Absolute Justice: Uchiha’s Crusade

"You didn't even finish your six years at the Ninja Academy," Izumi let out a sigh.

"Yeah… I suppose that's how it should be. I never should've expected anything from you, Uchiha Itachi."

She stepped back a few paces, putting distance between them, and came to stand beside Uchiha Keizumi.

Pressing her lips together, Izumi spoke seriously: "You and I are now strangers, Uchiha Itachi. In my eyes, your extreme ideology makes you the future enemy of Absolute Justice."

"I finally understand why senpai once advised Clan Head Fugaku to take you to see a therapist. He truly is always right."

"You're nothing more than a hopeless ignoramus, a self-absorbed adolescent clinging to delusions, a warped Uchiha with a twisted mind."

Through gritted teeth, she continued in a low voice: "I remember how you used to pride yourself on being different from the rest of the Uchiha. You said the reason you befriended me was because you thought I was different too."

"But…"

"In my eyes now, you're no different at all from those extremist clansmen planning a coup. You're one of them."

After that long tirade, Izumi fell silent.

She no longer wished to exchange another word with Uchiha Itachi.

She had completely lost hope—and was ready to sever the bond of friendship.

Their worldviews no longer aligned.

They could no longer walk the same path.

Uchiha Itachi didn't argue.

Once he believed something was right, no matter what happened, he would cling to his original decision as infallible.

From the moment he spoke the first word, that belief would become his center, and he would hold fast to it—convinced he was in the right.

No matter how others refuted him—

He would never waver.

He too took a few steps back.

He didn't spare Izumi a glance and instead turned to Uchiha Keizumi: "I hope you won't become my enemy. Even if your version of justice doesn't seem pure to me, I can't deny that Konoha needs you."

"If you don't side with them, I won't come after you in the future. But that depends on whether you trust the village—and trust the Hokage, and trust in the true justice of Konoha."

Keizumi, who had seemed lost in thought, suddenly lifted his eyes.

His voice was soft, even distant, as he asked: "Did you say something?"

Itachi froze for a second.

"…No." Uchiha Itachi turned his back to them all,

leaving behind a lonely silhouette, his cheeks still streaked with the tears from earlier.

"Even if I have no personal grudge against you, since we stand on opposing sides—that makes you my enemy as well, Uchiha Keizumi."

Uchiha Itachi began walking away.

Just then—

Uchiha Fugaku, who had remained silent for quite some time, suddenly stepped forward, placing himself in front of Uchiha Keizumi.

His eyes had already turned crimson, but instead of the standard three tomoe, an eerie, unrecognizable pattern now swirled in his pupils.

An overwhelming dōjutsu pressure—impossible to describe—seemed to freeze the air itself, instantly making the atmosphere tense and suffocating.

"Keizumi…"

Fugaku revealed the Mangekyō Sharingan that belonged to the head of the Uchiha clan—and he did so directly in front of Uchiha Keizumi.

"…Forgive me. Itachi is still my son.

If you intend to lay a hand on him, then even if it costs me my life—I'll stand in your way."

"I don't see any clear path for the Uchiha's future. And what Itachi does in the future… might very well be the only choice left."

Fugaku gave a pained, apologetic look.

"Maybe you do possess that legendary power… but just stopping you, just buying Itachi a little room to breathe—That's enough for me."

"If Itachi has chosen his path, then let him walk it. Time will reveal who was right, and who was wrong."

Izumi turned to stare at the clan head, stunned by the words he had just uttered.

In that moment, it finally dawned on her why Uchiha Itachi had become this absurd.

It's inherited...

Isn't it?!!

Uchiha Keizumi finally spoke: "I've noticed something about people who are blindly arrogant and selfish. They all have one thing in common—They convince themselves they can see through others' intentions, and then act out some grand, self-satisfying fantasy."

"Your eldest son is like that. And so are you."

Fugaku remained silent.

"To judge by deeds, not by thoughts—that's a foundational lesson in justice. I used to be naive, too. But normal people grow when they realize they were wrong. Only beasts insist on being right and never change."

"If we carry out justice based on people's thoughts, then Absolute Justice becomes the greatest evil the shinobi world has ever known. From the elderly to the newborn, we'd have to slaughter every living being in the ninja world to preserve justice."

"If I were to take that path—then I'd be no different from Uchiha Itachi. Absolute Justice itself would become stained with filth and rot."

Uchiha Keizumi seemed to be speaking to Fugaku—and at the same time, to Izumi.

"Fugaku, you'd better pray you can protect your precious son. And pray that this conversation changes even the slightest bit of what's to come."

He stared into Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan without hesitation and said: "The very second he dares make a move—in my eyes, he'll become the evil of this world. He'll become someone who must die."

"Absolute Justice… will crush him completely."

"Justice gazes upon all who bear sin."

"…Including him."

"…Including you."

...

Fugaku let out a heavy sigh. Truthfully, he had long suspected that today's conversation wouldn't go smoothly.

But what he hadn't expected was just how overwhelming the information he'd received would be.

His eldest son—his pride and joy—was really going to do that in the future?

For the sake of protecting Konohagakure, for the sake of upholding his own beliefs…

Would he truly have the resolve to slaughter the entire Uchiha clan?

Fugaku was lost.

As the head of the Uchiha clan, upon learning that Uchiha Itachi would inevitably commit such an act in the future, what he should do—by all rights—was place justice above blood and eliminate Uchiha Itachi immediately.

"But…"

Fugaku murmured to himself, "What would be the point of doing that? Maybe what Keizumi saw was the inescapable fate of the Uchiha clan. And fate… is something that can't be defied."

Even after returning home in silence, head lowered the entire way, Fugaku still hadn't shaken off the shock.

"Fugaku, didn't Itachi come back with you? Nothing violent happened between you and Keizumi, right?"

Uchiha Mikoto stepped forward, her voice filled with concern.

Snapping out of his daze, Fugaku shook his head and replied, "Itachi probably went to report in to the Anbu—dawn's already broken. And if there had been a violent clash between Keizumi and me, you'd be looking at a very wounded version of me right now."

Uchiha Mikoto immediately let out a breath of relief.

She'd known her husband and son had gone to confront Uchiha Keizumi.

But in just under an hour, she'd spent the entire time on edge.

Worried that something terrible might happen.

"Did something happen?" Uchiha Mikoto's sharp instincts had picked up on her husband's off expression and unsettled mood.

"…No."

Fugaku chose to hide the truth.

After all, telling a mother that 'her eldest son will, in a year's time, most likely kill her with his own hands'…

That would be far too cruel.

…

"Meow! I have a mission for you." On the rooftop of Uchiha Keizumi's home, the ninja cat Tachibana Jirō stood upright like a person, hands clasped behind his back, pacing as he spoke in human tongue.

Before him were over twenty ninja cats gathered in a loose circle.

They were all his descendants—his children and grandchildren—born from his many years of 'branching out and multiplying'.

"The mission is this—spread word of what happened today in Keizumi-sama's home. I'll tell you the details in just a moment."

Speaking in his distinct, eccentric accent, Jirō declared loudly, "Our goal is to reveal Uchiha Itachi's future evil to the world! And expose Fugaku's indulgence in the matter!"

One white ninja cat raised a paw and started "meow-meowing" in noisy protest.

"Speak properly!" Tachibana Jirō snapped, glaring.

"Is this really Keizumi-sama's will?" the white ninja cat asked timidly.

"Ahem! Keizumi-sama has tacitly approved it," Tachibana Jirō said after clearing his throat, his fur practically bristling with indignation. "I won't deny I added in just a tiny bit of personal feline emotion. I mean—come on—I just can't stand that Uchiha Itachi, meow! What gives him the right to judge Keizumi-sama's 'Absolute Justice'?"

"And that so-called Uchiha Fugaku—I've never seen a clan leader so spineless! Turns out Keizumi-sama was right all along. That 'Wicked-Eyed Fugaku' nickname? Total joke. More like 'Timid-Eyed Fugaku,' meow! Like father, like son!"

But then—

Tachibana Jirō noticed that his feline descendants were all giving him strange looks. They were subtly signaling something.

The next second, he felt himself being yanked up by the scruff of the neck.

Tachibana Jirō instantly froze.

He didn't dare struggle.

"K-Keizumi-sama…?"

In that moment, Tachibana Jirō felt as if the sky had collapsed. He trembled from head to tail, his whiskers twitching in terror. "I…"

"Don't exaggerate," Uchiha Keizumi said, casually lowering him to the ground. His tone was cool and distant. "Just stick to the truth."

Tachibana Jirō blinked, then immediately perked up in full alertness.

"Meow! Rest assured, Keizumi-sama! I'll handle everything!"

He was full of vigor now.

After following Keizumi-sama for so many years, he only needed a single word to understand the intent behind it.

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