Mitokado Homura put on a brand-new set of formal attire that represented his status as clan head.
"Lord Homura."
Outside the door, a clansman called softly.
"Are you really... going to see the Fifth Hokage?"
Mitokado Homura adjusted his collar without turning around.
"I am."
His voice was calm, without the slightest ripple.
"Why?"
The young clansman could not understand.
"We clearly haven't done anything. Why should we..."
"Precisely because we haven't done anything."
Mitokado Homura cut him off.
"That is why we can go."
"And why we must go."
Mitokado Homura turned around. In his clouded eyes was a clarity that had seen through the ways of the world.
"Hiruzen and the others died because of their stupidity and greed."
"But we survived."
"If you are alive, you must know how to keep living."
"Prepare the carriage. Do not make a fuss."
"Yes."
Hokage's Office.
Uchiha Yao was reviewing a document.
It was a detailed proposal for reforming the Ninja Academy.
Kurenai Yuhi stood to one side.
Today, she wore a simple, elegant outfit. It made her seem less like the valiant jonin she usually was and more gentle and graceful.
"Lord Yao."
Uchiha Kenji's voice sounded from outside the door.
"Mitokado Homura requests an audience."
Uchiha Yao's pen did not pause.
"Let him in."
Mitokado Homura stood at the office door and took a deep breath.
He had pushed open that door countless times before.
Every time, he had entered with Hiruzen, Koharu, and the others to discuss the village's future.
But today, he would walk in alone.
He would offer his loyalty to Uchiha Yao, to the Fifth Hokage who had nearly slaughtered all his old comrades.
Was it ironic?
Not at all.
This was reality.
The reality of the ninja world.
It was this cruel.