Danzo had been seething ever since he left the Hokage's office.
He was deeply dissatisfied with Sarutobi Hiruzen's indecisiveness.
In his eyes, every member of the Uchiha Clan was evil, with the sole exception of Kagami Uchiha back in the day.
Especially an Uchiha brat like Uchiha Chisen, who flaunted his extreme temperament and methods for all to see!
What was this [Absolute Justice] nonsense?
He was clearly just using justice as an excuse to kill for pleasure!
Only Monkey, that utterly unqualified Third Hokage, would believe Uchiha Chisen's stance made him trustworthy.
As Danzo headed back to the Root Base with two Root bodyguards, his mind full of resentment...
He witnessed a sight that nearly gave him a heart attack.
-Uchiha Chisen was holding the seven-year-old Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, in one hand!
The sight brought Danzo straight back to the Nine-Tails' Rampage.
The destruction that terrifying Nine-Tails Fox had wrought upon Konoha was still vivid in his memory!
Danzo practically exploded with rage on the spot.
After furiously shouting "Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat!" from a distance, he raced toward Uchiha Chisen with his two Root bodyguards.
In almost the blink of an eye, they surrounded Uchiha Chisen, the Anbu ninja, Izumi, and Uzumaki Naruto in a triangular formation.
Danzo was so worked up that he nearly tore off his bandages to expose the horrifying mass of Sharingan beneath them.
Fortunately, he gritted his teeth and held himself back.
"Uchiha Chisen! Are you trying to rebel?!"
Danzo glared at Uchiha Chisen with eyes full of vicious fury, his breathing growing noticeably heavier in his agitation.
He bellowed accusingly, "Seizing Uzumaki Naruto in the middle of the street! So the Uchiha Clan can no longer hide its ambitions!"
"I knew your Uchiha Clan harbored sinister intentions toward Konoha! That tragedy a few years ago... your Uchiha Clan really did orchestrate it yourselves, didn't you?!"
The two masked Root bodyguards had already drawn their ninja swords.
The tense atmosphere alerted some of the nearby passersby that something was wrong.
"Who are those two masked men...?" Unlike the Anbu ninja, whose existence was at least somewhat public, Root ninjas-the wholly clandestine Root of Konoha-were known to very few civilians.
"Hey, hey, something's not right!" Someone swallowed nervously and stepped back. "They're not going to fight, are they? Shouldn't we hurry and notify the Konoha Military Police Force?"
"Isn't that Uchiha Chisen... already with the police force? We should notify Lord Hokage instead!"
"This doesn't look good..."
"..."
Izumi also felt that things looked bad. She did not recognize the Root ninjas or know Shimura Danzō, but she recognized the Anbu masks.
She also noticed that the moment that unfamiliar, bandaged old man appeared, Chisen's gaze had fixed intently on him.
She wondered whether she was imagining it, but she felt that undisguised killing intent lurked in Chisen's eyes.
Clearly, she was not imagining it.
In Uchiha Chisen's vision, the red box floating above Danzo's head was larger than anyone else's.
The densely packed fine print listed crime after crime that Danzo had committed. Its scarlet hue, so deep it was almost purple, represented his evil.
Uchiha Chisen had seen Danzo from a distance six years earlier, and even then, he had felt the urge to take action.
However...
Back then, he had only been a Chunin. Purging Danzo's sins had been far beyond his capabilities.
But now...
Uchiha Chisen felt that urge stirring again. He narrowed his eyes, ignoring Danzo's string of aggressive accusations. "I caught this brat because he committed an offense. Is Root... trying to obstruct the police force in the execution of its duties? Anyone who interferes with law enforcement will be killed without exception."
The Anbu ninja responsible for monitoring Naruto also realized something was wrong.
He discreetly summoned a ninja pigeon and released it, sending the summoned creature to notify Lord Hokage at once.
The perilous atmosphere had frightened Naruto into silence.
He realized that he had truly caused serious trouble today.
Danzo's sinister eyes were likewise filled with killing intent. "Uchiha Chisen, you're no longer merely an ordinary evil Uchiha! Today, I will personally eliminate this threat for Konoha."
Click-
The ninja sword at Uchiha Chisen's waist had already slid more than an inch out of its sheath.
The instant a breeze swept a fallen leaf past them...
The two Root ninjas behind Uchiha Chisen struck first!
One closed in instantly with his ninja sword, its point aimed straight at Chisen's heart from behind!
The other slashed at Uchiha Chisen's left arm, trying to seize the Jinchuriki.
Danzo, meanwhile, shot forward with lightning speed, closing to point-blank range.
At some point, a kunai had appeared in the hand of his bandage-wrapped arm.
The kunai plunged straight toward Uchiha Chisen's abdomen!
At almost the exact same instant, scarlet spread across Uchiha Chisen's eyes, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan replaced his ordinary pupils.
He abruptly pulled his left hand inward, forcing the Root ninja attempting to sever his left arm to hastily withdraw his blade. If he followed through, he would strike the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki instead.
The ninja sword that had been drawn an inch from its sheath flashed fully free, colliding violently with Danzo's thrusting kunai.
Using the force of the impact, Uchiha Chisen released his sword and rapidly formed one-handed seals with his right hand.
"Lava Release..."
"Chakra Warrior Body!"
An astonishing surge of crimson chakra erupted from Uchiha Chisen's entire body. Every inch of his skin visibly transformed into flowing magma, and even his police uniform was assimilated by the Lava Release chakra, taking on the same molten form.
The terrifying heat set the back of Naruto's collar ablaze, and he dropped to the ground with a thud. Even from several centimeters away, the heat burned the back of his neck.
Naruto clutched his neck and howled in pain.
The instant the ninja sword aimed at Uchiha Chisen's heart touched the skin of his back...
It melted!
"This is..." Danzo's pupils contracted. His mind, nearly overwhelmed by fury, instantly cleared as he remembered what made Uchiha Chisen special. "A Lava Release kekkei genkai!!!"
The Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat before him possessed double kekkei genkai, something exceedingly rare across the entire Shinobi World!
Even Danzo had only heard about Uchiha Chisen's double kekkei genkai. He had never seen him use Lava Release.
This astonishing temperature was more terrifying than many Fire Release Ninjutsu!
I must not let this Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat touch me. That heat will vaporize flesh! That was the instinctive conclusion Danzo drew from his many years of combat experience.
Just as that thought crossed Danzo's mind...
Uchiha Chisen's arm of flowing magma seemed to become a crimson spear, thrusting forward!
It shot straight toward Danzo's head!
Before you continue