Chapter 284: Sarutobi Hiruzen's, Back!
"When he was in Konoha you wished for him to leave, yet now that he is not in Konoha you instead wish for him to return!"
In the Hokage's office, Tsunade looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen before her, the disappointment in her eyes impossible to conceal.
Tsunade originally thought the old man had called her over for some other matter, even considering the fact of Jiraiya going to the Ninja Academy, but she never imagined that Sarutobi Hiruzen actually wanted her to call Uchiha Ikeizumi back.
"You also know that there are not many days left until the Hokage election; the Jōnin vote is a very important matter."
"No matter what is said, Ikeizumi is also a Jōnin of Konoha; on this matter of the Hokage election, he should always have the right to express his own opinion!"
Being looked at like that by Tsunade, Sarutobi Hiruzen did not feel guilty either. Compared to the possibility of Uchiha Ikeizumi going to the Hidden Mist Village to serve as the Mizukage, he could only resort to this inferior strategy.
"I don't have that much ability to make him return."
"You should know better than I do that if Ikeizumi sets his mind to doing something, no matter what kind of person it is, it is impossible to stop him."
"Furthermore, this is also a good thing, is it not?"
"Haven't you always worried that the concept of Absolute Justice would cause unmanageable trouble in the Land of Fire?"
"The things Ikeizumi did in the Land of Water this time just happen to let you see whether Absolute Justice is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing!"
Tsunade looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen, refusing his proposal without a trace of politeness.
In truth, Tsunade also wanted to see—wanted to see whether the things Uchiha Ikeizumi did in the Land of Water would ultimately make the Land of Water become better. If it could make the Land of Water become better, then it would prove even more that her choice was not wrong!
"But what if Ikeizumi becomes the Mizukage?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a sigh. No matter what, Uchiha Ikeizumi was still a combat asset of Konoha; how could he be allowed to wander outside?
As for whether the Land of Water would become better?
In reality, Sarutobi Hiruzen already had the answer in his heart. If he did not have the answer, how could he worry about Uchiha Ikeizumi not returning for so long? What Sarutobi Hiruzen worried about was precisely that the Land of Water under Absolute Justice would become better and better—so good that Uchiha Ikeizumi would completely stop turning back, but would instead scatter his Absolute Justice with the Land of Water as the center!
"You actually know that Absolute Justice will make the ninja world become better, right?"
Tsunade looked at Sarutobi Hiruzen thoughtfully. She somewhat understood Sarutobi Hiruzen's worry now, yet she still had no intention of sending a message to Uchiha Ikeizumi. Even in Tsunade's view, if Uchiha Ikeizumi's Absolute Justice could take root and sprout in the Land of Water, first making some parts of the ninja world a bit better, she could accept it even if that place was not the Land of Fire.
"The ninjas of the Land of Lightning, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Earth are beginning to gather at the borders."
"The Land of Earth has even begun to declare war on Ikeizumi in the name of the entire village!"
"These matters are all being shouldered on my back; it is all me who is handling the trouble he caused!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen stared fixedly at Tsunade. No matter what, he wanted Uchiha Ikeizumi to return to Konoha; this was not only out of the worry that Uchiha Ikeizumi would assume the position of Mizukage in the Land of Water, but at the same time, Konoha also needed Uchiha Ikeizumi.
Yes, Konoha needed Uchiha Ikeizumi—at least in Sarutobi Hiruzen's view, it was so.
The ninjas of the three great nations were continuously reinforcing troops at the borders. Although it appeared that war would not break out in the short term, since the sprout of war already existed, it was naturally an expected duty for Konoha to recall its primary combat strength. Furthermore, if Uchiha Ikeizumi were in Konoha, given Ikeizumi's battle record, it would be more than enough to deter the three great nations of Earth, Wind, and Lightning!
"Then use your own name to go and call Ikeizumi back!"
Tsunade stopped looking at Sarutobi Hiruzen. After dropping such a sentence, she slammed the door and went out directly.
It was precisely after Tsunade slammed the door and left that Utatane Koharu walked out from the other side of the Hokage's office.
"Perhaps we can change our angle and simply forbid those Uchiha clansmen from leaving Konoha!"
Utatane Koharu put forward her own suggestion. Since Uchiha Ikeizumi wanted to establish the Police Force in the Land of Water, he would naturally need manpower; as long as they did not allow the Uchiha clansmen to leave Konoha, it could naturally force Uchiha Ikeizumi to return.
"Not allowing the ninjas of Konoha to leave the village?"
Listening to Utatane Koharu's suggestion, Sarutobi Hiruzen also became thoughtful.
At this time, Uchiha Ikeizumi did not yet know that an idea of his had actually stirred up so many matters in Konoha. He had just finished purging the final city of the Land of Water at this moment and had just returned to the Hidden Mist Village.
"It is finally over!"
"If it didn't end soon, I would almost be unable to bear it!"
Kojirō stood on Ikeizumi's shoulder, and looking at the Hidden Mist Village before him, he could not help but sigh with emotion. Following Ikeizumi's movements all along this path, he had also cooperated in killing quite a few people. To speak bluntly, the number of villains in the ninja world was truly a bit too many—so many that for the first time, Kojirō felt a sense of disgust toward killing.
"But the results are also visible to the naked eye!"
"Only the first few cities felt afraid when they saw Lord Ikeizumi; in every city after that, those civilians practically vied with each other to report those villains to Lord Ikeizumi."
"With Lord Ikeizumi taking such a turn around the Land of Water, his reputation is even more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people than the Daimyo's!"
Biwako Jūzō looked at Ikeizumi and Kojirō before his eyes, the respect in his gaze impossible to suppress. After he and Uchiha Izumi settled the affairs of the Hidden Mist Village, he had also led a batch of ninjas to follow behind Ikeizumi and Kojirō to clean up the tail ends.
Perhaps in the eyes of outsiders, Uchiha Ikeizumi killed people like scything grass, but Biwako Jūzō and Uchiha Izumi could see that every single city in the Land of Water was developing in a better direction. Everyone knew that a ninja lord who executed justice had come to the Land of Water; if only for the sake of their own small lives, those merchants and nobles would also sub-consciously restrain their actions. After all, death occurred right in front of them; if one committed too much evil, one would truly die!
"What I do not understand is, why has the number of merchants in the Land of Water begun to become more and more?"
Terumī Mei also appeared before Ikeizumi's group at some unknown point. If it was said that Uchiha Ikeizumi was continuously killing people during this period, then Terumī Mei was continuously handling official business—not only the official business of the Hidden Mist Village, but also the official business of those cities that had been swept through once by Ikeizumi.
In Terumī Mei's original thoughts, with Ikeizumi killing his way through a turn like this, the entire Land of Water would need to spend at least ten or so years of time to recover its vitality.
Yet the reality was exactly the opposite. As Absolute Justice began to take root in the Land of Water, the number of external merchants instead became more and more, and the merchants of those small nations even vied with each other to surge toward the Land of Water.
Meanwhile, the lives of those civilians had not only failed to become worse, but on the contrary, due to the reason of the deaths of a large batch of nobles, the expressions on those civilians' faces were no longer numb, and even held a few points of longing toward the future?