There were too many bodies—impossible to take them all at once.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo left a portion of the ANBU behind to guard the corpses, while they led the majority of their forces away.
Yagami requested permission from Captain Yellow Dog to stay behind until the Konoha shinobi arrived to collect the bodies.
Yellow Dog, of course, agreed.
The reason Yagami wanted to remain was simple—he didn't want to travel with Danzo.
Danzo's left eye had already been transplanted with a Sharingan.
That bandaged eye socket was almost certainly inscribed with a high-level sealing technique—one capable of blocking all sensory ninjutsu, preventing the Uchiha from realizing he possessed a Sharingan.
Yagami thought for a while. He needed to find a way to deal with Danzo's Mangekyō Sharingan.
After Fox Squad finished arranging the bodies of the ANBU, Yagami stood beside the corpses, watching members of the Senju Clan tend to their fallen kin.
In the distance, Senju Hanaki stood with the last five surviving jōnin of her clan.
In that sealing ritual, the closer a ninja had been to the center, the stronger they were—and the faster they died.
All six of the Senju Clan's elite jōnin had perished. Of more than thirty jōnin, only Hanaki and five others remained.
Now that the sealing was over and the crushing pressure had lifted, sorrow still lingered on their faces like a permanent shadow.
Jōnin Senju Nan was speaking to Hanaki, but she responded only mechanically—her mind had nearly collapsed, unable to think clearly.
Hanaki's eyes shifted, landing on Fox Squad.
Something was wrong. Everything about tonight was wrong.
The strange manifestation of Susanoo on the Nine-Tails' body had caused her mother, Uzumaki Mito, to die unexpectedly.
Then her elder brother Rinki's face, at the moment of death—filled with fury and confusion—as if he'd suffered unbearable humiliation, as if something had happened that even he couldn't accept.
But when the Nine-Tails went on its rampage, everything had been chaos. Rinki hadn't even managed to leave a final word.
Too strange. All of it was too strange.
Hanaki stared at the ANBU, remembering how Danzo had rushed to the scene before the sealing began.
Danzo hadn't come from the Hidden Leaf Village—but from the northwest, from the direction of the Land of Rain.
The entire sealing operation was full of suspicion.
If not for Kushina's two explosive surges at the end, every Senju ninja here would have died.
Who was trying to wipe out the Senju Clan?
The first person Hanaki suspected was the ANBU.
Before the sealing, Rinki had already clashed several times with the Leaf leadership over how Kushina should be handled in the future.
Senju Nan asked softly, "Hanaki, are you listening? We've decided to choose you as the new clan head."
"Sorry… I got distracted," Hanaki replied. Then she said firmly, "Contact Tsunade on the frontlines tonight. Tell her everything that happened here—word for word. Don't omit anything, especially the ANBU's actions and Danzo's sudden appearance."
The jōnin's eyes widened. "Hanaki, you mean…"
"Shh." Hanaki raised a hand.
"Any clan can betray the Leaf—but the Senju cannot. Don't misunderstand me. I only want Tsunade to know the truth in full."
What Hanaki planned had to be hidden from most of her people. She continued, "Send Kato Dan back to the village immediately. I must see him as soon as possible."
She was already thinking it through—Kato Dan possessed the forbidden Spirit Transformation Technique, allowing his soul to leave his body.
To investigate the ANBU openly would be suicide. Only Kato Dan could move unseen and gather intelligence in secret.
Even the ANBU couldn't guard against him.
This matter had to remain completely secret. No one could know.
All four ANBU squads that took part in tonight's sealing, as well as Danzo's two personal aides, were within the scope of her investigation. The real culprit had to be found.
Hanaki quickly adjusted her expression, no longer showing suspicion or hatred toward the ANBU as she looked their way.
Yagami watched her from the side—Hanaki carrying Uzumaki Kushina on her back, with two enormous Sealing Scrolls hanging beside her. It hadn't been a wasted effort after all.
The Senju Clan had preserved some strength, enough to still have a voice in the village. As long as that was true, Danzo wouldn't be able to control everything.
After some time, Kushina regained consciousness.
When she opened her eyes and saw the neatly arranged rows of corpses, she broke down in tears.
Grandmother Mito… Uncle Rinki… They had both treated her so kindly.
Kushina tugged on Hanaki's sleeve, motioning for her to bend down.
Hanaki leaned in, listening—and her heart trembled.
Kushina said that among the ANBU was someone from the Uzumaki Clan!
That person had twice infused her with chakra filled with powerful sealing energy—helping her suppress the Nine-Tails.
No wonder she had been able to erupt with that immense chakra twice. There was an Uzumaki spy hidden among the ANBU.
Even Rinki hadn't known about this.
Hanaki's thoughts raced. When Kato Dan investigated, he had to be cautious—he couldn't act rashly, lest he accidentally harm the Uzumaki infiltrator.
Hours later, a large number of Hidden leaf shinobi arrived. They carried the bodies of both the Senju and the ANBU back to the area surrounding the Memorial Stone.
The next day, in front of the stone monument, half the village's shinobi—dressed in black—gathered.
The passing of Uzumaki Mito, wife of the First Hokage Senju Hashirama, marked the true end of the founding generation.
That generation—the brothers Hashirama and Tobirama Senju, Uchiha Madara, and the clan heads of that era—had all perished for their own reasons.
With Mito gone, Hidden Leaf was now entirely in the hands of the younger generation led by Sarutobi Hiruzen—without any restraint remaining.
Hiruzen stood at the front, presiding over Uzumaki Mito's funeral.
"I still remember the first time I met Lady Mito," he began softly. "I followed Lord Tobirama into the Senju compound. It was the day of the grand wedding between the First Hokage and Lady Mito."
"Together, they poured their hearts and souls into building the village from nothing. Lord Hashirama is gone. Lord Tobirama is gone. And now… Lady Mito has joined them."
"Though they have left us, the most precious thing they created—the Village Hidden in the Leaves—lives on. We will carry on the will of the founding generation…"
Standing at the edge of the crowd in his ANBU uniform and mask, Yagami watched quietly.
How to put it—Hiruzen's speech was deeply emotional. Many around him were moved to tears.
Danzo stood in the front row. The Uchiha clan head, Uchiha Toki, didn't even glance his way.
That confirmed Yagami's suspicion—Danzo's bandaged eye socket was indeed sealed against sensory ninjutsu.
Still, Yagami wondered where Danzo had learned such a technique. Could it have been from notes left behind by Tobirama Senju himself, who had once studied the transplantation of Sharingan?
After all, Tobirama's entire arsenal seemed designed to counter the Uchiha Clan—Water Style to suppress Fire Style, the Body Flicker to evade the Sharingan, the Darkness Technique to neutralize Genjutsu.
It wouldn't be surprising if Tobirama had once experimented with Sharingan transplantation.
Beside Uchiha Toki stood the young heir, Uchiha Fugaku—freshly graduated from the Ninja Academy that year.
When the funeral ended, most people began to disperse.
Uchiha Toki and Fugaku approached Hanaki to offer their condolences.
Then a sharp, piercing shout broke the solemn silence.
"Uchiha Toki! You owe me an explanation! Where were you last night?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen turned his head slightly, glancing first at the hysterical Hanaki, then at the bewildered Toki. Without saying a word, he continued walking away.
Uchiha Toki kept explaining—he'd been in the clan compound all night, and many could testify to it.
He'd already learned what had happened to the Senju Clan last night, and knew that Hanaki was blaming the Uchiha for the Susanoo that had appeared on the Nine-Tails.
He swore he didn't even know how to use Susanoo, that it wasn't him or anyone in his clan.
But no matter how he explained, Hanaki refused to believe him. Her accusations only grew louder.
In the end, Toki could only say that once she calmed down, he would visit in person to apologize.
After everyone left, Senju Nan asked quietly, "Clan Head Hanaki… was it really the Uchiha who did this?"
Hanaki didn't answer.
She intended to stir the waters—publicly hounding the Uchiha and creating conflict on purpose.
It was all a cover—to protect Kato Dan's secret investigation.
***
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