Chapter 12: Capturing The Nine-tails Jinchuriki Uzumaki Naruto
It wasn’t until Uchiha Ikeizumi left with that Uchiha girl that Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn’t figure out where he had cursed at anyone.
He pinched a bit of tobacco and placed it on the pipe, struck a match, and while lighting the tobacco, gently sucked on the pipe stem.
“Phew…”
Faint smoke engulfed his old face as Sarutobi Hiruzen murmured, “Now we can basically confirm that Ikeizumi won’t pose a threat to Konoha. Are you satisfied, Danzo?”
As soon as the words fell, an “Anbu guard” stepped out from the corner of the office.
But his figure changed after just a few steps.
Gradually transforming into an old man wrapped in bandages, with only one eye exposed, exuding a rather sinister and gloomy aura.
This was the controller of Konoha’s “Root”!
The magnetic release master in the Ninja World who specialized in taking the blame!
—Shimura Danzo!
“When Uchiha Ikeizumi entered the office, he glanced in my direction. He must have spotted me right away,” Danzo said, squinting one eye as he looked toward the door, the hostility and alienation in his eyes not deliberately hidden.
Then, he turned to Sarutobi Hiruzen and continued, “Hiruzen, you can’t guarantee whether Uchiha Ikeizumi said those words deliberately because he discovered me. This is an Uchiha whose extreme and visibly evil style of action is plain to see!”
“You heard what he said earlier—even if the Hokage stood in front of him, he’d dare to swing his blade at the Hokage. A naturally evil Uchiha brat like this shouldn’t exist in Konoha.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and said, “Danzo, I know what you’re scheming. Don’t lay a hand on Uchiha Ikeizumi. He’s one I’ve taken a liking to, an Uchiha like Itachi.”
“His extreme style of action is somewhat inappropriate, but it has indeed set a new tone of justice in the village, making some people with ulterior motives restrain themselves considerably.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen rapped the table and said, “Ikeizumi’s existence is both beneficial and harmful to the village, but for now, the benefits outweigh the harms.”
“Hmph.” Danzo let out a sinister cold snort: “What benefits outweigh the harms? That’s just your indecisiveness. It’s only because the ones who died today were from the Moonlight Clan that you’re saying this.”
“If it were ninjas from the Sarutobi Clan who were killed, would you still have this attitude, Hiruzen?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen replied faintly, “I only speak of justice, not personal matters.”
Danzo admitted that he was almost amused by the monkey’s words.
“Indulging this naturally evil-to-the-extreme Uchiha to enforce his so-called「 Absolute Justice」 in Konoha is playing with fire! One day, you’ll regret this, Hiruzen!”
Danzo gave Sarutobi Hiruzen a deep look.
Sarutobi Hiruzen met his gaze and said in a deep voice, “Danzo, you always fail to grasp your own position. In Konoha, I am the Hokage. And you are merely Konoha’s ‘darkness’.”
“I say Ikeizumi cannot be touched, and he won’t be! Don’t forget, ‘Root’ continues to exist only with my tacit approval. With a single order from me, ‘Root’ will be completely disbanded!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen narrowed his eyes: “Danzo, as Hokage, my authority is unlimited. You don’t want me to do that, do you?”
Danzo’s eyes widened: “Monkey, you…”
“Hmph!!!”
Words failing to align, Danzo’s old face darkened with suppressed anger, said nothing more, and left with his head down.
Bang—
From the heavily slammed door, one could tell how much frustration he was suppressing inside.
……
“Has Ikeizumi not returned yet?” Uchiha Fugaku, far away at the Uchiha Police Force, was currently staring at four corpses in distress.
“No.” A coroner from the Uchiha Police Force replied.
Fugaku exhaled deeply: “He’s struck against another ninja clan in Konoha. This will likely tilt the conflict between the Uchiha and the village a few degrees further toward an irreconcilable situation.”
This was the situation Fugaku was most worried about.
To be honest.
Though extreme, what Uchiha Ikeizumi did was very correct—correct to the point that even Fugaku often found it hard to nitpick.
But this kind of correctness was a series of fatal death sentences for the current precarious Uchiha Clan.
Ever since the Nine-Tails incident, the Uchiha Clan had been under heavy suspicion from the village.
Many ninja clans that had barely tolerable relations with the Uchiha Clan in the past had grown increasingly distant from them in recent years.
The Uchiha’s reputation among some civilians had also worsened.
This external pressure from the situation had, in turn, intensified the hawks within the clan pressuring him as clan head.
Today…
Several Uchiha clan members had secretly met with him, demanding a comprehensive plan for a Konoha coup.
“Sigh…”
Fugaku sighed. In the entire Uchiha Clan, apart from his eldest son Itachi and the late Shisui, was there really no other worry-free clan member?
……
“U… U… Uchiha Ikeizumi is here!!!”
At the same time.
A trembling shout laced with fear instantly shattered the tranquility of a street in Konoha Village.
A thief who had been stealthily pickpocketing froze, his expression ashen and deathly pale.
He hurriedly shoved the stolen wallet back.
He didn’t even dare to look where Uchiha Ikeizumi was before unhesitatingly dropping to the ground in the most servile dogeza pose.
“I confess! I’m willing to confess! I’ll honestly confess all my crimes to the Police Force! Please don’t kill me!” the thief cried out desperately, sweating profusely.
At the other end of the street, a pair of Konoha villagers who had been arguing and hurling filthy insults at each other instantly switched to enthusiastic, beaming faces.
The way they draped arms over each other’s shoulders calling each other “good brothers” showed no trace of their previous red-faced quarrel.
A villager who had casually tossed trash hurriedly picked it back up and stuffed it into his pocket.
“So… so exaggerated…” Izumi had finally witnessed just how big Senior Ikeizumi’s reputation was in Konoha Village.
She had always been buried in her studies at the Ninja Academy.
She really hadn’t paid attention to anyone with such a huge reputation outside the academy.
Izumi thought that if Senior Ikeizumi just patrolled the village a few times regularly, Konoha’s crime rate would drop several percentage points!
“Stinky brat! Stop right there!!!”
But soon, an annoyed shout broke the weird silence.
“Who’d stop! If you catch me, it’ll be bad news!”
Another shout rang out.
The former was an adult’s voice, the latter a child’s.
Izumi turned her head in doubt.
She saw a golden-haired brat running frantically in panic, chased by a man wielding a rolling pin.
Wherever they passed, it was chaos with chickens flying and dogs jumping.
The golden-haired brat occasionally picked up random things from the street and threw them back to hinder the pursuer.
But it also made the street a mess, scaring many pedestrian villagers into dodging hurriedly.
Just as the golden-haired brat brushed past Izumi.
From the corner of her eye, she saw Senior Ikeizumi suddenly reach out a hand.
The gleefully running golden-haired brat was instantly hoisted up.
Caught!
……
……
