The civilians and the ninja who had stayed behind were still trading insults, and the argument was growing fiercer.
A middle-aged man in a short jacket pointed at the Chunin before him and cursed him out.
"You stood outside that barrier for ages, then backed off the moment Orochimaru came out! What good are you to Konoha?!"
The Chunin shouted back, his face and neck flushed red, "You were louder than anyone when you were cursing the Third! Why didn't you go fight him? Aren't you supposed to have guts? If you've got guts, go yourselves!"
Neither side would give an inch. As the tension mounted, a few hotheaded young men had already begun shoving one another.
Meanwhile, the man who intended to kill Shuofang Si was using the chaos to approach him unnoticed.
He was in no hurry, slowly weaving through the crowd.
An amused smile played at the corners of his mouth, as though he were savoring this game of cat and mouse.
No one around them would care about a gravely injured troublemaker anyway. Once he got close, he could press down on the wound in the confusion or cover the man's mouth and nose for a few dozen seconds. That would be the end of him.
Who would notice? Who would care?
He was getting closer.
Shuofang Si could even see the man's hand slipping quietly out of his sleeve. Something seemed to be hidden beneath his fingernails, flashing with an ominous gleam in the sunlight.
His heart rose into his throat. His hand groped weakly at his side, hoping to find even a broken roof tile, but he no longer had the strength to hold one.
Just then, hurried footsteps came pounding toward them from the distance. Whoever was approaching was clearly in a great rush.
The man frowned slightly and stopped. He turned toward the sound, a flicker of hesitation crossing his eyes.
After a moment's hesitation, he took half a step back, turned, and disappeared into the crowd to wait for another opportunity.
Konoha's entire ruling leadership had arrived.
At the front were Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu, the two Hokage Advisors, both among Konoha's most senior veterans.
Their faces were drawn tight, every wrinkle seemingly pulled taut.
Noticing their arrival, Tobirama Senju vanished into the shadows in a flash. He wanted to see how these fine students of his were doing.
Close behind them came Shikaku Nara, Inoichi Yamanaka, and Choza Akimichi. The heads of the Ino-Shika-Cho Clans had all assembled.
The three walked shoulder to shoulder. Shikaku's usually languid eyes held none of their customary nonchalance, only a stern seriousness.
Hyuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuga Clan, emerged from the other side of the crowd with several Jonin from the Hyuga Branch Family.
Veins bulged at his temples as he discreetly swept his Byakugan over the scene.
Behind them came the heads of the Aburame and Inuzuka Clans, along with the leaders of several other small and medium-sized ninja clans.
This dense gathering consisted entirely of the core figures at the pinnacle of Konoha's power, now assembled on the wrecked rooftop.
Every one of them looked tense, having sprinted all the way there.
Only the leaders of the once-great Senju and Uchiha clans were absent. After all, each clan had only one person left.
Oh, no. The Senju Clan now had one and a half.
After all, Tobirama Senju was still standing in the shadows of the ruins, watching this farce with a cold eye.
That body summoned through Impure World Reincarnation counted as half a person, too.
With every top-ranking leader gathered, an instinctive glance brought their eyes to Hiruzen Sarutobi, collapsed on the ground.
The old Hokage who had ruled Konoha for decades now sat slumped among shattered roof tiles, his hair disheveled and a streak of dried blood at the corner of his mouth.
The Hokage emblem on his battle gear was coated in dust and blood. His eyes were empty and lifeless, as though all his vitality had been drained away, and he was muttering something under his breath.
Everyone present faltered in their steps.
They had never imagined that the Third Hokage, who had ruled Konoha for decades, would end up looking like this.
He wasn't dead? Then what had Orochimaru come here for?
Orochimaru's Konoha Crush had excited them. They had even deliberately waited until the barrier disappeared before coming over.
Several of the leaders exchanged glances, each seeing the same thought in the others' eyes. How had Orochimaru become so useless after defecting?
Their confusion did not last long, however.
The villagers' piercing comments immediately reached their ears.
"Let's face it, he's completely useless! Not only did he raise a menace like Orochimaru who wants to destroy the village, he even let all his dirty secrets get exposed!"
"After we exposed him, he completely lost it and fell right off his summoning beast! Serves him right!"
"He was too scared to die himself, so he sent children onto the battlefield to their deaths! But he sure took good care of his own clan. Three thousand ninja in the Sarutobi Clan! Pah!"
"That's right! You damned ninja clans bleed us ordinary people dry every day! Now the enemy's invaded, and what have you done?"
"You didn't even dare stop Orochimaru and fight to the death! That old bastard the Third is spineless, but you're even worse!"
In an instant, every leader present was utterly dumbfounded.
Mitokado Homura stood there stunned, and the Jonin behind him froze as well.
What the hell? What was going on? What were these villagers ranting about?
Children on the battlefield? Three thousand ninja in the Sarutobi Clan?
They had yet to recover from the surprise of the Third Hokage still being alive when they heard Konoha's villagers tearing into him.
Of course they knew the Third had his problems, but these were unspoken secrets shared among the leadership. How had they all suddenly been dragged into the open?
Before the leaders could process this barrage of shocking information, however, the argument nearby escalated again.
Konoha's villagers surrounded the rank-and-file ninja who had stayed behind, berating them for their cowardice. They had watched Orochimaru stroll away without daring to act against the formidable enemy before them. They had utterly disgraced Konoha.
An old woman was practically spraying spit as she pointed at several Chunin's noses and shrieked at them.
"My son died at the border last year! And here you are, standing around in the village watching the show! Don't those Forehead Protectors feel heavy on your heads? Kill yourselves to atone and go join him!"
That tirade pushed the already deeply frustrated ninja past their breaking point.
"Why should we kill ourselves to atone?! We didn't do anything wrong!"
A young Chunin roared, his voice shaking and his eyes red.
"It's all the Third Hokage's fault! What does it have to do with us? Aren't ninja people too? Do we deserve to die for nothing? Don't you understand what level Orochimaru is at? What the hell are we supposed to fight him with?!"
"Pah!" A burly man spat on the ground.
"When Orochimaru came out, you all stood there in neat little rows! You didn't use a single jutsu or throw a single Kunai! Couldn't you at least have pretended? You didn't even bother pretending! Do you deserve to wear Konoha's Forehead Protectors?"
"What did you say? Say that again?!"
Before you continue