The dense chakra sphere in Hyuga Satoru's hand had already solidified into a tangible orb of power. Even without a dojutsu, Shimura Danzo could feel the destructive force packed inside it.
He glanced at Satoru — and his eyes widened.
The chakra sphere was already flying straight toward him.
Danzo didn't dare hesitate. He leapt upward, exhaling a burst of wind to accelerate his rise and push himself out of the impact zone.
BOOM!!!
The chakra sphere smashed into the ground where Danzo had been standing and exploded with a deafening roar.
The entire Hyuga compound shook.
Ninja all around turned their heads to see a blazing, crimson fireball rise from the plaza. A scorching shockwave followed, rolling outward like a tidal wave. Hyuga and ANBU alike were blasted off their feet.
Even Danzo, who was already airborne, was caught by the edge of the blast. The shockwave struck him midair and sent him tumbling before he crashed to the ground.
Thud!
Even that residual force was brutal. Danzo's vision swam. Pain shot through his body; cold sweat slid down his temples.
"Urgh—!"
Without Hashirama's cells grafted in, he had no way to cushion that kind of impact. Even just that blast was enough to half-paralyze him.
Satoru, of course, wasn't about to waste such a golden opening.
Both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo had just tried to trample on the Hyuga. If he didn't hit back hard enough to make them remember it, they would never stop.
If he could kill Danzo here, the matter would end here.
No one was going to start a village-wide war over a dead elder — not when the Hyuga were now standing up as a united great clan.
And even if they did… Satoru still had Flying Thunder God. With space–time ninjutsu, he could retreat whenever he wanted.
That was the terror of space–time users.
Once again, chakra spun and condensed around his arm — the lion-shaped aura opened its jaws, and a dense, spiraling chakra sphere formed in front of Satoru's palm.
Satoru raised his hand, eyes cold.
"Die."
The killing intent in his eyes was so sharp it felt like winter.
"Stop!!!"
At that instant, Sarutobi Hiruzen finally understood Satoru's true intent.
Until now, he had thought the Hyuga heir was simply resisting ANBU suppression. But this second, execution-level strike at a downed elder — this was no longer "self-defense."
Hyuga Satoru was about to kill a Konoha elder in front of everyone.
Hiruzen couldn't let Danzo die like that.
He shouted and flashed forward.
But Satoru ignored him.
The instant the chakra sphere finished forming, he released it.
The blinding orb tore through the air straight toward the fallen Danzo.
For one frozen heartbeat, time stopped.
Hiruzen's pupils shrank — in Danzo's condition, there was no way he could survive that.
Root operatives on the side cried out and rushed to shield him — but they all knew they were too slow.
Uchiha Fugaku's Sharingan had already spun to life, the red tomoe reflecting the incoming light. Judging from the power behind that jutsu and Danzo's current injuries… he quietly declared Danzo dead in his heart.
Part of him was even satisfied. Danzo was one of the hands that had strangled the Uchiha.
As the attack drew near, even Danzo saw it clearly.
The chakra sphere filled his vision — and in that split second, his life flashed before his eyes.
"I'm… going to die… to a brat like this?"
That was his last coherent thought.
He saw Satoru's cold blue eyes — unshakable, merciless — and suddenly the decades of darkness he had walked, the sacrifices, the killings, the schemes…
…all felt like a joke.
The gap between someone born ordinary… and someone born with a great bloodline… was a wall he could never cross.
He closed his eye and waited for the end.
But in that instant —
— someone appeared in front of him.
A white cloak.
Flames at the hem.
Four crimson characters on the back:
Fourth Hokage.
Danzo's eye snapped open. "Minato…?" he rasped.
Namikaze Minato stood there, calm as still water. In his hand was his special Flying Thunder God kunai, its formula glowing faintly.
The moment the chakra sphere reached him, space rippled — and the orb vanished.
A heartbeat later, a distant blast shook the village — the redirected explosion erupted on the mountainside behind the Hokage Monument, echoing like rolling thunder.
Minato turned his head slightly, confirming Danzo was alive. Then he faced Satoru and the still-tense Hyuga.
"That's enough," he said, voice level but carrying total authority.
"Everyone — stand down."
The chaos froze.
Even Satoru, who regretted not killing Danzo, knew that once Minato personally intervened, pushing further was meaningless.
The Hyuga all looked to him.
He flicked his hand.
They withdrew in perfect order, disengaging from the ANBU and Root shinobi.
The ANBU and Root weren't in good shape. Most of them had their tenketsu struck or chakra flow disrupted — Hyuga techniques were made for that. Even elite operatives couldn't fight properly after that kind of internal damage.
Minato's calm voice broke the silence.
"Lord Danzo," he said — polite, but absolutely firm — "what exactly happened here that made the Hyuga Clan attack you and the ANBU?"
Even without knowing all the details, his stance was clear:
He was leaning toward the Hyuga.
Danzo's face flushed with shame. Supported by his subordinates, he tried to speak — but no excuse came out.
Seeing him silent, Minato turned to Hyuga Satoru and Hyuga Hizashi.
Hizashi stepped forward, bowing.
"Fourth Hokage-sama, these men deliberately provoked our clan and tried to interfere with our interrogation. The truth is this—"
He explained everything, clearly and cleanly:
the assassination attempt on Satoru,
the Hyuga capturing Kurama Unkai,
the ANBU showing up to seize the body,
and the escalation that followed.
Minato had already heard from Hatake Kakashi that Satoru had been targeted.
But this — the ANBU trying to take the body, and Danzo personally appearing — was new.
And with Uchiha Fugaku standing there as a neutral witness, Minato had no reason to doubt it.
That the ANBU had gone this far… over one corpse… was very wrong.
Minato's expression cooled. His gaze moved to Danzo, then to Hiruzen.
Then he gave his ruling:
"This matter ends here.
The body of Kurama Unkai will remain with the Hyuga Clan for now.
You have one week to investigate.
If nothing is found, hand it over to the Analysis Division.
If you do find something—
—you report to me first.
No private action."
"Now — disperse."
The commotion had already drawn too many eyes. Minato didn't want rumors spreading with half the truth missing.
Even though he hadn't managed to kill Danzo, Satoru had still made his statement today.
He'd forced one of Konoha's highest-ranking elders to the brink of death.
He'd made the Hyuga's stance impossible to ignore.
He'd made even the Hokage come in person.
After dismissing his men, Satoru bowed to Minato, then turned and nodded to Uchiha Fugaku in thanks before leading the Hyuga back inside.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, face unreadable, left quietly.
Shimura Danzo, supported by Root, also withdrew — humiliated.
Minato, having heard that the Hyuga had invited the Yamanaka Clan to extract the dead man's memories, chose to stay. He wanted to know who had dared to move against a Hyuga heir inside Konoha.
Not long after, the head of the Analysis Division — Yamanaka Haiichi — arrived in person.
Before the sun set that day, news was already everywhere:
The Hyuga heir, Hyuga Satoru, had nearly killed Elder Danzo.
From clan heads to ordinary chunin, the whole village whispered about it.
But the Hyuga didn't care about rumors anymore.
They cared about one thing:
finding the hand that had pushed Kurama Unkai toward the Hyuga.
Satoru already had a guess.
But with the Yamanaka's mind-technique…
…the truth would become something even the Fourth Hokage could not ignore.
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read 50 chapter ahead on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/Nova5tudios