"Twelve years of imprisonment... This Grandpa agrees to disband Root, but locking up those villagers for a full twelve years—isn't that a bit..."
Naruto abruptly raised his hand, cutting off Hiruzen before he could finish.
"This is already the limit of what I can tolerate. If you're unwilling to imprison them, then you can hand them over to me—all nicely packaged."
That plain yet terrifying sentence made Hiruzen's scalp tingle.
"I've already decided on the location: one of the islands in the Land of Whirlpools."
"I'll use Earth Release: Earth Flow Wall to build a barrier around the island's perimeter. As for their daily treatment—it will be carried out according to my plan."
"An island in the Land of Whirlpools? Your plan?" Hiruzen muttered.
Naruto nodded sharply, his gaze leaving no room for discussion.
In the end, Hiruzen could only helplessly agree to Naruto's request.
Even though the actual implementation would be extremely difficult, he had no other choice. With Naruto's unshakable attitude, if Hiruzen refused, Konoha would only suffer greater losses.
Naruto raised his hand, preparing to undo the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
But then, as if recalling something, he turned his head and added a reminder.
"As for who to imprison, I'll name them myself. But don't worry, the total won't be less than ten thousand."
Hearing the figure "ten thousand" snuffed out the last sliver of hope in Hiruzen's heart.
He had been considering just rounding up a few of the villagers who had treated Naruto the worst, as a formality. But clearly, that wouldn't cut it.
Just imagining tens of thousands of people locked away on a tiny island… if Naruto's "plan" was even slightly flawed—or deliberately flawed—how many of them would actually survive the full twelve years?
That thought, Hiruzen didn't dare follow to its end.
Only after finishing did Naruto finally withdraw the Adamantine Sealing Chains.
Several Anbu fell like rain, crashing onto rooftops and the ground, all clearly heavily injured.
Hiruzen immediately ordered another group of shinobi to take the wounded to Konoha Hospital.
Naruto clapped his hands. "Now, take me to Root."
Hiruzen raised his hand and gestured to the guards beside him. "You may stand down."
One of them hesitated. "Lord Hokage, are you going alone…?"
But Hiruzen insisted, and the guards had no choice but to withdraw.
He then turned to the monkey standing with arms crossed.
"Enma, you may go too."
Enma furrowed his brows, glanced at Naruto, then back at Hiruzen.
Apparently sensing Hiruzen's resolve, he said nothing more and released the Summoning Jutsu, vanishing into smoke.
Now, only Hiruzen, Naruto, and Naruto's shadow clones remained.
Despite casting a large-scale Adamantine Sealing and Flying Thunder God, Naruto's clones were still filled with chakra. He had no intention of dispelling them.
Dozens of Narutos followed Hiruzen, flashing rooftop to rooftop.
As they reached the entrance to Root—
A low voice called out from behind.
"Hiruzen. I warned you—you'd regret this."
Naruto turned to see Danzo, wrapped tightly in bandages, slowly approaching.
Behind him followed nearly a hundred Root shinobi.
Unlike the animal masks of Anbu, the Root masks were more elaborate and unsettling.
Among the shadow clones, Naruto's true body fixed his attention on the bandages over Danzo's right eye.
He remembered clearly—that eye was Uchiha Shisui's Sharingan.
More precisely, the Mangekyō Sharingan: Kotoamatsukami!
It was the one thing Naruto truly feared.
Kotoamatsukami—an ocular genjutsu that could rewrite another's will. Known as the strongest genjutsu.
Naruto had already considered how to deal with it before coming here.
The best solution: kill Danzo before he had the chance to remove the bandages.
If anything unexpected happened, he'd have his real body use Flying Thunder God to escape and let the clones deal with Danzo.
Given Danzo's past record of throwing kunai at Susanoo or wasting Izanagi on basic attacks, Naruto wasn't too worried about falling to Kotoamatsukami.
Danzo, meanwhile, stared darkly at the dozens of Narutos.
He had intended to use Kotoamatsukami to turn Naruto into his weapon.
But seeing so many identical Narutos, he felt troubled.
Kotoamatsukami had a long cooldown—only one shot. He couldn't risk wasting it on a clone.
His first move was already in motion—forcing a rift between Naruto and Konoha. That gave him the opening he needed.
Next was placing the Jinchuriki under his control.
As he thought of this, Danzo could already see the future: one where he ruled Konoha and unified the ninja world. The vision thrilled him.
Hiruzen ignored Danzo's sneer.
Anyone could criticize him—but not Danzo.
A fire simmered inside Hiruzen. If he hadn't listened to Danzo in the first place, Naruto wouldn't have become such a bitter enemy to the village.
A prodigy of Konoha—now turned into the village's greatest threat.
All thanks to you, Danzo!
"Danzo, I turned a blind eye to all your actions over the years. But today—Root is finished!" Hiruzen declared with finality.
Danzo chuckled coldly.
"Haha! Hiruzen, you old fool. Letting a Jinchuriki pull you by the nose. He tells you to jump and you ask how high. Do you still think you're Hokage?"
"If you can't handle the job—then let me do it!"
Hiruzen's face darkened.
Danzo, no matter how bold, had never gone this far. Today, however, he held nothing back.
"Attack!" Danzo barked, ignoring Hiruzen's presence beside Naruto.
In a flash, dozens of Root operatives moved in.
They formed a circle, surrounding all the Narutos and Hiruzen.
The lead Root shinobi raised both hands—countless kikaichū beetles poured from his sleeves.
These poisonous parasites surged toward Naruto like a dark cloud.
Others began forming hand signs, readying their powerful ninjutsu.
Danzo narrowed his eyes at Naruto like a venomous snake, waiting for the right moment.
Just one strike. If I land Kotoamatsukami—it's over. The Hokage seat will be mine!
But Naruto didn't give them the chance to complete their hand signs.
Every shadow clone was already in Sage Mode.
All at once, they slashed with blades of light.
Second Form: Claw Claw – Kafūno!
Hundreds of massive wind blades, each tens of meters long and filled with destructive power, tore toward the Root operatives.
Danzo received the "full package"—no fewer than a dozen blades flew at him.
The kikaichū beetles were the first to suffer. Even the air stirred by the blades shredded them into dust.
The sheer force of this assault sent the Root members into a panic.
There was no time to complete hand seals—just chaos and frantic attempts to evade.
But the blades were too fast, too wide, too overwhelming.