Danzo coughed lightly.
"Kazuki… you must be joking. The ninja world has never had someone our age become a jinchūriki."
Homura nodded quickly.
"Yes. We're not suitable."
Kazuki smiled at them.
"I said you're suitable. So you're suitable."
"Didn't you want to pick a Two-Tails jinchūriki?"
"Problem solved."
"We?!"
Danzo, Homura, and Koharu's faces turned ugly.
Matatabi glanced at the three old men and made a disgusted expression.
"They smell ancient. I don't want them!"
Kazuki kicked the Two-Tails.
"You talk too much."
Danzo and the others instantly brightened up.
"See? Even the Two-Tails refuses!"
"We're not compatible."
"There's that young girl you captured from the Hidden Mist. Terumi, right? She'd be a better candidate."
Kazuki smiled faintly.
"If you don't choose… then I will."
Their expressions darkened again.
No one had ever humiliated them like this.
Meanwhile—
Sakumo and Minato had pieced together enough to understand what was going on.
Neither of them were fools.
After a little thought, it was obvious this situation started with Danzo and the elders.
Sakumo had long disliked Danzo's ideology.
Sacrifice everything for Konoha?
It's easy to say when it's someone else being sacrificed.
Homura quickly looked at Sakumo.
"White Fang! Is this how the Anbu treat Konoha's elders? Does Lord Hokage know about this?!"
Sakumo coughed lightly.
"Elder Homura… Kazuki is currently handling the Two-Tails."
"He's the most skilled sealer here."
"You saw how easily he reinforced the Nine-Tails' seal."
"If he believes you're suitable… well…"
"For Konoha's sake, I trust his judgment."
For Konoha?
Danzo and the others stared at Sakumo angrily.
"What are you implying?"
"We are not suitable!"
"You dare speak like this? When Lord Hokage returns, I will have you disciplined!"
Kazuki chuckled softly.
He hadn't expected Sakumo to be such a master of subtle sarcasm.
And yet…
A man like him would eventually be driven to suicide by rumors?
That wasn't weakness.
That was persecution.
"Well said."
"You always talk about doing everything for Konoha."
"Today, you'll make a small sacrifice."
As Kazuki finished speaking—
Roots burst from the ground beneath Homura's feet, binding him tightly.
"Homura. I think you're perfect."
Kazuki raised his fist.
"For Konoha."
Homura's eyes bulged.
"No! I refuse!"
Matatabi also screamed.
"I don't want to go into that old man's body!"
"Shut up."
Kazuki slammed the Two-Tails into the ground again.
Danzo stepped back unconsciously, face pale.
Koharu silently thanked every god she knew that it wasn't her.
Kazuki raised his right hand.
Five chakra attributes—metal, wood, water, fire, earth—formed at his fingertips.
He pressed his hand into Homura's abdomen.
A complex Uzumaki sealing array spread across Homura's stomach.
"NO! Kazuki, let me go! I'll agree to anything!"
Homura screamed in terror.
He even begged Uzumaki Mito.
"Mito-sama! Please! For Lord Tobirama's sake—!"
Kushina watched with grim satisfaction.
Mito shook her head calmly.
"Homura… you grow older, yet less enlightened."
"I believe White Fang is correct."
"If it's for Konoha… then your sacrifice has value."
"AHHHHH—!"
With a final roar—
Kazuki forced the Two-Tails into the seal.
He layered two additional reinforcement seals over it.
Triple-locked.
Extremely stable.
Homura became the Two-Tails' jinchūriki—
But with almost no access to its chakra.
Everyone stared at him with complicated expressions.
Homura, newly released—
Immediately lunged at Kazuki.
"I'LL KILL YOU—!"
BOOM.
He was sent flying instantly.
He crashed into the ground, blood splattering.
But the wounds healed rapidly.
Jinchūriki regeneration.
His teeth sharpened slightly, resembling Matatabi's fangs.
He looked less human now.
More… beast-like.
Koharu felt a chill down her spine.
If that had been her—
She remembered Kazuki's earlier words.
"Today, I'll kill you."
Cold sweat covered her back.
Suddenly—
A black staff slammed down between the two sides.
Hiruzen Sarutobi landed.
Koharu burst into tears.
"Hiruzen! You're finally here!"
Hiruzen looked around at the destroyed training ground.
The shattered terrain.
The lingering chakra.
He frowned deeply.
Wood Release.
And Sage Mode.
Kazuki stood calmly.
Koharu clung to Hiruzen, crying and accusing Kazuki wildly.
Soon—
Tsunade.
Jiraiya.
Orochimaru.
They arrived as well.
Each had a different expression.
Orochimaru's eyes burned with fascination.
The stronger Kazuki became—
The more he wanted his blood for research.
What kind of genetic structure created something like this?
Jiraiya watched silently.
Was Kazuki a blessing?
Or a disaster for Konoha?
If he became a threat—
Even at the cost of his life—
Jiraiya would act.
Tsunade's emotions were complicated.
Kazuki's methods were nothing like Hashirama's.
Neither her grandfather nor Tobirama would have handled things like this.
Was entrusting the future of the Senju legacy to Kazuki really the right call?
Hiruzen listened to Koharu's sobbing accusations.
He let out a long sigh.
Kazuki…
Too unconventional.
Too direct.
He actually forced the Two-Tails into Homura and turned him into a jinchūriki.
Reckless.
And yet—
Another voice in Hiruzen's heart whispered:
This is justice.
He had long felt that Homura and Koharu had changed.
They'd grown darker.
Closer to Danzo's mindset.
Now they came crying to him?
Hiruzen sighed again.
"You reap what you sow."