Inside the Root Anbu headquarters, Danzo's face was as dark as a storm cloud as he watched Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Anbu disappearing from his sight.
Once they were completely gone, Danzo's true feelings erupted.
"Damn it!"
All the research data on Wood Style and the Sharingan had been extorted by that monkey, Hiruzen! And get this... Danzo even had to hand over the two remaining Three Tomoe Sharingan that he hadn't had a chance to implant yet. He'd painstakingly acquired all those Sharingan during the Third Great Shinobi World War, working diligently with his Root operatives in the shadows.
Now, not only had Akainu Uchiha wasted one Sharingan, but that monkey had also extorted two more! That was the "satisfactory explanation" Hiruzen had demanded.
And before leaving, Hiruzen had given Danzo a warning, practically a threat: "Danzo, don't let me hear about anything like this happening again. I tolerated it this first time because you truly have contributed a lot to Konoha. Next time, my patience will run out. If this happens again, you can step down as the leader of Root."
Recalling Hiruzen's words, Danzo's fists clenched.
"This is my Root, built with my blood and sweat! How dare he threaten my position here?!" he snarled, grinding out each word. "That damned monkey! And that inherently evil Uchiha brat!"
Just then, a Root intelligence operative rushed into the base, immediately reporting new intel to Danzo.
"Lord Danzo, Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, has been taken to the Police Force Headquarters by Akainu Uchiha! I hear this happened with the Third Hokage's tacit approval."
Danzo: "What?!"
Inside the Uchiha Clan Compound
"Akainu Uchiha took that fox kid to the Police Force Headquarters?"
An Uchiha shinobi's eyes lit up, a spark of eagerness in them. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! They say the Nine-Tailed Fox from back then was sealed inside that kid; he's the Jinchuriki!"
"If we can control the Jinchuriki's power, which of those old geezers in the village leadership would dare talk back to the Uchiha clan?"
He was practically buzzing with excitement. "I never thought Akainu Uchiha, who always seemed so out of place, so distant, and even often got into arguments with his own clan members..."
"...would actually be pretty reliable when it counts!"
The fact that Naruto Uzumaki was very likely the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki seemed like a "secret" only known to the higher-ups in Konoha. But no one was foolish. Rumors had always spread in the village about the kid being the fox's reincarnation, a bringer of disaster. Most rumors aren't baseless, and connecting the dots, it was clear he had an undeniable link to the Nine-Tailed Beast.
At that moment, another Uchiha shinobi beside him frowned, sneering, "I heard Naruto Uzumaki is in Lord Fugaku's office. With Lord Fugaku's personality, do you really think... he'd let us use the Jinchuriki to intimidate the village elders? That's 'Considerate of the Grand Scheme' Fugaku, after all!"
Another Uchiha bit out, "Hmph! Lord Fugaku is just too indecisive! But if we gather a group of clan members and put some pressure on him, would he really say no? If we had the power of the Nine-Tails, our coup d'état plan could be put into action much sooner."
"We could even ask Elder Setsuna for help!"
There were over twenty Uchiha shinobi gathered, all part of the Uchiha clan's hawkish faction. They rallied around Uchiha Setsuna, an elder who had once been imprisoned by the Second Hokage for years due to his coup attempts, only recently released.
However, these younger, more aggressive Uchiha shinobi were a bit slow to react.
Uchiha Setsuna, along with several other hawk elders, had already headed straight for the Police Force Headquarters!
Yet...
"Akainu Uchiha, what's the meaning of this?!" Uchiha Setsuna, around Hiruzen's age and leaning on a cane, stared intently at Akainu Uchiha, who stood in the middle of the street, blocking their way.
"A-Akainu-senpai, what are you...?" Izumi, who had been following Akainu, was also dumbfounded, watching him.
Suddenly, Akainu Uchiha drew Izumi's ninja sword from her hip and stood silently in the Uchiha compound's main street, the blade in hand. The atmosphere instantly became tense. The guards accompanying the hawk elders stepped forward, facing off against the suddenly appearing Akainu Uchiha.
Akainu Uchiha ignored Uchiha Setsuna's question. He simply looked calmly at Izumi beside him and said, "Rookie, if 'evil' clashes with 'evil,' and that conflict leads to mutual destruction, or even annihilation, but it also affects many innocent people who shouldn't be involved... In your opinion, should [Absolute Justice] stand by and watch, or should it intervene?"
Izumi paused. She pondered deeply, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, then tentatively replied, "Senpai, that question is too profound... but I think [Absolute Justice] shouldn't be so heartless. If... if it were my decision, I'd choose to intervene!"
Wait, hold on...
Akainu-senpai wouldn't ask her this question without a reason. And combined with his current actions...
Gasp!
Could it be that, in Senpai's eyes, these elderly Uchiha elders are also "evil"? So who is the other "evil" then? Lord Fugaku? Or Lord Hokage?
Izumi swallowed hard.
"Rookie, you've only got half the answer right," Akainu Uchiha slowly said. "[Absolute Justice] has no room for sentiment. It requires completely ruthless methods to be upheld. The reason for intervening is simple: [Absolute Justice] cannot tolerate any 'evil' parading around in front of it."
"Even if you know that letting 'evil' fight 'evil' would only benefit [Justice] and cause no harm, allowing 'evil' to run rampant in front of you is already a betrayal of [Absolute Justice]."
"Rookie, never harbor the thought of condoning one 'evil' to let it mutually destroy another. If there's even the slightest misstep and they don't destroy each other..."
"...this approach will only allow one of the 'evils' to inflate its power to a point where even [Absolute Justice] can't suppress it."
To Akainu Uchiha, the Uchiha hawk faction's coup plan itself wasn't "evil" because it was just a plan. But their reckless, justice-trampling, and twisted actions during such a coup... in Akainu Uchiha's eyes, that was "evil."
He knew all this so clearly because of the red and white intertwined boxes he saw before him, where "evil" was displayed in all its clarity.
Then, Akainu Uchiha finally addressed the grim-faced Uchiha Setsuna. But the words he uttered made Uchiha Setsuna's anger flare.
"This road is closed."
"Anyone who comes will die."
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