"Hiruzen!" Seeing Hiruzen, Koharu was overwhelmed with emotion and quickly apologized. "I misspoke earlier. None of those things were what I truly meant. I'm sorry. You'll forgive me, won't you?"
But Hiruzen's face remained dark and grim. He didn't say a word. Instead, he suddenly began forming hand seals rapidly.
"What are you doing?" Koharu was completely terrified at the sight. "It's me! Say something!"
In the next moment, the cell door was suddenly flung open, and a killing-intent-filled Hiruzen appeared at her side. Even without the prophetic vision he had just seen, she had already said everything she shouldn't have. He had long since felt the urge to kill her. But the images that had flashed through his mind moments ago, those prophecies, had solidified his resolve.
Koharu must die!
"Say something! Don't scare me like this!" Koharu, seeing Hiruzen slowly approaching, was so terrified she seemed to lose her soul. She kept retreating, curling into a corner of the cell, trembling in fear.
"Hiruzen..."
But this time, before she could even finish her sentence, Hiruzen's kunai had already stabbed into her heart. She looked down at the blade in her chest, then back up at Hiruzen's twisted expression. Tears began pouring uncontrollably from her eyes.
No… It can't be… Did Hiruzen really strike me down?
Impossible!
This must be an illusion! It's all an illusion!
Feeling the pain of the kunai piercing her heart and her life slowly fading away, she still couldn't accept the truth. Staring at the familiar yet now terrifying face, her mind finally snapped. And just as her life was about to completely slip away, she suddenly remembered everything.
Shin… It was him!
He was the one who kept abducting her subordinates one by one, steadily increasing her fear and pushing her to the brink of madness.
It was him who had intensified her greed, making her stash defective goods in the strategic reserve warehouses.
It was him who had influenced her emotions just now, making her speak things she should never have said.
It was also him, he had just used genjutsu to control her, extracting all of her secrets and stealing that ledger.
Realizing the truth, she tried to speak and tell everything to Hiruzen. Even if she had to die, she had to tell him the truth and get his forgiveness. Otherwise, she would die with deep regret.
But just as she slightly opened her mouth, Hiruzen suddenly twisted the kunai viciously in her chest, forcing all her words back down her throat.
She lifted a hand, as if trying to grasp something, but in the next instant, her life slipped away. Her body collapsed straight to the ground.
Hiruzen stared at Koharu's lifeless body, her face still frozen in disbelief and as if she had something left unsaid. His eyes were filled with only disgust.
At the same time, he felt relieved in his heart.
Good thing that prophecy came just in time, and I acted fast enough. Otherwise, the ledger might've been exposed.
If that ledger had fallen into Shin's hands, the consequences would've been unthinkable.
Now, as long as he retrieved the ledger and pinned all the blame on Koharu... But just as he was thinking this, a chakra presence appeared behind him.
A middle-aged man was standing there, staring at him in disbelief.
"Homura?" Seeing Homura suddenly behind him, Hiruzen immediately panicked.
His hand trembled, and the bloodstained kunai slipped from his grasp, clattering to the ground.
Then, he began to shake.
What... what had he done?
He had indeed planned to eliminate Koharu, but it was supposed to be a top-secret operation. He had even thought it through carefully: when the time came, he would pin the blame on Shin.
After all, Shin had both the motive and the strength.
By feigning grief and expressing anguish, he could even manipulate Homura to fully side with him. Homura wouldn't try to play neutral anymore but would instead become another weapon in Hiruzen's arsenal against Shin and Tsunade.
But why... why had Homura suddenly shown up here?
Yet he didn't even glance at Hiruzen. Trembling, he walked over to Koharu's side and collapsed to his knees with a thud. His shaking hands reached out to touch Koharu's face.
Feeling the lingering warmth on her cheeks, his tears flowed uncontrollably.
As his grief deepened, he could no longer contain it. He pulled Koharu's lifeless body into his arms and wailed in agony.
"Ahhh..." Feeling the fading warmth of her corpse, seeing the expression of unresolved pain on her face, he let out a howl of despair. He had completely broken down.
This isn't real... it can't be real...
"Koharu, wake up! Please, wake up..."
On the side, Hiruzen stood with fists clenched tightly, his chest heaving, eyes filled with hatred as he glared at Homura's back. But the next moment, something in his mind suddenly switched on, he jolted as if struck by lightning.
I've gone mad. I've truly lost my mind...
Killing Koharu wasn't enough. He had even considered getting rid of Homura too.
Why... why had things spiraled this far?
It's all Tsunade's fault. It's all Shin's fault!
If they hadn't pushed him into a corner step by step, would he have ended up like this?
They will pay. I swear I'll make them pay.
"Homura..." Hiruzen finally spoke, having once again convinced himself he was right.
"Get out!" Homura roared.
Then, clutching Koharu's corpse, he stumbled out of the cell and staggered onto the streets, dazed and broken.
Seeing this, people quickly gathered around. When they saw who had died, the entire village was stunned.
Koharu had betrayed the village, her death was well deserved. But now, staring at her cold, lifeless body, people felt nothing but sorrow.
As news of Koharu's death spread through Konoha, another shocking detail spread alongside it:
Hiruzen had personally entered the prison and executed Koharu, and was caught in the act by none other than Homura.
Everyone who heard the full story was left with complicated feelings.
At first, some still believed that Koharu had acted alone in betraying the village, with no connection to Hiruzen. But his eagerness to kill her, how could that be explained?
After the anger faded, all that remained in the villagers' hearts was cold disillusionment.
Was someone like him still fit to serve as Hokage?
Before long, calls for Tsunade to replace Hiruzen began to echo throughout the village. And with each passing day, the voices grew louder and more urgent, until it felt like nothing short of Hiruzen's abdication would satisfy the people.
Just as efforts began to organize a formal push to force Hiruzen to step down and crown Tsunade in his place, a thunderous piece of news shook the entire village: Suna and Ame had formed an alliance, and declared war on Konoha!