Konoha.
Jiraiya found Tsunade and stepped in front of her, his expression complicated.
Tsunade looked at him, puzzled and a little impatient. "If you've got something to say, say it. Don't just stand there blocking my way and keeping quiet—what are you, an old granny?"
Jiraiya's mouth twitched. He took a deep breath. "Tsunade, Orochimaru… something happened."
But when he dropped what he thought was a bombshell, he realized Tsunade's face hardly changed.
He couldn't help adding, "Orochimaru is most likely already dead. That's the Great Toad Sage's prophecy—his prophecies never miss."
Expressionless, Tsunade said, "And next you're going to tell me—it was Uchiha Chizumi who killed him, right?"
Jiraiya froze. "You already knew?"
"I've known for a while," Tsunade said coolly. "And what, you were planning to use this to warn me—say Chizumi is too extreme, that no matter what Orochimaru was he was still our dear friend, and Chizumi should've captured him alive instead of killing him?"
Jiraiya's mouth twitched again. "You've really got it in for me… I wouldn't go that far."
Tsunade's face didn't change. "Those two toads have been brainwashing your moral compass day in and day out. It's perfectly reasonable for me to suspect you'd talk like that."
She went on, "If Orochimaru's dead, he's dead. It's the retribution he deserved. That end was pretty much expected. And if you, beguiled by those toads, follow him down the path of evil—Chizumi won't even need to lift a finger. I'll kill you myself."
Fukasaku: "…"
Shima: "…"
Jiraiya could only laugh awkwardly. "When are you going to tell the old man? I feel like you should wait a few days—he's already run ragged over the Sarutobi Nadeshiko matter. And now the Uchiha clan is…"
Tsunade cut him off, blunt as ever. "I already sent Shizune to tell him. He's the Hokage. If he can't handle this much of a blow, what's he doing in that chair? He ought to retire!"
"Besides…"
Tsunade said quietly, "If the old man feels sad over the death of a villain like Orochimaru, that just proves he can't tell right from wrong. I even suspect the reason Orochimaru escaped Konoha back then is that the old man couldn't bring himself to do it—so Orochimaru lived on, and over these years he's killed plenty of innocents."
Jiraiya suddenly didn't know what to say. The Tsunade before him felt strangely unfamiliar.
She seemed colder than before, as if she lacked ordinary human feelings.
Almost as if…
Almost as if she were becoming like Uchiha Chizumi!
Watching Tsunade leave, Jiraiya frowned and finally just let out a soft sigh.
"Jiraiya, that's the flaw of absolutism," Shima said gently. "In the short term, it can indeed straighten out order in a region and win justice for innocent victims. But step by step, it strips a person of their emotions and kindness, turning them into a cold, unfeeling instrument of enforcement."
"If someone believes in absolutism and doesn't go as far as 'denying even their closest kin,' they're betraying their own ninja way. In their eyes, that would no longer be justice."
"Tsunade is changing in that direction. You mustn't follow her."
Shima spoke earnestly.
…
"Tsunade-sama, that's pretty much what those two toads on Mount Myōboku were saying about you behind your back," said a split-body of the Slug Sage perched on Tsunade's shoulder.
This split-body was noticeably smaller than before.
Clearly, Tsunade had quietly asked it to split again to eavesdrop on Shima and Fukasaku talking to Jiraiya.
"Tch, just as I expected. Those two toads are badmouthing me again—and Chizumi too. Looks like the best Mount Myōboku's toads can do is sow doubt."
Tsunade pouted; she was obviously annoyed.
But she didn't plan to warn Jiraiya.
He was a grown man. If he could still be led around by two toads like this, it meant no amount of warning would help—he'd just dig in his heels.
Tsunade thought for a moment, then tested the waters: "Slug Sage, do you think those two toads are right about me?"
Among all the people and contract beasts she knew, Tsunade was probably only polite to the Slug Sage.
The Slug Sage said slowly, "No. They're skirting the real issue. They stress that believers in absolute justice abandon emotion and self, but they don't say why those believers harden their hearts that way."
"I'm not human, but I can venture a judgment—if someone who believes in absolute justice goes so far as to 'execute righteousness even against their own kin,' it's usually because those kin have committed unforgivable crimes. The toads ignored that cause and spoke only of the effect."
"They also didn't ask why the shinobi world would give rise to absolute justice in the first place. When an extreme idea appears, there is always another extreme to match it. If absolute justice can take root in the shinobi world, it means there exists an absolute evil."
"That's my view."
Tsunade sighed. "Maybe you should open a thought-correction school in Konoha and toss a bunch of people in there—let them learn why this world needs justice."
"I'm not very good at teaching," the Slug Sage replied warmly.
…
Inside the Hokage Tower.
Shizune, having delivered the intel about Orochimaru to Sarutobi Hiruzen, twisted her fingers nervously and watched the Hokage, whose face had gone blank with shock.
She was worried, first, about the Hokage's emotions. After all, one of the Legendary Sannin—Orochimaru—was his student.
And now he'd received news of that student's death.
Second, she felt a bit guilty—last night, when Tsunade-sama got drunk, she shouted some nonsense at top volume; odds were the whole neighborhood heard it.
—"The old man was fine when he was young, but now he's a crap Hokage! I could do better than him! Tie a dog to the chair and it'd do a better job!"
Though Shizune had hurried to cover Tsunade-sama's rambling mouth…
She had no idea whether Anbu had overheard.
Or whether they'd reported it to the Hokage.
Thankfully, her worries were unnecessary. Hiruzen slowly took a deep breath and waved a hand. "I understand. You may go."
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
Shizune hurried out.
"…Sigh." Not long after she left, a heavy sigh echoed through the office. Hiruzen rubbed his brow. To say he felt nothing for Orochimaru would be impossible—otherwise he wouldn't have gone soft and let him go back then.
Hearing of Orochimaru's death now gave him a vivid sense of the old burying the young. What pained him more was that it wasn't the first time he'd felt it.
"Hokage-sama…"
A voice came just then, and the familiar sound made Hiruzen's eyes turn sharp at once.
He pushed aside his grief and looked over to see Hatake Kakashi slip in through the window.
Wearing an Anbu mask, Kakashi said, "We've uncovered another Sarutobi-clan ninja secretly collaborating with a Cloud spy. This time we took him alive. And because we'd already called in the sealing squad to assist, we kept the curse mark in his head from activating."
"Through an Anbu from the Yamanaka clan, we obtained critical intel." At this point, a trace of complexity crept into Kakashi's even tone.
Hiruzen heard it too, and his heart sank.
Kakashi continued, "The mastermind trying to sow discord between you and Uchiha Chizumi is indeed a spy from Kumogakure. And three Sarutobi-clan shinobi were deeply involved. One died due to an Anbu mistake, another is the one I just mentioned, and the last…"
"…is Sarutobi Nadeshiko."
The words hit like a thunderclap. Hiruzen's eyes went wide, and he shot to his feet, a cry of disbelief bursting out: "Impossible!"
Kakashi's expression didn't change; he'd clearly anticipated the outburst. "But those are the facts. If you don't believe it, you can have another Yamanaka check that Sarutobi's memories."
"If you no longer trust the Yamanaka, you can question the Sarutobi shinobi yourself. His mental defenses are already broken—he'll answer anything truthfully."
Kakashi had said all there was to say. No matter how Hiruzen recoiled, the facts were iron.
He sagged back into his chair, dazed. Even the backrest seemed unable to support his spine; his posture slumped without him realizing.
"Why?" Hiruzen asked hollowly. "What were their motives?"
"The motive was to use you against Uchiha Chizumi," Kakashi answered. "In their eyes, your failure to move against Chizumi is weakness. And your clansmen harbor deep hatred for him—they've never forgotten and never let it go."
"They think that if this keeps up, you'll forget how Chizumi 'oppressed' the Sarutobi. At least, that's how they see his enforcement of justice—persecution of the Sarutobi."
"The only special case is Sarutobi Nadeshiko."
Kakashi paused, then went on: "She cooperated with the Cloud spy to avenge her husband. That's all there was to her motive."
"She was an elite jōnin. The reason she was killed without a sound wasn't that her attacker was too strong, and it wasn't some Sarutobi clansman killing her."
"The one who killed her… was her own shadow clone. The other two Sarutobi only staged the scene afterward, to point your suspicion toward Uchiha Chizumi."
"She used her own death to trigger this turmoil in the village, to force you to part ways with absolute justice."
Kakashi didn't go further; he knew the Hokage realized that Sarutobi Nadeshiko's revenge had failed.
Because this Hokage—so often indecisive in peacetime—could be exceptionally firm and clear-eyed when it mattered.
"…Is that the truth?" Hiruzen lifted his head a little and stared at the ceiling in a daze.
He could manage every big and small affair in the village.
But he couldn't grasp the heart of every person in it.
"Leave me a moment," he murmured.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
…
Leaving the Hokage Tower, Kakashi finally let out a long breath.
The pressure of this investigation had been immense.
Maybe the truth he'd uncovered wasn't what the Hokage most wanted to hear—but facts are facts.
All told, had he cleared Uchiha Chizumi of suspicion in the matter of absolute justice? Not that Chizumi would care about such a small thing anyway.
…
Meanwhile.
Land of Rain.
Biwa Jūzō grumbled nonstop, "That woman pretends she doesn't mind me bringing you here, but she clearly doesn't trust me at all. She won't even take me near Akatsuki's core base. She says I'm already a full member of Akatsuki, but seriously—what 'full member' gets iced out like this!?"
He hadn't expected that even after joining an extremist outfit like Akatsuki, he'd still have to suffer workplace bullying.
Damn it…
That rotten woman!!!
As he ranted, Jūzō shot a wary glance at the wooden clone of Uchiha Chizumi beside him.
He even unconsciously edged a little farther away.
He was afraid Chizumi had decided he'd outlived his usefulness—and no one knows better than a shinobi from the Bloody Mist what happens when you're no longer useful.
"Don't rush," Chizumi's wood clone said coolly. "You may not need to find Akatsuki's core base yourself. The real body's goal on this trip may be achieved without it."
Jūzō looked blank.
"The real body learned from Orochimaru that Akatsuki has listed him as a top-priority hunt target. Which means they'll come looking for him."
"And his goal is to purge the evils within Akatsuki. Those evils are about to walk right up to his door."
The clone spelled it out.
Jūzō blinked. "Huh? You're wanted by Akatsuki—how come I, an Akatsuki member, didn't know?"
He finished and immediately caught on.
His face went slate-gray.
Ostracism!!!
Bullying!!!
In an instant, his opinion of Akatsuki dropped to absolute zero.