Hokage Office.
Tsunade had undone two buttons on her Kage's Ceremonial Robe. Bracing one hand on the desk, she raised a sake flask to her mouth with the other, her chest rising and falling with barely contained irritation.
Three bloodstained scrolls lay open on the desk. Two Anbu knelt on one knee by the door, not daring to raise their heads.
"...Frostwood Town. The entire town was wiped out overnight."
"What do you mean, wiped out? Be clear."
"The buildings, residents, livestock-everything was destroyed. We found extensive traces of rituals at the scene. The dead were nailed to ruined walls, arranged in some kind of formation."
Tsunade slammed the flask onto the desk, splashing sake over the documents.
Someone pushed the door open from outside.
Goten walked in and casually took the second flask Tsunade still held, setting it on the windowsill without ceremony.
"Drinking in broad daylight? Aren't you worried that old man Shikaku will come lecture you again?"
"Put it back."
"No."
Goten sat down beside her and glanced at the scrolls on the desk. The blood had dried, and a reconstruction of the scene was drawn on one scroll.
Shizune brought tea in through the side door. As she bent to set a cup beside Goten's hand, the back of her hand brushed his wrist. She recoiled as though shocked, her ears turning bright red, then retreated behind Tsunade with her head lowered.
Goten picked up the tea and took a sip, spreading the bloodstained scroll flat with his other hand.
The bodies in the drawing were arranged in a very regular pattern. Each group of six was fixed to a wall in a radial formation, with a hollowed-out circular altar at the center.
"It wasn't Danzo."
Tsunade raised her head slightly.
"When that old man does