Chapter 145: Are You Loyal to the Will of Fire?
Hiruzen Sarutobi was in the middle of a dream when he was suddenly jolted awake. Koharu had arrived with several frantic-looking Koharu clan ninjas and unceremoniously pulled him out of bed.
With a grim expression, Hiruzen walked out of his house and took a deep breath.
He had just returned from the capital of the Land of Fire, and after dealing with the day's tiresome business, he just wanted a good night's sleep. He never thought that even a simple night's rest would be a luxury.
Looking at the agitated, out-of-breath Koharu and her clan members, Hiruzen frowned. "What's wrong? Why come to see me so late? Now that you've taken over Root, you don't need to consult me on every little thing. You can handle it yourself."
Koharu, catching her breath, looked furious. "I wouldn't have come to you if I could handle it myself. This involves you, Hiruzen, so I had to come."
"It involves me?" Hiruzen's heart sank. "Is something wrong with Naruto again?"
"It's Uchiha Ikeizumi!" Koharu gritted her teeth.
After she relayed the "tragic events" that had unfolded at the Koharu clan compound that night, Koharu continued as Hiruzen watched in stunned silence, "His next target… is the Mitokado clan! And his target after that… is the Sarutobi clan! He's gone mad, Hiruzen! This is the justice you've tolerated! This Absolute Justice not only killed your two sons but also now he wants to completely wipe out your Sarutobi clan!"
"Hiruzen! He's probably at the Mitokado clan's place right now! Tonight… he took Izumi Uchiha, Anko Mitarashi, and that ninja cat with him, and killed thirteen of my clan members at my compound, two of whom were young children!"
"If they can kill children, do you really think he'll go easy on the Sarutobi clan? Or do you think the Sarutobi clan is truly 'clean' in his eyes?"
Koharu's hateful words made Hiruzen's expression turn serious.
If Uchiha Ikeizumi was truly going to massacre the Koharu, Mitokado, and Sarutobi clans as Koharu said, then Hiruzen would not stand for it!
These three ninja clans were not only the foundation of Konoha, but also the foundation of his own position as Hokage!
If these three great clans were to be wiped out, the strength of the ninja clans would be greatly diminished, and Konoha's overall power would be weakened as a result!
The consequences for Konoha would be too dire!
What's more…
This involved members of the Sarutobi clan! Did he not know that some of his clan members operated in the grey areas of the ninja world?
Of course he knew, and he knew what they were doing.
But those who operated in the grey were doing it for the sake of the Sarutobi clan, and for Konoha.
Was Ikeizumi going to kill even these people? Although they used questionable methods, they were still Konoha's heroes!
Ikeizumi was too unreasonable!
By his logic, how many good people would be left in Konoha?
"Everyone!" Hiruzen commanded, and hidden ANBU guards immediately appeared. With a stern look, he ordered, "Gather all ANBU! Coordinate with Root to stop Uchiha Ikeizumi's actions tonight!"
"Yes, Lord Hokage!"
"Stop?" Koharu took a deep breath. She glared angrily, "Hiruzen, is 'stopping him' all you're going to do now? Are you still unwilling to use more decisive measures? What happened to the 'Ninja Professor' of old, with his ruthless, powerful methods?"
The Koharu clan had lost so many ninjas, and her own dignity had been "torn" to shreds and stomped on mercilessly by Uchiha Ikeizumi.
How could she accept that he would get away with this scot-free?
That brat had to pay for his reckless behavior!
"This is Konoha!" Hiruzen said in a grave voice. "When did you become so short-sighted and vengeful like Danzō, caring only for what's in front of you and not the safety of the entire village? Do you know what it would mean if we had a full-scale battle with Ikeizumi in Konoha?"
"Half of Konoha would be engulfed in flames! How many civilians would die? How many ninjas would die? How many buildings would collapse? How much damage would be done? The direct and indirect losses to Konoha would be immeasurable!"
With that, the tension in Hiruzen's body seemed to finally release.
He let out a long, weary sigh, his voice filled with helplessness. "Koharu… What can Konoha do but compromise? You've seen the dangers of what happens when I let him loose."
Koharu's teeth finally cracked.
A line of blood ran down her lip, and her eyes were streaked with red. "Then find a way to expel him from the Land of Fire! You're the Hokage, you can do it, can't you, Hiruzen?"
"While you're thinking about Konoha, you must also think about people like us. That brat's Absolute Justice will kill us one by one!"
"I, Homura, and you… one day, we will also become his targets. He won't just be satisfied with killing our clan members!"
As Koharu's emotions ran high, some of the ANBU ninjas had already rushed to the scene.
At the same time, some of the faster Root ninjas had also arrived.
Such a large commotion, even in the dead of night, had stirred up many of Konoha's clans and ninjas.
…
"Are those ANBU ninjas?" Inoichi Yamanaka watched the dozen figures disappear into the distance. After a moment of thought, he said, "I don't know what's going on, but following them to see seems like a good idea."
Beside him, Shikaku Nara, who had also been awakened by the commotion, said, "That direction seems to be the Sarutobi clan compound. Maybe Lord Hokage is just mobilizing ANBU."
As the two talked, a small figure suddenly caught their attention.
A calico ninja cat strolled over.
"Lord Inoichi, Lord Kichijirō asks that you collect the bodies tonight. There are about twenty corpses at the Koharu and Mitokado clan compounds."
The calico cat paused, then continued in a strange, non-human-like voice, "Lord Kichijirō also said that after you've collected the bodies from those two locations…"
"You'll also need to go to the Sarutobi clan compound. Because there will soon be many more bodies to collect there."
Inoichi: "!!!"
Shikaku: "!!!"
"Whew…" Inoichi let out a breath and gave a wry smile. "I was just curious to follow them, but now I have no choice."
His wry smile faded, replaced by a serious expression. "Ikeizumi probably won't make a move on Lord Hokage. He probably wants to target Lord Hokage's clan members."
"Lord Hokage would never allow that. We have to be there now."
Shikaku looked up at the moon and said, "Call Chōza as well. Only when the Ino-Shika-Chō are together can we put pressure on Lord Hokage. I never would have thought Ikeizumi would target these three clans."
"If the Koharu, Mitokado, and Sarutobi clans suffer a purge of Absolute Justice tonight, then the strength and influence of these three clans will plummet."
A strange look crossed his face as he murmured, "Our status, the Ino-Shika-Chō, is practically guaranteed to rise."
After all, with weaker competitors, they'd become stronger.
As for whether the weakening of the Koharu, Mitokado, and Sarutobi clans would weaken Konoha?
Shikaku didn't think so, because Uchiha Ikeizumi was getting stronger!
The power of Absolute Justice would make up for that weakness.
Shikaku patted Inoichi on the shoulder. "From the looks of it, Absolute Justice is indeed a promising path. Don't think the Nara clan's motives are impure. As the head of the Nara clan, I have to look out for my own."
"Let's go. Ikeizumi needs us."
…
At the Uchiha clan compound.
Fugaku couldn't sleep a wink that night. At dinner, he and his wife Mikoto had a fierce disagreement that almost turned into an argument.
As he was taking a walk to clear his head, he suddenly saw an ANBU ninja flash past him.
In the moment their paths crossed, Fugaku thought he saw the ninja look at him.
Even though the ninja was wearing an ANBU mask, Fugaku found the eyes beneath it very familiar.
"…Itachi?"
Fugaku was surprised and was about to call out to Itachi, but Itachi stopped on his own, standing about three meters away.
"Father, this is an order from Lord Hokage." Itachi answered Fugaku's unasked question with an emotionless face. "It has something to do with Uchiha Ikeizumi, but I don't know the specifics."
With that, he continued on his way.
In a blink of an eye, he was gone from Fugaku's sight.
"Ikeizumi… Lord Hokage…"
A sudden premonition of danger sent a shiver down Fugaku's spine, and he immediately gave chase.
…
"The Child of Prophecy…"
"The savior…"
Jiraiya rubbed his chin, then yawned wearily.
He walked alone down a street in Konoha, his gaze fixed on a distant, dim streetlamp.
"Naruto Uzumaki? Or Sasuke Uchiha? Or Izumi Uchiha? Or… Itachi Uchiha?"
These were the three most likely candidates Jiraiya had narrowed it down to, mainly because of their young age.
The oldest, Izumi Uchiha and Itachi Uchiha…
Were only twelve.
But he also instinctively felt that the future Child of Prophecy, the future savior, was unlikely to come from the Uchiha clan, given their inherent instability.
"So that leaves only one option. Minato's orphan, Konoha's jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails—Naruto Uzumaki."
A flicker of complicated emotion passed through Jiraiya's eyes. He had once groomed Minato Namikaze as the Child of Prophecy, but in the end, the Fourth Hokage died tragically young.
So… could Minato's child be the Child of Prophecy?
"Blue eyes… Well, at least that trait fits the little guy, Naruto Uzumaki. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen Minato's child since I got back to Konoha."
Just as Jiraiya was furrowing his brow in thought, a familiar scent suddenly wafted past him, making him snap to attention.
"Tsunade!?"
But when he looked up, Tsunade was already gone, replaced by a panting Shizune.
"Lady Tsunade… Lady, Lady Tsunade…!"
"Slow down, please!"
"I… I can't keep up…"
"Huh?!"
Sweating and breathless, Shizune was surprised to see Jiraiya standing in front of her.
"Lord Jiraiya?!"
Jiraiya asked, bewildered, "You're Tsunade's student, right? Why is Tsunade in such a hurry? What happened?"
Shizune hesitated, but then, thinking that Lord Jiraiya and Lady Tsunade were comrades, she quickly explained.
"Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
Jiraiya frowned, feeling that something big was about to happen in Konoha tonight. He immediately said, "I'm coming with you."
"Huh?"
Shizune was bewildered.
…
"Where are those brats going?" Tsunade muttered to herself as she followed from a distance. "They couldn't be going somewhere to 'dispense justice,' could they? But this is Konoha, not the Land of Fire's capital! He wouldn't try to cause a commotion here, would he?"
As Tsunade muttered to herself, she saw Ikeizumi and the others finally stop.
She immediately realized where they were.
"Hey, hey, hey…"
Tsunade's beautiful eyes widened. "Isn't this the old geezer's place? This is… the Sarutobi clan, right?"
A shocking possibility immediately came to mind.
Uchiha Ikeizumi is going to dispense justice on the Hokage of Konoha!
Hiss!
"No, no…" A second later, she quickly shook the thought out of her head. "That brat Uchiha Ikeizumi is powerful, but he's no match for the old geezer. Even if they could fight to a stalemate, that's only in a one-on-one fight. How could he possibly get a one-on-one fight with the old geezer here in Konoha?"
After a moment's consideration, she decided to continue following.
…
At the same time.
Inside the Sarutobi clan compound.
The stern-faced Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly sensed something. Koharu next to him, as well as a few skilled ANBU ninjas, also had a subtle feeling.
Among the ANBU.
Kakashi's deadpan eyes darted toward a specific direction, where he saw a person that made his scalp crawl with both dread and awe—Uchiha Ikeizumi!
This guy…
He actually came!
Beside him, Hiruzen and Koharu also fixed their gazes on Ikeizumi, their aged faces both grim.
"Ikeizumi." Hiruzen's face was taut as he stepped forward, surrounded by his ANBU guards. "Koharu has told me what you've done tonight! I never expected that my leniency toward you would only make you more reckless."
"Tonight you've killed a dozen ninjas of the Koharu clan; you've killed several of the Mitokado clan; and now you've brazenly entered the Sarutobi clan compound! Ikeizumi, do you know that your actions are no different from those of a rogue ninja?"
"Do you know that with a single order, I could brand you a rogue ninja of Konoha? The entire village would see you as its greatest enemy?"
Hiruzen's voice was filled with a cold warning. "If you still consider yourself a Konoha ninja, then turn around and leave now! And reflect on your actions tonight!"
For the first part of Hiruzen's speech, Koharu was so pleased she could have clapped.
But the last sentence almost made her mind short-circuit.
Hiruzen…
He's still trying to tolerate Uchiha Ikeizumi? At a time like this, shouldn't he just expel him from Konoha? Expel him from the Land of Fire?
Just as Koharu gritted her teeth, ready to speak, she suddenly saw someone unexpected approaching from behind Uchiha Ikeizumi, besides the two troublesome brats.
"…Tsunade?!"
Koharu suddenly understood why Hiruzen had said such a strange thing.
He must have been the first to notice Tsunade's arrival.
And, Hiruzen must have also known that Tsunade was somewhat in favor of Uchiha Ikeizumi's Absolute Justice.
Tsunade's presence must be putting pressure on Hiruzen.
But why was Tsunade here? Did Uchiha Ikeizumi bring her to put pressure on Hiruzen?
"Lady Tsunade… La-Lady Tsunade…"
Shizune's voice echoed from a distance, and then another unexpected person appeared.
"Jiraiya!?"
Koharu's eyes widened in surprise.
However.
Jiraiya's arrival seemed to be beneficial to her side. After all, while Jiraiya might not despise Absolute Justice as much as she did, he at least wouldn't fully approve of it.
"Phew…" Jiraiya looked at Ikeizumi's back with a complicated expression. "Ikeizumi, don't tell me you're planning to attack the Hokage of Konoha."
Jiraiya's words made Koharu relax.
Good! Good! Good!
Not all the young people in the village were on Ikeizumi's side. Some were still on theirs.
"Ah, what a crowd. It's so late, looks like no one is getting any sleep tonight!"
Shikaku Nara's voice also came from a distance.
Koharu's relieved expression immediately turned sour again.
The Ino-Shika-Chō… those three "ungrateful" clans were here too! Hiruzen had always been so good to them, and yet they were betraying him!
…
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