The Konoha Crush Plan ended in failure, at the cost of Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi's life and Orochimaru's use of both arms.
Standing amid the ruins, Toru Kujyo looked up at the aged face on Hokage Rock, now stripped of its luster, then lowered his gaze to the scroll in his hand.
The Third was dead, Orochimaru was crippled, and Danzo had been wiped out along with all of Root.
He seemed to be the only winner in the disaster that had swept through Konoha. The power vacuum in the Konoha High Command, the vast "inheritance" Root had left behind, and the countless opportunities born of this chaos... The board had been swept clean, and he had already secured all the most important pieces.
The faint light of dawn pierced the smoke hanging over Konoha, but it could not dispel the sorrow and stench of blood in the air. The once-bustling streets lay devastated. Broken walls and rubble had replaced tightly packed houses, and homeless civilians cleared the wreckage with the help of shinobi as muffled sobs rose all around them.
Konoha had won, but the price had been devastating.
Inside a heavily guarded, makeshift conference room, the atmosphere was almost unbearably heavy. The two elder advisers, Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, looked grim. Overnight, they seemed to have aged ten years.
"That's the situation." Jiraiya's voice was hoarse and heavy. All his usual flippancy had vanished, replaced by a mountain of pressure. "According to the survivors' reports, the intruder wore an Akatsuki cloak and possessed the legendary Rinnegan. Acting alone, he used unheard-of ninjutsu involving repulsion and attraction to completely destroy the underground base within minutes, slaughtering dozens of elite ANBU."
The two elders' pupils contracted slightly.
Jiraiya paused, then delivered an even more shocking piece of news. "At