By the time word from the Hokage Building reached the Clan Grounds, dusk had just fallen.
There was not a single mention of death in the verdict.
That sentence traveled from the main gate into the front courtyard, then from the courtyard back to the gate. By the time it completed the circuit, the voices repeating it had grown quieter.
Someone at the gate caught the messenger and asked, "They really didn't sentence him to death?"
"No." The messenger unfolded a corner of the document for him to see. "Reassigned. He keeps his official position, but all his actual authority is stripped."
"Where are they sending Danzo?"
"The archives." The messenger spat. "To guard the door. Written by the Third Hokage himself, and not one word about death."
A sword lay beside the steps in front of the assembly hall.
It was the one thrown onto the table at the Hokage Building that afternoon. No one had wanted it after the meeting, so it had come back to the Clan Grounds with the others. Now it lay beside the steps, its hilt facing out.
People gathered around to look. No one touched it.
Darkness settled in, and the courtyard lanterns were lit one by one. Clan members stood in small clusters, their voices hushed. They exchanged a few words, stopped to listen to the sounds elsewhere, then exchanged a few more.
A woman carrying a child headed home. After a few steps, she turned to look at the sword again.
Mikoto stood at the top of the steps.
She had not gone inside that evening. When the document arrived, she took it, read it, and laid it on the table beneath the veranda. Then she stood beside it, her hands tucked into her sleeves.
Kiyoshi stood beneath a veranda pillar