Tagitsuhime's huge snake pupils reflected the figure standing atop the wooden giant's head. Inside, her heart was a storm. Disbelief filled her eyes; she even felt a level of absurdity she'd never known.
She'd lived for a thousand years and met countless believers of all kinds of "ninja ways."
But someone like the Uchiha before her—who would storm into Ryūchi Cave's sacred ground alone for a hazy ideal of "punishing evil and promoting good"—was a first.
She could sense Tagorihime's faint life force where she'd been embedded into the rock wall.
She saw the terrifying, smoking hole that had punched clean through Ichikishimahime.
Manda's mangled remains still reeked of charred flesh not far away.
A sharp, icy dread stabbed straight into her soul.
No—stall for time! White Snake-sama is immensely powerful; it must have already sensed this brutal battle! If I can just hold out a little longer, White Snake-sama will come save us!
"You… human ninja…" Tagitsuhime forced her seared, roiling body to lift its massive head. She made herself calm down and rasped, "On what basis do you judge good and evil? You and I aren't even the same kind of being."
Her vertical pupils locked on Chizumi. "In Ryūchi Cave we follow nature's law of the strong devouring the weak—the survival of the fittest. Survival, evolution, slaughter: that is our 'ninja way.'"
"What gives you the right to use your human, hypocritical morals to condemn us—who follow our own law of survival—as 'unforgivable' villains?!"
Uchiha Chizumi looked at her without a ripple in those scarlet Mangekyō eyes.
Her sophistry about "natural law" versus "human morality" went in one ear and out the other.
"Because I'm human."
Chizumi's voice was glacial, utterly flat.
That short answer left Tagitsuhime stunned—and choked off everything she'd been about to say.
Chizumi had no interest in debating a Red Named outlaw.
He slammed his hands together.
Underfoot, the lava flushed bright and softened. As if a volcano suppressed for millennia had finally found a vent, the thick, scalding, annihilating magma surged upward like boiling blood.
The lava gathered and shaped at once, coalescing in a blink into a savage dragon's head—several sizes larger than the wooden giant's—formed entirely of molten rock.
Lifelike, the lava dragon gaped its jaws, baring fangs made of flowing magma.
Lava drooled like saliva from its mouth, spattering the ground with a harsh sizzle and clouds of white steam.
The massive molten dragon lunged to bite down on Tagitsuhime!
"Hss—?!"
Her pupils pin-pricked. A deathly sense of crisis made every scale on her body bristle.
At the last instant, she twisted with everything she had, trying to roll aside.
But her enormous serpentine bulk, now that she'd reverted to a snake's body, became a fatal burden—clumsy and slow before the lava dragon's bite.
Ssszzzt—!!!
Like a branding iron pressed to butter, a horrible sound tore the air. Her tough scales touched the molten fangs and melted instantly like ice in a furnace.
The heat carbonized flesh and bone on contact.
"SKREEAAAHHH!"
Agony that seemed to rip her very soul apart crashed over Tagitsuhime. Her giant body was bitten clean in two.
The severed surface was charred black; viscera and broken bone gaped in the air, then carbonized in the lingering heat.
Her upper half thrashed madly; the lower half went limp. The seared cross-section split open at once.
Blood gushed like a burst dam—only to flash into steam in the heat.
A shriek no serpent should make, loaded with boundless pain and despair, echoed under Ryūchi Cave's dome for a long, long time.
On the other side, Ichikishimahime watched Tagitsuhime get cut in half in a single bite by the molten dragon and felt terror drive her thoughts into overdrive.
Manda's temper is foul and we're not even that close! Orochimaru is just Manda's summoner! And White Snake-sama's orders… none of that is worth more than my life!
If I stay I'll be killed!
Run. I have to run!
I have to get away from this Uchiha lunatic!
Her massive head whipped around. Ichikishimahime unleashed every shred of will to live.
Her colossal body writhed despite the pain, grinding stone to gravel as she fled headlong toward the deeper tunnels of Ryūchi Cave.
If she'd run at the very start, she might have made it.
Now, it was far too late.
In the next instant, countless thick, dark-brown vines as wide as barrels split the hard ground and shot upward with irresistible force.
Hunting intent clear as day, they locked onto Ichikishimahime's gigantic body like a school of sharks scenting blood.
Whoosh—
The thickest vine streaked out like lightning and wrapped her wildly lashing tail, dead on.
"What?!"
Her tail wrenched tight—an immense yank halted her charge and even dragged her huge body stumbling backward.
Before she could whirl around in terror to see—
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!!!
More vines surged in like a dark-brown tidal wave, swarming over her from every side. Like living pythons, they coiled her mid-section, her belly, even her neck, binding her fast.
Ichikishimahime let out a hopeless hiss and thrashed, trying to tear free.
She even opened wide to bite through them with venomous fangs—
But Wood Release was far tougher than she'd imagined. Brimming with life force, the vines were preternaturally strong; her fangs left only shallow marks. She couldn't sever them at all.
The tangled mass of vines began to constrict like giant snakes crushing prey.
Crack!
Crack!
Crack!
Bones snapped in a horrid, staccato rattle—her spine giving way under the monstrous pressure.
Pain and suffocation drowned her in an instant. She felt her organs shoved out of place, her lungs unable to draw a breath; her huge snake eyes bulged, shot through with blood.
Terror and despair flooded her gaze.
Her struggles faded fast,
leaving only mindless spasms.
…
Meanwhile, in Konoha.
The Hokage's office.
Smoke coiled so thick it nearly veiled Hiruzen Sarutobi himself. Brow knotted, pipe ember flaring, he was at his wits' end over the Sarutobi Nadeshiko incident—its clan rot, its Cloud spies.
Worst of all, he was sure Nadeshiko's case wasn't the only one; others in the Sarutobi clan had to be colluding with Kumogakure. He just didn't know who.
Bang!
The office door flew open. An Anbu in an animal mask dropped to one knee, breath urgent. "Hokage-sama! There's been an incident inside the Uchiha Police Force!"
Bloodshot eyes lifting, Hiruzen rasped, "What is it? Why the panic?"
"Uchiha Fugaku… has been impeached by his own clan and removed!" the Anbu reported in a rush. "He publicly declared he'll submit his resignation to you tomorrow—stepping down as Uchiha clan head and as Captain of the Konoha Police Force!"
"What?!" Hiruzen's hand jerked; ash spilled from his pipe.
For a second he wondered if the smoke had made him hear things.
The Nadeshiko mess already had him drowning—and now the Uchiha chose this moment to stage a palace-style ouster?
How had Fugaku been driven off by his own people?
He drew in a deep, stinging pull of tobacco, forcing the burn to snap his tired nerves to attention.
"Who led the move to impeach him?" Hiruzen's voice dropped.
"Uchiha Izumi—Uchiha Chizumi's lieutenant," the Anbu answered without hesitation. "The push against Fugaku was driven by Uchiha Izumi, Tsunade-sama, and the ninja cat Jujirō."
"In addition, a large bloc of mid-tier Uchiha in the Police Force—and many ordinary clansfolk—joined in. The momentum was huge."
He paused, then added, "From what we saw, years of Fugaku's caution and compromise—both internally and externally—have built up serious resentment. Many believe he failed to defend the Uchiha's dignity and interests…"
"Hold it."
Hiruzen cut him off; one name had jumped out at him.
"Tsunade?!"
He almost missed it. "She isn't even Uchiha. How did she get involved?"
"Because when Elder Koharu led Root to arrest Uchiha Izumi and the others, Tsunade-sama personally blocked her," the Anbu replied. "After that, Tsunade-sama escorted Elder Koharu and the Root operatives straight to the Police Force."
"…"
Hiruzen lowered his pipe, fingers drumming the desk, and let out a long, weary breath. "I think I see why Fugaku chose to step down so cleanly."
He rubbed his throbbing temples, eyes complicated. "Tsunade… she's my direct student, Hashirama's granddaughter, one of the Legendary Sannin. Back when she was active in the village, she built up no small reputation."
"In many people's eyes—especially among the Uchiha—her stance, to a degree, reads as mine, or at least as tacit approval from the top."
"Even if she's long since stayed out of village affairs, that influence remains."
A trace of helplessness entered his voice. "With Tsunade publicly 'standing with' them, Fugaku likely felt he'd lost both the will and the grounds to resist. Under pressure from all sides, stepping offstage may be the only dignity he has left."
Silence settled; only the faint crackle of burning tobacco remained.
After a while Hiruzen spoke again, low and grave. "Has the Uchiha put forward a new clan head?"
"No clear result yet," the Anbu said quickly. "But judging by the crowd—especially the younger ninja and common clansfolk—the loudest name is Uchiha Chizumi."
"Uchiha Chizumi…" Hiruzen repeated, then sighed deeper.
Shaking his head, he said, "Knowing him, he'll never accept the role of clan head—endless errands, balancing interests. In his creed of 'Absolute Justice,' that's just a shackle that keeps him from carrying out 'justice' in the shinobi world."
His tone hardened. "But…"
"The Captain of the Konoha Police Force—the key post that guards village security and wields independent authority… that may truly fall into Chizumi's hands."
Yes, by statute he held the final say on the appointment.
But with a tidal wave of Uchiha support behind Chizumi…
Hiruzen knew all too well: if he vetoed it or named someone else, he would trigger upheaval within the clan—
possibly fierce backlash and unrest.
Uchiha Setsuna hadn't managed to spark a coup that shook all of Konoha; at this rate, one wrong decision from Hiruzen might just make the Uchiha want to topple the Hokage instead.
And a village already on edge over Nadeshiko absolutely could not bear a fresh Uchiha crisis right now.
…
Ryūchi Cave.
As the vines cinched tighter and tighter, Ichikishimahime's scales burst away, baring bloody flesh.
Each vine dug deep into meat, snapping bone after bone—then grinding the broken pieces to paste.
With a thunderous pop, a red mist flooded the cavern. Every thick vine ran slick with blood as chunks of flesh and splinters of bone flew in all directions.
When a prompt flashed across his vision, Uchiha Chizumi knew that Ichikishimahime—one of Ryūchi Cave's three top rulers—was dead.
The colossal wooden giant turned slightly, lifted its one remaining massive arm, and smashed a fist toward Tagorihime, who was pinned to the cliff and barely clinging to life.
Boom!!!
Tagorihime's eyes flew wide as she tried to heal with sage energy.
There was no chance to dodge. She could only watch that fist swell to fill her sight—
until her awareness thrummed and fell into darkness.
Chizumi's cold gaze shifted again, landing on Tagitsuhime's two halves.
Below, the flowing lava rose as if scooped up by an invisible hand and, like a flood, poured over the screaming Tagitsuhime.
Her screams cut off for good.