Chapter 53: Justice Will Gaze Upon Every Guilty Offender

Izumi’s impure Uchiha bloodline and her temperament—so unlike that of any other Uchiha—meant she had almost no peers within the vast Uchiha clan.

She was, quite simply, the only friend Uchiha Itachi had.

And Itachi, in turn, was the only friend she had.

But now…

She realized the friend she had trusted had become utterly alien.

She had never imagined that Itachi could harbor such extreme ideals.

Once, she had naively believed that someone who loved the village and peace would share her own gentle nature—someone who, even with the power of the Sharingan awakened, would not be twisted into a fanatic.

She had been so wrong.

So dreadfully, catastrophically wrong.

Even after striking Itachi across the face with a forceful slap, she felt not a single pang of regret.

If anything, she wanted to strike the other side of his face too—just to make the two red marks symmetrical.

After all…

The future Itachi—driven by his warped belief in "Justice" and his so-called "Capacity"—would one day kill the mother who raised him, then turn on her—Uchiha Izumi herself—and slaughter the entire Uchiha clan.

"...Izumi," Itachi said without touching his stinging cheek, his voice calm despite the burning pain, "you are too naive."

He stared at her, unblinking.

"You and Uchiha Iizumi both cling to a so-called Absolute Justice that is not absolute at all. If you truly meant to enforce justice without compromise, you should have stopped the Uchiha clan members the moment they began plotting rebellion. Their intentions are clear to everyone."

"Rebellion would plunge the Leaf Village into civil war. It would leave us vulnerable to outside enemies. There are only two ways to prevent this. One man once tried the first method—but he never even got the chance to act. He was erased."

"The first path was only ever possible for one person. After his death, only one option remained. I simply became the one who must carry that burden."

"My actions… are what truly protect the Leaf Village. That is justice."

Izumi wiped her tears with the back of her hand.

She nearly laughed—bitterly.

"You don’t understand a thing. How dare you stand before me and Iizumi-san, spouting your delusions as if they’re truth?"

Her eyes, once filled with faint hope, were now hollow.

The look she gave Itachi was not of a friend, but of someone staring at a madman freshly escaped from the Leaf Hospital.

Anger. Sorrow. Disappointment. Mockery.

All mixed together into a gaze she couldn’t even name herself.

"You never even finished six years of ninja school," she sighed.

"Yeah… that’s right. I shouldn’t have expected anything from you, Uchiha Itachi."

She stepped back, putting distance between herself and Itachi, standing beside Uchiha Iizumi.

She tightened her lips, voice steady.

"You’re a stranger to me now, Uchiha Itachi. Your extremism is the enemy of Absolute Justice—my justice."

"I finally understand why Iizumi-san urged Fugaku Clan Head to take you to a psychiatrist. She was always right."

"You’re a hopeless illiterate. A self-deluded middle-school fantasyer. A twisted Uchiha."

She clenched her teeth.

"I remember you once said you were different from the other Uchiha—because you thought I was different too. That was why you chose to be my friend."

"But…

In my eyes, you’re no different from those extremists planning rebellion. You’re one of them."

Having spoken her mind in a long, unrelenting tirade, Izumi fell silent.

She no longer wanted to speak to Uchiha Itachi.

She was utterly heartbroken.

She had severed their friendship for good.

Two worldviews, irreconcilable.

No common ground.

Uchiha Itachi said nothing in rebuttal.

When he believed something was right, nothing—no argument, no emotion, no consequence—could shake his conviction.

Once he spoke his first word, he would hold to it forever.

No matter how many times others challenged him, he would not waver.

He stepped back, not looking at Izumi, but turning to Uchiha Iizumi.

"I hope you won’t become my enemy. Even if your Justice is not pure in my eyes, I must admit—Leaf Village needs you."

"If you don’t stand with them, I will not strike you. But only if you trust the village. Trust the Hokage-sama. Trust the true Justice of the Leaf."

Uchiha Iizumi, lost in thought, slowly lifted her eyelids.

Her voice was quiet, almost spectral.

"...Have you finished?"

Itachi froze.

"No," he replied.

Turning his back, he left—leaving behind a solitary silhouette. His cheek still bore the faint traces of tears and the red imprint of a slap.

"I don’t hold ill will toward you. But our paths are different. That makes you my enemy in the future, Uchiha Iizumi."

He walked away.

And then—after long silence—Uchiha Fugaku stepped forward two paces, standing directly before Uchiha Iizumi.

His eyes, already crimson, pulsed with an eerie, unfamiliar pattern—something beyond the Three Tomoe Sharingan.

An overwhelming power radiated from them, as if the air itself had frozen.

The atmosphere tensed, suffocating.

"Iizumi…"

Fugaku revealed his Mangekyō Sharingan—the mark of the Uchiha clan head—before her.

"I’m sorry, Itachi… but he is still my son. If you raise a hand against him, I will die to stop you."

"I cannot see where the future of the Uchiha will lead.

But perhaps what you do… is the only path left."

He lowered his voice.

"Maybe you possess the legendary power. But stopping you, giving Itachi a chance… that is enough."

"If he has chosen his path, then let him walk it.

Time will tell who is right… and who is wrong."

Izumi stared in shock at the Fugaku Clan Head, who had just spoken such a shocking truth.

She finally understood why Itachi was so utterly beyond reason.

It was in his blood.

It was genetic… wasn’t it?!!

Uchiha Iizumi spoke at last.

"I’ve noticed a pattern in stubborn, selfish people—they all believe they can read others’ minds, then act on their own self-justified fantasies. Your eldest son is like that. And so are you."

Fugaku said nothing.

"Judge by actions, not intentions—this is the foundation of Justice. I used to be blind to it. But ordinary people grow through trial and error. Only monsters remain unchanged."

"If Justice were judged by intent alone, Absolute Justice would become the greatest evil in the ninja world.

Then we’d have to slaughter everyone—old and young, infant to elder—just to preserve it."

"If I did that… I’d be no different from Uchiha Itachi.

Absolute Justice would be stained, poisoned by the filth of murder."

She looked at Fugaku—yet also at Izumi.

"Fugaku… pray you can protect your precious son.

And pray that this conversation changes even a single moment in the future."

Her gaze remained locked on the Mangekyō Sharingan.

"In the moment he moves…

He will already be evil in my eyes.

He will be a man already doomed.

Absolute Justice… will end him."

"Justice will gaze upon every guilty offender."

"Even him."

"Even you."

……

……

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end