The scent of pipe smoke lingered in the Hokage's office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled slowly, letting the curling wisps blur his vision as he stared at the closed door. The echoes of Kaede's footsteps had long faded, but his words—his conviction—still hung heavy in the air.
"Now it's basically certain that Kaede will not pose a threat to Konoha," Hiruzen muttered. "Are you satisfied, Danzo?"
From the shadowed corner of the room, an ANBU figure shifted.
The illusion faded with each step, revealing the twisted form of Shimura Danzo—one eye gleaming with distrust, his body wrapped in bandages like a cursed relic of the old war.
"You say he's no threat," Danzo rasped, "yet Kaede's presence is a blade poised above the village's throat."
He didn't bother to mask the contempt in his voice. "That Uchiha boy… he spoke of cutting down even you if necessary. And you still shield him?"
Hiruzen's voice was calm, but stern. "Kaede is the one I chose. Just like I once chose Itachi."
Danzo scoffed. "That choice nearly destroyed the Uchiha. And now you give this one—this weapon in human form—license to kill in the name of 'absolute justice.'"
He leaned closer. "Mark my words, Hiruzen. Kaede will not be your sword. He will be your executioner."
Hiruzen's gaze hardened. "And you forget your place. I am Hokage. You are a ghost that exists only because I allow it." Silence fell between them.
Danzo turned and left, the door slamming with the weight of suppressed fury. Far from the political rot of the Hokage's office, the streets of Konoha were unusually still.
That stillness broke in an instant.
"U-Uchiha Kaede is here!"
The panicked shout came from a fruit vendor, his voice trembling as he hastily corrected his posture and wiped his stall clean. Around him, the transformation was immediate. A pickpocket returned a stolen purse and dropped to his knees. Two arguing villagers suddenly clasped hands and smiled like lifelong friends. Trash disappeared from the ground as if swallowed by guilt itself.
Kaede's presence was a cleansing fire.
Izumi, walking a few paces behind, blinked in disbelief.
"This… is how people react to you?" she murmured, watching a grown man burst into tears just from locking eyes with the enforcer.
Kaede didn't respond. His gaze was fixed forward—unblinking, implacable.
They turned a corner—and chaos erupted.
"Stop right there, brat!"
"Like hell I will!"
A blur of orange darted down the street, chased by a red-faced shopkeeper swinging a rolling pin.
"Stealing again, Naruto?" Izumi sighed.
The boy—a mop of golden hair, whisker-like markings on his cheeks—shouted gleefully as he hurled a cabbage back at his pursuer.
Until he ran straight into Kaede's hand.
The enforcer didn't move. His arm merely extended, and Naruto's momentum did the rest. The boy flailed mid-air, then hit the dirt with a dull thud.
Silence fell.
Villagers peeked out from windows and doorways, some whispering, others gasping. Kaede stared down at the struggling child with cold, calculating eyes.
"Theft. Repeated offenses. Property damage. Public disorder," he said, his voice like polished steel. "And you're the Nine-Tails' host. A jinchuriki who can't even follow basic laws?"
Naruto, still dazed, looked up. "W-Who are you?"
"I am Kaede of the Uchiha Police Force. And you are under arrest."
Back in the Uchiha compound, Fugaku stood before four silent bodies.
His brow furrowed. "He's killed again," he muttered. "Even the Moonlight incident hadn't cooled down yet."
A coroner shook his head. "No sign of Kaede returning yet." Fugaku sighed. "He's not wrong in what he does… but each step he takes isolates us further."
He looked at the charred remnants of the Moonlight clan's insignia.
"If he continues like this, the village may have no choice but to purge us."
The only answer was silence. In Konoha's holding cells, Naruto stared at the wall. Chains rattled slightly around his wrists.
Izumi, standing guard, frowned. "Wasn't that a bit much for a kid?"
Kaede replied without looking at her. "A child who steals once is careless. A child who steals daily is criminal."
"He's the Nine-Tails' host. If he grows up without discipline, without law… the next time he breaks something, it might be a village."
Kaede's eyes glinted with quiet, divine certainty.
"Justice must start now."