Hello everyone,
I hope you're all enjoying the story so far. With the last chapter, the konoha arc has officially come to an end—at least for the time being. For the next dozen, or even several dozen chapters, konoha will not be part of the main storyline.
If you have any ideas or suggestions for arcs set in the outside world, feel free to recommend them. If an idea fits well, I'll definitely consider implementing it.
The reason I'm writing this author's note is that I felt some of you might still have doubts or confusion regarding the previous arc. So, in this note, I'll be clarifying everything properly.
Now, let's go back to the very beginning of this arc. It started on 2nd January, in the streets of Konoha, when Itachi was thinking about his next target.
Over the next ten to fifteen days, Itachi carefully planned his moves, discussing everything with Shisui, Fugaku, and others.
Finally, on the midnight of 15th January, Itachi killed Homura. Along with killing him, he stole all of Homura's memories—not exactly stealing them, but you understand what I mean. After that, Itachi returned.
During this same period, Danzo was also kidnapped into the Life and Death Arena. After returning to the Uchiha clan, Itachi waited for some time, but eventually grew a little bored and decided to deal with Danzo first.
He teleported to the Life and Death Arena and fought him there. After Danzo was sealed, Itachi spent the next eighteen hours perfecting his plan and preparing all the necessary documents, proofs, and evidence required for the following day. Once everything was complete, Itachi returned to the original world.
After returning, Itachi met with Fugaku once again, along with the others. Soon after, the Uchiha clan split their actions—some Uchiha members went to Takahashi's shop, while the others began patrolling and placing the entire clan on high alert throughout the village.
After about ten minutes, they moved toward Sarutobi Hiruzen, where the confrontation took place.
As expected, Sarutobi Hiruzen imposed punishment on Itachi and the others. Although the punishment was harsher than they had anticipated, they did not object to it.
In fact, in the long run, this outcome turned out to be even better for their plans. As the story moved to the next day, Itachi was also busy stealing documents and evidence from the Root headquarters.
Because he had already accessed Danzo's memories, navigating Root's secrets was easy for him. Even without that advantage, he could freely move using genjutsu, ensuring no one remembered seeing him. And if anyone did, he could simply use the Tongue Binding Seal—or other methods—to silence them and secure the documents.
The following day, the incident at Takahashi's shop took place. During this time, Shisui subtly manipulated Kamikaze's thinking through genjutsu, guiding events toward the Konoha Police Department headquarters.
Later, Itachi had already predicted that Hiruzen might respond like real-world politicians—avoiding direct answers, speaking nonsense, and leaving without addressing the core questions.
Because of this, Itachi needed someone with real authority present. Since it was the time of Konoha's yearly budget discussions in early January, the Finance Minister of the Land of Fire would naturally be involved.
That is why Itachi contacted him, setting the stage for exposing corruption and everything that followed.
Now, before moving further, I want to address the numbers—because yes, they may not be perfectly accurate. I can't realistically predict the exact total budget of Konoha, so some figures might feel too large or too small.
In most fanfictions, money and budgets are treated as taboo and barely mentioned at all. However, since this arc focused heavily on corruption, I had to assign concrete numbers—such as six billion ryo for the Police Department or forty-two billion ryo for Konoha as a whole.
If you're satisfied with these numbers, that's great. If not, then please don't take them too seriously—treat them as relative values rather than exact figures.
Now, many of you might be wondering: what was the point of this arc? Or why I spent so much time on it. So let's talk about the pros and cons—starting with the cons first.
The biggest, and perhaps the only major con, is that the Uchiha clan's reputation fell even lower than before. That damage is undeniable.
Now for the pros. The first advantage is that the Uchiha were not the only ones dragged down—Shimura and Sarutobi clan prestige was also pulled into the mud. Power was no longer concentrated on one side.
The second advantage is that trust within the village—between clans, civilians, and leadership—has been severely damaged.
Even Konoha's relationship with the Daimyo has been shaken. While not completely broken, that blind trust no longer exists, and that is important.
The third advantage is financial. Paying two hundred billion ryo would leave the Sarutobi and Shimura clans bankrupt or close to it. For the next several years, their growth will be severely limited, and people resentment toward them will only increase.
The fourth point concerns the next Hokage. Hiruzen will now have to deal with the issue of succession, and this won't be easy. Danzō is gone. Tsunade, after everything she's witnessed—especially the deaths and political rot—would be reluctant to return. And unlike the original timeline, Konoha is no longer in a position where the absence of a Hokage means instant collapse.
The final advantage is stability. Konoha will remain relatively stable for the next few years, but Hiruzen will no longer be in a position to act against the Uchiha even if he wanted to.
He has lost the trust of several clans that form the backbone of the ANBU, and even civilians now harbor resentment toward him. Except for a small group still deeply attached to the Will of Fire, Hiruzen cannot move openly against the Uchiha.
Because of this, Itachi can now leave safely—free to search for suitable land where the Uchiha can establish a nation of their own. This arc also serves as the foundation that allows Itachi to move freely across the shinobi world without immediate threat or interference.
Finally, I want to talk a little about the writing process for this arc. Writing it took a huge toll on me mentally. I did enjoy it, but it was exhausting. I've written a large arc like this before in my previous book, but back then I relied heavily on AI tools.
This time, however, I'm writing everything by hand and only using AI for grammar corrections or minor polishing. Because of that, I can't maintain the same pace as before.
I can't release three to four chapters a day or push out 150+ chapters in under two months like I did previously. You may have already noticed that I'm now posting one chapter per day.
Another reason is the increased word count. Earlier, my chapters were around 1200–1300 words, but now they're closer to 1600–1900 words each. Because of all this, for the foreseeable future, the schedule will remain around seven chapters a week.
Since everything is written manually, there may be some minor mistakes in the previous arc—please don't mind them.
And finally, thank you all for reading and supporting the story until now.