Hiruzen Sarutobi was feeling emotional, when he suddenly noticed something strange about Itachi Uchiha.
"Itachi, why are you wearing a mask?"
"It's nothing, Lord Hokage. From now on, I will hide in the darkness," Itachi said, revealing only his eyes. His tone, however, was slightly airy—likely due to missing teeth.
"Also, there are two other survivors from the Uchiha clan besides Sasuke."
"Oh?" Hiruzen was surprised.
Didn't we agree to kill everyone except Sasuke?
Of course, he couldn't say that out loud.
Itachi continued, "Musashi Ryomiya, Izumi's teammate, suddenly appeared and saved her and her sister from my hands."
"I see," Hiruzen said. "Was it because of your past bonds? After all, you grew up together and fought on the battlefield." He assumed Itachi had gone easy on them to let two people escape.
"No, I didn't hold back," Itachi said. "Musashi used a Forbidden Jutsu. I couldn't defeat him."
"Nani?" Hiruzen was shocked.
"What kind of Forbidden Jutsu?! I know that child, Musashi. He isn't exactly a talented ninja."
Itachi explained, "A type of Taijutsu that can multiply chakra and strength explosively. It should be the Eight Gates Released Technique. I'm not sure which stage he has cultivated it to."
"Many ninjas likely witnessed the scene, so they will report to you soon. Musashi's jutsu... shattered the second stage of my Susanoo."
Hiruzen's old eyes widened in disbelief.
Meanwhile.
"Musashi, this... doesn't seem to be the way to find the Hokage," Izumi Uchiha said doubtfully, noticing the wrong direction.
"Find that old... Let's not disturb the old man this late at night. We have a more important place to go."
"Where?"
"Where else? The hospital! You stupid woman!"
Seeing no one around, Musashi finally dropped his facade, grimacing in pain.
His arm was cracked, his leg bone broken.
He had been holding on purely by controlling his remaining chakra.
He felt like he could pass out at any moment.
He couldn't withstand the power of the Seventh Gate: Gate of Shock at all. Just one strike had fractured his leg and damaged his internal organs.
Facing the Anbu or Root ninjas earlier, he was just bluffing.
The most important thing now was naturally getting to the hospital for treatment.
As for that old geezer, the Third Hokage, there was no need to find him now; he would come looking for Musashi tomorrow anyway.
Besides, if he bumped into Itachi—who was currently making shady deals with the Hokage—Musashi wouldn't know what face to make.
Hearing Musashi say they were going to the hospital, Izumi was shocked.
She instinctively tried to check his injuries, but Musashi ruthlessly slapped her hand away.
"Enough. You're not a medical ninja, stop causing trouble. It's nothing serious," Musashi said with disdain.
"Are you really okay?"
"No!"
A few minutes later, in a Konoha hospital ward.
"Arm bone fissure, two fractures in the thigh, and some damage to internal organs," the medical ninja stated the examination results by the bedside.
Standing by the side, Izumi froze upon hearing the results.
Looking at Musashi lying calmly on the bed, her emotions were a tangled mess.
Guilt, heartache, grievance...
The events of the night had impacted her too greatly.
She reached out to touch his injuries but pulled back, afraid of hurting him.
Why?
Why did Itachi kill the clan, and even try to kill me?
Why did you appear, Musashi?
What exactly happened?
As her emotions fluctuated violently, a soft little hand slipped into her palm.
Izumi looked down.
It was her sister.
Four-year-old Aoi Uchiha, with bun hair and big eyes.
Sensing her sister's mood, she had reached out proactively.
This night had been a huge fright for the little girl, feeling almost like a dream.
Fortunately, she hadn't seen the corpses or too much blood.
She had just been snatched from her sleep by a weirdo in green, which scared her.
Then she hid in her sister's arms, watching the green weirdo fight a familiar older brother.
The visual effects were spectacular.
But as long as her sister was by her side, it was okay.
Izumi bent down and hugged the little bun-haired Aoi tightly.
It's good that Aoi is still here.
It's good that Musashi is still alive.
That night, Aoi fell asleep on the adjacent hospital bed.
Even in her sleep, her delicate brows were furrowed.
Izumi sat beside Musashi. Her empty eyes were unfocused, lost in thought.
"Wash some fruit for me," Musashi ordered unceremoniously.
Izumi seemed to come back to life, obediently going to wash the fruit.
While eating the cut fruit pieces, Musashi studied Izumi's eyes.
Experiencing something like this, mental trauma was normal.
He thought about how to comfort her but found no reason to.
Screw it.
Her state won't recover anytime soon.
I should think about my own injuries first.
Musashi assessed the extent of damage to his body.
Severe injuries in three places on his arm and thigh.
Skin burns.
Internal injuries to organs and meridians.
Massive chakra overdraft.
Even with the excellent abilities of the medical ninjas, basic recovery would take at least half a month.
To fully replenish the deficit, even a month might not be enough.
A month could have been used for so much training progress.
He glanced at Izumi, who was frowning in her sleep beside him.
As expected, women only affect my training speed. Especially confident, stupid women!
The news of the Uchiha clan incident caused massive waves in Konoha.
Originally, without Musashi, the matter would have fermented slowly until everyone realized—the Uchiha Police Force was gone.
However, Musashi's intervention changed the course of events.
When the barrier was shattered by the energy of the Eight Gates and Susanoo...
Anyone in Konoha who wasn't deaf heard the massive tremors.
Subsequently, under the spontaneous organization of some ninjas, evacuations began.
Because of this, Danzo's plan to contain the operation within a certain range failed.
At night, civilians were in panic. The next day, everyone was asking what had happened.
Did enemies from other villages attack?
Was the Uchiha Police Force stopping the enemy?
Everyone was asking these questions.
Not just civilians, but ordinary ninjas too.
The stench of blood from the Uchiha district could be smelled from far away, naturally alerting ninjas who were looking for answers.
Soon, someone discovered the severity of the situation.
"Dead. They're all dead."
"What dead? Are the enemies and our people both dead?"
"The Uchiha... they're all dead! Everyone is dead!"
Corpses covered in white cloths were carried out by masked ninjas.
The sheer number was terrifying to behold.
The Uchiha clan was practically exterminated!
This news whipped up a storm in Konoha.
Hyuga Compound.
Crash! A precious, exquisite teapot smashed to pieces on the floor.
Hiashi Hyuga's face was iron-green, his Byakugan activated in anger.
"Outrageous! This is too outrageous!"