Chapter 128: The Death of the Daimyō! The Land of Fire Capital's Bloody Day!
The Daimyō's Mansion.
"My lord!" A Daimyō vassal rushed over and reported to the Fire Daimyō. "The people from Konoha said that if they're not mistaken, the 'villain ninja' killing people in the capital of the Land of Fire is most likely a ninja from Konoha Village!"
"What?!"
The Fire Daimyō stood up in shock, and his eldest son also stood up.
The Daimyō's eldest son gritted his teeth. "A Konoha ninja! How does the Third Hokage manage the ninja in his village? First, an Uchiha Ikeizumi kills my brother, and now another Konoha ninja is killing nobles in the capital?"
"Father, after this is over, please, you must gather your forces and remove the Third Hokage from his position! Letting him manage Konoha will only lead to chaos in the Land of Fire."
"A ninja's duty is to protect the country, or to be a killing machine for the country, to be a loyal enforcement agency of the Land of Fire. They shouldn't become a double-edged sword that can turn on the Land of Fire."
The Fire Daimyō frowned. "The Hokage and the Daimyō do not have a clear superior-subordinate relationship. It's not so easy to remove a Konoha Hokage…"
"If we handle this improperly, it could alienate Konoha and the Land of Fire, and that would be a disaster."
The fact that he said this made it clear that the Fire Daimyō was already extremely displeased with Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Just then, the Daimyō suddenly asked the vassal, "Did they confirm the name of the ninja villain in the capital?"
The vassal quickly replied, "The other party seems to be called Uchiha Ikeizumi."
The Fire Daimyō and his eldest son were both stunned.
"Impossible!" The Fire Daimyō's face was filled with horror. He shouted, "Did you get the name wrong? How could that man be Uchiha Ikeizumi?!"
The vassal looked wronged. "My lord, I've confirmed it with Konoha several times. It shouldn't be wrong."
"Father, then—" The Daimyō's eldest son was also aghast. "Shouldn't that man already be dead at the hands of the Twelve Guardian Ninja?"
The Daimyō was silent for a moment. At this point, if he still couldn't guess why the Twelve Guardian Ninja hadn't returned, he wouldn't be worthy of being the Daimyō.
Now, there were only two possibilities. One, the Twelve Guardian Ninja ultimately did not stand on his side, but chose to side with Konoha and did not help him seek revenge. The other possibility was that the Twelve Guardian Ninja were all dead! This would explain why Uchiha Ikeizumi was in the capital of the Land of Fire—he was here to assassinate him!
"Hiss…" The Daimyō gasped, and a bone-chilling cold ran through his body, giving him goosebumps.
This also explained why the villain ninja dared to kill nobles! What were a few dozen nobles to an Uchiha Ikeizumi who dared to kill the Daimyō's son?!
Cold sweat was already pouring down the Daimyō's back. He didn't know how many times he had been this anxious. The fifty million ryo bounty that had just been issued didn't give him any sense of security.
"He—" The Fire Daimyō asked his eldest son in a dazed tone. "He wouldn't dare to go after the Daimyō, would he? He should know how important a country's Daimyō is to that country, right? He should know how much trouble he would cause if he killed me, right? He would be a target for the entire ninja world!"
This was the first time the Daimyō's eldest son had ever seen his father so insecure. He could even see a hint of fear deep in his father's eyes. In the past, he couldn't have even imagined it.
Just as the Daimyō's eldest son opened his mouth to say something, another vassal rushed in frantically.
"My lord! This is terrible! The Fujiwara Clan, the Taira Clan, the Hōjō Clan, the Nakamura Clan—their compounds have all been visited by that ninja villain! The Nakamura Clan, who had a good reputation, only lost three members. The other noble families have been almost completely wiped out! There are hundreds of bodies!"
"And…"
"Besides these noble families, many 'innocent bystanders' have also fallen victim to that ninja villain! He's like a maniac, killing anyone and everyone! He even broke into a government building in the northeast of the capital, and it's said that he left a trail of bodies there!"
Just by the vassal's tone, you could tell he was trembling just from hearing the news. And his words almost made the Daimyō faint.
The Land of Fire hadn't experienced anything like this in years. Usually, it was Konoha Village that suffered. The Daimyō and the nobles had always lived a good life.
But who would have thought that one day the ninja's blade would be at their throats?
"Wait!" The Daimyō's eldest son, who was barely holding on to his composure, suddenly noticed a crucial detail. He quickly said, "Father! The Fujiwara, Taira, Hōjō, Nakamura clans, and the government building in the northeast—"
"If you connect these locations, they all form a straight line that leads directly to the Daimyō's Mansion! And—" The Daimyō's eldest son's voice was filled with horror. "He is already very close to us! That Uchiha Ikeizumi has been killing his way here!"
With a thud, the Fire Daimyō collapsed into his chair. It was as if most of his strength had been drained from his body. His eyes looked blank.
"What do we do? What do we do? Can the ninja who were attracted by the fifty million ryo bounty stop Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
The Daimyō grabbed his eldest son's wrist. "Should we raise the bounty to one hundred million? No! Make it five hundred million? With a bounty of five hundred million ryo, someone must be able to stop him, right?"
The Daimyō's eldest son looked down at his father, who was so out of sorts, and he couldn't bear to shatter the hope in his father's heart.
Even if there was a powerful ninja who would be tempted by five hundred million ryo, the question was… would they be able to get here in time?!
RUMBLE!!!
At that crucial moment, a sudden, loud roar told everyone in the Daimyō's Mansion that it was too late!
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Molten magma dripped slowly from Uchiha Ikeizumi's body. A sea of lava had formed behind him. The desperados who had been attracted by the exaggerated bounty of fifty million ryo were all consumed by the rolling magma behind him!
A pungent smell of sulfur filled the air. Uchiha Ikeizumi slightly raised his eyes and looked ahead.
The Daimyō's Mansion was right in front of him! Outside the mansion, hundreds of samurai with swords were trembling as they blocked Uchiha Ikeizumi's path. They were just some well-trained samurai. They could handle a few ordinary people, but they couldn't even defeat a Konoha Genin when it came to a ninja.
And the "lava monster" in front of them couldn't possibly be a Genin, could he? At the very least, he had to be a Jōnin! They had never seen anything like this in their lives!
The intense heat that was blowing in their faces made every single one of them break out in a sweat. With every step Uchiha Ikeizumi took, the samurai would take a few steps back. In the crowded formation, every step back was a mess of people pushing, stepping on each other's feet, and even accidentally cutting their companions with their swords, leading to shouts of panic and anger.
"Meow, why do you think these weaklings are the 'betters' of the ninja world?" Kojiro sat on Anko's head, treating her as a new mount. "What gives them the strong sense of confidence that they are born superior, that their lives are more precious than others, so they can play with other people's lives at will?"
Anko, who was already in a state of shock and numbness from what she had just seen, didn't care that a ninja cat was sitting on her head. She mumbled mechanically, "Because… that's just how the ninja world is. It has been like this for a long, long time."
Kojiro said, "Meow? Is it right just because it's always been this way?"
He continued, "Lord Ikeizumi once called these so-called 'betters' 'Celestial Dragons.' Meow, I don't know what a Celestial Dragon is, but judging from Lord Ikeizumi's disgusted tone, they're definitely not a good thing."
"Lord Ikeizumi also said that when they think they are superior and when they don't respect innocent lives, their very existence is a breeding ground for evil."
"With these kinds of people, only a very small minority can control their actions. If we kill all of them, there will surely be some innocent ones, but if we kill every other one, there will surely be a lot of them who get away, meow."
Just as Anko's expression changed, as if she were deep in thought, she suddenly heard Uchiha Ikeizumi's voice.
"Uchiha Military Police on duty, all unauthorized personnel, step back."
Uchiha Ikeizumi stood quietly in front of the hundreds of samurai. His voice was cold. "Otherwise, I will kill you all."
Clang. A samurai's sword slipped from his hand and fell to the ground. This was the first domino to fall, and it scared the other samurai into dropping their swords. They were not well-trained ninja. The moment their lives were threatened, the moment they realized that no matter how hard they fought, it would be useless… who would want to die for the Fire Daimyō? How much did they make a month anyway?
Hundreds of samurai shouted and scattered like frightened birds. At this moment, they truly realized the desperate gap in power between ordinary people and ninja. The samurai couldn't even understand why the Konoha ninja were content to stay in their village. Didn't they have the power to replace the Fire Daimyō in a minute?
But the samurai didn't dare to ask. The smell of sulfur in the air made them feel like they were suffocating.
They could only watch in fear as Uchiha Ikeizumi entered the Daimyō's Mansion. Not a single one of them dared to make a sound!
The Fire Daimyō had already heard the commotion outside. Realizing that he had nowhere left to run, he could only put on a brave face, with a grim and pampered expression, and with the last bit of confidence of a Fire Daimyō, he stood up to meet Uchiha Ikeizumi.
"You… are you—"
"Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
The Daimyō couldn't imagine where he found the courage to ask that question. Under his loose robes, he could feel his entire body trembling. The monster with magma flowing all over his body was like a terrifying demon from hell, making him feel a sense of dread.
The Daimyō clenched his fists, swallowed hard, and gritted his teeth. "As a ninja of the Uchiha Military Police, your authority should be limited to Konoha Village. What you are doing now is a serious abuse of power."
"And…"
With every word he said, more cold sweat dripped from his forehead. "Appearing before me in this manner, what do you intend to do? Are you planning a rebellion?"
"Do you in Konoha have any respect for the Land of Fire? Do you remember what country you were born in? I… I am the ruler of the Land of Fire!"
"I… I am…"
The Fire Daimyō found himself unable to speak. The Uchiha Ikeizumi in front of him looked so young, and he hadn't said a word after walking in. He was just looking at him with a calm expression. But it was that calm, cold gaze that put an unbearable pressure on the Fire Daimyō. He felt as if the other person was looking at a corpse.
Uchiha Ikeizumi finally spoke. "You carry layer upon layer of identities, yet you have not upheld the responsibilities you should have. You knew that your own son repeatedly committed evil, but you chose to condone it and ignore it."
"You have used your authority as Daimyō to change laws at will, making it harder for innocent victims to seek justice and allowing perpetrators to easily escape judgment."
"Although you did not personally commit any evil, the countless evils in the Land of Fire mostly stem from you."
"Takahito On'in. Today, 'Absolute Justice' will use your sin-ridden life to shake the entire Land of Fire!"
He's insane! This Uchiha is truly insane!!!
The Fire Daimyō's eyes widened. His survival instincts overcame his dignity. He turned and tried to run in his wooden clogs, his movements panicked. But in the next second, a magma dog with an open mouth passed through his body, leaving a large hole in his chest!
...
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