Broken Sanity

The moonlight still cast a cold, clear glow across the Senju Clan's courtyard, as if nothing had happened. Only the slightly ajar door, like a silent wound, tore through the tranquil night.

Senju Tobirama dragged his exhausted body toward the mansion under the moonlight. Village affairs were exceptionally heavy today: tensions at the border, the distribution of benefits for newly joined families, preparations for the upcoming Chunin Exams... The countless tasks weighed heavily on him, leaving him breathless. He rubbed his swollen, aching solar plexus and subconsciously quickened his pace—perhaps Aoi was still waiting for him to return.

The thought softened his icy lips. Though their marriage had begun as a political alliance, the gentle, resilient Uchiha woman's presence had left an indelible mark on his life. She would always leave a light on in the study, warming a bowl of porridge on the stove, silently expressing her concern.

But tonight, the mansion was unusually dark.

Tobirama paused in front of the door, his keen intuition instantly registering something unusual. A faint, strange scent hung in the air. It wasn't the familiar, delicate floral fragrance of Aoi, but something... cold and unfamiliar.

"Aoi?" he called softly and pushed open the door.

The scene before him made his blood freeze instantly.

The study was a mess. Bookshelves toppled, scrolls scattered across the floor, ink splattered across the tatami like congealed blood. The low table had overturned, the set of study treasures he had given Aoi the day before shattered into pieces. Her meticulously prepared lesson plan, still bearing her elegant annotations, lay scattered amid the rubble.

And in the center of this chaos, Uchiha Aoi fell quietly to the ground, like a discarded doll.

"sunflower!"

At that moment, time seemed to stand still. Tobirama felt as if his heart was being gripped tightly by an invisible hand, nearly stopping. He stumbled forward and knelt beside her, his trembling fingers eagerly reaching for her neck.

No pulse.

Her once warm skin was now icy cold. Her eyes, always filled with a gentle smile, were tightly closed, her long eyelashes casting two shadows of despair on her pale cheeks. Her lips were slightly parted, as if she wanted to say something at the last moment.

"No..." Tobirama's voice was hoarse, unlike his own, "This is impossible..."

He frantically checked her vital signs, pressing his ear to her chest to try to detect a heartbeat, and he took her cold hand in his, rubbing it as if that would bring warmth back into her.

"Wake up, Aoi... please..."

This man, who had always been calm and composed, now had a pleading tone in his voice that he had never heard before. He shook her shoulders, his movements gradually changing from eagerness to desperation.

However, there was no response.

Uchiha Aoi, the woman who melted the ice in his heart bit by bit with her tenderness, the wife who always silently handed him a cup of hot tea when he was tired, the teacher who sowed the seeds of peace in every corner of Konoha... has left forever.

"ah--!"

A beast-like howl tore through the silence of the night.

Tobirama hugged Aoi's cold body tightly, burying his face in her shoulder, his entire body trembling violently. Tears flowed uncontrollably, dripping onto her cold cheeks. In that moment, he was no longer the mastermind of Konoha, no longer the "speediest ninja in the ninja world" feared by his enemies. He was just an ordinary man who had lost his beloved.

Reason collapsed in an instant.

All those carefully calculated pros and cons, all those calmly analyzed situations, all those considerations that always prioritized the village...all vanished in this moment. He only knew that the only light in his life had been extinguished.

After a long moment, Tobirama slowly raised his head. Tears still stained his face, but a chilling fire ignited in his crimson eyes. It was no longer his usual calm, analytical gaze, but one bordering on insane.

He gently placed Aoi's body down, as if it were a fragile treasure. Then he stood up and looked around at the devastated scene.

"Someone come here!" His voice was icy cold and filled with tremendous anger.

Almost immediately after he finished speaking, several ANBU appeared outside the room. When they saw the scene inside, they couldn't help but gasp.

"Tobirama-sama..."

"Investigate." Tobirama interrupted them, his voice low and dangerous. "Mobilize all the forces you can mobilize. Even if it means turning Konoha upside down, you must find the murderer for me."

"yes!"

The ANBU quickly sprang into action, but Tobirama stopped them again.

"Wait." He walked over to Aoi, knelt on one knee, and carefully examined every detail of the scene. "This isn't an ordinary home invasion."

His professionalism remained salient even amidst the depths of grief. The scene appeared chaotic, but a closer look revealed many unnatural aspects. The fallen bookshelves were deliberately positioned, the scattered scrolls were arranged in an odd pattern, and even the shapes of the ink splatters seemed overly deliberate.

"Someone is faking the scene." A cold glint flashed in Tobirama's eyes, "But it's too perfect, too perfect to be real."

He noticed Aoi's posture. She lay calmly on the ground, her hands folded across her chest, as if she were simply asleep. This was in stark contrast to the intense "traces of fighting" around her.

"No signs of resistance..." Tobirama's voice grew colder, "Either the perpetrator was someone I know, or..."

His gaze fell on Aoi's neck. The skin there was intact, without any marks or injuries. But when he gently opened her collar, he found an extremely subtle mark on the back of her neck—a black mark like a burn, which was slowly fading.

"This is..." Tobirama's pupils suddenly contracted.

He recognized the mark. It was an extremely vicious spell, capable of instantly devouring the victim's life force, leaving almost no trace. If he hadn't rushed back in time, the mark would have vanished completely.

"Notify the medical and sealing teams," Tobirama's tone returned to its usual calm, but the fire burning in his red eyes grew even more intense. "I want the most professional personnel to inspect the scene."

"yes!"

The entire Senju clan was quickly alarmed. Lights began to light up one after another, and more and more people gathered outside the mansion, whispers spreading like a tide.

"What happened?"

"It seems something happened to Tobirama-sama's wife..."

"how so?"

Uzumaki Mito hurried over, and when she saw the scene inside, she couldn't help covering her mouth, and her eyes were instantly filled with tears.

"Aoi..." She knelt down beside her friend and held her cold hand. "How could it be..."

Hashirama was not in the village. As the mistress of the Senju clan, she suppressed her grief and began to command the scene.

"Everyone, step back. Do not disturb the scene." Her voice, though choked with sobs, held undeniable authority. "Medical team, first examine the cause of Madam's death. Sealing team, investigate the scene for any abnormal chakra residue."

However, when she looked at Tobirama, her heart couldn't help but shudder.

The man who was always calm and composed was now standing in the corner of the room, watching everything with an expressionless face. But his eyes... that was a look Mito had never seen before, cold, crazy, and full of a desire for destruction.

"Tobirama..." she called softly.

"They will all pay the price." Tobirama's voice was eerily calm. "Everyone involved, everyone who might have hurt her..."

"We'll find the killer," Mito tried to reassure him, "but right now, we need to calm down."

"Calm down?" Tobirama finally turned his head, his red eyes surging with blood. "My wife was murdered in my home, and you want me to calm down?"

He took a step forward, and the temperature in the room seemed to drop.

"From now on, Konoha enters a state of emergency. All entrances and exits are sealed, and no one is allowed to leave without permission. All ANBU members are mobilized to search every building and interrogate any suspicious individuals."

"Tobirama, this will cause panic..." Mito tried to dissuade him.

"Then let them panic!" Tobirama suddenly raised his voice, "Until the murderer is found, Konoha will not have any peace!"

He turned to the waiting Anbu and spoke in a voice as cold as ice: "Pass on my order: From now on, all Uchiha clan members will be subject to special investigation. Especially those who have expressed dissatisfaction with Aoi. No one will be spared."

"Tobirama!" Mito looked at him in shock. "Do you know what you're saying? This will completely destroy the trust that the Senju and Uchiha have worked so hard to build!"

"Trust?" Tobirama sneered, "You're talking to me about trust when my wife was tragically murdered at home?"

He walked to Aoi's side, leaned over and gently stroked her cold cheek, his movements were more gentle than ever before.

"She has worked all her life for peace between the two races," he said, his voice lowering. "And now, someone has destroyed her dream in the most cruel way."

He stood up straight, and the madness in his eyes was gradually replaced by a cold determination.

"I will not let her death be in vain. Whoever the murderer is, wherever he hides, I will find him."

Just then, the head of the medical team came over with a serious expression.

"Master Tobirama, the lady's cause of death is... very strange," he said hesitantly. "There were no external injuries, and her internal organs were intact, but her life energy was completely drained. This kind of death... we have never seen it before."

The Sealing Squad's report followed closely: "There is a faint trace of abnormal chakra at the scene, extremely cold in nature, but it is rapidly dissipating. We tried to track it, but the clues were cut off in the courtyard."

Tobirama listened quietly, his expression unchanged. But Mito noticed that his fists were clenched white, his nails dug deep into his palms, and blood was slowly seeping from between his fingers.

"Continue investigating." After a long time, Tobirama uttered these three words.

He turned and walked towards the door, taking one last look back before stepping out of the room.

The moonlight shone through the window lattice and fell on Aoi's pale face. At that moment, she seemed to be just asleep, and she would open her eyes at any moment and smile at him with those gentle eyes.

But Tobirama knew that he would never see that smile again.

"I will avenge you, Aoi." He said to himself, "I swear."

When he stepped out of the room, the always calm and rational Senju Tobirama had disappeared. In his place was a vengeful man consumed by sadness and anger.

Far away in the Land of Water, Uchiha Madara was awakened from a nightmare, his heart filled with inexplicable uneasiness. He didn't know that the person he cherished most in his life had left him forever.

This night in Konoha is particularly long.