TitoVillar
patreon
NAJ Chapter 31: Two Uchiha, One Dilemma
🕑 Added 2025-06-12 03:55:50 +0000 UTC"Senpai, the corpse has already turned to bones. All the evidence must be gone by now… Where do we even start investigating?" Izumi asked timidly.
Uchiha Keizumi replied calmly, "Rookie, head back to the Police Force headquarters."
"Huh?" Izumi was momentarily stunned.
Uchiha Keizumi continued, "Get me a list of all missing persons in Konoha from the past five years. Jirō, have your feline subordinates do a full sweep of the village’s sewer system and collect every bone fragment that might be of human origin. I’ll walk around the village and see if I can get lucky."
Unfortunately, while the shinobi world had the technology to extract DNA from bones, Konohagakure had never established a DNA registry for its villagers. It was impossible to immediately confirm a victim’s identity using such methods.
As Izumi puzzled over what kind of 'luck' her senpai could possibly hope to stumble upon in the village…
She suddenly remembered something he once told her—his eyes possessed the ability to see through evil itself!
Gasp! That’s right—he had used those eyes to find killers on multiple occasions before!
Izumi cast aside her hesitation and replied quickly, "Understood, Keizumi-senpai!"
Jirō echoed, "Yes, Keizumi-sama!"
…
Izumi hurried back to the Uchiha Clan compound. Just as she was about to enter the Police Force building, a familiar figure appeared ahead of her, making her stop in her tracks.
She blinked in disbelief, shook her head, and even closed her eyes for a full two seconds before opening them again.
But that silhouette still stood there.
“…Itachi-kun?” she asked hesitantly.
The figure turned around.
And the familiar face came into view—it was none other than the Uchiha Clan’s eldest son, Uchiha Itachi!
"It’s you, Izumi." Uchiha Itachi forced himself to suppress the weight in his heart and managed a polite smile as he looked at his only friend.
Izumi’s eyes lit up with joy. "It really is you, Itachi-kun! Why didn’t you tell anyone you were back in the village? I thought you were still out on a mission!"
Itachi gave a strained smile. "I only just got back."
But he felt no joy in reuniting with his friend.
In just the brief time since his return, he had already sensed how the rift between the village and the Uchiha Clan had grown irreconcilably wide.
The biggest point of contention lately was that Uchiha Keizumi had killed the Hokage’s eldest son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke!
He could feel the darkness closing in over the Uchiha.
Like a cage, it trapped the entire clan, leaving no one with room to escape or struggle free.
If tensions continued to escalate to the point where the village felt forced to take extreme measures… then the Uchiha Clan would cease to exist.
And the Uchiha’s retaliation would cause enormous damage to Konoha. The village would suffer devastating losses, and the Hokage and the others would completely lose faith in the clan.
When that time came…
Sasuke…
One dreadful thought after another swirled in Itachi’s mind, clouding his eyes with shadow.
His mood grew heavier by the second.
"Itachi-kun, is something bothering you?" Izumi asked, perceptive as ever. She noticed something off in his expression. "Did your mission in the ANBU not go well? Or is it something else?"
Itachi snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head expressionlessly. "…It’s nothing."
Only now did Itachi suddenly notice Izumi’s outfit—it was the uniform of the Uchiha Police Force.
He remembered that just over half a month ago, she had only recently graduated from the Academy.
Itachi shifted the subject, hoping it would help steady his emotions. In a flat tone, he asked, "You joined the Police Force? How are you adjusting?"
Izumi nodded and offered a confident smile. "Yup! I’m still just a trainee, and I’ll need to go through a long evaluation period before I become a full member. It’s been pretty exhausting, but I’m getting used to it. After all, Keizumi-senpai only seems strict—he actually cares quite a bit about his subordinates."
Itachi was momentarily stunned. "Keizumi… senpai?"
Izumi’s smile stiffened ever so slightly.
Crap. It had to be because she was too exhausted yesterday and didn’t sleep well last night—her memory was failing her.
She had actually forgotten that Keizumi-senpai and Itachi-kun didn’t get along!
"It was Uchiha Keizumi, wasn’t it?" Uchiha Itachi asked.
"...Yes."
Izumi nodded stiffly, her movements awkward and tense.
She wished she could smack herself in the head right then and there.
Uchiha Itachi fell silent for a moment, then chose to give a final word of caution to his only remaining friend. "Izumi, I hope you don’t mind me speaking plainly. Uchiha Keizumi’s mindset... is sometimes far too extreme. Shisui once told me..."
He paused for half a second, then took a deep breath and continued, "Shisui once told me that Keizumi’s loyalties don’t lie with the Uchiha or with Konoha. He stands only for himself."
"He’s the kind of man who would hurt not only his enemies but also the people around him. Especially his so-called [Absolute Justice]—that could bring real trouble to the Uchiha."
"Keizumi-senpai’s [Absolute Justice] would never bring trouble to the Uchiha Clan." The words shot out of Izumi’s mouth instinctively, almost before she could think.
Uchiha Itachi was momentarily taken aback.
So was Izumi.
She pressed her lips together, fidgeting with the edge of her sleeve as she said, "I don’t know what happened between you and Keizumi-senpai. But I believe that his Absolute Justice has never once done anything wrong."
"He’s always carried out his duties and responsibilities as a member of the Police Force to the letter. He’s the one who silently upholds justice, the one who’s been suppressing the corruption festering in Konoha."
"It’s just that people don’t really understand him. And he himself doesn’t like to waste words on things he sees as meaningless, which is why there are so many misunderstandings about him."
"But I believe—someday, all those misunderstandings will fade away!"
Izumi herself didn’t quite know why she felt the need to explain all this to Itachi-kun.
Maybe it was because she had chosen to follow [Absolute Justice], and that made her instinctively want to defend it.
Or maybe she just wanted to defend Keizumi-senpai.
Uchiha Itachi stared at the young girl’s conflicted yet earnest expression. His own face remained unreadable as he asked, "You’ve made up your mind, then? To follow that man’s extreme ninja path?"
"Yes!"
Izumi’s youthful face turned resolute. "Ever since I entered the Ninja Academy, I’ve wanted to follow in the footsteps of Konoha’s geniuses like you, Itachi-kun. But I don’t have any special talent. I only graduated from the Academy at twelve. I never even had a clear plan for the future..."
"But now I believe I can find another way to realize my value in Konoha! After meeting Keizumi-senpai and gradually getting to know the kind of person he is, I finally found a clear path forward."
"Itachi-kun—purging evil from the ninja world through [Absolute Justice]—that is the ninja way of Uchiha Izumi!"
Uchiha Itachi fell silent for a long moment.
"So that’s your resolve?" he said flatly. "You do sound determined. But your path... it’s crooked—"
"Meow! Rookie, what are you doing?" a strange-toned voice suddenly cut him off.
A black ninja cat stood on the eaves nearby.
It looked at Izumi and spoke human words: "Grandpa Jirō sent me to check up on you. Did you get the missing persons list, meow?"
"Huh?! You’re that ninja cat who was guarding the sewer entrance before, right?"
Izumi quickly looked up. "Ah! Give me a sec—I’ll go get it now!"
As she rushed into the Police Force building, Itachi watched her retreating figure.
Then he turned his calm gaze to the black ninja cat.
The cat stared right back at him.
"Uchiha Itachi..." The fur on the cat’s back bristled slightly as it took a few cautious steps back—any ninja beast associated with Uchiha Keizumi shared Keizumi’s attitude toward Itachi, the Uchiha clan’s eldest son.
One could even say they were slightly hostile toward him.
Uchiha Itachi hesitated.
In the end, he chose not to use his Sharingan to interrogate the cat about Uchiha Keizumi.
"Pass a message to Uchiha Keizumi for me."
Uchiha Itachi spoke slowly to the cat: "What he’s doing will only worsen the rift between the village and the Uchiha Clan. If this keeps up, we’ll reach a point of no return. I hope he’ll consider the village’s perspective—and how rare peace truly is."
