Chapter 19: The Hokage, Also An Enemy Of Justice
Sarutobi Hiruzen took two Anbu teams and left, leaving Kakashi and six Anbu members to clean up.
“Lava Release Bloodline Limit… this destructive power is truly exaggerated!”
Breathing the sulfur smell in the air that even the mask couldn’t block, Kakashi’s gaze wandered around in all directions for a moment.
A flash of shock passed through his dead-fish eyes.
In his line of sight—the ground ahead was covered with gradually cooling lava, the ground scorched by lava into pits of various sizes and depths; fully half a street’s worth of houses seemed to have been erased from existence, the rampant high temperature in the air making Kakashi feel somewhat uncomfortable even now.
The edges of many building ruins still had lava dripping down continuously; those who didn’t know might even think they had arrived at the mouth of an active volcano!
Kakashi also saw the corpses of two Root Ninjas.
One of them only had half a body left, the other half nowhere to be found.
The second one’s chest was torn open with a big hole, and the whole person had been cut in half at the waist.
Kakashi annoyingly patted his pocket.
Those two corpses were easy to handle… just clean them up casually and hand them over to Root.
But how to clean up this street full of devastation in front of him?
Uchiha Ikeizumi was really reckless!
However…
Perhaps, he was one of the few in the village who still remembered the Fourth Hokage!
Kakashi recalled what Uchiha Ikeizumi had said.
——”Only like this can we live up to the Fourth Hokage’s sacrifice.”
Absolute Justice…
That’s pretty good too.
While Kakashi was lost in thought, he suddenly saw a petite figure staggering to its feet not far away; the other person also seemed to be wearing the Uchiha Police Force uniform.
After watching that Uchiha Clan girl hurriedly follow in the direction Uchiha Ikeizumi had left.
Kakashi thought for a moment.
And chose to ignore it.
……
On the other side.
“I… I won’t dare anymore… can you put me down first? I can actually walk by myself.”
“Um… can you not confine it for so long? If Iruka-sensei finds out, he’ll be very disappointed in me.”
“I really know I was wrong…”
Naruto’s voice grew weaker with each sentence, smaller each time, and by the end, his tone was already choking.
Bean-sized teardrops uncontrollably slid down his little face.
Naruto truly regretted it.
He knew he had caused a big disaster this time; one prank had led to half a street in Konoha being erased from existence!
In other words, many people had become homeless because of his prank.
It seemed people had even died because of it!
But he found that the man holding him up didn’t bother to pay him any attention!
“Ike… Senior Ikeizumi, wait for me!” A weak shout came from behind Uchiha Ikeizumi and Naruto.
Uchiha Ikeizumi slowed his footwork, and a girl hurriedly caught up.
Her face was pale.
Her footwork was also weak.
“Sorry, Senior, I… I used Sharingan before and consumed too much, so I accidentally passed out…” Izumi felt so ashamed she wanted to crawl into a hole in the ground, feeling like she was dragging things down too much.
On the Night of the Nine-Tails, she awakened at five years old, awakening straight to Three-Tomoe, absolutely unprecedented awakening talent in the Uchiha Clan.
But…
Shockingly, Izumi’s chakra amount was too low; her chakra and dojutsu power couldn’t support her Three-Tomoe Sharingan at all.
If chakra is measured in “one Kakashi” units, Izumi’s chakra was at most 0.01 Kakashi.
Among peers graduating from the Ninja Academy, her chakra amount was not at the bottom but still in the lower ranks.
“Uchiha Izumi.”
“Here!!!” Facing Senior Ikeizumi’s roll call, Uchiha Izumi’s instinct made her snap to attention.
“I’ll ask you two questions to test you. What do you think of what just happened?” Uchiha Ikeizumi glanced at the weak girl beside him.
“Just now?”
Izumi was stunned.
She vaguely recalled that before she accidentally passed out, she had seen the conflict between Senior Ikeizumi and Konoha Root. And after waking up, she saw the conflict between Senior Ikeizumi and Hokage.
The cause of the conflict was clearly just a kid pulling a prank, causing a small disturbance in the village.
Yet in the end, it spawned so many contradictions and conflicts.
This…
Was it worth it?
When this thought flashed through Izumi’s mind, she suddenly remembered Senior Ikeizumi’s 「Absolute Justice」, and recalled the many “evils” born from the Ninja World’s pathology that she couldn’t understand.
—Father who killed his daughter; son who killed his mother.
Just these two worldview-shattering events were enough to completely change Izumi’s view of the Ninja World.
And also of Senior Ikeizumi’s 「Absolute Justice」.
Gaining a deeper understanding.
“I think… Senior didn’t do anything wrong.” Izumi took a deep breath, her little face serious: “Even the smallest evil, if not controlled, not punished, and indulged endlessly, will eventually evolve into greater evil one day.”
Izumi sorted her thoughts and continued: “Senior, I’ve always wanted to protect Konoha Village well. But before, I didn’t know what method to use to protect Konoha.”
“Until I met Senior, I roughly knew what to do. As long as we do our utmost, using our own power to purge the evil in Konoha, one day Konoha will get better.”
“This is my understanding of 「Absolute Justice」!”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said flatly: “Rookie, you’re no longer at zero points, at least you have ten points.”
Izumi weakly asked: “Senior, what’s the full score?”
“One thousand.”
Izumi: “…”
Fine, as long as it’s not negative points.
“Senior, what’s the second question?” Izumi probed again.
Uchiha Ikeizumi said: “What do you think of my ‘retreat’ just now?”
Izumi was taken aback.
“Senior, I don’t think that was a retreat!” Izumi gritted her teeth, her little face serious: “In the entire Konoha, probably only Senior you is silently upholding 「Absolute Justice」. Even though other seniors in the Police Force have always misunderstood you, Senior you has been upholding justice alone from beginning to end.”
“If Senior had insisted on physical conflict with Hokage and the others at that time, Konoha’s 「justice」…” Izumi took a deep breath, her courage growing: “might have no one to protect it, and the village probably won’t see another person like Senior.”
“You’re being too roundabout.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi interrupted her: “To uphold 「Absolute Justice」, you need absolute power, otherwise it will be like just now.”
“You must remember this frustration, remember this anger, remember how the Ninja World’s ‘evil’ stands above us reveling.”
Izumi nodded heavily.
“Sooner or later, I will purge them all in the name of 「Absolute Justice」.” Uchiha Ikeizumi said openly and righteously something that left Izumi dumbfounded: “Including Hokage!”
“This is the third lesson I teach you. Politicians only care about their authority and so-called balance. In their eyes, the words 「justice」 are optional.”
“Hokage is also an enemy of justice.”
Izumi’s brain short-circuited.
Uchiha Ikeizumi, dangling Naruto, temporarily focused his attention on the “reward” for killing three Red Names.
Yes.
Three!
Danzo, who rewrote unfavorable reality with “Izanagi,” had already been killed by him once at his golden finger.
……
……
