"Investigate! Take Itachi to the Intelligence Division immediately! I want to know exactly what happened to him!" Hiruzen Sarutobi shouted, his voice trembling with emotion.
Upon hearing Hiruzen's command, Kakashi hoisted Itachi Uchiha onto his shoulders and rushed toward the Intelligence Division.
After Kakashi left, Hiruzen prepared to return to his office for a smoke to calm his agitated nerves. Suddenly, a masked man in black appeared before him, dropping to one knee. "Third Lord, Elder Koharu has met with an accident."
"What! How? Explain yourself!"
The ANBU ninja was about to describe Koharu Utatane's death when another masked figure appeared beside him, also kneeling. "Third Lord... Elder Homura has also met with an accident."
Hiruzen stood frozen. "..."
It took a long time for Hiruzen Sarutobi to rein in his emotions. When he finally inquired about the details, the reports were chilling. Both deaths were utterly bizarre. No enemies had been spotted nearby; the two had simply suffered sudden, fatal wounds and collapsed.
The mysterious deaths of the two elders and Itachi filled Hiruzen with a creeping dread. If the elders were dead, he and Danzo were likely next. He wondered who would fall first. If Danzo died, it might be manageable, but if he died first, Konoha would fall under Danzo's control.
No, Danzo could never be allowed to lead Konoha. If that happened, there was no telling what chaos would erupt. He had to prepare. Thinking of this, Hiruzen immediately informed his confidants that should anything happen to him, they were to recall Jiraiya or Tsunade to take up the mantle of Hokage. Under no circumstances was Konoha to be handed to Danzo.
How had Koharu and Homura died? It was, of course, the work of our protagonist, Qiu Xia. After cursing Itachi to death, Qiu Xia had moved on to the two elders. It was as easy as killing Itachi, though using curse techniques to kill took a massive toll on his mana. After killing just three people, half of the mana in his body had been depleted.
One must realize that half of Qiu Xia's current mana was several times greater than the total reserves of a top-tier Human Master. The fact that it was half-gone after only three kills demonstrated the immense cost of these curse techniques.
To ensure he wouldn't run out of energy while dealing with Danzo, Qiu Xia took a moment to recover. Once his mana was topped off, he channeled a portion of it to maintain Sage's Theft before beginning the curse on the Scapegoat King.
During Qiu Xia's recovery, the Scapegoat King had already learned of the strange deaths of Itachi and the elders through his Root subordinates. Like Hiruzen, the Scapegoat King was terrified. Fearing he was the next target, he had retreated to his headquarters, surrounding himself with Root ninja and layering the area with barriers.
Furthermore, he brought out all the Sharingan he had collected. If attacked, he intended to use these eyes as "revival coins."
Danzo remained vigilant until nightfall. Just as he was wondering if he might escape an attack tonight, a sudden, searing pain erupted from his lower half. The Scapegoat King was "blown away" not in the sense of being impressive, but in a very literal, agonizing sense.
"AAAGH!"
The sudden assault forced a blood-curdling scream from the Scapegoat King's throat. Qiu Xia's attack didn't stop at making him a eunuch. He followed up by targeting the Scapegoat King's hands and feet. The first blow to the hands struck the very hand Danzo was using to clutch his Sharingan.
Despite his willpower, the hand holding the Sharingan gave way under the assault, and the eyes fell to the ground. As blood pooled from the holes in his limbs, Qiu Xia manipulated a straw man, snapping Danzo's fingers back toward his wrists and twisting his arms into agonizing spirals.
Once the arms were mangled, Qiu Xia drove two needles into the Scapegoat King's eyes, followed by more into other vital points. Only after Danzo was riddled with holes and his own mana was nearly exhausted did Qiu Xia look at his data interface. Seeing a massive increase in his Origin Power, he nodded with satisfaction.
"Now, only that bastard Obito Uchiha is left. In a few days, I'll set up some arrays in the Uchiha compound. As soon as that bastard shows up, I'll find a way to kill him."
While others might find Obito's Inner Kamui troublesome, Qiu Xia was different. His Qimen Field allowed him to control the time and space of a specific area. As long as he encountered Obito and engaged him, the likelihood of Obito dying at his hands was extremely high.
Over the next few days, Qiu Xia busied himself carving array bases out of wood, secretly burying them throughout the Uchiha clan's territory. Simultaneously, he continued his clandestine search for the real Scroll of Seals.
During those days, a metaphorical earthquake shook Konoha. The deaths of Elders Koharu and Homura were one thing, but the deaths of Itachi and Danzo were catastrophic. First, there was Itachi, that ungrateful traitor. Though he was a hypocrite, he was still the Young Master of the Uchiha and the son of Fugaku Uchiha.
Fugaku could tolerate his clansmen suffering grievances or humiliation, but he would never allow his son to be harmed, let alone killed. This was evident from the original massacre where Fugaku had refused to fight back.
Had he chosen to act, dealing with Itachi would have been simple for someone with a Mangekyo Sharingan. Even if he couldn't kill Obito, he could have certainly made enough noise to alert the other clans.
Yet, Fugaku had chosen to die by Itachi's hand for the sake of his son a clear sign of how irresponsible he was as a patriarch.
Had Hiruzen not informed the Uchiha that three elders had also been killed, Fugaku likely would have activated his Mangekyo to exact a bloody revenge on Konoha the moment he heard of his son's death.
With the Scapegoat King dead, a large number of Root members were liberated. While some remained mindless puppets, the vast majority chose to return to their respective clans the moment the seals were broken.
Previously, the seals and Danzo's status as an elder had left them no choice. Now that Danzo was dead and the seals were gone, who would want to stay in Root? Not even a dog would stay there.
This string of disasters caused Hiruzen Sarutobi to age rapidly. He felt increasingly powerless. During this time, he secretly contacted Jiraiya and Tsunade, urging them to return to Konoha immediately to prevent the village from falling into chaos should he die.
One night, after working late in the Hokage's office, Hiruzen was heading home to rest when a massive explosion rocked the Hokage Rock. The flash lit up all of Konoha for a brief second. Hiruzen, the ANBU, the clan ninja, and even ordinary shinobi all rushed toward the source.
Upon arriving at the Hokage Rock, they discovered that of the four faces, Tobirama Senju's and Hiruzen Sarutobi's had been shattered to pieces. Only the faces of Hashirama Senju and Minato Namikaze remained untouched, without even a single crack.
The destruction of the Hokage Rock was a major incident. Hiruzen immediately dispatched men to find the culprit while he stayed behind to ponder the mystery: why were the faces of the Second and Third destroyed, while the First and Fourth were left unscathed despite being so close?
The answer was simple: it was Qiu Xia. He had placed a one-time array around Hashirama and Minato that could withstand explosive damage. Once the blast was over, the array bases self-destructed, leaving Hiruzen with nothing to find.
As for why he spared Hashirama and Minato while targeting Tobirama and Hiruzen? It was quite simple. Hashirama was just an idealist, and Minato Namikaze hadn't done much to target the Uchiha. As for those other two things, Tobirama and Hiruzen... well, there was no need to explain what everyone already knew.
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