At the Anbu commander's order, some of the Anbu ninjas drew daggers, while others took out kunai and charged at the diehards.
The Root ninjas wanted to resist, but the Anbu ninjas had already sealed their chakra, leaving them lambs to the slaughter.
Three Root ninjas who were not among those fifty-five and specialized in taijutsu resisted fiercely, however, and were successfully killed by accident.
The other Root ninjas not on the list resisted less fiercely, so they were merely pinned to the ground and beaten.
Watching this hellish scene, Danzo's eyes nearly split with rage. He spat out a mouthful of blood, went limp, and slowly collapsed.
The Anbu commander watched for a while, confirmed that Danzo had truly collapsed, and waved over a squad of Anbu ninjas.
"Drag him home and keep him under surveillance. Without Lord Hokage's orders, he is not to have contact with anyone!"
"Yes!"
The Anbu squad accepted the order, hoisted the unconscious Danzo onto their shoulders, and left.
The Anbu commander then turned his attention to the fifty-one surviving Root ninjas, their faces bruised and swollen.
"Keep them under guard here. Without Lord Hokage's orders, they are not to have contact with outsiders."
Watching the remaining Root ninjas being locked back up in Root, the Anbu commander felt some regret.
After all, Lord Hokage's orders had been to seal off Root, not investigate it.
They had not entered a single one of Root's underground rooms and had only found a personnel register in Danzo's office.
Had they investigated Root, judging by the scraps of evidence he knew about, the entire department would probably have been abolished for good. In the end, Lord Hokage had not hardened his heart enough.
"Elder Homura, Elder Koharu, shall we head back?"
After dwelling on his regret for some time, the Anbu commander turned to ask the two advisers.
"Let's go back."
The two answered in unison.
"Dispose of all the bodies!"
After giving that order, the Anbu commander left with the two advisers.
The Hokage's office.
The Anbu commander was down on one knee, presenting Root's personnel register with both hands as he respectfully reported on that night's operation.
"Is that so? Those Root ninjas turned a deaf ear to my orders?"
The Third Hokage looked somewhat "surprised."
"Yes, Lord Hokage. After I announced your orders, not a single one of them obeyed."
"And then?"
The Third Hokage fixed the Anbu commander with a piercing gaze.
Under that invisible pressure, the Anbu commander felt as though something had lodged in his throat. He swallowed, worked out the chain of events, and steadied himself.
"Disobeying Lord Hokage's orders meant betraying the village, so I ordered them all executed."
"Rest assured, Lord Hokage. Tomorrow-no, tonight, I will spread the news that they were executed for betraying the village!"
The pressure vanished instantly.
"Very good. Well done!"
Having received a satisfactory answer, the Third Hokage nodded, his gaze growing gentle again.
"Which village would you say sent the people who attacked Nobuhiko tonight?"
*???*
Wasn't it our village?
Apparently, it couldn't be!
Worthy of his reputation as an outstanding, battle-hardened ninja, the Anbu commander paused for only a moment before immediately understanding what the Third Hokage meant.
"Lord Hokage, I believe the ninjas who attacked Kihara Nobuhiko tonight were sent by Sunagakure!"
Hearing the Anbu commander's firm reply, the Third Hokage's smile deepened.
"Oh? Why would you suspect Sunagakure?"
"That old woman Chiyo of Sunagakure specializes in the Puppet Technique, and the poisons used in her Puppet Technique are particularly famous."
"During the earlier stages of the war, many of our village's ninjas died from that old woman Chiyo's deadly poisons."
"The situation did not turn around until Lady Tsunade joined the battlefield."
"Lady Tsunade countered every one of the hundred-plus poisons that old woman Chiyo developed, leaving her poisons no longer a threat to our village's ninjas."
"From then on, our village's casualties in battles against the Sand ninjas fell significantly, while Sunagakure's casualties rose sharply instead."
"That makes Sunagakure the most likely to have targeted Kihara Nobuhiko."
The Third Hokage said nothing, stroking his chin as he mentally assessed the feasibility of this reasoning riddled with holes.
After a long while, the Third Hokage finally made up his mind and added a question.
"Were there any Sunagakure spies among those fifty-odd Root ninjas who betrayed the village?"
"Yes, Lord Hokage. Our investigation confirmed that it was that Sunagakure spy who uncovered Kihara Nobuhiko's whereabouts. Sunagakure then sent ninjas to try to abduct Kihara Nobuhiko and use him to threaten Lady Tsunade!"
Hearing the Third Hokage's addition, the Anbu commander obligingly filled in the rest of "Sunagakure's plan."
"Exactly. Sunagakure was the mastermind behind this incident!"
Having worked out "Sunagakure's plan," the Third Hokage finally let out a long breath of relief and delivered one last, meaningful remark to the Anbu commander.
"That child Nobuhiko will be coming to my office tomorrow morning."
With that, the Third Hokage closed his eyes and waved, indicating that the Anbu commander could leave.
The Anbu commander was taken aback by this remark that came out of nowhere. He turned to leave, but before he had taken more than two steps, he understood what the Third Hokage meant.
He turned around and dropped to one knee again.
"Rest assured, Lord Hokage. The evidence will be on your desk before tomorrow morning!"
The Third Hokage said nothing and continued waving him away.
After the Anbu commander left, the Third Hokage opened his eyes and let out a long sigh.
The matter of the culprit had been resolved, but the matter of the victim had not.
He was now considering how to keep Nobuhiko quiet so he would not tell Tsunade about this.
A direct order certainly would not do. The child was already the victim; forcing him to keep quiet would not accord with the Will of Fire.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had never imagined that one day he, too, would be troubled by the Will of Fire.
I've got it.
The child was very interested in ninjutsu and learned it exceptionally quickly.
In that case, if I let him choose a ninjutsu from the Scroll of Seals to learn tomorrow, he would surely be very grateful to me.
Then I could appeal to his emotions and reason with him, making him understand that exposing this incident would cause great harm to the village, so he must keep his lips sealed and tell no one, including Tsunade.
With the child's understanding of the Will of Fire, he would certainly do as asked.
The Third Hokage had that much faith in the Will of Fire.
Finally, I can leave work!
I actually worked overtime well past midnight today. It was all that troublesome old fool Danzo's fault.
At that moment, the Third Hokage was filled with resentment toward Danzo.
Fortunately, nothing major happened this time, or it would certainly have been difficult to wrap things up.
It looks like I will have to tighten my supervision of Danzo from now on.
As the Third Hokage made plans in his head, he packed up his things to leave work.
↓↓↓
Immersed in battle, Nobuhiko had no idea that, from this moment onward, Konoha's future and the Shinobi World's future changed because of him.
In a temple deep within Mount Myōboku.
The Great Toad Sage-Gamamaru-suddenly opened his eyes, awakening from his slumber.
He summoned Fukasaku and Shima before him and told them that the future had changed.
Then he sank back into slumber.