This road is closed. Whoever comes dies (Please, please keep reading!!!)

Inside the Root Base.

Danzo stared grimly at the retreating backs of Sarutobi Hiruzen and the Anbu Ninja.

Only once they had vanished completely from sight...

Did Danzo finally let his emotions erupt.

"Bastards!!!"

That bastard Monkey had extorted every scrap of his research on Wood Style and the Sharingan.

He had even... forced Danzo to hand over the two remaining Three-Tomoe Sharingan he had yet to implant in his body.

He had painstakingly acquired all those Sharingan in secret while leading Root during the Third Shinobi World War.

Now, not only had Uchiha Chisen wasted one Sharingan...

But that bastard Monkey had extorted another two!

This was the explanation Monkey had demanded to satisfy him.

And on top of that...

Before leaving, Sarutobi Hiruzen had given Danzo a warning-or rather, a threat.

"Danzo, do not let me hear of anything like this happening again. I tolerated you this time because you have indeed contributed much to Konoha. Next time, my patience will not extend so far. If this happens again, you can relinquish your position as Root Leader."

Recalling Sarutobi Hiruzen's words, Danzo clenched his fists.

"I nurtured Root with my own hands, pouring my heart and soul into it! What right does he have to threaten my position in Root?!"

He ground out every word through gritted teeth.

"That bastard Monkey! And that inherently evil Uchiha brat!!!"

Just then...

A Root intelligence operative hurried back to the Root Base and immediately reported his latest findings to Danzo.

"Lord Danzo, Uchiha Chisen has taken the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Uzumaki Naruto, to the Military Police Force Building! Apparently, this happened with the Third Hokage's tacit approval."

Danzo: "???"

Inside the Uchiha Clan's compound.

"Uchiha Chisen took that Demon Fox Brat to the Military Police Force Building?"

An Uchiha ninja's eyes suddenly lit up with eagerness. "This is an opportunity that comes once in a lifetime! They say the Nine-Tails Fox from back then is sealed inside that brat. He's the Jinchuriki!"

"If we can control the Jinchuriki's power, which of those old fossils running the village would still dare raise their voices at our Uchiha Clan?"

He continued excitedly, "Who would have thought? Uchiha Chisen usually seems so out of place. He never fits in, and he even gets into arguments with his own clansmen all the time..."

"But when it counts, he's actually pretty reliable!"

Uzumaki Naruto was most likely the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki-on the surface, this seemed to be a "secret" known only to the Konoha High Council.

But nobody was a fool. Rumors had long circulated through the village that the brat was the Demon Fox Incarnation, a harbinger of disaster.

Most rumors did not spring out of nowhere.

Anyone who gave it a little thought would realize he was inextricably linked to the Nine-Tails Fox Tailed Beast.

Just then, another Uchiha ninja beside him frowned and sneered. "I heard Uzumaki Naruto is in Lord Fugaku's office right now. Knowing Lord Fugaku... heh, do you really think he'll let us use the Jinchuriki to intimidate the village leadership?"

"This is Fugaku the Fierce Eye, the man who always 'puts the bigger picture first'!"

Another Uchiha ninja gritted his teeth. "Hmph! Patriarch Fugaku is just indecisive! But if we gather some clansmen and put a little pressure on him, how could he refuse?"

"With the Demon Fox's power, we could carry out our planned coup ahead of schedule."

"We can ask Elder Setsuna to step in!"

"..."

More than twenty Uchiha ninja had gathered together.

Every one of them belonged to the Uchiha Clan's Hawks.

They all rallied around Uchiha Setsuna, a veteran of the Uchiha Clan's Hawks who had spent many years imprisoned by the Second Hokage for plotting a coup and had only been released in recent years.

But these younger Uchiha Hawks were still too slow to react.

Several Uchiha Hawk Elders, led by Uchiha Setsuna...

Had already headed straight for the Military Police Force Building!

However...

"Uchiha Chisen, what is the meaning of this?!" Uchiha Setsuna, who was roughly Sarutobi Hiruzen's age, leaned on a cane and stared hard at Uchiha Chisen, who stood blocking the middle of the street.

"Ch... Chisen, sir, what are you..." Izumi, standing behind Uchiha Chisen, also stared at him in astonishment.

Before their eyes...

Uchiha Chisen drew the Ninja Sword from Izumi's waist and stood silently with it in hand on the main street of the Uchiha Compound.

The atmosphere became charged with tension in an instant.

The guards accompanying the Hawk Elders stepped forward to confront Uchiha Chisen, who had appeared so abruptly.

Uchiha Chisen ignored Uchiha Setsuna's demand. Instead, he calmly addressed Izumi beside him. "Rookie, suppose 'evil' clashes with 'evil,' and that conflict could leave both sides badly wounded, or even destroy them both."

"But that conflict would engulf many people who should never have been involved. Do you think [absolute justice] should stand by and watch, or intervene?"

Izumi froze.

She thought hard, winding the ends of her hair around a fingertip, then ventured, "Sir, that question is too profound... but I think [absolute justice] shouldn't be so heartless."

Her courage gradually grew. "If... if it were my decision, I would choose to intervene!"

Huh? Wait...

Chisen wouldn't ask me this for no reason.

And considering what he's doing right now...

Gasp!

Could it be that, in his eyes, these elderly Uchiha Clan elders are also 'evil'?

Then the other 'evil'...

Who would that be? Lord Fugaku? Or Lord Hokage?

Izumi swallowed silently.

"Rookie, you're only half right," Uchiha Chisen said slowly. "[Absolute justice] allows no room for sentiment. It must employ utterly merciless methods to be carried through to the end. The reason we must prevent this-is that [absolute justice] does not permit any 'evil' to parade before our eyes."

"Even if you know that letting 'evil' fight 'evil' would only benefit [justice], with no downside... allowing 'evil' to act brazenly before your eyes is already a betrayal of [absolute justice]."

"Rookie, never entertain the idea of indulging one 'evil' so it can fight another 'evil' and leave both sides crippled. If even the slightest thing goes wrong, and they fail to cripple each other..."

"That approach will only allow one of those 'evils' to grow so powerful that even [absolute justice] can no longer suppress it."

To Uchiha Chisen, the Uchiha Hawks' coup plans did not count as "evil," because they were only plans.

But the wanton behavior, the trampling of justice, and the twisted, sick acts they would commit during the coup...

Were "evil" in Uchiha Chisen's eyes.

He knew this so clearly entirely because of the red-and-white boxes before him.

The "evil" within them was laid bare in full.

Only then...

Did Uchiha Chisen finally acknowledge Uchiha Setsuna, whose expression kept shifting.

But the words he uttered sent Uchiha Setsuna's fury surging.

"This road is closed."

"Whoever comes dies."