Kakashi finally managed to tear his eyes away from Uchiha Chizumi and turned to take in the devastation around them.
The entire area looked like the inside of an active volcano—lava flowed everywhere, thick smoke rose into the sky, and the air was stifling with heat. Everything was on fire, and the temperature was so intense that even Kakashi felt sick.
Crater after crater filled his vision. Some were so large they couldn't be measured with the naked eye, others so deep he couldn't see the bottom.
Every tree in the area had been obliterated. If someone looked down from above, they'd see a barren wasteland littered with bodies—most of them incomplete.
Some were just torsos. Some were only heads. Some were burnt to cinders. Some had massive holes blasted through their chests.
"Meow—"
A faint, ragged breath caught Kakashi's attention. He looked toward the sound—and was stunned.
One person was still alive.
Barely. The survivor's breathing was shallow, limbs grotesquely twisted. Who knew how many bones were broken.
Kakashi could tell right away: if they didn't get immediate treatment from a top medical-nin, this guy wasn't making it another minute.
In other words, he was a goner.
Even Might Guy's usual cheerful demeanor was gone. He'd gone completely serious.
"Kakashi—look over there," Guy said suddenly. "Check the lower half of that corpse's waist."
Kakashi followed Guy's gaze—and even his Sharingan eye narrowed in shock.
The body that Chizumi had punched straight through had a sash tied around its waist. Embroidered on the cloth was a single red kanji: 火 — "Fire."
That single character glared at Kakashi like a warning sign.
"This is—" Kakashi inhaled sharply.
"Yeah," Guy replied. He didn't shout about youth or spirit this time. His tone was low and serious. "That's the sash worn by the Twelve Guardian Ninja… the personal guards of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire."
As if on cue, Chizumi pulled his lava-covered arm out of the corpse. The body slumped to the ground.
Next to him, the huge battle-scarred ninja cat, Jujiro, rapidly shrank back down to his usual size. He grunted, dragging over another mangled corpse in his jaws, and grumbled in pain.
"Ugh, that hurt like hell, meow! You're the bastard who blasted my bell with Fire Style, huh?! So cheap! Biting you to death was doing you a favor, you bastard!"
"Meow! Good thing I sat my butt down fast to smother the flames. Damn Daimyo's lapdog… you died way too fast. Ow! Still stings! Hurts like hell, meow!!"
Kakashi: "…"
Guy: "…"
The ninja cat's rant—along with his close call with castration—completely shattered the heavy, death-filled atmosphere. But one line stuck out:
"Daimyo's lapdog."
That confirmed it. These weren't just random enemies—they were the Daimyo's Twelve Guardian Ninja.
"One, two… five, six…" Kakashi counted the broken bodies. Sweat trickled down his back.
He couldn't find all eleven. But that was probably because some of them had been completely vaporized by the lava. Not even their corpses were left.
It was possible—no, likely—that the entire Twelve Guardian Ninja had been wiped out.
Then came the sound of shff shff shff—more figures appeared, landing all around them.
The Anbu had finally arrived.
"Captain Kakashi?" one of his subordinates called out as he recognized Kakashi's silver hair. He looked over the charred battlefield and walked over, trying to process what he was seeing. "Captain… what the hell happened here? Who are all these bodies?"
"I don't know all the details," Kakashi said with a conflicted look, "but I'm pretty sure they're the Guardian Twelve."
Anbu: "!!!"
He hadn't whispered. Every Anbu on scene heard him.
One rushed over to inspect a corpse.
"It's Seito—an elite jonin! One of the Guardian Twelve!"
Another called out from the other side, "This one's Higashi!"
All eyes locked on Uchiha Chizumi.
They had seen him fighting a group of unknown shinobi from a distance.
But now they knew—he had just taken out the entire Guardian Twelve… alone.
In a matter of minutes.
All eleven elite jonin.
Slaughtered.
Reduced to mutilated corpses.
"Don't look at me like that," Chizumi said, brushing soot off his robe as the lava around him faded. Aside from a bit of ash and a slightly messed-up hairstyle, he looked almost perfectly composed.
His voice was cold. "The moment they chose to ambush me with murder in their hearts, they stepped into the abyss. They were destined to be judged by Absolute Justice."
Anbu: "!!!"
The meaning behind those words hit them like a hammer.
That meant the Guardian Twelve had ambushed him outside the village—attempted to assassinate him—and instead got completely wiped out.
Eleven elite jonin, hiding in the shadows, trying to kill a single man who hadn't even been hiding… and they lost.
Suddenly, one Anbu snapped out of it. His eyes widened beneath the mask, and his voice shook as he asked, "Among the Twelve… isn't there one named Sarutobi Asuma?! Was he part of this ambush?!"
Chizumi answered without hesitation. "Yes. He was the mastermind. If you want to confirm, his body's over there."
He said it like he was describing a petty criminal—not the Hokage's son.
Everyone froze again.
Kakashi's back was drenched with cold sweat. And he wasn't the only one now—every Anbu on the scene was visibly shaken.
"Sarutobi Asuma… wait… isn't that the Hokage's son?" Guy asked slowly, frowning.
"Yeah," Kakashi muttered. "That's him."
Guy's jaw dropped.
…
Back at the Hokage Tower, Koharu stood beside Hiruzen, both staring into the distance where the smoke from the battle was finally starting to clear.
"It's over, Hiruzen," she said quietly.
"It all happened so fast… started in a flash and ended just as quick. But we still don't know what the casualties look like."
She gave a half-hearted sigh, acting like she cared. "I never liked that Uchiha Chizumi kid. He's one of those hot-headed types who never listens, just does whatever he wants. People like that only stir up trouble."
"But…" she added, "he's still a part of this village. And like it or not, we can't afford to lose someone as powerful as him."
Hiruzen didn't respond. Her words sounded fake to him anyway.
He said only one thing: "We'll know the truth when the Anbu return."
But strangely, instead of feeling relieved that the fight had ended, a deep unease settled in his chest. It didn't fade—it got worse.
He gripped the railing tightly, hand trembling. The old wood creaked under the pressure.
His heart wouldn't settle. Something… felt terribly wrong.
On a rooftop elsewhere in the village, a female ninja lowered her binoculars and turned to her friend with a teasing grin.
"Hey, Kurenai. Didn't your childhood friend just come back to town recently? I saw you two talking. What's the deal? Did he confess yet?"
Kurenai, now a special jonin, kept her eyes on the horizon but tightened her jaw. "Don't be ridiculous. Konoha isn't that big, and he's not the only guy I grew up with."
Her friend giggled. "Girl, you're almost twenty-two. Time to stop waiting! I think Sarutobi Asuma would be a great match. He's the Hokage's son, you know!"
"And he asked to meet you in private, right? Don't tell me he wasn't into you."
Kurenai didn't respond. But yeah, Asuma had pulled her aside recently. At the time, she really thought he was about to confess, and she'd already prepared a few gentle rejection lines—because she didn't want a relationship until she was a full-fledged jonin.
But instead, he said something completely out of left field:
"Kurenai, I'm about to do something no one else dares to. If it works… I'll be removing a parasite that's been eating Konoha alive."
"My old man doesn't know what I'm doing yet, but he will. And when he does, I hope he understands… and I hope you will too."
"Honestly, I wasn't nervous at first. But the more I looked into it… the more I started to worry. But the arrow's already fired, and there's no turning back. Let's meet again tomorrow—same place. You'll come, right?"
Kurenai exhaled slowly, her unease growing.
…
At the Academy
Naruto looked genuinely anxious.
Before leaving, Izumi had said something to both him and Sasuke:
"It looks like Senpai is fighting enemies outside the village. I'm going to help. Naruto, Sasuke—stay in school. Don't leave."
Sasuke's bruises from Itachi's earlier genjutsu hadn't even healed yet, but his tone was solid:
"He'll be fine. Sensei's strong."
This was the same man Sasuke's mother trusted enough to entrust her son to.
The same man his father—the head of the Uchiha—couldn't even control.
The same man even Itachi seemed to fear.
Sasuke was sure of it: nothing could take down Uchiha Chizumi.
…
Uchiha Clan Grounds
"Setsuna-sama, things have gone quiet. Shouldn't we go check the scene now? I doubt the higher-ups will stop us anymore," said one of the younger, more radical Uchiha.
What if Chizumi had been seriously wounded?
What if the fight had ended in a draw?
What if he was lying out there bleeding?
They could still save him!
But Setsuna's face turned cold.
"No. By now, Anbu's already there. And if the Uchiha show up at the scene, how do you think the higher-ups will react?"
"Don't forget our real plan. The coup hasn't even begun yet. One misstep now and we risk ruining everything."
"What we need is patience—not recklessness."
The hot-headed radicals gritted their teeth, but fell silent.
Setsuna exhaled in relief. Even under Chizumi's influence, they were still committed to the revolution.
That meant the Uchiha could still be saved.
And the one to do it would be him—Uchiha Setsuna.
…
Back at the Battlefield
The Anbu finally found what remained of Sarutobi Asuma.
His body was soaked in blood. His chest was blown open with a massive, scorched hole. All of the Anbu fell silent.
Even if Asuma hadn't been in the village much, they all knew his face.
He was the Hokage's last surviving son.
His older brother, Shinnosuke, had already been killed by Chizumi—under the justification of executing justice.
And now, the second son… was dead too.
What the hell was the Hokage supposed to do now?
Normally, protocol said they should immediately arrest Chizumi and bring him in.
But that only applied if Chizumi was in the wrong.
The problem was… Asuma was the one who wasn't in the right.
He'd led a band of outside shinobi in a covert attempt to assassinate a fellow Konoha ninja. That was a crime—one even worse than what Danzo had done.
Chizumi had at least been transparent, with proper reasons—reasons even the Hokage had agreed with in the past. He never killed without just cause. And the Yamanaka would always verify his claims by reading the minds of the dead.
But what about Asuma?
He did it for revenge?
His brother was a confirmed criminal. That didn't justify anything.
As they struggled to make sense of it all, a rustling noise came from the forest.
A girl in Uchiha Police gear stepped out of the trees—Uchiha Izumi. A crowd of ninja cats followed behind her.
"Senpai!"
"Chizumi-sama!"
Her voice overlapped with the cats', and the Anbu recognized her instantly: the girl who was always trailing behind Chizumi lately.
Izumi let out a breath of relief when she saw Chizumi unharmed. Her tense little face finally relaxed. But the second she spotted Jujirō's injuries, her chest tightened again. The scene told her everything—how intense the battle must've been.
It was the first time she'd seen Jujirō look that beat-up.
"Jujirō-sama!" The cats all rushed over.
"Stop meowing!" Jujirō swatted a kitten with a paw. "Watch the wounds, you brats! That hurts!"
Izumi stared at the devastation and tried to say something—but Chizumi spoke first, his tone flat:
"I killed eleven enemies who tried to raise their blades against Absolute Justice."
She winced. Of course he could read her thoughts just by looking at her.
"I'm sorry I was late, Senpai," she said, voice full of guilt. "If I'd come earlier, maybe I could've fought beside you…"
"You're overestimating yourself," he replied coldly. "Your sense of justice is still weak."
That blunt honesty again.
She blushed awkwardly—but he wasn't wrong.
"Go back," Chizumi continued. "Your job is to uphold justice in the village. Not out here."
He turned to leave.
The Anbu were stunned. Behind their masks, all of them were thinking the same thing:
Does he really not understand how serious this is?
He just killed the Hokage's son.
One of them couldn't hold back. "Uchiha Chizumi! You killed a Guardian Ninja! The Hokage's own son! One of Konoha's elite! Don't you owe Hokage-sama an explanation?!"
Izumi: "!!!"
Wait—what?!
The enemy was the Hokage's son?!
Chizumi stopped and glanced back coldly.
"Send the bodies to the Yamanaka clan. They'll provide a proper explanation to the Third. If he's not satisfied, he can come ask me himself when I return."
Jujirō, licking his paw, shoved aside a crowd of cats and limped after Chizumi.
He scoffed, "Funny how the Third sent Chizumi on an S-rank mission—and his son just happened to be waiting to ambush him. That's quite a coincidence, meow!"
"Maybe he's the one who should explain himself. If he can't, doesn't that mean he was involved in the ambush too?"
"And if that's true… then the Third Hokage just tried to assassinate one of his own villagers."
That shut everyone up.
Because deep down… they were thinking the same thing.
It all lined up too perfectly.
Even the fact that Anbu had shown up late—it almost felt like it had all been planned.
Had the Hokage… actually ordered this?
No one moved as they watched the "killer" of the Hokage's son walk away, step by step.
Might Guy tensed as if ready to stop him—but Kakashi grabbed his arm.
"Don't," Kakashi said quietly. "This isn't something we should interfere with."
He paused, watching Chizumi's figure disappear into the forest.
"Just bring Asuma's body back to the village. Let the Hokage know."
"Uchiha Chizumi…" Kakashi whispered, "he never kills without a reason."
He almost said Asuma had it coming—but stopped himself.
Then again… Guy could tell that's what he meant.
And fell silent too.
The Anbu glanced at one another. In the end, they decided to start putting out the fires—literally. They couldn't let the flames spread into Konoha.
Some began recovery work. Others gathered what was left of the bodies.
Kakashi and Guy silently turned and made their way back home.
On the way back to the village, Izumi quietly pieced things together. Even though she hadn't heard everything, it wasn't hard to connect the dots.
"So… the Hokage's son led an ambush against Senpai, but got wiped out instead. He was the mastermind behind the whole thing. He died because of his own actions—because he stood on the side of evil."
Her expression hardened.
"But if we don't tell people what really happened, they'll think Senpai killed the Hokage's son for no reason. They'll start twisting the story again—just like before. And some people will definitely use that to smear Senpai and question his 'Absolute Justice'."
She lowered her voice, careful not to let the nearby Anbu hear. Then she turned to the ninja cats and spoke with quiet urgency:
"We need to spread the truth before the rumors get out of control. Before the villagers misunderstand what really happened… they need to know exactly how and why this happened."
If they controlled the narrative early—if they stood firmly on the moral high ground—then the Hokage would have no reason to retaliate against Chizumi.
Because in this case, no matter how you looked at it, the Hokage's son was in the wrong.
And Senpai?
Senpai was completely, undeniably right.
Later that day, Kakashi returned to the village and went straight to the Hokage's office.
Before Hiruzen could speak, Koharu confronted him. "Kakashi, you went out there, didn't you? You still reek of smoke and sulfur. What the hell happened? Who attacked Uchiha Chizumi?"
Hiruzen, whose unease had been growing steadily worse, turned and focused on Kakashi. Even though half his face was covered by a mask, the strange look in Kakashi's usually sleepy eyes didn't escape the old man's notice.
Hiruzen's heart sank.
"Tell me the truth," he said quietly. "Don't hold back."
Kakashi let out a long breath.
After a brief pause, he finally said:
"Hokage-sama… it's true. Chizumi was ambushed outside the village by a team of elite jonin. About eleven of them."
He paused—then dropped the full weight of the truth:
"They were the Daimyo's bodyguards—the Twelve Guardian Ninja. One of them… was your son. Sarutobi Asuma."
Hiruzen's eyes went wide.
Kakashi continued gently, "Hokage-sama… Asuma paid the price for attempting to kill one of our own."
He'd tried to soften it, to avoid saying "he died." But even he realized his tone sounded like he was siding with Chizumi.
Still… that was the truth.
The room fell into a heavy, eerie silence.
Hiruzen didn't speak. He just stood there, frozen.
Koharu looked stunned. Then her expression shifted to one of growing concern.
Kakashi noticed immediately: the Third Hokage's breathing grew ragged, his face turned red, his lips blue. His body trembled—and then suddenly collapsed.
"Hokage-sama?!" Kakashi lunged forward and caught him just before he hit the ground.
He could hear the wheezing in Hiruzen's chest—labored and desperate.
He also heard the old man muttering one name, over and over:
"Asuma… Asuma…"
"—Hiruzen?!" Koharu called out, startled.
But he didn't respond.
The Third Hokage had fainted on the spot—overwhelmed by grief and rage.
By the time Izumi and the cats made it back to Konoha, the story had already begun to spread—deliberately, through whispers and word of mouth.
The Anbu hadn't even gotten the chance to lock it down.
The rumor burned through the village like a storm:
"The Hokage's son led the Twelve Guardian Ninja in an assassination attempt against Uchiha Chizumi… and got completely wiped out."
At first, people didn't believe it. But as more and more people started saying the same thing, with specific details…
All of Konoha was shaken.
…
"Wasn't the Hokage's son named Sarutobi Asuma?" Hiashi asked quietly.
He took a deep breath. Even with his usually emotionless face, his expression twitched ever so slightly.
"The Hokage lost both his sons… to the same man. No matter the reason—no matter who was right or wrong—can he really continue to tolerate Uchiha Chizumi?"
He imagined what he'd do if he were in the Third's place.
He'd probably want Chizumi dead.
But even as he said that, Hiashi couldn't help but admire Chizumi's sense of justice.
When the Hokage's eldest son fell into evil, Chizumi killed him without hesitation—even if it meant being labeled a traitor.
When the younger son crossed the line, Chizumi made the same decision.
He didn't care who they were. He only followed one thing:
Absolute Justice.
"Anyone else would've hesitated. Would've spared Asuma at the last second just because of his status. Hell, if it were me… I probably would've done the same."
Hiashi let out a long, exhausted sigh.
"Not everyone has Chizumi's resolve."
…
Uchiha Fugaku stared blankly at the reports.
He regretted everything.
Maybe… just maybe… he should've listened to his wife and led the Police Force to assist Chizumi.
If he had, maybe they could've stopped him in time—spared Asuma's life.
Then the Hokage wouldn't have to suffer that pain a second time.
Fugaku couldn't imagine what kind of hatred the Hokage must now feel toward the Uchiha.
He'd wanted to distance Chizumi from the clan, to say that Chizumi's actions had nothing to do with them.
But the reality was—they hadn't truly separated yet.
And now, the Hokage would look at all of them through that lens.
How could he not?
"Dammit…"
Fugaku closed his eyes.
"I've made another stupid decision."
He felt like no matter what he did… he was always making the wrong call.
He didn't understand anymore.
…
Uchiha Itachi hadn't gone with the other Anbu to the scene. But as he sat silently, gazing out over the Uchiha compound, his eyes grew colder. Harder.
"You don't get it, Chizumi…" he muttered. "Everything you're doing is pushing the Uchiha and the village further and further apart."
He could already see it—see the radical members of the clan getting excited, fired up by the news.
He could see the way they'd twist this into fuel for their long-awaited coup.
He could see the dangerous momentum building.
"They'll see this and think it's time to move," he whispered, fingertips tapping the hilt of his ninja blade. "They'll want to strike now."
"But I won't let that happen."
"Everything I do… is for Konoha."
Back at the clan's hideout, Uchiha Setsuna listened as a young radical breathlessly reported the battle.
He was still stunned by the fact that the Hokage's own son had the guts to ambush Uchiha Chizumi outside the village.
But even more than that—he was stunned by Chizumi's sheer strength.
The Twelve Guardian Ninja were no joke. Even missing one or two, they were still eleven elite jonin—strong enough that even a Kage would avoid direct confrontation.
Yet Chizumi had taken them all on.
Alone.
And wiped them out.
And according to the report… he hadn't even been injured.
Setsuna was speechless.
"What the hell were the Guardian Twelve even doing? Are they all just that pathetic now? Couldn't even take down one guy?!"
Still… not everything about this was bad.
Setsuna's eyes narrowed.
"If Chizumi and the Hokage end up at each other's throats, that's the perfect scenario for us. A mutual defeat…"
"And I'll be the one left standing."
"There's no way the Third can just let this slide."
…
Inside the hospital, the Third Hokage lay unconscious in a hospital bed, having collapsed from the overwhelming shock and grief.
Outside his room, Homura Mitokado had just arrived. He found Kakashi waiting quietly by the door.
"He hasn't woken up?" Homura asked.
Kakashi shook his head. "It's been over two hours. The medics say his vitals are stable, but the emotional stress knocked him out cold."
Homura sighed deeply.
"Anyone would break after something like this," he said. "Even someone like Hiruzen… he's lived through so much, but losing two sons? That's too much. He's still human."
After a long pause, he asked, "You've heard the rumors going around the village, right? Are they true?"
"…Most likely," Kakashi said honestly. "You know Chizumi. He doesn't lie. If he said Asuma and the Guardian Twelve tried to kill him… then that's exactly what happened."
Homura fell silent.
Over the years, Chizumi's record had created a sort of unspoken rule in the minds of Konoha's shinobi:
If Chizumi killed someone… they probably deserved it.
He never made mistakes. Never acted without purpose. Never killed without reason.
So when people heard that the Hokage's second son had died by Chizumi's hand, they didn't question Chizumi's motives.
Instead, they questioned Asuma's crimes.
That was the mindset Chizumi had established.
And Homura shared it too.
After a while, he asked, "Has Asuma's body been taken to the Yamanaka clan yet?"
Kakashi nodded. "Yeah."
"Then let them investigate and give us the truth," Homura said, sighing again. "I just don't know if Hiruzen… after losing both his sons… will be able to accept it."
…
Because the Yamanaka district was still under reconstruction, most of the clan had temporarily relocated to the Nara and Akimichi compounds.
As such, Anbu brought the bodies to the Nara territory for examination.
Nara Shikaku stood silently, staring down at Sarutobi Asuma's corpse.
He gave a bitter chuckle and turned to Yamanaka Inoichi beside him. "Well, this is a hell of a mess. If Shinnosuke hadn't left behind a posthumous kid, the Sarutobi family line would've ended right here."
Inoichi didn't react much. His voice was calm.
"Chizumi's in the right. If the Hokage tries to act against him… the Yamanaka won't just sit back and watch."
"You sound pretty confident," Shikaku said. "You haven't even read the corpse's memories yet."
"I don't need to."
Shikaku groaned and rubbed the back of his neck. "Tch… well, you've made your call. And you know how it is—Ino-Shika-Cho always sticks together."
He clapped Inoichi on the shoulder and smiled faintly.
"Don't worry. I've got your back. And Chōza will too."
~~~
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