Chapter 117: Shocking Konoha!
Struggling to tear his gaze away from Uchiha Ikeizumi, Kakashi found himself staring at the desolate scene before him.
A vast area was scorched and covered in flowing magma, like a volcanic crater. Dense smoke billowed upwards, and raging fires burned everywhere his eyes could see. The intense heat made Kakashi feel deeply uncomfortable.
Countless craters dotted the landscape, some too large to measure, others seemingly bottomless. The trees in this area had been completely obliterated. Anyone looking down from above would see a barren wasteland strewn with mutilated bodies. Some were missing their lower halves, some were just heads, some had been charred to a crisp, and others had a gaping hole in their chest.
"Meow..."
A faint sound of breathing immediately caught Kakashi's attention. When he looked over, he was shocked to see that Uchiha Ikeizumi had left one person alive! The man looked like he was barely holding on, his limbs twisted at unnatural angles and countless bones broken inside his body. Kakashi guessed that without immediate, specialized medical ninjutsu, the man wouldn't survive another minute.
It looks like... he's a lost cause.
Next to him, even Might Guy's expression had turned grim.
"Kakashi, look over there!" Guy's sudden exclamation made Kakashi freeze. "Look at the lower half of the bodies, around their waists."
Following Guy's instruction, Kakashi's eyes narrowed. The pupil of his single Sharingan contracted. He saw a corpse, which had been impaled through the chest by Ikeizumi's hand, with a cloth wrapped around its waist. Embroidered on the cloth was the character for "Fire," which seemed to burn itself into Kakashi's vision.
"Is that...?" Kakashi gasped, a cold shiver running down his spine.
Guy gave a serious "Mm," his usual youthful passion absent from his voice. "That's the waistband of the Land of Fire. The only ninja who have the right to wear that are..." Guy paused for a dramatic moment, then dropped a bombshell. "...the Twelve Guardian Ninja who protect the Daimyo of the Land of Fire!"
The moment Guy finished speaking, Uchiha Ikeizumi slowly pulled his right arm free, and the impaled body slumped to the ground.
The massive, battle-worn ninja cat, Kyojiro, also seemed to deflate like a popped balloon, shrinking back to its normal size. Holding a shredded corpse in its hind paws, Kyojiro winced in pain and started to grumble. "That hurt, meow! You're the one who used Fire Style on my bells, weren't you?! How cowardly! Biting you to death was too easy, you bastard!"
"Meow! Good thing I sat down right away and put out the fire. It was too nice a death for a Daimyo's lapdog like you. Sss! It still hurts now! It hurts so bad, meow!!!"
Kakashi: "..." Guy: "..."
The cat's angry rant and its terrible predicament seemed to completely shatter the grim and somber atmosphere. However, the phrase "Daimyo's lapdog" immediately confirmed for both Kakashi and Guy that these bodies were indeed the Twelve Guardian Ninja!
"One... two... five... six..." Kakashi silently counted the mangled corpses, a cold sweat breaking out on his brow. Although he couldn't find eleven bodies, he suspected that some of the unfortunate ninja had been completely vaporized by the intense heat of the magma, not even leaving behind a body part.
The Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire had most likely been completely wiped out!
Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh!
Suddenly, the sounds of movement echoed through the air. Kakashi turned to see one ANBU ninja after another finally arriving on the scene.
"Captain Kakashi?" one of his subordinates spotted Kakashi's distinctive silver hair right away. Staring at the horrific scene, the ANBU was visibly shocked as he approached. "Captain, what happened here? And who are these bodies?" he asked.
"I don't know the exact details," Kakashi replied, shaking his head with a complicated expression. "All I know is that these corpses are most likely the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire."
The ANBU ninja's eyes widened in shock.
Kakashi had not lowered his voice, so all the ANBU heard him. One of them immediately went to examine a mangled corpse. Upon seeing the face, the ninja gasped in surprise. "It's Seitou, an elite jonin and one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja!"
Another ANBU shouted in shock from a different spot. "This corpse over here looks like Toubou, also one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja!"
All of their horrified stares turned to Uchiha Ikeizumi. They had seen from a distance that Ikeizumi was fighting a group of unknown ninja. But who could have imagined that this group was the Twelve Guardian Ninja?!
And yet...
In such a short time, all of the Twelve Guardian Ninja—a group of elite jonin—had been killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi! And turned into these grotesque, horrifying corpses!
"Don't look at me like that." The flowing magma on Uchiha Ikeizumi's body slowly receded, leaving him standing before the crowd looking pristine, with only "a slightly dirty hem and a slightly disheveled hairstyle."
He spoke with a cold, indifferent expression. "The moment they decided to harbor malicious intent and ambush me here, they had already fallen into a pit of evil. They were destined to be purged by [Absolute Justice]."
The ANBU were stunned. The amount of information in Ikeizumi's statement was overwhelming.
Could it be that the Twelve Guardian Ninja had inexplicably set up an ambush outside the village, waiting for Uchiha Ikeizumi to appear and trying to kill him?! But instead, they were the ones who were killed! A group of elite jonin, hidden in the shadows of the Land of Fire, failed to ambush one ninja who stood in the light.
"Wait!"
Suddenly, an ANBU ninja snapped out of his daze, his masked face contorting with a range of emotions. Overcome with shock, he couldn't help but ask Ikeizumi directly, "There's a member of the Twelve Guardian Ninja named Asuma Sarutobi! Did he... did he participate in this ambush against you?!"
"Yes," Uchiha Ikeizumi replied candidly. "He was even the mastermind. If you want to check the bodies, you can find him over there."
He said it as if he had only killed some common criminal, not the son of the Third Hokage.
The ANBU were speechless. At this point, it wasn't just Kakashi. Every ANBU ninja present was drenched in a cold sweat.
"Asuma Sarutobi... why does that name sound like the Hokage's?" Guy muttered, frowning as he stroked his chin.
"He's... the Hokage's second son," Kakashi said softly, his somber tone reaching Guy's ears.
"Oh!—Huh? Wait, what?!" Guy's eyes widened in disbelief.
Inside the Hokage's office.
"Hiruzen, it seems to be over." Koharu Utatane also did not venture out of the village to check on the situation. Standing beside Hiruzen Sarutobi, she looked out at the dispersing smoke and said, "It started in a rush and ended just as quickly. But I wonder what the casualties were."
Koharu sighed, feigning concern. "Although I'm not a fan of extreme young people like Uchiha Ikeizumi, because they won't listen to any advice and just act on their own beliefs, their actions are only causing trouble for Konoha. But... Uchiha Ikeizumi is a part of Konoha. I still wouldn't want anything to happen to him. Konoha cannot afford to lose a powerful ninja like him right now."
The flowery words coming out of Koharu's mouth sounded fake, even to Hiruzen.
Hiruzen's face was grim as he said in a low voice, "We will know the full story once the ANBU return."
He said nothing more. For some reason, he didn't feel relieved when the commotion in the distance stopped. Instead, the ominous premonition in his heart grew stronger, giving him a sense of unease and dread.
"I have a feeling something terrible happened..."
Standing on the highest floor of the Hokage Tower, Hiruzen rested one hand on the wooden railing. The unease made him unconsciously tighten his grip, causing the railing to groan under the strain. He felt irritable and couldn't calm down.
On the roof of a building in Konoha.
"Looks like the fighting's over?!" a female ninja said, pulling her gaze back from the distance and smiling playfully at her companion. "Kurenai, I saw your childhood friend was back in town a few days ago, and I saw you two meet up. Well? Did he confess to you yet?!"
Yūhi Kurenai, a special jonin at the moment, was also curiously looking out into the distance. Hearing her friend's teasing, her expression became tense. "What are you talking about, confessing?! Konoha isn't that big, and he's not the only guy I grew up with."
Her friend scoffed. "You're almost twenty-two and you still haven't found a boyfriend? Asuma Sarutobi seems like a good guy to me. He's the Hokage's son!"
"Besides, you guys met in private, so he probably sought you out. Don't tell me he's not interested in you? That's impossible!"
Kurenai's delicate brows furrowed, and she didn't respond. Asuma Sarutobi had indeed sought her out privately. She was shocked at the time, thinking he was going to confess, and had even prepared a few excuses to turn him down. Kurenai believed that until she became a full-fledged jonin, she shouldn't be distracted by romance.
But all he did was say a few nonsensical things.
"Kurenai, I'm about to do something most people wouldn't dare to. If I succeed, Konoha will have one less of the parasites that are rotting the village from the inside."
"The old man doesn't know what I'm planning yet, but he'll understand once he finds out. I hope you'll understand me too."
"Phew! To be honest, I wasn't that nervous at first. But after gathering some intel back in the village, I'm starting to get tense. But once you draw the bow, there's no turning back. If you've decided to do something, you have to follow through."
"I'll ask you to meet me here again tomorrow. You won't turn me down, will you?"
As these strange words from Asuma flashed through her mind, Kurenai slowly took a deep breath.
She had a terrible feeling that something bad had happened.
"I hope Teacher Ikeizumi is okay," Naruto said, his small face etched with worry. Before leaving, Izumi had told Naruto and Sasuke, "Teacher Ikeizumi seems to be fighting an enemy. I'm going out of the village to help him! Naruto, Sasuke, stay in the Ninja Academy and don't move."
The bruises from the handprint on Sasuke's neck hadn't faded yet. He said with a confident tone, "He'll be fine. Teacher Ikeizumi is very strong!"
He's the man my mother wants to entrust me to. He's the man my father, the Uchiha clan head, can't even control!
And besides, Sasuke thought, the reason Itachi had retreated earlier wasn't just because of Naruto's outburst. It was more likely because he sensed that Teacher Ikeizumi might be on his way!
In other words...
He was a man who even Itachi Uchiha was wary of!
Sasuke was absolutely certain that Uchiha Ikeizumi would be fine.
Inside the Uchiha compound.
"Lord Setsuna, the fighting has stopped. Now would be a good time to go and check the situation, right? The Hokage's lapdogs shouldn't stop us now," a young Uchiha radical said impatiently.
What if that punk Uchiha Ikeizumi was gravely injured in a mutual-kill with his ambushers? What if he's severely wounded right now? If we were to go and check on him immediately... isn't there a chance we could save that extremist punk?
There is no way that can happen!!!
Uchiha Setsuna's aged face was tense. "Before we even get there, the ANBU have probably already arrived. Besides, with such a huge commotion outside the village, what do you think the higher-ups would think if they saw Uchiha clan members there?"
"Don't forget our final plan! Before the coup d'état has fully begun, any action that causes unnecessary trouble will throw the plan into uncertainty."
"What we need to do right now is lie low and make the higher-ups relax their guard, not make them even more wary of the Uchiha!"
Setsuna's words forced the young radicals behind him, who were itching for action, to clench their teeth and restrain themselves.
"Those damned higher-ups!" one young Uchiha ninja exclaimed. "If they hadn't discriminated against and isolated the Uchiha clan, we wouldn't be this powerless!"
Feeling the righteous anger of these young radicals, Setsuna breathed a sigh of relief. At least, even under the influence of Uchiha Ikeizumi's [Absolute Justice], they had not given up their resolve to stage a coup.
This meant there was still hope for the Uchiha clan! And the one to save the Uchiha clan would be none other than him, Uchiha Setsuna!
Outside Konoha.
The ANBU ninja finally found Asuma Sarutobi's corpse. Seeing Asuma covered in blood, with a large, charred hole in his chest, all the ANBU fell silent. Although the Hokage's second son rarely stayed in Konoha, they still recognized his face.
This...
Ever since their captain, Shin'nosuke Sarutobi, was killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi in the name of "executing justice," Asuma was the Hokage's only son left. But today, his only remaining son had also died by Uchiha Ikeizumi's hand.
The ANBU ninja found it difficult to imagine what the Hokage's reaction would be when he heard this news. Wouldn't this be too cruel for a father?
Normally, their job would be to immediately apprehend Uchiha Ikeizumi and hand him over to the Hokage. However, that would only be the case if Ikeizumi had done something wrong. The problem was, Asuma was the one in the wrong here! He was the one who led the Twelve Guardian Ninja in an ambush against Uchiha Ikeizumi outside the village. This was equivalent to a ninja collaborating with outsiders to assassinate a fellow ninja from the same village for no reason! This was even more heinous than the actions of the Shimura clan.
Uchiha Ikeizumi had a solid reason—[Justice]—which was even recognized by the Hokage. And Ikeizumi's killings were always done in the open. The Yamanaka clan would even assist him in investigating the criminal history of the deceased before their death. But what reason did Asuma have? Revenge for his brother? The problem was, his brother had already been classified as a criminal. That's not a valid reason, is it?!
Just as the ANBU were trying and failing to find a justifiable reason for Asuma's actions, they suddenly heard a sound coming from the side. They all turned to look.
A girl dressed in an Uchiha Police Force uniform emerged from the forest, followed by a large group of ninja cats.
"Senior Ikeizumi!"
"Lord Ikeizumi!"
The girl and the cats spoke almost in unison. The ANBU immediately recognized her—she was Izumi Uchiha, Ikeizumi's little tag-along.
When Izumi saw that Ikeizumi was completely unharmed, she let out a sigh of relief, the tension in her small face relaxing. But when she saw the bruised and battered Kyojiro, her heart sank. The sight of him was enough to show her how intense the battle must have been. This was the first time she had ever seen Kyojiro look so beat up.
"Lord Kyojiro!" A crowd of ninja cats, some speaking in human language, others just meowing in panic, rushed toward him.
"Stop wailing, meow!" Kyojiro pushed away a young ninja cat with his paw, rolling his eyes. "Don't touch my wounds, you brats! It hurts!"
The ravaged and broken landscape around her made her heart tremble with fear.
...
For advanced chapters:
Get early access to 80 advanced chapters before anyone else!
Join now: Patreon com/Chaos_God