After restraining the chaotic Kakashi Hatake and Asuma Sarutobi, the group finally turned their attention to the scene of the death of the former Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The scene was complicated, even causing Sougen to raise an eyebrow in surprise.
Hiruzen's headless body lay in the middle of the hallway, a large pool of blood staining the floor. His severed head wasn't far from his body, with a bloodied executioner's blade lying nearby. The body of Biwa Jūzō was also close to Hiruzen's corpse.
From the scene, everyone could deduce what had transpired.
Looking at the stone spear embedded in the wall, stained with blood and bits of flesh, and then at Jūzō's mangled legs, it was easy to imagine how Hiruzen had used Earth Release to pierce Jūzō's feet. Hiruzen clearly had the upper hand in their battle.
After all, other than the severed neck, Hiruzen's body had no other injuries.
On the other hand, Jūzō's arms, back, and legs were covered with fresh wounds, showing that he had taken quite a beating. This raised a key question: How had Jūzō, who was clearly losing, managed to turn the tables and behead Hiruzen?
From the positions of the bodies, it seemed that Jūzō, despite his severely injured legs, had suddenly sprung up and decapitated Hiruzen with one swift strike. While this explanation seemed logical, something about it was clearly wrong.
Hiruzen wasn't a wooden post.
How could he just stand there and let Jūzō behead him?
Given Hiruzen's abilities, even a fully healthy Jūzō wouldn't have easily injured him, let alone a wounded one.
Unless, of course, Hiruzen had been unable to move, unable to dodge or defend against Jūzō's attack.
Everyone present was a seasoned warrior, having survived the battlefield countless times. Their experience and instincts led them to focus their attention on Jūzō's hollow right eye. If something unusual had happened, it was likely tied to that eye.
"Kakashi Hatake, Asuma Sarutobi," said Akimichi Torifu.
He turned to the two, now kneeling on the ground with their arms pinned behind their backs, held by the ANBU like prisoners.
"Tell me, what really happened here?" Torifu asked.
If anyone knew what had occurred, it had to be these two.
"It was him! Kakashi Hatake conspired with the Mist ninja to kill the old man!" Asuma shouted, glaring at Kakashi with the fury of a beast, as if he wanted to tear a chunk out of him.
Kakashi, however, remained indifferent, his cold, emotionless eyes betraying none of the vitality expected of someone his age. After Asuma finished yelling, Kakashi finally spoke in a calm, quiet voice: "I don't know."
"Jūzō was losing badly. The Third Hokage had already secured victory and was interrogating Jūzō, trying to find out who had sent him to assassinate him. Suddenly, for some unknown reason, Jūzō's right eye burst in a horrific manner, and the Third Hokage seemed to be caught by some kind of immobilization genjutsu. He couldn't move and was beheaded by Jūzō in that moment of vulnerability."
"You probably want to know what kind of technique Jūzō used to immobilize the Third Hokage, but I'm sorry. Everything happened so quickly! So fast that I couldn't even grasp what was going on. By the time I realized what had happened, it was too late to change anything. I can only guess that it was a technique similar to a paralysis genjutsu."
And just like that, Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead.
Asuma's chance to avenge his father was gone.
The motivation driving him forward disappeared. He had no intention of defecting from the village to become a rogue ninja. Rather than flee, he preferred to die as a Konoha shinobi. So he chose to surrender without resistance, allowing the ANBU to subdue him.
"A paralysis genjutsu, huh? But immobilizing someone like Hiruzen… an ordinary genjutsu wouldn't cut it," Akimichi Torifu muttered, staring at Jūzō's empty eye socket in silence.
Had Jūzō used a forbidden technique that sacrificed an eye?
Or was it some other unknown method?
The ninja world was full of strange and mysterious forbidden jutsu, both ancient techniques passed down from the past and new innovations created by geniuses. Figuring out what Jūzō had used would not be easy.
"Inoichi, check it out. See if you can find anything."
The Yamanaka clan's mental techniques were renowned for their versatility, offering abilities like sensory perception, information transmission, and the ability to invade and read the memories of both the living and the dead. The ability to extract memories from the dead was particularly unique in the shinobi world.
"Yes, Hokage-sama," Yamanaka Inoichi responded respectfully.
Under the watchful eyes of everyone present, he knelt beside Jūzō's body, placing his hand on Jūzō's head and closing his eyes, attempting to extract the memories.
As the Yamanaka clan's head and strongest member, Inoichi was revered by intelligence ninjas throughout the shinobi world—many of whom weren't even from Konoha.
After just five minutes, Inoichi opened his eyes and removed his hand from Jūzō's head.
"Well?" Akimichi Torifu pressed.
"From what I've gathered, Jūzō wasn't under anyone's orders, nor was he working with anyone. In fact, he planned to frame the Uchiha clan to provoke internal conflict within Konoha, hoping that this would give the Mist an advantage in their war with the village."
As Inoichi relayed this information, his expression grew complex. Was Konoha's internal strife so well known that even other villages could exploit it? And, once again, the Uchiha were the target.
He glanced at Uchiha Sougen, only to find the young clan leader looking back at him. Startled, Inoichi quickly averted his gaze, realizing he might have overreacted.
Sougen hadn't even activated his Sharingan.
Inoichi lowered his head and continued, "As for how Jūzō immobilized the Third Hokage, I'm afraid I couldn't find out. Jūzō's memories had unnatural gaps, likely erased before the mission, and I couldn't recover them."
"Oh, and one more thing: Jūzō is now a rogue ninja. He attempted to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage to overthrow his regime but failed, forcing him to flee the village and become a rogue."
Jūzō's mind had contained a wealth of information, but for now, Inoichi could only reveal what was most relevant.
"He was still thinking about his village, even after becoming a rogue ninja?" Akimichi Torifu grumbled in displeasure. "Inoichi, you've done well. Thank you."
"I was just doing my duty," Inoichi replied as he stepped back.
Torifu hesitated for a couple of seconds before turning to Sougen. "Sougen-kun, it looks like we'll need to launch the war against the Mist sooner rather than later."
"That's my view as well," Sougen replied with a smile.
His teeth gleamed with a bloodthirsty light.
With Danzo dead and Hiruzen Sarutobi gone, even though tensions between the Uchiha clan and the village hadn't fully eased, Sougen felt a sense of relief. For now, his mind was free of distractions, allowing him to fully focus on preparing for the upcoming war with the Mist.
So, it was time to celebrate the Uchiha clan's liberation from their chains—with the blood of the Mist! Latest content published on N0v3l.Fiɾe.net