Hokage Building, during a meeting of Konoha’s senior leadership.
Hyuga Kagami sat calmly in his seat, discreetly observing the various Konoha higher-ups attending the meeting.
Among them were the Third Hokage, Utatane Koharu, and Lady Tsunade, who served as the village’s advisory elders; Uchiha Fugaku and Hyuga Hiashi, who represented the great shinobi clans; as well as the heads of Konoha’s various departments.
Kagami was attending this high-level meeting in his capacity as Principal of the Ninja Academy. It was also the first time he had ever participated in a meeting of such importance within the village.
At the moment, nearly everyone in the conference room wore a gloomy expression.
There was no need to mention the Third Hokage, Utatane Koharu, and the other leading figures of the Hokage faction. Their expressions were so dark that they practically seemed to drip with gloom.
The heads of the various departments, such as Nara Shikaku, captain of the Jonin Corps, and Yamanaka Inoichi, captain of the Intelligence Division, were all wearing expressions of shock and disbelief.
As for the clan heads, their reactions varied.
Uchiha Fugaku remained completely composed. In fact, a faint trace of schadenfreude could even be seen in his dark eyes.
Hyuga Hiashi, meanwhile, wore a stern expression, seemingly analyzing whether this incident would have any impact on the Hyuga Clan.
After a moment, the Third Hokage finally broke the silence in the conference room.
"What are everyone’s thoughts on this matter?"
Hiashi hesitated briefly before asking, "Has the information been confirmed?"
The Third Hokage nodded helplessly.
The moment he received Kakashi’s secret intelligence report, the Third Hokage had immediately led an elite shinobi force toward the volcano where Danzo had conducted the ’Kekkei Genkai Fusion Ritual.’
However, by the time the Third Hokage and his forces arrived, the volcano had already collapsed.
Corpses were strewn everywhere as far as the eye could see, and the entire area was in complete devastation.
Suppressing his overwhelming fury, the Third Hokage organized personnel to rescue the wounded while simultaneously dispatching shinobi to pursue Danzo and the Root shinobi who had assisted him in committing these crimes.
After separately interrogating the many captured Root shinobi, the Third Hokage could no longer cling to even the slightest hope that the reports were mistaken.
According to the Root shinobi’s confessions, Danzo had indeed conducted a ’Kekkei Genkai Fusion Ritual’ inside the collapsed volcanic cavern, just as Hiruko had done before him. And in order to elevate himself, he had ruthlessly sacrificed hundreds of Konoha shinobi.
Had Kakashi not intervened, all fifteen hundred Konoha shinobi bound to the chakra transmission array would likely have perished.
Even after matters had reached this point, the Third Hokage, though consumed with fury, had managed to maintain his composure.
But the next piece of news left him dizzy with disbelief.
Danzo, having completed the ritual, had actually fled the village to escape punishment.
The Hokage had defected!
Something so utterly absurd had actually happened!
Although Danzo was only the Acting Hokage—his face had neither been carved onto the Hokage Rock nor had he formally received the village-recognized title of ’Fifth Hokage’—he was still Konoha’s current highest authority.
Thus, when news of his defection was announced at the meeting, the first reaction of Konoha’s senior leadership was not anger, but sheer incredulity.
Fugaku calmly asked, "Where did he flee to?"
The Third Hokage sighed.
"Kumo."
According to the captured Root members, while they had been pursuing Danzo, they had even gotten into a small-scale clash with the Kumogakure shinobi.
And because the Fourth Raikage was among the Kumo group, not only had Root failed to stop Danzo, they had suffered considerable losses themselves.
Bang!
Tsunade slammed her hand heavily onto the table.
"They actually dared to take in that madman Danzo! This is outrageous!"
Utatane Koharu immediately agreed. "Exactly. Kumogakure must give us an explanation!"
At that moment, Nara Shikaku said solemnly, "The village cannot remain without a Hokage. Our most urgent priority right now isn’t discussing Kumo. We need to select a new Hokage as soon as possible!"
The moment Shikaku finished speaking, everyone turned toward the Third Hokage almost in unison.
Without question, given the complexity of the current situation, having the experienced Third Hokage reassume the position was presently the best and safest choice.
The vote soon began.
There were no unexpected developments. By unanimous vote of Konoha’s senior leadership, the Third Hokage was reinstated as Hokage, and he immediately issued orders to open negotiations with Kumogakure.
After leaving the Hokage Building with his expression unchanged, Kagami began sorting through the information he had just obtained from the meeting.
All the core Root members who knew that Kamigami and Orochimaru had also participated in the ’Bloodline Fusion Ritual’ had died inside the volcanic cavern.
Moreover, Kagami and Orochimaru had both been extremely cautious. They had secretly entered the volcanic cavern ahead of time and had never shown themselves before the fifteen hundred Konoha shinobi bound to the chakra transmission array outside.
Thus, even now, the village remained completely unaware that Kamigami and Orochimaru had also been involved in Danzo’s ’Bloodline Fusion Ritual.’
Furthermore, Danzo had already deactivated the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in his eye sockets before fleeing the volcanic cavern, so the village was also unaware that he now possessed a pair of Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
Even less did they know that several other independent wills were currently residing within Danzo’s body.
As he walked, Kagami eventually found himself in front of Konoha Hospital.
With nearly a thousand wounded and the bodies of several hundred dead arriving all at once, Konoha Hospital was currently in utter chaos.
The families, relatives, and friends of the dead and wounded streamed in and out, practically clogging the hospital’s main entrance completely.
Looking at the grieving faces before him, Kagami’s expression dimmed slightly.
When designing the ’Bloodline Fusion Ritual,’ neither he nor Orochimaru had ever entertained the idea of sacrificing the fifteen hundred Konoha shinobi in the chakra transmission array.
That was because, according to their calculations, a chakra transmission array composed of fifteen hundred shinobi was already extravagantly excessive.
There should never have been any need to worry about running out of chakra.
But the two of them had been wrong.
Completely and utterly wrong.
They had underestimated the ’Bloodline Fusion Ritual’s’ demand for chakra. Although the safe output limit they had designed for the chakra transmission array could guarantee the safety of the shinobi within it, it was nowhere near enough to sustain the ritual’s normal operation.
Thus, even though it was Danzo himself who had ultimately forced the chakra transmission array to maximum output, Kagami and Orochimaru, as the ritual’s designers, also bore a responsibility they could not simply absolve themselves of.
"Sigh... In the schemes of the strong, the weak are always insignificant little pieces that can be sacrificed at will."
For a moment, Kagami was filled with complicated emotions.
Once, he too had been just like these dead and wounded Konoha shinobi, powerless to control his own fate. During the Third Shinobi World War, he could do nothing but be swept along by the tides of war, helplessly praying that fate would show him mercy.
And precisely because he had personally experienced the agony of having no control over his own destiny—and the humiliation of being ordered around at the whims of others—his determination to attain ’Kekkei Mora’ only grew stronger.
He would defy fate itself and rewrite his destiny.
His life and death would belong in his own hands!
"No one gets to decide whether I live or die—not even a god!"