The moment Naruto returned home, darkness had fallen.
Looking at his messy bedroom, Naruto, exhausted, flopped onto his bed.
Even now, he was still somewhat dazed and bewildered.
He lay on the bed for who knows how long before finally sitting up again, lifting his shirt, and staring at his unremarkable belly.
"Inside me... there's a Nine-Tailed Fox..."
Naruto poked his stomach, feeling nothing out of the ordinary.
Logically.
Upon learning that a terrifying Nine-Tailed Fox was sealed within him, he should have been terrified.
But for some reason, Naruto felt no panic; instead, he felt a strange sense of security.
This sense of security...
It didn't come from Hokage-jiji, but from that scary man—a man who dared to confront Hokage-jiji alone in front of many people, and the only man in Leaf Village who executed Absolute Justice. Perhaps such a scary man was even more formidable than the demon fox inside him?
"I think his name was Uchiha Akainu?!"
"...Absolute Justice, huh!"
Naruto looked up blankly at a crack in the ceiling. He didn't know why he impulsively shouted those words.
It was as if, because he had gained someone's recognition, he desperately wanted to cater to them, not wanting to betray that recognition.
Moreover, what he had shouted earlier was indeed from his heart.
There was no fabrication involved.
Naruto also recalled the words Hokage-jiji had said to him after escorting him home.
—"Naruto, Akainu's justice is fundamentally rigid and inflexible, very stiff and difficult to communicate with. Moreover, it strays somewhat from the Leaf's Will of Fire. Everyone's idea of justice is different; you can't simply imitate Akainu's Absolute Justice without understanding it."
—"If you truly decide to make Justice and being the Hokage your future ninja way, Hokage-jiji suggests you develop more of your own independent thought in the future. Perhaps you can try to combine the Will of Fire and justice."
—"Only justice that has a positive effect on Leaf Village is truly the justice that everyone can recognize you for. Rigid justice like Akainu's is difficult for people to accept; otherwise, he wouldn't always be alone."
—"Cough! I didn't mean to speak ill of him; I was just saying that good justice cannot be separated from the Will of Fire, and the two shouldn't be in opposition, right?"
"Ah! It's so complicated!"
Seven-year-old Naruto, clutching his small head, gave up thinking.
He just felt that the world of these adults was unfathomable.
By the way, from now on, he just needed to wake up early every day to clean the streets, then rush to the Ninja Academy, and after school, he could go find Uchiha Akainu, right?
Ah! What about his rest time?!
Naruto finally realized it.
---
Under the night sky.
Uchiha Izumi submerged herself in the bathtub, half of her pretty face disappearing into the hot water, as "gurgle gurgle" bubbles continuously rose.
Izumi always felt her strength was too weak.
When Akainu-senpai confronted Lord Fugaku, Hokage-sama, Advisor Koharu Utatane, and the others, even though she stood firmly by her senior's side, glaring at them, not a single one of those important figures across from her even looked at her.
If she were stronger, they definitely wouldn't ignore her, right? They'd surely realize that Akainu-senpai wasn't alone, and that Absolute Justice had its adherents, right?
Now...
Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, seemed poised to embrace Absolute Justice under her senior's influence.
Although Naruto Uzumaki was very young, his identity was too special, making his presence stronger than her own.
Izumi sighed softly, a large bubble rising from the bathtub.
But just then, she suddenly noticed a small black shadow reflected in the water's surface, startling her into quickly covering herself.
She quickly looked up and saw a white ninja cat perched on the slightly ajar bathroom window.
"Rookie, Lord Akainu wants you to gather. Tonight, something big involving you is going to happen."
The white ninja cat said calmly, "Don't be nervous, I'm a female cat."
Izumi breathed a sigh of relief, but also felt a little confused by the white ninja cat's words—something big involving her?
She racked her brain but couldn't figure it out.
She could only quickly stand up, dry herself, and change into her attire.
Then she hurried out, closely following the white ninja cat.
Not long after...
Izumi found Akainu-senpai in a rather dark alley corner.
"Check your ninja tools." Uchiha Akainu glanced at Izumi, his gaze lingering for half a second on her still slightly damp long hair. He then said something startling: "Tonight, we're going to kill Danzo Shimura. You'll be the one to do it, to uncover this rare 'treasure of evil.'"
Izumi was suddenly shocked: "!!!"
—Kill Danzo!!!
She remembered Akainu-senpai saying something similar to her before, and she also recalled... that whenever she personally killed an 'evildoer' as her senior called them, after following him in believing in Absolute Justice, she always felt a little bit stronger.
Her senior had said this was Absolute Justice's gift to its followers.
In other words...
Izumi couldn't help but widen her sparkling eyes. She felt like she was vaguely touching upon another one of her senior's secrets!
Of course.
Her senior didn't seem to treat it as a secret, as he had indeed told her similar things before.
With a hint of strange anticipation, Izumi frantically checked the ninja tools she carried, while unable to suppress her curiosity. So, she boldly and quietly ventured to ask, "Akainu-senpai, do you know where Hokage-sama is hiding Danzo Shimura?"
"I have a faint sense."
Uchiha Akainu said calmly, "My eye left a mark on his soul, allowing me to vaguely sense his general location. It's a bit strange, I sensed two different locations. Perhaps his soul was split in two, as a way to avoid the soul-burning of the Heavenly Condemnation Flames."
Izumi suddenly felt a little pity for the former Foundation leader.
He had gone to great lengths, even splitting his soul in two, just to narrowly escape her senior's previous "hunt."
Yet, now, her senior had him in his sights again.
However...
He deserved it. If he hadn't committed evil, how would he have been judged by Absolute Justice?
"Meow, rookie, we've got a big night ahead. The Third Hokage probably arranged quite a few Anbu ninja to protect that half-dead old dog Danzo." When Jirou Tachibana's voice rang out, Izumi felt her shoulder suddenly sag.
"Last night, Lord Akainu infuriated the Third Hokage enough; during the day today, he put the Third Hokage through the wringer again; if he does it again tonight, I wonder if the Third Hokage will have a heart attack from the shock, meow."
Jirou Tachibana's tone was somewhat gleeful.
She forcefully pushed her sagging shoulder up, helplessly saying, "Jirou-senpai, why did you switch sides this time?"
Jirou Tachibana patted her shoulder with his paw and said, "This is to prevent you from getting uneven shoulders, meow! I heard you human girls care a lot about that. See? I'm very considerate, meow!"
Izumi: "..."
Oh, he was too "considerate." She felt that by the time she saw Danzo, her shoulder might already be aching too much to even move.
---
Meanwhile.
At the Anbu Headquarters.
"Hmph... hmph..." Danzo, reduced to half a body, lay lifelessly on the cold metal bed, the constant bone-gnawing pain from the depths of his soul, impossible to eradicate by any means, had almost shattered his spirit.
He could no longer scream; his voice had been hoarse for who knew how long. Now, he could only gasp, his face contorted in agony.
Only one eye remained in his sockets—the other Sharingan had been removed by medical ninja, citing "Hokage-sama's orders," which nearly made Danzo faint from anger at the time.
Because the Sharingan in his eye socket...
It was Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan!
But, having been reduced to this state, he was powerless to resist, like meat on a chopping block, at anyone's mercy.
Intravenous tubes connected to his body allowed him to barely cling to life, even without drinking or eating.
This situation...
It was even worse than just dying!
But!
The intense unwillingness and hatred in his heart prevented Danzo from ending his own life. Furthermore, self-destruction would not bring liberation; that bone-gnawing soul pain would follow him to the very end of hell and never disappear!
This Mangekyo ability was so terrifying it had driven Danzo to despair.
Danzo placed all his hope in Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Assuming...
The Monkey realized that the evil Uchiha brat's eyes, Uchiha Akainu's eyes, were a threat to anyone in the village, including him, the so-called Hokage of the Leaf. Then, if the Monkey found a way to kill Uchiha Akainu, would the Mangekyo's special ability automatically be dispelled?!
After all, he took his Kotoamatsukami! Shouldn't he pay for it by killing Uchiha Akainu for him?!
Clinging to this hope, Danzo didn't give up his will to live.
He still had a chance!
He hadn't lost yet!
How could he, Danzo Shimura, fall now, without completely erasing the inherently evil Uchiha clan from the ninja world?!
He was the one who inherited Master Tobirama's final will!
He was the one who was going to contend for the next Hokage position!
He was the one who was going to change the future of Leaf Village!
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
Faint sounds reached Danzo's ears, making his somewhat dazed consciousness shift his bloodshot, weary gaze to the left. He saw an old acquaintance—Homura Mitokado!
Homura Mitokado pulled up a chair and sat next to Danzo, pushing up his reading glasses.
He slowly began, "Danzo, the Leaf's medical ninja have tried every possible method, and even Uchiha Itachi has done his utmost, but it's no use. Perhaps, only Uchiha Akainu has a way to remove the Mangekyo dōjutsu he imprinted on you."
Danzo's somewhat numb facial muscles twitched violently; he wanted to curse the medical ninja for being incompetent, and curse Uchiha Akainu for being a scourge.
But at this moment, he couldn't even utter a single word.
Homura Mitokado looked at his former colleague with a complicated expression.
A sense of empathy, of a fox grieving for a dead rabbit, inevitably lingered.
"Danzo, even though you're lying there unable to move, it's probably better to tell you what's been happening recently. Uchiha Akainu has been causing quite a stir in the Leaf lately. And it involves His Excellency the Daimyo, as well as the Jinchuriki."
Homura Mitokado slowly recounted what had happened in just two short days.
Even Danzo, wracked with pain, couldn't help but be stunned for a moment.
That inherently evil Uchiha brat seemed to be causing more and more trouble!
And no one could control him at all!
No! If that Monkey had truly set his mind to controlling him, he absolutely could have, but the Monkey was too indecisive!
Was he just going to ignore Uchiha Akainu because he feared too many sacrifices? Such hesitation wouldn't solve the problem; it would only make things worse.
Danzo was so enraged he almost gnashed his remaining teeth to dust.
He cursed the Monkey for being so useless!
"Danzo, there's no need to think so much until you recover. It's getting late, I should go now." Just as Homura Mitokado stood up to leave, a sudden deafening roar and an exaggerated ground-shaking tremor abruptly changed Homura Mitokado's expression.
Quickly steadying himself, he looked up.
He saw the ceiling above suddenly turn a reddish-orange glow.
Homura Mitokado's pupils constricted, a strong warning sign chilling him to the bone. He burst out with astonishing speed, rapidly retreating!
It was in that same instant that the reddish-orange ceiling instantly melted, and a terrifying torrent of lava rushed down, piercing a giant lava hole in the ground of unknown depth!
The lava liquid splashing everywhere ignited many flammable materials, setting multiple fierce fires within the Foundation's base.
The pervasive smell of magma filled Homura Mitokado with dread.
"Uchiha Akainu!!!" he screamed the name in shock.
It was also at this moment.
A rather young, yet somewhat familiar voice coldly rang out: "I see. So, you used the Reaper Death Seal, a forbidden jutsu, to cut the soul being burned by the Heavenly Condemnation Flames in half, so that the Heavenly Condemnation Flames wouldn't affect the other half of the soul."
"My stereotypical impression of you... was of someone who occasionally did foolish things, seeing as you even attempted to stab Susanoo with a kunai. But now it seems you do have a bit of cleverness."
"Unfortunately, the pain link between the two halves of your soul cannot be severed by the Reaper Death Seal. And it's precisely because of this that you're now lying in bed like a cripple."
"Your quick wit, not only did it fail to free you from endless agony, but it made your existence even worse than death."
"Am I right? 'Lord' Danzo Shimura."
Uchiha Akainu visited two places tonight: one was the Uzumaki Clan's Temple of Faces in Leaf Village—he could clearly sense one half of Danzo's soul nearby at the time.
At that moment, he realized what method Danzo was using.
And the second place he went was this Anbu Headquarters!
And it was the moment his voice fell that Homura Mitokado, not far away, personally witnessed a figure standing in the rolling magma.
He widened his eyes and looked at Uchiha Akainu.
"What are you doing?!"
Homura Mitokado, while highly vigilant, urgently shouted, "Uchiha Akainu, this is the Anbu Headquarters! What are you trying to do by trespassing and even destroying the base's architecture?!"
Homura Mitokado saw the rolling magma on the ground retract, all gathering back into Uchiha Akainu's body.
Then he saw the other party shift his cold gaze towards him.
Homura Mitokado was startled, and before the confrontation began, he immediately turned his head away.
Danzo's pathetic state was a fresh memory; Homura Mitokado, like Hiruzen Sarutobi, was equally wary of Uchiha Akainu's Mangekyo.
"To cut down the evil of the ninja world." In response to Homura Mitokado's anxious questioning, Uchiha Akainu's reply was concise.
Homura Mitokado's heart chilled.
Could it be! This guy still refused to let Danzo go?
More importantly, how did he know Danzo was hiding here?
Just then.
Homura Mitokado suddenly saw two figures leap down from the large hole blown open by the magma above—a young girl in Uchiha Police Force attire, and an orange ninja cat.
"Meow, this is Anbu territory, isn't it?" Jirou Tachibana mumbled, narrowing his eyes. "These Anbu ninja sure react fast!"
He saw...
Many Anbu ninja had been drawn by the commotion. In less than a few seconds, seven or eight Anbu ninja had gathered, all standing behind Homura Mitokado.
It was precisely the appearance of these Anbu ninja that finally gave the sweating, tense Homura Mitokado a sense of security.
The Anbu ninja were also startled when they saw Uchiha Akainu.
No one expected to meet him again so soon after parting.
And in such a peculiar way.
"Uchiha Akainu... Danzo is no longer able to commit evil, the Leaf's Foundation is no longer under his control, and Hiruzen has stripped him of all his duties. He is no longer a high-ranking member of the Leaf."
Homura Mitokado hid the shock on his face. He took a deep breath, but was choked by the pungent smell of sulfur permeating the air.
After coughing heavily a few times, he spoke with a complex expression and a deep voice, "In this situation, do you really have to be so relentless? Can't you show some mercy, for the sake of being fellow villagers?"
"If your justice were a little more subtle, many people in the village would surely accept your Absolute Justice more easily."
The Anbu ninja behind him looked astonished; they somewhat understood why Uchiha Akainu was here.
He had been pursuing Danzo Shimura all this time!!!
Danzo, that guy, was truly pathetic for having provoked Uchiha Akainu...
Uchiha Akainu retorted, "When Danzo Shimura committed evil, did he ever think of showing mercy?"
The single sentence left Homura Mitokado speechless.
If Danzo had ever shown mercy, he wouldn't be Danzo Shimura!
"Absolute Justice is about to cut out a massive tumor of evil from the ninja world." Uchiha Akainu, alone with his blade, took a step forward, blocking all the Anbu ninja with his single body.
"Anyone who obstructs the execution of Justice will be deemed an enemy of justice, an accomplice to evil."
"Tonight, this path is closed."
"Danzo must die."
---