Konohagakure, Root Base.
"Danzō-sama, the direction of public opinion seems to have shifted," reported a Root ninja to Shimura Danzō. "Last night, we followed your orders and spread several rumors throughout the village concerning Uchiha Keizumi. But…"
"It seems that ever since the rumors about Sarutobi Shinnosuke began surfacing, the villagers have become more fixated on the unsavory things the Hokage's son once did."
"As for Uchiha Keizumi…"
"It's almost like he's done so much of this kind of thing that the villagers have become desensitized to it."
Danzō gave a cold snort.
He knew very well that a smear campaign like this wouldn't affect Uchiha Keizumi much. After all, Keizumi wasn't Hatake Sakumo—he wasn't that emotionally fragile.
The only reason he had ordered these rumors to be spread was to deepen the divide between Uchiha Keizumi and Sarutobi Hiruzen.
But he hadn't anticipated just how quickly the tide of public opinion would shift beyond his control.
Still…
"Heh. If Shinnosuke's reputation falls, and Monkey, as his father, will definitely be affected. Whether it's that naturally twisted Uchiha brat or Monkey who suffers, it's all the same to me—it works in my favor either way."
Danzō murmured coldly, "Fan the flames. Make sure Shinnosuke's name never recovers. And if possible, dump the blame directly onto Monkey's head."
"Yes, Danzō-sama!"
One day passed.
Within the villagers' mouths, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already become the evil scientist who experimented on his own villagers and preyed upon shinobi with rare kekkei genkai.
Even though Sarutobi Hiruzen longed to salvage his deceased son's reputation—
Public opinion was now completely out of control.
Just like what had happened to Hatake Sakumo back then.
And during this chaos—
Someone…
Had returned to the village.
"Whew. Half a month."
Uchiha Itachi stood quietly outside the village gates, flanked by two ANBU subordinates.
A faint, gentle smile tugged at the corners of his emotionless, youthful face.
"I wonder if Sasuke missed me."
Upon returning to Konohagakure, Uchiha Itachi didn't head to the Uchiha compound right away. Instead, he made his way to the Hokage's Office.
He went to see the Third Hokage first.
[Knock knock knock—]
When Uchiha Itachi knocked on the office door and heard Hiruzen's weary "Come in," he entered with his two subordinates.
"Hokage-sama."
With his hands at his sides and a serious tone, Itachi reported, "The mission you entrusted to us has been successfully completed. Uchiha Itachi, Hyūga Ōsawa, and Sarutobi Uwa have returned to the ANBU."
"…It's you, Itachi."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked up slightly, attempting to smile—yet he couldn't quite manage it.
"You did well. Not a single teammate was lost."
Itachi immediately sensed something was off.
He could tell Hokage-sama's mood was strange.
"Hokage-sama… has something happened in the village?"
He took the initiative to ask.
Hiruzen was silent for a moment before replying, "The funeral for Shinnosuke and several ANBU shinobi will be held this afternoon. Itachi, Ōsawa, Uwa—you three returned just in time. If you wish to attend, go change into formal clothes first, and gather at the Konoha Cemetery."
He hadn't explained what had happened, but even so, the information in those few words stunned Itachi.
Shinnosuke… and the funerals of several ANBU shinobi…
The first name sounded familiar to him. As for the latter—what kind of catastrophe could have taken so many ANBU lives?
Itachi considered asking for more details but ultimately held back.
Since the Hokage chose not to say, there had to be a reason for that silence.
He wouldn't overstep.
"Hokage-sama, I'll take my leave," Itachi said.
"…Very well."
…
After leaving the Hokage's Office, Itachi headed toward the Uchiha compound.
On the way, he overheard some villagers talking.
He silently approached.
And casually listened in.
That was when he finally understood why the Hokage had seemed so despondent—and why the name 'Shinnosuke' had sounded so familiar.
That was the Hokage's eldest son!
"Uchiha Keizumi… killed several ANBU operatives, and also killed the Hokage's son… And it all began because Shinnosuke-senpai made a series of grave mistakes… Honestly, someone like Keizumi would never tolerate that kind of 'wrongdoing'."
Itachi suddenly fell silent.
Uchiha Keizumi…
That name stirred up unpleasant memories in his mind.
This man, once hailed alongside Shisui as one of the Uchiha clan's 'Twin Prodigies', had been just as renowned on the battlefield during the Third Great Ninja War.
And yet—this Uchiha had never truly fit in. Not with the clan, and certainly not with the village.
At first—
Itachi had thought Keizumi was like him. A misfit among misfits.
But then…
"You and I are not the same. Between man and beast, there is a wall that cannot be crossed—Uchiha Itachi."
That cold remark from Uchiha Keizumi resurfaced in Itachi's memory without warning.
"Shisui, you protected him. You'll regret that."
And that, too—spoken by Keizumi after nearly killing him, only for Shisui to intervene in the nick of time.
A flicker of complexity passed through Itachi's calm eyes.
Among the entire Uchiha clan…
The one person he could never quite understand—
Was probably Uchiha Keizumi.
…
Elsewhere in the village—
"Keizumi-sama, we've got a case! Nyaa~!"
Tachibana Jirō sprang up and landed squarely on Izumi's head, licking his paw before speaking again: "My children found something unbelievable in the village's sewer tunnels, nyaa~!"
Izumi weakly raised a hand in protest.
"Jirō-senpai, could you please stop jumping on my head every time you report a case…"
"Nyaa, rookie, this is a test of your reflexes! The day you can dodge me—you'll be at least jōnin-level!"
Uchiha Keizumi cut off the chatter between woman and cat with a completely expressionless tone. "Be specific. And lead the way."
As he guided them, Tachibana Jirō quickly added, "It's human remains, nyaa—but they're badly fragmented, and there's only a small portion. From my experience, this looks like part of a human jawbone."
"My kids scoured the sewers and found more bones on the other side—another part of a body. Might be from the same corpse, nyaa."
"But that's all we've found. The rest might've been washed away… or hidden somewhere else."
Izumi stiffened. "Dis… dismemberment?!"
Then something occurred to Izumi, and she hesitated. "If it's already down to the bones, then the person must have died a long time ago… Could it be leftover remains from some enemy shinobi during the war? I mean, if a body fell into the sewers, the village might not have had time to clean it up?"
"Oh? You've learned to think critically, rookie!" Jirō patted Izumi on the head. "Making progress!"
"We'll know once we take a look," Uchiha Keizumi said calmly.
Before long—
The ninja cat Tachibana Jirō led Uchiha Keizumi and Izumi to a relatively remote street in the village of Konoha.
He jumped down from Izumi's head, and she quickly took the chance to tidy her hair, which he had messed up.
"It's right here."
Jirō pointed to a sewer manhole with the cover already removed.
Beside it, two other ninja cats were standing guard.
"Keizumi-sama! Jirō-sama!" ×2
The two ninja cats greeted them in human speech.
"Keizumi-sama, should I have the kids fetch the bones up here—eh?"
Before he could finish, Uchiha Keizumi, without wasting a single word, leapt straight into the sewer.
"Keizumi-sama, wait for me! Nyaa!"
Jirō immediately followed.
"Huh? Keizumi-senpai, wait for me too!" Izumi quickly jumped in after them.
…
"…The smell is awful."
The moment Izumi landed, a wave of regret washed over her.
She couldn't quite describe the stench that filled the air.
The pitch-black darkness, where she couldn't even see her hand in front of her face, made it even harder to endure.
Suddenly—
A burst of light appeared, and in a blink, it filled her entire field of vision.
[Hiss—!]
Keizumi-senpai's whole hand had turned into magma!
That glow… was from molten lava!
"Keizumi-sama, this is it."
As Jirō's voice reached her, Izumi hurried over and looked closely.
"This is…"
She saw a bone fragment, about the size of a palm, resting on a relatively clean patch of ground.
She also saw Keizumi-senpai directly pick up the fragment.
"The time of death doesn't exceed five years."
Uchiha Keizumi spoke flatly. "It has nothing to do with the war. This is a case of murder and dismemberment. Judging from the condition, it happened somewhere between three to five years ago."
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