Chapter 50: The Hokage’s Verdict

The silence in the small guest room was heavy and uncomfortable. The four Konoha shinobi sat around the low table, the events of the meeting with the Star Shadow hanging over them like a dark cloud. The only sound was the distant, faint clatter of reconstruction from the village outside.

Naruto finally broke, unable to contain the storm of emotions any longer. He shot up from his seated position, his chair screeching against the wooden floor.

“No way! Just… no way!” he yelled, his voice cracking with a mix of anger and disbelief. He paced a few steps, running a hand through his spiky blond hair. “Sasuke wouldn’t do that! Steal some stupid rock? Destroy a whole village? That’s… that’s not him! And since when can he take on a whole village by himself? That’s crazy talk!”

Neji, who had been calmly watching the dust motes dance in a sunbeam, sighed. He looked weary, older than his years. “Naruto, sit down. We don’t know what Sasuke would or wouldn’t do anymore. He left us, remember? But you’re right about one thing—the strength they described… it doesn’t add up. The Sasuke we knew was strong, but this is something else entirely.”

“Then there has to be a mistake!” Naruto insisted, planting his hands on the table and leaning forward. “Maybe it was someone else with a Sharingan! That guy Itachi, or… or…”

“Or who, Naruto?” Tenten asked softly, her voice full of sympathy. “The Star Shadow looked at his picture and said it was him. She looked… sure. And scared.”

“That’s why we have to go back,” Neji stated, his tone leaving no room for argument. He finally looked at Naruto, his pale eyes serious. “Our mission was to investigate and report. We’ve done that. We’re not detectives, and we’re not a pursuit team. The one who did this is long gone, and he took their star with him. Our only solid lead is the name ‘Uchiha Sasuke.’ Stomping around this broken village asking more questions won’t change that. We take what we know to Lady Tsunade. She’s the Hokage. She’ll know what to do.”

Naruto knew he was outmaneuvered. The fight drained out of him, replaced by a sullen, frustrated energy. He couldn’t argue with Neji’s logic, but every part of him rebelled against the conclusion. With a grunt of pure annoyance, he hammered his fist on the table, making the wood shudder. “Tch! Fine! But this isn’t over!”

The rest of the evening was a quiet, tense affair. Ang came to fetch them for a meal—a simple, quiet dinner of stew and rice that nobody had much appetite for. They turned in early, each lost in their own thoughts. Sleep was fitful, the image of Sasuke as a village-destroying monster a difficult one to shake.

The next morning, under a grey sky that matched their mood, they went to the Star Shadow’s office to formally take their leave. Summer Star looked as tired as they felt, but she nodded gravely at their decision.

Before they left, however, Neji had one last question. “Lord Star Shadow,” he began, choosing his words carefully. “You identified the shinobi from the photograph. But were there any other witnesses? Anyone else who saw his face or his techniques clearly?”

Summer Star thought for a moment, then called for one of her ninja. A man with his arm in a sling and a bandage across his forehead entered, bowing nervously. It was the same ninja Ren had interrogated and casually tossed aside before his fight with Hoshino.

“Tell them what you saw,” Summer Star instructed gently.

The man’s eyes grew wide, a flicker of pure terror in them as he recalled that day. “H-He was a monster,” he stammered, his voice barely above a whisper. “He moved like lightning. He used a Lightning Style technique… it made this horrible sound, like a thousand birds were screeching all at once. I heard him call it ‘Chidori.'” He swallowed hard. “And then… when Hoshino-sama confronted him… he… he summoned it.”

“Summoned what?” Neji pressed, his voice intense.

“A giant… a giant skeleton made of purple chakra. It wrapped around him like armor. It was huge, taller than the buildings! Hoshino-sama’s attacks… they did nothing. Nothing at all. He called it… ‘Susano’o.’ It just… swatted our best techniques away like they were nothing. Then it swung its arm… and half the village… just… fell.” The man trailed off, looking down at his feet, ashamed of his own fear.

Neji’s face was a stoic mask, but his mind was racing, connecting the terrible dots. “Chidori. Susano’o,” he said, more to himself than to anyone else. He bowed to Summer Star. “Thank you. This information is critical. We will take our leave now.”

With that final, horrifying piece of the puzzle, the team finally set off on the long journey back to Konoha. The walk was mostly silent, each of them wrestling with the image of their former comrade wielding such devastating, monstrous power.

A few days later, they stood once more in the brightly lit Hokage’s office. Tsunade listened without interruption, her expression growing grimmer with each passing second as Neji delivered his report with clinical precision.

“…and based on the positive identification from the Star Shadow and the corroborating witness account describing the Chidori technique, we believe there is a high probability the attacker was Uchiha Sasuke,” Neji concluded.

Tsunade leaned back in her large chair, the leather creaking. She steepled her fingers, her gaze distant. “Sasuke… I see. But the power discrepancy you mentioned, Neji. That’s the part that worries me most. The Sasuke who left here wasn’t capable of that.”

“That’s what doesn’t make sense,” Neji agreed, a rare frown on his face. “The power they described—this ‘Susano’o’—it’s on a scale we’ve never seen before. It doesn’t align with his known abilities.”

Tenten, unable to contain her curiosity any longer, blurted out, “Lady Tsunade, what is a Susano’o? The witness made it sound… unstoppable.”

At the word “Susano’o,” the color drained from Tsunade’s face. It was a subtle shift, but everyone in the room saw it. Her hands, which had been steepled, slowly lowered to her desk, gripping the edge. Her knuckles were white.

“Susano’o…” she repeated the name, and it sounded like a curse on her lips. Her eyes held a storm of emotion—disbelief, dread, and a flicker of something that looked like ancient fear. “You’re certain that’s what he called it?”

“The witness was certain,” Neji confirmed, watching her reaction closely.

For a long moment, Tsunade was utterly still, lost in some terrible memory. She looked past them, as if seeing a ghost from a story she never wanted to be real. “No… It can’t be…” she whispered, so quietly they almost missed it. “That’s a myth… a legend from the darkest scrolls…”

Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her expression hardened into one of absolute, iron resolve. The fear was gone, replaced by the stern face of the Fifth Hokage. She turned to Shizune, her voice low and commanding, leaving absolutely no room for debate.

“Shizune. Listen to me very carefully. Issue a new bounty immediately. Uchiha Sasuke is to be designated an S-Class rogue ninja. Notify every border outpost, every jounin commander, and our allies in every major village. The order is this: any Konoha shinobi who encounters him is to prioritize his capture and return to this village, above all other missions. His retrieval is now our single most important objective.” She took a sharp breath. “If he cannot be captured alive… if he resists with the level of force you’ve described… they are authorized to use lethal force. But I want him found. I want him stopped. And I want him brought back to Konoha. Is that clear?”

The room was dead silent. Shizune stood frozen, her face pale with shock. “L-Lady Tsunade… S-Class? Are you… are you sure? That’s for threats to the entire village…”

“Now, Shizune!” Tsunade’s voice cracked through the office like thunder.

Shizune jumped, nodded once, and practically fled the room, the door swinging shut behind her.

“WHAT?!”

Naruto finally found his voice, a raw scream of pure anguish. He lunged forward, slamming his palms on her desk so hard the wood splintered. “S-CLASS? YOU WANT TO KILL HIM?! HE’S SASUKE! HE’S OUR FRIEND! YOU CAN’T DO THIS!” Thɪs chapter is updated by NoveI[F]ire.net

“Naruto, that is ENOUGH!” Tsunade roared, standing up to meet his fury with her own. The sheer force of her presence filled the room. “This is not a request! This is an order from your Hokage! You will stand down and you will follow it!”

“But he didn’t—! We don’t even know—!”

“I said GET OUT!” she bellowed, pointing a trembling finger at the door. “All of you! Out! Now!”

She sat back down, snatching a random scroll from her desk and unrolling it with a violent snap, her entire body radiating a fury that was as much fear as it was anger. She refused to look at any of them, especially the heartbroken, furious blond boy in front of her.

Neji, understanding the conversation was irrevocably over, moved quickly. He grabbed a still-shouting, struggling Naruto under the arm. “Naruto, stop. It’s over. Let’s go.”

“Let me go, Neji! I’m not done! NEJI!”

But Neji was stronger, and with a helping push from a shell-shocked Lee, they managed to haul the protesting Naruto out of the office and into the hallway, the door closing firmly behind them on Tsunade’s stony silence.

The moment they were gone, the scroll in Tsunade’s hands dropped to the desk. She put her face in her hands, her shoulders slumping. The image from her grandfather’s oldest, most terrifying stories flashed in her mind: a giant, spectral warrior, a god of destruction made manifest through the eyes of the Uchiha.

“Susano’o…” she whispered to the empty, silent room, her voice thick with a dread she hadn’t felt since the last Great War. “If he’s truly awakened that… then Orochimaru isn’t just experimenting on him. He’s unlocking a weapon. I can’t let that snake get his hands on a power that could rival a Tailed Beast. No matter the cost, no matter what Naruto thinks of me… we have to get to Sasuke first.”

Out in the hallway, the struggle continued.

“Let me go, Neji! I’m going back in there! I’ll make her understand!” Naruto shouted, trying to wrench his arm free.

“Give it up, Naruto!” Neji said, his own patience fraying. He finally released him, and Naruto stumbled back, chest heaving. “You saw her! You saw her face when I said that word! This isn’t about punishing Sasuke. This is about something else. Something she’s scared of. That ‘Susano’o’… it means something terrible to her. Something we don’t understand.”

Before Naruto could fire back another angry retort, a frantic, panicked voice echoed down the hall.

“Naruto!”

They all turned. Sakura was sprinting towards them, her face as white as a sheet, her eyes wide with terror.

“Naruto! What’s happening?!” she cried, skidding to a halt in front of them, grabbing his jacket. “I was at the mission board… they… they just posted a new notice… It says… it says Sasuke-kun is an S-Class criminal! That there’s a kill order! What did you find out? Is it true? Did you see him? Tell me!”

Naruto looked from Sakura’s desperate, tear-filled eyes back to the imposing wooden door of the Hokage’s office, then to the grim faces of his teammates. He had answers now, but they were all wrong. They were a nightmare. And he had never felt more helpless in his entire life.

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