Yamanaka Inoichi, Nara Shikaku, and Akimichi Choza showed up together, and for a brief second, Sarutobi Hiruzen was visibly stunned.
But he figured it out almost instantly—
They were here to back Uchiha Chizumi.
After all, Inoichi had already pledged loyalty to the ideology of "Absolute Justice." And since the Nara and Akimichi clans had long-standing alliances with the Yamanaka, it was only natural they'd follow suit.
That realization made Hiruzen's face sink.
Not because he was mad at the Ino–Shika–Cho trio… or even at Chizumi.
No.
He was furious at someone already dead: Danzo.
If Danzo hadn't dragged the Yamanaka compound into his fight with Chizumi, nearly wiping them out, they never would've sided with Chizumi. Worse—Chizumi had made it a point not to harm them, making himself look like the more reasonable one.
Now Hiruzen was grinding his teeth in pure frustration.
Too bad Danzo was already gone. Otherwise, Hiruzen would've chewed him out in front of everyone just to vent.
"Hokage-sama."
A cold, calm voice with a hint of youth rang out. Itachi Uchiha had finally arrived at the Sarutobi compound.
Meanwhile, Fugaku wasn't with the crowd. He stood silently on the roof of a nearby building, watching from a distance. From that angle, he could see everything happening in the courtyard.
And what he saw shocked him.
"Hokage… Koharu… Jiraiya… Kakashi… Tsunade… Orochimaru's student… Inoichi… Choza… Chizumi… Shikaku…" he muttered.
There were way too many big names gathered in one place tonight.
Not to mention the heavy presence of Anbu and Root.
Half of Konoha's top power was standing in this courtyard.
…
Tsunade took a step forward and didn't hold back.
"Alright, kid, what the hell is going on?" she asked, giving Koharu a side-eye before clapping Chizumi on the back like an annoyed older sister. "You show up at Old Man's doorstep with two kids wielding ninja blades like you're staging a coup. You seriously expect me to believe this is just a social visit?"
She turned to Hiruzen, calling him flat-out "Old Man" to his face. "And what about you, huh? You drag half the Anbu and Root out here just for a chat?"
She glanced over her shoulder at Jiraiya. "And you—what are you doing here? You were following me, weren't you? Besides Shizune, was that you tailing us earlier?"
Tsunade's rapid-fire questions actually cut some of the tension, snapping everyone out of the standoff a little.
"Hmph." Koharu scoffed. "If this lunatic hadn't gone berserk tonight, you think I'd be out here calling all of Root into action at this hour?"
Normally she wouldn't even bother explaining, but for Tsunade, she made an exception.
"He killed a bunch of people tonight—members of both the Utatane and Mitokado clans. Close to twenty. And now he's aiming for the Sarutobi clan."
"If we hadn't deployed both Anbu and Root, we'd be pulling corpses out of the compound right now. And the worst part? People are actually siding with him! It's like the whole village has lost its damn mind!"
"And these people—these people who were raised under the Will of Fire—tonight, I don't see even a flicker of that in them!"
Her sarcasm was aimed at the Ino–Shika–Cho leaders and at Anko—but none of them even blinked.
Tsunade and Jiraiya both froze.
Tsunade muttered, "I knew it. The kid actually came here to carry out justice... and he's doing it without giving a damn who he offends."
Jiraiya, now fully serious, took a breath and stepped past the crowd until he was standing right in front of Chizumi.
His voice was calm, but heavy. "Chizumi, is what Koharu said true? I don't normally get involved in Konoha anymore. Most of the time I turn a blind eye. But this—this is different."
"Killing over twenty Konoha citizens in a single night? That's the work of a madman, a killer. This isn't justice. This is tearing down the village's foundation."
Chizumi slowly raised his eyes and locked onto Jiraiya's.
His tone was detached, razor-sharp.
"You only tolerate evil when justice is too weak to do anything else. But once justice is strong enough to stand firm, if it still chooses to stay silent—then it's no longer justice."
"And once justice fades… all those victims who died angry and alone… no one will speak for them anymore."
Everyone fell quiet. The only voice was Chizumi's, and his words reached every corner of the courtyard.
Then his gaze shifted—past Jiraiya—to a Sarutobi clansman standing near Hiruzen.
"Sarutobi Koya."
The man froze.
Eyes widened. He instinctively tried to shrink behind others, but it was no use.
People were already staring.
And as more eyes followed their line of sight, everyone locked on to the terrified man named Koya.
Even Jiraiya looked over, confused.
Chizumi's voice cut through the air again, calm and brutal:
"Nine years ago, during the Third Great Ninja War, you sold classified intel to Cloud for ten million ryo. That led to the deaths of one jonin and seven chunin."
"Four years ago, you helped Cloud nin kidnap Hinata Hyuga. When the plan was exposed, you ran."
"A year ago, you were given seven million ryo to oversee a public construction project. You pocketed four million. The structure collapsed during a storm. A civilian died."
With every accusation, Koya's face lost more color.
By the time Chizumi finished, he looked like a corpse already—drenched in sweat, legs trembling.
"Jiraiya," Chizumi said coldly, "do you still think I'm the one shaking Konoha's foundations? Or was it him?"
Jiraiya froze.
"Wait—!" Koya stammered, panicking as eyes turned toward him. "You—you're just making stuff up! Where's your proof?!"
Inoichi stepped forward. "The Yamanaka clan will verify everything. Just let us read your memories. If you're innocent, we'll know."
Koya opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
Hiruzen exhaled slowly, the anger on his face giving way to something worse—quiet, helpless disappointment.
Chizumi kept going.
"Sarutobi Mayuki."
A civilian woman gasped.
Her eyes widened in horror.
"Twelve years ago, you gave birth to a baby girl behind your fiancé's back. Then you drowned her in a public toilet, chopped up the body, and flushed it."
A sharp gasp, and Mayuki crumbled to the ground.
She started muttering to herself, as if trying to justify it.
"She… she wasn't even conscious… not a real person, right? If she's not a person, then it's not murder…"
She looked up—her husband staring at her like she was a stranger.
She looked at Hiruzen.
He looked back for a brief moment, then closed his eyes in shame.
Chizumi's voice came again.
"Jiraiya. You still think I'm the butcher?"
Jiraiya said nothing. He couldn't. He didn't have to. The woman's reaction said it all.
Then Chizumi dropped another name:
"Sarutobi Kazuki."
Mayuki's "honest" husband flinched.
"Three nights ago, after your wife mocked you in public, you snuck into your daughter's room to 'prove' you were still a man."
Mayuki stared at him, stunned. Then—
"You… you monster!"
She screamed and lunged, snatching a kunai and stabbing him in the gut.
Kazuki howled in pain, kicked her off, and pulled the blade free.
Blood sprayed.
But Mayuki wasn't done. She leapt again—only for Kazuki to stab her in the chest.
It was chaos.
But no one stopped them. Not even the Sarutobi around them.
They all watched in frozen silence as Mayuki fell limp and Kazuki collapsed, bleeding.
The coppery stench filled the air.
Hiruzen's eyes were shut, his jaw clenched. He couldn't bring himself to stop it—not when he knew Chizumi was right.
Even Koharu was speechless.
She hadn't expected this kind of filth in her own clan.
And worse, she realized… the Root members who died fighting Chizumi might have been just as corrupt. Just differently so.
"Jiraiya," Chizumi asked calmly, "do you still think I'm the one betraying justice?"
Jiraiya didn't respond.
Instead, after several seconds, he sighed—and stepped aside, clearing Chizumi's path.
Koharu was stunned.
"Jiraiya—"
He interrupted her. "Sorry, I can't defend this. Chizumi's actions are extreme, sure. But Konoha letting people like that fester… that's just as bad. Don't put me in the middle."
And in that moment, Jiraiya understood why the prophecy existed—why the ninja world needed a savior.
As Chizumi had said… this world was twisted. Sick.
Jiraiya exhaled sharply. He had to find the Child of Prophecy.
He had to guide them.
…
Tsunade turned her head slightly at Koharu's call.
"Don't talk to me," she said coldly.
Her back was to everyone, shoulders stiff, skin pale and trembling—not from fear, but from the blood. It triggered memories she had long buried.
Eyes fixed on the moon, she muttered, "I've never thought that brat Chizumi did anything wrong. The shinobi world is in chaos. And in chaos, if you don't hit hard enough, nothing ever changes."
Koharu, shaken by both Tsunade and Jiraiya's reactions, turned to Hiruzen again.
"...Hiruzen?"
Hiruzen took a long, deep breath.
When he opened his eyes, the weight of the night hung on his aged face—bitterness, shame, and exhaustion.
He looked defeated.
"Take them," he finally said, his voice rasping as though aged by ten years in a second.
He looked directly at Chizumi.
"Bring them to the Police Force," he said, not as the Third Hokage, but as a tired old man. "Investigate everything thoroughly. If they're guilty… deal with them accordingly."
The words struck like a death knell.
The few Sarutobi clan members who hadn't yet been named by Chizumi immediately realized what that meant.
Their Hokage—
Their Clan Head—
Had just abandoned them.
"Hokage-sama!" Koya, the first to be exposed, panicked. He knew all too well what Chizumi did to criminals—and that the Yamanaka mind reading technique would confirm everything.
And he had just watched two people die in front of him for their sins.
That could be his fate next.
He shoved past fellow clan members and practically fell at Hiruzen's feet.
"We're related, right?! My cousin's uncle is married to your niece—we're family! You can't just hand me over!"
"I'll return every single ryo I stole! I'll pay restitution to the victim's family! I'll give up every Cloud secret I know!"
"I'll serve ten years in prison—hell, I'll serve thirty if I have to!"
His mind raced. He was already calculating how he could cut his sentence in half with good behavior. Fifteen years in prison and he'd still be in his forties when he got out. He'd survive this.
But those last thoughts—he didn't dare say aloud.
If Hiruzen sensed even a trace of insincerity, it was over.
CRACK!
A sharp slap rang through the air.
Koya's body stiffened.
His face twisted, and his head snapped sideways. A blazing red handprint bloomed on his cheek.
The slap came from Hiruzen.
It was clean. Final.
"There is no place in the Sarutobi clan for scum who sell out the village for money," Hiruzen said, fury in his voice now real and raw.
"You've disappointed me, Koya. Your crimes are no different from a missing-nin."
That line—no different from a missing-nin—was Hiruzen's hard limit.
Even Danzo, for all his shadow dealings, had never crossed that threshold.
But Koya had.
And Hiruzen realized it too late. He had gathered the entire Anbu tonight to protect a traitor. In front of half the village's elite, no less.
His shame burned in his chest.
He had no choice now… but to hand Koya over to the very man he once tried to exile.
Chizumi.
Koya, pale as snow, staggered backward.
"I… I'm not the only one! Why am I a traitor, and Chizumi isn't?! He's killed so many Konoha shinobi!"
He pointed a trembling finger straight at Chizumi—
Shick!
A flash of steel.
A scream.
His index finger flew through the air and hit the ground with a thud.
"Don't point your filthy hand at Senpai," Izumi said coldly, her blade still dripping with fresh blood.
Her eyes were sharp and filled with disgust.
Koya collapsed to his knees, clutching his bleeding hand, whimpering in agony.
Watching, Hiruzen frowned deeply. Chizumi's followers had clearly inherited his ruthlessness.
Before he could say anything, Chizumi spoke again.
"Though from where I'm standing, it doesn't really look like you want me to take your clan away, Third Hokage."
That subtle dig hit home.
Hiruzen's eyes narrowed. After a pause, he made a small gesture.
The Anbu stepped away from the Sarutobi clan members as if on cue.
Then Hiruzen turned to Koharu.
"Koharu," he said, weariness in every syllable, "have your people fall back too."
Koharu bit her lip, hesitated, then growled through clenched teeth, "Stand down."
Root operatives silently stepped aside.
Chizumi didn't smile, didn't react. He simply began calling names.
"Sarutobi Koya."
Izumi stepped forward and cuffed him—securing his mutilated hands behind his back.
"Sarutobi Kano."
Another Sarutobi ninja flinched. Izumi didn't hesitate. Lacking another pair of cuffs, she pulled out a coil of ninja wire and tied his wrists tight.
"Sarutobi Mitsuru."
Anko stepped up with a blank expression, passed Hiruzen, and seized the man.
When he tried to resist, she coldly snapped his wrist.
"AAAAAHHH!"
His screams didn't faze her.
"Sarutobi Rina."
Anko delivered a clean hand chop to knock out Mitsuru, then turned to a pale-faced middle-aged woman. A white snake slithered from her sleeve.
Before the woman could react, the snake lunged, biting her in the shoulder.
"AHHH—!"
She tried to shake it off—but her limbs went limp. She crumpled to the ground, paralyzed.
"All of them," Chizumi ordered. "Take them away."
From the nearby rooftop, Fugaku exhaled quietly.
"…Chizumi wins again."
He didn't understand it.
Why did Chizumi always win in front of the Hokage?
Why did his own compromises never pay off?
For the first time in years, he started to question everything.
All the strategy. All the political restraint. All the careful positioning.
Had he… chosen the wrong path all along?
~~~
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