Removing the seal inside Sora wasn't difficult for Fujimoto Tōma.
Even the stray Nine-Tails chakra left behind posed no threat to him. At this point, even the complete Nine-Tails wouldn't have been able to overwhelm his body, let alone a fragment of its power.
Strictly speaking, even if Tōma had done nothing, the seal would eventually have collapsed on its own.
But when that happened, the remaining chakra would have surged out of control, sending Sora into another berserk state. If that rampage managed to burn through all the Nine-Tails chakra, the matter would end there.
The cost, however, would be permanent damage to Sora's body.
That outcome was unavoidable. Sora was an ordinary person. His body simply wasn't built to contain something like Nine-Tails chakra the way Naruto's was. Without the seals, dissipation was inevitable.
In fact, without those seals in the first place, the chakra should have vanished years ago.
That it hadn't… worked out nicely for Tōma.
He looked down at the bead in his hand.
What had once been a clear, empty sphere now glowed with an eerie crimson light, pulsing faintly like a living thing. Inside it was the Nine-Tails chakra extracted from Sora.
Tōma had no intention of implanting it into himself. For him, it would be nothing but a liability. Still, something this rare might prove useful someday.
With that thought, he sealed the bead away, gave the hospital staff a few final instructions, and headed back toward the Hokage's office.
"You're back," Tsunade said, looking up as he entered. "How's the kid?"
"Handled," Tōma replied with a shrug.
He noticed Kakashi standing nearby and walked over, his expression turning serious. "So? What did you find?"
Tsunade nodded. "Kakashi, report."
"…Again?" Kakashi muttered, rolling his eye. Still, a Hokage's order was a Hokage's order.
Thanks to Tsunade's authorization, his investigation had faced almost no resistance. Any obstacles that might have existed quietly vanished after Tsunade publicly intensified her investigation into Danzō.
On the surface, she looked like she was flailing. Desperate. Making noise without results.
Danzō had likely believed it too.
He must have thought the storm would pass once Tsunade ran out of steam. Maybe he was already planning his return to the spotlight.
What he never expected was Tōma tracking down Orochimaru.
The investigation confirmed it. A large portion of the resources recorded in Root's vaults had been swapped out for fakes. Others had official withdrawal records, all justified with neatly written excuses.
Kakashi had spent the most time on those.
He traveled, verified, cross-checked.
Every excuse was false. None of the locations had ever received those supplies.
In the end, over ninety percent of the intelligence Tōma had obtained earlier was proven accurate.
"Nice work," Tōma said sincerely.
Most people would've stopped after the first discovery. Kakashi hadn't. He'd gone all the way and made the evidence airtight.
Truthfully, Tōma had prepared himself for the possibility that Kakashi would find nothing. Danzō had operated in the shadows for decades. Clean hands were his specialty.
That this much had surfaced meant one thing.
Orochimaru had demanded too much.
Or perhaps Danzō had been gambling. Maybe he believed that once Tōma was confirmed dead, he could make his move for the Hokage seat.
Just as Orochimaru said, Tsunade was never Danzō's match in political warfare.
And if grief pushed her into a mistake… well, mistakes could be exploited.
So this was Danzō's all-in bet.
Tōma smiled faintly. With or without this report, Danzō's fate had already been sealed.
He hadn't gone straight after him simply because he wanted the cleanest, most decisive outcome.
He could wait a little longer.
But only a little.
Danzō was not someone he would ever allow to keep breathing.
Kakashi smiled as well. "With evidence this solid, it'd be hard to mess it up even if we tried."
"There's more," Tsunade added. "We also got the results from Yamato's memory analysis."
That caught Tōma off guard.
The report from Yamanaka Inoichi confirmed it. Yamato's memories didn't just show Danzō and Orochimaru together in an underground lab.
They showed Yamato being taken there as a child. Dragged in by Root operatives.
This wasn't decoration. This was a killing blow.
Even if the advisors tried to protect Danzō, there was no way out now.
Tōma looked at Tsunade… then said something that made everyone in the room freeze.
When they left the office, Kakashi was still in shock.
He hadn't expected Tōma to make that decision now.
Realization hit him, and he drew in a sharp breath.
So that's how far he's willing to go.
Kakashi smiled. He had no objections.
His task was simple now. Bring the two advisors.
The Third Hokage would be handled by Tōma himself.
At the Third's residence, Tōma explained his purpose.
The old man listened in silence. In the end, he nodded.
He already knew why Tōma had come.
The pain was written all over his face as he followed.
Inside a sealed conference room in the Hokage Tower, Kakashi stood guard outside the door.
That alone spoke volumes about the importance of the meeting.
Inside were only five people.
Tsunade.
Fujimoto Tōma.
The Third Hokage.
Koharu Utatane.
Homura Mitokado.
"This is quite sudden," Koharu said, eyeing the barrier seals. "Why call us here?"
"For Danzō," Tōma replied calmly. "But first, let the Third finish reviewing everything."
He had arrived early, set the barriers himself, and laid out all the intelligence and investigation reports.
The two advisors exchanged a glance, curiosity stirring as they watched the Third's trembling hands.
What had Danzō done this time?
When the Third finally passed them the scrolls, he closed his eyes and leaned back, utterly drained.
Koharu and Homura opened the documents.
They saw Danzō selling out Tōma.
Their shock was immediate.
Then they saw the stolen resources.
Their faces darkened.
"That bastard," Koharu snapped, slamming the table. "How dare he take this much?"
Those supplies weren't just village assets. They were tied directly to their own benefits.
They had their methods too. Quiet ones. Safe ones.
What Danzō had done was reckless. He was bleeding the village dry.
Any lingering doubts vanished when they reached the corroborating evidence.
As for the Wood Release experiments… neither of them looked surprised.
That was exactly the sort of thing Danzō would do.
Slowly, both advisors looked up at Tōma and Tsunade.
Since when had they gathered evidence this thorough?
The silence in the room was heavy.
And Danzō's end was finally in sight.