Kenji did not return to his hideout. He knew it was no longer safe. After tonight, all of the Uchiha's resources would be poured into hunting him down. He moved through the village's least-known paths, using all his Anbu skills to erase his tracks. Finally, he stopped in a dense forest on the outskirts of the village, a place where he and Minato had met before.
He sent out a chakra signal, an urgent one.
Only a few minutes later, a yellow flash lit up the area. Minato appeared, still wearing his Hokage cloak, his face etched with worry.
"Kenji! Are you alright? The entire Uchiha district is in an uproar. I thought..."
"I'm fine," Kenji cut in, his voice hoarse. "But I got it. Their plan."
He quickly recounted what he had copied from the scroll: the list of teams, the priority targets, and the projected timeline. This was the irrefutable proof Minato needed. When Kenji finished, Minato breathed a sigh of relief, but his face remained heavy with concern.
"So there's still time," Minato murmured. "We still have a chance to stop this."
"Hokage-sama," Kenji said, his tone turning serious. "That's not all."
He told him about the second file. About how Fugaku was also investigating Danzō. And the final detail, the most horrifying one: the presence of Root near Kushina's birthing place on that fateful night.
When Kenji finished speaking, the air in the forest seemed to freeze. The relieved smile from moments before had completely vanished from Minato's face. In its place was a cold expression, a frightening silence. For the first time, Kenji saw something akin to absolute fury in his master's blue eyes.
"Danzō..." Minato whispered, the name escaping his lips like a curse.
The truth Kenji brought back was a double-edged sword. One edge was aimed at the Uchiha clan; the other, a thousand times sharper and more lethal, was pointed directly at the heart of the Leaf Village's power structure.
"This changes everything," Minato said, his voice having regained its calm, but it was the calm of the sea before a tsunami. "If your speculation is correct... then the Nine-Tails' attack wasn't an accident. It was a staged assassination. A conspiracy aimed at me, and perhaps, to steal the Nine-Tails."
He looked at Kenji, and Kenji understood the horror of the situation. They were no longer facing a civil war. They were facing an internal purge, a conspiracy of the highest order. Fugaku and his coup, while dangerous, were merely a part of a larger, darker picture.
"Fugaku doesn't know this," Kenji said. "He only suspects Danzō manipulated Naoki's death. If he knew the truth, perhaps..."
"Perhaps he would act even more decisively," Minato concluded. "He would see it as proof that the entire village leadership is corrupt. It would only add fuel to the fire."
The two men stood in silence, surrounded by truths that could tear their village apart.
"So what's the plan now?" Kenji asked.
Minato looked up at the night sky, towards the Hokage Monument. "We can't expose Danzō right now. He has too many pawns, too many secrets. Doing so would cause the entire village to collapse. We also cannot allow the coup to happen."
He turned back, a bold and risky plan shining in his blue eyes.
"We will have to fight on both fronts at once, from the shadows. Your mission, Kenji, has now changed. Don't just observe the Uchiha anymore. Shift your main focus to Danzō and Root. Be his ghost. Learn everything about him. Find the concrete evidence that links him to the night of the Nine-Tails' attack."
"And the coup?"
"Leave that to me," Minato said, a cold confidence radiating from him. "I will use the information you've brought me to 'talk' with Fugaku again. But this time, not as the Hokage. But as one shinobi facing another."
He placed a hand on Kenji's shoulder. "The road ahead will be extremely dangerous. You will be completely alone. No support, no official orders. If you are discovered, the village will disavow you."
"It's the path I have chosen," Kenji replied, without a hint of hesitation.
His silent war had a new objective. Not to stop a civil war, but to expose the true traitor, the one who had inflicted the greatest scar on the Leaf Village. His enemy was no longer just a clan. It was an entire system of darkness, corroding the village from within.