Time flowed exceptionally slowly inside Uchiha Setsuna's dimly lit room.
After sending off Hiro and the others into the dark, he did not immediately retire to rest. He simply sat completely stiffly at the heavy stone table, his cloudy eyes sometimes gazing blankly out at the heavy, starless night sky outside the window, and sometimes falling thoughtfully on the exact spot where Hiro had just sat. His calloused fingers unconsciously rubbed the chipped edge of his cold ceramic teacup.
The small stone room seemed to still hold the resolute, fiery aura left behind by those brave young people; but now, he was the absolute only one left behind, accompanied entirely by a boundless, suffocating silence.
He was meticulously calculating the passage of time.
The exact length of the subterranean secret passage, the average marching speed of the heavily burdened team, the minor, unexpected delays they might inevitably encounter, the precise, critical timing needed to completely leave the sensory range of the Konoha Barrier... absolutely every single microscopic detail was being repeatedly simulated and agonizingly analyzed within his aged mind.
This hardened old man, who had miraculously survived the bloody end of the Warring States period, personally witnessed the glorious founding of Konoha, and painfully endured decades of bitter clan infighting and Konoha's high-pressure, paranoid rule, was now actively utilizing a lifetime of cultivated patience and lethal strategy to desperately buy the absolute most precious commodity for that group of fledgling eagles leaving the nest: a massive 'time difference.'
"It has been nearly two full hours since their departure..."
He muttered quietly to himself, his raspy voice almost completely inaudible in the empty, silent stone house.
According to his highly experienced estimation, considering the exceptional abilities of Hiro and his elite squad, three hours would be more than enough time for them to successfully pass entirely through the secret passage and rapidly distance themselves completely from the heavily guarded core area of Konoha. Perhaps, if they moved fast enough, they might have even already slipped deep into the highly complex, sprawling mountain and forest regions completely bordering the Land of Fire.
Once they successfully reached that specific, chaotic terrain, the logistical difficulty for Konoha's elite tracker units to accurately locate and successfully intercept them would increase exponentially to an almost impossible degree.
It was finally time to act.
He absolutely couldn't afford to wait any longer.
With every single passing moment of delay, the statistical possibility of other, loyalist individuals within the clan naturally discovering the sudden, inexplicable disappearance of Renka and the other operatives, or a standard night patrol stumbling upon something highly unusual, increased drastically.
He had to aggressively take the initiative to personally detonate the highly volatile situation, rapidly making the shocking fact of the massive 'defection' entirely public in a specific, manipulated way that was relatively favorable to Hiro and the rest of the rogue squad.
At the exact same time, he had to completely and utterly distance himself politically from the damning role of 'accomplice,' and even... flawlessly play the tragic part of a helpless 'victim' and a fiercely 'loyalist' elder. Only by executing this highly dangerous charade could he successfully continue to maintain a potential political margin and a secure, hidden information channel for the Uchiha clan, and perhaps even for the distant Hiro and his squad, deep within the incredibly muddy, treacherous political waters of Konoha.
Uchiha Setsuna's aged gaze gradually became incredibly firm and resolute.
He very slowly stood up from the stool and walked deliberately over to a dark corner of the stone house. There proudly stood a heavy, thick ceramic water jar he usually utilized for gently watering his few potted plants.
He firmly raised the heavy water jar with both hands and, absolutely without a single moment of hesitation, violently smashed it incredibly hard directly against his own temple!
"Bang!"
A sickening, dull thud echoed loudly in the small room.
The thick ceramic jar completely shattered upon violent impact, and freezing cold well water seamlessly mixed with jagged ceramic shards splashed violently all over his aged body and the stone floor.
An incredibly sharp, blinding pain immediately erupted from his injured temple, and a thick, incredibly warm liquid rapidly flowed down his aged, wrinkled cheek—it was his own fresh blood.
He had deliberately and precisely controlled his physical strength upon impact; the blunt force wound absolutely wasn't lethally deep, but it was certainly shocking and gruesome enough to look at for anyone entering the room.
Next, executing the rest of his charade, he staggered backward a few clumsy steps and intentionally, violently knocked over a tall wooden shelf resting right by the stone table. Several heavy, old scrolls and various mundane items scattered wildly across the floor with a loud clatter, perfectly creating the highly obvious, chaotic signs of a brief, violent physical struggle.
He forcefully and aggressively tore the sturdy sleeves of his own dark clothing and deliberately rolled around on the dirty ground, actively letting thick dust and his own fresh bloodstains thoroughly soil his originally pristine, neat traditional attire.
Finally, he carefully chose a highly visible spot completely near the entryway door where he could be incredibly easily discovered from the outside corridor. He lay down heavily on the cold stone floor, tightly closed his eyes, and expertly adjusted his physical breathing to be incredibly weak, shallow, and highly erratic, acting exactly as if he were resting in a deep, life-threatening coma resulting directly from a serious, brutal physical injury.
He meticulously ensured the jagged wound actively bleeding on his temple continued to slowly ooze fresh blood, thoroughly soaking a small, highly visible patch of the cold floor in a dark, sticky red pool.
Having flawlessly done all of this preparation, he became completely, utterly still exactly as if he were truly, physically unconscious, with entirely only the incredibly slight, almost imperceptible rise and fall of his chest indicating he still drew breath. All that was absolutely left to do now was to patiently wait for the inevitable discovery.
The tense wait did absolutely not last very long.
Perhaps it was the faint, lingering noises resulting from his staged struggle coming directly from the stone house, or perhaps it was simply time for the routine, scheduled night patrol or the standard delivery of administrative items.
Less than three short minutes entirely after he successfully 'fainted,' highly cautious, light footsteps and low, inquiring calls came directly from the corridor outside the stone house.
"Elder Setsuna? Are you currently awake in there? I have brought tonight's final patrol report for your review..."
The newcomer standing outside was a relatively young, entirely ordinary Chunin actively in charge of General Affairs within the clan compound. He absolutely wasn't a core, trusted confidant of Setsuna's inner circle, but he was certainly operating at a sufficient administrative level that easily allowed him to directly contact the esteemed Elders late at night.
There was absolutely no vocal response from within.
The young man nervously called out his name twice more into the silence, and instinctively feeling that something was incredibly, horribly wrong, he heavily hesitated for a brief moment before gently pushing open the heavy stone door, which notably hadn't been securely locked from the inside.
Pale moonlight seamlessly mixed with the warm, glowing corridor lights instantly spilled into the dark room, terrifyingly illuminating the incredibly messy floor, the violently overturned wooden shelf, the shattered remains of the ceramic jar, and... the highly respected Elder Uchiha Setsuna lying completely unconscious in a massive pool of his own blood!
"E-Elder Setsuna!"
The young, inexperienced Chunin instantly turned deathly pale with absolute horror and rushed inside the room immediately, clumsily wanting to physically check on the elder's condition but absolutely not daring to move his injured body easily for fear of worsening the trauma.
He clearly saw the gruesome, bleeding wound resting on the Elder's temple, the violently disheveled, torn clothing, and the highly chaotic surrounding signs of a brief, brutal physical struggle... This was incredibly, undeniably clearly a lethal attack!
"Someone come! Quickly, we need a medic! Elder Setsuna has been brutally attacked!!!" The incredibly shrill, terror-filled cry instantly and permanently shattered the relative, peaceful tranquility resting over the Uchiha clan compound late at night.
The general alarm was immediately and loudly sounded across the entire sector.
The absolute first to arrive frantically at the scene were the immediate, nearby Uchiha clansmen violently woken from their sleep, rapidly followed by fully armed members of the elite Uchiha Guard Unit who had heard the terrifying news while on patrol. Soon after, the clan's highest-ranking political officials, entirely including the Clan Head Uchiha Tenjima and several highly influential, senior Elders, arrived at the messy stone house with incredibly grim, thunderous expressions.
Highly trained medical ninja—who were secretly Setsuna's own loyal confidants—quickly and professionally performed a rapid preliminary examination and applied emergency treatment to the supposedly unconscious Setsuna.
The bleeding wound on his head was rapidly bandaged tightly, and his fading vital signs were professionally confirmed to be incredibly weak but currently physically stable.
Under the incredibly anxious waiting and the rapid, sharp questioning of the massive crowd, the deeply terrified young Chunin who had initially discovered the bloody scene frantically described absolutely everything he saw highly incoherently.
"When I first came in... it was exactly like this... the Elder... he was bleeding an incredibly large amount... it absolutely looked like someone had aggressively fought him right here in this room..."
Uchiha Tenjima's brow was incredibly tightly furrowed as his highly sharp, analytical gaze meticulously scanned absolutely every single microscopic detail resting within the ruined room.
The physical signs of a violent fight were incredibly obvious to his trained eyes, but oddly, they didn't seem particularly intense or drawn out; tactically, it honestly looked vastly more like a completely overwhelming, incredibly quick suppression of someone entirely caught off guard or someone hopelessly facing a massive, insurmountable gap in raw physical strength.
Absolutely no valuable property or classified scrolls seemed to be missing from the shelves... Was the absolute primary target of the assault Elder Setsuna himself? But exactly why would anyone target him specifically tonight?
Just then, the highly trained members of the Guard Unit actively responsible for meticulously checking the surrounding rooms and desperately searching the perimeter for viable clues made a highly shocking discovery.
"Clan Head! Respected Elders!"
A seasoned Jonin rapidly walked over to the group with an extremely grim, terrified expression painted across his face.
"When we urgently gathered the active roster just now, we shockingly found that entirely too many young, elite ninjas were completely missing from the clan compound, roughly about a dozen or so highly skilled individuals. They are absolutely all incredibly outstanding, highly lethal talents belonging to the younger generation, entirely including Uchiha Hiro, Uchiha Renka... and the young child Uchiha Shisui..."
"What in the world?!" "Hiro is gone?!" "And the boy Shisui too?!"
The cramped stone house was entirely, suddenly thrown into a massive uproar. Those specifically missing individuals were remarkably gifted, highly valuable members of the younger generation, and vastly more concerning, the absolute majority of them were widely known to be highly dissatisfied with the current political situation, frequently classified by internal security as core members of the militant Hawk Faction or highly potentially dangerous, rogue elites!
Uchiha Tenjima's face instantly turned exactly as dark as stormy water. He snapped his furious, demanding gaze directly toward Uchiha Setsuna, who had conveniently just been highly stimulated to 'slowly wake up' by the applied medical ninjutsu of the attending medical ninja and was now actively gasping incredibly weakly for air.
"Elder Setsuna!"
Tenjima's booming voice heavily carried deeply suppressed, explosive anger and a massive, driving urgency.
"Exactly what in the world happened here tonight? Who specifically attacked you in your own home? Hiro and the others completely vanishing... what on earth is going on right now?!"
Uchiha Setsuna incredibly 'with difficulty' forced his cloudy eyes completely open, which were absolutely filled to the brim with perfectly acted 'shocked anger,' profound 'grief,' and extreme physical 'weakness.'
He slowly opened his bleeding mouth, acting exactly as if he were desperately using absolutely all of his remaining physical strength, before hissing intermittently with absolute, venomous 'hatred' and profound 'disbelief':
"It was... it was Hiro... that wretched, traitorous brat!"