Inside Konoha Prison.
Hyūga Hiashi stared at the droplets gathering on the ceiling where the roof leaked, watching them fall and pool on the damp floor.
The puddle barely reflected his haggard face.
He'd been locked up for not even a month, yet a fog of confusion was already brewing in his chest.
Maybe it was because there was nothing to do here each day, so his head kept spinning with thoughts.
Hiashi began to wonder if the Hyūga Main House had been wrong all these years.
He looked down at the puddle; the face in it was blurred and twisted, and for a second he seemed to see Hyūga Hizashi's features there. His pupils tightened.
Back then—
Did the clan truly put no pressure on Hizashi? Did he, Hiūga Hiashi, truly not act out of fear for his own life?
Did the Hyūga really need to bow to the pressure from Kumogakure? The Hokage had already hinted that Konoha would take a hard line on the matter.
Yet in the end the Hyūga still knelt, and Hizashi still died in his place.
And what had he done before that?
—Nothing.
—Looked away from everything.
"Haah…" Hiashi let out a long, heavy breath, his expression complicated.
It felt like a lot had finally clicked.
All that indifference…
It came from his own weakness—from his fear of death.
If offering up his own life could have defused that looming clash between Konoha and Kumo, then if only he'd been decisive—if only he'd simply taken his own life—there wouldn't have been so many consequences afterward. Hizashi wouldn't have died for him. The conflict might have been resolved.
"So that's…"
"So that's the base color of my character—that's who I really am." Hiashi murmured, dazed.
Having finally looked himself in the eye, the guilt and shame scalded his cheeks.
He fell into a long, heavy silence.
…
In another cell not far from Hiashi's, Mitokado Koharu had already learned from Root operatives what was happening in the village.
She was quiet for a long while before sighing helplessly. "Alas… Hiruzen has finally paid a bitter price for his indecision and overindulgence."
She'd warned Sarutobi Hiruzen before—not to keep indulging Uchiha Chizumi.
Even if the cost would be immense, even if both sides would bleed, Chizumi, that scourge, had to be eliminated.
Otherwise his [Absolute Justice] would inevitably turn on the Hokage.
The two of them could never stand on the same ground.
They hadn't struck at each other earlier only because the contradiction hadn't fully sharpened.
Now that it had, trying to rein in Chizumi's [Absolute Justice] was too late.
There was no time left.
Though Koharu was deeply dissatisfied with Hiruzen's recent choices, they had shared purpose for so many years that she couldn't help a pang of fellow-feeling.
"Hiruzen has probably realized it now—Uchiha Chizumi threatens everything in this village. He's even reached his feelers into the very foundations on which Konoha was built."
Koharu ground her teeth. "If everything we in the leadership have built over decades is destroyed, this Konoha will no longer bear the Senju or Sarutobi name. It will become the Uchiha clan's private garden!
"Those extreme, unhinged Uchiha will become the true overlords of the village. They'll stand on everyone's necks, cracking a whip called 'justice' and enslaving all!"
She kept pushing her judgment of [Absolute Justice] to the blackest extreme.
It made her realize the village had reached a tipping point; things could not go on like this.
Something had to be done.
Even if it cost everything—even her life. If it could achieve the goal, if it could save Konoha, if it could stop that evil Uchiha brat—wouldn't it be worth it?
"Guards!"
Even inside Konoha Prison, Root had people quietly planted.
At her call, three Root shinobi appeared outside the cell.
"Koharu-sama." ×3
Koharu's lined face stayed cold. "Open the cell and let me out."
The three Root ninja froze.
"Now!"
At her sharp prod, they didn't overthink it. They opened the door and released her.
"Pass the order—every Root shinobi to HQ, immediately."
"Yes, Koharu-sama!"
Watching them hurry off, Koharu started down the corridor toward the exit. Then she stopped, turned, and looked toward one of the cells.
Through the bars she clearly saw the man sitting inside—an old acquaintance.
"Hiashi…"
Koharu stepped to the bars, facing Hyūga Hiashi. She spoke.
"Interested in standing with me? The Hyūga Main House has been tormented enough by Uchiha Chizumi, hasn't it? Don't you feel even a spark of anger?"
"As I hear it, the Branch House is preparing to choose a new Main House to replace you. When that happens, you people of the current Main House will be outcasts within and without."
Her voice was low and cool.
"Hiashi, some of your Main House members will be out after just a few months, won't they? Do you want them to come out and find themselves at the very bottom of the Hyūga, despised?"
"Do you want the Branch House to brand them with the Caged Bird seal too, to bear the clan's curse?"
"Hiashi, I can get you out—and all your Main House out. If you support me, I will win justice for the Hyūga Main House."
By the time Koharu's mouth had gone dry, the silent, bowed Hiashi finally lifted his head.
When she saw how gaunt he looked, she nearly jumped.
Hyūga Hiashi looked a dozen years older.
"So… in Koharu-sama's eyes, the Hyūga's Caged Bird is a curse too… I see. Hah. So that's it. I understand now—finally understand."
Koharu heard his hoarse words.
"???"
No.
What exactly did you understand?
She found him strangely hard to communicate with—and he showed no intention of siding with her.
—He's probably been driven mad by Uchiha Chizumi! If I were locked up that long, I'd go off my head like Hiashi too!
Koharu gave him a long look, said nothing, and turned away.
…
"Seems the Hokage's Anbu aren't much after all. Chizumi-sama applied a little pressure and the Hokage didn't even dare squeak—just let us take the criminal Anbu away."
"Heh, next we'll interrogate them. But first, have the Yamanaka check their memories."
In the Police Force HQ, a Uchiha officer stood with arms folded, face alight with excitement.
How long had it been?
How long since the Uchiha could hold their heads high like this?
Before, when facing the Hokage, the Uchiha had to retreat step by step, pushed all the way to the village's edge.
Any farther…
They'd have been expelled from Konoha.
But now—
At last, the Uchiha had launched a counterattack—leaving the Hokage speechless, forcing him to back off, and making those "untouchable" Anbu understand that the Uchiha who now believed in [Absolute Justice] were not to be trifled with.
Beside him, a comrade with a senbon between his teeth cautioned, "Don't get carried away. Don't take private vengeance on those Anbu for any personal grudge. Do everything by the book, or you'll be committing evil in justice's name—and that's worse than simple evil."
The excited officer drew a long breath and cooled a little.
"Got it."
He knew perfectly well why the Uchiha could stand tall now.
[Absolute Justice] was the backbone of the clan.
Only by safeguarding [Justice], believing in it one hundred percent with no double mind, could the Uchiha remain on the moral high ground.
"Ah… finally here."
A discordant voice rang out as a man strode into the Police Force building.
Every Uchiha in the lobby snapped wary eyes onto him.
His uncovered face and that conspicuous greatsword made his identity obvious.
"One of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen…"
"Jūzō Biwa?!"
Feeling all those Sharingan on him, Jūzō was a little nervous to be walking alone into the Uchiha's home ground.
But he forced himself to look calm, curled his lips, and said easily, "No need to be so on edge. I'm not here to make trouble—if I were, I wouldn't stroll in like this."
"Heh… I'm pretty familiar with Uchiha Chizumi. I came here specifically to see him. So—where is he?"
…
Meanwhile.
Hokage Tower.
After Hiruzen silently approved the resignation letters of the three Yamanaka Anbu and watched them go, a familiar figure barged straight into his office.
"…Koharu?"
Looking at Koharu before him, Hiruzen's already muddled mind nearly stalled.
"Aren't you supposed to be in Konoha Prison?"
It was a foolish question—he realized it as soon as he asked it.
He frowned. "You used Root to walk out of prison? Koharu, if Chizumi learns about this, a clash is inevitable."
Koharu's face stayed hard. "Hiruzen, if I don't get out, Konoha is finished! And if you keep fretting about 'clash or not,' you'll only grow more indecisive and unable to act."
"I need you to work with me," Koharu said, serious.
Hiruzen blinked.
He had a guess. Drawing a deep breath, he gathered himself and said gravely, "Are you truly ready to risk everything? You don't have to. I can just barely keep things stable."
Koharu said, "Hiruzen, stop pretending. If you could stabilize anything, Uchiha Chizumi wouldn't be riding on the Hokage's head."
Hiruzen opened his mouth but no words came. At last he only sighed.
"So long as it doesn't cross my bottom line, tell me what you need," he said—his decision made.
"Do your best to keep Chizumi occupied," Koharu replied. "As for Homura, just go tell him."
With that, she turned and left.
…
"What?!"
When Mitokado Homura arrived at Hiruzen's summons and heard what Koharu was doing, his face went pale. "Hiruzen, why didn't you stop her? She's acting recklessly! She's completely blinded by anger and doing something irrational!"
"Whatever her plan is, it ends with blades drawn against Uchiha Chizumi. Do you think Konoha can withstand that level of battle inside the village? You're letting her do this—what are you thinking?"
Homura couldn't make sense of Hiruzen's move.
In his eyes, Hiruzen had been taking step after step toward compromise with [Absolute Justice], even arriving at a tacit understanding—a delicate balance.
And now, at this point, the balance suddenly wasn't balanced.
Hiruzen now wanted not to compromise? Then what were all those earlier compromises?
Was this a joke?
Homura could smell the gunpowder of war—and the absurdity of it.
"Homura, let Koharu have her shot," Hiruzen said heavily, offering no further explanation.
"Hiruzen…" Homura said earnestly. "You'll regret flipping like this."
He started to say more—
Hiruzen cut him off.
"Homura…"
"I am the Hokage."
Homura: "…"