When Uchiha Chizumi's voice rang out, Sarutobi Hiruzen instantly felt a twinge of foreboding.
In front of the entire Konoha assembly he had stripped Shimura Danzō of all his posts, giving him no face at all and openly tearing things apart—exactly the hard‑line solution Hyūga Hiashi had urged.
It was the toughest measure Hiruzen could think of, and—so he believed—enough to placate the blood‑line clans.
He had not expected that it still would not appease Uchiha Chizumi.
"Brat, what do you think you're doing!?" Danzō snarled, his cold, sinister eyes boring into Chizumi. He had not forgotten that, in just one day, more than a dozen Root operatives had fallen to this "evil" Uchiha brat—and even his summoning beast, Baku, had been slain.
Baku was his strongest summon and longtime partner; losing it meant a huge loss of fighting strength.
Yet Chizumi ignored him completely. Wearing a blank expression, he addressed Hiruzen:
"Third Hokage, removing Shimura Danzō from office—that is your idea of punishment?"
Hiruzen opened his mouth but had not spoken a word before Chizumi added, expression still flat:
"Birds of a feather—snakes and rats in the same nest. How thoroughly you cover for each other."
The old Hokage's face went dark. He had not thought Chizumi would curse him outright.
Uchiha Fugaku sensed trouble. "Chizumi—"
"You're far too soft, Fugaku. In your eyes, is everything Danzō did to the Uchiha—and to innocent civilians—so easily forgiven?" Chizumi shot him a sidelong glance, not even bothering to call him "Clan Head."
"And another thing," he continued, "what right do you have to pardon Danzō, to sweep major crimes under the rug?"
Fugaku's normally impassive face showed clear bewilderment. For some reason the looks he was getting from certain clansmen had turned faintly strange.
Hidden within the Anbu crowd, Kakashi let out a helpless sigh.
He had known that anything involving Uchiha Chizumi would never end quietly—especially now that Chizumi's wings had grown so strong. There were few left in Konoha who could restrain him.
Maybe…
If the Hokage hadn't brought so many Anbu, even he wouldn't be able to keep Chizumi in check.
" …Huh?" Kakashi suddenly sensed a gaze on him. He turned and squinted into the distance. On a distant rooftop he seemed to glimpse a lone figure—yet in the blink of an eye the silhouette vanished.
"How sharp you are, Kakashi…," muttered a masked man in a black cloak, hidden in a deep shadow far away.
"Was that just my imagination? For some reason I felt Uchiha Chizumi looked over here too."
It left him only slightly puzzled. Once, he had needed Minato‑sensei's protection just to survive an encounter with Chizumi. Now, however, he fancied himself Chizumi's equal.
"Shimura Danzō."
Before the eyes of all, Chizumi met Danzō's furious, baleful stare and said in a flat voice:
"The evil in you is the greatest I have ever seen in Konoha—so great it cannot be counted or exhausted in words.
For petty theft, others are arrested and jailed half a month as a warning; yet you, who have murdered countless innocents and committed so many crimes—what right do you have to stand here, snarling unscathed?
With sins too many to record, why do you still cling to life?"
Veins bulged on Danzō's forehead. He knew he could not stay silent. With even that "monkey" Sarutobi turning on him, he now had only himself to rely on.
"Brat!" he snapped. "All this old man did was salvage a few Sharingan during the Great Ninja War! Stripping me of office is already the maximum penalty. Or are you using your so‑called Absolute Justice as a pretext—pretending righteousness while indulging your taste for killing?"
He tried to strike first by pinning a charge on Chizumi.
But Chizumi showed no reaction, merely asking, "Really? Then how do you explain Shisui's eye?"
Danzō's pupils contracted. His look at Chizumi now brimmed with disbelief. Can this wicked Uchiha brat truly see through me?
Around them the gathered Uchiha rustled in alarm; Hiruzen's face grew thoughtful; Anbu eyed Danzō suspiciously; other clan and civilian ninja stared at him in shock.
"Uchiha Shisui"—an unforgettable name etched in many memories. Heaven had envied the genius; so young, and already gone. His death had long been the subject of rumor with no definite answer.
Until now.
"Brat! Don't slander me!" Danzō blurted, suddenly flustered. Possessing Shisui's Kotoamatsukami was his greatest secret. Even when fighting Chizumi he had been loath to use that god‑like eye.
"I did not kill Uchiha Shisui!"
Chizumi stepped forward twice and locked eyes with him. That stare made Danzō uneasy; unbelievably, he looked away—he could not meet the boy's gaze.
How can I be afraid of this brat? he fumed inwardly.
In a cool, recital‑like tone—as though reading words only he could see—Chizumi said:
"One year ago you framed Uchiha Shisui, gravely wounding him and taking one eye. Your deed drove him, indirectly, to leap from a cliff and end his own life."
Danzō's breath nearly stopped; cold sweat seeped into his palms. He's really seen through me!
Even Fugaku, who had tried to minimise the affair, stared at Danzō in disbelief.
"And Hatake Sakumo—how do you explain that?" Chizumi moved on without lingering. The name took everyone off guard.
In the Anbu ranks Kakashi jolted, turning in a daze toward Chizumi.
Hatake Sakumo… That name had not been heard in Konoha for many years.
"Many years ago you manipulated village opinion," Chizumi said, "ordering subordinates to smear Hatake Sakumo. Overwhelmed by the abuse, he took his own life."
Danzō's fingers trembled; his expression was as though he had seen a ghost.