"Lord Hokage, you... you..."
The ninja who came to report had a shocked expression on his face, his tone filled with confusion and fear. He had been in the Anbu for a while but had never seen the Hokage lose his temper before.
But now, the Hokage was furious after hearing news about Genya?
It was hard to understand!
"I'm fine, really." Sarutobi Hiruzen, realizing he had lost control of his temper, forced himself to calm down. His face returned to its usual kind expression. "I just suddenly thought of something else that made me very angry."
Sarutobi briefly explained the situation, dismissing it quickly. Some of the Anbu trusted him completely, so there was no need to explain further.
"I see." The ninja nodded seriously.
He had been wondering why the Hokage would react so angrily to such a normal piece of news, but now he understood it was because of something else.
As for what that "other thing" was, it wasn't his place to ask. If the Hokage wanted to share, he would.
"I have some other things to handle. You can leave now." Hiruzen glanced at the ninja and waved his hand.
The Anbu ninja nodded and left the Hokage's office.
As soon as the ninja stepped out, Hiruzen's expression turned completely cold.
The room felt like an ice chamber.
"Uchiha Shin and Uchiha Genya are back?" Hiruzen repeated their names coldly, his tone filled with ice.
He had sent people to eliminate them, Jonin from the Sarutobi clan, including the elite Jonin Sarutobi Natsu. But they had failed the mission?
And worse, those people hadn't even returned?
The more he thought about it, the stronger the ominous feeling grew. He had a bad premonition that the people he sent were already in trouble.
However, this thought was fleeting, and he quickly shook his head.
The dozen or so Jonin ninjas from the Sarutobi clan, especially Sarutobi Natsu, could rival Uchiha Shin. As for the others, excluding the useless ones like Genya, they were more than enough!
It was unlikely that the Sarutobi ninjas were dealt with by them; something must have happened along the way, causing them to abandon the mission!
However, there were some things he couldn't figure out.
Soon, Sarutobi Eisuke walked in from outside. Seeing that Sarutobi Hiruzen was the only one in the office, he quickly said, "Uchiha Shin and the others have returned to the village!"
His words were filled with disbelief!
When Sarutobi Hiruzen had given the orders, Sarutobi Eisuke had been right there. He knew all the ninjas who were sent out—they were Jonins from the Sarutobi clan!
Moreover, to be on the safe side, Sarutobi Hiruzen had even sent out several times the number of people in the Merchant Association's team, all to wipe out Uchiha Shin's group without leaving a trace.
But now, Uchiha Shin's group has returned? This didn't make sense to him.
"I already know!" Sarutobi Hiruzen replied. Seeing the shock on Sarutobi Eisuke's face, he took a deep breath. "Did you receive any updates from the team? Did Sarutobi Natsu mention anything about changing the mission?"
He wanted to ask if Sarutobi Eisuke had received any word from the Sarutobi Police Force Division about Sarutobi Natsu changing the mission. At the moment, Sarutobi Hiruzen was still thinking that maybe something had happened to Natsu along the way.
"No, there's been no word since Uncle Natsu left!" Sarutobi Eisuke shook his head. However, with some caution, he looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen and said, "Lord Hokage, do you think Sarutobi Natsu and his team failed the mission and were killed by Uchiha Shin's group?"
Sarutobi Eisuke had come very close to the truth. After all, the mission was assigned to them, and now Uchiha Genya had returned, but they hadn't.
"It's impossible!" Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head and said, "Uchiha Shin's group isn't even a match for Natsu's team!"
By now, Sarutobi Hiruzen didn't believe that Uchiha Shin's group had killed anyone from the Sarutobi clan.
"Under normal circumstances, that would be impossible. But... what if Uchiha Shin awakened his Mangekyō Sharingan?" Sarutobi Eisuke said seriously, voicing his thoughts.
At first, he didn't believe that the Uchiha had such advanced combat power, but after hearing about Uchiha Shisui opening his Mangekyō under the attack of the Hidden Cloud ninjas and bringing his clan members back...
They were now suspecting: Could it be that Uchiha Shin had unlocked his Mangekyō? Or even something more dangerous?
"It's possible," Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned in thought, but then shook his head. "Although Susano is powerful, supporting such a massive body would require tremendous chakra. If Sarutobi Natsu and the others wanted to escape, they could have gotten a few people out!"
When Uchiha Shisui used the Susanoo, it still allowed the Cloud ninja to escape. The Susanoo was not invincible.
Hiruzen didn't continue speaking, but it was clear from his expression. Now, none of the Sarutobi's ninjas sent to hunt down the Uchiha members had returned.
"This..." Sarutobi Eisuke was at a loss for words, not knowing how to respond.
"You make a valid point," Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly seemed to have thought of something. He turned to Sarutobi Eisuke and said, "You should send a few people to check if Uchiha Shin's team has suffered any casualties. Also, find a genjutsu master and have them question an unimportant member of the team about their recent mission experience."
"I understand!" Sarutobi Eisuke nodded after hearing Hiruzen's instructions and left the room.
At the Merchant Association:
"You're saying you were attacked on the way back?" Uchiha Kinya looked at Genya and Uchiha Shin with shock and anger in his eyes.
"Yes, and the ones who attacked us were from the Sarutobi clan!" Uchiha Shin nodded seriously and briefly recounted the events that had happened to them.
Only a few people knew about Genya's strength, and Uchiha Kinya was one of them.
"Humph, I didn't expect that old man, the Third Hokage, would actually dare to target our Uchiha clan!" Uchiha Kinya was furious. He hadn't imagined that the Third Hokage himself would send people to take action against them.
"Father, don't be so angry," Genya gently reassured him, then said, "Besides, those people have already been killed by us!"
"Humph, if it weren't for your strength, you might've ended up dead!" Uchiha Kinya still seemed worried. "Do you really think they've given up on our Uchiha clan?"
"Calm down, I went out for training anyway," Genya smiled and responded. "It helped me improve my strength!"
He was comforting Uchiha Kinya because their strength wasn't enough yet.
If he had the power of the Reanimated Madara, he would've already captured the attackers and questioned them!
Genya felt that he still didn't have enough power.
"Boss, we can't let the Third Hokage know about the attack," Uchiha Shin also tried to reassure him from the side.
Outside the Merchant Association:
Sarutobi Eisuke arrived and walked up to a ninja monitoring the place, asking, "Did all of Uchiha Shin's team return safely?"
Support me on my and read upto 15 early Chapters.