Izumi's impure Uchiha bloodline and her temperament—so unlike any other Uchiha—meant she grew up in an enormous clan with virtually no friends her own age.
One could say she was Uchiha Itachi's only friend; likewise, Itachi was her only friend.
Yet now—
Izumi suddenly realized that the friend she had trusted had become a stranger. She had never imagined Itachi would harbor such extreme ideas.
She had once naively believed that someone who loved the village and loved peace must, at heart, be similar to herself—
Someone who, even after awakening the Sharingan, would not turn into the kind of extreme, pathological Uchiha.
Izumi never expected she could be so wrong.
So outrageously wrong.
Even after she had just given Uchiha Itachi a hard slap, she felt not the slightest regret.
She even wished she could slap the other cheek as well,
So the handprints would look symmetrical.
After all…
In the future, Uchiha Itachi—under the banner of "conviction" and "sacrifice"—would kill the mother Izumi depended on, would kill Izumi herself, and would slaughter everyone in the Uchiha clan.
"…Izumi, you're too naïve." Uchiha Itachi did not cover his face, though it clearly stung.
He fixed his gaze on her and said, "The so‑called 'Absolute Justice' you and Uchiha Chizumi believe in is not absolute. If you truly wish to enforce justice completely, you should stop the people inside the Uchiha clan right now. Anyone can plainly see they're preparing a coup."
"A coup will plunge Konoha into civil strife and leave it wide‑open to outside enemies. There are only two ways to stop that. Someone once tried the first way, but before they could act… they were erased."
"Only he could have taken that first way. After his death, one option remained. I merely chose to become the person who shoulders everything."
"My actions alone uphold the true justice of Konoha."
Izumi wiped away a tear
—and almost laughed in anger.
"You understand nothing at all, yet you stand before me and Chizumi‑senpai spouting words you think are right." The last shred of hope in Izumi's eyes for Uchiha Itachi vanished.
She now looked at him as if he were an escaped mental patient from Konoha Hospital—
A look mixing anger, sorrow, disappointment, and ridicule in ways even she could not describe.
"You haven't even finished six years at the Academy,"
Izumi sighed. "Yes… I suppose that figures. I should never have expected anything of you, Uchiha Itachi."
She took several steps back,
Putting distance between herself and Itachi, and stood beside Uchiha Chizumi.
Pressing her lips together, she said solemnly, "You and I are strangers now, Uchiha Itachi. In my eyes, your extremism is the enemy of 'Absolute Justice' in the future."
"Now I finally understand why Senpai urged Clan Head Fugaku to send you to a psychologist—Senpai is always right."
"You're an incurable illiterate, a self‑deluded adolescent, a twisted‑minded Uchiha."
Clenching her teeth, she went on, "I remember you pride yourself on being different from the rest of the clan, and you said you befriended me because I was different too."
"But…"
"In my eyes there's not the slightest difference between you and those extremists planning the coup—you're one of them."
Her tirade finished, Izumi fell silent.
She no longer wished to say another word to Uchiha Itachi.
She was utterly disappointed and resolved to sever the friendship.
Their worldviews were incompatible.
They could not walk the same path.
Uchiha Itachi offered little rebuttal. Once he believed something was right, no matter what happened he would insist his first decision had no error.
From the first sentence he spoke, he clung to it as the core and never doubted himself.
No matter how others refuted him,
He held fast.
Unshakable.
Itachi also stepped back a few paces. Ignoring Izumi, he addressed Uchiha Chizumi: "I hope you won't become my enemy. Even if your justice is impure in my eyes, I must admit Konoha needs you."
"If you don't take their side, my future self won't lay a hand on you—provided you trust the village, trust the Hokage, and trust Konoha's true justice."
As if pondering something, Uchiha Chizumi slowly raised his eyes and asked in a cool voice, "Are you finished?"
Itachi froze.
"No." Turning his back, Uchiha Itachi left everyone only a solitary silhouette, tear‑tracks still on his cheeks.
"Though I bear you no ill will, our positions differ, so you too will be my enemy in the future, Uchiha Chizumi."
He started walking out.
Just then,
Uchiha Fugaku, silent until now, suddenly stepped forward and stood before Uchiha Chizumi.
His eyes had gone scarlet, an eerie pattern—unlike the three‑tomoe Sharingan—swirling in his pupils. The immense power seemed to freeze the very air and make the atmosphere taut.
"Chizumi…"
Fugaku revealed the Mangekyō Sharingan that belonged to the clan head.
"Forgive me. Itachi is my son. If you move against him, I'll stop you—even at the cost of my life."
"I can't see where the Uchiha will go in the future. Perhaps what Itachi plans to do is truly the only choice."
Apologetically Fugaku added, "You may possess some legendary power, but delaying you long enough to give Itachi room—that will suffice."
"Since Itachi has chosen his path, let him walk it. Time will prove who is right and who is wrong."
Izumi stared, stunned, at the Clan Head who had spoken such shocking words.
And in a daze she understood why Uchiha Itachi was so outrageous.
It was inherited…
Wasn't it?!!
Uchiha Chizumi spoke: "I've noticed that people who are obstinate and selfish share a trait—they think they can read others' motives and then perform some self‑gratifying act. Your eldest son is like that, and so are you."
Fugaku remained silent.
"Judge deeds, not motives—that's the first lesson of justice. I was once ignorant, but normal people grow after making mistakes. Only beasts cling stubbornly to their views without change."
"If justice is enforced by intent, then 'Absolute Justice' becomes the greatest evil in the shinobi world. From elders down to infants, the entire world would have to be slaughtered to preserve it."
"If I acted that way, I would be no different from Uchiha Itachi, and 'Absolute Justice' would be smeared with filth."
Whether speaking to Fugaku or to Izumi, Chizumi continued:
"Fugaku, pray you can protect your precious son, and pray today's conversation alters the future by even a fraction."
Staring unflinchingly into those Mangekyō eyes, he said, "The instant before he makes a move, in my eyes he will become the evil of this world, a man who must die. 'Absolute justice'… will crush him utterly."
"Justice gazes upon all who burden themselves with sin."
"That includes him."
"And you."
~~~
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