"Fractured Mind gold coin," Ichiraku squinted as he looked at the coin. Naruto didn't wait for his answer and left when he saw the old man staring at the coin for more than ten minutes.
"What exactly is a Fractured Mind Coin?" Ichiraku tilted his head, then shrugged. "It's a gold coin at the end of the day, kid. This is enough to pay everything you owe me and let you eat here for..." Ichiraku shifted his gaze from the coin to where Naruto should have been, but the boy was no longer there.
"Eh?" Ichiraku narrowed his eyes, then shrugged again. "He'll be back, and then we'll sort this out," he said as he slipped the Fractured Mind Coin into his right pocket.
...
That night, at midnight, in the Hokage Tower.
"Damn it!!!" Lord Hokage threw the book in his hands against the wall in rage, his eyes nearly blood-red. Several thoughts were spinning in his mind. "Shit!!!" Sarutobi kicked his desk with such force that it shattered into pieces.
"Why?" The old man lowered his head slowly, breathing heavily a few times before making a grimace of disgust. "First Devan, then Sakura, and now... What the hell did you say happened in the center of the village?!!" Sarutobi demanded, glaring at an Anbu ninja not far from him.
That ninja was terrified—he had never seen Lord Hokage act like that. He bowed deeply before speaking. "The owner of the Ichiraku-Ramen stand, Mr. Ichiraku, was found dead. We were about to examine him when..." the Anbu ninja paused, seemingly unable to form words for some reason.
Sarutobi squinted. One of his sharp looks was enough to make the Anbu react. "W-we were about to collect the body when we saw it glowing with a green-golden hue before shrinking and finally turning into this..." the Anbu ninja took out a gold coin that read Fractured Mind.
Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, staring at the gold coin. He had seen similar coins before—Danzo had brought some, claiming he had taken them from Devan and that they seemed special.
"Devan..." Sarutobi muttered. "Mmm, Lord Hokage, we also found another similar gold coin in the clothes left behind by Ichiraku," the Anbu ninja said, taking out another Fractured Mind gold coin.
"Hmph," Sarutobi made an indistinct sound before nodding a few times. "I see." He inhaled deeply, his chest expanding, held the air for nearly a minute with his eyes closed, then exhaled forcefully.
"Leave the two coins here on..." Sarutobi looked at his destroyed desk, "Give them to me. We have to send them for analysis..." The Anbu ninja quickly obeyed Sarutobi's orders, handed him the two coins, and left.
—"Sarutobi, Devan can influence people's minds, driving them insane. I'm almost completely sure of it. We must kill him."—
Danzo's words from some time ago echoed in the old man's mind. He grimaced before letting out a slight sigh. "Maybe you were right..." He closed his eyes and felt as if his eye sockets were two red-hot iron balls thrown into water.
"Wait, How did Ichiraku have a Fractured Mind gold coin?" Sarutobi narrowed his eyes, and a moment later stomped the ground so hard it almost cracked. "Danzo, you son of!!!" Lord Hokage cursed loudly.
At a restaurant in Konoha that also served alcohol.
"Kakashi, I'm telling you, we need to do it," Might Guy looked his old friend in the eyes—or rather, the only visible one. Kakashi raised his one visible eyebrow, gave him a strange look, and swallowed.
"No, no, no, hahaha," Guy scratched the back of his head while laughing loudly and awkwardly, drawing disapproving stares from several people at nearby tables.
"I mean Devan. We have to look for him," Guy clarified as he reached for a cup and poured himself some alcohol. "Devan?" Kakashi asked, then looked at Guy curiously.
"You've never talked much about Devan before. Why now?" Kakashi was curious. "Why are you thinking of finding him right at a time like this?"
However, Guy drank from his cup for a moment before clearing his throat. "Actually, I think Devan is in danger..." Guy smiled at the end of his words, slapped the table with some force, and grinned brightly. "Let's go find Devan. Whoever finds him first gets to set a punishment for the other. What do you say?"
Kakashi smiled at this. "Suddenly worried about Devan? Yeah right, not even you believe that," he thought before nodding anyway. After all, he was a bit worried about their old friend too.
The next day in Konoha...
Naruto woke up.
"Why is it still so cold?" the boy wondered. He was shivering; his bones creaked just from trying to move, and his teeth were chattering.
However, in his bed, Naruto was covered by ten thick blankets and was even wearing heavy clothes. "Damn it!!!" the boy shouted, then looked around his room. "Eh?" surprise struck him.
There was frost all over his room—on his table, his fridge, his trash, and even the bowl of instant ramen he had left yesterday was covered in frost, the ramen in the bowl completely frozen.
Naruto quickly got out of bed and walked to his window, looking outside.
"It's snowing," Naruto squinted. "But... no, no, no, no, it can't be like this—we're in summer," the boy shook his head. "Besides, this cold is unnatural. It's completely impossible for it to be this freezing."
Naruto stared outside at the people wrapped in heavy clothes walking slowly down the street, at the surrounding houses covered in snow and frost, and finally at his own window frame frozen solid.
The blond's eyes narrowed before widening in shock. He began breathing rapidly and unevenly, stepping back from the window with growing fear as he looked around.
"There's evil in the village..."
The sudden snowfall in Konoha silenced the news of Ichiraku's death, the owner of the Ichiraku Ramen stand. However, this was not good news for Lord Hokage.
Instead, the sudden and severe drop in temperature took the lives of more than a hundred civilians who weren't prepared for it. People, animals, and pets in the streets froze to the bone, and several Anbu ninjas were assigned to help the survivors warm up and endure the cold.
In the Root base, the Root ninjas were training. They had been training for several days without a mission. Since the last time Danzo left to give Devan an arbitrary mission, he had locked himself in his office, rarely leaving and only calling the two highest-ranking Root ninjas to receive reports on Konoha's situation.
The Root ninjas were completely unaware of Danzo's condition. Even if Danzo himself were dead, they wouldn't know, and they had no way of finding out. No one dared enter Danzo's office without being called.