Chapter 93: Naruto Uzumaki — This Belief Is Called Justice!

Uchiha Iizumi said, “Uchiha Izumi.”

“Here!” Izumi responded immediately, her voice sharp and crisp with energy—so much so that it startled Naruto into a full jump.

Uchiha Iizumi continued, “Try to analyze who the killer might be.”

“Yes, senior!” Izumi recited, her small face serious as she recalled what Tachibana Jiro had shared. “A massacre like this—cold-blooded, methodical—almost certainly points to a familiar hand. Someone they knew.”

She paused, then added, “The Yamanaka Clan district is one of the most densely populated areas in Leaf Village. There are plenty of shinobi living nearby. The killer managed to subdue all four victims silently, without alerting any of the surrounding ninja. That means they’re not just skilled—they’re a high-tier shinobi themselves.”

“List every shinobi known to the victims. Focus on those with possible conflicts, personal grudges, or vested interests. That should narrow down a few plausible suspects.”

“And…” She glanced cautiously at Uchiha Iizumi before continuing, “once we have a list, you, Senior Izumi, could use your abilities to isolate the killer among them.”

Tachibana Jiro blinked, surprised. “Newcomer… you actually know what you’re talking about.”

Izumi chuckled nervously. “Mostly just learning from Senior Izumi. Things you don’t pick up in the academy.”

—And frankly, being around Senior Izumi means constantly being thrown into the worst kinds of cases. That’s why I’ve already gained more investigative experience in weeks than most veterans in the Corps have in years.

She didn’t say it aloud, of course. That kind of internal grumbling was never spoken in front of her mentor.

As they spoke, they quietly entered the Uchiha Clan’s residential compound.

The victims had already been moved to the Investigation Corps Building.

…

“…Oh no.”

Yamada Ryosin, the Anbu Ninja trailing behind, stared at the Uchiha Compound ahead with growing dread. His scalp prickled.

Why did Izumi bring the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki here?!

It’s like tossing a lamb into a den of starving wolves!

Does he really plan to control the fox?!

Could he even survive if he tried to extract Naruto from this place? Even if he risked everything, would he have a one percent chance of getting out alive?

Just as he stepped inside the compound’s boundary, Ryosin sensed it—dozens of eyes, sharp and hostile, locking onto him in an instant.

Uchiha ninja.

They’d seen the Anbu mask hanging from his waist.

“Huh…” Sweat poured down his temples. He gripped his kunai tightly, assuming a defensive stance—ready to draw at a moment’s notice. He forced himself forward, heart pounding.

Hokage-sama…

When are you finally going to show up?!

He swore—if he made it out alive, he’d hand in his resignation. Even if they sent him to enemy territory as a spy, he’d rather be anywhere but here, watching over the Jinchūriki.

This wasn’t a human job.

His death omens were flashing like a broken signal.

…

“Been here again, huh…”

Naruto had no idea how much he’d stirred the nerves of Leaf Village’s elite.

He wandered through the Uchiha Compound, eyes wide with curiosity.

And the Uchiha ninja? They were staring back—openly, unashamedly.

“That blond kid… isn’t one of us, is he? I don’t remember any Uchiha with golden hair.”

“He’s the ‘Fox Boy.’ Heard he was caught by the Corps once before. Supposedly, Uchiha Izumi was the one who brought him in.”

“Fox Boy… They say the Nine-Tails that destroyed the village was sealed inside him. If that’s true… then he’s the reason the Uchiha were pushed to the edge, weren’t he?”

“Watch it. He’s under Izumi’s protection. Touch him, and you’ll die.”

“Huh? Wait—another outsider? That guy… is that an Anbu mask on his belt?”

“Oh? An Anbu Ninja in our territory?”

Ryosin, hanging back a hundred meters, was impossible to miss.

The Fox Boy was enough to ignite the fire in the Uchiha extremists—but with Izumi standing right beside him, they were hesitant.

So…

The obvious “soft target” became the focal point.

Dozens of Sharingan eyes fixed on Ryosin, unblinking.

One twitch, and he’ll be sliced to ribbons.

“…Am I really the reason the Uchiha were cast out?”

Naruto heard every word.

His curiosity vanished. His face fell.

“Don’t carry the weight of someone else’s sin,” Uchiha Iizumi suddenly spoke, voice calm, cold.

“Tell me, Naruto Uzumaki… if you were in their place right now—would you have hated the Uchiha?”

Naruto shook his head fast. “No! Never!”

He was the one who’d been mocked, isolated, treated like a monster. How could he possibly hate anyone?

He didn’t even have the right.

…

Meanwhile, deep inside the Investigation Corps Building.

The news spread like wildfire: “The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki has entered the Uchiha Compound again.”

Fugaku, the Uchiha Clan Head, was mid-sip when the report reached him.

The teacup shattered in his hand.

Again?!

Who brought him?!

He didn’t even feel the hot tea burning his palm.

Another wave of questions crashed over him.

The first time Izumi brought Naruto here—Fugaku had nearly collapsed.

And now? The boy was back—second time in the same week.

Fugaku was completely undone.

“It was Uchiha Izumi,” the reporting shinobi said.

Fugaku froze.

…

He was already numb.

How could one person cause so much chaos in just twenty-four hours? How could they keep unraveling the stability of the entire clan?

“Izumi… when will you finally understand? The balance between the village and the Uchiha must be maintained.”

He exhaled sharply, then stood. His face was stone.

“Where did he take Naruto?”

“The Investigation Corps Underground Morgue,” the shinobi replied.

Fugaku’s eyes widened. “What?!”

The man realized his wording had been misleading. “Ah—Naruto’s alive! I don’t know why Izumi brought him there, but he’s not dead!”

Fugaku’s spine went icy.

A cold sweat broke across his back in less than a second.

He didn’t even bother correcting the shinobi.

He turned and stormed toward the underground morgue.

…

The morgue was freezing.

Naruto shivered violently as he stepped in.

Rows of metal tables stretched into the darkness, each holding a body beneath white sheets.

He couldn’t even count how many.

The stench—sharp, metallic, rotten—filled his nose. His stomach churned. His face paled.

Uchiha Iizumi stopped at the first body.

Without hesitation, he yanked the sheet off.

The sight hit Naruto like a physical blow.

He gagged, eyes wide, breath caught.

He couldn’t find words.

The corpse—this child—was barely older than him.

Seven or eight years old.

His skull was caved in. Bones shattered from blunt force.

But Izumi’s voice cut through the silence.

“First victim—male, seven to eight years old. Multiple fractures from crushing trauma. The head injury seems fatal… but look here.”

He pointed to the side of the neck.

“See this mark? Someone pressed hard on the neck while the boy was alive. A precise, violent fracture. That’s what killed him.”

That’s what killed him.

Naruto’s throat tightened.

Same age as me…

Was he a student?

Izumi moved to the next.

He lifted the sheet.

Naruto’s stomach lurched.

A small girl—two or three—was flattened under rubble.

But Izumi said, “Not the cause of death.”

He pointed to her throat.

“Food stuck in her airway. She was eating when she was knocked out. Choked to death.”

Naruto’s hands trembled.

He turned away, but couldn’t stop looking.

Izumi pulled the next sheet.

“Third victim—male, twenty-nine to thirty-one. Crush injuries from debris… but the real wound? Here.”

A deep, clean gash in the chest.

Not from falling concrete.

From a blade.

Then the fourth.

“Fourth victim—female… age…”

Naruto was already gone.

His mind blank.

His eyes hollow.

He stared at the final body—another woman—her face frozen in terror.

“Naruto Uzumaki.”

The name snapped him back.

“Y-yes! I’m sorry!” Naruto stammered, tears welling. “I didn’t mean to— I’ll clean it up, I promise!”

But Izumi didn’t scold him.

His voice was flat, distant.

“This… is the evil of the Ninja World.”

Naruto blinked.

The evil… is this family?

No.

No…

He realized.

The killer.

The evil is the murderer.

“The twisted, sick world of shinobi breeds this evil. It brings death, pain, suffering to the innocent. These four… they’re victims.”

He turned to Naruto.

“Do you think they’re pitiful, Naruto Uzumaki?”

Naruto wiped his mouth. His voice cracked.

“They’re dead… of course they’re pitiful.”

Izumi’s voice dropped.

“While they were eating dinner, laughing, unaware… the world was about to end for them. A killer came—silent, merciless—slashing through their lives.”

“Now, that killer might be celebrating. Because if the evidence were messy, the collapse of the building could be written off as an accident.”

“Then no one would be punished. Justice would fail.”

Naruto didn’t know what it was like to have a family.

He’d never felt a father’s hand, a mother’s embrace.

He’d never sat around a dinner table.

But as Izumi spoke…

He imagined it.

A warm home. Laughter.

Then—a shadow.

A masked figure slipping through the door.

The little girl—eating—suddenly knocked out.

Food stuck in her throat.

She choked.

Her father stands—shocked, furious—

Slash.

A blade through the chest.

Her mother screams—

Another slash.

Her heart pierced.

The boy—seven years old—runs—

Thud.

A hand across the neck.

Snap.

No sound.

No breath.

All dead.

Naruto couldn’t breathe.

His mind had painted the horror more vividly than the bodies ever could.

He stood frozen.

Ashamed.

How could I have vomited?

“It’s… wrong,” Naruto whispered, voice breaking. “This isn’t how it should be. The village… even if we don’t get along… we shouldn’t do this to each other.”

He looked at the other bodies.

Then at Izumi—calm, unshaken.

“Are… are there many cases like this?”

“Every moment,” Izumi said. “It never stops.”

He added coldly, “And this is just one village in the entire Ninja World. What we see here? It’s only the tip of the iceberg.”

“The world is sick. So many people are infected with this disease—and they don’t even know it.”

“Their minds are twisted. Their morals broken.”

Naruto stared.

No… this isn’t right.

He looked up at Izumi—finally meeting his eyes.

For the first time, he spoke with courage.

“Ninja World… shouldn’t be like this, right?”

Izumi didn’t answer.

Instead, he asked, “Naruto Uzumaki. You’ve seen the face of evil. What do you want to do?”

His voice was quiet.

“Say it out loud. Follow your heart. Tell me—what’s your true desire?”

At that moment—

Fugaku burst into the morgue.

He froze.

Golden hair.

The Nine-Tails Jinchūriki.

Right there.

Fugaku’s entire body went numb.

“Iizumi—!”

But before he could finish—

Naruto screamed.

“I—I want the killer to be punished! That kind of evil… they shouldn’t go unpunished! I want the family to rest in peace! That’s… that’s what I want!”

His voice cracked.

He couldn’t hold it.

The courage died in three seconds.

Trembling.

Uchiha Iizumi spoke.

“Remember this feeling.”

Naruto looked up, stunned.

“This… is Justice.”

He said it slowly.

“In the last moment, you already held the heart of Justice. Never forget that anger. Never become numb.”

Naruto whispered, “Justice…”

Fugaku’s pupils shrank.

He saw it.

He understood.

Izumi wasn’t just teaching Naruto.

He was planting Absolute Justice into the soul of the Jinchūriki.

This was madness.

This crossed the Third Hokage’s red line!

“Izumi… what are you doing?!”

Fugaku couldn’t help it.

Even though he already knew the answer.

He still clung to a sliver of hope—hoping Izumi would deny it.

Izumi looked at him.

No hesitation.

“No one else is fighting for it. The Ninja World needs more Absolute Justice.”

Fugaku’s breath stopped.

The last hope died.

“Izumi!” His voice cracked. “That’s Naruto Uzumaki! You can teach your beliefs to anyone in the clan—but not him! Do you even understand his importance?!”

His control shattered.

“You’re pushing the Uchiha to the edge! Don’t you remember why we were forced to move here?!”

Fugaku had sacrificed everything—countless compromises, endless concessions.

He’d endured the pressure from the Uchiha hardliners every single day.

He’d believed—just a few more years…

We’ll prove we’re loyal.

We’ll earn their trust.

But Izumi had just shattered it all.

Two visits.

Two times he brought the Jinchūriki into the compound.

Two times he planted the seed of Absolute Justice in the boy who carried the fox.

Fugaku’s heart sank.

There was no turning back.

(End of Chapter)

Chapter end