Chapter 21: Absolute Justice Knows No Public Or Private
A few minutes later, the only ones left in the office were Uchiha Fugaku, the Uchiha Ninja who had previously reported the Moonlight Clan case to Fugaku, and Uzumaki Naruto who had been left here by Uchiha Ikeizumi.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Ikeizumi and Izumi had already left the Police Force Headquarters.
Fugaku and Naruto were staring at each other with big eyes.
Looking at the somewhat disheveled youthful face of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, Fugaku saw a bit of the shadow of the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato in it.
When Minato was still alive, the relationship between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha was actually relatively harmonious.
Unfortunately…
A complex expression flashed in Fugaku’s eyes. He recalled the few words he had asked Uchiha Ikeizumi before he left the office: “Ikeizumi, are you prepared to face the backlash if you insist on locking Uzumaki Naruto in Konoha Prison?”
“What you did today will probably spread throughout the entire Konoha in less than half a day. Everyone will know that you brought Uzumaki Naruto into the Uchiha Compound.”
“Moreover…”
“Are you prepared to suppress those restless clan members within the Uchiha Clan?!”
If the hawks within the clan found out that the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki was now inside the Uchiha Clan Compound…
Their little schemes would probably come alive in an instant.
Fugaku did not dare to guarantee that no extreme situation would occur.
He remembered that Uchiha Ikeizumi had simply replied: “「Absolute Justice」 does not distinguish between public and private.”
Fugaku roughly understood Ikeizumi’s meaning.
—If there were truly extreme clan members who intended to use the power of the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki to commit evil deeds that trampled justice, Ikeizumi would not spare any thought for clan blood ties or kinship.
He would kill them just like he killed the Root Ninja.
Without hesitation, he would kill his own clansmen!
“Absolute justice…” Fugaku took a deep breath, stared at Naruto, and murmured to himself: “It really is absolute enough.”
Fugaku remembered even more clearly the shocking piece of information that Ikeizumi had uttered the moment he stepped out the door.
—Shimura Danzo had transplanted the Uchiha Clan’s Sharingan into his body, and… there was more than one Sharingan.
—He could also use “Izanagi”!
This unthinkable intelligence made Fugaku shiver all over.
Yes.
Uchiha Ikeizumi had no responsibility or obligation to keep secrets for Danzo.
He had directly revealed Danzo’s trump card.
……
“Innate evil Uchiha brat!!!” Even after returning to the Root Base, Danzo could hardly suppress the anger in his heart; his old teeth were nearly ground to pieces.
A brief conflict had cost Root two elites.
It had cost him a Three-Tomoe Sharingan and one ear.
Danzo had originally wrapped his head in bandages to conceal the Sharingan he had transplanted. Now, the bandages wrapped the ear wound that brought piercing pain from time to time.
Moreover…
What he found even more unacceptable was that the power of “Izanagi” might have been exposed in the opponent’s eyes!
The consequences of exposing the hunting of bloodline limits were something even the current Danzo found somewhat hard to bear.
“Damn it! It’s all because the monkey suddenly appeared. If he hadn’t intervened midway, this old man would have long killed that evil Uchiha brat and nipped the risk of exposure in the cradle!”
The more Danzo thought, the more irritated he became.
Until a sudden voice rang out: “But if this old man hadn’t appeared in time, you would probably still be keeping it from me, and I wouldn’t know that you had transplanted a Sharingan into your body!”
Danzo’s pupils contracted.
He recognized it as Sarutobi Hiruzen’s voice.
Looking toward the direction the voice came from, he indeed saw Sarutobi Hiruzen arriving uninvited.
Moreover, the two Anbu squads brought by Sarutobi Hiruzen had silently taken control of several Root Ninja, so the Root Ninja hadn’t had time to notify Danzo.
“This old man doesn’t know what you’re talking about!” Facing Sarutobi Hiruzen’s words, Danzo’s first reaction was to flatly deny it.
He kept a straight face and said sarcastically: “This old man just changed to a new Root Base a few months ago, and you still found it… Hiruzen, you sure have good intelligence.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and said: “This old man is the Hokage of Konoha. For the Hokage to know everything in the village, isn’t that only natural?”
“Danzo, Ikeizumi has already told this old man your secret. You say you don’t know what I’m talking about—then can you let this old man see what’s hidden under your bandages?”
His gaze was fixed intently on Danzo.
He could see Danzo’s expression visibly growing uglier.
Sarutobi Hiruzen said in a deep voice: “This old man and you have been comrades for many years. Your expression might fool others, but not me. Now, give this old man an explanation that makes me not want to remove you from your position!”
“You want to remove me from my position?” Danzo’s face was full of disbelief: “How many merits has this old man earned for Konoha over these years? Just for the so-called Sharingan, you’re going to remove this old man from his position?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen’s gaze was somber: “So, this old man is giving you a chance. You need to give this old man an explanation that satisfies everyone.”
Danzo suddenly came to his senses and sneered: “Actually, you just want an explanation that satisfies ‘you’, right?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen did not respond to that.
He just quietly stared at Danzo.
……
“Uchiha Ikeizumi… captured the Jinchuriki?” Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, the other two Konoha elders, also soon received this unthinkable intelligence.
It was more like news than intelligence, as the matter had already spread throughout most of Konoha.
However, most villagers only knew the rumor that Uzumaki Naruto was something like a “demon fox incarnation.”
They had no concept of the “Tailed Beast Jinchuriki” matter.
“And… Hiruzen was there too?” Koharu Utatane found it utterly inconceivable: “How could he let the Jinchuriki be captured by someone from the Uchiha Clan? And taken to the Uchiha Compound at that!”
Koharu Utatane could not sit still. She stood up and paced back and forth, saying: “No! We must bring the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki out! He absolutely cannot continue staying in the Uchiha Clan Compound!”
“Otherwise…”
Recalling the Nine-Tails incident from several years ago, Koharu Utatane could not help but shudder.
While she was frowning in thought, she noticed that Homura Mitokado beside her had not spoken a word. She could not help but glare at him and said discontentedly: “Say something!”
Homura Mitokado said in a deep voice: “Do you think the person Uchiha Ikeizumi captured is that easy to bring back? That is an Uchiha even Hiruzen finds troublesome.”
Koharu Utatane gritted her teeth and said: “Then are we just going to sit by and watch the Nine-Tails chaos happen again?”
“We have no need to have direct conflict with Uchiha Ikeizumi.”
Homura Mitokado said somberly: “We just need to put pressure on Fugaku. After all, at the end of the day, Fugaku is the Captain of the Police Force, while Uchiha Ikeizumi is just a member of the Police Force.”
“This old man thinks Hiruzen is thinking the same. There are many ways to retrieve the Jinchuriki while bypassing the so-called 「Absolute Justice」 that Uchiha Ikeizumi keeps talking about.”
“Our Konoha Village is always one that prioritizes balance and order, never one of absolute justice.”
Hearing this, Koharu Utatane gradually calmed down.
“Then, let’s see how Hiruzen handles it.”
……
……
Recommending a friend’s book—
《Uchiha, Starting from the Destruction of the Ninja World》
