During the Second Shinobi World War, the Hidden Haze Village in the Land of Mountains went to war with Konoha.
Hidden Haze sent a trap specialist named Genno to infiltrate Konoha and plant a million explosive tags throughout nearly all of its key facilities: the Hokage Residence, Hokage Rock, the Ninja Hospital, and various clan compounds. The purpose was simple—when Hidden Haze's main army attacked, Genno would detonate everything from within and annihilate Konoha in one stroke.
But before the plan could ever be executed, Hidden Haze was wiped out by the neighboring Hidden Waterfall Village. Genno was captured and vanished without a trace.
The million explosive tags he'd buried in Konoha's vital points were left behind, sleeping underground for nearly thirty years.
Today, Neiki—who knew the "original story" and could trace the network of tags with his Byakugan—took control of those dormant explosives and turned them into his own weapon.
Seeing Neiki casually toy with the second remote, the expressions of every Konoha ninja turned grim.
Three explosions had already gone off: the Hokage Residence, the Inuzuka clan compound, and the Ninja Hospital. Each blast had been stronger than the last.
The scale of the explosions made one thing clear: the number of tags under Neiki's control far exceeded anything he could have prepared alone. Laying such a city-wide trap took enormous time and resources. Only a village-level force could have arranged it originally.
No one dared assume the remote in Neiki's hand was a bluff anymore. The cost of being wrong was too high.
The first two explosions had caused relatively limited casualties. But the third, at the Ninja Hospital, was heartbreaking. After the day's battles against the Uchiha and the Nine-Tails, how many injured Konoha shinobi had been inside, undergoing treatment?
The odds were that almost none of them survived. Many of Konoha's wounded heroes—who had just bled to protect the village—had likely died in an instant.
No one spoke. Only anger and fear hung in the air.
Neiki, a true madman with no compassion, clearly wouldn't hesitate to press the button even if it meant blowing up civilian districts.
From Shikaku to Kakashi, everyone could feel their comrades' accusing stares on their backs. Neiki had stated his rules plainly, but many Konoha shinobi still thought they could be clever and slip around them. Shikaku and Kakashi, caught mid-attempt during Neiki's "demonstration," had become living examples of why that was a mistake.
Neiki and Konoha were not in a balanced standoff. Only real pain would force Konoha to take him seriously. Those three buttons on the first remote were always going to be pressed; the only thing that changed was what excuse Neiki chose for each one.
Looking at the grieving, enraged Inuzuka shinobi, Neiki smiled faintly. Stirring up internal strife was the easiest thing in the world.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes burned with fury. He glared at Neiki as if he could tear him apart with his bare hands. But when Neiki's finger shifted slightly over the remote, Hiruzen forced his anger down and asked:
"What do you want?"
Now that was the attitude of someone ready to negotiate.
Neiki smirked.
"Nothing big. I just want to fulfill a request from the head of the Hyuga clan."
Hiruzen's eyes widened. Just that?
The surrounding Konoha shinobi were equally stunned.
If this was all he wanted, then those earlier explosions felt unbearably costly.
"Yes, but I have to go into Konoha to bring her out myself," Neiki added, lightly tacking on a condition.
After some back-and-forth and a private discussion with Shikaku and the other commanders, Hiruzen finally agreed. Neiki would be allowed into the village—but under heavy surveillance from Konoha's elite.
"You must leave immediately after you retrieve her. You are allowed to remain in Konoha for ten minutes. No more," Hiruzen said coldly.
Neiki made a show of reluctance but agreed.
That only deepened Hiruzen's suspicion that Neiki had other plans, and he sent down another order: all shinobi were to keep an even closer eye on him.
On the way back toward the village, only a few handpicked ninja stayed close enough to shadow Neiki directly. The rest followed from farther away, ready to react at a moment's notice.
At the same time, Hiruzen ordered the evacuation of locations like the Ninja Academy and the library, suspecting that they might also be rigged with Genno's explosive tags.
Shikaku stared at Neiki's back, frowning.
"…Could that be a shadow clone?"
Or was there some other trick?
Either way, after the massacre of the Hyuga, he wasn't naïve enough to believe Neiki was just "fulfilling Hiashi's last wish." Shikaku started laying out hidden countermeasures in his head.
…
Two more explosions tore through Konoha.
The already shattered Hokage Residence collapsed further, reduced to a drifting cloud of dust and rubble. Iruka Umino dug frantically through the debris, his hands raw and bleeding, until he finally pulled Kaori's small body free.
The girl's face was white as paper.
Iruka's eyes filled with tears.
"Sorry, Kaori… I'm so, so sorry… this is my fault…"
Guilt and confusion crushed him. This was nothing like the Uchiha rebellion earlier.
He didn't know why the Hokage's building had exploded.He didn't know why the Hokage still hadn't returned.He didn't know where he was supposed to go.
All of Konoha felt unsafe.
People wandered the streets aimlessly, sobbing or screaming. No one seemed to know what to do.
There was no contingency plan for this. Conflicting orders from above only deepened the chaos. Some commanders shouted for everyone to return to the old shelters. Others insisted the shelters were now targets, and ordered civilians to flee toward the outskirts of the village instead.
No one dared stay in their homes. No one knew whom to trust. Crowds argued and panicked in the streets.
Iruka cried over Kaori for a long moment—until he heard soft footsteps nearby. A shadow fell over him.
He looked up and saw a boy with clear, beautiful Byakugan eyes.
Iruka recognized him.
…Neiki.
Two Konoha jonin stood guard behind him, watching Neiki like a bomb about to go off.
"Tsk. Good riddance," Neiki said.
Iruka thought he'd misheard. "What?"
Neiki glanced down at him, eyes cold.
"Too bad it was only a few. Such a waste of explosive tags."
He turned and walked away.
One of the jonin squeezed Iruka's shoulder gently, murmuring some empty comfort before hurrying after Neiki. Iruka sat frozen on the ground.
The air felt thick and scorching, as if the whole village were on fire. From the distance, Neiki's voice drifted back to him.
"Where are you going now?" one jonin asked furiously.
"To the Ninja Hospital, of course. I want to see how my tens of thousands of tags performed," Neiki replied, as if he were simply checking on a finished art piece.
Pebbles dug into Iruka's palm.
It felt like an arrow had pinned him to the spot.
Staring at Neiki's retreating figure, he suddenly understood.
So that's how it is.
He snatched up a kunai lying near the road.
"Don't fall into his trap!"
A shadow wrapped around him from behind, locking his limbs in place.
The Nara clan… he thought, almost laughing at the absurdity.
"A trap?…" Iruka forced himself to stay calm.
Silence.
His muscles trembled as he strained against the shadow's hold, trying to break free.
Blood ran down his arm.
The figure lurking in the darkness said nothing.
Coughing, spitting blood, Iruka roared:
"Trap? What trap!!"
"The murderer is right there bragging!!"
"I'm going to kill him!"
"I'm going to avenge Kaori!"
"What are you doing!!"
"Why are you stopping me?!"
"Who's really walking into his trap??!"
"Huh?!"
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