Arresting Nine-Tails Jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto

Even after Uchiha Chisen left with that Uchiha girl, Sarutobi Hiruzen still could not figure out when he had insulted anyone.

He pinched some tobacco into his pipe bowl, struck a match, and lit it, gently drawing on the pipe stem as he did.

"Phew..."

A thin haze of smoke swallowed his aged face. Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured, "We can now more or less confirm that Chisen will not pose a threat to Konoha. You're satisfied now, aren't you, Danzo?"

As soon as he finished speaking, an "Anbu guard" stepped out from a corner of the office.

Yet after taking only a few steps, his form began to change.

He gradually became an elderly man wrapped in bandages, with only one eye exposed and an exceptionally gloomy, sinister air about him.

This was the one who controlled Konoha's "Root"!

The Shinobi World's master at drawing in blame!

—Shimura Danzō!

"When Uchiha Chisen entered the office, he glanced in my direction. He must have noticed me immediately." Danzo narrowed his single eye and looked outside the door, making no effort to conceal the hostility and distance in his gaze.

Then he turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen and continued, "Hiruzen, you cannot guarantee that Uchiha Chisen did not deliberately say those things because he noticed me. This Uchiha's conduct is so extreme that his evil is plain for all to see!"

"You heard him yourself. Even if the Hokage stood in his way, he would still dare to draw his blade against the Hokage. Such an innately evil Uchiha brat should not exist in Konoha."

Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned. "Danzo, I know what you are planning. You are not to lay a hand on Uchiha Chisen. He is an Uchiha I value, just like Itachi."

"Though his extreme methods are somewhat inappropriate, he has indeed established a new standard of Justice for the village. Those in the village with ulterior motives have, in the end, reined themselves in considerably."

Sarutobi Hiruzen made the decision. "Chisen's existence has both benefits and drawbacks for the village. For now, the benefits outweigh the drawbacks."

"Hmph." Danzo gave a sinister snort. "What benefits outweigh drawbacks? That is merely your indecisiveness. You only say that because the ones who died today were from the Gekko Clan."

"If the ones killed had been Sarutobi Clan shinobi, would you still be wearing that same expression, Hiruzen?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen replied calmly, "I concern myself only with the public good, never private interests."

Danzo admitted that Monkey's words had nearly made him laugh.

"Allowing an Uchiha born evil to the very extreme to enforce his so-called [Absolute Justice] in Konoha is playing with fire! One day, you will regret this, Hiruzen!"

Danzo gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a deep look.

Sarutobi Hiruzen met his gaze and said in a low voice, "Danzo, you never understand your place. In Konoha, I am the Hokage. And you are merely Konoha's 'darkness.'"

"If I say Chisen cannot be touched, then he cannot be touched! Do not forget that Root can continue to exist only because I permit it. With a single order from me, Root will be disbanded completely!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes. "Danzo, as Hokage, my authority is unlimited. You do not want me to do that either, do you?"

Danzo's eye widened. "Monkey, you..."

"Hmph!!!"

There was no point continuing when they could not agree. Danzo's aged face darkened with barely contained rage, and he said nothing more as he left with his head lowered.

Bang—

The heavily slammed door made it clear just how painfully he was suppressing the fury in his heart.

"Chisen still hasn't returned?" Far away at the Konoha Military Police Force, Uchiha Fugaku was staring worriedly at four corpses.

"No." A Konoha Military Police Force examiner answered.

Fugaku let out a heavy breath. "He has struck at one of Konoha's shinobi clans again. This will likely push the conflict between the Uchiha and the village several steps closer to an irreparable situation..."

This was what Fugaku feared most.

Honestly.

Although Uchiha Chisen's actions were extreme, they were correct—so correct that even Fugaku often found it difficult to pick out any fault in them.

Yet for the Uchiha Clan, which was already precariously caught in the storm, such correctness was a series of deadly death warrants.

Ever since the Nine-Tails' Rampage, the Uchiha Clan had been under heavy suspicion from the village.

Many shinobi clans that had once maintained barely passable relations with the Uchiha Clan had grown increasingly distant from them over the past few years.

The Uchiha's reputation among some civilians had also worsened by the day.

The pressure of this outside situation had, in turn, intensified the pressure the Hawk Uchiha within the clan placed on him as clan head.

Today...

Several Uchiha Clan members had privately met with him again, demanding that a complete plan for a Konoha coup be drawn up.

"sigh..."

Fugaku sighed. In the entire Uchiha Clan, aside from his eldest son Itachi and the late Shisui, was there not a single clansman who could put his mind at ease?

"U-U-Uchiha Chisen is here!!!"

At the same time.

A trembling cry filled with panic instantly shattered the peace of a Konoha street.

A thief who had been quietly pickpocketing suddenly froze, his face turning ashen as though his parents had died.

He hurriedly shoved the stolen wallet back where it belonged.

Without even daring to look in Uchiha Chisen's direction, he immediately dropped to the ground in the humblest dogeza posture.

"I confess! I'm willing to confess! I'll honestly tell the Konoha Military Police Force about every crime I've committed! Please don't kill me!" the thief wailed miserably, drenched in sweat.

At the other end of the street, two Konoha civilians who had been arguing and hurling vulgar insults at each other instantly put on enthusiastic expressions as well.

They threw their arms around each other's shoulders and called each other "good brother," looking nothing like they had been red-faced from arguing moments ago.

A villager who had casually tossed away some trash frantically picked it up and stuffed it into his pocket.

"So... so exaggerated..." Izumi had finally seen just how great Senior Chisen's reputation was in Konoha.

She had previously stayed in the Ninja Academy, burying herself in her studies.

She really had not paid attention to anyone outside the academy who was this famous.

Izumi felt that if Senior Chisen took a few walks around the village more often, Konoha's crime rate would drop by several percentage points!

"You little brat! Stop right there!!!"

But very soon, an enraged shout shattered the strange silence.

"Who would stop?! If you catch me, I'll definitely be in big trouble, believe it!"

Another shout rang out.

The first was an adult's voice, while the second belonged to a child.

Izumi turned her head in confusion.

She saw a blond-haired brat running around wildly in a panic, with a man wielding a rolling pin chasing after him.

Wherever the two went, chaos followed.

The blond brat would occasionally grab all kinds of things from the street and throw them behind him to hinder his pursuer.

But that also threw the street into complete disorder, forcing many passing villagers to hastily get out of the way.

Just as the blond brat brushed past Izumi.

From the corner of her eye, she saw Senior Chisen suddenly reach out a hand.

The blond brat, who had been running so happily, was instantly lifted into the air.

He had been caught!