Chapter 162: The Third’s Fury! Accidental Killing Of Absolute Justice?
The next day, morning.
A piece of news suddenly spread throughout the entire Konoha—some elite ninjas of the Uchiha Clan had left the village, including Uchiha Ikeizumi!
This almost caught all the major ninja clans in Konoha off guard.
The Uchiha Clan’s extremism and arrogance were almost a consensus in Konoha Village, and on top of that, the Konoha higher-ups had secretly propagated the danger of the Uchiha Clan while marginalizing them.
This made all the ninja clans in the village have to pay close attention to this matter.
Fearing that the Uchiha Clan would stir up some trouble.
“Left the village?” Koharu Utatane furrowed her brows tightly. She thought for a moment, then immediately went to the Hokage’s Office Building and found Sarutobi Hiruzen.
“Hiruzen, did you assign them ninja missions?” Koharu Utatane got straight to the point as soon as she arrived, asking, “Hiruzen, you should be well aware of the ‘danger’ of letting Uchiha ninjas go out on missions, right?”
“Most people in their clan have extreme personalities. After most Uchiha ninjas return from missions, they commit crimes outside, and then they are all killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi…”
“No.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted her. He was also frowning in deep thought. Clearly, as the Konoha Hokage, he had learned of the intelligence right away.
“Ikeizumi left the village too. It seems Ikeizumi took them away.” Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed and said, “The ones who left the village total four people, including Ikeizumi. They are all Uchiha Clan jonin.”
“Besides that, Ikeizumi’s ninja cat is also gone. If this old man hasn’t guessed wrong, they should have left the village to hunt Orochimaru.”
Koharu Utatane, however, raised another possibility: “Could Uchiha Ikeizumi have taken the three elite Uchihas to establish an independent branch outside Konoha and continue the Uchiha Clan’s bloodline?”
She instinctively speculated on Uchiha Ikeizumi’s behavior with the greatest malice.
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at her and said, “If he were doing that, why not take Uchiha Izumi? Uchiha Sasuke? And why not take Naruto? Why not take Neji?”
Koharu Utatane was speechless.
“Hoo…” Sarutobi Hiruzen exhaled, withdrew his gaze, and said helplessly, “What we should worry about more is—Ikeizumi’s influence in the Uchiha Clan is growing stronger. In the past, no one would have followed him out of the village to deal with Orochimaru.”
“Back then, he was considered an isolated outlier in the Uchiha Clan. At that time, Ikeizumi was somewhat similar to Itachi.”
As soon as Uchiha Itachi was mentioned, Koharu Utatane said, “Hiruzen, this old woman suspects that Fugaku is no longer on the same side as us.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen raised his eyelids slightly: “Why do you say that?”
Koharu Utatane said, “If he were on our side, why didn’t he do everything to stop Uchiha Ikeizumi? He appears powerless on the surface, but who knows if it’s intentional?
“The reason Uchiha Ikeizumi’s absolute justice has grown so strong—this old woman is now starting to suspect if Fugaku planned it long ago? Has he joined hands with Uchiha Ikeizumi?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t know how to defend Fugaku for the moment.
Recently, he had indeed been somewhat disappointed in Uchiha Fugaku, because the Uchiha Clan had become very uncontrollable under his watch.
“This old man will find a time to meet him and give him some pressure.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen said faintly, “This old man harbors no great malice toward the Uchiha Clan, but I cannot allow the Uchiha to spiral out of control, nor let Ikeizumi fortify the Uchiha Clan into an impregnable fortress.”
Hearing this, Koharu Utatane’s expression softened slightly.
At least on this point…
She and Sarutobi Hiruzen shared the same idea.
Neither wanted to indulge the Uchiha!
After all…
In the end, they were both disciples of the Second Hokage back then.
But at that moment, an Anbu ninja suddenly burst in without knocking. Before Sarutobi Hiruzen could frown and ask, the other party reported at a rapid pace: “Hokage! Your daughter-in-law… that is, the wife of Sarutobi Shinnosuke, Sarutobi Fujiko, she… she was killed at home!”
The Anbu ninja rarely stuttered.
His words struck Sarutobi Hiruzen like a lightning bolt, leaving him instantly stunned on the spot, his facial expression frozen stiff.
The Anbu ninja’s words exploded in his mind like an explosive tag.
Causing Sarutobi Hiruzen’s thoughts to plunge into chaos.
To the point that his eyes became somewhat unfocused.
His brain involuntarily entered a crashed state.
Fortunately, Koharu Utatane beside him reacted quickly. Her face was grim with a hint of horror as she questioned the Anbu ninja: “What exactly happened? Explain in detail!”
The Anbu ninja took a deep breath and said with his head lowered, “A Sarutobi Clan member was delivering food to Sarutobi Fujiko when they found no response inside. A bloody smell came from the door crack. The other party immediately pushed the door open and saw Sarutobi Fujiko’s blood-drenched corpse.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen stiffly stood up slowly from his chair, about to take a step when he suddenly staggered.
Fortunately, Koharu Utatane beside him was quick-eyed and quick-handed.
She immediately supported him.
“Take this old man back to the Sarutobi Clan!” Sarutobi Hiruzen’s voice was hoarse.
Both the Anbu ninja and Koharu Utatane could clearly hear the suppressed fury and killing intent in his tone. This Hokage was extraordinarily angry, even harboring murderous intent.
“Yes! Hokage!”
…
When Koharu Utatane followed Sarutobi Hiruzen to the Sarutobi Clan Residence, she found the entire Sarutobi Clan in an uproar, with thick anger and indignation written on everyone’s faces.
“Hokage!” When the Sarutobi Clan ninjas saw Sarutobi Hiruzen, they surged over, surrounding him.
They were all riled up, talking over each other, making the scene extremely chaotic.
“Hokage! I was the one who discovered Shinnosuke’s wife’s corpse!” A female Sarutobi Clan ninja said through gritted teeth: “At the time, besides the bloody smell, I also smelled a very weird smell.”
“At the time, I couldn’t recall what the smell was, but later I realized it was the smell of sulfur!”
Another Sarutobi Clan ninja had red eyes: “Hokage! This is absolutely Uchiha Ikeizumi’s doing! Only when that lava monster uses his bloodline limit does this weird sulfur smell linger! Another one of our Sarutobi Clan members has died at his hands!”
Sulfur smell? Uchiha Ikeizumi?
Koharu Utatane narrowed her eyes but didn’t speak, instead carefully listening to the various details in the cacophony.
“Hokage! I heard Uchiha Ikeizumi took a few Uchiha ninjas and left the village today. He must have done something guilty and left while everyone was unprepared.”
“That bastard claims to uphold so-called absolute justice, right? Sarutobi Fujiko was famously never done any evil. If she had, that justice bastard would have killed her long ago.”
“But someone like Sarutobi Fujiko, who hasn’t even stepped out the door recently, how could she possibly become a villain?”
“The only possibility is that Uchiha Ikeizumi killed the wrong person! Ashamed and unable to face it, he decided to leave Konoha!”
Koharu Utatane raised her brow. Could these two events be connected like this?
But on second thought, this possibility wasn’t nonexistent.
No one in the ninja world has a 100% error-free ability. Uchiha Ikeizumi’s eyes that can see through others’ evil will have a day of mistake, right? If they never err, that would be divine!
Uchiha Ikeizumi has a strong obsession with justice purity. Once his absolute justice is tainted… with his extreme personality, he probably wouldn’t forgive himself.
That would be his reason for leaving the village… Yeah, it makes sense.
Provided the intelligence on Orochimaru is ignored.
“Hokage, we can’t yield anymore!” A Sarutobi Clan ninja’s neck veins trembled: “If you let that lava bastard keep rampaging, Hokage, you’ll really be without heirs. Your line only has Sarutobi Konohamaru left!”
“And that child… Hoo! We haven’t told him the news yet; he’s still in the dark. But one day, he’ll learn both his parents died at Uchiha Ikeizumi’s hands.”
“The hatred of losing his parents will make him attack Uchiha Ikeizumi, and the only outcome for a three-year-old child attacking that lava monster is death! Hokage!”
Facing shout after shout of anger, Sarutobi Hiruzen closed his eyes. After an unknown time, he said in a trembling voice, “Take this old man… to see the corpse.”
Surrounded by numerous Sarutobi Clan members.
Sarutobi Hiruzen arrived at a house, which was his eldest son Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s home.
He walked in with heavy footsteps, and what met his eyes was a female corpse lying on the ground, clothes disheveled.
It was clear she had just finished bathing and was about to get dressed when she was ambushed halfway through, collapsing into a pool of blood.
Sarutobi Fujiko had once been an Anbu elite, and before that incident with Sarutobi Shinnosuke, she was Sarutobi Hiruzen’s right-hand woman.
The one who could instantly kill her was at least an elite jonin.
Even an elite jonin would need to use a sneak attack to do it.
Of course…
If the opponent had “shadow”-level strength, they could achieve an instant kill in direct combat. And coincidentally, Uchiha Ikeizumi had exactly that power.
“Hiruzen, there is indeed a sulfur smell, and it’s very strong.” Koharu Utatane, who had been silent beside him, finally spoke: “Besides that, some wooden furniture in the room has scorched marks, as if baked by some high-temperature substance.”
Then, Koharu Utatane stepped past Sarutobi Hiruzen, walked a few steps forward, and squatted down, gently pinching the floor.
She picked up a piece of black substance, stood up, and handed it to Sarutobi Hiruzen.
“Cooled lava rock.” Koharu Utatane said in a subtle tone: “The sulfur smell emanates from it. And there are quite a few such lava rock fragments near the corpse.”
At this point, Koharu Utatane continued, “I might be the only relatively calm person here. Hiruzen, you can hear my preliminary analysis of this matter.”
“I believe the probability that Uchiha Ikeizumi killed Sarutobi Fujiko is eighty percent. But his leaving the village today has no connection to killing Sarutobi Fujiko.”
“Because for someone like him, after killing, he feels no guilt at all. Unless he truly realizes he was wrong, he won’t admit his mistake.”
Koharu Utatane said in a deep voice: “To use an inappropriate metaphor…”
“For him, killing Sarutobi Fujiko is a small side dish of absolute justice, not worth his attention. Hunting Orochimaru is the real main course, the hard dish.”
“So, after killing Sarutobi Fujiko, he left the village without hesitation to go hunt Orochimaru.”
Koharu Utatane wasn’t a professional in this field, so her analysis was a mess, but it was barely enough for everyone to understand what she meant.
—The possibility that Uchiha Ikeizumi is the culprit is extremely high!
—There’s only that slim possibility that the culprit is someone else!
The entire Sarutobi Clan leaned toward the former.
Because absolute justice had tormented their Sarutobi Clan enough before.
And Uchiha Ikeizumi had “precedents”!
How many outstanding young Sarutobi Clan members died at his hands?
How many excellent heirs died under absolute justice’s judgment?
The number was so large it was almost uncountable!
As for the “Sakurako Sarutobi” incident, it had already been overlooked by most clan members in the heat of their furious anger.
“…Send Anbu!” Sarutobi Hiruzen took a slow deep breath, his voice heavy as he said with a cold old face, “Have Kakashi and Yamato each lead an Anbu squad to catch up with Uchiha Ikeizumi and those three Uchiha jonin! Bring them… all back to Konoha for me!”
“Root.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at Koharu Utatane beside him and issued another order: “Interrogate Uchiha Izumi, Uchiha Sasuke, Mitarashi Anko, and Neji Hyuga! This old man wants to know if this matter is related to Ikeizumi.”
He selectively ignored Uzumaki Naruto, then added, “Also bring his ninja cats to Root for interrogation!”
Koharu Utatane looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was nearly consumed by the fury in his chest.
She could see that Hiruzen had been touched on his reverse scale. After enduring several times, this Third Hokage finally couldn’t endure anymore.
Hiruzen… he had reverted to his tough stance from his youth.
This was the tough attitude the Third Hokage of Konoha Village should have!
Koharu Utatane suppressed her excited mood, kept a straight old face, and asked, “They might not be so cooperative. In that case, can Root take more forceful measures?”
“Yes.” Sarutobi Hiruzen’s immediate two words made Koharu Utatane swallow another reassurance pill.
“Understood.”
Koharu Utatane nodded.
She turned and left.
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t watch her leave but stared fixedly at his daughter-in-law’s corpse, gazing at the blood-drenched knife wound on her back.
From the look of the knife wound, it seemed to be from a Konoha standard ninja sword, which was also the ninja sword Uchiha Ikeizumi favored most.
…
Not long after, Ninja Academy.
“Ah… so boring…”
Listening to Iruka Umino droning on about cultural studies on the podium, Naruto held a book in front of his face, buried his head on the desk, and let out a muffled mournful wail.
Sasuke beside him glanced at him but said nothing, continuing to stare at the ceiling, completely lost in thought.
Like Naruto, Sasuke also disliked boring cultural lessons.
Every word Iruka said went in one ear and out the other; he couldn’t take it in at all.
But at that moment, a sudden voice interrupted Iruka on the podium.
Drawing the attention of the entire class.
“Uchiha Sasuke, you’re here, right?”
Sasuke snapped back to reality and, following the voice, saw a masked ninja standing at the classroom door at some point, with the door pulled open by the other party.
Sasuke raised a brow: “That’s me…”
Just as he was about to stand, Naruto beside him suddenly forced him back down.
Sasuke looked at Naruto in confusion and was shocked to see Naruto’s face full of grave seriousness.
“This isn’t Anbu, it’s Root!”
Naruto said vigilantly with his young face: “I’ve seen that mask before!”
Root…
Sasuke’s heart tightened instantly.
Iruka hurried forward two steps, blocking in front of the Root ninja. He coughed twice and forced a smile, asking, “What business does the Root ninja have with my student?”
“None of your business.”
The Root ninja pushed Iruka aside. As Iruka tried to brush the hand away, a ninja sword was placed against his neck.
As if any extra move would sever his head.
Startling Iruka into a cold sweat.
“Out of the way.”
The Root ninja moved the ninja sword away, walked to Uchiha Sasuke, looked down at the short Sasuke, and said, “This is the Hokage’s order. You’re required to come to Root.”
“Reason?” Naruto interjected immediately from the side.
“No reason!” The Root ninja grabbed Sasuke by the collar.
So fast that Sasuke didn’t react at all.
“Wait!” Iruka shouted urgently, but the Root ninja vanished with a body flicker, taking the single-handedly carried Uchiha Sasuke with him.
This made Iruka grit his teeth involuntarily.
Filled with utmost worry in his heart.
“…Smells like trouble.” Nara Shikamaru, taking in the whole scene, suppressed his shock and muttered, “Being taken by Root means something big happened.”
“S-Sasuke…?” Sakura was still in a daze.
Yamanaka Ino furrowed her delicate brows, stood up, and said directly to Iruka, “Iruka-sensei, I’m going back to find Father. Please approve half a day off for me.”
Before Iruka could speak, Yamanaka Ino walked straight out the door.
But the next instant on the corridor, she heard a loud bang.
Turning to look, she saw a small figure crash through the Ninja Academy classroom window, slamming heavily into the corridor wall.
“Neji Hyuga?” Ino immediately recognized him.
“Cough… cough cough…” Neji coughed in pain, but before he could get up, a large hand grabbed his hair and lifted him.
A cold voice followed: “Don’t think that with Uchiha Ikeizumi backing you, I won’t dare touch you, kid. And don’t think you can resist me. This time, it’s the Hokage’s highest order. Even your backer Uchiha Ikeizumi has to give the Hokage some face.”
“Heh, not to mention you’re just a kid. Looks like your Hyuga Branch Family got cocky after sending the main family in recently.”
—Another Root ninja!!!
Yamanaka Ino’s young face showed a hint of horror.
Ino forced herself to stay calm instead of rushing up hot-blooded to rescue Neji Hyuga.
That would be extremely irrational; she couldn’t beat an adult ninja, let alone a Root ninja.
She could only watch helplessly as the powerless Neji Hyuga was taken away by the other party.
“Gotta notify Father quickly!”
…
“Little Jiraiya, something’s off! Why was that kid called Uchiha Sasuke taken away? And before that, Neji Hyuga, who we confirmed isn’t the Child of Prophecy, was also taken.”
Sage Fukasaku on Jiraiya’s shoulder asked doubtfully, “Those two Konoha ninjas were a bit rough. They don’t seem like good people at all.”
“…Those are Root ninjas.” Jiraiya, squatting on a tree, looked slightly grave.
These past few days, Jiraiya had been observing Uchiha Sasuke, trying to see if this child was the “Child of Prophecy.”
While observing Sasuke, he could also observe Minato’s child Uzumaki Naruto at the same time—a two birds with one stone deal.
What Jiraiya hadn’t expected was…
Such an interlude today.
…
…
