Chapter 157: Fugaku: “itachi Was Influenced By His Environment.”
As Uchiha Ikeizumi’s five fingers exerted slight force, his fingertips had even pierced through the opponent’s chest skin, embedding into a mass of flesh and blood.
The power of chakra was further destroying the curse mark on the opponent’s chest.
The spy Orochimaru sent to Konoha was visible to the naked eye as the dense curse mark patterns on his body receded like the tide.
Hagawa Sho looked down at his own chest in full horror.
Orochimaru had placed the curse mark on him to prevent anyone from extracting secrets about Orochimaru from him. As soon as someone tried, the curse mark would immediately trigger, causing his entire body to explode and die instantly.
Hagawa Sho actually did not resent this kind of curse mark.
Because he was sufficiently loyal to Orochimaru, even willing to sacrifice his own life to keep Orochimaru’s secrets.
But what he hadn’t expected was that the curse mark had been removed by Uchiha Ikeizumi!
This is bad…
Before Hagawa Sho could even try to struggle, the intense suffocation from his neck made his eyes roll back. His consciousness directly crashed into a blackout state, and his entire body was choked unconscious.
Uchiha Ikeizumi casually tossed him toward where Izumi was.
“Send him to the Yamanaka Clan, have them investigate the memories in his brain, and bring back all intelligence regarding Orochimaru.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said in a calm tone.
Orochimaru’s earlier words hadn’t stirred much emotional ripple in him.
“Yes! Senior Ikeizumi!”
Izumi realized the severity of the situation; this concerned one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, and also whether Senior Ikeizumi could eliminate Orochimaru, one of the ninja world’s sources of all evil.
“Ikeizumi, I want to join in too!” At this moment, Mitarashi Anko shifted her gaze from the slender white snake cut in half on the ground, gritted her teeth, and spoke.
As Orochimaru’s disciple, Anko knew that in Konoha, she actually faced quite a bit of subtle discrimination and isolation.
Although Orochimaru had defected, the influence Orochimaru had brought to Anko affected her every moment.
Like a nightmare active in her dreams, it made Anko want to eliminate it at all times.
She wanted to kill Orochimaru!
Killing her master…
This was also a characteristic of the ninja world.
“Do as you like.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said.
……
“What a guy who won’t let people finish speaking! Looks like the Byakugan from the Hyuga Main Family can’t be obtained. The new pawn I just placed in Konoha has also been pulled out. Heh heh, but it doesn’t matter; life isn’t long, but there’s no rush at this moment.”
In a secret experimental base within the Land of Fire, Orochimaru held a scalpel, cutting into a living person bound to a hospital bed, their face full of terror and despair.
A glint of cold indifference flashed in his pair of golden slit pupils, and the force in his hand unconsciously increased.
Puchi—
Orochimaru’s movements stopped.
He lowered his gaze to the “little white mouse” in front of him, whose face had visibly turned pale until breathing completely stopped.
“Uchiha Ikeizumi, you’ve even remotely caused me to lose a precious little white mouse! Truly hard to let go, heh heh.”
Clearly, Orochimaru’s inner state was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s act of decisively cutting off that small white snake had evidently ignited some anger in Orochimaru’s heart.
……
Konoha Village, Nara Clan Residence.
Yamanaka Inoichi, temporarily residing here, saw Uchiha Izumi bring in an unconscious man but didn’t curiously ask anything.
However, Izumi proactively said, “This is the spy Orochimaru sent to Konoha. Senior Ikeizumi needs to obtain intelligence on Orochimaru.”
“Orochimaru’s spy…” A flicker of unusual color crossed Yamanaka Inoichi’s otherwise still face. His gaze passed over Izumi and fell on Mitarashi Anko behind her, whose expression was somewhat complex.
He nodded and said, “Alright.”
Then, Yamanaka Inoichi added, “Regarding the Sannin Orochimaru, should we notify the Hokage?”
“Not for now.”
Izumi shook her head, her words already filled with distrust toward the Third Hokage, saying, “If the Third Hokage gets involved, he might remember his mentor-disciple bond with Orochimaru and choose to let Orochimaru go at a critical moment.”
Having followed Senior Ikeizumi for so long, Izumi now barely saw the true face of that Third Hokage.
The Third Hokage was indeed commendable in valuing emotions.
But the problem was, his valuing of emotions was often misplaced.
Indulging Danzo was a prime example.
At least, that’s what Izumi initially thought. Moreover, Senior Ikeizumi had said that the Third was no good person. In this case, that Hokage couldn’t be trusted even more.
Izumi even suspected…
That Uchiha Itachi, exposed as “future evil,” had hidden so well probably because the Third had hidden him.
“Understood.” Yamanaka Inoichi nodded slightly. Seeing Izumi turn to leave, he suddenly called her back.
Izumi turned back in doubt.
She heard Yamanaka Inoichi say, “One of our Yamanaka Clan members just returned to Konoha today. While on a ninja mission outside the village, he happened to befriend a confidant of the great merchant Kato by chance. I think… Ikeizumi would have strong interest in that notorious great merchant.”
Izumi: “!!!”
“Kato…” Mitarashi Anko shook off the complex expression on her face and hesitated, “That great merchant who started with smuggling and trafficking of prohibited drugs, with a very bad reputation?”
Yamanaka Inoichi said, “Yes.”
“Thank you, Yamanaka Clan Leader!” Izumi sincerely thanked Yamanaka Inoichi: “I’ll relay it to Senior Ikeizumi.”
Watching the two leave.
Yamanaka Inoichi turned his gaze to the unconscious Orochimaru spy.
He knew clearly.
Helping Uchiha Ikeizumi obtain intelligence on Orochimaru would inevitably offend Orochimaru. But since he had already made the choice for the Yamanaka Clan, why hesitate?
……
Meanwhile.
Uchiha Clan.
“Fugaku… you’ve been looking for two hours already.” Uchiha Mikoto leaned against the door with a complex expression on her pretty face, staring at Uchiha Fugaku who stood motionless in a room.
She sighed inwardly and said, “Even if you stay in Itachi’s room all day, Itachi won’t come back.”
A hint of desolation appeared on Uchiha Fugaku’s expressionless, rigid face.
The longing and grief in his eyes couldn’t be hidden no matter what.
“Mikoto, the Uchiha Clan shouldn’t be like this.”
After an unknown period of silence, Uchiha Fugaku finally spoke: “The Uchiha Clan shouldn’t pursue absolute justice, because that would plunge the Uchiha from one extreme into another.”
“Itachi was worried that the Uchiha Clan would become too extreme, afraid that such a Uchiha would harm Konoha. He was even more afraid that over time, even he couldn’t control that situation.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t his own choice to step into the abyss. Rather, people like Uchiha Setsuna and Uchiha Ikeizumi kept pushing him in that direction.”
“If there wasn’t a Uchiha Setsuna dead set on launching a coup, if there wasn’t an Ikeizumi extreme enough to dare kill even the Hokage’s son. Would Itachi… have fallen into the abyss?”
Uchiha Mikoto was stunned. She thought seriously and was about to respond when Uchiha Fugaku interrupted her.
It turned out Uchiha Fugaku hadn’t intended to get an answer from her; he was just asking and answering himself.
“No.”
Uchiha Fugaku took a deep breath and said, “The reason a person becomes so stubborn and unyielding is environmental factors.”
“Externally, the Hokage’s expectations for Itachi and the Will of Fire’s influence on him. Internally, the radicals led by Uchiha Setsuna and absolute justice led by Uchiha Ikeizumi.”
“These four are the main factors that made Itachi become someone even we as his family barely recognize.”
Seeing her husband’s emotions off, Uchiha Mikoto finally spoke up proactively.
“Fugaku, let bygones be bygones. If Itachi were still alive, he probably wouldn’t want to see you so worried and sorrowful.”
Uchiha Mikoto comforted softly: “The Itachi of the past was a sensible child who proactively shared the pressure, so you as his father didn’t have to work so hard.”
“Your obsession like this would only keep Itachi restless in the Pure Land.”
Uchiha Mikoto silently added in her heart: ‘If he obsesses over Itachi’s death like this, something bad will definitely happen.’
Uchiha Mikoto was very familiar with the indelible radical thoughts in the Uchiha clan’s bloodline.
She knew that even though her husband appeared very calm and composed on the surface, the radicalism and arrogance inherent to the Uchiha could never be worn down.
She feared that under this obsession and obsession, Uchiha Fugaku might suddenly have some strange thought.
And that strange thought was very likely to cause trouble for Fugaku.
“Hoo…”
Uchiha Fugaku exhaled a heavy breath of turbid air. His lonely figure appeared exceptionally desolate as he faced away from Uchiha Mikoto and said, “Mikoto, Itachi is someone who considers everything thoroughly no matter what he does. Especially after learning from Ikeizumi that he would destroy the Uchiha Clan in the future, he might have already been planning the clan extermination plan in his heart.”
“That also means he prepared many contingencies, measures, and plans in the process. Perhaps among his many plans, he even anticipated that before he could exterminate the Uchiha Clan, he might die early at someone’s hand.”
“I’m thinking about what contingency he left behind.”
Hearing this, Uchiha Mikoto knew her husband hadn’t taken her words to heart at all.
A trace of disappointment flashed in her beautiful eyes.
Uchiha Mikoto said, “Fugaku, I only hope you won’t say these strange things in front of Sasuke when he returns. You’ve already turned Itachi into that; you can’t let Sasuke, who chose a special ninja way, become like Itachi too.”
“Indeed.”
This time, Uchiha Fugaku unusually took it in: “Can’t let that child Sasuke repeat the same mistake.”
Uchiha Mikoto was stunned, then showed a smile: “That’s right.”
She continued, “I’ll go out first to buy some ingredients and make Sasuke’s favorite dishes for dinner tonight.”
Uchiha Mikoto’s footsteps grew farther away.
Uchiha Fugaku still stood quietly in Uchiha Itachi’s room.
“Konoha…”
“Sasuke…”
“Itachi…”
“Ikeizumi…”
Fugaku felt somewhat restless.
……
An hour passed quickly. In this time, Izumi first relayed Yamanaka Inoichi’s words to Uchiha Ikeizumi, then hurriedly ran back to the Nara Clan Residence.
She brought out the intelligence on Orochimaru that Yamanaka Inoichi had extracted from Hagawa Sho, as well as the Yamanaka Clan ninja who had just returned to Konoha, and found Uchiha Ikeizumi again.
After stopping to catch her breath, the girl said, “Senior Ikeizumi, I’ve brought everything!”
Uchiha Ikeizumi took a intelligence document but didn’t rush to open it.
Instead, he turned his gaze to a somewhat uneasy Yamanaka Clan ninja in front of him.
“Cooperate with me to find Kato,” Uchiha Ikeizumi said to him. “Afterward, the Police Force will give you a certain reward.”
“No, no need!”
Yamanaka Anzui hurriedly shook his head. He was just a small Konoha chunin and felt no confidence at all in front of Uchiha Ikeizumi, even though the clan leader had reminded him earlier not to be so nervous…
He hurriedly continued, “As long as there’s a chance to help absolute justice, I’m willing to do it without hesitation and without seeking any reward.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi glanced at him and said, “But you need to set an example for others who don’t yet fully trust absolute justice. Let them know—cooperating with the Police Force to eradicate sin isn’t something scary. They can even gain benefits from it, creating positive feedback.”
Yamanaka Anzui was stunned.
“Absolute justice doesn’t demand that everyone in the ninja world pursues or believes in it. But we can’t let those who have expectations for justice fear too much that absolute justice will harm them. Those who fear justice should only be those with sin in their hearts.”
Nearby, Uchiha Izumi hurriedly pulled out a small notebook and pen from her bosom.
She quickly recorded every word Senior Ikeizumi had just said in detail.
Yes!
These words from Senior Ikeizumi were surely not just for this Yamanaka Clan ninja; they might also be for her and Anko.
Uchiha Ikeizumi didn’t pay attention to the girl’s small actions.
He opened the interrogation document, which contained all the intelligence on Orochimaru screened out by Yamanaka Inoichi.
The most crucial intelligence was the exact location of Orochimaru’s secret experimental base in the Land of Fire!
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s eyes narrowed slightly.
Then, he asked the fidgety Yamanaka Clan ninja, “Where is Kato’s confidant you know?”
Yamanaka Anzui gave an address.
Uchiha Ikeizumi closed his eyes, recalling the detailed map of the Land of Fire, connecting the two locations with Konoha Village into a line.
“Can solve it conveniently on the way.”
He said.
……
……
