Main World, Konoha Year 16, winter.
Toyotomi Clan Grounds, study.
Charcoal crackled in the copper brazier, driving away the chill of the winter night, but not the suffocating tension in the air.
Sakura Haruno stood before the desk, clutching the specially treated duplicate scroll that Toyotomi Yinglang had just "casually" left there. She had read its contents three times, every word like a red-hot branding iron searing her retinas, searing her heart.
"...this 'opportunity' may be used to appropriately 'dispose of' some of the 'surplus population' in areas of intense fighting or 'enemy-occupied territory'..."
"Surplus population."
She knew those words. But she had never imagined they would be applied to-living, breathing people.
Her hands were trembling. Not from the cold, but from a chill seeping out from deep within her bones.
"Why..." Her voice was terribly hoarse. "Why would this happen? What right does the Daimyō have to give an order like this? Tobirama Senju... how dare he agree?"
She raised her head and looked at the man behind the desk, whose expression was calm, as though he were merely discussing today's weather. In those deep eyes, there was no anger, no sorrow, only an icy understanding of the world, and a trace of scrutiny that bordered on pity.
"Why?" Toyotomi Yinglang repeated the question, his lips curving into a smile without warmth. "Which 'why' are you asking? Why the Daimyō gave this order? Or why Tobirama Senju accepted it?"
"Both!" Sakura Haruno's voice rose sharply, charged with agitation she could not suppress. "Both! This is simply... this is simply a massacre! A crime! Why would they..."
"Because they occupy those positions."
A cool female voice came from the doorway, cutting off Sakura Haruno's questions.
Toyotomi Liuli walked in, wearing a dark purple house kimono, her long black hair loosely