I had spent a long time moving between the sensory division and the medical division…
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt a wave of dizziness come over him. It was better not to comment on whatever his son had just said.
To be honest, the coalition forces Konoha had sent out might not have been much in the grand scale of the war for the entire village, but for the Sarutobi clan — along with their allies in the Shimura clan and the Mito clan — it was a painful loss.
Why? Because nearly one-third of the Sarutobi ninjas had been sent away!
Thinking back, in earlier times, Hiruzen would rather have sent extra troops from the Sarutobi family to the borders than cut from their numbers at home. That alone showed how much this decision had hurt him.
However, when he heard that Sunagakure had suffered similar losses, and that Kumogakure and Iwagakure were also faring no better, he felt a slight sense of relief. At least Konoha wasn't the only one in this situation — there was something he could say to the villagers to ease the blame.
But then came the survival rates. That's when his mood dropped again. Not a single shinobi from the Mist's expeditionary force had been lost — in fact, three-quarters of the minor Chongyin clan's members survived. The gap was enormous, almost insulting.
"So… you suspect this is Uchiha's doing?" Hiruzen asked.
Andrew had appeared alongside the Mist's forces, and Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already reported this. It was the most unusual thing about Kirigakure's performance in the Five Great Villages' alliance.
"I can't say for certain," Shinnosuke admitted, "but when the Akatsuki used those explosive tags to trigger the chain of blasts, Uchiha Kamasu's Susanoo saved many of the Mist shinobi."
Shinnosuke added that the Mizukage had managed to stretch the Mist's elite forces so effectively that they'd outlasted the worst of the bombardments.
He didn't know if Andrew had been directly responsible for their survival, but when the explosions went off, Susanoo had shielded much of the Mist's army. That was undeniable. And not only them — Cloud and Rock shinobi had also been spared in several areas. But Konoha's troops? None.
"Alas! It's useless to dwell on this now," Hiruzen sighed. "The Uchiha have no intention of participating in our operations, and Andrew… he only helped the Mist on his own initiative."
The Third Hokage's mind wandered. Uchiha's closeness to the Land of Fire's daimyo was already a delicate matter. But now they also seemed to have cultivated strong ties with Kirigakure. That was too much.
Could the Uchiha… leave Konoha and resettle in the Mist? The thought was absurd, almost laughable.
Yet as the idea took root, a dangerous possibility formed: If the Uchiha really defected to the Mist, Konoha would be humiliated before the entire shinobi world.
A hidden village that forced one of its own most powerful clans to flee and join another village? Such a scandal could shatter their reputation and political standing.
But when he considered the facts, he tried to reassure himself. Uchiha had already established the Evernight City harbor hub, the Uchiha Group Company, and even opened trade with all five great nations and their shinobi villages. Surely they wouldn't choose to bind themselves to just one place.
Still, once a suspicion like that settled in, it was impossible to shake off.
"Enough," Hiruzen finally said. "There's no need to bring up Uchiha again. The war's outcome can't be changed. Make the necessary arrangements. If something like this happens, even as Hokage, I won't be spared blame. Prepare yourself."
He reminded Shinnosuke that, although the other villages had also lost heavily, as Konoha's representatives in the coalition, he and Sarutobi Yūzan could not escape responsibility.
Hiruzen himself, as Hokage, bore joint responsibility — but he hadn't led the forces personally.
Shinnosuke, however, had commanded in the field. Even if Akatsuki's power had been overwhelming, it would still fall on him to answer for the losses. After all, you couldn't just say "Akatsuki is strong" every time your troops were wiped out.
Shinnosuke listened with a blank expression.
So… the village wasn't going to hold Andrew accountable for refusing to save Konoha's own shinobi?
No… what was his father thinking? Hadn't he wanted to drag the Uchiha into trouble before? Now they had the perfect excuse — and he just let it slip away?
Shinnosuke couldn't make sense of it. After seeing Uchiha's power in battle, he'd actually started thinking Konoha had been wrong in their earlier treatment. They needed power like that on their side.
He had told Hiruzen about Andrew's actions precisely so they could use it as a pretext to bring the Uchiha back into the fold. Bonds and trust could be rebuilt over time, but first, they had to get them home.
But the old man didn't seem to get it. And wasn't Hiruzen practically joined at the hip with Danzo? Had both their instincts gone dull?
In truth, Hiruzen understood his son's thoughts perfectly. And that was exactly why he rejected them.
The idea that Shinnosuke — a man who couldn't even keep Anbu affairs straight — was thinking about "improving relations" with the Uchiha was laughable. Wasn't the rift between the village and the clan already wide enough without playing political games with their lives?
Using the deaths of Konoha's shinobi to pressure Andrew and the Uchiha would only backfire. They had returned from the war; Andrew had not. Why would the Uchiha care about Konoha's opinion now?
---
Meanwhile, far away, on the ruins of Amegakure, a space-time vortex spiraled open. Obito emerged with Konan and the Deva Path.
The devastation was silent. The three of them looked over the shattered village without speaking.
"All five Paths have been taken, and this village—" Obito began.
"Please… let us have a moment of silence," Konan interrupted.
Obito bit back a curse. These two were acting like sentimental civilians instead of the enemies of the entire shinobi world. Why had Madara even chosen them?
Then Deva Path spoke, breaking the tension: "Andrew… he was able to forcibly interrupt my Six Paths Forbidden Technique. His presence is too great a threat to our plan."
Obito's expression shifted. That was interesting. Perhaps this disaster had sparked a change in Nagato's thinking — and for Obito, that might turn out to be a good thing.
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