Years of Endurance, All for Nothing!

The Hokage Office was brightly lit.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his broad desk, clutching the report the ANBU had just delivered. His brow was furrowed deeply.

The Crystal Ball sat to one side. A long column of ash had built up in his pipe, forgotten.

The report was short, but every word burned like a hot coal, making his eyelid twitch.

On the outskirts of the Uchiha Clan Compound, two Root ninja had been killed instantly by Lightning Release Ninjutsu.

Three ANBU ninja and two more Root ninja had died to a powerful Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame.

Witnesses said the killer had silver hair and wore a mask. He was skilled in Lightning Release, moved with incredible speed, and had escaped despite being surrounded by Root, ANBU, and the Uchiha. All he had left behind was the residual Chakra of a Lightning Release Clone.

Silver hair. A mask. A Lightning Release Clone.

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the report and slowly exhaled smoke. Through the haze, his expression shifted.

"Kakashi?"

He murmured the name, then shook his head.

"Impossible."

His tone left no room for doubt.

Kakashi Hatake. Hiruzen had watched that child grow up. He had seen him emerge from the shadow of Hatake Sakumo's suicide, survive the deaths of Obito and Rin, and make his way to where he was today.

The Fourth Hokage had personally recruited Kakashi into the ANBU. From then on, Kakashi had been loyal to the Hokage.

Every mission he had carried out since then had been handled cleanly and efficiently. His loyalty had never been in question.

Why would an Anbu ninja with such a promising future attack members of Root and the Anbu for no reason?

It made no sense.

But—

Hiruzen Sarutobi's hand paused, his pipe suspended in midair.

Another figure in white surfaced in his mind.

Konoha's White Fang, Hatake Sakumo.

Danzo had been the one pulling the strings back then.

And Hiruzen Sarutobi had watched coldly as the tragedy unfolded. He was the Hokage. He could have stopped it.

But he hadn't. He had chosen silence. He had let Danzo destroy Hatake Sakumo's reputation.

Hatake Sakumo had been too strong and too well respected. Like Orochimaru, he had to be weakened.

What Hiruzen Sarutobi hadn't expected was for Hatake Sakumo to resist so fiercely that he would take his own life. What had been a routine political maneuver became a disastrous blunder that made Konoha a laughingstock in the other villages.

Shimura Danzō had a guilty conscience.

So did Hiruzen Sarutobi.

What if Kakashi had learned the truth about his father's death? What if he had discovered that, besides Danzo, the people responsible included the Hokage who had kept his mouth shut?

What would he do?

Taking revenge directly would be too difficult. But if he provoked a civil war between Konoha and the Uchiha...

Hiruzen Sarutobi closed his eyes and remained silent for a long time. Embers flickered in his pipe, casting his wrinkles into deep, knife-cut grooves.

"A Konoha Ninja this skilled with Lightning Release," he said slowly, his voice as rough as sandpaper scraping stone.

"Who else could it be but Kakashi Hatake?"

He opened his eyes. Guilt, suspicion, and unease flickered in them, along with a politician's hard resolve.

"Have Sarutobi Shinnosuke come see me."

Hiruzen Sarutobi made his decision. He would not brand Kakashi a criminal outright, but he had to investigate.

Kakashi had a motive and the ability. That made him a suspect.

If Kakashi was innocent, he could clear his name. If he wasn't... Hiruzen's fingers tightened slightly.

Then he would have to eliminate him completely.

Late that night.

Kakashi Hatake's home was silent.

He had just returned from the ANBU Training Ground. He had used up most of his Chakra, and every muscle ached.

Chidori's power was astonishing, but so was the amount of Chakra it consumed. Developing it further was bound to be painful.

After washing up, he lay on his bed with his eyes closed and his breathing even. But he was not fully asleep. Years in the ANBU had taught him to remain half-alert at all times.

Suddenly, his Sharingan snapped open.

Someone was there.

A dark figure slipped soundlessly through the window, moving with startling speed. The Kunai in his hand stabbed toward Kakashi's throat at a vicious angle.

Kakashi rolled up in an instant, braced his left hand against the floor, and shifted half a meter sideways at an almost impossible angle.

The Kunai grazed past his ear and buried itself in the wall, humming.

Kakashi raised his right hand and spread his fingers. Lightning Release Chakra gathered in his palm, blue light bursting through the darkness with a piercing screech.

Chidori!

He was about to lunge when the figure stopped. Standing in the room's shadows, the intruder lowered his hands, calm as though nothing had happened.

"It's me."

Kakashi's fingers hung in midair. The light of Chidori illuminated the man's face: Sarutobi Shinnosuke. The Hokage's eldest son, commander of the Anbu, and Kakashi's direct superior.

Kakashi did not dispel Chidori. Lightning still screamed at his fingertips, its flashes casting the one visible eye on his face in and out of shadow.

He spoke calmly, though a note of guarded tension lay beneath his words.

"Commander, what is this?"

Sarutobi Shinnosuke did not answer. His gaze swept over Kakashi and settled on the lightning in his hand. When he spoke, his tone was grave.

"Your Chakra isn't at its peak. You've used a great deal of it!"

Kakashi paused, then answered frankly, "I've been trying to develop Chidori further. I just got back from the Training Ground. I haven't fully recovered."

"Do you have any witnesses?"

Kakashi's pupil contracted slightly. He knew that question all too well.

Interrogation. Questioning. Ruling out suspects. It was standard ANBU procedure. He had used that same tone on others countless times. Now it was his turn.

"What happened? Why would I need witnesses?"

His voice remained calm, but the knuckles of the hand holding Chidori stood out.

Sarutobi Shinnosuke looked at him without a flicker of emotion. He spoke one word at a time.

"Tonight, Root and ANBU ninja were attacked outside the Uchiha Clan Compound. Seven were killed!

"The killer had silver hair and wore a mask. He was skilled in Lightning Release and could also use an extremely powerful Fire Style technique. The Chakra left at the scene came from a Lightning Release Clone."

"Kakashi, you're the prime suspect."

"We need you to cooperate with the investigation."

The room fell silent.

Chidori's screech sounded especially harsh in the stillness. Blue lightning danced across Kakashi's face, turning his Sharingan a vivid bloodred.

Kakashi said nothing. His mask covered most of his face, leaving only one eye visible.

The first thing to rise in that eye was anger.

They suspected him over something that made so little sense!

What gave them the right?

What had he done wrong all these years?

He had carried out every mission to the letter. He had obeyed every order without a word of protest.

How many times had he crawled out of piles of corpses? How many times had he done Konoha's dirty work in the shadows?

His hands were stained with blood, his heart crowded with the dead. He had made himself into a blade—one with no feelings, one that never questioned, only obeyed.

And what had any of it earned him?

Kakashi wanted to laugh. He had been a fool.

When he was a child, he hadn't understood anything. He had only known that missions had to be completed and rules had to be followed.

He had truly believed his father was wrong. Abandoning a mission for a few people who meant nothing to him, causing Konoha to suffer a loss—that was weakness. Betrayal.

He had even knelt before his father's grave and sworn never to be like him.

But then Obito died. Rin died. Minato-sensei died. Kakashi had killed so many people with his own hands that he had lost count.

After every mission, he would wake in the middle of the night and stare at the ceiling, turning his father's choice over and over in his mind.

Was saving people wrong? Was abandoning a mission betrayal? If he had to choose between the mission and his comrades, which choice was right? Which was wrong?

Years later, with more experience behind him, Kakashi had finally seen through the fog.

His father's choice had not been wrong. The people who had driven him to his death were.

Danzo had fanned the flames from behind the scenes. And Hiruzen Sarutobi had sat in the Hokage's seat, watching it all happen without lifting a finger.

Both of those members of the Konoha High Command bore responsibility for his father's death.

But Kakashi had never considered taking revenge directly.

He knew the truth, yet he had chosen to keep enduring it.

He had swallowed every grievance, every flash of anger, every bit of resentment, and faced everyone with a lazy expression. Obito was dead. Rin was dead. Minato-sensei was dead. He had nothing left but his loyalty.

But now—

The Hokage he served suspected him. The ANBU he served had surrounded him.

All because someone had framed him in a way that made no sense!

If Kakashi had really done it, would he have left such obvious clues? Did they have no brains?

Through his anger and grief, Kakashi saw it clearly: the Third Hokage and Shimura Danzō had guilty consciences. No amount of loyalty from him would ever be enough!

All those years of swallowing his pride and bearing it... had been for nothing!

The bastard who had framed him understood Hiruzen Sarutobi and Shimura Danzō better than he did!