage. The Hokage could not let personal feelings or weaknesses show. He could not let anyone see his anger or vulnerability.

The door flew open.

An ANBU Ninja stumbled in, dropped to one knee, and spoke in a shaking voice.

"Lord Hokage... Lord Shinnosuke... he's been killed at Konoha Hospital!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand jerked.

His pipe slipped from his fingers and struck the desk, scattering sparks. He slowly raised his head. The pupils in his usually untroubled eyes had shrunk sharply.

"What did you say?"

His voice was frighteningly calm, like the dead-still sea before a storm.

"Lord Shinnosuke... was killed at Konoha Hospital!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for a moment. Then he slammed his palm onto the desk.

Boom!

The thick wooden desktop shattered. Documents, scrolls, brushes, ink, and the Crystal Ball clattered across the floor. His pipe rolled twice and went out.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu sprang from their seats almost simultaneously. The two elderly advisors stared at each other, shocked and disbelieving.

Kokoro no Suke? The Hokage's eldest son? The ANBU Captain?

Murdered—at Konoha Hospital?!

"Who did it?!" Mitokado Homura demanded, his voice rising to a shrill pitch.

No one answered.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had already stormed out of the office. His Hokage robes snapped behind him. His hat fell to the floor, and he didn't even stop to pick it up.

Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu exchanged a glance and hurried after him. Behind them, dozens of ANBU Ninja gathered silently like shadows and followed close behind.

In a ward at Konoha Hospital, Hiruzen Sarutobi stood in a pool of blood, looking down at the body riddled with holes.

His eldest son. The son he valued most. The ANBU Captain. The successor he had spent more than twenty years raising.

He lay on the floor, cold all over. The seven or eight wounds in his body had stopped bleeding... because there was no blood left.

Hiruzen Sarutobi said nothing. He stood there with his head lowered, motionless as a statue.

Mitokado Homura crouched to examine the wounds and the traces left by the fight. His fingers trembled slightly, and fine beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Utatane Koharu stood behind him, her lips pressed into a thin line. The wrinkles on her face seemed deeper than usual.

After a long while, Mitokado Homura stood. His face was ashen. Cold sweat slid down his forehead as he spoke in a grave voice.

"The wounds... were made by Wind Release. Highly compressed bullets of air entered from the front and passed straight through the body. Their shape, size, penetrating force..."

He paused and swallowed.

"...It was Vacuum Sphere!"

Utatane Koharu's pupils contracted sharply.

Mitokado Homura went on, each word harder to force out. "Danzo... Vacuum Sphere is his signature secret technique. He's practiced it for decades. No one else in all of Konoha can use it to this degree!"

"But..." His voice rose suddenly, his words coming fast.

"It can't be Danzo! He isn't that stupid! He wouldn't leave such an obvious clue. Someone must be framing him! Someone deliberately copied his technique to pin this on him!"

Mitokado Homura spoke faster and faster, sweat streaming down his forehead.

Logic told him it made no sense. However unhinged Danzo might be, he couldn't be stupid enough to kill someone with his signature Ninjutsu, especially somewhere like Konoha Hospital.

But deep down, a voice was screaming: What if? What if Danzo did it on purpose?

What if he wanted you to think, "Danzo couldn't be that stupid," so you'd clear him?

Utatane Koharu hesitated. Her lips moved, and at last she spoke.

"Danzo... he's capable of it."

Her voice was quiet and strained, as though saying the words was itself a verdict.

"He was stripped of his position as Hokage Advisor. He must hate us for it! He wouldn't dare strike directly at Hiruzen, so he went after Shinnosuke. He's capable of that. And..."

She paused, a complicated look crossing her eyes.

"Maybe he didn't leave the clue by accident. Maybe it was... a show of force. A provocation. Revenge. He wanted Hiruzen to know who did it, while knowing Hiruzen couldn't touch him."

Mitokado Homura opened his mouth to argue, but found nothing to say. The three of them had worked with Danzo for decades. They knew better than anyone what he was like.

He was the sort of man who never let a slight go unanswered. If someone stepped on him once, he would repay it tenfold. He would pay any price to get what he wanted.

Last night, Danzo had been humiliated in public, kicked to the ground in public, and stripped of his post as Hokage Advisor in public... How could he possibly let that go?

Hiruzen Sarutobi finally spoke.

"Let's go."

His voice was heavy, as if it had risen from a grave.

"We'll ask him. I want to hear his answer from his own mouth!"

He turned and strode toward the door, unaware of the blood on his Hokage robes. His face showed nothing, but the fury churning in his old eyes could have burned down a forest.

Rationally, Hiruzen Sarutobi found it hard to believe Danzo had done it.

Danzo might be unhinged, but he was always meticulous. Why would he use his signature Ninjutsu to kill someone in Konoha Hospital? It was too stupid. It wasn't like him!

But...

Danzo had the ability. Danzo had a motive.

That was enough to make him a suspect. Enough to demand an investigation.

Because the man who had died was the son he valued most!

He could not let any suspect go.

At Root's underground base, the dim corridors smelled of damp mold and faint blood. Torches flickered on the walls, casting twisted shadows across the stone like demons dancing in silence.

Danzo was not there when Hiruzen Sarutobi forced his way in with the ANBU.

The Root ninja left to guard the base dropped to their knees at the sight of the Hokage leading his people inside. None dared make a sound.

"Where is Danzo?" Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was cold as a blade.

"Lord Danzo... went out..." one of the Root ninja answered, trembling.

"Where did he go?"

"I... I don't know..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi pressed no further. He stood in the middle of the dark, damp corridor with his hands behind his back and waited in silence.

The Anbu Ninja formed two rows behind him. The tension was like a bowstring drawn to its limit.

Mitokado Homura kept wiping away sweat. Utatane Koharu closed her eyes, her lips moving faintly as though she were praying.

The minutes passed. Torchlight danced on the walls, stretching and shrinking everyone's shadows.

Half an hour later, footsteps finally sounded at the far end of the corridor.