Internal purge, thunderous measures

"Lord Advisor, would you mind explaining where the Snake Pattern ash on your cuff came from?"

Mitokado Homura drew his hand into his sleeve, his face tightening.

The torch beside the Well Mouth flickered, and every gaze settled on the speck of dark ash on his cuff.

The Third Hokage lowered his brows. "Homura."

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Mitokado Homura tucked his sleeve behind his back. "The Old Well's seal collapsed. What's strange about the wind blowing ash onto me?"

Sasuke raised a hand, and the Konoha Military Police Force ninja immediately spread out.

"Konoha Military Police Force, form up here. ANBU, take the outer perimeter. Hyuga, activate your Byakugan and watch underground. Nara Clan Head, keep a record. Anyone who leaves our sight is to be detained on suspicion of betraying the clan and Village Betrayal."

Mitokado Homura roared, "Sasuke Uchiha, you dare imprison Konoha ninja?"

Sasuke looked at him. "I'm investigating Danzo's case. We just recovered a roster of infiltrators in the Konoha Military Police Force from the Snake-Patterned Door, and now there's ash from the same source on your cuff, Lord Advisor. If you're innocent, stand still."

"Insolence!"

Mitokado Homura slammed his cane against the ground. "I am an advisor to Konoha, not your Uchiha prisoner!"

"Then you should be all the more willing to cooperate." Sasuke held a hand out toward Shikaku. "Nara Clan Head, did you keep a sample of the ash from the Old Well Gate?"

Shikaku took a sealed paper packet from his Ninja Tool Pouch and handed it to the Yamanaka ninja beside him.

"Yes. The seal is untouched."

Sasuke pointed at Mitokado Homura's cuff. "Take a sample and compare them."

Mitokado Homura's expression changed. "Who dares lay a hand on me?"

Kakashi lifted his eyelids. "Lord Advisor, three parties are witnessing this. Any refusal to provide a sample will go into the case file."

"Kakashi, are you joining this child's nonsense too?"

Kakashi didn't answer. He merely slid his short blade back into its sheath and moved behind Mitokado Homura's flank.

Fugaku approached from outside the crowd and stood behind Sasuke without interrupting.

This time, he served only as a guard.

The Third Hokage exhaled smoke, shifting his pipe between his fingers. "Homura, let them take the sample."

Mitokado Homura stared at him. "Hiruzen!"

"Take the sample." The Third Hokage's face darkened. "Otherwise, no one leaves the Old Well tonight."

Those words brought everyone to heel.

The Yamanaka ninja stepped forward, snipped a tiny piece from Mitokado Homura's cuff, and took some of the sealed ash from the Well Mouth, testing them on the spot with Chakra Paper.

Both ends of the paper blackened at once, and fine, snake-patterned lines crawled across its surface.

The Hyuga ninja said quietly, "The same source."

Shikaku didn't look up. His brush was already moving. "The chakra residue in the ash from the Old Well's Snake-Patterned Door matches that on Advisor Mitokado Homura's cuff."

Sweat broke out on Mitokado Homura's forehead. "I merely visited Root's Old Records earlier. They have this sort of sealing ash there too!"

Sasuke gave a short laugh. "So you finally admit you've been in contact with something related to the Snake-Patterned Door, Lord Advisor."

Mitokado Homura's face turned ashen.

Utatane Koharu immediately cut in. "The roster is what matters now, not a single speck of ash. Sasuke, don't lose sight of our priorities."

"Exactly. The roster matters most."

Sasuke turned toward the members of the Konoha Military Police Force.

"All members of the Konoha Military Police Force will assemble in the square outside the Hokage Building. We'll verify the roster in public. Anyone who refuses to come, runs, or claims innocence but won't submit to verification will be treated as Danzo's inside agent."

Takaya acknowledged the order. "Yes!"

Mitokado Homura immediately blocked his way. "Outside the Hokage Building? You want the entire village watching the Uchiha fight among themselves?"

Sasuke brushed past him, his voice laced with mockery. "You were just accusing me of purging my opponents, Lord Advisor. If you're afraid I'll do it in secret, we'll do this in public."

The corner of the Third Hokage's eye twitched.

Shikaku glanced at him. "Lord Hokage, public verification would indeed silence objections. Tonight's events have already caused too much of a stir to conceal."

Kakashi added, "ANBU can block the escape routes."

The Third Hokage remained silent for several moments before finally nodding. "Go to the Hokage Building. Verify the roster only. Do not escalate the fighting."

"I'm not the one escalating the fighting." Sasuke looked toward the police force. "Danzo planted a blade in our backs."

Torches blazed outside the Hokage Building once more.

The summoned police ninja stood in rows. There were Uchiha, as well as ANBU and civilian-born ninja helping with registration. The villagers didn't dare come too close, but none left. Eyes watched from behind windows, beneath eaves, and beside walls.

Shikaku unrolled the Gray-Cord Scroll, exposing only the roster's first layer of seals.

After inspecting it, a sealing specialist nodded. "No explosive tags. Just the list and coded identities."

"Read it." Sasuke stood on the steps, his One-Tomoe Sharingan glowing.

Shikaku read the first few pages. Every name belonged to a peripheral Root operative who had already disappeared or been arrested.

The crowd relaxed slightly.

Mitokado Homura immediately snorted. "See? These supposed infiltrators may have left the police force long ago."

Sasuke ignored him.

His finger traced the roster, stopping at three places.

"Uchiha Tajima, Uchiha Kaito, Uchiha Sosuke."

Three men looked up in the crowd.

One was around forty, with an old scar on his face. Another was tall and thin, wearing the police force's Forehead Protector. The last looked the youngest. He stood among his clansmen, but his gaze flickered aside.

Fugaku frowned. "Tajima, you're a veteran of the Third Squad."

Tajima immediately dropped to his knees. "Clan Head, I'm innocent! I've served in the police force for fifteen years. I even led men to guard South Street tonight!"

The tall, thin Kaito shouted too. "Clan Head Sasuke, you can't go by some scroll of unknown origin alone!"

Sosuke reacted even faster, turning straight toward his clansmen. "Don't let the village leadership play you! Danzo wants to divide us. Our new clan head is young. For all we know, ANBU and the Third Hokage are leading him around by the nose!"

Several Uchiha's expressions changed at those words.

Takaya snapped, "Sosuke, what nonsense are you spouting?"

Sosuke stiffened his neck. "Nonsense? That roster came from Root Old Well. Who knows whether Danzo planted it to frame us? Clan Head Sasuke names just the three of us today. Tomorrow, will everyone who disobeys him be branded a mole?"

Mitokado Homura seized the opening. "Hear that? Even the Uchiha themselves won't accept this!"

Sasuke raised his hand, quieting the unrest in the police force.

"Tajima, where were you between one and three last night?"

Tajima answered at once. "Patrolling South Street."

"Who can confirm that?"

"Kaito, Sosuke, and six other men from the Third Squad!"

Sasuke nodded. "How convenient. All three of you vouch for one another."

Kaito gritted his teeth. "Clan Head, what are you implying?"

Sasuke took a sealed recording scroll from his sleeve.

Mitokado Homura's eyelid twitched.

Sasuke tore off the seal in full view of everyone. "Since you say you're innocent, let's let everyone listen."

The scroll landed on the ground, activated by chakra.

After a rustle of static, Tajima's voice emerged.

"Tomorrow night, the police force's Northern Line will change shifts a quarter of an hour early. Shinji Uchiha will take men to the Old Well. I've written the route on the paper."

Then came a Root ninja's cold voice. "Lord Danzo wants more than the route. Once the massacre begins, the checkpoint on South Street must be left unmanned."

Kaito's voice rang out. "The Sharingan retrieval team will enter through South Street. Our only job is to keep the gate closed. We won't take part in the killing."

Sosuke sounded more urgent. "Once it's done, I want a transfer out of the police force. The Uchiha are finished. I don't want to die with them."

It was as though all the air had been sucked out of the square.

Tajima's face went from red to white. His lips trembled. "Fake! It's fake!"

Sasuke watched him. "You just said you were patrolling South Street between one and three last night. That's also when this was recorded, at the Abandoned Warehouse outside the Old Well. Shall we have the Yamanaka clan head read your memories?"

Tajima took a step back.

Kaito turned and ran.

Kakashi was about to move when Sasuke vanished from the steps.

Lightning flashed along his kunai.

The blade sliced Kaito's ankle, sending him crashing onto the flagstones. He tried to form hand seals, but Sasuke stamped on his wrist.

The sound of bones wrenching out of place made several nearby civilians cover their mouths.

Sosuke reacted even more viciously, lunging at a woman holding a child among the spectators.

"Move! Or I'll kill-"

Before he could finish, Sasuke's thrown kunai pierced his palm. Lightning Release chakra surged through his chakra pathways, and his entire arm fell limp.

Fugaku had already drawn his sword, but Sasuke raised a hand to stop him.

"Father, don't dirty your blade."

Tajima moved too.

He flung a smoke bomb from his sleeve, but just as his toes left the ground, a shadow caught the soles of his shoes.

Shikaku sighed. "Don't make this difficult for me, old man."

Sasuke turned, flicking his kunai repeatedly to sever the tendons in Tajima's wrists and ankles. The three men were dragged back to the steps, leaving three streaks of blood across the flagstones.

Sasuke kicked them to the Third Hokage's feet.

"Lord Third Hokage, the first batch of names on the police force roster has been verified. Three moles, with a recording, statements elicited through questioning, attempted flight, and witnesses all accounted for."

The flesh on Mitokado Homura's face twitched. "To treat your own clansmen so brutally..."

Sasuke looked at him. "Do people who betray their clansmen still count as clansmen?"

The Uchiha erupted.

"Tajima! My son nearly died on the Northern Line tonight!"

"Sosuke, you used to call me Uncle!"

"Kill them!"

The Third Hokage raised his hand. "Interrogate them first!"

Tajima lay on the ground, his face drenched in sweat from the pain, but suddenly began to laugh.

His laughter grew louder and louder, sending chills down everyone's spines.

Sasuke crouched and grabbed him by the hair. "What's so funny?"

Tajima's mouth was full of bloody froth, but his eyes remained fixed in the direction of the police headquarters.

"You think catching us means you've cleaned house?"

Kaito began laughing too, his shoulders shaking.

Sosuke gritted his teeth, forcing the words through them. "The dungeon... There's an even bigger secret hidden in the Konoha Military Police Force's dungeon."

Takaya's expression changed. "The dungeon?"

Tajima looked up at Sasuke, his grin smeared with blood.

"Do you dare investigate, Lord Clan Head? If what's locked up in there gets out, you'll be the first to die!"