TitoVillar
patreon
JST Chapter 368: How to Solve a Clan Problem (Step 1: Genocide)
🕑 Added 2025-07-03 18:35:30 +0000 UTC“Hokage-sama… thank you. Thank you for clearing Shisui’s name…” After a moment of silence, Itachi took a deep breath. A sharp glint flashed
“Hokage-sama… thank you. Thank you for clearing Shisui’s name…” After a moment of silence, Itachi took a deep breath. A sharp glint flashed
“Hokage-sama… thank you. Thank you for clearing Shisui’s name…” After a moment of silence, Itachi took a deep breath. A sharp glint flashed
“Hokage-sama… thank you. Thank you for clearing Shisui’s name…”
After a moment of silence, Itachi took a deep breath. A sharp glint flashed through his eyes.
“As for the Uchiha situation… I know you don’t want to resolve it through force, but the situation has already rotted to the core.”
“Force is necessary.”
“But just as you said—for the sake of the Will of Fire, the village must not take the initiative in suppressing the Uchiha. In that case, as a member of the Uchiha myself, if we must act, and we want to protect the village’s reputation, then I’m the best candidate for the task.”
“Please give the order. I will resolve the Uchiha problem… completely.”
Hiruzen hesitated, his expression conflicted. He sighed.
“Itachi… is there really no other way?”
Itachi shook his head. “Hokage-sama, I know you’re thinking of the Uchiha. But no one understands the clan better than I do.”
“Please… give the order.” Itachi repeated his request once more.
After a formal exchange of repeated refusals and appeals, Hiruzen finally relented.
“If it must be done, then Itachi… I entrust the village to you.”
“If you need anything, come to me directly.”
Itachi gave a grateful nod and turned, disappearing swiftly.
“Uchiha…”
Hiruzen muttered the name under his breath. Then, his expression changed. A cold smile crept onto his face as he called out, “Come out, Danzo.”
From the shadows of a hidden chamber nearby, Shimura Danzo stepped into view.
“Hiruzen, I didn’t expect Uchiha Itachi to be so loyal to the village. From what I heard… he intends to become our blade.”
“Well then, that’s good. Have him eliminate all those Uchiha hawk leaders. Once the strong ones are dead, we can replace them with a more docile leadership. That way, we’ll be able to control the Uchiha—or even better, shape Uchiha Itachi into a puppet under our command…”
Even someone as extreme as Shimura Danzo didn’t believe, after hearing Uchiha Itachi’s words, that such a catastrophic event as a clan massacre was about to unfold.
At most, he thought, it would be a purge of the hardliners.
After all, on the surface, Uchiha Itachi had only awakened the three-tomoe Sharingan.
Even if he had the Mangekyō Sharingan, attempting to wipe out an entire clan alone would still be nearly impossible…
No one could have predicted that a genius like Uchiha Itachi, in order to slaughter his own kin, would reach out to the Uchiha he had accidentally discovered—Uchiha Obito—and together, the two would orchestrate the terrifying Night of the Massacre.
“Danzo, did you really think I was bluffing when I spoke with Itachi?”
Hiruzen’s gaze was icy as he stared at Shimura Danzo. “Kotoamatsukami—don’t bother denying it. You’ll say you never got your hands on Shisui’s eye, but do you really think I’d believe that?”
“Hand it over. If you refuse, just as I said—I’ll strip you of your position as my advisor and dissolve Root.”
Danzo’s face instantly darkened.
Behind the bandages wrapped around his head, embedded in his eye socket, was none other than Shisui’s Mangekyō Sharingan.
“Hiruzen, you’ll regret this!” Danzo roared, his voice filled with resentment. “Everything I’ve done was for Konoha!”
“Danzo, I am the Hokage!” Hiruzen snapped, swinging his arm down decisively. “From this day forward, you are under house arrest!”
Danzo glared at him with undisguised hostility.
A powerful urge surged within him—to rip off his bandages and unleash Kotoamatsukami at full strength, to alter Hiruzen’s perception in an instant, seize control of Konoha, claim the title of Fifth Hokage, and rise to the peak of power…
But—
Shisui had reported his dōjutsu to Hiruzen first.
The true terror of Kotoamatsukami lay in its subtlety—it could manipulate someone without them even realizing they had been influenced.
However, if someone nearby were to alert the target that they were under genjutsu, the illusion would become apparent… and things would change.
Danzo had stolen Kotoamatsukami, but he knew Hiruzen well enough to be sure: the moment he received news of Shisui’s death, the old monkey would’ve surrounded himself with a web of sensor-type shinobi—perhaps even a few Hyūga—ready to detect any hostile move.
For all he knew, a few pairs of Byakugan could be watching him from afar right this very second…
No matter what, Shimura Danzo wasn’t going to hand over the Mangekyō Sharingan he had obtained through such difficulty.
House arrest? So be it.
He’d simply remain at home for a while. It would give him time to refine the synchronization between his Mangekyō Sharingan and Hashirama cells…
Ever since Naruto had displayed a power that seemed connected to the Tailed Beasts, the butterfly’s wings had begun to stir.
The Night of the Massacre… might arrive sooner than expected.
“Uchiha Itachi—he’ll take care of the Uchiha...”
Danzo muttered darkly.
“But Naruto... what exactly is going on with him?”
Hiruzen slowly stood up, his expression shifting as he instructed the ANBU to purchase basic daily necessities. His eyes clouded with uncertainty.
“Has he already tapped into the Nine-Tails’ power? Or is it just chakra leakage…”
“I need to go check on Naruto myself.”
...
At that moment, inside Naruto’s home—
The once filthy, cluttered, and chaotic space had been cleaned until spotless under Kazuki’s instructions.
The refrigerator was no longer filled with instant noodles and expired milk, but with freshly hunted meat from the nearby forest. For the first time, the house carried a faint sense of peace and domestic life.
While Uchiha Itachi was being swept up in Hiruzen’s rhetoric about the Will of Fire…
Naruto, too, was immersing himself in the study of the Will of Fire and Konoha’s history.
He wanted to understand—
Why, even though his father, Namikaze Minato, was the Fourth Hokage, and his mother, Uzumaki Kushina, had been the previous Nine-Tails jinchūriki, he—left behind as their orphaned child after they gave their lives for the village—was treated the way he had been.
Did this align with the Will of Fire?
As a child of Konoha, Naruto had been raised on the principles of the Will of Fire…
But now, after suddenly learning the truth of his parentage, he found himself questioning everything. The Will of Fire felt hollow, and the village itself—strangely unfamiliar.
He wanted to get to the bottom of it.
Was the Will of Fire genuine, or was it a lie? And if it was a lie, why did so many in the village still believe in it? In the end—who truly benefited from it?
The answer would determine Naruto’s future stance toward Konoha.
As an orphan, once Naruto sorted out the tangled legacy between Konoha and his parents, there would be nothing left to hold him back.
“Kazuki-nii, tell me… why is it that, even though I’m the Hokage’s son, I’ve been treated this way?”
Naruto’s tone was subdued. “Mom said the village betrayed our whole family… but I can tell that Father didn’t really see it that way.”
“So which of them was right? And which was wrong?”
“Naruto,” Kazuki replied gently, “just like the Will of Fire you’re so conflicted about… it’s both right and wrong—just like how light and darkness coexist in human nature.”
He pointed to the textbook on Naruto’s desk, the one about the Will of Fire.
“The shinobi world is a broken, diseased place… If you can’t protect your own strength in this twisted world, you’ll eventually be sacrificed—offered up to fulfill the desires of the strong.”
“Right and wrong don’t matter—not until you have power.”
“In the face of someone stronger than you, you have no real choice. All you can do is submit.”
Kazuki then pointed to the book on Konoha’s history.
“It won’t be long now, Naruto, before you witness firsthand how the strong use brute force and arrogance to shape the fate of others.”
“When that moment comes, you’ll understand the answer for yourself.”
Naruto nodded slowly, his understanding still incomplete.
But this was exactly what Kazuki intended—
To let Naruto experience the Night of the Massacre.
Only by confronting the extreme evil buried deep in human nature would Naruto awaken the desire for power hidden in his heart.
Because only power can bring true, lasting security.
And just then—
A voice called from outside the door.
“Naruto, are you home? Grandpa came to visit!”
It was Sarutobi Hiruzen.
