TitoVillar
patreon
NAJ Chapter 42: A Justified Sin
🕑 Added 2025-06-19 02:24:59 +0000 UTC“Itachi…” At that moment, after over a minute of silence, Uchiha Fugaku suddenly asked with a complicated expression, “If one day, an irreparable conflict breaks out between the village and the Uchiha clan… you would side with the Hokage, wouldn’t you?”
Itachi froze.
In that instant, he suddenly understood why his 'future evil' had shown a vision of the Uchiha clan’s destruction.
If the situation truly reached such a point of no return—
Then yes. Itachi knew the side he would choose wouldn’t be the Uchiha.
He would choose the majority of Konoha.
To prevent the village from descending into a devastating civil war…
To protect the Uchiha name from being stained by the actions of rebels…
He would choose to be the one to stop it all.
He would willingly take on the burden of that sin and infamy.
Even if it meant being cast out and condemned by everyone he loved—even if he had to bear the title of traitor—he would not hesitate to protect Konoha.
“…I understand now.”
Uchiha Itachi felt as if all his lingering doubts had finally connected into a single line of clarity.
He understood now—why, despite never having wronged Keizumi, Uchiha Keizumi held such intense hostility toward him.
So this… was what his 'future' would become?
Did that mean the conflict between the village and the Uchiha was truly irreconcilable?
That war between them was inevitable?
And that this 'future' would come to pass within just a year?
Noticing that the suffocating grip around his neck had suddenly vanished, Itachi took half a step back.
He coughed lightly, easing the discomfort in his throat.
“No wonder you want to kill me…”
Itachi took a deep breath, grappling with emotions even he couldn’t name. He raised his eyes again to meet Uchiha Keizumi’s gaze and said: “You believe that everything I’ll do in the future is a mistake. You think that if you kill me now—if you crush me while I’m still in the cradle—then the Uchiha massacre will never happen.”
“But Uchiha Keizumi, what you don’t seem to realize is… you’ve already, without even noticing, placed yourself on the side of the Uchiha.”
“You haven’t truly considered what would happen to Konoha if I didn’t go through with it.”
“If the Uchiha were to engage in a full-scale war against the village, all of Konoha would be plunged into chaos and destruction. At that point, the number of dead wouldn’t be in the dozens or hundreds—it would be thousands, maybe tens of thousands. The village would never recover from such a civil war!”
“Uchiha Keizumi, I understand the actions I’ll take in the future. This is something I must do—whether I want to or not.”
As he spoke—
Uchiha Itachi's lips curved into a faint smile. Now that he understood what he would do in the future, he felt as though he could fully immerse himself in that version of himself—feel the emotions his future self would experience.
That smile held a subtle bitterness, and without warning, two clear streams of tears traced down his cheeks, stirred by the overwhelming sense of self-sacrifice.
He could almost feel the wave of endless accusations and misunderstandings crashing over him. And in the end, he would accept death in silence—carrying both the will to protect Konoha and the secrets he could never speak aloud.
That’s right…
Perhaps in the future, he wouldn’t kill Sasuke.
Perhaps he would leave behind a contingency plan—to raise Sasuke, to cultivate him into the next guardian of Konoha.
To entrust him with the village’s future.
“Wherever the leaves dance, the fire will continue to burn. Be it the past, the present, or the future… I’m willing to become a withered leaf, reduced to ashes by the flames, if it means lighting the path ahead for the village.”
“Father… I’m sorry. I know I’ve disappointed you. But if one day you truly go through with it, I will become your enemy.”
“That is the conviction—and the resolve—I will never waver from.”
Uchiha Itachi said all this solemnly to Fugaku.
Fugaku was left speechless.
The way he now looked at his eldest son—the one he had always felt so proud of—had changed completely. There was something unfamiliar in Itachi’s eyes, even something that sent a chill down his spine.
Fugaku wanted to argue back.
He wanted to slap Itachi across the face.
He wanted to shout at him, to demand how he could be so cold-blooded—how he could even turn on his own flesh and blood.
But…
As he imagined the consequences of a violent conflict between the Uchiha clan and Konoha—
A trace of despair also rose in Fugaku’s heart.
If the future Itachi truly chose to protect the village… then maybe this was the only path left for him.
[—SLAP!!!]
A sharp, resounding slap cut through the room. Fugaku saw Itachi’s face suddenly twist to the side, and the pale skin of his cheek now bore a vivid red handprint.
But it hadn’t been Fugaku.
Nor was it Keizumi.
“Uchiha Itachi!!!”
Izumi, her eyes brimming with tears, glared at the boy who was becoming more and more unrecognizable to her.
Her chest heaved, and with a voice choked with sobs, she shouted: “Does your so-called belief and strength drive you to commit such vile and revolting acts?!”
“You stand there, so full of yourself, in front of Absolute Justice—do you even deserve to utter the words Will of Fire?!”
“You're just a twelve-year-old child—can you even think straight?!”
“What gives you the right to decide the life and death of innocent people?!”
Uchiha Izumi’s impure Uchiha bloodline and her utterly different personality from the rest of the clan had long doomed her to loneliness within the vast Uchiha family.
One could say that she was Uchiha Itachi’s only friend—and he, hers.
And yet—
Izumi now found that the friend she had trusted so deeply had become utterly unfamiliar.
She had never imagined that Itachi harbored such extreme beliefs.
In her naive mind, someone who loved the village and cherished peace surely had a temperament much like hers.
Surely someone like that—even if they awakened the power of the Sharingan—wouldn’t be one of those Uchihas with a dangerously extreme and twisted personality.
Izumi never expected that she had been so terribly wrong.
So wrong it was almost absurd.
Even after slapping Uchiha Itachi hard across the face, she felt not the slightest trace of regret.
She even wished she could slap the other side too—
—so the handprints on his cheeks would at least look symmetrical.
After all...
The future Uchiha Itachi, the one who would wear that so-called conviction and fortitude like a badge of honor, was the same person who would one day murder the mother she lived with,
who would kill her—Uchiha Izumi—
and who would slaughter the entire Uchiha clan.
“…Izumi, you’re the one who’s too naive.” Uchiha Itachi didn’t raise a hand to his stinging cheek, even though the pain was sharp and burning.
He stared straight at her and said, “You and Uchiha Keizumi believe in what you call ‘absolute justice,’ but it isn’t absolute at all. If you truly wanted to carry out justice to the end, then you should be acting now to stop those within the Uchiha who are clearly preparing for a coup. Anyone can see exactly what they’re trying to do.”
“A coup will plunge Konoha into chaos, opening the gates for our enemies to strike us at our weakest. And there are only two ways to prevent that from happening."
Someone once tried the first way… but they were erased before they ever had the chance to act.”
“That path was something only he could walk. Now that he’s gone, there’s only one option left.
What I’m doing—is simply becoming the one who shoulders it all.”
“And in doing so, I am upholding the true justice that protects Konoha.”
Izumi wiped a tear from her cheek.
She almost laughed in disbelief.
“You don’t understand anything,” she said, voice trembling.
“Yet you dare stand here spouting this nonsense in front of me and Keizumi-senpai, speaking as if your words were truth.”
The last traces of hope she’d held for Uchiha Itachi had completely vanished from her eyes.
The way she looked at him now—
—it was the look one might give a mental patient who had just escaped from Konoha Hospital.
A look tangled in a storm of emotions: anger, sorrow, disappointment, mockery.
So complex even she couldn’t untangle it herself.
