Are you going to become a rogue ninja, Uchiha Chisen?

The Root Base.

"Lord Danzo, Uchiha Chisen is most likely at the Secret Research Base outside the village!" A Root ninja knelt on one knee, his head lowered as he reported to Danzo.

He added, "The Outskirts Secret Base that the Third Hokage ordered built a few years ago. A lot of researchers Orochimaru left behind are 'kept' there."

At the Root ninja's reminder, Danzo remembered.

Monkey had indeed built such a base outside the village back then.

At the time, he had wanted a hand in it. After all, he, Danzo, deserved at least a third of the credit for all the research materials and researchers Orochimaru had left behind.

But that old bastard Monkey had rejected him without mercy.

Monkey had even joined forces with Utatane Koharu and Mitokado Homura to pressure Danzo, forcing him to abandon the idea.

Over the past few years...

It wasn't as though Danzo hadn't considered planting Root operatives there. Unfortunately, Monkey kept such a tight watch on the Secret Research Base that he had never left Danzo an opening.

"Heh."

Danzo suddenly began to relish the misfortune, a mocking smile curling his lips.

Watching the magma fall in the distance, he sneered openly to himself. "That Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat... has finally begun harboring evil intentions toward the 'Hokage.' Monkey, I warned you long ago. If you didn't get rid of him, you would regret it."

The Root ninja kneeling on the ground asked hesitantly, "Lord Danzo, should Root intervene?"

Danzo narrowed his eyes.

Killing intent surged within him.

He had long wanted to tear Uchiha Chisen limb from limb.

"No."

Danzo's gaze turned sinister. "Let Uchiha Chisen make trouble. The bigger the uproar, the deeper his conflict with Monkey will become. If I remember correctly, Sarutobi Shinosuke oversees that base. Heh heh... the Naturally Evil Uchiha Brat is clashing with Monkey's eldest son right now!"

"What we need to do... is stop everyone who intends to intervene and put an end to the conflict."

"Relay my orders!"

"All of Root will mobilize! Guard every exit from Konoha. Apart from the Anbu ninjas at Monkey's side, no one is to be allowed out of the village!"

"Yes!"

The Root ninjas swiftly turned into streaks of afterimages and left the Root Base.

"Dad, that's probably someone's ninjutsu, right?"

On a rooftop in the Nara Clan Compound.

At only seven years old, Nara Shikamaru already wore a precociously world-weary expression. Paired with dead-fish eyes unlike those of other children his age, it made his true age seem questionable.

"Yes."

Standing on the roof beside his son, Nara Shikaku kept his hands halfway tucked into his pockets. His gaze was deep as he said, "It's Lava Release."

"...Lava Release?" Shikamaru froze.

Nara Shikaku said slowly, "You've heard the name Uchiha Chisen, haven't you?"

Shikamaru nodded. "I've heard of him. He seems like a real pain. A lot of people in the village are scared of him. But some people seem to respect him a lot, too."

"So..."

Shikamaru asked, "Is this Uchiha Chisen's ninjutsu?"

Nara Shikaku nodded. "Most likely. And that direction... Lord Hokage is probably in for a headache tonight."

He didn't choose to run over and see what was happening.

He could already tell that this was a mess best left untouched.

The Nara Clan would be better off staying out of trouble.

"I hear Hiruzen has already set out with the Anbu himself."

Utatane Koharu visited Mitokado Homura's house under cover of night.

She told Mitokado Homura, "I knew that Uchiha Chisen was a menace. With his so-called [absolute justice]... everyone in the research base is probably a thorn in his side."

"Unfortunately, Hiruzen has indulged him time and again. I simply cannot understand what value such an uncontrollable Uchiha could possibly offer for Hiruzen to place so much importance on him."

Mitokado Homura clasped his hands behind his back and said gravely, "He is indeed a menace, but he is also a double-edged sword. Hiruzen indulges him because Uchiha Chisen's [absolute justice] is extreme enough."

"At the very least... one thing none of us can deny is that Uchiha Chisen has made some people with ill intentions rein themselves in considerably."

Utatane Koharu said, "But he has gone too far this time. He even dared to attack the Secret Research Base!"

Mitokado Homura said, "This time, let's persuade Hiruzen to steel himself. Uchiha Chisen used to be weaker and still within the village's ability to control. We could still wield that double-edged sword and put it to good use. But now..."

Apprehension flashed in his eyes. "He is gradually coming into his own."

The last Uchiha the two of them had considered beyond their control was named Uchiha Shisui.

It was Uchiha Shisui's eyes that had made them so wary.

The main reason they feared Uchiha Chisen...

Was his absolute justice, which paid no heed whatsoever to the village's politics.

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

BOOM!!!

The constantly falling magma made the entire Secret Research Base shudder violently. Fierce flames had already sprung up, and some of the falling magma had even punched through the base's ceiling.

Inside the base, Sarutobi Shinosuke realized that it had probably already been riddled with holes.

The entire base was practically ruined, and much of its important research equipment had probably melted in the magma as well.

"Uchiha Chisen! Have you lost your mind?!"

Sarutobi Shinosuke tore the obstructive Anbu mask off his face.

Now, the abnormal redness of his facial skin was clearly visible, scalded by the steam filling the air.

Even more apparent was the fury covering his face, which bore some resemblance to Sarutobi Hiruzen's.

"This is a Konoha base! I don't know how you found out about those things, but I can tell you that everything my subordinates and I have done was for Konoha!"

"We have honored the will of fire! We have honored our fallen predecessors! And we have honored everyone in Konoha!"

"The people who died because of what we did weren't even from Konoha! They weren't even from the Land of Fire! What the hell are you sticking your nose into, Uchiha Chisen?!"

"Where is your [absolute justice]'s loyalty to Konoha? Are you going to become a rogue ninja, Uchiha Chisen?!"

Sarutobi Shinosuke roared, consumed by rage.

Uchiha Chisen rose to his feet. The magma around him could do him no harm, and he simply gazed calmly ahead.

Drop after drop of magma dripped from his body.

"Shinosuke-sensei, the [absolute justice] I believe in has never been rooted in loyalty to Konoha. Nor can a single word from you determine whether I'm a rogue ninja."

Uchiha Chisen walked forward.

"It's only because you were once my Jonin instructor that I'm telling you this much, so you can at least understand before you die."

Uchiha Chisen suddenly used the Body Flicker Technique, appearing before an Anbu ninja in an instant. As the man's pupils contracted in terror, one hand had already sheared off half his head.

-This was the Anbu ninja whose feet had been burned away by the magma. He no longer had any way to dodge.

"I believe in [absolute justice] because I feel the Shinobi World has become sick and twisted. This diseased world breeds endless 'evil,' filling it with suffering and tragedy..."

Uchiha Chisen's body suddenly became transparent, as though he had vanished into thin air.

-This was his first time using the Gekko Clan's Transparent Release!

The remaining Anbu ninjas frantically looked around.

They tried to find some trace of Uchiha Chisen after his sudden disappearance.

Until his voice rang out behind one of them.

"And that evil includes, but is not limited to, daimyo who impose crushing taxes, leaders consumed by power, beasts who slaughter their entire clans, lovesick fools with something wrong in their heads... and the things you've done, Shinosuke-sensei."

"Urgh!!!"

The Anbu ninja suddenly let out a muffled groan and looked down in horror at the large hole that had inexplicably opened in his chest.

"Only when [justice] is absolute enough..."

Uchiha Chisen fired a magma projectile from a distance, engulfing an Anbu ninja who was trying to form hand seals in an instant.

"Can the Shinobi World's 'evil' be purged."

Billowing magma poured from Uchiha Chisen's arms, surging like a torrential flood or a tsunami toward three more Anbu ninjas, who could see nothing and could only feel a wave of heat rushing toward them.

Only when Sarutobi Shinosuke was the last one left before him, clutching half a ninja sword with shock and terror written all over his face...

Did Uchiha Chisen cancel his Transparent Release.

"Am I... under your Sharingan Genjutsu?"

Sarutobi Shinosuke's eyes widened. Unable to believe anyone could possess three kekkei genkai, he instinctively suspected he had fallen under genjutsu.