Shiranui Genma looked at the black jutsu that was about to erupt and couldn't help but turn his head, muttering to Raido Namiashi beside him.
"The fish in the lake are really going to have a bad time."
Zero ignored the comment. His hands formed a strange seal.
"Iron Coffin Seal - Phase Three, activate."
Buzz—
All the black incantations on the walls, floor, and ceiling of the secret room seemed to come to life at that instant.
They peeled away from the hard rock like a receding tide, transforming into hundreds of fine black chains that surged towards the dark core, formed by the "Reverse Four Symbols Sealing," in the center of the room, which was about to devour everything.
The violent Chakra impact was instantly choked off. The destructive energy was enveloped layer by layer by countless chains, eventually compressed into an extremely unstable black orb of light, which vibrated wildly on Danzo's body.
Shiranui Genma, Raido Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami had already taken their positions, forming hand seals. Three Chakras of completely different natures instantly connected, forming an invisible coordinate field.
"Flying Thunder Formation!"
There was no earth-shattering sound, no magnificent light and shadow effects.
Danzo's twisted corpse, along with the black sun that condensed endless malice and destruction, vanished into thin air under everyone's gaze.
As if they had never existed.
The entire secret room completely returned to dead silence.
A moment later.
Dozens of kilometers away from Konoha, in a calm lake, the water surface in the center of the lake suddenly bulged upwards without warning.
Immediately after, a muffled, extremely deep roar, as if from the depths of the earth, belatedly spread.
The Reverse Four Symbols Sealing devoured half of the lake, and the resulting aftershocks blasted a towering water column a hundred meters high. Countless fish and shrimp were stunned, floating belly-up on the surface, announcing that an era that had lurked in Konoha's darkness for decades had come to an end in an absurd and complete manner.
In the secret room, the suffocating oppressive feeling dissipated with Danzo's disappearance.
Kakashi slowly lowered his hand, still wreathed in residual electricity, and pulled down his eye patch. He walked over to Naruto, his exposed eye filled with extremely complex emotions.
He looked at the empty ground in front of him, his voice a little hoarse.
"Danzo's last words... about the Hokage, were they true?"
Naruto didn't turn around. His gaze remained fixed on the spot where Danzo had disappeared, as if confirming the final deletion of data.
"Not entirely true, but not entirely false either."
Naruto still spoke in a calm tone, understanding but not caring.
"A decaying system will inevitably give birth to a 'Root' like Danzo and a 'Leaf' that 'acquiesces' like Hiruzen Sarutobi."
"The problem is not with individuals, but with the system itself."
Kakashi's body stiffened. He pretended not to understand and chuckled awkwardly.
"Naruto, you always say puzzling things."
Naruto led everyone out of the "Iron Coffin."
Outside the Root base, the deafening "assault" had long since stopped.
The path was unobstructed.
When they returned to the highest-level conference room of the Root base, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Utatane Koharu, Homura Mitokado, and the clan heads of Konoha's major families were already waiting there.
No one spoke; the atmosphere was as heavy as iron.
Everyone's gaze was focused on the blonde youth.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Naruto, his old face etched with exhaustion and pain. He opened his mouth, seemingly wanting to say something.
Naruto, however, spoke first.
His voice wasn't loud, but it clearly echoed throughout the entire room, interrupting the Third Hokage's impending words.
"Danzo Shimura's treason has been confirmed, and he has been purged."
He paused, his gaze fixed on the Hokage.
"Hokage-sama, please give your instructions!"
This seemingly deferential statement contained an undeniable subtext that everyone present understood.
He was applying pressure.
He was demanding that Hiruzen Sarutobi fulfill the promise made in the Hokage Office, a promise exchanged for Konoha's future as collateral.
Utatane Koharu's expression became extremely grim.
She leaned into Hiruzen Sarutobi's ear and spoke urgently in a voice only the two of them could hear.
"Hiruzen, do you really trust him with the 'Root'? This is insane! Please reconsider."
Homura Mitokado immediately echoed her.
"That's right, although Danzo was extreme, at least he stayed within the rules. This Uzumaki Naruto... he's an unpredictable variable, an even greater threat!"
Naruto didn't even need to listen to guess what the two Advisors were whispering about.
His gaze passed over everyone and landed on Hiruzen Sarutobi again, his blue eyes as firm as iron.
"No one but me can take on the mess of the 'Root,' and no one would dare to."
He calmly stated a fact.
"Either give it to me, and I will cleanse and reorganize it, making it a true dark blade protecting Konoha."
"Or, disband it on the spot."
Naruto's voice suddenly turned cold.
"Let all the spies lurking in various countries go out of control, let all the secret files that cannot see the light of day be scattered, and let Konoha's dark side, accumulated over decades, be exposed to the sunlight all at once, triggering an even greater chaos that no one can predict."
"You choose one."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's body trembled violently.
He looked into Naruto's eyes; there was no threat, no coercion, only two options laid on the table, and an absolute calmness awaiting his decision.
He sighed softly, knowing he had no choice.
From the moment he acquiesced to Danzo's rise, to his inability to stop Orochimaru's defection, to being controlled by Danzo with Kotoamatsukami, and finally needing a twelve-year-old boy to clean up the mess, he had already lost the power of choice.
He closed his eyes in pain.
When he opened them again, all the hesitation, struggle, and unwillingness in his eyes had turned into a dead-ash-like resolve.
"I announce in the name of the Third Hokage."
His voice, amplified by Chakra, resonated in everyone's ears.
"Effective immediately, all affairs of the 'Root' shall be under the full authority of Uzumaki Naruto."
At these words, the entire room erupted in an uproar.
Even Nara Shikaku, who had anticipated this, couldn't help but visibly flinch, an indescribable apprehension rising in his heart.
"Oh dear, it seems Konoha's history has taken a sharp turn."
Hyuga Hiashi's face was taut, and his hands, resting on his knees, unconsciously clenched.
Yet, Uzumaki Naruto, the center of the event, seemed to have heard nothing more than a trivial matter.
His expression remained unchanged.
He simply turned around and looked at Zero, who had been maintaining a kneeling posture behind him, and in front of all Konoha's high-ranking officials, issued his first command after taking office.
"Zero."
"Seal all entrances and exits of the base. No one is allowed to enter or exit without my command."
"Inventory all assets, files, and personnel lists, categorize and archive them. I want to see a complete report by tomorrow."
Zero bowed his head deeply and responded to his new master in a loud, clear tone, tinged with fervent adoration.
"Understood, Political Commissar."
Political Commissar?
This unfamiliar title, one most people had never heard before, made everyone present pause again.
What was that? Some new position? Or... a code name they completely failed to understand?
Naruto no longer paid attention to the varied expressions on everyone's faces.
After giving his orders, he turned and walked straight out of the conference room, as if there was nothing left there worth his lingering over.
Utatane Koharu and Homura Mitokado watched his retreating back, a chill from the depths of their souls climbing up their spines to the tops of their heads.
They had already realized an incredibly terrifying truth.
Konoha might have sent away a jackal named Danzo.
But they had, with their own hands, opened the floodgates for a stronger, calmer beast.
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