Chapter 124: The Era of Konoha Has Changed
Konoha.
The Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen, why didn't you inform us about such a big incident earlier?"
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado had both come to find Hiruzen Sarutobi. Koharu's aged face was flushed with anger. "That's Tanzaku Gai! A huge portion of the Land of Fire's tax revenue comes from there! And a large portion of that tax revenue is our Konoha's shinobi funds!"
Koharu took a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but she couldn't. She gritted her teeth. "Nine years ago, Uchiha Ikeizumi killed dozens of people in Tanzaku Gai, and the place nearly shut down. At that time, I told you to summon him back to be held accountable, but you used 'the need for a dual bloodline ninja to stabilize the war' as an excuse to sweep it under the rug."
"I knew back then that indulging him like that would only make his actions escalate. And now, nine years later, he's done it again."
"And…"
Koharu took another deep breath. "This time, over a hundred people died! And that was only the tip of the iceberg that those three ninja saw because they didn't investigate more deeply."
"If the tip of the iceberg is a hundred bodies, then what's the full picture? Is it several hundred? A thousand?"
"Hiruzen, Tanzaku Gai has many of the Land of Fire's most powerful families' cornerstone businesses! Many nobles even go there to spend their money!"
"Can you guarantee that Uchiha Ikeizumi didn't kill a single noble? He even dared to kill the Daimyō's second son!"
Hiruzen held his pipe impassively, the wisps of smoke concealing half his face. Sitting in his chair, he slowly raised his eyes to the agitated Koharu.
"How could I not know all of this?" he said. "The problem is, the incident has already happened. I only found out about it days after the fact. Am I supposed to go back in time and send someone to stop Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
Hiruzen used a free hand to rub his aching brow. "What can I do besides wait for Ikeizumi to return? Koharu, Homura. You are Konoha's elders. Tell me, what can I do now?!"
"Am I supposed to go to Tanzaku Gai, take a sample of every dead person's cells, resurrect them all with Impure World Reincarnation, and then pretend that nothing ever happened?!"
"Or should I send every ANBU and Root ninja in the village to hunt Uchiha Ikeizumi under the pretext of 'apprehending a criminal traitor'?"
Hiruzen's voice was low and grave. "You both should know… were the people Ikeizumi killed truly innocent?"
"His justice has put him on a moral high ground. If the people of the village were to find out that I killed a Konoha ninja for purging evil, what would they think of me as Hokage?"
"Don't forget…"
"Uchiha Ikeizumi's 'Absolute Justice' has already received the preliminary approval of many in the village! The era has changed."
"'Absolute Justice' is no longer a plague that everyone avoids."
As he said this, an undeniable pain flashed in Hiruzen's eyes. Wasn't this also one of the reasons he couldn't exact revenge on Uchiha Ikeizumi? He couldn't understand why things had turned out this way. Why had so many people come to accept Ikeizumi's justice in such a short time? The village's attitude wasn't like this before.
Hiruzen felt as if he was on the verge of grasping something crucial, but that flash of insight kept slipping through his fingers.
"Lord Hokage!" Suddenly, an ANBU ninja entered the office and reported to Hiruzen, "A Konoha ninja named 'Shizune' has returned to Konoha alone. She said that Lady Tsunade will be returning to the village soon."
Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura were all stunned.
Tsunade… was coming back?!
A certain location in the Land of Fire.
Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh— Three figures moved quickly in one direction. They were clearly ninja, but none wore a forehead protector, and their auras were grim, marking them as non-Konoha shinobi.
"Hey! Are you sure this is the right way? We've been looking for that Uchiha Ikeizumi all day and still haven't found him. How are we supposed to report back to Lord Orochimaru if we can't find him?"
"And the direction we're going doesn't seem to be toward Konoha, does it?!"
The ninja at the back grumbled with discontent.
"Hmph!"
The ninja in the lead scoffed. "Don't underestimate my tracking skills! We found his inn in Tanzaku Gai, and I've memorized his scent. As long as I can catch even a whiff of it, I'll be able to find Uchiha Ikeizumi!"
"I don't know why he's not heading back to Konoha, but I'm certain this is the path he took. However, besides him, there are two other scents."
The leading ninja frowned. "One scent doesn't smell human. It might be a summoned beast."
"The last scent seems to belong to a woman."
"And… the scents are getting stronger."
Suddenly, the ninja in the middle, who hadn't spoken, said urgently, "Stop!"
The other two immediately halted. Confused, they watched as he walked to the side and looked down. "Look here."
The other two walked over and their pupils constricted.
"A body?!"
A bloody, headless body lay in the bushes by the side of the road, its head a few dozen centimeters away. The terrified and hopeless expression on its face was frozen in place.
"There's a headband." One of them bent down and picked up a metal headband. Upon seeing the insignia, his eyes widened. "The Cloud Village? How could a Cloud ninja be in the Land of Fire? Could he be a spy planted by the Cloud Village? Tsk, tsk, this guy was really unlucky to have been killed."
"Uchiha Ikeizumi killed him," the ninja with the sharpest sense of smell suddenly said. "There's a strong scent of Uchiha Ikeizumi in the vicinity. There don't seem to be any other signs of a fight. This Cloud ninja was probably killed instantly."
"Heh… no wonder Lord Orochimaru is so interested in that boy. A ninja with a dual bloodline limit is indeed extraordinary."
The other ninja said grimly, "The body is still fresh. Uchiha Ikeizumi must have killed him within the last fifteen minutes."
The three looked at each other. Fifteen minutes… that meant Uchiha Ikeizumi was probably very close! Without another word, they all sped up.
Half an hour later.
When their eyes finally fell upon two people and one cat, their long search was over. They got a second wind and increased their speed, surrounding the three in an instant. One stood in front, while the other two took up positions behind them. Their appearance forced Uchiha Ikeizumi to stop.
"Heh heh… Uchiha Ikeizumi, the famous 'Lava Release Ferocious Beast,' a dual bloodline ninja, a rarity in the entire ninja world… you were quite hard to find!" The ninja blocking their path smiled, his eyes fixed on Ikeizumi.
He then glanced at Anko Mitarashi standing next to Ikeizumi. "You're… tsk, no wonder that woman's scent seemed familiar."
"Anko Mitarashi, Lord Orochimaru's direct student! Hah, this is a bit unexpected!"
Anko's eyes widened. "!!!"
Anko had just been wondering who these three were. But when she heard that last sentence, she realized they were trouble. Especially when they mentioned Orochimaru's name. The expression in her eyes turned dangerous, and her muscles tensed, ready to strike.
"Orochimaru?"
Kojiro narrowed his cat eyes. "Lord Ikeizumi hardly ever leaves the village, but when he does, all sorts of monsters and demons come out."
"Hey, hey, hey!"
The ninja on the right said, "We're talking to Uchiha Ikeizumi. What right does a pet cat have to interrupt?"
Then the ninja in front spoke again. "Uchiha Ikeizumi, Lord Orochimaru thinks very highly of you, which is why he sent us to find you."
He repeated the words Orochimaru had told him, offering Ikeizumi an olive branch. When he finished, Ikeizumi and Kojiro didn't react, but Anko's face changed slightly. She looked at Ikeizumi nervously.
"What do you say? Lord Orochimaru is very sincere. If you join his organization, you'll be his equal. Your 'Absolute Justice,' which is unaccepted by others, will certainly find people who approve of it. It's a much better place than Konoha."
"And…"
Just as the leading ninja was about to continue his sales pitch, Ikeizumi cut him off with a frigid voice. "Are these the words that Orochimaru, that unforgivable beast, sent you all this way to tell me?"
That single, concise sentence made all three ninja's faces fall. This arrogant Uchiha was insulting Lord Orochimaru with such crude language?! Even though Lord Orochimaru thought so highly of him! How irrational!
Ikeizumi's voice grew colder. "I have a message for you to take back to him: tell him to clean that long neck of his and wait for 'Absolute Justice' to come knocking."
"That is… assuming you have the ability to send messages from beyond the grave."
As soon as he finished speaking, the three ninja sent by Orochimaru felt an intense sense of danger. Before they could even react, Kojiro made his move. The small cat instantly grew to a terrifying, monstrous size of over a dozen meters. Without hesitation, he swatted the ninja on the right.
THWUMP!
The ninja didn't have time to dodge and was hit squarely by Kojiro's paw. The ground shook slightly.
"What?!" The other two's expressions changed. But before they could do anything, Uchiha Ikeizumi was already right in front of one of them. His eyes had become three-tomoe Sharingan, their crimson glow reflected in the other ninja's eyes. As the ninja's gaze went blank, Ikeizumi's blade had already drawn a deep red line across his throat.
A large head rolled to the ground, and a fountain of blood shot into the sky.
The last ninja's pupils constricted. He tried to quickly pull away, but Anko, who had been ready to strike, also attacked. "Ninja Art: Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
In an instant, a dozen venomous snakes shot out from Anko's sleeve. Each snake moved at an incredible speed, biting the ninja a dozen times. The poison was injected into his body through the fangs.
"Oh… no…" The sudden wave of exhaustion caused the ninja to collapse. Anko walked forward quickly, pulled out a kunai, and held it to his throat. She gritted her teeth, threatening him. "The poison will take your life in three minutes at most. If you tell me Orochimaru's location, I'll give you the antidote."
"Heh, you think…" Just as the weakened ninja was about to say something defiant, his expression suddenly froze. Anko noticed something was off, just as she felt a hand grab the back of her collar.
She was pulled back, flying through the air. Before she could ask who had grabbed her, the weakened ninja's body began to visibly inflate. When he became a sphere, he exploded.
BOOM!!!
Bits of flesh flew in every direction.
BOOM!!!
BOOM!!!
The other two bodies also did the same thing, inflating and exploding.
Anko was splattered with bits of flesh and blood, her face frozen in shock. She had not expected this.
Uchiha Ikeizumi's calm voice came from behind her. "It seems Orochimaru sent them here to die. And he set up a contingency plan to destroy the bodies so that no one could use them to pinpoint his location. What a shame. It looks like he doesn't have the guts to stand in front of me himself."
Ikeizumi's eyes narrowed. To him, the 'evil' of the shinobi world had many sources. Orochimaru was one of them!
Listening to Ikeizumi, Anko had a sudden, dawning realization… that it wasn't Orochimaru who was targeting Uchiha Ikeizumi.
It was Uchiha Ikeizumi who was targeting Orochimaru!
...
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