Under the night sky—
Izumi soaked herself in the bathtub, her face half-submerged in the hot water. Bubbles rose steadily from beneath the surface—
Izumi still felt that her strength was far too lacking.
Back when Keizumi-senpai confronted Fugaku, the Hokage, Advisor Koharu, and the others—even though she had stood firmly at her senpai's side and glared at those high-ranking figures—none of them had spared her even a single glance.
If only she were stronger... then they surely wouldn't have ignored her, right? They would've realized that Keizumi-senpai wasn't standing alone—that Absolute Justice had followers too.
And now...
Uzumaki Naruto, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, seemed on the verge of embracing Absolute Justice under Keizumi-senpai's influence as well.
Even though Uzumaki Naruto was still very young, his status was so exceptional that his presence still overshadowed hers.
Izumi let out a soft sigh. A large bubble rose to the surface of the bathtub.
Just then, she suddenly caught sight of a small black shadow reflected on the surface of the water, startling her into quickly covering her body.
Looking up immediately, she saw a white ninja cat perched on the slightly open window of the bathroom.
"Rookie, Keizumi-sama has summoned you to assemble. Tonight, there's something important to do—something that concerns you."
The white ninja cat added calmly, "Don't worry. I'm a female."
Izumi let out a quiet breath of relief, though she couldn't help feeling slightly confused by the cat's words—something important related to her?
She thought long and hard but couldn't come up with any clear idea.
All she could do was hurriedly get up, dry herself off, and change into her gear.
Then she rushed outside, closely following the white ninja cat.
Before long...
Izumi found Keizumi standing in a rather dim alleyway.
"Check your ninja tools," Uchiha Keizumi said, glancing at her. His gaze lingered for half a second on her still-damp hair, then he spoke, calm yet striking as always: "Tonight, we're going to kill Shimura Danzō. You'll be the one to do it—dig out this rare 'treasure of evil' with your own hands."
Izumi stiffened in shock. "!!!"
—Kill Danzō!!!
She suddenly remembered that Keizumi-senpai had told her something like this before. And she recalled... that every time she followed her senpai in devotion to Absolute Justice, whenever she personally killed one of the so-called evildoers he pointed out, she always felt herself become just a little stronger.
Senpai had once told her that this was Absolute Justice's gift to its followers.
Which meant...
Izumi's large, clear eyes widened. She felt as though she had just touched upon another of her senpai's secrets.
Of course—
Her senpai didn't really treat it as a secret anyway. After all, he had said something similar to her before.
With a strange sense of anticipation, Izumi hurriedly checked the tools on her person while her curiosity continued to grow. Finally, she mustered the courage to quietly ask, "Keizumi-senpai, do you know where the Hokage is hiding Shimura Danzō?"
"There's a faint signal."
Uchiha Keizumi replied coolly, "My eye left a mark on his soul. I can barely sense his approximate location. The strange thing is... I'm sensing two separate places. Maybe his soul was split in two—as a way to escape the soul-devouring flames of Heaven's Punishment."
Izumi suddenly found herself pitying the former leader of Root just a little.
To think that he had gone to such lengths—even splitting his soul in two—just to barely survive her senpai's last 'hunt.'
And yet, in the end, she still ended up being targeted by Keizumi-senpai.
But then again...
That guy had it coming. If he hadn't committed evil deeds, how could he possibly be judged by Absolute Justice?
"Meow, rookie, tonight's going to be a big one. There's a good chance the Third set up a bunch of Anbu to protect that half-dead old mutt Danzō." The moment Tachibana Jirō's voice rang out, Izumi felt a sudden weight slam down on her shoulder.
"Last night, Keizumi-sama already pissed the Third off pretty badly. Then during the day, he tormented him again. And now tonight, one more round—I wonder if the Third will end up having a heart attack from the stress."
There was a hint of gloating in Tachibana Jirō's tone.
Izumi shifted her sagging shoulder back into place with some effort and said helplessly, "Tachibana Jirō-senpai, why'd you switch sides this time?"
Tachibana Jirō patted her other shoulder with his paw and said, "To keep you from becoming lopsided, of course! I hear you human girls care about that stuff. How thoughtful of me, right? Meow!"
Izumi: "…"
So very "thoughtful," indeed. She felt like by the time she met Danzō, her shoulders would already be aching before she even got the chance to strike.
...
Meanwhile—
At the Anbu base.
"Huff… huff…"
With only half his body remaining, Danzō lay lifelessly on a freezing metal cot, his eyes blank. The soul-deep, searing pain gnawing at him every second of every day couldn't be stopped by any means. It had nearly broken his mind completely.
He could no longer even scream—his throat had gone hoarse long ago. Now, all he could do was gasp raggedly, face twisted in agony.
Only one eye remained in his sockets—the other Sharingan had been taken by a medical-nin under the pretext of "orders from Hokage-sama." That moment had nearly made Danzō faint from sheer rage.
Because the Sharingan in that eye socket...
Was Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan!
And yet, in his current state, there was nothing he could do to resist. He had become nothing more than meat on the chopping block.
Multiple IV tubes were connected to what was left of his body, barely keeping him alive without food or water.
This kind of existence...
Was worse than death itself.
But—
The burning resentment and hatred in his heart kept him from ending his own life. And besides, even suicide wouldn't bring relief. That soul-devouring, bone-burning agony would follow him all the way to the deepest corners of hell!
This Mangekyō ability was terrifying enough to drive Danzō into despair.
He pinned all his hopes on Sarutobi Hiruzen.
What if...
The monkey realized that Uchiha Keizumi—that evil little Uchiha brat—had eyes powerful enough to threaten anyone in the village, even him, the so-called Hokage of Konohagakure? What if the monkey went out of his way to find a way to kill Uchiha Keizumi? In that case, would the effect of the Mangekyō's unique ability be lifted automatically?
After all, he had stolen my Kotoamatsukami! Shouldn't he at least follow through and kill Uchiha Keizumi for me as well?
Clinging to that hope, Danzō hadn't given up his will to live.
He still had a chance!
He hadn't lost yet!
Not until the inherently evil Uchiha clan was erased completely from the shinobi world—there was no way Shimura Danzō would accept defeat!
He was the one who inherited the final will left behind by Tobirama-sensei!
He was the one vying for the title of the next Hokage!
He was the one who was supposed to change the future of Konohagakure!
[Thump.]
[Thump.]
[Thump.]
Soft thuds reached Danzō's ears. His mind drifting in and out, he shifted his bloodshot, exhausted gaze to the left—and saw an old acquaintance: Mitokado Homura.
Homura pulled up a chair, sat down beside Danzō, and adjusted the reading glasses perched on his nose.
He spoke slowly: "Danzō, Konoha's medical-nin have tried every method. Even Uchiha Itachi has done all he can. But nothing worked. Maybe... only Uchiha Keizumi knows how to release the Mangekyō technique he implanted into your body."
The withered muscles in Danzō's face twitched violently. He wanted to lash out at the useless medical-nin. He wanted to curse Uchiha Keizumi as a walking calamity.
But at this point, he couldn't utter a single word.
Homura looked down at his former comrade with a complicated expression.
"Danzō, even if you can't move, you should still know what's been going on lately. Uchiha Keizumi has stirred up no small amount of trouble in Konoha recently. It even involves the daimyo... and the jinchūriki."
Homura slowly recounted the events of the past two days.
Even Danzō, tormented as he was by constant pain, couldn't help but go blank for a moment.
That naturally wicked little Uchiha brat... seemed to be getting even more out of hand!
And no one could stop him!
No—that monkey absolutely could stop him if he set his mind to it. But he was too soft! Too indecisive!
What, just because he's afraid of causing more casualties, he's going to let Uchiha Keizumi run rampant? That kind of hesitation solves nothing. It only creates a mess on both ends!
Danzō ground his few remaining teeth in hatred.
Damn that monkey for being so useless!!!
"Danzō, until you recover, don't overthink it. It's getting late. I should be going." Just as Homura stood up to leave, a sudden thunderous boom shook the ground like an earthquake. His expression changed in an instant.
He quickly steadied himself and looked upward.
The ceiling above had begun to glow with a fiery orange-red hue.
Homura's pupils contracted. A strong sense of dread gripped him, making his hair stand on end. He erupted with speed, retreating backward in a flash!
And just at that moment—
The glowing orange-red ceiling instantly melted through, and a flood of molten rock came crashing down with terrifying force, boring deep into the floor and forming a massive magma crater.
Molten splashes burst in every direction, igniting flammable objects and setting multiple fires across the Root base.
The stifling heat of the magma sent waves of panic through Homura's mind.
"Uchiha Keizumi!!!" he cried out in shock.
And at that moment—
A cold, youthful voice rang out with an eerily familiar tone: "So that's how it is. Relying on the forbidden technique of the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to split the soul burned by Heaven's Punishment Flame into two halves… that way, the fire wouldn't reach the other half."
"The image I had of you… was that you were the kind of guy who occasionally did something stupid—after all, you're the one who once tried stabbing Susanoo with a kunai. But now I see… you've got a bit of cunning in you."
"It's just a shame… the link of pain between the two halves of your soul—can't be severed by the Dead Demon Consuming Seal. And that's exactly why you're lying there like a cripple now."
"That flash of 'cleverness' didn't save you from endless agony. It only made your life even worse than death."
"Am I right, 'Danzō-dono'?"
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