"You're planning to leave Akatsuki and join Konoha?" Uchiha Chizumi asked, looking at the man before him, Jūzō Biwa.
"Strictly speaking… I plan to join your camp—Uchiha Chizumi's," Jūzō corrected. After a pause, he added, "Pledging loyalty to the Hokage of Konoha is obviously impossible for me. But pledging loyalty to you, Uchiha Chizumi… that I could do."
"Alright." Chizumi's curt reply left Jūzō frozen on the spot.
"Huh? Wait—" Jūzō couldn't help blurting out the doubt in his heart. "Aren't you even curious why I refuse to serve the Third Hokage, yet I'm willing to serve you, Uchiha Chizumi?"
"I don't care," Chizumi said flatly.
"…"
Jūzō was certain that if he were defecting to the Third Hokage, the man would investigate his every motive and trust him not at all at first. Yet the person in front of him showed no suspicion about his intentions whatsoever.
Wasn't he afraid Akatsuki had turned him? That he was coming here to be a spy inside the Konoha Police?
Chizumi seemed to read his thoughts. Calmly, he said, "If I saw any sin on you, you would have died the moment you crossed that threshold."
Cold sweat broke out down Jūzō's back. He did not doubt Chizumi could kill him in an instant. He had seen firsthand how terrifying this "Lava Beast" was. The fact that Akatsuki was on high alert and trying to hunt and assassinate him only proved the true weight of Chizumi's strength.
"Good timing," Chizumi added. "I can use you as a springboard into the Land of Water—then purge its evil to the last man."
Jūzō blinked. The stern mask he worked so hard to maintain cracked with shock. "You're going to intervene in the Land of Water? Hold on—wouldn't that spark a war between nations? You could trigger a Fourth Great Ninja War!"
"Do you have a simpler, cleaner, and truly effective method to end Kirigakure's Blood Mist policy and restore the village?" Chizumi asked quietly.
Jūzō opened his mouth, but no words came out.
If he had such a method, he wouldn't have needed to defect from Kirigakure in the first place. He could have just implemented his plan there.
He also realized that he probably couldn't talk this man down. Once Chizumi decided on a course of action, no one could budge him.
At the same time, Jūzō gained a deeper understanding of Uchiha Chizumi's so-called "Absolute Justice"—it wasn't confined to Konoha or the Land of Fire. Chizumi truly intended to spread his "Absolute Justice" across the entire shinobi world.
No—wrong.
"Absolute Justice" might only be a tool in Uchiha Chizumi's hand. What he really wanted was to use that tool to scour the shinobi world of all evil—force this twisted, deformed world back onto the right track. That was the man's true ninja way.
Most people only saw the surface of Chizumi's Absolute Justice. They never looked at the deepest motive behind it.
Drawing a steadying breath and bracing himself, Jūzō asked, "Then how exactly do you plan to purge the Land of Water's evils and end the Blood Mist policy?"
"Kill," Chizumi answered with a single word.
Every hair on Jūzō's body stood on end. He seemed to glimpse a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood. Chizumi had already killed like a madman in the Land of Fire—wouldn't it be even easier for him to do so in a foreign land?
A flicker of worry crossed Jūzō's mind.
…
When Homura Mitokado got home, he couldn't sit still.
He could feel it clearly: both Hiruzen Sarutobi and Koharu Utatane had been driven into a corner by Uchiha Chizumi, with nowhere left to retreat. Their choices were either to step down immediately and hand power to competent younger hands—or stop retreating and step forward to meet Chizumi head-on.
As for standing with Chizumi? Simply defecting? That was never an option. Different ideology meant different positions. These two camps could never stand together.
And that meant the tensions already coiled inside Konoha were about to explode.
Koharu loathed Uchiha Chizumi, believing his very existence posed a grave threat to Konoha—a view identical to the now-dead Uchiha Itachi's. Hiruzen's feelings toward Chizumi were hatred shot through with helplessness. Homura was certain Hiruzen could never let go of the blood-feud for his sons.
When Hiruzen led the Anbu toward the Fire Daimyō's capital, he had fully intended to stop Chizumi's actions and avenge his two sons at the same time. He just hadn't expected the daimyo's son to surrender first… forcing Hiruzen to abandon his initial plan in embarrassment.
Did Hiruzen set aside his hatred after that?
Impossible.
"In the face of Chizumi's relentless pressure, with his own power being eaten away bit by bit, and realizing Konoha cannot be replaced by 'Absolute Justice,' Hiruzen has let a little of that suppressed hatred seep out," Homura thought. "He may be Hokage, but he's human—not a sage, not a saint, and certainly not a cold machine of pure politics."
Having reasoned it through, Homura still felt powerless. If he were to support Koharu and Hiruzen… he was a little afraid. Whether they won or lost, the fallout would spill onto the Mitokado clan—and onto him. Of Konoha's three senior advisors, his clan was by far the weakest. Small family, small holdings—hardly able to weather a storm.
But could a Konoha advisor really stay out of it? Absolutely not.
"Koharu had Hiruzen pass this on to me—maybe she's asking how I'll choose a side. In this, there is no neutral camp," Homura decided. After glancing around at his clansmen, he gritted his teeth, resolved to force his hand even at his age, and stake the Mitokado clan's most precious chip.
He disguised himself with the Transformation Technique—and headed for the Uchiha compound.
…
Hiruzen had no idea what Homura was thinking. A thorny problem had just landed on his desk.
—Tsunade had "abducted" over a dozen students from the Academy.
He only learned of the mess when several Academy teachers came together to "report" it. Helpless, Hiruzen sent an Anbu to find Tsunade and ask what on earth she was doing.
Old "Orochimaru PTSD" made Hiruzen unreasonably anxious, even if he didn't believe Tsunade would ever follow Orochimaru's path.
"Yes." The Anbu's reply made Hiruzen's brows knit—because the man didn't add "Hokage-sama" after "yes." It meant even inside the Anbu, many had grown dissatisfied with him. Some who once served him with utter devotion were now perfunctory. Still loyal, perhaps, but no longer respectful.
Before long, the Anbu he'd sent returned and relayed Tsunade's purpose.
"Hokage-sama, Tsunade-sama intends to select children at the Academy suited to become medical-nin and train them as seed talents for a Medical Unit under the Police Force."
"…"
Hiruzen immediately remembered the argument he'd had with Tsunade not long ago. He had rejected her proposal back then—and she'd thrown plenty of harsh words in his face. He hadn't expected her to go ahead and build a medical unit anyway, even reaching straight into the Academy.
If anyone else tried this, Hiruzen would use every tool at his disposal to stop them. The Academy was Konoha's future; he could not allow others to lay hands on it.
But… the person was Tsunade—the First Hokage's granddaughter. That made things… complicated.
"Which children did she pick?" After a long silence, Hiruzen asked.
The Anbu listed more than a dozen names. With every one, Hiruzen's eyelid twitched—almost all of them sounded familiar, meaning he'd previously flagged them as talents—Konoha's future elite. And Tsunade had poached the lot.
…
Meanwhile, in the Land of Rain.
Nagato, seated in his wheelchair, said to Konan, "Go represent Akatsuki and meet someone. Through certain channels, she contacted one of our outer affiliates and stated her purpose plainly—she wishes to cooperate with Akatsuki."
Konan glanced at him, puzzled. "Who? From where?"
For someone to draw Nagato's personal attention, their identity had to be unusual.
"Koharu Utatane, from Konoha's Root," Nagato replied.
Konan fell briefly silent. "Konoha's Root…" She thought of Danzō Shimura, who once commanded Root—of how Yahiko's death could not be disentangled from him.
"Could this be another trap?" she frowned.
Nagato shook his head. "Akatsuki today is not what it once was; she won't be that foolish. I'll send two of the Six Paths with you as guards. Even if it is a trap, you'll be safe. Besides, she's coming to us—this is our home turf. She won't dare try anything that stupid here."
After a beat, he added, "If she's looking to hire us, name a sky-high price. She's from Konoha, and Konoha has deep pockets."
Konan nodded. "Understood."
…
Konoha Village. Police Force Headquarters.
"Chizumi, I'm not here to pick a side," said the disguised Homura Mitokado. "I just don't want the Mitokado clan dragged into danger—or for our young ones to be pulled into a swamp of death. I also hope you won't tell anyone we met today."
He selectively passed on part of what he knew. Once he finished, a pang of guilt pricked him for betraying Hiruzen and Koharu. It faded quickly. He had no choice—he had to do this. And, most importantly, he felt there was no deep blood-feud between his clan and Chizumi. Yes, Chizumi had arrested a few of his clansmen, but only because they'd done wrong—committed crimes.
"Telling yourself you're 'not choosing sides' is just self-comfort," Chizumi said coolly. "The moment you stood in front of me, you'd chosen your position. You know you can't go back."
"I'm curious—what's your motive? Just for the Mitokado clan? That pretext is flimsy. It isn't enough to put you on the opposite side of the Hokage."
The verbal cross-examination left Homura opening and closing his mouth, torn. After a long silence, he finally said, "Hiruzen has grown indecisive. He's old—no longer the fiery young Third, no longer the famed 'Hero.' If he had taken a hard line against you from the start, I would have stood firmly with him. But he retreated again and again, then suddenly decided to act tough. That doesn't mean he changed from indecisive to resolute—it means he's lost his judgment."
Homura sighed. "Hiruzen is no longer fit for that seat. Keeping him there has already set Konoha on a slow slide."
"…That's what I don't want to see."
Chizumi studied Homura closely, gazing through the man's lenses into his eyes. "Both the Third Hokage and Root's Koharu blame Konoha's decline on 'Absolute Justice' disrupting the village. Only you say the problem is the Third Hokage himself. I had assumed the three of you shared one ideology."
Uncomfortable under the stare, Homura looked away. "We may all be Konoha's senior advisors, but the three of us could never think exactly alike. Hiruzen prefers balanced consolidation; Koharu leans radical; I lean rational. Those differences lead to disagreements when we discuss policy—disagreements outsiders never see. You think we share one mind because you only see the final decision—the thing we fought over and then presented for execution. You judge us by the 'thing' itself and ignore the debate that came before."
Chizumi inclined his head. "Fair enough."
"I've passed you the intel," Homura said. "I should go. Please don't drag me into whatever you're planning—at least don't let Hiruzen or Koharu know I contacted you."
He had just turned to leave when Chizumi spoke again, musing, "If… I wanted to replace the Hokage, who do you think would be the best choice?"
A shock slammed through Homura's heart.
His feet froze where he stood.