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JST Chapter 33: In the Ashes of Doubt
🕑 Added 2024-08-31 23:01:44 +0000 UTCKazuki and Asuma smoked silently, looking at Konoha in the distance together.
Asuma smoked heavily, as if each puff was an attempt to release the anguish he carried inside, while his furrowed eyebrows revealed his concern.
On the other hand, Kazuki simply let the cigarette burn away in his hand. Watching Asuma, he couldn't help but think of a famous Uchiha.
His name is Uchiha Itachi...
But now, he is probably still in Uchiha Mikoto's belly...
The four-year-old Uchiha Itachi was brought to the battlefield by Uchiha Fugaku. Since then, he began to think about the meaning of life and peace.
After Uchiha Itachi was asked to be a double agent, he was obsessed with the will of fire and believed that the Uchiha clan was an evil clan. In the end, he wielded the butcher knife against his clansmen, lover, and parents.
Simply put, he was a paranoid kid who was brainwashed by the enemy after being stimulated and became a devil who didn't recognize his relatives.
Asuma and Uchiha Itachi are very similar to some extent.
Although Sarutobi Hiruzen is not as abstract as Uchiha Fugaku, he did not do the corresponding work well, which made the smart and careful Asuma smell the dark side of the village from various clues and question his origin.
In the end, a shinobi trained since childhood only knows how to kill. His natural mission is to be a sword.
If a paranoid sword starts to think, it is hard to say whether it will cut the enemy or the friendly forces...
After all, what correct things can a sword think of?
In the shinobi world, there are only a handful of shinobi with normal brains. Not only the Uchiha clan, but most shinobi are paranoid and terrible.
As for Uchiha Itachi, he came into contact with Sarutobi Hiruzen and Shimura Danzo in his childhood and betrayed the Uchiha clan.
Asuma was well protected because of his identity as the son of the Hokage, but he just wandered and wasted his youth.
But now it is different. Asuma found Kazuki.
Kazuki can be a sharp knife, and can also be the one holding the knife...
"Asuma, since you are so distrustful of the Will of Fire and have doubts about the village, why did you find me?"
Kazuki stared at the Hokage Rock in the distance, looked at Senju Tobirama on it, and said slowly: "If you think I'm someone dedicated to the Will of Fire, shouldn't you stay away from me?"
Asuma shook his head, and a look of reminiscence appeared in his eyes: "I don't think the Will of Fire is bad... I just think that the people who interpret the Will of Fire now are too hypocritical. What they say and what they do are completely different."
"Kazuki, can I call you that?"
After receiving Kazuki's affirmation, Asuma seemed to be in a better mood, and then said: "In my eyes, you are the true practitioner of the Will of Fire. You are strong, humble, and always willing to help others. Even as an Uchiha, your existence and your stories inspire many of our peers."
"Especially, when I saw you helping Inada Kojiro that day, I couldn't help but want to talk to you. "
"You didn't continue to encourage him to become a ninja but helped him open a shop he liked. What I saw in his eyes was a smile from the heart..."
"However, if I, or any other teacher, were to try to help him, the first thing we would think of would be how to help him become a better ninja..."
"From that moment, I knew you were special, Kazuki."
Asuma turned his head, looked at Kazuki seriously, and said in a deep voice: "So, I came to find you."
Kazuki nodded in understanding and asked a question: "Asuma, do you think it is worth sacrificing the happiness of some people in Konoha in exchange for the happiness of others?"
"Just like your friends who joined the Root, some of them may want to walk in the light, and some may just want to open a small shop like Inada Kojiro, but they all entered the Root."
"They sacrificed their lives, but in exchange, Konoha increased its defensive strength…"
Asuma narrowed his eyes, and after a moment, he shook his head vigorously. "My friends didn't do it willingly! Even though Konoha has become stronger, that strength isn't right, and I don't think it can last."
"The First Hokage said that Konoha was founded so that people could unite and resist invasion from other shinobi villages..."
"But what Shimura Danzo does, attacking our own people first under the pretext of fighting other villages, is something I can never accept!"
Saying this, Asuma clenched his fists tightly, and his voice echoed like a suppressed roar.
Kazuki smiled and said slowly: "If this is the case, Asuma, then let me ask you another question..."
"Suppose that the Third Shinobi World War broke out and Konoha fell into a disadvantage, and at this time, the enemy hidden village proposed that if Konoha handed over a few not-so-strong shinobi, a peace agreement could be reached. If you were the Hokage, would you agree?"
Asuma was about to say something.
But Kazuki gestured for him to wait and added more details: "If the war continues, Konoha will have hundreds of shinobi die, and if they agree, the enemy will cease fire for at least ten years, ushering in a relatively long period of peace."
"Think about this carefully and tell me, what would you decide?"
Asuma obviously hesitated and thought about it.
Senju Tobirama narrowed his eyes, and compared to the hesitant Asuma, his answer was much more straightforward: "Boring question, if any Konoha high-level will hand over the shinobi in the village because of the armistice agreement, I will kill him first! Monkey, Danzo, even if they make some small mistakes, they can't be so stupid..."
"This is not a question of how many Konoha shinobi died, this is the integrity and will of a village!"
"If we don't even have the determination to fight for our comrades, then Konoha doesn't deserve to exist anymore."
Kazuki looked at Senju Tobirama with interest and asked with a smile: "What if the same problem happened during the First Shinobi World War, and the hostage the enemy proposed to exchange was Uchiha?"
"Kid, who do you think I am?" Senju Tobirama sneered disdainfully. "It is true that I discriminate against the Uchiha clan, because I will monitor every factor of unrest inside and outside the village."
"But that doesn't mean I'm going to resolve the village's internal conflicts by handing them over to external enemies."
"If I do that, I am not worthy of being the Second Hokage!"
Kazuki applauded Senju Tobirama and whispered: "I believe you, Tobirama."
And at this time.
Asuma, still struggling with the difficult question posed by Kazuki, finally made a decision as if he were truly the Hokage, and declared firmly, word for word: "Kazuki, I will not hand over Konoha shinobi, even if they are Genin!"
"Very good, Asuma." Kazuki laughed from the bottom of his heart, full of appreciation. "Like you, I think so too."
"So, what do you think the current Konoha high-level officials will do when faced with the situation I mentioned?"
Kazuki did not intend to answer Asuma's question from the beginning, but adopted the method of asking questions, guiding Asuma's thinking step by step with questions, and let him answer the answer himself.
In this way, the conclusion Asuma reached would be a product of his own reflection, and not something imposed by Kazuki, which would cause said conclusion to be deeply engraved in his mind.
"I... I don't know!"
Asuma frowned, a shadow of fear in his gaze.
Would the high-ranking officials of Konoha really reject the sacrifice of some shinobi to achieve a peace agreement, as Kazuki had suggested?
Asuma actually had the answer in his heart, but his origin as the son of Hokage, combined with that outrageous answer, gave him too much impact.
That kind of village is completely different from what Asuma thought Konoha should be like!
Forget about the Will of Fire. If that were the case, Konoha would simply become a hell that eats people... The Will of Fire hat can be casually put on a Konoha shinobi's head, and he would die!
Kazuki watched Asuma's anguish carefully, but with his words he reassured him: "I don't know the answer to this question, Asuma... Things that haven't happened, even if there are speculations, can't be determined."
"But if you already have fear in your heart, it means that you are not satisfied with the current situation of Konoha."
"In this shinobi world, if you want to change something, having a correct thought is secondary; what really matters is having the power to make those parasites not dare to speak..."
Kazuki tugged at Asuma's sleeve, looked at the burn marks on it, and said: "Are you practicing fire attribute chakra changes?"
Asuma nodded awkwardly. "Kazuki, that's right. The Sarutobi clan is expert in fire release ninjutsu."
Kazuki nodded in understanding, and then raised a finger.
A small red flame emerged from the tip of Kazuki's finger, twisting and dancing freely in the air.
Asuma watched the flame, fascinated.
He recognized what he saw: It was an advanced form of fire-type chakra transformation!
