"Kakashi."
After swiftly finishing his paperwork, Hiruzen stood up slowly and spoke in a deep voice.
"From today onward, you'll be in charge of overseeing the jinchūriki, Uzumaki Naruto. Take an ANBU squad with you—you're not to go alone."
Kakashi, who had stood motionless by the side all day, didn't expect the Hokage to suddenly single him out.
He asked with some confusion, "Hokage-sama, isn't Yamanaka Ryōshin the one currently monitoring Uzumaki Naruto?"
"He's monitoring him. You'll be overseeing him."
Hiruzen explained, "This morning, Yamanaka Ryōshin submitted his resignation. He said he might not be suited to the task of monitoring a jinchūriki. I refused—ANBU is already short-handed. What I've assigned him to do is monitor Naruto's safety. What I'm assigning you is to supervise Naruto's growth."
"This way, your responsibilities will complement Ryōshin's. He'll also have less pressure."
Kakashi froze for a moment.
"…His growth?"
He didn't quite understand.
Hiruzen continued, "Since Naruto has chosen to follow Keizumi's concept of justice, well—there's nothing wrong with 'justice' in itself. I don't oppose it. But [Absolute Justice] is different. Keizumi's [Absolute Justice] is far too extreme. It suits him—not Naruto."
"Kakashi, you should understand what could happen if Naruto, as a jinchūriki, starts disregarding the bigger picture like Keizumi does. We can still hold Keizumi back for now… but if the Nine-Tails goes berserk, I fear not even the full strength of the village could stop it."
"Because of his identity—and his lineage—Naruto is meant to stand on Konoha's side. His sense of justice should align with Konoha's interests, not a maverick interpretation of [Absolute Justice]."
"I'm assigning you to oversee him not just for Naruto's sake, but for the sake of Konoha's greater stability."
Kakashi nodded thoughtfully.
"Understood."
"However…"
With his usual lifeless, drooping dead-fish eyes, he added, "Hokage-sama, if Naruto is already too deeply influenced by [Absolute Justice], should I report to you first… or step in directly to correct him?"
"Both," Hiruzen said. "Step in to correct him immediately—then report back to me."
"…Yes, Hokage-sama."
Kakashi sighed inwardly. This isn't going to be an easy assignment.
When Kakashi led his ANBU squad to the ninja academy, he ordered the members to disperse and keep watch from all directions. Even though he knew that ANBU agents lurking in the shadows likely wouldn't escape Uchiha Keizumi's notice, at the very least, they couldn't just watch Naruto openly and blatantly.
"Hmm?"
Perched atop a tree branch, hidden beneath a canopy of leaves, Kakashi held a well-worn copy of Make-Out Paradise in his hands. As he idly flipped through it, his half-lidded eyes suddenly lifted.
His gaze swept across the academy grounds, where students were trickling out after class.
Among them, one blond kid stood out.
But what surprised Kakashi even more was the small figure walking beside Uzumaki Naruto—
"…Uchiha Sasuke?!"
…
"Why is Sasuke-kun… getting along so well with Uzumaki Naruto?"
About a dozen meters behind Naruto and Sasuke, a little girl with pink hair and a wide, shiny forehead was muttering in total confusion.
"From morning until evening, the two of them have been together nonstop, talking the whole time…"
Haruno Sakura couldn't understand it at all. In her impression, Uzumaki Naruto was just a hopeless underachiever with terrible grades, who never paid attention in class, and who—according to rumors—loved pulling pranks.
There were even whispers about him in the academy.
Sometimes she overheard people saying: "My mom told me to stay away from Uzumaki Naruto—that guy's the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox!"
In short, Naruto wasn't well-liked in the village.
So why was Sasuke-kun getting so close to someone like him?
Could it be… he had learned about the crimes his older brother would commit in the future?
Had Sasuke-kun decided to give up on himself?!
Sasuke, of course, had no idea there was a pink-haired girl behind him who was secretly shocked by his behavior today.
At the moment, he was keeping his little face tense, putting on his best "Uchiha genius ninja" expression to suppress the anxiety rising in his chest.
'Hmph. As if I'd be afraid of Uchiha Keizumi!'
Not wanting to be outdone by a dead-last, Sasuke—who had recently become curious about [Justice]—had spent the entire day trying to understand what that word actually meant, using Naruto as his primary source of information.
But Naruto himself only had a vague grasp of it. More importantly, he didn't really know how to put it into words.
So—
Naruto had come up with a solution earlier: "If you want to know what Absolute Justice is, then come meet Keizumi-sensei with me! But I'm warning you, Keizumi-sensei is super strict—and kinda scary too. Don't get freaked out."
In Naruto's heart, Uchiha Keizumi had already become a "sensei" figure similar to Iruka-sensei.
Only, this teacher didn't teach standard academy material—
He taught [Absolute Justice]!
"You're totally nervous right now," Naruto said, glancing over at Sasuke's smug-looking face and ruthlessly exposing the act.
"I am not!" Sasuke snapped through gritted teeth.
"Then how come you're sweating, huh?" Naruto scratched his head.
"…Because it's hot out!" Sasuke shot back stubbornly.
However—twenty minutes later, when Sasuke caught sight of a familiar figure in the distance, all that stubbornness vanished.
An inexplicable wave of nervous tension slowed his steps, and for some reason, he even started to regret tagging along with this dead-last.
Damn it! There's no way my mental strength is weaker than his. He's just a dropout—how could I be worse than him? He's the one who should be beneath me!
Sasuke glanced at Naruto walking up ahead.
He clenched his teeth—
And quickened his pace.
…
A blond-haired Naruto and a boy wearing the Uchiha Clan crest on his back—Sasuke—were certainly an eye-catching pair on the street.
Izumi spotted Naruto immediately—and saw Sasuke too.
She turned to Uchiha Keizumi in surprise.
"Keizumi-senpai, Sasuke-kun actually came here with Naruto!"
"This is the bond written into their fate," Uchiha Keizumi replied calmly.
"When Justice seizes one of them in its grasp, the other can't escape it either."
Izumi paused, then seemed to realize something.
"Sasuke-kun… could he also be someone you identified early on as a potential candidate for [Absolute Justice]?"
Uchiha Keizumi replied, "After all, Uchihas like him… are a rare breed within the clan. Compared to his elder brother, he's about as 'normal' as you can get."
Just then—
Naruto came running over, and stopped quickly when he was about two meters away from Keizumi. He straightened up and gave a deep bow.
"Keizumi-sensei! Uzumaki Naruto, reporting in!"
"Keizumi… sensei?!" Izumi's expression twitched slightly. So in the eyes of the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, Keizumi-senpai was seen as some kind of 'mentor of justice'?
Actually… that did seem rather fitting.
And Keizumi-senpai didn't correct Naruto either.
Izumi then looked over to Sasuke, who stood beside Naruto looking visibly uneasy.
Sasuke, sensing her gaze, suddenly realized that his silence made him seem even more awkward. He quickly blurted out, unwilling to appear weak: "I only came because the dead-last invited me. I didn't come on my own."
"Hey, hey! Who're you calling dead-last?!" Naruto snapped in protest.
"Oh?" Izumi smiled teasingly.
"So if Sasuke-kun was only invited and isn't really interested in justice, then maybe it's best for Sasuke-kun to head back. After all, if you're not interested in justice, there's no point in staying he—"
"I… I didn't say I wasn't interested…" Sasuke cut her off in a hurry, though his voice was small and stammering.
Seeing Sasuke's awkward yet earnest reaction, Izumi suddenly felt a bit dazed. These two brothers had clearly been raised by the same parents—so how could their personalities be so completely different?
"Let's go."
Uchiha Keizumi didn't bother wasting words on the two brats. With just those words, he turned and strode ahead.
"Eh?"
Naruto looked confused. "Where are we going?"
Izumi, walking beside him, explained on Keizumi's behalf: "Keizumi-senpai doesn't teach [Justice] by lecturing in a classroom."
Back when she had first received Keizumi-senpai's hell-style justice training, she'd been utterly shaken for several days.
But with time, she had finally come to understand just how difficult it was to uphold Keizumi-senpai's Absolute Justice.
Following behind Keizumi, her voice clear and crisp, Izumi continued, "Senpai's teaching method focuses more on direct action. Before you two even arrived, Tachibana Jirō-senpai's ninja cats had already located the target that [Justice] must hunt and pass judgment on."
Ninja cats...
Tachibana Jirō...
Naruto and Sasuke simultaneously turned their gazes toward Izumi's left shoulder, where a large, plump cat was perched, looking quite content.
Tachibana Jirō lazily opened one eye and, speaking human language, said, "You two little punks, since you've chosen this path, you better be prepared—you're about to face evils that'll make you piss yourselves. Especially the ugliness of human nature—don't go crying when it scares you."
Naruto muttered, "He talks like a cranky old lady."
Sasuke was just about to nod in agreement when he suddenly realized—if he went along with this loser's comment, wouldn't that be admitting he was no better than the dobe?
For some reason, a competitive spark ignited in Sasuke. He let out a quiet snort and didn't respond to Naruto.
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