Iron and blood: Make an example of the traitors

"Dislocate their jaws."

As soon as Sasuke spoke, Takaya lunged forward.

Tajima was about to clench his teeth when Takaya punched him in the side of the jaw. The sound of the joint popping out made the two nearby Anbu wince.

Kaito and Sosuke met the same fate.

All three men's mouths hung crooked. Poison pills fell from between their teeth and rolled onto the paving stones, where Kakashi used a kunai to lift them into the Evidence Box.

Shikaku looked at the black pills in the box. "Root's standard suicide drug. Record that."

The Yamanaka ninja's pen flew across the page.

Mitokado Homura snapped, "Sasuke! They can no longer resist. What else are you planning to do?"

Sasuke did not look at him. "Medical ninja."

Two medical ninja hesitantly stepped forward.

Sasuke pointed at the three men. "Keep them alive. Don't let them pass out. Keep them conscious through the pain."

One of the medical ninja looked at the Third Hokage. "Lord Hokage..."

The Third Hokage's face darkened. "Do it."

Green chakra settled over their wounds. The bleeding stopped, but the pain was forcibly kept burning in their nerves.

Broken cries squeezed out of Tajima's throat. Beads of sweat fell from his forehead onto the ground.

Sasuke crouched before him. "Now, what's in the dungeon?"

Tajima could not speak. He could only make garbled sounds through his dislocated jaw.

Sasuke looked up. "Reset one."

Takaya grabbed Tajima's lower jaw and shoved it back with a crack.

A scream tore from Tajima's throat. "I'll talk! I'll talk!"

The Third Hokage finally spoke. "Sasuke, hand them over to the Anbu for interrogation. The Military Police Force is too deeply implicated. It would be safer for the village to take over."

Sasuke turned to him. "Lord Hokage, the recording just now showed that they sold out the Military Police Force's patrol routes and harmed members of the Uchiha clan. Purging our own ranks is an internal Uchiha matter."

"They're also suspected of treason against the village."

"Then I'll hand over the case files once I've finished the purge."

Mitokado Homura gripped his cane. "This is vigilante justice!"

Sasuke stood and drew a sword from a guard's hand.

The blade had yet to taste blood. It gleamed in the firelight.

"Uchiha Tajima, former deputy captain of the Military Police Force's Third Squad. Collusion with Root, selling patrol routes, bringing in a Sharingan retrieval team, and aiding a plan to exterminate the clan. The recorded evidence has been made public. His attempt to flee was witnessed by all, as was his attempt to commit suicide by poison."

Tajima shuffled backward on his knees. "Clan leader, I was forced into it! Danzo threatened me with my son!"

Someone in the crowd immediately shouted, "Your son died last year!"

Exposed, Tajima's expression changed, his eyes darting wildly. "I-I was afraid to die! Clan leader, I know about the dungeon. I can earn some merit!"

Sasuke looked at him. "You already have."

A flicker of hope had just lit Tajima's eyes.

The blade fell.

Blood sprayed across the paving stones in front of the Hokage Building.

The silence was so complete that the medical ninja's sharp intake of breath was audible.

Sasuke flicked the blood from the tip of his blade. "Your contribution was showing the entire clan what happens to traitors."

Fugaku stood behind him, watching the sword in Sasuke's hand. The last trace of hesitation in his eyes sank deep out of sight.

He did not try to dissuade him.

He merely stepped half a pace forward, blocking the angle from which an Anbu beside the Third Hokage might intervene.

Kaito began struggling in terror, nearly dislocating his newly reset jaw again. "I'll talk! I'll tell you everything! Don't kill me!"

Sosuke cried out as well. "Danzo made us change the dungeon keys! A dangerous prisoner originally held in A Cell was taken away and replaced with an experimental subject!"

Sasuke turned. "Name."

Kaito trembled. "We don't know his name. We only know Root calls him Wood Number. He has the First Hokage's cells in his body. Danzo said he needed to hide him in the Military Police Force's dungeon until things blew over!"

The Third Hokage nearly dropped his pipe.

Kakashi's gaze changed. "Hashirama cells?"

Shikaku stopped writing. "Kaito, say that again. Who put the experimental subject in the Military Police Force's dungeon?"

Kaito looked tearfully at the Third Hokage. "Danzo! It was Danzo! He had us transfer a dangerous prisoner to the third level of the Root Old Well. Then he locked Wood Number in A Cell. Sosuke has the seal key."

Sosuke hurriedly shouted, "I don't have the key! It's in the base of the oil lamp in the dungeon's guardroom! Danzo said it could only be opened after he returned."

Sasuke walked up to Sosuke. "Who was the prisoner they took away?"

Sosuke's teeth chattered. "The file was burned. I only saw an old identification code. It started with S-Senju..."

Murmurs rose through the crowd, impossible to contain.

The Third Hokage said angrily, "Enough! Intelligence like this cannot be disclosed in the square!"

Sasuke turned to him. "Now you know it shouldn't be made public? Where was the leadership when Danzo shoved an experimental subject with Hashirama cells into the Uchiha dungeon?"

Utatane Koharu said urgently, "This matter hasn't been verified yet!"

"That's why I'm investigating." Sasuke pointed at the two men on the ground. "Continue."

Kaito wept, snot mixing with blood. "There's more. There are sealing tags planted in the dungeon's ventilation shafts. If anyone forces their way into A Cell, whatever's inside will go out of control. The entire Military Police Force will die with it!"

Takaya went pale. "Clan leader, there are still wounded people in the clan compound!"

Sasuke nodded. "Fugaku."

Fugaku answered at once. "I'll take people back to seal off the dungeon."

"No." Sasuke looked at Kakashi. "The Anbu know seals, and the Military Police Force knows the layout. Kakashi will take two Anbu, and Takaya will take three clan members. Have the Hyuga scout from a distance. All actions must be recorded by all three parties. No one opens the cell without authorization."

Kakashi nodded. "Understood."

The Third Hokage opened his mouth to speak, but Sasuke raised a hand first.

"Are you going to stop us, Lord Hokage? If there really is an experimental subject with Hashirama cells in A Cell, every moment we delay is another moment the clan compound remains in danger."

The lines in the Third Hokage's face deepened. "Do as he says."

Kakashi left with his team.

Only Kaito's and Sosuke's sobs remained in the square.

Sasuke looked at them again. "What else haven't you told me?"

Kaito knocked his head against the ground. "Nothing! Clan leader, there really is nothing else!"

Sosuke shouted even faster. "I can lead the way! I know where the oil lamp is! Clan leader, I'm useful!"

Sasuke looked at Shikaku. "Have you finished recording their statements?"

Shikaku raised his head, his gaze passing between Sasuke and the two infiltrators. "Finished. Witnessed by all three parties."

Sasuke nodded.

An expression of relief had barely appeared on Kaito's face when Sasuke raised his sword again.

"Wait!" the Third Hokage shouted. "Sasuke, they've already provided important intelligence. They should be handed over to the village for further interrogation!"

Sasuke asked, "Their intelligence already gave us a location, a key, seals, and personnel to act on it. What is there left to interrogate them about? Make them recount their betrayal a second time?"

Mitokado Homura rushed half a step forward. "You cannot kill them!"

Sasuke kicked the bloodstained short sword to his feet.

The sword spun halfway around on the paving stones and stopped before Mitokado Homura's toes.

Mitokado Homura recoiled, his face livid.

Sasuke stared at him. "Why are you so desperate to protect them, Advisor? Afraid they'll tell us about the ash on your cuff too?"

Mitokado Homura's lips trembled. "I am upholding Konoha's laws."

"Konoha's laws are not a fig leaf to keep traitors alive."

Sasuke drew a second short blade from a guard's waist.

Kaito writhed like a madman. "Lord Hokage, save me! I delivered account books to Root! I know the advisor also-"

The blade flashed down.

His words ended in blood.

Sosuke wet himself in terror, soaking his trouser legs.

"I'll talk! I'll tell you about the advisor..."

Sasuke crouched and gripped his hair. "Say it all."

Tears covered Sosuke's face. "Advisor Mitokado Homura sent people to the old well. H-he told us to pretend we hadn't seen anything! He also said the list couldn't be given to the Uchiha!"

Mitokado Homura erupted in fury. "Slander!"

Sasuke looked at Shikaku. "Record it."

Shikaku's pen paused for a moment, then descended anyway.

Sosuke gasped for breath. "I've told you everything, clan leader. Please..."

Sasuke released his hair. "You've finished."

The third blade fell.

Sosuke's body collapsed beside Tajima.

There were no cheers in front of the Hokage Building.

The Uchiha clan members watched the three corpses, the anger in their eyes burning hotter than before. Those who had still harbored doubts about their young clan leader now all bowed their heads.

Traitors had no way out alive.

There was no need to shout those words. Blood had already written them on the paving stones.

Mitokado Homura pointed at Sasuke. "You-you murdered them in public! Hiruzen, you saw it!"

The Third Hokage did not answer immediately.

Sasuke tossed the blade back at Mitokado Homura's feet. Droplets of blood splashed onto the hem of his robe.

"Advisor, you can take your time filing a complaint about vigilante justice. For now, please explain the snake-patterned ash on your cuff, and Sosuke's accusation."

Mitokado Homura stepped back. "A traitor's desperate attempt to implicate someone before dying cannot be treated as testimony!"

"Can the recording? Can the ashes? Can your refusal to explain?"

With each question Sasuke asked, Mitokado Homura's expression grew uglier.

The Third Hokage raised a hand and rubbed between his brows. "Homura, you will recuse yourself from the investigation into Danzo for tonight."

"Hiruzen!"

"Recuse yourself." The Third Hokage emphasized the words.

Mitokado Homura gritted his teeth and fell silent.

Just then, footsteps sounded on a distant rooftop.

Kakashi returned with the Anbu, half a sleeve scorched, carrying a Sealing Box.

Takaya followed, his face so grim it had turned ashen.

Sasuke turned. "The dungeon?"

Kakashi placed the Sealing Box before the three parties. "We confirmed a living subject in A Cell. The seal hasn't been opened. We retrieved a second file from the base of the oil lamp."

Takaya continued, his voice hoarse. "Clan leader, the file lists the source of Wood Number's implants as cells from the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama."

Shikaku looked at the Sealing Box. "What else?"

Kakashi fell silent for a moment, then opened the lid a crack.

Half an old photograph came into view.

The photograph showed a boy with his right eye bandaged, while his left was a scarlet Sharingan with three tomoe.

Kakashi looked up at Sasuke. "This person appears in the Anbu's old records. He should have died many years ago."