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When the Shimura clan saw what was coming, panic tore through their ranks.
"Run! Run now! He's no damn god—he just wants an excuse to wipe out the Shimura clan!"
"Run? Are you insane? Fight him! This is too much!"
"We're Shimura! We're not pushovers! Don't let them look down on us!"
"This is life or death for our clan! Kill him! All of you, charge!"
An elite jōnin led the charge. More than a dozen Shimura shinobi, eyes bloodshot, hurled themselves at the towering purple Susanoo.
Kunai. Shuriken. Ninjutsu. Every technique they had.
None of it even brushed the giant's knee.
"Pointless."
From within the crystal at Susanoo's brow, Akira watched them without expression.
Then—
A massive blade of violet chakra took shape in the Susanoo's grasp.
It lifted the sword high… and brought it down.
Boom.
Like a natural disaster crashing to earth. Like the end of the world.
In a single instant, the entire Shimura compound was erased—flattened into nothing.
Not a single Shimura survived. They were reduced to ash.
Only one last scream lingered in the night.
"Danzo! This is your fault! You doomed the Shimura clan! You'll be our eternal sinner! I'll curse you from hell—!"
It was the voice of their strongest warrior, an elite jōnin, crying out with his final breath.
And just like that—
The Shimura clan was no more.
"Good! Good riddance! That rot needed cutting out!"
"Thank you, Lord God! Thank you for saving Konoha from a scourge!"
"Yeah! That's what I'm talking about!"
Cheers exploded across the village.
Eyes turned toward the towering purple figure, filled with awe and gratitude. Smiles spread everywhere, genuine and unrestrained.
Tonight, Konoha was livelier than a festival.
Even Danzo, deep down, couldn't help but think: Serves them right.
Those ungrateful fools. The moment trouble hit, they tried to throw him under the bus. Called him the clan's eternal sinner.
Pathetic.
If the clan was destroyed, they had it coming.
And yet… bitterness gnawed at him.
Tonight was supposed to be the night the Uchiha were wiped out.
Instead, it was the Shimura.
Instead, it was him.
How ridiculous.
By the end of that night, the curtain fell cleanly.
Danzo lay crippled—limbs shattered, jaw and tongue crushed, blind in both eyes.
The Shimura clan had been eradicated.
Root existed in name only.
The full-bodied Susanoo dissolved, the purple titan fading into drifting light.
Akira landed before the gathered Uchiha.
All around him, shinobi gazed with reverence and gratitude.
He had removed a cancer from Konoha. Restored clarity to the village. Brought justice.
Not everyone was celebrating.
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood silently in the crowd, watching Akira bask in thunderous applause.
His expression was grave.
If Akira had simply activated Susanoo and slaughtered the Shimura clan outright, that would've been easier to deal with. A brute relying on overwhelming power. Feared, perhaps—but not loved.
But that wasn't what he'd done.
He'd laid out Danzo's crimes one by one.
Turned public opinion.
Made the Shimura clan into villains in everyone's eyes.
And only then destroyed them.
No fear. Only cheers.
He hadn't just eliminated a rival—he'd won hearts in the process.
The depth of that calculation made Hiruzen's scalp prickle.
Power was dangerous.
Power with a brain was far worse.
From now on, he would have to tread carefully. One misstep, one weakness exposed—and he could end up like Danzo.
He reminded himself of that.
"Where's Danzo?" Akira asked calmly. "I'm taking him back to the Uchiha compound and locking him up."
Fugaku Uchiha hesitated. "Locking him up at home isn't impossible… but we don't exactly have a prison. Building one just for that bastard feels like a waste."
"True," Akira mused. "Constructing a cell for trash like him would be overkill."
He shrugged.
"Find a pigsty. Toss him in there. Just make sure he doesn't die."
Fugaku's eyes lit up. "Perfect. For someone as vile as Danzo, a pigsty's already generous."
He turned and barked orders to a clansman.
"Go. Find the finest pigsty we've got. Make sure it's worthy of our distinguished guest."
The Uchiha shinobi left with a wicked grin.
That was the last straw.
Hiruzen's voice cut in, stern.
"That's enough, Uchiha Akira. Danzo's crimes are severe… but he was once a village elder. He represents Konoha's dignity. There's no need to humiliate him like this."
He sighed, looking at Akira seriously.
"Send him to Konoha's prison. I'll assign guards personally. There won't be any accidents. If you don't trust us, you're free to inspect him anytime."
Fugaku let out a cold laugh. "And who's to say you won't quietly release him?"
Hiruzen flushed red with anger.
"Danzo's crimes are monstrous. The worst in Konoha's history! As Hokage, how could I possibly free him? Do not question my integrity, Fugaku!"
Fugaku opened his mouth to retort—
Boom.
Something wrapped head to toe in bandages dropped from above and slammed into the ground between them.
A white-haired figure landed beside it, one foot planted firmly on Danzo's head.
It was Kakashi Hatake.
"Send him to Konoha's prison," Kakashi said coldly. "I'll guard him myself. Unless I'm dead, nothing will happen to Danzo."
His Sharingan glowed an eerie red as he stared down at the broken man beneath his foot.
Ever since learning the truth about his father's death, his hatred for Danzo had reached its peak.
Volunteering to guard him wasn't just about duty.
As long as Danzo didn't die… a little private punishment during watch duty should be fine, right?
"Kakashi, you…" Hiruzen stared, stunned. The proud inheritor of the Will of Fire looked nothing like he used to.
"Third Hokage-sama, please grant my request."
Though he used the honorific, the respect in his tone was gone.
Hiruzen sighed deeply.
"…Very well. From now on, your mission is to guard the criminal Danzo."
It was better than seeing him locked in a pigsty.
"Thank you, Third Hokage-sama."
Kakashi nodded lightly, then looked toward Akira.
Hiruzen's approval was secondary.
The real decision rested with him.
Akira met Kakashi's gaze, saw the hatred burning there, and understood.
He gave a small nod.
"Sure, White Hair. I trust you. Just watch your strength—don't go and kill that old bastard Danzō by accident. Hahaha!"
With a booming laugh, Akira turned on his heel and strode off, carefree as ever.
"Thanks."
Kakashi didn't waste another second. Slinging Danzō over his shoulder, he shot toward Konoha's prison at full speed.
Damn it… Sakumo's brat actually dared to step on my head…
I should've wiped him out back then—cut the weeds at the root and killed the little mongrel with his father! Damn it all!
Danzō's fury roared inside his chest, but outwardly, he could do nothing.
…
After walking a few steps, Akira suddenly stopped, as if something had just clicked in his mind. He turned around and let his gaze sweep lazily across the gathered Konoha shinobi.
It didn't take long to find who he was looking for.
He raised a hand, pointing straight at the man, then looked at Hiruzen with a feral grin.
"Oh right—I almost forgot. That idiot I strung up at Konoha's gate? You were the one who saved him, you old fossil."
His smile sharpened.
"Now you're going to hang him up there yourself."
The man he pointed at—Hyūga Tokuma—went sheet white in an instant.
He'd never imagined that someone with such terrifying power would hold grudges like this. That a nobody like him would still be remembered.
Regret churned in his gut. Why had he ever provoked someone like that?
Hiruzen's face darkened. "Someone of your strength should act with the dignity of a true powerhouse. There's no need to nitpick over something so trivial."
Akira stared at him, expression flat.
"You really don't want me to repeat myself."
Dignity? What was that supposed to be—food?
He didn't care about some noble image. All that mattered was whether he felt satisfied.
"Tokuma… I'm sorry," Hiruzen said at last, guilt written plainly across his face.
Akira's presence pressed down like a mountain. The Third Hokage had no intention of clashing with him over something this small.
Besides… he had a bad feeling that if he refused, he might end up getting slapped across the face again.
"C–Clan Head… I…"
Tokuma's lips trembled. He tried to grasp at some last shred of hope.
Hyūga Hiashi shook his head helplessly. "Accept it, Tokuma. Surviving this is already more mercy than you deserve."
The moment he saw Akira unleash a complete Susanoo, Hiashi had understood.
The Hyūga clan didn't even have the faintest chance of standing against him.
"Ahhh!"
Tokuma let out a raw, furious scream. In the end, he still couldn't escape being hung at the village gates like a public disgrace.
…
On the way back to the Uchiha compound, Fugaku kept shaking his head, sighing to himself.
"What a shame… what a shame…"
Not being able to throw Danzō into a pigsty really did feel like a missed opportunity.
After a while, he edged closer to Akira and lowered his voice, speaking with careful respect.
"Senior… just now, you could've… you know…"
He drew a finger across his throat.
The meaning was obvious. Why not kill Hiruzen while they had the chance?
Akira let out a short, dry laugh and shot him a sidelong look.
"Yes. I could crush Hiruzen like an ant. Then what?"
Without waiting for an answer, he continued.
"The Hokage dies. Every shinobi in Konoha swarms me. So I wipe them all out too."
His tone stayed flat.
"And then what? The only ninja left in Konoha are the Uchiha. We just take over the village, is that it?"
He paused.
"The civilians would hate the Uchiha to their bones."
A cold smile tugged at his lips.
"So what—then we slaughter the civilians too? Wipe Konoha off the map entirely?"
Fugaku broke into a cold sweat, shaking his head furiously.
"N–No! I never meant that!"
He hadn't even considered it spiraling that far. To him, it was just killing one man.
The Uchiha were one of Konoha's founding clans. No matter the resentment toward the higher-ups, they still saw the village as home.
Even the radicals within the clan had never dreamed of destroying Konoha itself. Their hatred was aimed at the leadership, not the village.
After a moment, Fugaku tried again, more cautiously.
"With your strength, though… wouldn't it be easy to eliminate Hiruzen quietly? No one would ever know."
He looked at Akira with barely concealed hope.
If Akira made a move, Hiruzen would be as good as dead.
Akira looked at him the way one might look at an idiot.
"You think the people of Konoha are as stupid as you? If Hiruzen dies, you really think they wouldn't figure out who did it?"
Fugaku scratched his head awkwardly and let out a dry laugh. "Right… I didn't think that through."
After a pause, he couldn't help asking, "So we're just… letting him off that easily?"
The bitterness in his voice was unmistakable.
After learning from Itachi that the massacre of the Uchiha had been planned by both Hiruzen and Danzō, he'd already marked Hiruzen as a mortal enemy.
As long as that old fox lived, Fugaku couldn't rest easy.
"Let him off?" Akira's eyes turned icy. "Hiruzen was one of the masterminds behind the extermination of the Uchiha. You think I'd spare him?"
He gave a cold laugh.
"I'm not just going to kill him. I'm going to make sure he ends up just like Danzō."
His voice was steady, almost casual.
"He'll become a rat everyone in Konoha wants dead. And when he dies, his name will be nailed to the village's pillar of shame."
Akira tilted his head slightly, imagining it.
"Picture it. The whole village chanting, 'Kill Hiruzen Sarutobi!'"
He smirked.
"That'll be a sight worth seeing."
Fugaku's eyes lit up instantly.
"Yes! That's perfect! Killing that old fox outright would be too merciful. He deserves to become the next Danzō!"
For a moment, he could almost see it—Hiruzen crippled, blinded, jaw shattered, reduced to a pitiful wreck as the crowd roared.
Just imagining it made his blood run hot.
But then his excitement cooled, replaced by a frown.
"As satisfying as that sounds… Hiruzen isn't like Danzō. That old fox hides his tracks well. He's cautious—never leaves evidence."
He sighed.
"Danzō fell because his human experimentation base was exposed. But Hiruzen? There's nothing that would ignite public outrage."
Even if there was something dirty, Danzō had probably taken the fall for it already.
With Hiruzen's towering reputation, dragging him down to Danzō's level wouldn't be easy.
Akira's expression didn't change.
"Relax. As long as he intends to move against the Uchiha, he'll have to act."
His eyes sharpened.
"And the moment we prove that he tried to destroy the Uchiha without cause—that alone will be enough to pin him to the wall."
"..."
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