Chapter 106: Assassinating Uchiha Ikeizumi?
The phrase "I do not want to see internal strife within the Uchiha clan" made the extremely gloomy Uchiha Setsuna laugh out of sheer rage.
He looked up and stared intently at Fugaku's calm eyes.
"Fugaku, are you threatening me? If I don't do as you say, are you going to arrest me?"
Uchiha Setsuna asked in a hoarse voice.
Uchiha Fugaku replied, "If, after a thorough investigation of some of the details, it is found that Elder Setsuna did not participate in the smuggling and selling of illegal drugs, then of course, I will not do anything to you. I simply don't want to see chaos in the Uchiha clan. That's all."
Uchiha Setsuna's jaw was clenched so tightly that blood was oozing from his gums.
Feeling the metallic taste of blood in his mouth, Uchiha Setsuna said in a low voice, "Heh heh… How considerate of you to not want to see chaos! Fugaku, you are a truly 'competent' clan head."
"But you only know how to threaten me. Why don't you have the ability to stop Uchiha Ikeizumi? If Uchiha Ikeizumi didn't meddle in other people's business, would I be so angry?!"
"You can't control him, can you? If you could control him, my grandson wouldn't have died by his hand, would he?"
Fugaku fell silent.
Because Uchiha Setsuna was right. Between Uchiha Setsuna and Uchiha Ikeizumi, the only one who was a soft target was Uchiha Setsuna.
He couldn't control Uchiha Ikeizumi, but he could use his power as the Uchiha clan head to control Uchiha Setsuna.
"Heh, I was still one step too slow."
Uchiha Setsuna no longer looked at the "Wicked Eyed Fugaku." He lowered his head slightly and said in a hoarse, deep voice, "If I had been one step faster, my grandson wouldn't have died."
The two seemingly nonsensical sentences made Fugaku's brows furrow slightly.
"Fugaku, I have a piece of information that you might find interesting."
Uchiha Setsuna continued to speak to himself with his head lowered, "Although Uchiha Ikeizumi's Lava Release does have the bizarre ability to be immune to most physical attacks, this ability is not passive. He needs to perform hand seals in advance to use a technique called 'Lava Release: Chakra Armor,' which is a technique he created himself."
"In order to deal with him before he could deal with me, I went to a lot of trouble! Tell me… if I had set up a large number of explosive tags in advance and detonated them before Uchiha Ikeizumi could use his Lava Release technique, would he have been blown to death?!"
Fugaku's pupils contracted slightly, but it was barely noticeable.
It was impossible for Uchiha Setsuna to say such things to him for no reason!
Could it be…
An unbelievable possibility emerged in Fugaku's mind.
"Of course, I don't have that many explosive tags, and the Uchiha clan's explosive tags are all meant to be used against the Konoha Hokage. Why would they be wasted on a little brat?"
"But. A ninja clan came to me this morning. They want to work with me to kill Uchiha Ikeizumi. Heh heh… Although they only have a few members left, they still have some foundation."
"It's a pity…"
Uchiha Setsuna sighed, "Some of the young people under me have already been brainwashed by Uchiha Ikeizumi's so-called [Absolute Justice]. Even if I wanted to cooperate with that ninja clan, the young people below would not agree."
For some reason, Fugaku felt a sense of relief.
Ikeizumi was indeed a headache. Sometimes, he would even be dissatisfied with some of Ikeizumi's extreme actions and even feel murderous intent.
But once he calmed down, Fugaku realized that the Uchiha clan couldn't do without Ikeizumi.
Because Ikeizumi's strength was a solid foundation!
Even if the Konoha higher-ups wanted to deal with the Uchiha clan, and even if they knew that Ikeizumi wouldn't actually side with the Uchiha clan, they would still temporarily refrain from taking military action against the Uchiha clan because of Ikeizumi.
After all, it was better to be safe than sorry…
No one could guarantee that Uchiha Ikeizumi wouldn't, for some inexplicable reason, suddenly step up and defend the Uchiha clan.
This was one of the reasons why Fugaku constantly endured Ikeizumi.
"Although we couldn't cooperate, I'm an old man. I was careless and let it slip. I accidentally told that ninja clan about Uchiha Ikeizumi's 'weakness,' which may or may not be real."
Uchiha Setsuna looked up and said, "I subjectively had no intention of killing him, nor did I cooperate with them. Even Uchiha Ikeizumi's eyes, which can see through evil, probably wouldn't be able to see any evil in me. Don't you think so, Fugaku?"
Just as Uchiha Setsuna finished speaking,
suddenly!
An earth-shattering explosion rang out less than a few hundred meters away!
Immediately after, a series of continuous explosions followed.
The fire from the explosions illuminated half of the sky over the Uchiha clan compound.
It also startled everyone in the entire Uchiha clan.
The fire from the explosions also illuminated Uchiha Fugaku's profile.
It clearly showed the grim expression on his face.
"Elder Setsuna…" Fugaku's face was tense as he questioned, word for word, "You let outsiders into the Uchiha clan and let them place explosive tags on the Uchiha compound?!"
Uchiha Setsuna said with a blank expression, "Don't wrongly accuse me. If even you, the clan head, don't know about it, how would I know how they infiltrated the Uchiha compound?"
"As for how they carried out their plan to assassinate Uchiha Ikeizumi, heh heh, I know even less about that."
Fugaku no longer wanted to say another word to this old man, whose mind was full of coups and internal strife.
He immediately led the Police Force ninja and rushed toward the direction of the explosion.
And Fugaku remembered that the jinchuriki was with Ikeizumi! And Sasuke was also with Ikeizumi!
If those two kids haven't gone home yet…
Fugaku didn't dare to imagine the consequences.
On the other side.
Uchiha Izumi and Kijiro, the girl and the cat, had completed the mission Uchiha Ikeizumi had given them and had returned to the Uchiha clan compound.
But at this moment, the earth-shattering explosions in the distance startled them. Kijiro's fur stood on end.
The big orange ninja cat shivered and cursed, "Who's using explosive tags at this time of night, meow!"
"Kijiro-senpai, that seems to be…"
Izumi looked at the fire from the explosions in front of her in shock. She muttered, "Is that… the direction of Ikeizumi-senpai's house?"
Kijiro was stunned and quickly looked over there.
"Meow! Rookie!" His cat face immediately turned ugly, "Someone is trying to harm Lord Ikeizumi! We need to go and help Lord Ikeizumi now!"
With that,
Kijiro jumped off Izumi's shoulder and, like an orange arrow released from a bow, instantly disappeared.
Izumi was surprised by Kijiro's incredible speed, but she was even more shocked by the series of explosions.
She also followed him without hesitation.
At the Hokage's office.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, who was silently waiting for all the "victims of Absolute Justice" of the night to arrive, was suddenly startled by the sound of explosions in the distance.
And it wasn't just one explosion, but a series of them!
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood up abruptly and walked to the office window.
He looked out at the rolling flames in the distance.
Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned, "That is…"
Beside him, Koharu Utatane's voice was heard, "It's the Uchiha clan compound. If I heard correctly, the sound of those explosions… seems to be the sound of explosive tags."
Koharu Utatane was also drawn to the explosions.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's frown deepened.
He couldn't figure out what the Uchiha clan was up to.
An explosion of this scale would probably affect several houses, wouldn't it?
He didn't know if there would be any casualties.
"Wait!"
Hiruzen Sarutobi's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and a possibility gave him a bad feeling, "Could Naruto be there?"
"Cough! Cough, cough…"
Naruto was clutching his head in pain. He suddenly felt that his hand was a little warm and wet. When he moved his hand and looked down with the help of the fire from the explosions, he was shocked to find that his hand was covered in blood!
A ringing sound in his eardrums made him unable to hear anything.
When Naruto looked up in a daze, he could only see in horror that the few houses in front of him were all engulfed in flames!
A large amount of shattered debris from the destroyed buildings was scattered all over the street.
The feeling of dizziness prevented Naruto from reacting for a moment.
Naruto vaguely remembered Ikeizumi-sensei saying that he would wait for "Izumi and Kijiro" to meet up at his house. So, he and the arrogant Sasuke followed Ikeizumi-sensei to his house once again.
But the moment the door was opened, Ikeizumi-sensei suddenly picked him and Sasuke up and threw them out.
Then he seemed to have heard an explosion, and then he was blown away by an invisible gust of wind.
After that, his head was hit and started bleeding…
"Hiss!" As the memories gradually flashed through his mind, Naruto suddenly gasped. He came back to his senses and stood up in a hurry, looking around blankly.
He saw Sasuke, not far from him, staggering and holding onto a wall to stand up.
"Huff… huff…"
Sasuke was breathing rapidly, his face still a little pale with shock.
After seeing that Naruto had also stood up, he immediately stood up straight, trying to make himself look better than Naruto. But the moment he moved, he gasped.
The waves of pain made Sasuke clench his lips. When he looked down, he saw that the skin on both of his knees was scraped.
There were also many scrapes and bruises on his pale arms and legs.
"What's going on, ya know?" Naruto walked over, still dizzy, and asked with his hands on his head.
Sasuke rolled his eyes, "How would I know?"
Not far away, Kakashi wiped the blood off his hands.
Considering the speed at which Naruto and Sasuke were blown away by the explosion, being severely injured would have been a light outcome. The reason they seemed to be fine was obviously because Kakashi had acted at the critical moment and caught both of them.
Kakashi was now looking at a few fleeing figures in the distance.
His eyes narrowed slightly: "The Shimura clan…"
Just now, after catching Naruto and Sasuke, Kakashi didn't have time to be shocked by the explosive tags or to wonder who was trying to assassinate Uchiha Ikeizumi. He immediately noticed that someone was escaping while the explosions were happening.
When he threw the two kids aside and tried to chase after them, he realized it was already too late. The other party had clearly planned their escape route.
But…
The shockwave from the explosion lifted the masks off their faces for a moment.
In that brief moment, Kakashi's eyes immediately caught a glimpse of one of the person's profiles—because he had removed his Konoha forehead protector, revealing a three-tomoe Sharingan!
Coincidentally, Kakashi knew that person.
The person was a ninja from the Shimura clan!
"I guess I should go back and report this to the Hokage," Kakashi muttered to himself. He covered his Sharingan and let out a deep sigh. He turned his head and looked at the several collapsed houses again: "If it were me, I might have died, right? Even if I were lucky and survived by chance, I'd still have to be in bed for a few years."
"Speaking of which, could this guy be…"
"Huh?!!"
"Hey, dead-last, what's wrong with you?!" On the other side, Sasuke, who was enduring the pain, suddenly noticed that Naruto's expression was a little off.
He followed Naruto's gaze and turned his head.
His eyes couldn't help but widen as well.
In Sasuke's sight, a terrifying figure flowing with lava was vaguely reflected in the vast sea of fire and smoke. The figure looked "incomplete" at first glance, but those "incomplete" parts were visibly filled up by the flowing lava.
In just a few breaths, the "incomplete" figure made of lava turned into a complete human form.
The several collapsed houses nearby suddenly made a loud bang, and one by one, spheres wrapped in vines broke through the rubble.
He could also see that a vine was extending from each vine sphere, connecting to the figure flowing with lava.
The intertwined vines slowly receded, and inside each vine sphere, a living person was "trapped"!
They were all civilians from the Uchiha clan who lived nearby!
They were of all ages, and every one of them had a look of shock on their faces.
But every one of them had also survived the explosion.
"Hiss…" Uchiha Ikeizumi walked out of the sea of fire, leaving a trail of lava footprints on the ground. Lava was dripping from his body, and every drop of lava made the stone slabs on the ground burn.
After the lava receded, Uchiha Ikeizumi's figure appeared.
"Completely unharmed!" Kakashi, who was not far away, stared at Uchiha Ikeizumi as he walked out of the sea of fire, his eyes filled with a trace of shock: "He was even able to save seven of his neighbors at the same time. Oh, right… He also saved the two kids in advance."
He was truly shocked. He had guessed that it was unlikely Uchiha Ikeizumi would be assassinated so easily.
But he thought that even if the other party survived, he should have been seriously injured.
But was this what a seriously injured person looked like?!
It seemed that only the corner of his clothes was a little dirty?!
"But… where did those vines come from? Was that Uchiha Ikeizumi's technique?!" A word that even startled him emerged in Kakashi's mind.
—Wood Release Kekkei Genkai!!!
The word had just appeared before he instantly dismissed it.
Because it was impossible no matter how he thought about it. How could a ninja from the Uchiha clan possess the First Hokage's Wood Release? It was absolutely impossible for the Uchiha clan to intermarry with the Senju clan, so it was impossible for Uchiha Ikeizumi to have the First Hokage's bloodline.
Furthermore, he was already an extremely rare ninja with two Kekkei Genkai. How could he have a third one?
However…
Kakashi also remembered Danzo Shimura, who had studied Wood Release cells.
He suddenly fell into deep thought.
"Three Kekkei Genkai…"
"Is that even possible?!"
"Ikeizumi-senpai!"
"Lord Ikeizumi!"
Uchiha Izumi and Kijiro, the girl and the cat, had finally arrived.
They couldn't help but feel a sense of relief when they saw that Uchiha Ikeizumi was completely unharmed.
But when they saw the several damaged houses, their expressions became serious.
So it really was Ikeizumi-senpai's/Lord Ikeizumi's house that was in trouble— This thought emerged simultaneously in both Izumi and Kijiro's minds.
"Sen…"
Izumi had only said one word before Uchiha Ikeizumi interrupted her with a cold voice: "Have all the villains on the list been executed?"
Izumi quickly replied, "Kijiro-senpai and I have executed all of them. Not a single one was left alive! And Kijiro-senpai also had his subordinate ninja cats notify the Yamanaka clan to collect the bodies."
At this time, Naruto and Sasuke also walked over.
"Lord Ikeizumi, were you…?" Kijiro asked hesitantly.
Uchiha Ikeizumi said calmly, "I was assassinated. At least a hundred explosive tags were set up. Fortunately, in order to kill me, the other party gathered all the explosive tags together. Otherwise, it wouldn't just be these few houses nearby that would have been affected. The entire street would have been blown up."
Everyone: "!!!"
Kijiro gasped and quickly asked, "Lord Ikeizumi, do you have any clues?"
"No, but someone does." Uchiha Ikeizumi's gaze suddenly glanced in a certain direction, and it met Kakashi's complex gaze in the air.
Kakashi: "…"
Feeling helpless,
Kakashi had no choice but to reveal himself and walk over.
"I don't think you would cover for a villain who disregarded the safety of innocent civilians, would you, Kakashi Hatake?" Uchiha Ikeizumi said slowly.
Kakashi felt that if he did cover for him, he might be tortured by Uchiha Ikeizumi for information.
In the entire village of Konoha, the person he least wanted to be enemies with was Uchiha Ikeizumi.
What's more,
He still owed the other party a favor for what happened with Obito.
Although in the minds of people like Uchiha Ikeizumi, they probably didn't care about favors at all.
He suppressed the complex feelings in his eyes and replied, "The Shimura clan."
Uchiha Ikeizumi asked again, "Which way did they go?"
Kakashi replied again, "West. Toward the Shimura clan compound."
"That old dog Danzo again!" Kijiro cursed crudely, "He's already dead, but I didn't expect the people in his clan to be so troublesome either."
While cursing, Kijiro saw Uchiha Ikeizumi walking toward the west by himself.
"Lord Ikeizumi, I…"
"Keep an eye on the two kids and check if those civilians were injured," Uchiha Ikeizumi interrupted him indifferently.
Kijiro, who was about to follow him, could only stop helplessly: "Yes, Lord Ikeizumi."
Naruto asked in shock, "What is Ikeizumi-sensei going to do?"
Izumi took a deep breath: "Ikeizumi-senpai…"
"He's going to carry out [Absolute Justice]!"
....
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