Just as the Academy teacher was about to ask something else, he suddenly caught a glimpse of someone unfamiliar entering the grounds from the corner of his eye.
Turning his head to look more closely, he realized it was a shinobi from the Uchiha Police Force.
Wait a minute—
That guy looked like...
Uchiha Keizumi!!!
Not only were several of the Academy teachers stunned, but the rest of them also quickly took a few steps back in alarm.
A man's name casts a long shadow. Even though Uchiha Keizumi's reputation had been slightly restored recently, the fear built up over the years wasn't something that could be erased overnight.
They then saw a ninja cat sprint over at high speed and place a paw on Uzumaki Naruto's neck.
"Meow, Keizumi-sama, the Uzumaki brat is still alive. There's still a trace of strange, very volatile chakra leaking from his body. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Nine-Tails' chakra."
After a quick initial check, Tachibana Jirō spoke in a professional tone, "He's likely been placed under a genjutsu, and a Sharingan-based one at that. This kind of illusion shouldn't cause him any real harm, at most it just knocked him unconscious."
"Feels like the Tailed Beast inside him lost control, and then some passing Uchiha used genjutsu to put him to sleep—meow."
Uchiha Keizumi walked over and picked Naruto up by the back of his collar, like lifting a sleeping golden-furred fox cub.
"He… the dead last didn't lose control—cough!" Sasuke's dry, hoarse voice suddenly broke in.
He raised his head and looked directly at Uchiha Keizumi. "Keizumi-sensei, the dead last… he helped me stop—cough—stop Uchiha Itachi. Because Uchiha Itachi broke into the Academy. He tried to use the Sharingan to control me into killing someone… He said that if I took a life with my own hands, then [Absolute Justice] would abandon me…"
Izumi's hand instantly moved to rest on her ninja blade as she stared at the handprint on Sasuke's neck. Based on what Sasuke had just said, she'd already pieced together most of what had happened.
Clenching her teeth, Izumi growled, "Uchiha Itachi is beyond saving."
Sasuke continued, "At the critical moment… the dead last, who had been knocked out by the genjutsu, suddenly woke up. There was a lot of red chakra around him. He drove Uchiha Itachi away."
Sasuke didn't exaggerate or downplay Naruto's actions.
Even if he felt a twinge of envy toward Naruto's power, what he felt even more was an indescribable sense of gratitude. If Naruto hadn't intervened so suddenly, maybe he really would have been controlled by Uchiha Itachi and ended up killing someone innocent.
And if that had happened…
[Absolute Justice] would have turned its back on him.
"What a fucking animal—meow!" Tachibana Jirō was so furious his claws popped out. He couldn't stop cursing. "Treating your own little brother like that, does he even have a brain?! I should've laid down my cat life back then and killed that bastard! And that Uchiha Shisui—if he hadn't protected that bastard back in the day, there's no way he would've lived this long—meow!"
"Meow! I swear, I wish I could use that damn Impure World Reincarnation technique to drag Uchiha Shisui out from the Pure Land and make him see for himself the filthy shit that bastard he spared is doing to people now!"
Of course, Tachibana Jirō didn't actually know how to perform Impure World Reincarnation. The only reason he knew about that jutsu at all was because he'd heard about it from Keizumi.
"Don't worry…" Uchiha Keizumi glanced at Sasuke, who was still on edge and visibly shaken, and said, "Even if he had controlled you into killing someone innocent, [Absolute Justice] wouldn't abandon you—because it wouldn't have been your intent to kill. You would've been forcibly turned into a blade. The one who truly committed the act of murder was him, not you."
"If [Absolute Justice] would cast aside someone devoted to justice just for something like that, then who would still be willing to defend justice at all? Don't let that bastard's extremist ideology affect you. A person that extreme sees everything through an extreme lens."
Sasuke was stunned for a moment.
Strangely enough, despite hearing both Tachibana Jirō and Uchiha Keizumi refer to his older brother as "that bastard" without hesitation, Sasuke didn't feel angry at all.
Even though he felt the word was a bit harsh...
It somehow still felt oddly fitting.
And—
What Keizumi said did bring him a certain sense of relief.
...
Konohagakure, Hokage Office.
"Itachi… what are you doing?!" Sarutobi Hiruzen, exhausted from the endless flood of recent problems, looked up in surprise at the kneeling Uchiha Itachi in front of him.
With his head bowed, Itachi said, "I've come to apologize to you, Hokage-sama. Today, I accidentally caused the Jinchūriki to lose control… though… maybe it wasn't exactly a loss of control…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "!!!"
As if dealing with one Uchiha Keizumi and one Uzumaki Naruto weren't enough of a headache already—now you, Uchiha Itachi?
Sarutobi took a deep breath and tried to calm himself. Frowning, he asked, "Itachi, what exactly happened?"
Itachi didn't hide anything. He explained the cause, the process, and the outcome of everything in full detail.
Sarutobi found himself unable to voice the scolding that had been stuck in his throat.
Because…
Everything Itachi had done was for the sake of Konoha. Even what he had done to his own younger brother had been for the purpose of ensuring that Sasuke could one day serve the village wholeheartedly and without hesitation.
That level of selfless dedication—Hiruzen couldn't find any flaw in it.
If he had to find something to nitpick… it would be that Itachi's approach was a little too extreme. Subjecting a seven-year-old to this kind of experience—was it really possible the child wouldn't develop some strange psychological scars?
That said, Naruto's sudden "loss of control" was definitely an unexpected variable.
"A rational 'loss of control', huh…" Hiruzen folded his hands behind his back, deep in thought. "That sounds… more like he's taken the first step toward mastering the power of the Tailed Beast inside him. That kind of power only appears when Naruto is the one in control. If he wasn't in control, we'd already be in the middle of another Nine-Tails disaster."
Hiruzen understood very well what this meant—Naruto was moving toward becoming a true Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.
"It's a bit too early…"
In Hiruzen's original plan, he intended to wait until Naruto graduated from the Ninja Academy before gradually guiding him to control the Tailed Beast within.
But now, thanks to Itachi's provocation, Naruto had achieved that step ahead of schedule—and had been exposed to the Nine-Tails' power far earlier than anticipated.
Come to think of it…
"Itachi, weren't you trying to provoke Sasuke? Why did Naruto end up getting triggered too?"
Hiruzen suddenly voiced the one question that had been bothering him all along.
Uchiha Itachi paused for a moment, then speculated, "Maybe it's the bond he shares with Sasuke. After all, they both follow Absolute Justice."
"A bond, huh…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen took a slow drag from his pipe.
A headache was beginning to form.
Why did it have to be a bond with someone from the Uchiha clan?
If he had the choice…
He would have much preferred Naruto to form a bond with someone from the Sarutobi clan instead.
"Hokage-sama," Itachi suddenly spoke, interrupting Hiruzen's thoughts. "Under Uchiha Keizumi's influence, the Uchiha clan is starting to slip out of control. Uchiha Setsuna has grown more radical than ever. Many of the moderate Uchiha have either started siding with the radicals lately or have taken a keen interest in Absolute Justice."
Hearing this report, Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow tightened—this was indeed one of the things that had been troubling him lately.
If the Uchiha clan really intended to make a move, and tried to carry out that so-called coup they thought no one knew about—but in truth everyone already did—then Konoha would be plunged into civil war.
And the other hidden villages would almost certainly seize the opportunity to exploit the chaos.
Although the Third Great Ninja War had only ended recently, that didn't mean those ambitious, conflict-ridden factions wouldn't try to ignite a Fourth.
"Hokage-sama, I'll take care of all of this."
Itachi kept his head bowed as he spoke slowly, "You don't need to worry about the Uchiha threatening Konoha's future."
Those words struck Hiruzen like a jolt.
"Itachi…"
He couldn't help but recall the rumors circulating in the village—rumors about Uchiha Itachi's role in the clan's annihilation one year from now.
Hiruzen took a deep breath. His expression turned grave as he said, "Itachi, there are some lines that don't need to be crossed. Only a small handful of individuals actually pose a threat to Konoha."
He truly had considered eliminating a few of the Uchiha who were plotting in the shadows.
But only a few—not the entire clan.
Itachi's approach was too extreme.
And that was something Sarutobi Hiruzen found hard to accept.
Clearing his throat, he kept his tone firm as he repeated, "Itachi, sometimes it's unnecessary to go to such extremes. The Uchiha clan still has its uses to Konoha."
"…Understood, Hokage-sama." Uchiha Itachi responded calmly, hiding the flicker of emotion in his eyes.
He stood up.
And turned to leave.
'Forgive me, Hokage-sama… I should've known long ago that someone like you, who loves this village so deeply, could never permit me to go that far. But if I don't act soon, it may already be too late. The Uchiha… have become a real threat to Konoha…'
As he stepped out the door, Itachi muttered silently to himself.
Even if Hokage-sama couldn't understand his way of thinking…
Why should he expect anyone to?
The path I've chosen—for Konoha, for the Uchiha, for Sasuke—is the only one that's truly right.
Murmuring quietly to himself, Uchiha Itachi suddenly looked up.
He saw a bearded shinobi passing by, and that man seemed to notice him as well—their eyes met for half a second, surprise flashing across the other's face.
If he wasn't mistaken…
That man was the Hokage's second son—
Sarutobi Asuma!
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