Countdown to the Night of the Uchiha Massacre

"An Uchiha Clan Meeting?"

In his office, Hiruzen Sarutobi listened to the intelligence delivered by the ANBU, his brow deeply furrowed as he took a long drag on his pipe.

Had he truly misjudged Fugaku? Were things still going to reach that point?

Although Itachi's and Shisui's attitudes had changed somewhat after the incident involving Danzo, and they no longer acted as double agents as they once had, instead doing everything possible to mediate, Hiruzen Sarutobi was happy to see that change.

No matter how well you understood your enemy, it was better to gain another friend.

Stripped down to its essence, the Will of Fire was the bond between people. The older he grew and the more he experienced, the more importance Hiruzen Sarutobi placed on this idea originally devised to unify people's thinking. He kept refining it and gradually came to believe in it without reservation.

White Fang's death had taught him a lesson, too. He had never imagined that the public opinion deliberately stirred up by a certain someone would become the final straw that broke the camel's back.

Although this so-called Will of Fire seemed rather laughable in many situations, when he pretended to run into Sasuke and Naruto by chance to mooch a meal, Sasuke's casual remark that principles changed with the times left him somewhat dazed. It made him feel that even the praise he had once given Itachi-thinking like a Hokage-was too shallow an assessment for Sasuke.

It also brought him to his senses somewhat: it was time to step down again. Of course, before that, he would have to suffer through a few more years. The taste of power, ahem... only he knew the hardships he had endured along the way.

When the thorough investigation two years earlier revealed that his old friend Danzo had done so many things right under his nose without his knowledge, beyond those he had tacitly permitted, the thought of stepping down resurfaced in Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind.

But before stepping down, aside from his routine duties, he first had three things to accomplish.

As Hokage, he had to eliminate the hidden dangers within the village.

As a teacher, he had to set his wayward student back on the right path.

And then... as a husband, a grandteacher, and a beloved leader, he had to obtain justice for the dead.

If he fell in battle while carrying out any one of those three tasks, he could die without regrets. The First Hokage had died of exhaustion after defeating Madara Uchiha (although he suspected the First had wanted to die, he would count it as dying in battle for now). The Second Hokage had died fighting a rearguard action for the village's future, and the Fourth had sacrificed himself during the Nine-Tails' Attack.

As the longest-serving Hokage, he did not want to simply die of old age or pass away in a sickbed. He had to personally correct the three greatest mistakes of his tenure. Even if it cost him his life, his death would have meaning.

But...

The representatives of the Uchiha Clan's Hawks and Doves surfaced in his mind, along with those two almost absurdly young experts from the Young Guard.

Hiruzen Sarutobi felt that this Clan Meeting was not so simple. Uchiha Fugaku had always been composed-so composed that he hardly seemed like an Uchiha. He even suspected that Uchiha Fugaku possessed a Mangekyo that could foresee the future, which was why he could remain so unruffled.

It made no sense for him to endure his whole life, only to suddenly lose patience now, when a peaceful resolution was finally within reach, did it?

But whatever his private opinion of the matter, Hiruzen Sarutobi still possessed the basic professionalism expected of someone who had served as Hokage for so many years.

Exhaling a long stream of smoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi called in the ANBU outside his office. He went through the list of jonin currently available in the village, then assigned secret missions to several of them.

Whatever the Uchiha Clan ultimately chose, he had a premonition that the Clan Meeting three days from now would bring everything to an end.

No matter what, he could not afford to be unprepared.

Knock, knock, knock.

Shrouded in smoke, Hiruzen Sarutobi's brow remained furrowed. Yet while he was deep in thought, someone knocked on the door again.

After he told the visitor to enter and saw who it was, Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart, which had risen into his throat, settled back down-only to rise again immediately.

"Shisui? What brings you here?"

"Lord Hokage, the Uchiha Clan will hold a Clan Meeting three days from now. Aside from the usual meeting, we will also offer sacrifices to our ancestors."

Shisui Uchiha clasped his hands in a slight salute, his expression calm.

Hiss-

Looking at Shisui with surprise and uncertainty, Hiruzen Sarutobi inexplicably began to doubt his own conjectures.

Didn't Uchiha Clan Meetings always circle back to the same few subjects? Forget three-year-old children in Konoha-even the Inuzuka Clan's Summoning Ninja Dogs knew that the Uchiha liked discussing coups at their Clan Meetings.

He had come to report something like this? Were they planning to lay their cards on the table? And what was this Earth Group doing? Holding a rally to swear their oaths before the coup?

Had they sent their strongest publicly acknowledged fighter here today to chop off his damned head as a sacrifice to their war banner?

"Isn't that perfectly normal? Was it necessary for you to come all this way in person, Shisui?"

Still outwardly composed, Hiruzen Sarutobi suppressed his conjectures, took a deep drag on his pipe, and spoke calmly.

Although it was possible Shisui had come to assassinate him, it was unlikely that Shisui would come to assassinate him.

"There is actually one other matter. Sasuke said that lately, whenever he goes to school or comes home, he senses dark figures appearing along the way, as though he's being followed."

That brat didn't even attend six classes in an entire week. What trips to and from school?

Wait...

A flash of anger crossed Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes, and he struggled to maintain his expression.

Danzo again!

It looked as though the plan would need a slight adjustment. Once he finished those three things, he would have to take those two brothers with him. Otherwise, sooner or later, they would become a major scourge during the next Hokage's tenure.

Uh, it seemed they had already become a scourge whose tail had grown too large to wag...

He had a hand in driving White Fang to his death, a hand in Orochimaru straying down an evil path, and now a hand in the Uchiha affair!

Only on the Night of the Nine-Tails, when he was needed most, had he been absent.

No, on the Night of the Nine-Tails, when he was needed most, Danzo had indeed acted. How could blocking the Uchiha who wanted to join the battle and forcing them back not count as acting?

In other words, Danzo still had a hand in the tragedy of the Night of the Nine-Tails. He had even stirred up public opinion against Orochimaru to force him out, fanned the flames to push matters beyond the point of no return, and exposed Naruto's identity as a Jinchūriki. His damned fingerprints were on all of it.

He barely recognized the Danzo of today anymore. Where had that young man who had once been willing to give everything for the village gone?

Even he himself had become someone his younger self would not recognize...

At the moment everything clicked, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly discovered that many details he had never noticed before were abruptly connecting in his mind.

"Tell me, has that brat Sasuke discovered something again? Or has Fugaku, that fellow who has always pretended to be indecisive, finally decided to reveal his edge?"

At those words, Shisui visibly froze, seemingly not expecting Hiruzen Sarutobi to say such a thing. After a moment's hesitation, he finally revealed a sincere smile.

"Lord Hokage, you say our clan head has been putting on an act all these years, but I never imagined you were also concealing your edge, hiding yourself behind indecision...

"The clan head told me he possesses a special Dojutsu. He saw that three days from now, a Mysterious Man wearing a mask and chains around his wrists will appear in the clan compound with a group of masked people bearing special marks on their tongues, and they will slaughter our people indiscriminately..."

"I'm actually not pretending... wait, what did you say?!!"