As Koharu's expression shifted uncertainly between anger and confusion, a sudden voice rang out from nearby—it was Uzumaki Naruto.
"Hey, granny! That psycho killer—do you actually know that guy?"
Psycho…
A killer?!
Naruto clenched his teeth, furious.
"How can you say he didn't deserve to die, believe it?! That guy sneaked into his junior's house at night—just because he was jealous the kid was younger than him and doing better at the academy—and slaughtered the whole family! All four of them!"
"Their bodies are still in the morgue, you know!" Naruto couldn't help but recall the horrific state of the corpses, and the memory made his young face go pale with nausea and rage.
Koharu's eyes widened in shock.
"If you're trying to stand up for a mentally twisted brat, Advisor Utatane," Uchiha Keizumi said, his voice cold and emotionless, "you're welcome to come speak with me directly."
To the clan head of the Uchiha, someone like Koharu might have been an intimidating figure—someone whose presence could stir fear that the higher-ups had once again lost trust in the Uchiha.
But to Keizumi, she posed no pressure at all.
Koharu's elderly face flushed red, then paled again in shame.
In this situation, she could say nothing more.
If she continued, she would lose the moral high ground completely.
She hadn't expected this at all… That polite, well-mannered boy from her clan—how could he have done something so monstrous?
And now, after she had charged in so aggressively, acting all righteous—
In the eyes of the ANBU and the Uchiha shinobi present, didn't she just look like some clown on a stage trying desperately to put on a show?
Koharu's sharp instincts caught the subtle, mocking expressions beginning to appear openly on the faces of some Uchiha shinobi.
Those expressions seemed to say:
So this is what the high-ranking officials of Konoha look like?
Her jaw clenched so hard it felt like her teeth might crack.
"Hiruzen. Fugaku…" Koharu finally squeezed the words out through gritted teeth, humiliated beyond belief.
"Can I… take Ryūji's body back to the Utatane compound?"
Fugaku hesitated.
"Koharu-sama, shouldn't we first send the body to the Yamanaka clan… to inspect the memory?"
"…No need!"
Her expression dark as ash, Koharu barked at the Root operative, "Take the body. Now."
She couldn't stand to stay here another moment.
Because she knew—if she lingered one more second in the Uchiha district, not only would the Uchiha shinobi burst into open laughter, even the ANBU operatives would likely struggle to hold it in.
But—
Just as she was about to leave, she paused briefly in front of Hiruzen and asked in a low voice, barely audible to anyone but him, "How is Uzumaki Naruto doing?"
In that instant, she saw Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression twist into the same complicated mess as her own.
He didn't even need to respond. She had her answer.
Her lips twitched. Her eye began to twitch too.
"Hiruzen… we can't let Uchiha Keizumi continue unchecked!"
Hiruzen replied, "The priority now is to stabilize Naruto."
Besides—
It was already too late. Naruto had been affected far too deeply.
The key issue was—if it weren't for the psychological trauma caused by that brat Utatane Ryūji's horrific crimes, Naruto probably wouldn't have embraced Keizumi's ideology of justice so quickly.
Utatane Ryūji, at the very least, should shoulder 30% of the blame!
With that thought, Hiruzen's gaze toward Koharu turned subtly resentful.
How the hell had she been raising her clan's kids?
Koharu: "???"
After Koharu left with the body, Naruto also said a temporary goodbye to Uchiha Keizumi and followed Sarutobi Hiruzen out of the Uchiha district. The ANBU operatives dispersed one by one as well.
"Hah…"
Fugaku let out a long, heavy sigh. The pool of bright red blood on the ground served as a stark reminder of everything that had happened today.
"Keizumi…"
Just as he opened his mouth to speak, he realized Uchiha Keizumi had already walked dozens of meters away, leaving behind only the silhouette of his back.
Fugaku fell silent.
"Fugaku!"
A voice rang out from the opposite side, burning with barely contained rage.
It was Uchiha Setsuna, striding over furiously with a group of militant Uchiha shinobi close behind.
Fugaku's brow furrowed.
The moment Setsuna arrived, he snapped, "Twice now, high-ranking officials have barged into Uchiha territory. And as clan head, you didn't do a thing about it? Is the Uchiha clan just a revolving door they can enter and leave at will?! What do they take us for?!"
Fugaku felt utterly exhausted.
He had spent every last ounce of effort just to convince the Hokage that the Uchiha had no intention of seizing control of the jinchūriki—and had finally regained a sliver of trust. He was drained, ready to collapse, wishing for nothing more than to go home and rest.
And yet, before he could catch his breath, he now had to deal with internal disputes within the clan.
Expressionless, Fugaku replied, "Elder Setsuna, isn't the Uchiha clan part of Konoha? If our clansmen are free to walk any street in the village, then the rest of Konoha should be allowed to walk through ours as well, shouldn't they?"
When faced with questioning from the Hokage and Koharu, Fugaku had been painstakingly diplomatic to maintain balance and trust.
But when confronted by someone like Uchiha Setsuna—his tone turned cold and unyielding.
Setsuna was momentarily caught off guard, but quickly scoffed and changed the subject: "Fugaku, your recent behavior has been so spineless that many of our clan have begun to think you're unfit to lead! Under your command, the Uchiha have only grown weaker and more marginalized. You've been clan head for long enough—it's time for you to step down!"
Fugaku's eyes narrowed sharply.
A number of moderate Uchiha shinobi quietly shifted closer to his side in support.
But in sheer numbers, Setsuna's group was clearly the larger faction.
After all the humiliations the Uchiha had endured, the aggressive, radical voices had gradually become the mainstream.
The air grew tense—imperceptibly but unmistakably.
But within the Uchiha clan, not everyone stood firmly behind either Uchiha Setsuna or Uchiha Fugaku.
If the Uchiha could be neatly divided into just two factions, well… they wouldn't be the Uchiha. Unity had never exactly been their strong suit.
At that moment—
Three shinobi from the Uchiha Police Force were watching the confrontation from a distance.
"Tch. We're hopeless… One of them's nothing but a washed-up old relic full of ambition but lacking all ability. If he had even a shred of competence, he would've pulled off a coup decades ago. Instead, he spent half his life rotting in prison thanks to the Second Hokage."
"The other guy… sits in the clan head's seat but never fails to side with outsiders. Sometimes I wonder if he even remembers his own surname. No wonder he raised a monster like Uchiha Itachi."
One of them scoffed openly, his voice dripping with disdain.
"This kind of drama's played out more times than I can count. And what's changed? Nothing. Just two useless failures posturing."
Another officer chimed in, nodding.
"Wasting our lives on these childish political games is just dumb. We'd be better off doing another patrol around the village."
Then the third one suddenly spoke up.
"What do you guys think of Uchiha Keizumi?"
"Keizumi?" The first one replied. "He's strong—really strong. But doesn't seem like someone easy to get along with. Don't forget, he even killed one of our own back in the day. That caused a pretty big stir."
"Yeah, but… if he's really that hard to deal with, then how's that kid—Uchiha Izumi—managed to survive under him for so long? And honestly, his whole Absolute Justice thing… it's kind of intriguing."
"Absolute Justice, huh? Yeah… at the very least, it's more interesting than the pathetic squabble going on in front of us."
...
By the time Naruto returned home, night had already fallen.
Looking at the messy bedroom, Naruto, utterly exhausted, collapsed face-first onto the bed.
Even now, he was still in a dazed, confused state.
No one knew how long he had been lying there before he finally sat back up, lifted his shirt, and stared at his plain, unremarkable belly.
"There's a Nine-Tails… sealed inside me…"
Naruto poked his stomach. He didn't feel anything unusual.
Logically speaking—
Learning that a terrifying Nine-Tails was sealed inside him… he should be panicking.
But strangely enough, Naruto didn't feel afraid at all. On the contrary, there was this odd sense of security.
That sense of security…
It didn't come from Hokage-ojiichan. It came from that terrifying man—the one who had dared to stand alone and confront Hokage-ojiichan in front of everyone. The only man who carried out Absolute Justice in Konohagakure. Someone like that… might be even more formidable than the Tailed Beast inside him?
"I think his name was Uchiha Keizumi?!"
"…Absolute Justice, huh!"
Naruto stared blankly at a crack in the ceiling, confused as to why he'd blurted out those words.
It felt like… ever since that man acknowledged him, he had this strong urge to live up to it—to not let that recognition go to waste.
Besides, the things he had shouted back then… were all genuine. Not a single part of it was made up.
In his mind, Naruto recalled the things Hokage-ojiichan had told him after escorting him home:
—"Naruto, Keizumi's sense of justice is fundamentally rigid, inflexible, stubborn, and difficult to reason with. It also deviates somewhat from Konoha's Will of Fire. Everyone has their own version of justice. You can't just blindly copy Keizumi's Absolute Justice."
—"If you truly decide to walk the path of justice and Hokage as your nindō, then the old man advises you to form more of your own opinions in the future. Perhaps, you can try blending the Will of Fire with justice."
—"Only justice that produces a positive impact on Konohagakure is the kind of justice that people will acknowledge. The kind of harsh justice Keizumi practices is difficult for others to accept. Otherwise, he wouldn't always be alone."
—"Ahem! I wasn't trying to speak ill of him, mind you. I'm just saying that good justice can't be separated from the Will of Fire. The two shouldn't be in opposition, don't you think?"
"Ahhh! That's way too complicated!"
Seven-year-old Naruto clutched his head and gave up trying to understand.
He just felt like the world of adults was impossible to grasp.
Still, if all he had to do from now on was wake up early, clean the streets, go to the Ninja Academy, and then find Uchiha Keizumi after class… that didn't sound too bad, right?
Wait—what about his free time?!
Naruto finally realized what he had signed up for.
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