A few minutes later, only three people were still in the office: Uchiha Fugaku; the Uchiha shinobi who had earlier reported the Gekko clan case to Fugaku; and Uzumaki Naruto, whom Uchiha Chizumi had unceremoniously left behind.
Uchiha Chizumi and Izumi had already walked out of the Police Force building.
Fugaku and Naruto stared at each other wide‑eyed.
Seeing the slightly scruffy, youthful face of the Nine‑Tails jinchūriki, Fugaku caught a faint resemblance to the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze.
While Minato was alive, relations between the Uchiha clan and Konoha had actually been relatively relaxed.
Sadly…
A complicated look flashed in Fugaku's eyes. He recalled the questions he had asked Chizumi just before the latter left the office:
"Chizumi, you insist on locking Uzumaki Naruto in the Konoha Prison—are you ready for the backlash?
"By today's end, word of what you did will have spread through the whole village. Everyone will know you brought Uzumaki Naruto into Uchiha territory.
"And… are you prepared to suppress those clansn of ours who are already itching to make a move?!"
If the clan's hawks learned that the Nine‑Tails jinchūriki was now inside the Uchiha compound, their sches would awaken in an instant.
Fugaku could not guarantee sothing extre wouldn't happen.
He rembered Chizumi's terse reply:
"Absolute justice draws no line between public and private."
Fugaku had more or less understood.
—If any extremist clansn tried to use the jinchūriki's power for unjust ends, Chizumi would show them no rcy.
He would kill fellow Uchiha the sa way he had killed the Root ninja—
Without hesitation.
"Absolute justice…" Fugaku drew a deep breath, staring at Naruto as he murmured to himself, "It really is absolute."
He rembered even more clearly the shocking intel Chizumi had tossed out as he stepped through the door:
—Shimura Danzo had Uchiha Sharingan transplanted in his body, and not just one.
—He could even use Izanagi.
That incredible revelation sent a chill through Fugaku.
Indeed, Uchiha Chizumi owed Danzo no duty of secrecy.
He had simply laid Danzo's cards on the table.
…
"Evil Uchiha brat!!"
Even back in his Root base, Danzo could hardly contain his rage; he nearly ground his old teeth to pieces.
A brief clash had cost Root two elite operatives—
And cost Danzo one three‑tomoe Sharingan and an ear.
The bandage originally wrapped around his head had hidden the transplanted eye; now it also swaddled the ear that throbbed with stabbing pain.
Worse still—
The power of Izanagi had almost certainly been exposed!
Even Danzo found the consequences of revealing his bloodline‑hunting secrets hard to bear.
"Damn it! It's that monkey's fault—if he hadn't ddled, I'd have killed that evil Uchiha brat already and strangled the risk in its cradle!"
The more he thought, the more agitated he beca—
Until a sudden voice rang out:
"But if I hadn't shown up, would you have kept in the dark forever, never letting know you'd implanted a Sharingan?"
Danzo's pupils shrank.
He knew the voice of Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Looking toward it, he saw Hiruzen had arrived uninvited—and the two ANBU squads with him had silently subdued several Root shinobi before they could raise an alarm.
"I have no idea what you're talking about!" Danzo's first reaction was flat denial.
Scowling, he sneered, "I relocated Root only a few months ago and you still found it… Hiruzen, your information network is impressive."
Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back. "I'm the Hokage of Konoha. Isn't it natural for the Hokage to know everything in the village?
"Danzo, Chizumi has already told your secret. If you claim ignorance, will you show what's under those bandages?"
His eyes bored into Danzo, whose face visibly grew darker.
Hiruzen's voice dropped: "We've been comrades many years. Others you may fool, but not . Now give a reason not to strip you of your post."
"You'd dismiss ?" Danzo said in disbelief. "After everything I've done for Konoha? Over a re Sharingan?"
Hiruzen's gaze deepened. "That's why I'm giving you a chance—to give an explanation everyone can accept."
Danzo suddenly caught the implication and laughed coldly: "You just want an explanation that you can accept, don't you?"
Hiruzen answered only with a steady stare.
…
"Uchiha Chizumi… kidnapped the jinchūriki?"
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, two of Konoha's senior elders, soon received the staggering news.
In truth, the whole matter had already swept across half of Konoha.
Most villagers only knew rumors that Uzumaki Naruto was so sort of "demon‑fox incarnation"; they had no real concept of a Tailed‑Beast jinchūriki.
"And… Hiruzen was on the scene?" Koharu was incredulous. "How could he let a jinchūriki be taken by an Uchiha—into the Uchiha district, no less!"
Unable to sit still, she stood and paced. "No! We must bring the Nine‑Tails jinchūriki out! He can't stay in Uchiha territory!"
"Otherwise…"
Rembering the Nine‑Tails calamity years ago sent a chill down her spine.
Frowning in thought, she noticed Homura had been silent. She glared and snapped, "Well, say sothing!"
Homura spoke gravely: "Do you think soone taken by Uchiha Chizumi is easy to retrieve? Even Hiruzen finds that Uchiha troubleso."
Koharu gritted her teeth. "So we just watch another Nine‑Tails disaster unfold?"
"We needn't clash with Uchiha Chizumi head‑on," Homura said coolly. "We only have to pressure Fugaku. After all, Fugaku is still the Police Force commander; Chizumi is rely an officer.
"I believe Hiruzen thinks the sa. There are plenty of ways to reclaim the jinchūriki without confronting Chizumi's so‑called 'Absolute Justice.'
"Konoha has always been a village of balance and order—never of Absolute Justice."
Hearing this, Koharu gradually cald.
"Then… we'll see what Hiruzen does next."
~~~
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