Chapter 102: Uchiha Itachi, Can You Stop Being Such An Illiterate?!
Izumi felt the surrounding air temperature drop sharply, the bone-chilling cold making her hairs stand on end, and she had already drawn her ninja sword an inch from its sheath at her waist, her three-tomoe Sharingan staring tightly at Itachi.
At this moment, her mind was highly focused, fine cold sweat beading on her forehead, every inch of muscle in her body slightly tensed.
But just then, Izumi suddenly saw a scene that made her eyes widen, her pupils filled with utter disbelief.
It wasn’t that Uchiha Itachi had attacked her, but in her line of sight, weird text had actually appeared!
Lines of text were floating above Uchiha Itachi’s head just like that.
When she couldn’t help but focus on them, she was immediately shocked—this wasn’t exactly the “evil” that Senior Ikeizumi had mentioned Uchiha Itachi would commit in the future?!
She even saw in the dense text Uchiha Itachi’s evil deed of killing her mother one year from now!
Hiss, that was the clan extermination tragedy that Uchiha Itachi would bring about one year in the future!
This…
Could this be?!
‘The ability to see through future evil!!!’ The girl let out an inaudible cry in her heart; her first reaction was that her ability to see this special text must be related to Senior Ikeizumi’s Mangekyo Sharingan!
Could it be that Senior Ikeizumi had implanted some Mangekyo ability into her body without her realizing it? Allowing her to share Senior Ikeizumi’s power to see through future evil?
It must be something like that!
Otherwise, it couldn’t explain the scene she was witnessing!
Hearsay and seeing with one’s own eyes were completely different experiences.
Witnessing Uchiha Itachi’s “future evil” right before her eyes, Izumi found she could forgive him even less.
Even without believing in Senior Ikeizumi’s「 absolute justice」, just seeing Uchiha Itachi’s future evil doomed her to never maintain their previous friendship.
“Izumi, I can tell you’re hesitating now, you’re wavering. Or, I could call your emotion guilt.”
As Izumi was shocked by this, Uchiha Itachi suddenly said coldly again: “Though you haven’t said a word, it seems your inner thoughts are indeed to choose the side opposing Konoha. Sigh… I once thought you were a rather special Uchiha, very different from the other radical clan members.”
“Now it seems that you, with Uchiha Clan blood flowing through your veins, ultimately can’t escape the curse of the Uchiha bloodline. You like this are no different from those radical clan members.”
Izumi: “???”
What was this guy mumbling about? She hadn’t spoken at all, completely shocked by being able to see his future evil deeds.
How did it turn into her being guilty in his mouth?
“That’s fine too…” Uchiha Itachi’s gaze gradually firmed up as he stood quietly in place and said: “At least you like this makes me even more determined to do what must be done.”
“The Uchiha Clan is sick, very seriously ill, everyone trapped in the curse of the Uchiha bloodline unable to break free. This binding also limits the caliber of all of you.”
“And I, who tries to break free from this bloodline binding, surpass you all in both caliber and vision. Izumi, from now on, you and I… are enemies.”
“Konoha… cannot be destroyed by you.”
Izumi looked weirdly strained for a long time before squeezing out a sentence: “Can you stop babbling in front of me with that low-IQ level of someone who didn’t even finish the culture class in six years at the Ninja Academy?”
She understood once again why Senior Ikeizumi always told Clan Leader Fugaku to take Uchiha Itachi to see a psychologist.
She even had her own new realization—Uchiha Itachi… really needed to read more books!
Please, stop showing off that deranged illiterate rhetoric! Can’t you go back to the Ninja Academy for a remake?!
She was starting to feel embarrassed just listening!
“Izumi, some things can’t be learned no matter how long you study at the Ninja Academy; only by truly witnessing with your own eyes and experiencing it personally will you know how great the internal crisis Konoha faces today.”
Uchiha Itachi’s words made Izumi fall silent.
Maybe…
She shouldn’t have said those irrelevant things to this guy.
Because he wouldn’t listen anyway.
As Izumi gripped the hilt tightly, holding her breath and focusing, waiting alertly, she suddenly noticed that Uchiha Itachi ahead seemed to have spotted something; he shifted his gaze to the side. And she also noticed Uchiha Itachi’s expression suddenly become stunned.
Izumi frowned in doubt and also shifted her gaze over.
“…Sasuke?!”
She saw a small figure standing under the streetlamp not far away at the alley corner—it was none other than Uchiha Sasuke!
She realized this pair of brothers was staring at each other from afar.
Uchiha Itachi’s eyes held a trace of barely concealed complexity; Uchiha Sasuke’s small face bore anger and confusion.
Izumi immediately realized that Sasuke might know about Uchiha Itachi’s “future evil” one year from now.
It made sense.
This matter had already spread throughout Konoha.
It would be strange if Sasuke didn’t know!
“I’ve been looking for you!” Sasuke’s rather childish voice rang out especially loud in the silent night; he clenched his teeth looking at Uchiha Itachi, his tone both angry and sad: “Why did you do that to the Uchiha Clan? Why did you kill Father and Mother? Why will the future you become like that? You’ve never given me a clear explanation!”
Uchiha Itachi was silent for a moment; clearly, Sasuke’s sudden appearance was somewhat beyond his expectations.
Ever since that night when he stimulated Sasuke into fainting, Uchiha Itachi hadn’t met Sasuke again.
He had been deliberately avoiding Sasuke selectively.
Unexpectedly…
They still ran into each other tonight.
“Because of caliber.” Uchiha Itachi said slowly: “Your vision is forever limited to the Uchiha Clan, forever limited to one family; everyone’s caliber is too narrow. Even Father was very narrow. He only thought of balancing relations between Konoha and the Uchiha, not knowing that such balance was meaningless.”
“From the moment the Uchiha Clan showed dissatisfaction toward Konoha, everything was already irretrievable. Father couldn’t grasp this situation; now he’s just a plasterer, endlessly patching one loophole after another.”
“When the situation spirals out of control that day, Father will also be swept up by clan members with even narrower caliber than him. This is inevitable; this is the Uchiha’s destined fate.”
Seeing tears seemingly welling in Sasuke’s wide eyes, a mocking smile tugged at his lips: “Sasuke, do you want to die early in my hands, so you don’t have to live on in pain?”
“Heh, what a cowardly and naive little bean!”
Just as he took a few steps forward, wanting to continue stimulating Sasuke.
A sudden sound of drawing a sword made Uchiha Itachi pause.
He looked toward Izumi, only to see Uchiha Izumi holding her sword in one hand, blocking his path to Sasuke.
The night wind stirred the girl’s black long hair, her pair of crimson three-tomoe Sharingan eyes harboring indignation and hostility.
“Uchiha Itachi, don’t impart your despairingly low-IQ illiterate worldview to a child Sasuke’s age.”
Uchiha Itachi said indifferently: “You’re no match for me.”
Izumi’s small face tensed as she said resolutely: “「Absolute justice」 means not retreating even half a step against the strongest foes! If justice doesn’t stand before the innocent in this twisted, diseased ninja world, who would sacrifice themselves to protect them?”
Uchiha Itachi’s brows furrowed; just as he was about to say more, his peripheral vision caught someone approaching from behind Sasuke under the streetlamp. He and the newcomer stared at each other from afar for several seconds.
In the end, after giving Izumi one last deep look without saying more, he body flickered away silently.
Izumi was stunned.
She turned her head and saw that standing behind Sasuke was actually Uchiha Mikoto!
“Thank you, Izumi…”
Uchiha Mikoto squeezed out a grateful smile, but Izumi could read an indescribable sadness in that smile.
What impact Uchiha Itachi’s “neuroticism” had on Clan Leader Fugaku, Izumi couldn’t tell for now; but Aunt Mikoto, as a mother, seemed utterly heartbroken by Uchiha Itachi.
Izumi took a deep breath.
She sheathed her sword, suppressing her inner tension, and said: “This is what I should do. That person has gone mad; he could commit evil at any time, and Sasuke is innocent. In this situation, stepping in to stop him is my responsibility and duty.”
Uchiha Mikoto pursed her lips; she first crouched down halfway, using the back of her hand to wipe the tear stains from Sasuke’s eyes.
When she stood up, she held Sasuke’s small hand and asked Izumi: “Izumi, can I ask you for one thing?!”
Izumi said: “Please go ahead.”
“Can you take Mikoto and Sasuke… to see Ikeizumi?” Uchiha Mikoto said softly, bowing slightly forward.
Izumi froze in place.
Even Sasuke, who had snuck out at midnight to “find his brother” and got caught, sniffed and looked up in shock after that.
…
Meanwhile, inside the Utatane Clan.
All Utatane Clan members were gathered together, everyone staring at a corpse lying in the center of the hall. The corpse’s neck bore very obvious stitch marks.
“Elder Koharu! Uchiha Ikeizumi killed one of our clan members! And it was a very talented ninja clan youth! His future achievements would at least be a special jonin!”
The father of “Utatane Ryuji” glared with bloodshot eyes at Koharu Utatane, unable to hold back his sorrowful cry: “And he was clearly just a child; he hadn’t even graduated from the Ninja Academy!”
“What right does that Uchiha murderer have to kill Ryuji? Even if Ryuji did something wrong, a child like him shouldn’t pay with his life for it!”
Meanwhile, Utatane Ryuji’s mother knelt beside her son’s corpse, sobbing softly and choking.
A father’s grief, a mother’s weeping.
It made Koharu Utatane very irritated.
“What do you want me to do?” Koharu Utatane took a deep breath, her face grim as she said: “Kill Uchiha Ikeizumi? You think beautifully, but can you even do it?!”
“I…”
“Advisor Koharu!” A sudden voice interrupted what Koharu Utatane wanted to say, drawing the gazes of all the Utatane Clan members in the hall. An Anbu ninja had intruded at some point and stood at the hall’s entrance.
Before Koharu Utatane could question him, the Anbu ninja said rapidly: “Shimura Danzo was killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi!”
Koharu Utatane: “…???”
Utatane Clan: “!!!”
“Wasn’t Danzo at the Anbu Base? Even if most Anbu ninjas return home after work, the Anbu Base usually has at least seven or eight Anbu elites guarding it, right?”
Koharu Utatane’s face suddenly turned ugly: “With seven or eight Anbu elites protecting him, Danzo still got killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi? What exactly are you Anbu ninjas doing?!”
The Anbu ninja could hear the accusation in Koharu Utatane’s tone.
The Anbu ninja had only come to inform them, but hearing Koharu Utatane accuse him directly, he couldn’t help adding: “At the time, Advisor Homura Mitokado was also present; it was Advisor Homura Mitokado who told us not to act rashly. If Advisor Koharu wants to accuse someone, go find that advisor.”
The Anbu was originally the Hokage’s direct secret force.
Who would indulge you, a temporary Root leader picking up scraps!
After the Anbu ninja dropped those words and left directly, the Utatane Clan members’ faces were all very colorful.
“That murderer even dares to kill a Konoha high-level like Danzo.” A Utatane Clan ninja said almost subconsciously: “For the wrongs Ryuji committed, isn’t dying quickly a mercy?”
Everyone fell silent again for a moment before someone coughed lightly: “The urgent matter now should be preparing a funeral for Ryuji.”
A Utatane Clan elder said: “You two are still young; you can actually have another child.”
With words like that, the meaning was clear—let’s drop this for now! The iron plate is too hard to kick! Better to reroll a character than go door-to-door and drag the clan down to death!
Utatane Ryuji’s parents: “…”
…
On the other side, inside the Shimura Clan.
Tonight, the Shimura Clan’s atmosphere was even more silent than the Utatane Clan’s.
They couldn’t even see Shimura Danzo’s corpse, because Danzo’s body held too many secrets; the Anbu wouldn’t return Danzo’s corpse to the Shimura Clan.
The silent atmosphere continued for who knows how long.
Finally, someone spoke.
“Over these years, Lord Danzo has worked tirelessly and diligently for Konoha’s prosperity. He even transferred the Shimura Clan’s earned wealth to Root to develop it. Essentially, Root’s development to this day is because Lord Danzo and the Shimura Clan poured money into it.”
A Shimura Clan youth clenched his fists tightly, his eyes full of hatred: “Yet the innately evil Uchiha Clan constantly wanted to put Lord Danzo to death, and that extremely radical Uchiha Ikeizumi succeeded!”
“Are we just going to sit idly by? Are we going to let Lord Danzo die in vain? Are we going to hand over Root, into which Lord Danzo poured endless effort, to the Utatane Clan? Are we going to let Uchiha Ikeizumi keep rampaging?!”
One questioning accusation after another made the other Shimura Clan ninjas burn with anger, gritting their teeth in secret.
These people, as Shimura Clan ninjas.
Had long been assimilated by Danzo.
Like Danzo, they believed the Uchiha Clan was an innately evil ninja clan that needed to be thoroughly eradicated.
They also felt the current Hokage was too weak; only their Shimura Clan’s Lord Danzo was qualified to be Hokage.
They had even once taken pride in joining Danzo’s Root Organization.
They said the Uchiha Clan was very extreme.
But under Danzo’s years of influence, under the effect of being stained by proximity to ink.
The Shimura Clan was no less!
“As far as I know, the Uchiha Clan is not monolithic.” A Shimura Clan elder said deeply and eerily: “Uchiha Ikeizumi within the Uchiha Clan is also a maverick who offended many evil Uchiha ninjas.”
He narrowed his eyes and said coldly: “With the Shimura Clan’s power, after losing Lord Danzo, we can’t deal with Uchiha Ikeizumi. But… we can hold our noses and exploit the Uchiha Clan’s internal discord.”
Someone roughly understood his meaning and mused: “It seems both the radical faction of the Uchiha Clan advocating treasonous coup, and the balance and stability faction led by Uchiha Fugaku, have poor relations with Uchiha Ikeizumi.”
“Uchiha Fugaku won’t act against Uchiha Ikeizumi; Lord Danzo once said he’s a very weak Uchiha.”
“What about Uchiha Setsuna?!”
…
Meanwhile.
Izumi standing in front of a simple two-story house door felt a bit nervous; would Senior Ikeizumi be displeased that she had presumptuously agreed to bring Uchiha Mikoto to see him?
But with everyone already standing at Senior’s doorstep, Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Sasuke right behind her.
The girl tried to ease her inner tension with deep breaths.
After taking two steps forward, she rang the doorbell of Senior’s house.
Click— the moment the door opened, a strangely sharp voice sounded: “Eh? It’s you, rookie.”
“Senior Kijiro?!” Izumi instinctively looked down and saw it was the ninja cat Kijiro who had opened the door.
It made sense…
Kijiro lived in Senior Ikeizumi’s house anyway; called a cooperative ninja cat, but actually more like a pet Senior kept.
“Hm?” At this point, Kijiro also noticed Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Sasuke standing behind the girl.
“Meow, two rare guests.” Kijiro’s cat face showed surprise.
“Sorry to disturb.” Uchiha Mikoto forced a smile.
Sasuke curiously stared at Kijiro, then looked up puzzled at his mother. He still didn’t understand why Mother wanted to bring him to see Uchiha Ikeizumi.
He had a deep impression of Uchiha Ikeizumi; this man had killed someone in front of him before.
And it was also this man who revealed his brother’s “future evil.”
When he saw a figure appear at the door in front of him, Sasuke couldn’t help shrinking behind Uchiha Mikoto.
He didn’t know why he shrank back.
Perhaps it was an instinctive fear.
…
…
