Chapter 33: Will Of Fire
The scorching crimson lava of Uchiha Ikeizumi could not be blocked by the fragile flesh of a ninja, which was like a “glass cannon.”
The ferocious Lava Demon Dog predictably pierced through Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s chest without any surprise.
And it quickly scorched his flesh and internal organs to carbonized char.
It also made Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s already widened eyes bulge even rounder.
He opened his mouth and vomited a mouthful of coagulated blood.
The massive hole in his chest, which had nearly blasted him in half at the waist, already foreshadowed the final outcome of this battle.
When Uchiha Ikeizumi slowly withdrew his arm, Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s body lost the support of its strength, directly collapsing to his knees and heavily falling to the ground.
“Shinnosuke!!!”
A figure rushed over at high speed and immediately supported the fallen Sarutobi Shinnosuke in his arms.
Sarutobi Hiruzen had tears in his tiger-like eyes, his breathing became rapid, and his aged hands, covered in dense wrinkles, were constantly trembling, trying in this way to retain the life of his eldest son.
“Cough… cough cough…”
Sarutobi Shinnosuke, hanging on his last breath, slowly turned his head, his blurred vision looking toward Uchiha Ikeizumi who was standing right beside him.
“Cough cough… your justice…” he said intermittently: “is really… quite decisive, huh… Those things I did, in your eyes, were so morally corrupt? Thinking about it carefully, ha, indeed none of them were good…”
“Ikeizumi…”
“The only difference is your stance from ours; you cannot… stand alone against the entire Ninja World. Your justice… many people cannot tolerate it. You must make your justice become Konoha’s justice! But you, this guy… seem to never listen to my admonitions.”
“Old man…”
“Cough cough… You don’t need to hand me over to the Yamanaka Clan to scrape memories anymore. Everything this kid says to you afterward is true. He can still see through good and evil as always.”
“Clearly killed by lava…”
“But my body feels so cold…”
“…It really feels so cold.”
When Sarutobi Shinnosuke exerted his utmost effort to slowly close his eyes, his breathing also completely stopped.
Until the last moment of his life, he still held an opposing view toward Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “justice.”
He did not think Uchiha Ikeizumi was wrong.
But…
He also did not think that was right.
“Ike… Ikeizumi…” The pain of losing a son made Sarutobi Hiruzen’s aged body tremble.
He raised his head to meet Uchiha Ikeizumi’s gaze, his teeth clenched tightly, his pupils slightly trembling, and the whites of his eyes densely threaded with blood.
The words Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke at this moment were almost forcibly squeezed out: “Is it necessary to make things so rigid? Is there anything that cannot be discussed with me, this Hokage? Is it necessary… necessary to kill Shinnosuke?”
“He is my eldest son! He was your guiding Jonin once! Ikeizumi! Even if your justice makes you so cold-blooded that you never consider the bond between master and disciple, can you not consider me at all!”
One question after another, from initial unbearable grief to final furious roar.
Sarutobi Hiruzen could no longer distinguish what emotion he was feeling.
He was even more at a loss on how to handle this matter.
“Third Hokage, I am a member of the Police Force.” Uchiha Ikeizumi stared at Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s corpse, and under the illumination of the surrounding firelight and lava’s crimson glow, his eye expression was unclear.
He slowly said: “When I saw my former guiding Jonin fall into the abyss, the only thing I could do was let him die with clarity, nothing more.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen was silent for an unknown amount of time.
Under the gaze of that large group of Anbu elite ninjas behind him, he staggered to his feet and picked up his eldest son.
Could he say Uchiha Ikeizumi was wrong? At the moment of death, Shinnosuke had already said Ikeizumi did nothing wrong.
Sarutobi Hiruzen felt anger in his heart.
Even carrying a chilling killing intent.
He was the shadow of a village and also a father. He had countless thoughts of directly ordering the Anbu ninjas behind him to swarm and execute Uchiha Ikeizumi on the spot.
But…
Shinnosuke’s words before death had already blocked this action. Shinnosuke admitted he had done things that were good for the village but morally corrupt sins for personal ethics.
Sarutobi Hiruzen could not tell… whether this was nonsense spoken by Sarutobi Shinnosuke in a muddled state of consciousness before death?
Or words spoken by Shinnosuke with his last shred of reason?
If it was the latter, then Shinnosuke’s purpose was probably to endow Absolute Justice「 to the act of Uchiha Ikeizumi killing him, right?
Shinnosuke…
He fulfilled the final duty of a guiding Jonin.
He failed to protect two genin disciples who had made mistakes back then, and now he was trying to protect his last disciple.
Sarutobi Hiruzen deeply sighed.
‘Is this the last words you left for me, Shinnosuke?’
Sarutobi Hiruzen’s thoughts were in chaos.
Having lived so many years, even having grandchildren, he suddenly felt puzzled at how human nature could be so complex.
He clenched his fist tight, then released it.
Clenched it tight, then released…
Repeating this for an unknown amount of time.
“Uchiha Ikeizumi. Tomorrow, give me a detailed action report. Hand it over to the Anbu; no need to come see me.”
He finally said this.
“Hokage!” An Anbu ninja from the Sarutobi Clan was stunned for a moment, then shouted anxiously beside Sarutobi Hiruzen: “Sarutobi Shinnosuke was one of your right-hand men!”
Sarutobi Hiruzen lowered his gaze.
“Hokage…” Just as this Anbu ninja from the Sarutobi Clan wanted to hurriedly say something more, a hand suddenly rested on his shoulder, and he turned back in astonishment.
Kakashi, also wearing an Anbu mask, shook his head slightly.
“Let the Hokage calm down alone.”
Kakashi said with a complex expression: “Shinnosuke Senior’s words before death can already be considered his last words. And the Hokage also heard Shinnosuke Senior’s last words. Although he had a different stance from Uchiha Ikeizumi, in his final moments, he still expressed admiration for this former student.”
“He was also willing to become falling leaves burning to ashes, nurturing the most rebellious student in his eyes. Sarutobi Shinnosuke Senior truly embodied Konoha’s「 Will of Fire」. He used his life to tell his student that Konoha’s Will of Fire is not inferior to Absolute Justice.”
With that said.
Kakashi turned his gaze to Uchiha Ikeizumi and found that this “patricide” had already turned and left.
The sound of Uchiha Ikeizumi’s departing footsteps was very clear.
But the Hokage did not speak to stop him, nor did he order these Anbu ninjas to pursue, merely silently holding Sarutobi Shinnosuke’s gradually cooling corpse.
‘Sarutobi Shinnosuke Senior and Uchiha Ikeizumi were both not wrong.’
—This was a thought that suddenly emerged in Kakashi’s mind.
So the problem was, what was wrong then?
If both were not wrong, was it this Ninja World that was wrong?
Kakashi could not figure it out.
…
“Back to the village, rookie.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi slowly said: “Tonight will be a sleepless night.”
“Yes, senior.”
…
…
