Chapter 107: Kakashi: Has The Will Of Fire Made Konoha Weaker?
Izumi hurriedly sheathed the ninja sword. She flipped open the first page of the notebook and discovered that it was written with a person’s name, as well as the person’s detailed address, plus some of the person’s transaction records.
Izumi immediately realized something. She said in shock, “Senior Ikeizumi, could this be…”
“Mm.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said flatly, “A transaction list for smuggling and trafficking contraband drugs. Every person on the list is in Konoha Village.”
Izumi: “!!!”
She didn’t even notice where Senior Ikeizumi had obtained this list from. Could it be that while she had just been distracted by that Anbu ninja, Senior Ikeizumi had searched it from one of the Uchiha ninjas?
She quickly flipped through several pages, growing more and more astonished the further she read.
She discovered that the list contained… not only civilian ninjas, but also ninja clan ninjas, and merchants who did business in Konoha year-round.
The total number of people added up to fully fifteen!
She took a deep breath and said, “Every time I think I’ve finally seen the limit of the evil of the ninja world, some new unthinkable ‘evil’ always appears.”
So many people smuggling and trafficking contraband drugs in a small Konoha Village.
It was simply unimaginable how many people this ghostly stuff had harmed in Konoha.
Kijiro had said that several people in Konoha died from contraband drugs every year.
And those enduring the torment, barely clinging to life, were countless.
A sharp killing intent flashed in the Uchiha girl’s eyes.
The strength with which her fingertips gripped the notebook involuntarily increased slightly.
“Senior, we…”
“Split up.” Uchiha Ikeizumi, as always, could tell at a glance what Izumi was thinking, as she always revealed her thoughts openly. He said expressionlessly, “The civilian merchants and civilian ninjas on the list—you execute them. To be safe, Kijiro will go with you. The rest of the ninja clan ninjas, I’ll handle.”
“Yes! Senior!”
Kakashi, standing nearby, watched as Uchiha Ikeizumi walked over and sensibly made way immediately.
Izumi grabbed Kijiro and hurriedly followed.
She didn’t forget to remind Naruto and Sasuke.
“Absolute justice, huh…” After discovering that only he remained in the underground secret room, Kakashi looked again at the few corpses with gruesome deaths and the contraband drugs that nearly filled the room, murmuring, “He really is true to his words and deeds. Killing his own clan members without hesitation—he truly cannot tolerate sin!”
“If Uzumaki Naruto in the future upholds this 「absolute justice」, it wouldn’t actually be going astray, right? The village already owes that kid so much—letting him be willful for once wouldn’t hurt. At least 「absolute justice」 won’t breed rogue ninjas.”
Kakashi thought of Obito, who had once so desperately wanted to become Konoha Hokage, but now had betrayed Konoha and his past.
If Uchiha Ikeizumi hadn’t revealed some of Obito’s secrets right in front of him, he would still be in the dark.
A bold idea that even Kakashi himself found daring began to form in his mind.
—Could the Will of Fire really make Konoha better?!
His father had believed in the Will of Fire, only to be driven to suicide by the village’s negative public opinion; Obito had also believed in the Will of Fire, yet now he had become a Konoha rogue ninja; Danzo also believed in the Will of Fire, but everyone could see what he was made of; he himself believed in the Will of Fire too, but everyone he knew had gradually left him one by one…
In his memories, Konoha had also become increasingly declining.
At the very least, the current Konoha was much weaker overall than before the Third Shinobi World War.
Kakashi fell into silent contemplation for a moment.
“If you don’t want to be buried in a sea of fire along with over a ton of contraband drugs, get up here quickly.”
The sudden faint voice snapped Kakashi back to attention and startled him. He immediately went up the stairs.
He saw Uchiha Ikeizumi standing at the entrance to the underground secret room.
Kakashi saw lava flowing from Uchiha Ikeizumi’s arm!
The moment he stepped out, the rolling hot lava surged into the secret room below like a mudslide.
In just a few short seconds, the lava filled the underground secret room completely, melting everything inside into ashes.
Kakashi broke out in cold sweat.
This method of destroying contraband drugs was way too hardcore. If Uchiha Ikeizumi hadn’t reminded him, he might have ended up buried in the sea of fire just like those contraband drugs!
“Sasuke!” Suddenly, a group of people burst into the house, the leader directly calling out Sasuke’s name.
Hearing the familiar voice, Sasuke turned back in astonishment: “…Father?!”
“Father? Huh? Eh?!” Naruto looked at Uchiha Fugaku in shock: “This stone-faced uncle is your father? I’ve seen him twice already!”
Sasuke: “???”
The arrivals were none other than Fugaku and several Police Force ninjas.
Fugaku’s eyelid twitched imperceptibly.
If he had a choice, he would rather never see the jinchuriki again.
Fugaku pushed aside his scattered thoughts and frowned reproachfully: “Sasuke! Instead of going straight home after school, what are you doing in a place like this?”
Sasuke hung his head, nervously clutching the hem of his clothes, not daring to make a sound. Fugaku’s strict parenting made Sasuke not dare to have any rebellious thoughts, let alone defy his imposing father.
Fugaku glanced at the entrance to the underground secret room, at the lava that was about to overflow.
Sensing the high temperature permeating the air, he frowned and asked, “Ikeizumi, what is this…”
“Clan Leader Fugaku, Senior Ikeizumi is carrying out justice!”
Izumi took the initiative to explain for Uchiha Ikeizumi, emphasizing that “Uchiha Hayata,” “Uchiha Tadashi,” and “Uchiha Naoto” had been smuggling and trafficking large quantities of contraband drugs.
Fugaku’s brow twitched hard upon hearing this.
Although the Izumi in front of him didn’t explicitly say that Ikeizumi had killed the three, the words “carrying out justice” and the underground secret room filled with lava had already given a clear answer.
—Ikeizumi had killed three Uchiha Clan members!
Those three corpses were probably already bathed in lava by now!
And the identity of one of them gave Fugaku quite a headache.
Uchiha Hayata—that was Elder Setsuna’s own grandson!
He simply couldn’t imagine what kind of reaction the already extremely radical Elder Setsuna would have upon learning that Ikeizumi had killed his only grandson!
Fugaku had already caught a whiff of the scent of infighting within the Uchiha Clan.
He hadn’t expected that the conflict between the Uchiha and Konoha hadn’t erupted yet, but internal Uchiha conflicts were about to explode first.
He took a deep breath in headache-inducing exasperation and couldn’t help saying, “Ikeizumi, those three are Uchiha, just like you…”
But he was interrupted by Uchiha Ikeizumi casting a spell: “Because they are Uchiha, do they have special privileges?”
Fugaku was speechless.
He suddenly recalled that Uchiha Ikeizumi had personally killed even his last blood relative, Uchiha Onigawara! Just because his blood relative had fallen into the abyss of sin!
Compared to a blood relative, what did these three Uchiha Clan ninjas count for?
Fugaku fell silent.
“Clan Leader Fugaku, please don’t block the way.” Uchiha Ikeizumi placed a hand on Uchiha Fugaku’s shoulder and pushed him aside. The unprepared Fugaku stumbled.
“Hey! Uchiha Ikeizumi! You…” Several Police Force ninjas that Fugaku had brought immediately couldn’t hold back.
But they were stopped by Fugaku raising his hand: “…It’s fine!”
Fugaku’s expression wasn’t great, but he didn’t show the dissatisfaction and anger surging in his heart.
He could feel that after today, the Uchiha Clan internals would probably turn into a powder keg.
In this situation, what he as clan leader should do was prevent the powder keg from exploding, not add fuel to the fire. Even though Uchiha Ikeizumi’s actions disrespected him as Uchiha Clan Leader, Fugaku gritted his teeth and endured it.
And he considered this endurance as something he did for the Uchiha.
Proving that he was a very qualified clan leader.
He sank into self-admiration.
Fugaku silently watched as Uchiha Ikeizumi, Uchiha Izumi, Kijiro, Uzumaki Naruto, and Kakashi—these people who logically shouldn’t be together—left one after another.
Until he saw Sasuke following them.
Fugaku could no longer stay silent. He frowned and immediately called out to Sasuke’s small back: “Sasuke! Home is to your left— what does going right mean? It’s getting dark—go home immediately!”
Sasuke’s body stiffened instantly.
His father’s stern tone inexplicably made his emotions sink a bit.
“Yes, Father.”
As Sasuke pursed his lips to turn around, he discovered that Uzumaki Naruto, who was about to leave, had suddenly doubled back and grabbed his wrist, pulling him to the other side.
“Eh? Dead-last! What are you doing?!”
Sasuke was shocked.
While forcefully tugging Sasuke, Naruto turned his head and said seriously to the astonished Fugaku: “Uncle, this smug guy kept asking me what 「justice」 is today. I brought him to see Teacher Ikeizumi so he could know what 「justice」 is. So, please lend him to me for a while.”
Under Fugaku’s gaze, his second son was pulled along unsteadily by the jinchuriki and eventually had to leave with the jinchuriki.
He felt that Sasuke’s struggling appearance seemed a bit fake.
“I see…”
Fugaku shifted his gaze to Uchiha Ikeizumi’s increasingly distant back, his expression extremely complex as he murmured to himself: “Ikeizumi, you once targeted Itachi with malice, and now you’ve targeted Sasuke with goodwill. Are you using Sasuke? Or do you want to use me through Sasuke?”
But on second thought, was Uchiha Ikeizumi really the type to use others?
Fugaku realized he wasn’t.
In other words…
Ikeizumi really wanted Sasuke to experience what 「justice」 truly is!
But the biggest problem was that Ikeizumi’s justice was too extreme.
Would his justice really not lead Sasuke astray in the future?
And Itachi…
Did he know about this?
……
On the other side, Kakashi, who had worried excessively about the jinchuriki and ended up making a futile appearance, had now gone back into hiding.
“No issues.” Putting the Anbu mask back on, Kakashi said to several Anbu subordinates.
“By the way…”
With his dead-fish eyes drooping, he said casually to one of them, “Go back and inform Hokage that Uchiha Ikeizumi might go on a killing spree today. But those killed today are probably all evildoers.”
“I only know the first three killed were Uchiha Clan members. As for who’s about to be killed next, I don’t know, but the number is probably around fifteen!”
Kakashi hadn’t peeked at the notebook in Izumi’s hand, so he could only roughly guess that each page in the notebook represented one person.
That Uchiha girl had flipped fifteen pages, so Uchiha Ikeizumi’s targets were fifteen people—no mistake.
“Yes!”
The subordinate immediately realized something big was happening. He left the team surveilling the jinchuriki and hurried toward the Hokage’s Office Building.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen received the news.
The sky outside had gradually darkened.
“Pfft—” The intelligence from Kakashi made Sarutobi Hiruzen spray out the hot tea he had just put in his mouth.
“Fifteen people?!!” Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up abruptly. The last time Uchiha Ikeizumi killed so many at once was when he killed Lord Daimyo’s second son and that group of Daimyo’s retainers.
Now he was going on another killing spree with so many—this time Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t dare imagine what mess Uchiha Ikeizumi would stir up!
But before he could prepare to go investigate.
Another Anbu ninja hurried over.
“Hokage! Captain Kakashi sent me to tell you that Uchiha Ikeizumi broke into the Utatane Clan and killed two ninjas! Also, Uchiha Ikeizumi and Uchiha Izumi have split up—they seem to be acting separately for efficient mass killing!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen: “???”
Indeed efficient enough.
The previous Anbu ninja had just come to warn him, and now the next one reported that Ikeizumi had already killed two—and they were Utatane Clan ninjas!
Sarutobi Hiruzen didn’t even dare think how furious Koharu Utatane would be tomorrow.
Wait!
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly remembered that Naruto was still with Ikeizumi!
Would Ikeizumi, going on such a killing spree, really not corrupt Naruto?
What if he turned the kind and obedient Naruto into a Naruto brimming with killing intent…
Hiss! Would that still be the Uzumaki Naruto he knew?
Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen was getting impatient to set out immediately.
He saw another Anbu ninja return.
“Hokage!” This time, it was Yamanaka Yoshinobu who hurried over: “Captain Kakashi assigned two subordinates to me to track Uchiha Izumi. That girl broke into a tavern and chopped off the tavern owner’s head in front of everyone!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen: “…”
Before he could calm down, another Anbu ninja came back panting, reporting: “Hokage, Uchiha Ikeizumi broke into the Mitokado Clan! A sixty-something-year-old ninja from the Mitokado Clan was killed by him!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly stopped breathing—this sounded just like Homura Mitokado!
The Anbu ninja seemed to realize the ambiguity and hurriedly added: “Not Advisor Homura Mitokado—Advisor Homura Mitokado’s cousin!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen: “…”
He suddenly felt the world go dark before his eyes.
Homura’s cousin was also a prominent figure in Konoha.
He could hardly imagine what furious posture Homura Mitokado would take tomorrow when talking to him, the Hokage.
Though Homura Mitokado was the mildest-tempered of their four, it was his cousin who died!
A blood relative!
“Hokage!” Another call made Sarutobi Hiruzen stumble.
Before the newly arrived Anbu ninja could speak, Sarutobi Hiruzen, with a dark old face, gritted his teeth and demanded: “Uchiha Ikeizumi… who did he kill this time!?”
The Anbu ninja was stunned and replied: “Not Uchiha Ikeizumi—it was a ninja cat named Kijiro and a Police Force trainee named Uchiha Izumi. The one cat and one person teamed up and killed a special jonin!”
Crack—
In extreme emotional turmoil, Sarutobi Hiruzen’s feelings had even crushed the leg of his desk.
“You were watching them from the shadows—why didn’t you stop them? Even if you couldn’t stop Ikeizumi, couldn’t you stop a ninja cat and a genin who just graduated from the ninja academy not long ago?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t help gnashing his teeth in such a question.
Several Anbu ninjas exchanged glances, one hesitating: “Captain Kakashi told us to just come report to Hokage… Since it has nothing to do with the jinchuriki, we don’t need to intervene—that’s what Captain Kakashi said.”
The breath Sarutobi Hiruzen had been holding suddenly deflated.
Because he didn’t even know who to vent his anger at for a moment!
His chest heaved up and down continuously, all because none of the people killed in Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “killing spree” today were ordinary folk. Just thinking about the huge mess the other had left for him made Sarutobi Hiruzen’s scalp tingle.
“Hokage!” As this call rang out again.
Sarutobi Hiruzen’s face was ashen.
Even if he rushed over to find Ikeizumi now, he probably couldn’t stop him.
Once 「absolute justice」 finds its hunting targets and starts the killing spree, it’s destined to be unstoppable. What’s more, he might not even find Ikeizumi, who was darting everywhere!
Unless he waited for Ikeizumi to finish killing.
“Sigh—”
Having stood up abruptly to no avail, Sarutobi Hiruzen sat back down.
Tonight…
He probably wouldn’t be able to sleep again!
……
“Dea… dead-last, how many is this?” Sasuke looked at the corpse in front of him in full terror. He had been stunned by Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “blood-mad” actions.
Maybe Father was right to call him back—he never imagined “carrying out justice” would be so bloody!
“…Forgot, forgot.” Naruto was so shocked by the gruesome methods that he didn’t even mind Sasuke calling him dead-last.
Naruto had actually done a bit of mental preparation.
But he found that this bit of preparation was far from enough!
“Let’s go.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi drew his ninja sword, shook off the bloodstains, glanced at the two kids who were too shocked to speak properly, and said expressionlessly: “One left. Uzumaki Naruto—that one… you do it.”
“…Huh???”
Naruto was dumbfounded.
……
……
