The heavy iron doors of the Root base burst open, and Danzo Shimura stormed out.
The "Darkness of the Shinobi," usually the picture of stoic calm, looked like he was about to have a heart attack.
His single visible eye was bloodshot, and he was hyperventilating. This wasn't just a challenge to his authority; this was a death sentence for his career.
The light outside was blinding. The giant screen in the sky had turned midnight into noon.
On screen, the footage was perfectly timed to the moment he ordered Naruto's execution.
His own wrinkled face, magnified for twenty thousand people to see, looked hideous and cruel. Danzo wished the ground would just open up and swallow him whole.
A crowd had already gathered.
Usually, people avoided the Root base like the plague. Now, they were staring at him with a mix of horror and suspicion, like they were looking at a wolf in sheep's clothing.
I can't admit it. Deny, deny, deny.
If this stuck, decades of political maneuvering would go down the drain. The Hokage hat would be gone forever. He probably wouldn't even keep his head, let alone his rank.
"Turn it off! Cut the feed!"
Danzo screamed at the Root agents behind him.
But the screen was a projection hanging hundreds of feet in the air. There was no switch to flip, no projector to smash.
Danzo took a deep breath, channeling chakra into his throat to amplify his voice.
"Do not believe it! It is a fabrication!"
His voice boomed over the murmuring crowd.
"This is an enemy Genjutsu! It is a plot by the Cloud Village to divide us! Do you trust foreign spies over your own leaders? We are the pillars of the Leaf! Without us, the village would fall!"
Danzo waved his arms frantically, pointing at the sky.
"I have dedicated my life to the Leaf! How could I do such a thing? The video is a deepfake! Do not be deceived!"
"The Uchiha clan colluded with outsiders to stage a coup. That is the truth! I am protecting the village!"
The crowd hesitated.
Danzo had been in power for a long time. The "foreign interference" excuse was a classic for a reason—it sounded plausible.
"Is it really a Genjutsu?"
"The Cloud Village has always been aggressive..."
"Yeah, there's no way the Third Hokage would agree to kill babies, right?"
The villagers started to wobble. It was hard to deprogram a lifetime of propaganda. They wanted to believe their leaders were good people.
Danzo sensed the shift. He had an opening.
As long as he muddied the waters and claimed it was fake, he could use hard power to suppress the rumors later.
"ANBU!"
Danzo doubled down, barking orders.
"Clear the area immediately! Seal the perimeter! Find the caster of this illusion and kill them on sight!"
Several confused ANBU ninjas stepped forward, unsure of what to do.
---
Inside the Mirage Dojo.
Roy sat behind the counter, watching the surveillance feed of Danzo gaslighting the crowd.
"Wow, he's got guts. Still trying to spin it?"
Roy sipped his tea, looking completely unbothered.
"Enemy plot? Genjutsu?"
"Alright then. If you want to get hammered, I'll bring the hammer."
He selected a new file on the console.
[The_Night_Before_Confidential.mp4]
[Editing Mode: ON]
[Highlight: The Third's Silence & The Kill Order.]
"Play it."
Roy hit the button.
---
Outside.
Danzo had just managed to stabilize the situation and was about to disperse the crowd.
Suddenly, the image in the sky flickered.
The burning Uchiha district vanished.
A dim office appeared. Everyone recognized it immediately.
The Hokage's Office.
In the center of the screen, a young ANBU operative was kneeling. Itachi Uchiha.
"Lord Hokage. Lord Danzo."
Itachi's voice was dripping with despair.
"I will accept all the blame. I will execute my clan personally. I will even accept the brand of a rogue ninja."
"I only have one request..."
"Please, spare Sasuke's life."
The crowd exploded.
Just a minute ago, Danzo said the Uchiha were colluding with enemies.
Now, the video showed Itachi begging on his knees, trading the lives of his entire family just to save his little brother.
That wasn't collusion. That was a man backed into a corner.
But that wasn't the killing blow.
The killing blow was the man sitting behind the desk.
Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The camera zoomed in for a tight close-up of the Third Hokage.
He listened to Itachi's plea while calmly smoking his pipe.
His silence spoke volumes. He knew. He approved. It was part of the plan.
Hiruzen removed the pipe from his mouth and spoke one sentence.
"Danzo, make sure it's a clean job."
The villagers who had just started to believe Danzo's "fake news" defense were stunned into silence.
If Danzo was the bad guy, they could handle it. He was the "Darkness" of the village; he did the dirty work.
But the Third Hokage? The Professor? The symbol of light?
The man who preached the "Will of Fire" to every class at the Academy?
Make sure it's a clean job.
Clean? Like... slaughtering families?
"You're lying..."
An old man collapsed to the ground. He was a veteran who worshipped the Third Hokage like a god.
"Lord Third... how could you..."
"He agreed to it? He actually agreed to it?"
"So all that stuff about protecting our comrades... was that all just lies?"
If the Hokage was an accomplice to genocide, what justice did the village have left?
The shock turned into rage.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi!"
Someone in the crowd shouted the Hokage's full name, dropping the honorifics.
"Explain yourself! What the hell is this?!"
"Danzo is a liar! The Third is a liar!"
"Is this the Will of Fire? The will to murder your own people?!"
Someone threw a rotten egg. It smashed against the Root base gate. Then another flew toward the Hokage building in the distance.
The mob lost control.
Danzo stood frozen, his face the color of ash.
It was over. He was cooked.
This didn't just ruin him; it dragged Hiruzen down into the mud with him.
Who is doing this?
Who has this kind of intel? Who can broadcast it to the whole village?
A spy? A traitor?
No. Wait.
Danzo's eye darted around frantically.
He felt a massive chakra signature pulsating from the commercial district.
From that new shop in the corner. The Mirage Dojo.
Intelligence had reported a weird shop opening up a few days ago, but he had ignored it.
That's the source. Danzo's eye filled with venomous hate.
Excuses were useless now. Washing his hands of this was impossible.
If his reputation was destroyed, he might as well stop pretending.
He had to cut the source. Kill the witnesses. Rewrite history later as the victor.
He looked at the Root ninjas behind him.
These were soldiers mind-controlled by his Cursed Tongue Seal. They had no emotions. They only followed orders.
"Root! Listen up!"
"Lock onto that chakra signature. The shop in the corner of the commercial district."
"Storm the building. I don't care who is inside. I don't care how many of them there are. Kill everyone."
"Destroy the equipment. Leave no survivors!"
Dozens of black shadows flickered and vanished.
Murderous intent flooded the streets, heading straight for the little shop with the lights still on.