"What?!"
Koharu Utatane couldn't help but gasp, her face a mask of shock at the news from Hiruzen Sarutobi. She stood frozen, her mind a whirlwind, and it took her a full five seconds to process what he'd said.
Jumping to her feet, Koharu's voice was filled with disbelief. "Hiruzen! You just stood by and let the Feudal Lord's second son die at the hands of a man like Uchiha Akainu?"
"Do you have any idea what the death of the Feudal Lord's son means for our village? Do you know how much trouble this will stir up?"
Before Hiruzen could answer, Koharu started pacing. Her wrinkled face trembled as she muttered, "I knew it... nothing good would come from that envoy meeting Uchiha Akainu. I can't believe they actually crossed paths."
Koharu had already arranged for her people to warn the envoy team to stay away from certain parts of the Leaf Village, the areas where Uchiha Akainu was known to frequent. She never expected him to defy all logic. The Uchiha fanatic was unusually absent from those areas today!
Koharu even suspected that he might have intentionally sought out the envoy team. Could he have known they were coming to the village?
"By the time I arrived, the young man was already dead."
Hiruzen took a deep breath. He glanced at the agitated Koharu before walking over to his desk and sitting down, his face a mix of grimness and frustration.
Koharu stopped pacing, her face dark. "And Uchiha Akainu? Did you arrest him?"
Hiruzen just looked at her.
She looked back.
Their silent exchange was all the answer she needed.
"Hiruzen, what are you thinking?!" Koharu felt a sudden understanding for Danzo. Her blood pressure spiked, and her face flushed with an unusual anger.
She hissed, "You've been lenient with Uchiha Akainu countless times! What are you holding back for? Have you forgotten that Sarutobi Shinnosuke... your eldest son, also died at his hands? Have you forgotten who it was that poisoned Danzo? Have you forgotten how many times Uchiha Akainu has openly disobeyed your orders?"
"Now he's caused this much trouble, and you're still going to tolerate him? Just because he can intimidate some criminals in the village? Does that give him a free pass to kill the Feudal Lord's son and let you look the other way?"
"Hiruzen... I don't understand!"
Hiruzen fell silent, a silence that only fueled Koharu's fury. She began to breathe in short, angry bursts.
Homura Mitokado, who had been quiet until now, interjected, "Hiruzen is worried about the consequences of a direct confrontation with Uchiha Akainu."
Koharu's brows furrowed.
Hiruzen gripped the armrests of his chair, his eyes downcast. Cracks appeared in the wood under his fingers, and his expression turned dark with barely contained rage. After several deep breaths, he calmed himself.
Finally, he spoke. "For the sake of the Leaf's stability... I must tolerate it. If Akainu goes on a rampage, the threat he poses to Konoha won't be any less than the Nine-Tails attack years ago."
He looked at Koharu. "Do you want the tragedy of that night to happen all over again in the Leaf Village?"
"Besides..."
The frustration on Hiruzen's face was obvious. "After what happened last night, Akainu has probably become a new hero for many of the young, hot-headed Uchiha. If we move against Akainu, we'll have to deal with the entire Uchiha clan."
"Even though Fugaku and Itachi are on our side, a father and son aren't enough to keep the whole clan in check."
Koharu wanted to protest but didn't. She, too, fell silent.
Homura sighed. "Instead of arguing here, we should be figuring out how we're going to face the Feudal Lord's fury..."
"Uchiha Akainu has created a huge mess. Whether we want to or not, we have to find a way to clean it up."
"I'm so tired, ya know..."
The short, scrawny Naruto slumped onto the front steps of a house, exhausted. He cautiously looked left and right, noticing only a few villagers giving him strange looks. No suspicious figures were in sight.
"Phew!"
"Just a little break..."
Clearly, the "suspicious figure" in Naruto's mind was Uchiha Akainu!
But a second later, he caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in his peripheral vision. When he quickly turned his head, his breathing stopped and his heart skipped a beat.
Gasp!
Sensing the boy's stare, the figure glanced over, and Naruto instantly shot to his feet. He grabbed the broom next to him and started sweeping frantically.
"Ten more days." A cold voice came from his side, and Naruto jumped, his hair practically standing on end. He spun around to see that Uchiha Akainu, who had been a hundred meters away just a second ago, was now standing right next to him!
Naruto nearly cried. Could he even live like this?
What Naruto didn't know was that the Anbu ninja hiding nearby, tasked with watching him, wanted to cry even more.
'Why is Uchiha Akainu here again?!'
The Anbu wanted to step out and stop the interaction. Lord Hokage had said to keep Naruto away from the Uchiha. However...
The ninja had a feeling Uchiha Akainu wouldn't listen. And if he tried to force it, he was no match for him. He fell silent. It should be fine to add a little personal judgment to the Hokage's orders, right?
The Anbu decided to stay put for now.
After all... Uchiha Akainu didn't seem like he was trying to manipulate the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. Didn't the guy claim to believe in "absolute justice"? A man of absolute justice wouldn't try to bring back the Nine-Tails chaos, right?
Meanwhile, Naruto's attention was caught by a few drops of blood on the hem of Akainu's cloak, and a look of confusion crossed his face.
"Wait for me, senpai..."
He heard a pleasant voice getting closer. Naruto looked over and saw a beautiful, long-haired girl who was always following the scary man. He also noticed a very chubby orange cat perched on her shoulder.
"Meow~ Lord Akainu killed over a dozen criminals today. I'm sure that'll keep a lot of bad guys in line for a while."
—The cat talked!!!
Naruto's mind screamed.
Huh? Wait...
Naruto's eyes widened, and the misery on his face froze. His gaze slowly moved back to the bloodstained hem of Uchiha Akainu's cloak. Jiro the cat's words—"killed over a dozen criminals"—echoed in his small mind.
His face went pale.
"Please don't kill me!!!"
"I'm sorry!!!"
Jiro the cat looked on in confusion as the blond kid performed a perfect dogeza, kneeling on the ground and bowing his head to Lord Akainu. "...What's wrong with this kid?" he muttered.
Izumi stroked her smooth chin and whispered, "It looks like he's misunderstood something. But..." Seeing how thin and frail Naruto was, she hesitated. "Senpai, this child doesn't look very healthy. Is it okay to make him do such strenuous labor?"
Izumi thought that with Naruto's skinny arms and legs, he might just pass out from sweeping the streets.
Uchiha Akainu's face was emotionless. "He's the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki. This level of work is nothing for him."
Izumi's eyes widened in understanding. "Oh, I see... wait? Nine-Tails Jinchūriki?"
She froze.
Jiro the cat explained from her shoulder, "Lord Akainu said this kid has the tailed beast that caused the Nine-Tails attack sealed inside him. That tailed beast is called the 'Nine-Tails.' And Naruto, as the Nine-Tails' vessel, is called the—Nine-Tails Jinchūriki."
Izumi's eyes widened in shock!
The Nine-Tails... the Nine-Tailed Fox!
Her own Sharingan had awakened the night of the attack, and her father had died at the hands of the demon fox.
"Lord... Lord Akainu... so does that mean he's..."
Her voice trembled with barely suppressed emotion.
Uchiha Akainu spoke calmly. "He is just a container, and he was forced into it. He had no choice when he was made the Jinchūriki as a newborn."
Jiro added, "Meow. Lord Akainu also said that the real person behind the Nine-Tails attack was a man named Uchiha Obito. He used his Mangekyō Sharingan to control the Nine-Tails and orchestrated the whole thing."
"Which means..."
Jiro paused, knowing Izumi's past. "The one who killed your father wasn't this kid. He was just a regular baby when your father was killed by the demon fox."
Izumi tried to calm herself, and she burned the name into her memory.
—Uchiha Obito!
The group hadn't lowered their voices at all. They spoke openly in front of Naruto.
Naruto, who was still kneeling and begging Uchiha Akainu for mercy, was completely stunned. He was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki? He was the demon fox's vessel? There was... really a demon fox inside of him?
This terrifying man wouldn't lie about something like this, right? At that moment, he finally understood why some people secretly called him a demon fox and the reincarnation of disaster.
"I'm..."
"I'm sorry..."
Naruto's voice was a whisper, and tears rolled down his cheeks. His small body trembled as he spoke, his voice choked with confusion and despair.
Nothing stays a secret forever.
The frantic shouts of Kyusuke Goin and the others before their deaths had made it clear to many who they were. The news that the "Feudal Lord's envoy was killed" spread through the entire Leaf Village like a hurricane.
Many people thought that after the events of the previous night, the village's chaotic situation would finally calm down. But they never expected another major incident to happen less than twelve hours later!
And... the culprit was Uchiha Akainu again!
Konoha, Anbu Headquarters
"Nango..."
Asuma Sarutobi, with a cigarette hanging from his lips, stared at the body of his comrade, Nango, one of the Twelve Guardian Shinobi. The body, decapitated and covered in blood, was a gruesome sight. Asuma took a deep drag and let out a cloud of smoke, feeling nothing but a burning indignation.
The Twelve Guardian Shinobi were a complex group. The twelve elite ninja weren't all loyal to the Feudal Lord. They were split into factions, much like the Uchiha clan: a moderate faction led by Asuma, and a radical faction led by Kazuma. The moderates believed in maintaining the current balance between the Feudal Lord and the Hokage, while the radicals believed there was no need for a Hokage and that the ninja should be under the Feudal Lord's direct control.
Nango was a moderate, and Asuma's close friend. Now, he was just a corpse.
"Hmph."
Asuma reached out and closed Nango's wide-open eyes. A dark shadow fell across his bearded face.
"Twice now, old man... are you really going to keep tolerating this? When did you, the Hokage of the Leaf, become so weak? Is Uchiha Akainu, a single Uchiha ninja, really that important?"
He was talking to himself.
Asuma had never forgotten that his older brother died at Uchiha Akainu's hands. Every time he saw his brother's widow with that look of grief, Asuma could barely contain the hatred in his heart.
Asuma's gaze drifted around the room. There were over a dozen bodies here, each one decapitated. The body of the Feudal Lord's second son, Kyusuke Goin, was particularly noticeable, and it deepened the gloom on Asuma's face.
The death of the Feudal Lord's son would enrage him, as Kyusuke was his most beloved child. The relationship between the Feudal Lord and the Leaf Village could become very strained.
And the radicals among the Twelve Guardian Shinobi were probably waiting for this very opportunity. When they heard what had happened, they would surely try to convince the Feudal Lord to take action against the Leaf Village. They might even try to use this to eliminate the position of Hokage in the future.
"Old man, you're the Hokage. Don't you see what's happening?"
Asuma bit off the end of his cigarette. "The harm Uchiha Akainu brings to the Leaf outweighs any good. I think you understand that better than me. So why are you still tolerating him?"
"He killed my brother..."
"He killed Nango..."
"And he even killed the Feudal Lord's son..."
Asuma believed that the Land of Fire flourished because of the delicate balance between the Feudal Lord and the Leaf. Uchiha Akainu's actions were certain to shatter that balance!
Once the balance was broken, the Land of Fire... and the Leaf Village... would no longer be at peace!
He lit another cigarette. "Old man, let me disagree with you one more time... Uchiha Akainu has become a threat to the village. But I guess you're already used to my rebellion."
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