The Abrupt Change of Power

Meanwhile, inside the Konohagakure, the group of shinobi, tasked by Danzo with checking on and guarding their Root's main base complex, promptly arrived at their destination,

Entering inside the dark and obscure tunnels and going a bit further into the complex, they gradually began opening their eyes wide in utter shock and apprehension,

They realized that someone most certainly already broke in there!

Looking at half sliced corpses of their masked Root subordinates laying on the ground in various positions, they got even more cautious than ever, before getting ready to move in further.

But, they didn't get a chance to walk for too long thereafter, before spotting a blurry silhouette walking in their direction, slowly, from the great distance ahead.

The figure in the distance suddenly unsheathed his acute blade from its black holder and murmured softly to himself, "They eventually really came here as planned..."

That person was Kakashi Hatake! He planned this action together with Yoshi ever since that day before the Nine-Tails attack on Konoha,

Previously, while the majority of Root members were away and busy dealing with Yoshi and Takumi, he carefully snuck in towards their most secret rooms here, gathering various compromising and otherwise useful papers and other material evidence, for later use, in the process!

As he came closer towards them, Kakashi just exclaimed lightly, "There will be no more Root in Konoha after today!"

"K-Kakashi Hatake...?", "What is he doing here!?"

They didn't manage to think about anything else at the moment, as a giant whitish wave of light already rushed towards them dangerously. Illuminating the whole dark tunnel instantly!

.

Shikaku Nara had a very rough start of the weekend. He was just resting quietly, by chance, in his Nara clan's home residence, when all of sudden a very strange and startling thing happened then,

His wife entered breathlessly in and told him a very strange matter promptly,

There was now a very large staggering barrier enveloping the whole crucial Hokage's building, in the distance completely!

Konohagakure citizens were all wondering about the same thing,

Just what could all this mean and what will happen next!?

Shikaku swiftly rushed towards there immediately after hearing about that!

His brain already thinking intensely about countless possibilities imaginable. And, by the time he arrived there, the peculiar barrier enveloping the whole building unexpectedly disappeared as well.

"Sir Shikaku!" One of the regular tense ninjas, already present on the scene from the first wave of shinobi that came here after noticing the loud commotion, suddenly exclaimed worriedly.

Seeing that Shikaku also came at this time, they all waited to hear his respected opinion of what to do next. After all, the man was notedly the current Jonin Commander of their whole village forces!

The entire building, mainly on the roof area, was already half-demolished, they all noticed first!

"We're going in now!" Shikaku nodded a bit towards them in greeting quickly and said solemnly.

They promptly entered through the main door, and nervously rushed up through the stairs expeditiously. Every step they took felt extremely heavy, and they soon came right to the top!

"Ah...", "What on earth!!?"

What they saw there next, was a very horrifying scene!

Nearly the whole roof of the building was blown off, the previous elegant office room was left devasted, but the worst of all were the three bodies now motionlessly laying there on the ground.

The slowly entering shinobi opened their mouths wide in shock and sorrow after seeing the scene.

"Lord Third Hokage..."

"Asuma Sarutobi...", "Kurenai Yuhi..."

Nara Shikaku also opened his eyes wide and curled his mouth in shock. Not even in his wildest dreams did he ever imagine their mighty Hokage getting killed right inside his own village office!

"Secure the perimeters of this building first! I'm going to check on the situation there!" Shikaku suddenly shouted to the flabbergasted shinobi behind him.

'Just who could've done this?' He thought while slowly walking closer to inspect their bodies first. He got goosebumps all over his body just thinking about it.

The other shinobi remained stunned still in place, not regaining their composure in the slightest. They felt like their whole world collapsed suddenly collapsed unexpectedly.

'They all died in the same fashion...' He thought as he came in front of them shortly after and crouched down while inspecting the bodies carefully.

The other shinobi eventually moved to secure this entire building, and Shikaku furrowed his brows while still analyzing their bodies, 'All three of them died of a single precise and fatal attack to their hearts' area?'

'This is truly perplexing...'

'There are basically only two options...

'Either they were attacked sneakily unbeknown to them and all murdered at the same time, or more dangerously, the enemy was so incredibly stronger than them, that he managed to defeat or trap them away before deciding on this method of killing them...'

'That barrier also looked a bit familiar...'

'This is very bad for the current Konoha either way!'

Shikaku thought alarmingly as he got up and quickly headed for the exit of this building thereafter.

Directing some other shinobi, on the way, of what to do with the three bodies inside next.

"Oh, Shikaku, there you are!", "What on earth happened inside!?"

Two people soon came in front of Shikaku and each asked a question in succession.

They were Choza Akimichi and Inoichi Yamanaka; Shikaku's closest friends and subordinates!

Inoichi had long ash-blond hair reaching into his lower back, which he wore spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail, light green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well-defined jawline.

Choza is a tall, plump man with naturally brown hair, but seems to wear a long, spiky red hair-piece. He had purple markings on his cheeks, a common trait in the Akimichi clan,

He wore a samurai-like outfit which entailed a black suit completed with armor that had the kanji for "Food" engraved on it.

"Oh, Inoichi? It's good that you are here..."

"I'm afraid that we're going to need your help, looking through the last living memories of the Lord Third Hokage, Asuma Sarutobi, and Kurenai Yuhi!"

"They were all murdered unexplainably and we need to find the culprit fast!"

"What!?" Both Inoichi and Choza exclaimed in shock after hearing that.

And just when Shikaku sighed hard and wanted to explain the situation, another hurried footsteps and panicked shouts stopped him, "Sir Shikaku, not good!!"

"The Konoha's two esteemed Hokage's advisors were murdered, inside their homes, too!"

Everyone experienced an even bigger shock, and felt an even bigger dread inside them, right after hearing it, this day couldn't get worse for them, they all thought then...

However, they couldn't exchange any further words on that matter now, as another earth-shattering thing unfolded in the distance!

They all noticed an extremely large fire currently rising out from the direction of the Root's headquarters in the distance!

.

After a few more hours of total confusion and disarray, Shihaku and Inoichi finally managed to come to this point. They were currently inside a top-secret room somewhere in the village.

Attempting to do the crucial thing for coming to the crux of this matter now, and resolving the whole puzzle,

They were, more precisely Inoichi only, was about to enter the living last memories of the Hokage, his son, and the girl who were all mysteriously killed today!

Shikaku currently could be said to possess the highest acting authority inside the whole village!

And, only after he finds out the truth of this whole matter, can he move on to everything else,

Only then could he truly try and save them all from this totally hopeless and desperate situation!

"Alright, do it, Inoichi!" Shikaku said solemnly, all of sudden, to his lifelong friend.

Inoichi nodded solemnly and slowly crouched down to inspect the Hokage's brain first,

But, all of sudden, he stood up again in both shock and wonder as he was exclaiming, "Shikaku, I don't know why, but Lord Hatake is coming towards us here right now, extremely quickly!"

"What, Sakumo Hatake!?"

'Does he mean to do that!?'

'No, I won't allow him to it! Not with me here!'

Countless thoughts running through his head at a moment, Shikaku could already basically venture to guess Sakumo's current reason for coming there unannounced!

Yoshi Uzumaki was the culprit and he came here to cover for him thereafter!

And soon, in the next second exactly, Sakumo Hatake himself, came right in front of Inoichi and Shikaku expressionlessly, standing there casually inside the secret room.

"There is no reason for you to do what you intended!"

"I already know who is the murderer and I have the proof!"

He opened his mouth slightly and stated plainly on the point.

His whole temperament appeared very different than it was many years ago when they last saw him,

He appeared honed to the extreme, and way more unfathomable than ever before!

What kind of strange and profound realms had he reached right now remained a true mystery!

But, his strength certainly didn't appear to stagnate during his retirement in the slightest, as some people thought, no, instead it actually broke through!

The man rarely set a foot outside his residence these days,

This being an extremely rare occasion for him to actually go out himself!

"Lord Hatake, with all due respect-" Shikaku tried to tell something indignantly, but Sakumo's next serious gaze stopped him in his tracks promptly.

There was an inexplicable white light flashing in his eyes as he spoke next, "Danzo successfully assassinated the Lord Third today, amongst many other heinous deeds he did in the past as well,"

"Inside is the proof for this..." Sakumo threw him some kind of scroll next, before continuing his speech seriously.

"You're a smart man, Shikaku..."

"You know that without me and Kakashi here, this whole village will suffer a very terrible fate next, as the other four great shinobi village team up for revenge in a moment, we can even join any of them if we wanted!"

"Tens of thousands of innocent people from Konoha would suffer a horrifying death, and even the millions of people in the whole Land of Fire would probably starve to death if that truly happens!"

Shikaku opened his eyes wide and clenched his fists hard as he listened further.

"Your best bet for survival is for me to take the title of the Hokage next!"

"And, in order for me to do that, you have to give me some face right now, Shikaku!"

Inoichi opened his mouth wide in shock after hearing all of this,

That was all already somewhere in his subconscious mind today, but he truly didn't expect the dignified and legendary Lord Hatake to be so direct with them now!

Shikaku clenched his teeth in the end, in shame and humiliation,

But, he also knew that every word previously spoken by Sakumo was the truth,

And, that he will probably agree in the end!

.

Later that day, the whole Konohagakure was in a state of utter shock and dismay,

Everyone learned by now the tragic news of their Hokage's startling murder inside his own building in the village's center!

Just, who could've done that? Who had enough guts?

People went to the streets, talking to each other panicked, no one truly knew what to do next at this moment!

Konoha was truly left without any high-level leadership at the moment,

Even the Hokage's two esteemed advisors were murderers inside their own residences!

What will they do now without the Hokage?

Will the other great ninja villages suddenly attack and take the opportunity to rip their throats away?

But just then, a ray of hope suddenly started spreading out in the streets rapidly.

More and more people started hearing about that truly uplifting piece of information.

No one knew for sure who leaked it in the first, but it was truly the thing they needed the most at the moment,

Lord Sakumo Hatake is ready to genuinely step back from his retirement in order to help the village during these hard times ahead,

He is even willing to reveal the identity of the previous attacker of the Konoha's Hokage's building and the Hokage's and his two advisors' real wicked killer?

They were just to gather around in front of the half-destroyed Hokage's, once illustrious large red building, around two hours later, and everything would be revealed there!

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