Luck at the interrogation table

Jin Uchiha and Shisui exchanged a glance, surprise in both their eyes.

But with an order from the Hokage hanging over them, neither dared drag his feet. They headed straight for the Hokage Building.

Shisui's expression stayed fairly composed along the way, but Jin Uchiha's gaze wandered a little.

That was right.

He had a pretty good guess what this was about.

If he was right, what had happened yesterday had probably already come to light.

At that thought, his chest grew heavy.

He had never expected to keep this buried forever, but the village had reacted far more swiftly than he had anticipated.

Absurdly fast!

He had only made his move last night, and today they had not only discovered it but traced it straight back to him.

And he had left a Hidden Cloud Village ninja's Corpse near the Forest of Death, too!

Still, it was nothing he couldn't handle.

He had cleaned up neatly and was confident he had left no traces at the scene that could point to him.

Ten minutes later.

The two reached the Hokage Building and pushed open the office door.

Jin Uchiha narrowed his eyes.

Once he saw everyone inside, even he couldn't keep his composure entirely. Surprise jolted through him.

With Hiruzen Sarutobi at their head, the entire Konoha F4 was present, along with Fugaku Uchiha, jonin commander Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka of the Analysis Division, the ANBU Captain...

If he wasn't mistaken, Shinnosuke Sarutobi was sitting in the ANBU Captain's seat, wasn't he?

It made sense.

Hiruzen Sarutobi would never put an organization as critical as ANBU in anyone else's hands.

Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, studying the two young men before him with a thoughtful look in his eyes.

After a while.

His gaze settled on Jin Uchiha, and he asked with a smile.

"Jin Uchiha, correct?"

"The leads ANBU uncovered suggest that you met with Yoshio Uchiha and his two companions yesterday."

"All three are now missing, and you were the last person to have contact with them."

"Tell us everything you know, in detail."

"This is important."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's tone was quite gentle.

He hadn't mentioned their deaths, only that they were missing.

That was hardly surprising.

Something this serious was well above Jin Uchiha's standing.

Until they had fully determined whether he was involved, they couldn't reveal the details to him.

Shisui frowned beside him.

As a prodigy, he had dealt with the village leadership many times. He knew a gathering on this scale couldn't possibly be about nothing more than a few missing Uchiha.

And because he knew, his heart tightened all the more.

His greatest fear was that Jin Uchiha had something to do with this.

Meanwhile.

Even Jin Uchiha, who knew the truth of his own situation, was briefly thrown off, but he quickly steadied himself.

He didn't hesitate.

Bowing slightly, he began speaking at an unhurried pace.

"After lunch yesterday, Yoshio Uchiha and those other two did corner me."

"They wanted to attack me."

"I couldn't beat them, so I ran. I ended up hiding at the edge of the Forest of Death."

"I don't know what happened after that."

"I waited until it was almost dark, but Yoshio Uchiha never caught up. I figured they'd probably decided to let me go, so I went home to sleep."

"..."

Having finished, Jin Uchiha kept his head lowered and his body bowed, without saying another word.

That was right.

After living in the Hidden Leaf all these years, he had learned these rules inside out.

Hiruzen Sarutobi might wear a smile around the village all day, but on formal occasions, no one observed rank and hierarchy more strictly than he did.

A nobody like him had no right to ask questions.

The others listened with furrowed brows, none speaking first.

Silence.

Every one of them was weighing the truth of his account.

At that moment, Shisui could no longer hold back and blurted out a question.

"Lord Hokage, what exactly happened?"

Being a prodigy did afford him a certain special standing.

In a situation like this, where Jin Uchiha had no right to speak, he felt no such pressure.

But Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't answer him.

After a brief silence, the old man drew a deep breath, his tone utterly level.

"All right. I understand."

"Jin Uchiha, you may leave."

"What you heard here today stays with you. Not a single word is to leave this room."

"Go."

Jin Uchiha didn't hesitate in the slightest.

The moment Hiruzen Sarutobi said that, he knew where he stood. This matter no longer had much to do with him.

Nor did he have the standing to hear what they would discuss next.

With a proper bow, Jin Uchiha turned and left.

No sooner had he left the office than Hiruzen Sarutobi turned to the ANBU officer beside him.

"Shinnosuke, explain."

Seated just below him, ANBU Captain Shinnosuke Sarutobi wasted no time giving a brief account of the previous night's events.

When he finished, he spoke in an even tone.

"Three dead Uchiha wouldn't normally be a catastrophe."

"Under ordinary circumstances, this should have been left to the Uchiha clan to resolve internally."

"But there was a complication."

"Last night, beside those three Uchiha, there was also the Corpse of a Hidden Cloud Village ninja."

"Stranger still, the brains of all three Uchiha and the Hidden Cloud Village ninja had been destroyed."

"Jonin Yamanaka of the Analysis Division examined them personally, but even he couldn't recover a single memory."

"And that's where the trouble lies."

"Do you all remember how, two years ago, the Hidden Cloud Village sent a squad into the Hidden Leaf under concealed identities to steal kekkei genkai? During the investigation, we discovered that one of their ninja had vanished without a trace."

"At the time, Jonin Yamanaka searched the memories of every Hidden Cloud Village ninja we captured."

"Now we have a match."

"The moment Jonin Yamanaka saw that Hidden Cloud Village Corpse last night, he recognized him as the ninja who disappeared two years ago—the one we couldn't find even after searching the entire village."

"That leaves us with a question."

"Was the Hidden Cloud Village secretly involved again?"

"Or was this the work of someone from our own Hidden Leaf, with that Hidden Cloud Village Corpse planted merely to muddy the investigation?"

"After all, with the Hidden Cloud Village involved, we can't be too careful."

"That's also why we summoned Jin Uchiha for questioning. He already had a grudge with those three Uchiha."

As soon as Shinnosuke finished speaking, the room fell silent.

Everyone was thinking.

A long while passed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down his pipe and spoke in a quiet, measured tone.

"All right."

"That's the situation. Let's hear your thoughts."

"First, let's discuss whether Jin Uchiha could have been involved."