The rope landed with a soft sound. But in the quiet square, it was clearly audible.
Half of Danzo's body lay in a puddle of last night's rainwater.
A greasy ring of bloody streaks spread across the puddle.
He braced both hands against the rough stone slabs, the veins on their backs bulging like earthworms.
He had just started to push himself up.
Click.
A muddy black military boot came down squarely on his shoulder.
Shu Shiraishi looked down at him from above.
He pressed down hard with the sole of his boot.
With a dull thud, Danzo's chest slammed against the stone.
Bloody water splashed everywhere.
The square was already packed with people.
At the front stood the heads of the major clans: Hiruzen Sarutobi, Mitokado Homura, Utatane Koharu, Uchiha Retsu, and Hyūga Tensō.
Behind them was a dense crowd of civilians and lower-ranking ninja.
Everyone looked as though they had been frozen in place, too afraid to breathe.
Hiruzen stared fixedly at Danzo on the ground, his fists clenched tightly inside his sleeves.
Mitokado Homura pushed up the round glasses on his nose. His fingers trembled uncontrollably, and his lenses reflected a white glare in the morning light.
That was Shimura Danzō, one of the Second Hokage's most trusted disciples and the man who controlled Konoha's Root.
Now he was being trampled into the mud like a stray dog.
"Criminal, Shimura Danzō."
Shu Shiraishi's voice, amplified by Chakra, struck every corner of the square.
"Last night, you led three suicide soldiers into the Hokage's office in an attempt to assassinate the current Hokage."
A chorus of sharp intakes of breath rose from the crowd.
Assassinate the Hokage? It was the first time such a thing had happened since Konoha was founded.
Danzo writhed frantically.
He raised his head, exposing his face, wrapped in bloodied bandages, to everyone.
His right eye was bloodshot, its red-veined eyeball fixed on Shu Shiraishi's chin.
"Mm... mmm..."
His shattered jaw kept him from saying a complete word. Bloody froth dripped from his chin.
He was denying it. Cursing.
But to everyone else, this was merely the laughable death struggle of a loser.
"What, you want to speak?"
Shu Shiraishi ground his boot down harder.
"The assassins you sent didn't even leave ashes behind. What excuse could you possibly have?"
Shu Shiraishi bent down slightly. His broad Hokage hat blocked out the sunlight.
"According to the rules laid down by the First, assassinating a comrade is punishable by death."
Hiruzen's breath stopped for a moment. He took half a step forward, intending to plead for him.
"But killing you outright would be letting you off too easily."
Shu Shiraishi raised a hand, stopping Hiruzen in his tracks.
He pulled a silver needle as thick as a finger from his waist.
It was a special ninja tool used by the medical team to block Chakra points.
Shu Shiraishi held the silver needle between two fingers.
He formed no Hand Seals and used no subtle technique.
He simply drove it hard into the largest Chakra point at the back of Danzo's neck.
Pfft.
The needle pierced his skin and sank into the gap between his bones.
Danzo's whole body suddenly went rigid. Like a fish out of water, he jerked wildly twice.
Then he fell heavily into the muddy water.
The Chakra in his dantian vanished completely in an instant, like air escaping from a deflating ball.
His body temperature dropped rapidly, and even his breathing grew faint.
"I've crippled your Chakra."
Shu Shiraishi pulled out the silver needle, drawing out a string of blood droplets.
"From today on, you're no longer a ninja. You're not even the equal of an ordinary civilian."
Danzo lay facedown on the ground. All ten fingers dug into the gaps between the stone slabs, refusing to let go even when his nails split.
He could no longer feel Chakra flowing through his body.
The feeling of having that power completely drained away hurt ten thousand times more than his shattered jaw.
The "darkness of the shinobi" he had been so proud of, the foundation of his bid for the Hokage's position-all of it was gone.
"As for your punishment."
Shu Shiraishi straightened up and looked around the square.
His gaze lingered for two seconds on Hiruzen's ashen face.
Hiruzen felt a chill run down his back.
"Konoha's sewers have been clogged for a long time."
Shu Shiraishi's voice was utterly flat, as though he were reading out today's menu.
"They happen to need a night-soil man."
Dead silence.
The thousands of people in the square were so quiet that even the wind rustling through the leaves could be heard.
Mitokado Homura's glasses nearly fell to the ground.
Hyūga Tensō drew a sharp breath and clutched his chest.
A night-soil man?
Make the esteemed head of the Shimura Clan, a former Anbu executive, shovel shit?
It was like putting a man's dignity between millstones and grinding it to dust.
Danzo's eyes went wide in an instant.
His bloodshot right eye nearly bulged out of its socket.
He pushed against the ground with both hands and somehow mustered a burst of strength, trying to lunge at Shu Shiraishi and bite his leg.
"Urgh, aaah!"
A beastlike, wheezing roar came from his throat, spraying bloody bubbles from his mouth.
Shu Shiraishi did not even bother to dodge.
He lifted his right leg slightly and slammed the inside of his military boot into Danzo's temple.
Thud.
Danzo went flying like a battered sandbag, rolling twice through the muddy water before going completely still.
Only the faint rise and fall of his chest remained.
"Take him away." Shu Shiraishi raised his chin.
Two Anbu immediately stepped forward. Each grabbed an arm and dragged Danzo like a piece of garbage toward the sewer entrance at the very edge of the village.
The muddy water left two filthy streaks across the stone slabs.
Shu Shiraishi turned around.
The early morning sunlight shone on the white "Fire" character against the red background of his hat.
He walked up to the heads of the major clans.
Uchiha Retsu instinctively avoided Shu Shiraishi's gaze.
Akimichi Chōza wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and drew his massive body back.
Shu Shiraishi's gaze swept over every face.
It lingered particularly on the faces of Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura.
Hiruzen gritted his teeth. Blood seeped from his gums.
He felt that gaze scraping across his face like a knife.
Koharu kept her head down, both hands clutching the hem of her clothes so tightly that her knuckles turned white.
Homura did not even dare look at Shu Shiraishi, his neck tucked into his collar.
"Take a good look."
Shu Shiraishi's voice was not loud, but it struck everyone's eardrums.
"This is what happens to those who destroy the village's unity. No matter what great clan they come from, no matter their seniority."
"My rules are the only rules in Konoha."
Shu Shiraishi turned and walked toward the Hokage building.
All he left behind was the upright silhouette of his back, clad in black.
Halfway there, he stopped and turned his head halfway around.
"In half an hour."
His voice was as cold as December ice.
"A meeting of the leadership will be held at the Hokage building."
"Anyone who's late."
Shu Shiraishi paused.
"Dies."