"Red Sun Society's Kira—you're using that same deception trick again."
Danzo's tone was cold, his words sharp.
"All these illusions and transformation jutsu you play with—they're nothing but fabrications. No matter how tragic or convincing the scene looks, if I wanted, I could create the same thing. Fake is fake. Do you really think anyone with a bit of sense would be fooled by you?"
Shimura Danzo spoke calmly, confident and shameless.
As Konoha's Root leader, a man who spent his life in the shadows, Danzo had long perfected the art of twisting truth into lies.
He lived by one rule:
If I'm thick-skinned enough, no one can make me blush.
"Oh? If you say it's fake, then it must be fake?"
Naruto's lips curved into a cold smile.
In an instant, his figure blurred—and before anyone could blink, he appeared right in front of Danzo.
He grabbed Danzo by the throat with one hand and lifted him off the ground.
RIP!
Half of Danzo's robe and bandages tore apart, revealing a pale, lifeless arm covered in wide-open Sharingan eyes—each one blood-red and glaring.
"Take a good look!" Naruto's voice echoed. "As Konoha shinobi, don't tell me you don't recognize what a Sharingan is."
He held Danzo up for everyone to see.
"An elder of Konoha, carrying a dozen Sharingan on his arm—don't you have any idea where these came from? Over the years, have you not noticed Uchiha ninjas dying mysteriously during missions? Or routes being leaked, ambushes happening, secrets exposed?"
Naruto's voice turned ice-cold, his eyes burning with killing intent.
"I said it four years ago—Danzo, you are Konoha's biggest cancer. How many shinobi have died because of you, and you still feel no guilt?"
The words hit like thunder.
Even the Root agents, conditioned and brainwashed for years, couldn't help but tremble at the sight. Seeing the stolen Sharingan with their own eyes made rage boil inside them.
Danzo's voice strained as he tried to fight back.
"I did nothing wrong! Everything I did was for the village! I am Konoha's root—my love for the village is no less than anyone else's!"
"Loving the village?" Naruto shot back, his grip tightening. "You call it love to weaken the village from within? To slaughter the Uchiha, Konoha's strongest clan? To pit ninjas against each other and destroy trust?"
"You don't understand!" Danzo shouted, desperate. "The Uchiha were planning a coup! I acted first to protect Konoha!"
Naruto's voice dripped with contempt.
"Protecting Konoha by killing its own? You stabbed the Uchiha again and again, spied on Anbu, manipulated everything, and still call it loyalty? That's pathetic."
Danzo's face twisted with rage.
"You don't even know the truth! The Nine Tails' attack—that was Uchiha's fault! They used the Sharingan to control it! We acted to prevent another disaster!"
Naruto's expression darkened.
"Oh really?" He pointed at a masked man in the distance—the one wearing Madara's mask. "Then tell me, Danzo. If it's all Uchiha's fault, what about him? He's the real culprit behind the Nine Tails' rampage. Are you going to blame an entire clan for one man's crime?"
Danzo sneered. "You have no proof. Who would believe your words?"
Naruto's tone grew colder.
"No proof? You had no proof when you slaughtered the Uchiha either. So tell me—why was your word enough to condemn them?"
The man in the Madara mask narrowed his eyes, a flicker of surprise crossing his face. He couldn't tell whether Naruto's accusation was deliberate or not.
"That's him... Kira of the Red Sun Society," he thought. "The one who killed White Zetsu and stole Kakuzu's bounty. Dangerous… He must be eliminated before he ruins everything."
While he watched from the shadows, Naruto suddenly loosened his grip on Danzo, even brushing the wrinkles from his robe with a mocking smile.
"Relax, Danzo. You're just a clone, aren't you? That's why you're so calm. After all, if a clone dies—it doesn't really matter, right?"
Naruto turned toward the Third Hokage, his eyes as sharp as blades.
"Tell me, Sarutobi Hiruzen—what's the punishment for killing your own villagers and using them as test subjects for experiments?"
The old man froze, his expression tightening.
All around them, Anbu members exchanged uneasy glances. Ordinary shinobi were punished harshly for the smallest mistakes—sometimes even executed. The rules were absolute. No one was above them.
But here stood Danzo, an elder who had violated every law imaginable.
Naruto stepped closer, his presence suffocating.
"So when a regular ninja breaks a rule, you show no mercy—but when your old friend does it, you just let him go with a drink and a sigh? Is that what justice means to you, Third Hokage?"
Sarutobi's hands trembled slightly. He took a deep breath and finally asked, voice low:
"And what if I do let Danzo go?"
Naruto slowly lifted his gaze, scanning every face in the crowd.
"Then you'll see something worse than the Nine Tails' attack."
His voice was calm—too calm. Power radiated from him, invisible yet overwhelming.
The air itself seemed to shake.
It wasn't just confidence. It was authority. Dominance.
True power.
Naruto Uzumaki stood there, every word resonating like thunder:
"Because this time, I won't hold back."
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