Uchiha Jin and Shisui exchanged a look and saw the same surprise in each other's eyes.
Since it was the Hokage's order, they did not hesitate and hurried to the Hokage Tower.
On the way, Shisui's face stayed calm, while Jin's gaze flickered.
He had a good guess what this was about.
If he was right, yesterday's matter had been discovered.
The village's reaction speed exceeded his expectations.
Too fast.
It had happened only last night, yet by morning they had not only found it, they had followed the trail to him.
He had even left a Cloud corpse at the Forest of Death.
It did not matter.
He trusted his cleanup. There should be nothing at the scene pointing to him.
Ten minutes later they pushed open the Hokage's office door.
Jin narrowed his eyes, then drew a sharp breath at the crowd inside.
With Sarutobi Hiruzen at the center, Konoha's Four were present. Uchiha Fugaku was there, along with Jonin Commander Nara Shikaku, Analysis Unit Chief Yamanaka Haiichi, and the ANBU captain.
That captain would be Sarutobi Shinnosuke.
Hiruzen sat behind the desk, regarding the two youths with a pensive look.
After a beat he smiled at Jin.
"Uchiha Jin, yes."
"According to ANBU, you had contact yesterday with Uchiha Yoshio's trio."
"They have since disappeared, and you were the last person to meet them."
"I need you to recount everything you know in full."
"This is important."
His tone was gentle.
He did not say what had happened. He only asked.
He spoke of disappearance, not death.
Normal.
For matters like this, Jin's rank was too low. Unless they confirmed he was involved, no details would be shared.
Shisui frowned.
As a genius, he often dealt with the leadership. A lineup like this would never gather for three missing Uchiha alone.
His worry deepened.
He truly feared Jin might be tied to something larger.
Jin felt a flicker of haze and then steadied.
He bowed slightly and spoke without delay.
"After lunch yesterday I was cornered by the three."
"They wanted to beat me."
"I am not their match, so I ran and hid near the Forest of Death."
"After that, I do not know."
"By evening, when no one caught up, I thought they had given up and went home to sleep."
He finished and kept his head lowered.
He knew Konoha's ways.
Hiruzen looked kindly in public, but in formal settings he was particular about hierarchy.
A small fry like Jin did not speak unless questioned.
Furrowed brows circled the room, but no one spoke.
Silence.
They weighed his words.
Shisui could not hold back.
"Hokage-sama, what happened."
As a favored talent he had leeway to ask where Jin could not.
Hiruzen did not answer. After a pause, he drew a slow breath and spoke evenly.
"That will do."
"Uchiha Jin, you may leave."
"Not a word of today to anyone."
"Go."
Jin did not hesitate.
Those words told him this no longer involved him.
Whatever came next, he had no seat at the table.
He bowed and left.
When the door shut, Hiruzen turned to the ANBU at his side.
"Shinnosuke, explain."
Sarutobi Shinnosuke, the ANBU captain, nodded and summarized last night.
Then he continued.
"The deaths of three Uchiha would not normally be a major case."
"By custom it would be handed to the clan to adjudicate."
"An anomaly changed that."
"There was also a Cloud ninja's corpse at the scene."
"More disturbing, the brains of all four bodies were destroyed."
"Even if Yamanaka-dono from Analysis acts personally, memory extraction is impossible."
"Which raises problems."
"Two years ago Cloud sent a covert team to steal bloodline limits in Konoha. We later determined one member went missing."
"Yamanaka-dono probed the minds of those we captured at the time."
"Upon seeing last night's Cloud corpse, he identified it as the missing shinobi from two years ago."
"So the questions."
"Is this a renewed move by Cloud."
"Or is someone within Konoha staging it, using the Cloud corpse to muddy our trail."
"Since Cloud is involved, we must proceed cautiously."
"That is why we called in Uchiha Jin. He had a known grievance with the three."
Silence fell as Shinnosuke finished.
All of them sank into thought.
After a long moment Hiruzen set down his pipe.
"Very well."
"Let us discuss."
"First, is there any plausible link between Uchiha Jin and this matter."