Chapter 72 Hiruzen’s Judgment

Danzo looked around. Almost all of his shinobi had already been killed: “No other choice… I’ll end this myself, you traitor!”

He raised his right arm. Renjiro’s power was terrifying—he had unleashed a Forbidden Jutsu strong enough to fight the Nine-Tails. Danzo knew he couldn’t afford to hold back.

Though unwilling, he prepared to reveal the secret power sealed in his arm.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

One by one, the heavy locks covering it snapped open and fell to the ground.

Inside Renjiro’s mind, Arkain sounded an alarm:

[Warning! Unknown energy detected… Source identified: Sharingan!]

[Scanning opponent…

Name: Shimura Danzo

Rank: Kage-level

Abilities: Wind Release, Sharingan, Wood Release, Summoning

Danger Level: 3

Recommendation: End the fight immediately!]

Streams of glowing data appeared before Renjiro’s eyes.

“End it quickly? That was my plan all along!”

Crackle! Whoosh!

The moment Danzo tore off the bandages, lightning flared. His vision spun—and then agony shot through his body. Looking down in shock, he saw his right arm was already gone, severed in a flash of lightning!

“What?!!”

Danzo froze, stunned. His greatest weapon had been cut off before he could even use it. The shock left him completely shaken.

“Well, well… what do we have here?”

Renjiro appeared in front of him, holding the severed arm—the one lined with multiple Sharingan.

“Damn you! Give that back!” Danzo shouted. For once, his calm mask cracked. That arm had cost him years of scheming and sacrifice.

“In your dreams.” Renjiro sneered.

If Danzo had used Izanagi right away, things might have turned out differently. But against Renjiro’s speed, even a moment of hesitation was fatal.

“Summoning Jutsu!”

Renjiro’s hands flew through seals. Danzo’s frantic cries went ignored.

Puff!

A thick cloud of smoke cleared, revealing a huge mastiff—Inmaru.

Yes, with the Inuzuka Clan’s help, Renjiro had signed a summoning contract with Inmaru. Though the beast normally stayed at Renjiro’s home, he could now summon it anywhere like any other summon.

“Take the arm and go.” Renjiro ordered coldly, dropping the severed arm before the mastiff.

“Woof!”

Inmaru clamped its jaws around the arm without hesitation.

Puff!

In the next instant, both the beast and Danzo’s stolen arm vanished.

In the next instant, Inmaru vanished in a puff of smoke, using reverse summoning to take the arm away.

“My arm!” Danzo lunged forward in panic. Years of planning and sacrifice gone in a heartbeat.

“Chidori: Thunder God Assault!”

Renjiro’s roar cracked like thunder.

CRRRKK! CRRRKK! WHOOSH!

Lightning swallowed his body, his form becoming a storm of white-blue fury. In a single flash, he appeared above Danzo, blade blazing with power.

“Die!”

BOOM!

The strike came down like divine judgment. Lightning ripped through Danzo’s head and half his body, annihilating him instantly. The destructive force of the Thunder God Assault rivaled a Tailed Beast Bomb.

The blast carved a massive crater, hundreds of meters wide, with a hundred-meter pit at its heart. Had Renjiro not held back at the last second, the devastation would have spread even farther.

Even so, the impact shook all of Konoha. The ground trembled as though an earthquake had struck.

When the dust cleared, Renjiro saw only scattered remains of Danzo’s body. Yet through his Mind Net, he still sensed Danzo’s presence.

Renjiro’s eyes narrowed and muttered in a low voice: “Izanagi…”

---

Deep in the forest, two kilometers from the battlefield—

Danzo reappeared, alive but grim-faced. He had miscalculated. He had overestimated his own schemes, underestimated Renjiro, and worst of all, he had lost his right arm before ever using it.

"How did he know?" Danzo’s mind spun: "No one could have leaked it… The men who operated on my arm were my most loyal, all bound by Cursed Seals. How could Renjiro possibly know my secret?!"

But there was no time to wonder. His frail body was already failing, and without the Sharingan he had sacrificed to survive, he knew he stood no chance. For the first time, true desperation clawed at him.

“Renjiro…” Danzo growled the name through clenched teeth, as though he wanted to devour him alive.

CRRRKK! WHOOSH!

The crack of lightning echoed behind him—followed by Renjiro’s icy voice.

“For someone injured and old, you sure run fast.”

Danzo spun, disbelief in his eyes: “How… how did you find me?!!”

Renjiro shook his head, a cold smile on his lips: “Tricks like that may work on others, but against my sensory abilities… it's useless.”

Danzo forced a deep breath, steadying himself. His tone grew sharp, as he said: “Think carefully. If you kill me here, the Hokage will brand you a traitor. No matter what I’ve done, I am still his adviser—one of Konoha’s elders.”

Renjiro’s sneer cut through the air like a blade.

“Hokage’s adviser? Elder?” His voice dripped with scorn: “Do you think I care about titles or consequences? The moment I chose to end you, I accepted the cost. You should’ve thought of the price before crossing me.”

CRRRKK! CRRRKK!

White-blue lightning roared around him, silver blade shining like a mirror of death.

“This ends now.”

CRRRKK! WHOOSH!

Renjiro surged forward, cloaked in lightning and flame, his speed tearing the air apart.

“Stop!!”

A furious roar split the forest.

Both men froze—Renjiro with cold defiance, Danzo with sudden relief.

Danzo’s eyes gleamed with hope: "Hiruzen…"

“Die!”

Renjiro didn’t hesitate. He spat the word and raised his blade high, unwilling to spare Danzo even with Hiruzen present.

“Enough!”

BOOM!

The earth trembled as a massive shadow struck the ground between them. Dust erupted, parting to reveal an iron staff driven deep into the soil.

Renjiro’s gaze narrowed. His voice came low, serious: “...The Adamantine Staff.”

The weapon transformed from the Monkey King, Enma—was harder than diamond, nearly indestructible, capable of devastating offense and unshakable defense.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Masked Anbu flickered into position all around. Kakashi stood among them, sharp-eyed and ready. From the shadows, two Nara clan members extended their jutsu, binding both Renjiro and Danzo in place.

But neither man acknowledged them. Their focus remained locked on the figure advancing through the haze—armor gleaming, staff in hand, fury in every step.

The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had arrived.

“Danzo! Renjiro!” His voice thundered with rage: “While the village faces the threat of war, the two of you dare fight each other? Do you think of nothing but yourselves! Do you think of nothing for Konoha?!”

For the first time, Renjiro saw the so-called Kind Hokage ablaze with furious wrath.

---

The Third Hokage was on the brink of exploding with rage. At a time when Konoha faced dangerous threats from outside, two of its most important figures had not only failed to stand united, they had turned their blades on each other in open combat!

The very thought of how this would shatter the village’s morale made Hiruzen want to strike down both Danzo and Renjiro where they stood.

Yet even in his fury, his discipline held. He forced a long breath, steadying his body and mind.

But then he saw it—their stances remained. Both Danzo and Renjiro stood ready to kill. His fragile calm snapped.

“You two!” Hiruzen roared, his voice cracking through the forest like thunder: “Drop your battle stances immediately!”

At once, Danzo’s lone eye flickered. He glanced sideways at Renjiro—then, without hesitation, he straightened and stood down.

Renjiro’s brows knit tightly. Danzo’s quick submission had shifted all the weight onto him. And as expected, the moment Danzo yielded, every gaze, Hiruzen’s, the Anbu’s, even Kakashi’s fell squarely on him.

“Damn it…” He muttered, teeth grinding. After a tense pause, Renjiro finally let the lightning fade, releasing his Thunder God Mode.

Only then did Hiruzen rein in his fury, though his face still loomed dark as thunderclouds. Without another word, he slashed the air with a hand command.

“Take them away.”

From the moment the Hokage had appeared, Danzo had already put on the mask of a seasoned fox. He obeyed with flawless compliance, his every gesture feigning contrition—hiding the venom that still burned within.

Renjiro clicked his tongue, before speaking coldly: “Maemon is hidden in a storeroom nearby. His injuries are severe, he needs treatment immediately.”

Hiruzen waved a hand, irritation edging his voice: “I already know.”

---

Later, deep inside an Anbu underground holding chamber—

Renjiro sat on the hard wooden cot. Strangely, his weapon hadn’t been confiscated. Likely, that too was by the Hokage’s order.

Alone, his mind replayed the battle. Regret clawed at him. He should have opened with Thunder God Mode. Had he struck faster, Danzo would have been dead before Hiruzen had arrived to protect him.

Crack!

The door creaked open.

The Third Hokage stepped inside, his face shadowed with grim heaviness.

For a long while, silence reigned between them. Finally, Hiruzen broke it.

“Renjiro… you were too reckless.”

“Reckless?” Renjiro’s calm voice carried a quiet edge. His gaze sharpened: “If I’d been even one step slower, do you know what would have happened?”

He didn’t wait for a reply. His next words struck like a blade: “Maemon’s personality would have been rewritten completely. Not sealed. Not reversible. Permanently destroyed!”

Hiruzen said nothing. He knew the truth of it.

"Ahh!" After a long silence, Hiruzen sighed: “But still… you should not cut down your own comrades.”

“Comrades?” Renjiro’s lips curled into a sneer: “Do you truly believe they saw me that way? Danzo and twenty elite shinobi came for my head. If I hadn’t fought to kill, I would be the one lying dead right now. Should I have folded my arms and waited for their blades?”

The Hokage fell silent. Renjiro’s logic was unshakable, and yet frustration pressed heavily on him. This entire disaster—he had Danzo to thank for it.

Why provoke a youth like Renjiro? A boy so proud, so brimming with fire? Did Danzo not understand how dangerous that was?

“Danzo…” Hiruzen thought grimly: "I’ve let you run unchecked for too long."

He made a quiet decision then—Danzo would be restrained.

But that was a problem for another day. The immediate issue was Renjiro.

No matter who had started the conflict, the truth was undeniable: Renjiro had slain fellow shinobi, and at a time of war. Konoha’s laws demanded punishment. If the Hokage overlooked it, what would that say of the village’s justice?

Hiruzen studied him, eyes heavy with contradiction.

“Too young… too reckless.” He muttered under his breath.

And yet despite his anger, despite the danger, he could not deny Renjiro’s brilliance. His talent blazed so brightly it threatened to eclipse all others. Unmatched, dazzling, dangerous.

Even legends like Hashirama Senju, the God of Shinobi or Uchiha Madara, the Demon of the Battlefield, had not reached such heights at Renjiro’s age.

Hiruzen had already made up his mind: Renjiro was Hokage material.

But the brighter the hope, the sharper the disappointment.

Yes, Konoha had its shadows. Yet it was still their homeland—the soil that had nurtured them. To be Hokage was not to lash out in anger, but to bear the burden of guiding, correcting, and leading the village forward. That was true leadership.

“Ahh…” A weary sigh slipped from Hiruzen’s lips: “If only Minato were still here…”

In raw power, Renjiro’s gifts were beyond extraordinary. But politically? Compared to Minato Namikaze, he was still too green, too untempered.

“Still… time can change him.” Hiruzen thought.

His eyes glinted with renewed resolve. This boy, this raw, uncut stone—he would polish, refine, and mold into the brightest gem, the finest successor.

Across from him, Renjiro’s eyes narrowed. He could feel it, the Hokage’s intent pressing against him, the weight of expectation. Hiruzen wanted to forge him into the next leader.

And though Renjiro would never voice it, his heart stirred. That seat, the Hokage’s chair, the brightest, most exalted throne in the shinobi world… how could he not be tempted?

Vanity whispered. Ambition beckoned. Pride fanned its flames.

Renjiro could not deny it, he wanted that chance. Because with it, he would hold the power and authority to change everything in the village.