Chapter 119: Itachi, Have You Really Understood? The Nauseating Evil Born from a Sick Ninja World (10,000-Word Epic Chapter)

Night fell over Leaf Village Hospital.

Hiruzen Sarutobi, lying in bed with eyes closed and still recovering, slowly opened his gaze—calm, deliberate, as if sensing something. His eyes drifted to the right, toward the half-open window.

There, perched on the sill, sat an Anbu Ninja.

The figure leapt down, landed silently, and walked to the bedside.

“Hokage-sama,” said Uchiha Itachi, removing his mask. His expression was unreadable—complex, layered. “Whatever orders you give, I will follow without question. Even if you command me to kill Uchiha Iizumi, I would leave Leaf Village without hesitation and hunt him beyond its borders.”

He paused.

“Today, I heard Yamana Haiichi and the others speak. Forgive me, Hokage-sama—I shouldn’t have listened. But I must say this: I don’t believe they’re right.”

Uchiha Itachi continued, voice steady. “A Leaf Village ninja who lacks loyalty to the village is already guilty of a grave offense. And Uchiha Iizumi is such a ninja—unfaithful to Leaf Village.”

“Conversely, a ninja who remains fiercely loyal, even if they commit mistakes, should be forgiven. Hiruzen Asama is such a man—utterly devoted to the village.”

“Hokage-sama… this is my personal view. If you’re unwilling to act, then I can become the second Shimura Danzō. I can be Leaf Village’s hidden blade—its secret weapon.”

“Whatever the cost, whatever burden I must bear… I will not regret it.”

With that, Uchiha Itachi fell silent, standing motionless beside the bed.

Hiruzen Sarutobi turned his gaze away, staring at the ceiling. His voice carried a quiet weight.

“Itachi… you truly are exceptional among the Uchiha. Not every member of your clan possesses such resolve.”

“I can sense the purity of your loyalty—no greed, no calculation. That… honestly, gives me great comfort.”

Though Itachi said nothing, his posture straightened ever so slightly.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled faintly.

“Thank you for your loyalty, Itachi. In my eyes, you are one of the geniuses who will one day carry the future of Leaf Village. But to make you into another Danzō—another shadow of the village, a child burdened with darkness… that would mean I’ve failed as Third Hokage.”

Itachi froze.

He could no longer remain silent.

“But… Hokage-sama… Uchiha Iizumi’s Absolute Justice has already begun to poison the hearts of the Uchiha. They were already extreme—now, under this doctrine, they’ll become even more so. Leaf Village… it could be destroyed by their extremism.”

“…Itachi.”

Hiruzen sighed.

“Uchiha Iizumi… wasn’t he just an excuse for you to target the Uchiha clan? Your real goal… was always the Uchiha, wasn’t it?”

“You kill Iizumi, erase the words ‘Absolute Justice’ from Leaf Village. That becomes your justification—your weapon. That way, no one in the Uchiha clan can threaten the village ever again, correct?”

“It’s so obvious, Itachi. Especially after Iizumi’s prophecy about you.”

Uchiha Itachi said nothing.

But his silence was acknowledgment.

Hiruzen Sarutobi pushed himself up with one hand, struggling against the bed.

Itachi immediately stepped forward, offering support.

Leaning back against the cold wall, the Third Hokage fixed his clouded yet piercing eyes on Itachi’s.

“Listen closely, Itachi,” he said, each word deliberate. “I urge you to suppress these dangerous thoughts. You don’t need to exterminate every Uchiha to solve this. When you see your people as extremists… have you considered that your own mindset might be just as extreme?”

“I know the Uchiha’s ambitions. But I’ve held back—not out of weakness, but because I am Hokage. This is not hesitation. It is politics. It is balance.”

Itachi interrupted.

“After the Inuzuka-Nara-Yamanaka Alliance stepped forward, you suppressed your hatred. Wasn’t that also balance?”

“…Yes.”

Hiruzen exhaled, weary.

“That alliance… it’s woven into every corner of Leaf Village. When they united behind Iizumi… I lost this battle. Fire Nation Will versus Absolute Justice. I played my cards poorly.”

“The Hokage is not a dictator. I had to compromise.”

He stared at the torn corner of his hospital blanket.

“I am furious. I grieve for my son. But for the sake of stability, I must swallow my rage.”

“Itachi… I hope you understand this burden.”

“Sometimes… you must compromise. A temporary retreat isn’t defeat. It gives you space to think.”

Itachi remained silent for a long time.

Then he realized—this man, the so-called “Hero of Leaf Village,” was not as powerful as he’d believed.

The Hokage’s authority was not absolute.

Even the Third Hokage, despite his strength, could not defy a united front of village clans. He wanted revenge for his son’s death—but in the end, he had no choice but to stay silent.

A cold truth settled in Itachi’s mind.

The Hokage lacks the power to command the entire village.

Back when Shimura Danzō still lived, Root was a blade hanging over everyone’s head—uncontrollable, yes, but terrifyingly effective. It was the Hokage’s true instrument of fear.

Now, under Tsunade Konoha’s leadership, Root had become just another branch of Anbu—diminished, weakened.

All of it… was due to Uchiha Iizumi.

He had stripped the Hokage of his ultimate deterrent.

“Itachi… I understand,” Itachi murmured, giving a slight nod.

Hiruzen managed a thin smile.

“You are, without doubt, my most cherished Uchiha. The most unique among them.”

Now, his mind was reeling.

If Itachi carried out a massacre tonight… Hiruzen wasn’t sure he’d survive the shock.

But as he watched Itachi walk away, a deep unease settled over him.

Did he truly understand…?

…

“Kushina-sama, look over there!” Shizune, holding her beloved piglet Tonton in one arm, pointed frantically toward the distant flames. “Uchiha Iizumi must be over there! He’s a Dual Bloodline Limit user—Molten Release and Sharingan!”

She started to run—then stopped.

Kushina stood frozen, one hand gripping a lamppost, unmoving.

“Kushina-sama?” Shizune stepped closer, concern rising.

Then she saw it.

Kushina’s face had gone deathly pale.

“No… no need to look at the fire,” Kushina whispered, voice trembling. “Just look at the bodies on the ground. That tells us which way he went.”

Shizune blinked.

Her gaze flicked toward the flames—then slowly, dreadfully, dropped down.

Her breath caught.

Dozens. Hundreds. A river of blood.

Each corpse was horrific.

Some split cleanly in two.

Others headless, their severed heads rolling into the gutter.

All were drenched in blood.

And Kushina… she’d reacted to the blood.

“Shizune…” Kushina gritted her teeth. “Quick! Gather every last coin from those bodies! That’s our gambling money for the next month! We can’t let anyone else find this secret opportunity!”

“Hurry! That Uchiha kid kills evil offenders fast—by dawn, he’ll have cleared the entire Takeshita Street! Don’t let anyone beat us to it!”

Shizune stared.

Her expression was deadpan.

So her gambling addiction had finally won over her fear of blood.

She looked down at the gruesome scene—bodies strewn like trash—her skin crawling.

Absolute Justice… she muttered. How do the villagers even see this man?

…

“Y-you… you monster!” A man in a suit collapsed on the ground, his trousers soaked with fear. “I’ve never done anything to you! I don’t even know you! Why are you killing me? Even ninja must follow the laws of the Land of Fire!”

He screamed, eyes wide with terror. “If you kill me, you’ll be committing a capital crime! Even if you’re a ninja, you can’t just—”

“Mew. Iizumi-sama is a Leaf Village ninja,” interrupted Tachibana Jiro, the cat perched beside him, voice dripping with mockery. “Are you asking him to hunt himself?”

The man froze.

Then—squelch—his head separated from his body in a single, clean slice.

The blade was dull.

Uchiha Iizumi glanced at the sword in his hand—just a standard Investigation Corps blade. He wiped the blood off, sheathed it, and stepped over the bodies, leaving behind a trail of blood and silence.

No one knew how many Red Mark Criminals he’d killed in just thirty minutes.

Tachibana Jiro had been counting at first.

But the numbers kept growing too fast.

No explanations. No mercy.

See. Kill.

That was all he did.

Now, Takeshita Street was a nightmare.

Bodies littered the ground. Fires raged in buildings, consuming corpses into black ash. Panic spread like wildfire.

…

“Too many…” Shizune whispered, her hands trembling. She wasn’t just uneasy—she was terrified.

Was every one of these really an evil offender? she wondered. Was anyone wrongfully killed? How does he even decide?

Questions flooded her mind.

She scooped up another stack of bills—millions in cash, sticky with blood. But the money brought no comfort.

The warmth of the money felt like ice.

Kushina, leaning on the lamppost, had lost her earlier excitement.

Her face was pale. Hollow.

He killed so many… she thought. I thought maybe a few dozen. This place has dozens of death-row criminals, yes. But…

“Three hundred bodies,” she whispered, voice cracking. “And he’s not stopping.”

She hadn’t expected this.

…

Meanwhile, deep in the woods beyond Takeshita Street.

Three blurred figures darted through the trees.

“Phew… finally done. A-level missions are brutal. We almost died out there. Lucky that Shinku’s Translucent Release saved us at the last second. Otherwise, we’d have lost two of us for sure.”

They were Leaf Village ninja, returning from a mission.

“Should be Takeshita Street up ahead,” one said. “We can rest there tonight. Maybe find a bathhouse. Need to unwind.”

“Shinku? You okay? You’ve been quiet.”

The man turned to his companion.

Tsukikage Shinku, running ahead, snapped back to awareness.

“Nothing. Just… memories.”

Ever since his brother died at Uchiha Iizumi’s hands—right in his arms—Shinku had nightmares. He’d begged the Hokage for a mission, just to escape.

“Breathing’s easier out here,” he muttered.

But then—“Look!”

The third ninja pointed.

The forest thinned.

Takeshita Street came into view.

And there—flames.

Everywhere.

The smoke, lit by moonlight, was monstrous.

Then—Shinku inhaled.

His face paled.

Sulfur.

Lava.

“Hurry!” The first ninja dashed forward.

The second followed.

Shinku opened his mouth to stop them—but they were already gone.

No… it can’t be that lucky…

He clenched his jaw and ran.

…

The three Leaf Ninja arrived.

The scene was a hellish symphony.

Lava. Fire. Corpses.

Bodies lined the street. Blood flowed like a river down the slope, pooling at the storm drain.

The air reeked of sulfur.

It wasn’t a street anymore.

It was a volcano.

Human heads rolled by the roadside. People screamed, frozen in terror.

“Every one of them was killed in a single strike,” said the ninja on Shinku’s left, crouching to examine a body. “Decapitated by a sword. Pierced through the heart. Skull split by kunai. Arteries cut by shuriken. No hesitation. No mercy. This is the work of a cold-blooded killer. A seasoned assassin. At least a high-level jonin.”

The ninja on the right swallowed hard, grabbed a passerby.

“Why were they killed? Who did this?”

“Uchiha Iizumi… Uchiha Iizumi…” the man muttered, eyes wide. “He’s back… the killer grew up… he’s killed more than nine years ago… more than ever before…”

The three ninja froze.

Uchiha Iizumi?

…

Meanwhile, Kushina and Shizune finally caught up.

Their form was… strange.

Kushina, terrified of blood, couldn’t open her eyes. She refused to walk—too many corpses. She remained in her twelve-year-old “debt-shirking” form, eyes shut, Shizune carrying her.

Even so, the stench of blood was unbearable.

Kushina’s face was ashen.

Then—she dared to peek.

She saw Uchiha Iizumi, one hand gripping a man’s hair, the other driving a sword into his chest.

“Hey, kid,” she said, voice trembling. “This… this is too much. Sure, Takeshita Street has evil offenders. But—”

“Shizune counted the bodies,” Kushina said, voice low. “She’s at 276.”

She paused.

“Now it’s 277.”

“Are you sure no one innocent was killed?”

Uchiha Iizumi looked at her—pale, shaking.

The Third Hokage’s strongest—now reduced to a trembling child before blood.

“Kushina-sama,” Tachibana Jiro said, “Iizumi-sama’s eyes see both past and future evil. No sin can hide from him. Those who died… were not innocent.”

He spoke with absolute certainty.

“Kushina-sama hasn’t been back in years. You don’t know. The Third Hokage knows this power. And in his pursuit of Absolute Justice, Iizumi-sama never wrongs the innocent. He only strikes the guilty. Without mercy.”

“This is Iizumi-sama’s Absolute Justice.”

Kushina and Shizune stared.

See past and future evil?

Shizune was stunned.

Kushina… remembered something.

“Mangekyō Sharingan?” she whispered.

Uchiha Iizumi didn’t answer.

Instead, he glanced at the bulging money pouches tied to Shizune’s waist.

Shizune’s face turned red.

Then Uchiha Iizumi turned to Kushina.

“If you think I’ve gone too far… if you believe I shouldn’t have killed so many… if you think there aren’t so many evil offenders on Takeshita Street…”

“Then follow me.”

“See for yourself… what kind of evil a sick Ninja World can breed. How twisted. How utterly revolting.”

He turned and walked into a building.

Kushina squinted at the sign.

The largest dance hall on Takeshita Street…

She’d never cared about such places. Not interested.

“Kushina-sama?” Shizune asked weakly.

Kushina hesitated.

Then: “Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

…

“Uchiha Iizumi… it’s really him?” Tsukikage Shinku’s voice cracked. Memories flooded back—the night his brother died in his arms.

“He wasn’t supposed to be here. Why is he in Takeshita Street? Even at full speed, it takes a day to get here from the village.”

The ninja on the left gasped.

“That monster… he kills more outside the village than inside! Is there no one left to stop him?”

The one on the right picked up a bloodied Leaf Village forehead protector.

“Someone from the village was killed here,” he said grimly. “He did it in the name of Absolute Justice. Rich people hire Leaf ninja as guards. So… more than one Leaf ninja died today.”

The three exchanged grim looks.

Could they stop him?

No. Not alone.

And if he was really executing justice?

To interfere… would be a grave crime.

“Go back,” Shinku said. “Tell the Hokage.”

The others stared.

“Then what about you?”

Shinku looked away.

“I’ll catch up.”

“…Shinku, I know you’re hurting. But don’t lose yourself.”

“…Yeah.”

…

Inside the largest dance hall.

Crack!

A body slammed into a metal door—ribs shattered, blood spraying.

The door burst open.

Uchiha Iizumi stepped over the bodies.

He threw a kunai—finished off the unconscious.

The lights flicked on.

Click.

The room flooded with light.

But the sound of chains dragging through the dark—clank… clank…—filled the air.

Dozens of rusted iron cages stacked in the underground shelter.

Each was small—just big enough for a child.

Some held two skinny kids.

And inside?

Children.

5 to 14 years old.

Emaciated. Terrified.

Clothes torn. Faces sharp, beautiful—unnaturally so.

They huddled in corners, trembling.

As if being pulled out would be worse than being locked in.

The stench—rotting food, urine, sweat—was unbearable.

Shizune froze.

Kushina, too.

She opened her eyes.

No blood.

But the sight… it hit harder than any battlefield.

Uchiha Iizumi spoke, voice soft.

“They’re war orphans. Taken by human traffickers. Sold to this place.”

He looked at them.

“You see their faces. You know what they were used for.”

“Medic-nin like you… you know what happens to children when they fall into the hands of monsters.”

Shizune’s breath caught.

She felt Kushina’s grip on her shoulder—tight, painful.

But the pain was nothing compared to the children’s fear.

“This is just the tip of the iceberg,” Uchiha Iizumi said.

He crouched, touched the iron lock.

Zzzzt.

In two seconds, the lock melted into liquid metal.

He opened the cage.

His eyes—three tomoe, red—locked onto a little girl.

“Sleep,” he whispered. “When you wake, everything will be better.”

The girl’s terror faded.

Her eyes closed.

A soft sigh. A faint smile.

A genjutsu dream, woven from Mangekyō Sharingan.

He lifted her out, wrapped her in a thin blanket.

Placed her gently on the floor.

“Now you understand,” he said. “Why I know no one I killed was innocent.”

Kushina was silent.

She had survived two Ninja Wars.

She’d seen evil.

But this… this shattered her.

She’d lived in Takeshita Street for years—never seen this.

Never cared.

Because she’d been chasing gambling, escaping reality.

She could’ve found this out—if she’d looked.

But she didn’t.

And now… she felt shame.

Shizune…

“Nee… Kushina-sama?”

“Put me down.”

“O-oh!”

Kushina stepped off Shizune’s back.

She walked to a cage.

One hand.

Snap!

The iron lock shattered.

She pulled out a five-year-old girl, trembling.

Kushina touched her hair.

Her voice cracked.

“I’m… sorry. I’m so sorry.”

Then—she felt a presence.

Uchiha Iizumi stood beside her.

The boy who’d killed 277 people… looked exhausted.

Sharingan overused.

“Give her to me,” he said. “I’ve given her a dream. When she wakes, she’ll forget everything.”

He paused.

“All of them will. They won’t remember a thing.”

If there was a truly pure good in this world…

It was Uchiha Iizumi.

Kushina stared into his calm, red eyes.

“Have you seen this… often?”

“No,” he said. “But not rare either.”

Kushina felt lost.

What… has this world become?

…

Dawn broke.

The fires died.

The sulfur smell faded.

But the iron-sweet stench of blood remained.

No one dared move the bodies.

No one cleaned the streets.

“…So many dead…” a resident whispered, stepping out.

He saw three headless corpses at his door.

A severed head lay on the threshold—eyes wide, staring.

He screamed.

Then—hesitated.

Wait… that face…

He recognized him.

“That’s one of the worst gang bosses…”

He found another head.

“…The casino owner. Three hundred million in assets…”

The third—a notorious enforcer. Ten deaths, at least.

A strange thought.

…Everyone he killed… were all evil?

Am I imagining it?

…

Later.

Kushina, back in adult form, rested her chin on the desk, eyes shadowed.

“Shizune… how many evil offenders died last night?”

Shizune, exhausted, replied:

“Uchiha Iizumi killed 519. Tachibana Jiro killed 121. Together—640.”

She paused.

“Plus… you killed 19.”

She swallowed.

“Kushina-sama… you… you killed them.”

She remembered.

After rescuing the children, Kushina had grabbed a dance hall executive—one-handed, hurled him into the sky.

He fell. No need to check. He was dead.

The first time she’d killed since her blood phobia.

She’d done it this way—throwing them—so she wouldn’t see the blood.

No blood. No fear.

Just… silence.

…

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end