Chapter 133: 4,756 People Killed!
The vast capital of the Land of Fire was in a state of panic. Many of the noble families who had luckily survived realized that as long as they didn't commit evil deeds, they wouldn't incur Uchiha Ikeizumi's wrath, and they wouldn't be "cleansed" by his so-called 'Absolute Justice.'
But the problem was, who could guarantee that they were clean? Or, who could guarantee that their relatives were clean? Who could guarantee that they wouldn't be killed? And who could guarantee that when their relatives were killed, they wouldn't have any emotional reaction?
However, one thing was undeniable… In just a few days, no one in the entire capital of the Land of Fire dared to commit a crime. This was mainly because one evil person after another who had committed many crimes had already been found out by Uchiha Ikeizumi. Those who had committed minor crimes were thrown into prison, while those who had committed major ones lost their lives.
The daily cleansing caused the entire capital to be immersed in the thick smell of blood every day. This scared many people who had evil intentions out of their wits.
If you ignored the bodies that Uchiha Ikeizumi had left behind, and if you ignored the blood on the ground that couldn't be washed clean, then the capital of the Land of Fire was indeed "safe and secure" these past few days!
Hmm...
It was so "safe" that even the Fire Daimyō was killed.
Amidst this cloud of fear and sorrow, Hiruzen Sarutobi's mood was equally terrible, as rumors about him, the Third Hokage, had begun to circulate in the capital.
Not long after Hiruzen personally witnessed the Fire Daimyō's burial, an Anbu ninja rushed to him and reported, "Lord Hokage, this is some of the 'conspiracy theories' about you that we've gathered over the past few days. Your guess was correct, a lot of people think that this matter has something to do with you, Lord Hokage."
Hiruzen's eyelids twitched. He wasn't sure how long he had been mentally preparing himself before he took the document from the Anbu ninja. But after just one look, Hiruzen almost fainted. The dense words on the page, every single one of them, were shocking.
—"The death of Lord Daimyō must have something to do with Konoha Village! Isn't that Uchiha Ikeizumi a Konoha ninja? How could he, alone, break into the Daimyō's Mansion? There must have been other Konoha ninja helping him from the inside. Didn't you see that Konoha's Third Hokage also showed up at the Daimyō's Mansion?"
—"I heard that Konoha's Third Hokage is the 'Hero of Shinobi'... a hero of shinobi who bites back at the Daimyō, this is the first time I've seen something like this. These ninja are too dangerous. Have they been plotting for a long time?"
—"Is Konoha Village trying to break free from the Daimyō's control? Is it the ambition of all the ninja in Konoha? Or is it the ambition of that Hokage alone?"
—"I heard that the Third Hokage's second son was one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi of Lord Daimyō! The Hokage had already planted a spy inside the Daimyō's Mansion! He's been planning this for a long time!"
—"Did the eldest son choose to swallow his pride and endure this because he was also threatened by the Hokage?"
—"The Hokage is trying to usurp the throne!"
"..."
"How outrageous! How outrageous!" Hiruzen could only repeat these words.
He paced back and forth restlessly. The words on the document made his old face blush with shame. It also brought up a strong sense of guilt in him.
But the problem was… these were all unreliable conspiracy theories! He, Hiruzen Sarutobi, didn't think like that at all! This matter had nothing to do with him! How could he have traveled thousands of miles with the Anbu to the capital of the Land of Fire to help Uchiha Ikeizumi from the inside?
He was being wronged!
Hiruzen suddenly felt a little scared. He finally understood how much public pressure Sakumo Hatake had to endure back then. He knew that these rumors were based on people's fear of him, the "treacherous Konoha Hokage," so they didn't dare to say anything too excessive. Otherwise… Hiruzen felt that he might also have the thought of committing suicide. He would want to prove his innocence by taking his own life!
Fortunately, this irrational thought was immediately thrown to the back of his mind.
"Can the public opinion be controlled?" Hiruzen was so lost that he even asked the Anbu ninja around him for advice.
An Anbu ninja said, "Lord Hokage, some of the conspiracy theories about you have already spread outside the capital of the Land of Fire. And the capital is much larger than Konoha. The difficulty of controlling the spread of public opinion is several times, or even more than a dozen times, that of Konoha."
"Besides, this isn't Konoha Village. Even if you want to control public opinion, you need the support of the Daimyō's Mansion. But…"
The Anbu ninja hesitated for a moment but decided to continue. "But the current Daimyō's Mansion would definitely lean toward Uchiha Ikeizumi between you and Uchiha Ikeizumi."
"Once Uchiha Ikeizumi gets involved, public opinion will still be uncontrollable."
Hiruzen was silent. The name "Uchiha Ikeizumi" was probably not just a nightmare for many people in the capital of the Land of Fire.
It was also his, Hiruzen Sarutobi's, nightmare!
At the same time, on the other side.
"Ninja sword." Uchiha Ikeizumi simply spat out two words. Anko Mitarashi immediately took a ninja sword from the pile in her arms and handed it to him.
Then, she watched as Uchiha Ikeizumi threw away the blunt ninja sword in his hand. He then used the new ninja sword to mercilessly slice the neck of a villain, separating his head from his body!
"The 4,756th person…"
"And the 11th ninja sword…"
Anko swallowed hard and muttered these two numbers. She felt that after all these days, she should have been numb to Uchiha Ikeizumi's extreme actions. But as the numbers kept rising, she realized that "numbness" was a non-existent word.
Anko was shocked every day and was subjected to different levels of psychological impact every day. She couldn't become numb at all!
Moreover, behind Uchiha Ikeizumi, she also saw many villains she had never seen before, and she heard countless vile and evil deeds that she had never even dared to imagine. Some of the evil deeds that the villains had committed still made her feel sick just thinking about them, and they even gave her nightmares at night.
Anko's perspective also began to change with the passage of time.
"Perhaps… these people really don't deserve to live in this ninja world. Their existence will only defile this land; their twisted thoughts will only allow evil to spread…"
Looking at the headless body in front of her, the Anko from a few days ago would have felt that she couldn't understand. But the Anko from now felt that it was a good thing he died! She had long been so disgusted by the villains' repulsive actions that she had lost all empathy for them.
No matter how much they cried and begged for their lives before they died, she wouldn't show a single bit of mercy.
But Anko suddenly felt a little lost. She couldn't help but look at the ninja swords in her arms and then at her own hands. Her eyes showed a look of helplessness and fear.
"What… kind of evil deeds did I help Orochimaru with? Am I also like these people? Did I also hurt a lot of people? Do I also not deserve to live in the ninja world?"
One question after another was constantly tormenting Anko's conscience. She knew that she was Orochimaru's disciple. But Orochimaru had already tampered with some of her memories to prevent certain secrets from being leaked. As a result, no matter how hard Anko tried, she couldn't remember what evil deeds she had committed.
"If your evil deeds were as serious as the villains I've killed." At that moment, Uchiha Ikeizumi's voice sounded faintly. "You would have already been a corpse waiting to be decomposed by microorganisms."
Uchiha Ikeizumi's words made Anko come to her senses.
Oh, right!
If she were truly that kind of villain, how could she still be alive?
Anko took a deep breath. After calming her thoughts, she didn't know why, but she mustered up the courage to ask her old classmate, who had become more and more intimidating, "Ikeizumi, you will find Orochimaru and kill him, right?"
"Although I can't remember those things. But…"
"Yes."
Uchiha Ikeizumi interrupted her coldly.
The events that happened in the capital of the Land of Fire inevitably spread to Konoha, making it impossible for Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane to hide the news anymore. At this point, blocking the news would only make them look like they were trying to cover something up.
Inside the Nara clan compound.
The leaders of the Ino-Shika-Cho clans were gathered together.
"Uchiha Ikeizumi really did something earth-shattering!" Shikaku Nara's eyes showed a look of shock. He picked up a cup of tea and took a sip to calm himself down before sighing with emotion. "Inoichi, I truly approve of his 'Absolute Justice' now. He's not messing around when it comes to the justice of the ninja world."
"He even killed the Fire Daimyō and cleansed all the nobles in the capital of the Land of Fire. I heard that he also thoroughly purged Tanzaku Gai from top to bottom."
The shock in Shikaku's eyes was still hard to suppress.
Choza Akimichi pondered, rubbing his three-layered chin. "Shikaku, is this a problem for our Ino-Shika-Cho clans? After all, Ikeizumi has offended all the nobles, and that will inevitably cause us to be implicated."
Shikaku shook his head. "If it were a problem, I wouldn't have said that I approved of his 'Absolute Justice.'"
He continued, "Ikeizumi used his absolute power to intimidate all the people in the capital of the Land of Fire who were against him. Even the Daimyō's eldest son gave up on avenging his father. Do you know what that means, Choza?"
Shikaku answered his own question, "It means that the upper-class nobles in the entire capital of the Land of Fire have tacitly chosen to put the matter behind them, including the Fire Daimyō's children."
"They won't cause trouble for Uchiha Ikeizumi because of this, and they won't implicate the Ino-Shika-Cho clans."
Choza pondered. "In other words, does this mean that they were so scared of Ikeizumi that they've bowed down to him?"
Inoichi Yamanaka chimed in. "They just think that Ikeizumi won the fight, so they will help the winner. As for the killed Fire Daimyō, in their eyes, he's already a loser."
He continued blankly, "But one day, if Ikeizumi's 'Absolute Justice' weakens, that group of people will not hesitate to turn on him and bring up the old matter again."
Shikaku smiled. "That's the calculation of the 'big shots.' Who cares? At least for now, it's not a bad thing."
"It's just that Lord Hokage and the others are probably going to have a headache."
"We can't hide it anymore." Homura Mitokado sighed heavily. He was standing on top of the Hokage Building, looking down at the people coming and going. He could hear the faint sounds of gasps and discussions, and he said helplessly, "In less than half a day, the entire village will know what Uchiha Ikeizumi did in the capital of the Land of Fire."
"In a few days, his name and his extreme 'Absolute Justice' will spread throughout the Land of Fire. It will also be heard by many spies from other villages and eventually spread to other ninja villages."
Next to him, Koharu Utatane rubbed her forehead, her old face grim. "Besides the rumors about that kid, some rumors about Hiruzen have also reached Konoha…"
Thinking of those absurd rumors, Koharu's brows twitched. She said helplessly, "Some people think that Uchiha Ikeizumi's killing of the Fire Daimyō was orchestrated by Hiruzen. After all, in the eyes of outsiders, that kid is a Konoha ninja. Those outsiders don't know how big the differences are between that kid and us."
"This kind of rumor, this kind of conspiracy theory, is not good news for either Hiruzen or Konoha. It will inevitably cause many people to be wary of Konoha and the Hokage."
Koharu gritted her teeth. "That bastard kid's extreme actions have put Konoha against almost all the nobles!"
"Those big shots who control various assets and whose influence spans all aspects of the Land of Fire will probably find it difficult to trust us in the future."
"In their eyes, if we dared to assassinate the Fire Daimyō, what else wouldn't we dare to do?!"
"He has ruined Konoha's good name!"
Koharu's tone was very indignant. Her thoughts were similar to Hiruzen's. They were both worried that these rumors would have a very negative impact on Konoha.
Homura was also helpless. "The news can't be blocked, and the rumors can't be stopped. Even if Konoha comes out to refute the rumors, how many people would believe us?"
"And there's another very important matter."
Homura's tone was serious. "When Ikeizumi's 'Absolute Justice' philosophy becomes known throughout the Land of Fire because of this matter, I don't know how many people will be brainwashed by his extreme ideology."
"Especially the young people in the ninja world, and even the students in Konoha's Ninja Academy, might also be influenced by 'Absolute Justice.'"
"If a lot of people believe in this kind of extreme black-and-white philosophy, the entire Land of Fire will fall into chaos!"
At this point, both Homura and Koharu fell silent. They were just high-level advisors of Konoha. It was what they were best at—pointing out problems. It was Hiruzen's job to solve them.
If they were to come up with a solution… they could only think of one—"kill Uchiha Ikeizumi!"
But that was the most unreliable solution of all.
Konoha.
Inside the Uchiha clan compound.
Many members of the Uchiha clan were still shocked that some of the elders were trying to impeach their leader, Fugaku, and elect a new one. But they didn't expect to hear another piece of news that was even more shocking.
"The Lord Ikeizumi that Ikeizumi follows has killed the Fire Daimyō. The reason is… the Fire Daimyō committed too many evil deeds." Mikoto Uchiha was instantly shocked. She knew that her daughter's superior wasn't very popular within the Uchiha clan, and some of his actions seemed very extreme in the eyes of the Uchiha clan members.
But after meeting him briefly a few times, she felt that Uchiha Ikeizumi seemed quite normal and not as scary as the rumors said. But Mikoto realized that she might have been too rash.
Killing the Daimyō… this was a major event that would shock the entire country!
Since Uchiha Ikeizumi had done this, would Lord Hokage consider him a rogue ninja from Konoha? And since Ikeizumi followed this Lord Ikeizumi, would that mean Ikeizumi was also a rogue ninja?
No, killing the Fire Daimyō probably can't be called "rogue ninja" since it's an act of treason, right?
It sounds even more serious than being a rogue ninja…
Mikoto suddenly became worried about her daughter. This was the most normal thought for a common Uchiha like her.
Inside the Military Police Headquarters.
"Ikeizumi… Phew!" Fugaku didn't expect that the waves in the Uchiha clan would rise and fall one after another. He was already worried about the hardline elders, led by Setsuna Uchiha, trying to impeach him from his position.
Then, Uchiha Ikeizumi, from the capital of the Land of Fire, created an even more explosive event for him, the leader of the Uchiha clan!
When he heard the news, Fugaku's scalp went numb. It was as if ten thousand needles were pricking his scalp.
"Ikeizumi… that's the Daimyō!!!"
"The Daimyō… you're not supposed to kill him!!!"
Fugaku muttered in despair. His eyes were blank as he stared at his desk.
Now…
The Uchiha clan had no chance of recovering. After all, no matter what, Ikeizumi was a member of the Uchiha clan, and the Uchiha hadn't completely cut ties with him yet.
When Ikeizumi killed the Fire Daimyō, Fugaku believed that the Konoha higher-ups would definitely think that this matter had something to do with the Uchiha clan. They would see Ikeizumi's extreme actions as the Uchiha clan's ambition that they could no longer suppress!
At that time, all the Konoha clans would target the Uchiha clan.
This was because, in their eyes, the Uchiha clan even dared to kill the Daimyō. Why wouldn't they dare to kill the Hokage in the future? Why wouldn't they dare to kill them, the other ninja clans? They would definitely think that way!
Fugaku's poker face showed a painful expression. He had put in so much effort for the Uchiha clan, just to ensure its continuation.
Why were Setsuna Uchiha and Uchiha Ikeizumi… one after another, trying to bury the Uchiha clan?!
"How did it become like this…"
Fugaku muttered in a daze.
"U! CHI! HA! IKEIkeizumi!"
At the same time, Setsuna Uchiha, on the other side, was so angry that he was about to explode. He was breathing heavily like a bellows. He held his wooden cane tightly, and his eyes were filled with rage. "How did that bastard, extreme kid, dare to do that? How could he?!"
"How did Hiruzen, that Third Hokage, even manage to control him? How could he allow that extreme kid to kill the Daimyō?"
"Haa, haa, haa…"
Setsuna sat down on the chair, panting. His old face was as dark as the bottom of a pot.
"The most important part of my coup plan was to get the support of the Fire Daimyō and the nobles. As long as we get rid of Hiruzen and have the support of the Daimyō and the nobles, the Uchiha clan will be able to firmly sit in the Hokage's seat."
"But…"
Setsuna was so angry that his liver hurt. "That bastard kid, for his extreme 'Absolute Justice'... not only did he kill Lord Daimyō, but he also killed many nobles in the capital of the Land of Fire! In fact, he even wiped out many of them!"
Setsuna couldn't even imagine if anyone would still support the Uchiha clan as Hokage after something like this happened. That bastard kid from thousands of miles away had gotten him into trouble!
.....
For advanced chapters:
Get early access to 80 advanced chapters before anyone else!
Join now: Patreon com/Chaos_God