The evening wind, at some unknown point, had turned chilly, carrying a hint of the graveyard's coolness as it caressed the cold names on the Memorial Stone.
Kakashi Hatake's hand trembled.
It wasn't due to exhaustion from battle, nor was it the pain of wounds; the scroll in his hand, though merely paper and ink, felt so heavy it was almost too much to hold.
He took a deep breath and finally unrolled it.
There were no superfluous words, no emotional accusations. The first page of the scroll contained only a list, written in the neatest handwriting.
It was a list of the comrades his father had saved at all costs during that mission.
Kakashi had heard every name mentioned in his father's fragmented words. Every name had once been a symbol in his childhood, representing 'father's failure'.
And now, next to each name, was a new, chillingly stark follow-up, marked by 'Zero'.
[Jonin, Yasuyoshi Arii. Three months after the mission, he encountered an 'accident' during a C-rank escort mission, ambushed by a rogue Ninja squad, and died in action. The rest of the squad survived.]
[Jonin, Mikio Namuro. Six months after the mission, his entire family was transferred to the border of the Land of Grass, to guard the most dangerous frontline outpost. A year later, the outpost was breached by Iwagakure forces, and his entire family died in action.]
[Chunin, Makoto Toji. After the mission, he was coerced by Root, using his young son as leverage, to become the first 'witness' to publicly accuse Sakumo Hatake of 'prioritizing personal matters over public duty'.]
Line after line, column after column.
The truth was like a rusty, mud-covered blunt knife, brutally slicing open the scars of his memory, inch by inch.
The name of the mastermind was clearly marked at the summary of all intelligence—Danzo Shimura.
The next page of the scroll described, in horrifying detail, how Danzo operated.
How he used bought media mouthpieces to leak what should have been a top-secret mission failure report, turning it into street gossip. How he instructed Root members to spread distorted, exaggerated 'inside information' in taverns, bathhouses, and Ninja Academy parent-teacher meetings.
How he exploited the public's demanding expectations of heroes and their fear of failure, step by step slandering the 'Konoha White Fang', a light that had once illuminated the entire Village, into a coward who abandoned his mission for personal feelings, a good-for-nothing who brought shame upon Konoha.
Kakashi's breathing stopped, and the words before him intertwined with frame after frame of memories.
He remembered his father's lonely figure, sitting alone on the veranda, for an entire afternoon, doing nothing but staring at the withered tree in the yard.
He remembered the gazes of his once-kind neighbors, now mixed with disdain and pity, cast from behind his back.
He remembered his childhood playmates throwing stones at him, calling him 'the coward's son'.
Finally, he remembered himself.
"A Ninja must obey the rules." This was a phrase he often said in his youth; that incident changed the trajectory of his life.
It turned out his father's death wasn't that complicated; it was a meticulously planned, vile and shameless political assassination.
He mechanically flipped through the scroll, as if it were not paper, but his father's bones.
At the end of the scroll was an interrogation record, provided by 'Zero' and specially encrypted.
In the record, a peripheral member of the Root organization who had participated in the propaganda war broke down under genjutsu and confessed everything firsthand.
"...We didn't lie; we just presented the fact that 'even heroes can fail' in a way that made it unacceptable to everyone... We told those merchants how much money they lost because of the White Fang's failure... We told those widows that the White Fang's 'kindness' was the greatest betrayal of their dead husbands... We didn't even need to fabricate much; we just needed to incite, just needed to light the fire..."
The next page was a confession from Makoto Toji, delayed by more than a decade. He was the teammate who had spearheaded the accusation against Sakumo Hatake back then, and also the one Sakumo had pulled back from the brink of death.
"...Lord Danzo found me. He didn't threaten me; he just brought my son before me. He smiled and told me that this child had great potential to become an excellent Ninja, and that Root needed such talent... I understood what he meant. I had no choice. I'm sorry, Sakumo, I'm sorry for him..."
"Boom—!"
Something inside Kakashi completely exploded.
The decades of suppressed grief, the knot that had tormented him for half his life, under the scorching flames of truth, instantly transformed into a furious rage capable of incinerating reason, incinerating everything!
"I understand."
Kakashi pulled back his eye patch, revealing his crimson Sharingan, his eyes brimming with overflowing fury.
"Summoning Technique!"
He slammed his hand onto the cracked ground, his Chakra, mixed with boiling killing intent, erupted with a roar.
"Bang!"
The huge smoke dissipated, and eight Ninja dogs of various shapes appeared around him. Pakkun, the leader, was about to complain, "Kakashi, what trouble is it this time?" but upon encountering the almost solidified killing intent emanating from Kakashi, all his brown fur stood on end.
He had never seen Kakashi like this. The person before him was no longer the lazy master he knew.
"Pakkun."
Kakashi spoke. His voice was hoarse, like two rusty iron plates grating together, each word carrying an eerie chill.
"Find Danzo Shimura."
"Even if you have to turn all of Konoha upside down, you will drag him out for me!"
Meanwhile, in the Hokage Office, the atmosphere was equally heavy.
Hiruzen Sarutobi sat behind his desk, wearily rubbing his brow. The pipe in his hand had long gone out, but he had no mind to refill it with tobacco.
"This is unacceptable, Hiruzen!" Utatane Koharu shrieked in her sharp voice, pounding her finger heavily on the desk. "That Uzumaki Naruto, in broad daylight, used force to threaten the sitting Hokage!"
"Koharu is right," Homura Mitokado echoed, his expression equally stern. "Those things he summoned completely exceeded the scope of Ninjutsu. Such power must not remain in the Village; it's a huge hidden danger!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi lowered his hand, his aged face filled with a sense of helplessness.
He tried to explain some realities they couldn't grasp to these two Advisors who only saw rules and traditions.
"You don't understand at all. What we're facing is no longer an existence that can be defined as a 'Ninja'. That blue giant, the power he displayed, is enough to easily destroy a small country. And that assassin who appeared from the shadows, her abilities, ignored all defenses as we know them..."
"It's not a question of whether we can capture him; it's that we simply don't have the capability to capture him!"
"Boom—!!"
A deafening roar brutally interrupted Hiruzen Sarutobi's words.
The thick wooden door of the office, crafted from the hardest wood in the Land of Fire and symbolizing the Hokage's supreme authority, was violently pierced through the middle by an extremely concentrated blue lightning bolt, exploding into a shower of wood splinters and debris.
From amidst the debris, a figure slowly walked in.
Kakashi's Sharingan swept over the three elders one by one, while the eight Ninja dogs, baring their sharp fangs, let out low growls, encircling him.
Clearly, he was not there to deliver a mission report.
"Kakashi! Are you trying to rebel?!"
Utatane Koharu let out a terrified shriek.
Kakashi's movements didn't falter in the slightest; he didn't even spare her a glance. His bloodshot eyes, passing over the startled Advisors, fixed deadly on the person behind the desk, the one who represented the highest authority in Konoha.
He stepped into the office, his footsteps heavy.
"Lord Third."
Kakashi said, enunciating each word, gritting his teeth.
"Tell me, where is Danzo?"
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