Chapter 118: The Third Hokage Almost Became Extinct!
As the girl hesitated, trying to find the words to say, Uchiha Ikeizumi spoke in a calm tone. "I killed eleven criminals who tried to swing their evil blade at [Absolute Justice]."
He always knows what's on my mind. I can't hide anything from Senior Ikeizumi.
"I'm sorry, Senior. I'm late." Izumi pursed her lips and apologized sincerely, full of self-reproach. "If I had gotten here sooner, maybe I could have fought by your side."
"You overestimate yourself," Uchiha Ikeizumi said expressionlessly. "Your [Justice] is still very weak."
Senior always says what he thinks, just like before!
A hint of embarrassment appeared on Izumi's face, but she knew it was true.
Uchiha Ikeizumi continued, "Go back. Your job is to execute Absolute Justice in the village, not to run around out here." With that, he turned to leave, a move that surprised the ANBU.
Many of the ninja, their expressions masked, stared in disbelief. The same thought was running through all their minds: Does Uchiha Ikeizumi not realize that killing Asuma Sarutobi is a huge deal?!
One of the ANBU couldn't help but say, "Uchiha Ikeizumi, shouldn't you stay and give the Hokage an explanation? You killed the Twelve Guardian Ninja! You killed the Hokage's son! You killed Konoha's elite jonin!"
Izumi was shocked. Wait... did I just hear something big? The unknown enemy who ambushed Senior was the Hokage's son? What?!
Ikeizumi paused and looked back at him with a warning glance. "Send the bodies to the Yamanaka clan. They will give the Third Hokage a proper explanation. If he doesn't accept the Yamanaka clan's explanation, he can come and question me personally when I get back to the village."
Kyojiro, licking a wound on its paw, pushed its way through the other ninja cats and hobbled along behind Ikeizumi. "The Third Hokage sent Lord Ikeizumi on an S-rank mission outside the village, and his son just happened to be outside the village ambushing us with others. That's a huge 'coincidence,' meow!"
"Why doesn't he give Lord Ikeizumi a proper explanation first? If he can't give us one, does that mean he was also involved in this ambush on Lord Ikeizumi?"
"If that's the case, does that mean the Third Hokage of Konoha tried to assassinate a ninja from his own village?"
Ikeizumi and Kyojiro's words left the ANBU speechless. They also felt that it was too much of a coincidence, as if everything had been meticulously planned. Perhaps even their own "tardy" arrival had been factored into the plan.
So then... was the Hokage really involved in this?
They watched as the "murderer" of the Hokage's son walked away, and in the end, not a single ANBU ninja stepped forward to stop Uchiha Ikeizumi.
When Guy seemed to be on the verge of doing something, Kakashi reached out and stopped him. Kakashi shook his head slightly. "This isn't something we should get involved in."
He paused, watching Ikeizumi's figure slowly disappear. His tone was complex as he said, "All we need to do is bring Asuma's body back to the village and inform the Hokage. That's all."
"Uchiha Ikeizumi..." Kakashi slowly took a deep breath. "He never kills anyone without a reason."
Asuma Sarutobi probably got what he deserved. Kakashi didn't say the last part aloud, but Guy understood it.
Guy fell silent.
The ANBU ninja looked at each other, and ultimately decided to first extinguish the raging fires and stop the flowing magma from spreading to Konoha. Then they would silently collect the bodies. Some ANBU were assigned to put out the fire, while others were tasked with bringing the corpses back to the village.
Kakashi and Guy also returned to the village without a word.
"So, that means..." Even though she had only heard a few fragments of the conversation, Izumi had pieced together most of it. She mumbled to herself. "The Hokage's second son led a group of ninja to ambush Senior Ikeizumi, but ended up being killed instead. He was the mastermind behind this assassination attempt, so his death was justified because his actions put him on the side of evil."
"But if this truth doesn't get out, a lot of people in the village will misunderstand and think Senior Ikeizumi killed the Hokage's son for no reason. This could once again lead to a misunderstanding of his [Absolute Justice]. It could even be used by unscrupulous people to turn public opinion against him!"
Lowering her voice so the ANBU putting out the fire in the distance couldn't hear her, the girl spoke seriously to the group of ninja cats. "We need to help Senior spread the truth about this incident. Before those with malicious intentions can purposefully create negative rumors about Senior Ikeizumi, and before the village misunderstands him, we have to let them know the truth!"
Izumi felt that this was a necessary step. As long as they held the moral high ground of justice, the Hokage wouldn't have a reason to act against Ikeizumi. After all, based on the cause, the course, and the result of this incident, the Hokage's son was in the wrong.
Senior Ikeizumi was the one on the side of justice and was completely blameless!
A little while later.
After returning to the village, Kakashi thought for a moment before heading to the Hokage Tower to find Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Kakashi Hatake, you went out of the village too, didn't you?" Before Hiruzen could even speak, Koharu Utatane took the lead. She caught the faint smell of sulfur on Kakashi and asked with a serious expression, "What exactly happened out there? Who was it that ambushed Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
Hiruzen, whose ominous premonition was growing more and more intense, also turned his gaze toward Kakashi. Though Kakashi's black mask covered the lower half of his face, the unusual look in his tired, half-lidded eyes did not escape Hiruzen's notice.
Hiruzen's heart skipped a beat. He also spoke up. "Kakashi, just tell me what happened."
"Hah..." Kakashi let out a shaky breath. After taking two seconds to steel himself, he dropped a bombshell. "Lord Hokage, Uchiha Ikeizumi was indeed ambushed by an enemy. The enemy consisted of elite jonin, about eleven of them."
"They were..."
"They were the bodyguards of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, the famous 'Twelve Guardian Ninja,'" he said, looking at the Third Hokage's stunned expression. "They included your second son, Asuma Sarutobi!"
As Hiruzen's dazed eyes began to widen, Kakashi's voice rang out again. "Lord Hokage, Asuma Sarutobi has paid the price for his actions of attacking a fellow ninja from his own village."
Kakashi was trying to put the word "death" in a gentler way so as not to shock the Hokage too much. But as soon as he said it, he realized he might have sounded a bit biased toward Uchiha Ikeizumi. However... upon closer inspection, what he said was not wrong. It was the truth!
Kakashi noticed that the atmosphere had suddenly become eerily silent. Hiruzen said nothing, frozen in place. Koharu was taken aback, then turned her worried gaze to Hiruzen.
The silence lasted for what felt like an eternity. Kakashi noticed that the Hokage's breathing was becoming rapid. His old eyes trembled, his face turned an unnatural shade of red, his lips were turning blue, and his body began to sway uncontrollably. Kakashi quickly stepped forward and held him up. He heard the Hokage's rough breathing, like a bellows.
He also heard the Hokage constantly muttering one name: "Asuma... Asuma..."
"Hiruzen..." The side-lined Koharu wanted to offer some comfort, but in the next second, she froze. "Hiruzen?"
Kakashi also noticed that the man he was supporting went limp, as if all the strength had been drained from his body. Kakashi's eyes widened. "Lord Hokage?"
He was shocked to discover that the Third Hokage, caught between grief and rage, had passed out on the spot!
When Izumi and the ninja cats returned to Konoha, the cats' deliberate spreading of the news ensured that many people who were curious about the events outside the village now knew what had happened. Before the ANBU could even seal off the news, the bombshell that "the Hokage's son led the Twelve Guardian Ninja in an assassination attempt against a fellow ninja, Uchiha Ikeizumi, and was killed instead" spread through Konoha like a hurricane!
At first, many people didn't believe it, but as more and more people told the story with convincing details, the entire village was shaken to its core!
Inside the Hyuga clan compound.
"The Hokage's second son... I believe his name was Asuma Sarutobi?" Hiashi Hyuga took a deep breath. Even his naturally stoic face showed a flicker of emotion. "The Hokage's eldest and second sons have both died at the hands of Uchiha Ikeizumi. Regardless of the reason, regardless of who was right or wrong, after suffering the grief of losing two sons, will the Hokage truly be able to continue to tolerate Uchiha Ikeizumi?"
Hiashi put himself in the Third Hokage's shoes. If he were the Third Hokage, he might have already decided to kill Uchiha Ikeizumi! At the same time, Hiashi had to admit that Uchiha Ikeizumi's [Absolute Justice] was no joke. When the Hokage's eldest son fell into the abyss of evil, Uchiha Ikeizumi was willing to bear the stigma of killing his own teacher to purge that evil. When the Hokage's second son fell into evil, Uchiha Ikeizumi made the same choice he had made before. He would not betray his Absolute Justice because of the person's identity.
"Anyone else would probably have spared Asuma's life at the last moment because of who he was. They would have even pretended this assassination attempt never happened. If it were me, I probably would have made the same decision..." Hiashi sighed softly. Not everyone had Uchiha Ikeizumi's resolve.
Inside the Uchiha clan compound.
Uchiha Fugaku's expression was now blank. He was starting to regret his decision. Perhaps listening to his wife and immediately taking the police force to support Ikeizumi was the right choice. After all, if he had taken his clan members out to stop Ikeizumi at the crucial moment and saved Asuma's life, the Hokage wouldn't have had to go through the pain of losing another son.
Fugaku couldn't even imagine how the Hokage would view the Uchiha clan after losing two sons to one of their own. Although he wanted to separate Uchiha Ikeizumi from the Uchiha clan so that Ikeizumi's Absolute Justice would have nothing to do with them, the fatal problem was that the separation wasn't complete yet! How could the Hokage not look at the Uchiha clan with prejudiced eyes in this situation?
Who would have known that the person who ambushed Ikeizumi was Asuma Sarutobi?! What in the world are the Hokage's two sons doing?! Can't they just be normal ninja?!
"It seems... I've made yet another foolish decision." Fugaku felt lost. He felt like no matter what he did, it was the wrong thing.
Why?!
He didn't understand. He couldn't grasp it.
"Uchiha Ikeizumi..."
Uchiha Itachi had not followed the ANBU to check on the situation. His eyes were now filled with an even more resolute determination.
"You have no idea that everything you're doing is pushing the Uchiha clan and Konoha to two completely different, extreme positions." He murmured to himself, "This kind of behavior will only make the Uchiha radicals even more greedy for Konoha."
Itachi's fingers grazed the hilt of the ninja sword at his waist. He then tapped on the counterweight at the end of the hilt, looking out toward the nearby Uchiha compound. It was as if he could see how excited the Uchiha radicals were after hearing what had happened outside the village. As if he could see those beyond-redemption people wanting to move their long-planned coup d'état up ahead of schedule.
"I will never let that happen."
"Everything..."
"...is for the sake of Konoha."
After listening to the excited report from the young radicals, Uchiha Setsuna was silent for a long time. He never would have thought that the Third Hokage's son would be so bold as to assassinate Uchiha Ikeizumi outside the village.
He also never would have thought that Uchiha Ikeizumi was so powerful. They were the Twelve Guardian Ninja of the Land of Fire! Even with one person missing, that was still a full eleven elite jonin. The combined power of these eleven people would force even a Kage to back off, right?! But Uchiha Ikeizumi, while being ambushed, had managed to kill all eleven of them!
And... the rumor was that the extremist punk was completely unharmed!
Setsuna was speechless. How could the Third Hokage's son and the Twelve Guardian Ninja be so useless? They couldn't even take down Uchiha Ikeizumi?
"However, it's not without its benefits for this old man." Setsuna's eyes narrowed slightly.
This meant that the conflict between Uchiha Ikeizumi and the Third Hokage had escalated to an irreconcilable point. If the two of them could fight and injure each other, he could reap the benefits.
There was no way the Third Hokage could tolerate this.
Inside the Konoha Hospital.
Overwhelmed with grief and rage, Hiruzen Sarutobi had fainted and was taken to the Konoha Hospital by Kakashi for emergency treatment. He was now lying in a hospital bed.
When he heard the news, Homura Mitokado rushed to the hospital and found Kakashi standing guard outside the room.
"Is Hiruzen still not awake?" Homura asked.
"No," Kakashi shook his head. "Lord Hokage has been unconscious for more than two hours. The medical ninja said that his vital signs are stable, and that his fainting was caused by extreme emotions."
"Phew..." Homura let out a breath. Standing on the other side of the door, his face was clouded with gloom as he said slowly, "Anyone would lose their composure in this situation. Even if Hiruzen has been through many hardships, making him endure the grief of losing two sons might be too much for him. After all, he's only human!"
After his heartfelt words, Homura asked, "You've heard the rumors spreading through the village, right? Are they true?"
"Most likely." Kakashi said, "As you know, Uchiha Ikeizumi never lies. If he said that Asuma Sarutobi and the Twelve Guardian Ninja tried to ambush and assassinate him, then that's what happened."
Homura fell silent.
Uchiha Ikeizumi's years of flawlessly executing justice had long left a deep impression on many Konoha ninja: anyone killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi must not have been a good person.
In other words... when most of the ninja in the village heard that the Third Hokage's second son had died at the hands of Uchiha Ikeizumi, they would only wonder what Asuma had done. They wouldn't wonder if Uchiha Ikeizumi was killing innocent people.
That kind of ingrained impression... Homura had it too.
Homura was silent for a moment before asking, "Asuma's body, has it been sent to the Yamanaka clan?"
"Yes."
"Then let the Yamanaka clan give us a proper explanation." Homura sighed deeply. "I just wonder if Hiruzen, after losing two sons, will be able to accept that explanation."
Inside the Nara clan compound.
Since the Yamanaka clan compound had not been rebuilt yet, most of the Yamanaka clan members were living with the Nara clan, while a small number were staying with the Akimichi clan. Because of this, the ANBU ninja could only bring the mutilated bodies to the Nara compound.
Shikaku Nara was staring down at Asuma Sarutobi's corpse. With a bitter, helpless smile, he said to Inoichi Yamanaka, who was standing next to him, "Inoichi, this has caused quite a stir! If Shin'nosuke Sarutobi hadn't left behind an unborn child, the Third Hokage's lineage would have been completely cut off."
Inoichi's expression was not as emotional. He said concisely, "In this matter, Ikeizumi is in the right. If the Hokage were to act against Ikeizumi because of this, the Yamanaka clan would not stand by and do nothing."
Shikaku asked, "You're so sure, even though you haven't looked through the memories of the corpse yet?"
"Yes," Inoichi nodded once.
"Ah, for goodness sake..." Shikaku said, shoving his hands into his pockets in frustration. He took his eyes off the body on the ground and patted Inoichi on the shoulder. With a smile, he said, "The Ino-Shika-Cho trio are one. Since you've made your decision, I will stand by you. Chōza... he'll do the same."
...
For advanced chapters:
Get early access to 80 advanced chapters before anyone else!
Join now: Patreon com/Chaos_God