Chiba Sōichi stood quietly among the gathered shinobi, exhaustion etched clearly across his face.
For days, he and the other jōnin who had once served under Orochimaru had endured relentless interrogation by the Torture and Interrogation Division.
In the end, the village concluded they had known little about Orochimaru's deeper plans and released them from the ANBU prison.
But release did not mean freedom.
Their sentence had been delivered swiftly—
All of them were to be exiled to the Southern Border outposts.
Three years at minimum. Five at most.
When Sōichi first heard the ruling, he had been stunned.
Because Uchiha Yuan had predicted this exact outcome while they were still confined.
That realization made Sōichi believe Yuan's broader analysis of Orochimaru's defection even more.
Now, he stood with shifting emotions, eyes fixed forward.
Ahead of them stood seven or eight Konoha jōnin, staring coldly.
They were the escorts.
"Woof! Woof!"
Barking echoed from a distance.
A group of Inuzuka clan shinobi approached.
Sōichi immediately recognized one of them.
Inuzuka Hikaru.
A fellow former subordinate of Orochimaru. Like Sōichi, he had been imprisoned after the defection.
Beside him padded his black-and-white ninken, Gyūmaru.
When Hikaru noticed Sōichi, he nodded subtly.
Gyūmaru, however, bared his teeth in a low growl.
A village jōnin stepped forward.
His gaze was icy.
"Inuzuka Hikaru. You're late."
The sharp voice silenced the air.
The Inuzuka clan members who had come to see him off looked worried.
Hikaru gently calmed Gyūmaru, then bowed deeply.
"My apologies, Shiratani-jōnin."
"Don't forget your status," Shiratani said coldly. "You are criminals."
His gaze swept across Sōichi and the others.
The reprimand continued—sharp, humiliating.
Hikaru did not argue.
He remained bowed.
Sōichi sighed inwardly.
This wasn't just a scolding.
It was a warning to all of them.
A few jōnin in the group flushed with anger.
Once, as Orochimaru's elite subordinates, they had been respected—feared, even.
Now they were barked at like disgraced soldiers.
But when they noticed the escort shinobi subtly shifting stances—ready to restrain them at the slightest protest—
They swallowed their pride.
Minutes later—
Shiratani folded his arms and surveyed them coldly.
Sōichi and Hikaru exchanged subtle glances.
"Shiratani used to be your junior, didn't he?" Sōichi murmured.
Hikaru gave a bitter smile.
"We're criminals now."
Suddenly—
The escort squad moved in unison, landing beside Shiratani.
At their center stood a tall, scarred shinobi with a vicious expression.
Shimura Kichizō.
Captain of the escort squad.
A member of the Shimura clan.
"Prepare to depart. Confirm numbers."
"Yes, Kichizō-sama."
After a brief count—
Shiratani's expression shifted.
"Kichizō-sama. Expected personnel: 127. Present: 126."
A heavy silence fell.
"One missing?" Kichizō's eyes swept the group. "Who?"
"Uchiha… Uchiha Yuan."
The name ignited something feral in Kichizō's gaze.
"Uchiha Yuan."
His face twisted with hatred.
He knew what had happened to Shimura Danzō.
Not just the severed arm.
But what others did not know—
That arm had been balancing another force within Danzō's body.
With it gone, that inner power spiraled into instability.
Danzō had been confined to the Root laboratory ever since, undergoing constant stabilization.
And Kichizō—
Was his nephew.
The resentment ran deeper than politics.
It was personal.
"Uchiha Yuan…"
He ground the name through clenched teeth.
At that moment—
Footsteps echoed.
Slow.
Measured.
From the direction of the village gate.
The crowd instinctively parted.
A lone figure approached.
Uchiha Yuan.
Unhurried.
Unbowed.
Even surrounded by hostility—
He walked as though he still stood atop the village.
Kichizō's eyes burned.
But Yuan merely glanced at him once—
Indifferent.
Like observing a stray dog barking from afar.
A tiger fallen to the plains—
Is still a tiger.
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