The king and his daughter🔵

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The slamming of the mahogany doors echoed like a thunderclap through the Hokage's office. The casket, still smelling of damp earth and that sickly-sweet preservation wax, sat in the center of the room. Its presence was a silent, morbid accusation.

Tsunade didn't wait for a formal report. She was already over the side of the box, her hands glowing with a high-intensity medical shroud as she hovered them over the "doll." Her brow furrowed, her golden eyes darting across the waxy surface of the decoy's skin.

"Sakura was right," Tsunade hissed, her voice vibrating with a terrifying, low-register heat. "This isn't even a high-level clone. It's a biological vessel, grown and then stagnated."

She leaned closer, her fingers dancing inches above the neck where the faded seal lay. Suddenly, she recoiled, her eyes narrowing into dangerous slits.

"Kakashi. Look at this."

The silver-haired shinobi stepped forward, his Sharingan already spinning. He traced the faint, shimmering residue of chakra clinging to the seal. "I see Orochimaru's signature... but there's a secondary layer. It's woven into the stasis charm."

"It's not just secondary," Tsunade snarled, slamming her fist onto the edge of the desk, cracking the wood. "It's familiarity. Kanna Fujioka's chakra is all over this 'death' certificate."

The room went ice-cold. Naruto's breath hitched. "You mean... her own mother helped him?"

Tsunade didn't answer him. She turned her gaze to the other side of the seal, where a jagged, disciplined chakra anchor sat—one that felt painfully familiar to anyone who had served in the village's elite ranks. "And this... this anchor belongs to her Sensei. The man who was supposed to be her guardian in the field."

Tsunade spun around, the fabric of her Haori snapping like a whip.

"Shizune! Get in here!"

The assistant scrambled in, eyes wide at the tension in the room.

"Issue an official summons to the Fujioka estate. I want Kanna Fujioka in this room in ten minutes. If she resists, tell the guards to use whatever force is necessary," Tsunade commanded. She then turned to a masked ANBU operative appearing in the corner of the ceiling. "And you. Bring Misaki's Sensei to the tower. Now."

"Hokage-sama," the ANBU hesitated, "the records indicate he is still in the infirmary recovering from the injuries sustained during the invasion—"

"I don't care if he's breathing through a tube!" Tsunade roared, her killing intent flooding the room so heavily that even Sai took a reflexive step back. "This is grounds for high treason. He was the last line of defense for a Genin who was his most prized student, and instead of protecting her, he helped the Snake tuck her into a box and bury her alive. If he can't walk, drag his bed through the streets. Bring them to me."

Kakashi stood silent, his hand gripping his chin. He remembered Misaki's Sensei—a man who had boasted about her aloof, calculating brilliance, claiming she was the 'perfect shinobi' under his tutelage. To think that the very people who were supposed to cherish her had instead participated in her erasure was a level of betrayal that turned even Kakashi's blood to lead.

Naruto looked at the wax figure of his friend, his jaw trembling. "They let us cry at an empty grave," he whispered, his voice cracking with a newfound, jagged rage. "They watched us break, and they knew she was with that monster the whole time."

"They won't be watching anymore," Tsunade promised, her eyes burning with the fire of a woman ready to tear the village apart to find the truth. "By the time I'm done with them, they'll wish they were in that casket instead of her."


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