TitoVillar
patreon
NAJ Chapter 118: The Blade Beneath the Scroll
🕑 Added 2025-08-06 19:58:17 +0000 UTC"Our enemy is far beyond anything we imagined," Asuma said in a grave voice. "This is going to be a life-or-death battle."
Then—
He shared all the intel he had gathered with the rest of the group.
Even Kazuma, who had been wearing a sneer the whole time, began to look serious.
"Oi, oi..." Kazuma muttered, rubbing his fingertips along the edge of his kunai.
"Not even a little exaggeration in there? That guy... he's seriously running nonstop 24/7 without a break?!"
Chiriku’s tone remained calm. "We still have the advantage. He doesn’t know we’re waiting outside the village."
Asuma exhaled a heavy breath and nodded. "That’s the only advantage we’ve got. I tricked the old man into letting Uchiha Keizumi leave the village. Once he steps out, he’ll walk right into our trap."
"If we want to kill someone this dangerous, it has to be done in the shortest time possible."
"Even giving him the slightest chance to breathe will tip the scales against us. That means none of us can hold back. We all have to throw in everything we've got—no reserves. If anyone does, they’ll just be putting the rest of us in danger."
Kazuma spat out the senbon in his mouth and grinned viciously.
"And here I thought you Sarutobi types couldn’t get your hands dirty. Willing to kill such a deadly Konoha shinobi—maybe the Hokage isn’t the most ruthless one here... maybe it’s you."
Asuma took a deep breath and spoke slowly, "He’s a threat to Konoha. That’s all there is to it. So—what, are you scared?"
Kazuma’s eye twitched. "Say that word again, Asuma, and I’ll kill you first!"
Asuma felt a small sense of relief inside.
Got him.
Kazuma might not get along with him, but that didn’t matter. As long as the man didn’t flinch when it counted, that was enough.
Turning toward one of the Guardian Ninja, he asked, "Has the summoning beast already been sent to inform the daimyō we’re about to act?"
The man gave a slight nod.
"It was dispatched last night. My summoning beast is very fast—the daimyō should have already received the message."
…
At the same time.
Ninja Academy.
“Hiss…”
Yamanaka Ryōshin slowly opened his eyes with a sharp intake of breath. His neck hurt, and his mind felt dazed.
“...Damn!”
His eyes flew wide open, and he shot up from the ground in an instant.
He still remembered—right before he lost consciousness, he’d caught a glimpse of a pair of crimson eyes. His mind had gone blank, then he felt a sharp pain in his neck, and everything went dark.
Yamanaka Ryōshin immediately realized he had been caught in a genjutsu—most likely a Sharingan illusion!
And to make sure he didn’t break free from it, the attacker had followed up with a precise hand strike to knock him out cold.
Yamanaka Ryōshin knew what his duty was: monitor the jinchūriki.
He hadn’t been the target here.
Uzumaki Naruto had.
Cold sweat poured down his back. Especially when he looked up—and saw two large holes blasted into the wall of Iruka’s classroom.
A terrible sense of dread welled up inside him. He’d screwed up. Badly.
Failing to protect the jinchūriki wasn’t just a disappointment to Hokage—it was a disaster.
“You’re awake?” came a sudden, crisp voice.
Ryōshin’s pupils shrank. He turned quickly—only to find someone he recognized.
One of Uchiha Keizumi’s little underlings.
If he remembered correctly…
Her name was Uchiha Izumi?
Ryōshin’s heart tightened. “Was it you who used genjutsu on me?!”
Izumi shook her head. “No. It was Uchiha Itachi.”
“!!!”
“Relax… His target was Uchiha Sasuke, not Uzumaki Naruto. The reason he made you ‘take a nap’ was probably because he thought your presence might get in the way.”
Izumi kindly explained.
She had already observed Yamanaka Ryōshin for a while, and had determined he wasn’t listed as a Red-Name criminal.
And if someone wasn’t truly evil, the girl usually didn’t hold any hostility.
“If you’re here… then Uchiha Keizumi must be…”
Ryōshin couldn’t help but glance around nervously.
“An ANBU just came by,” Izumi said. “Said Hokage-sama wanted to see Keizumi-senpai. He left a while ago.”
Ryōshin was momentarily stunned.
...
Hokage Office.
“Ninja mission?”
Uchiha Keizumi stood face-to-face with Hiruzen.
Even though he could already sense that they weren’t the only two people inside the Hokage’s office, his expression didn’t change.
“Yes. A ninja mission,” Hiruzen said, handing him a mission scroll. He cleared his throat before continuing. “Keizumi, it’s been a long time since you last took on a mission, hasn’t it?”
Keizumi gave a number. “About two and a half years.”
To him—
The term ninja mission was one he hadn’t heard in ages.
“This is an S-rank mission,” Hiruzen said slowly. “Don’t worry, I wouldn’t send you on anything that goes against your Absolute Justice. That was our agreement back then—wasn’t it?”
He added with some explanation, “Lately, we’ve had fewer and fewer shinobi available to take on high-level missions. After thinking it over, I decided to entrust this one to you.”
It wasn’t exactly a lie from Hiruzen.
It was just that… why had the number of available shinobi in the village capable of handling S-rank missions dwindled so much lately?
That was a little hard to figure out!
As that thought crossed his mind, Hiruzen glanced at Uchiha Keizumi, a hint of helplessness and vague resentment in his eyes.
“There are several classified documents sealed inside the scroll,” Hiruzen began. “They must be delivered as soon as possible to shinobi stationed near the Land of Fire’s border. According to the intel we’ve received... spies from other villages are already aware of the existence of these documents. They're keeping a close watch on anyone entering or leaving Konoha. Which means... this mission must be completed right under the spies’ noses.”
“Konoha is in the open. The spies operate from the shadows. There’s a high chance they’ll try to ambush whoever’s tasked with transporting the documents. But when exactly will they strike? How many of them are there? Will any of them be powerful shinobi from outside villages? …I can’t say.”
“That’s why this mission is classified as S-rank. The process will be extremely dangerous.”
Hiruzen paused, then added, “At first, I planned to assign this to Might Guy, since he’s recently returned to the village. But after some thought, I realized… you’re the more suitable choice.”
Uchiha Keizumi turned the scroll over in his hands and spoke flatly, “Trying to get me out of the village, are you, Third?”
“…”
Ah, dealing with clever people really was exhausting. It felt like the other party could see right through your thoughts with just a glance.
And Keizumi wasn’t just clever—he was blunt. The type who’d say it out loud even after seeing through your intentions.
It made Hiruzen’s old face feel a little awkward.
But he quickly masked it.
“Ahem. In any case, Keizumi, you are the most suitable shinobi in Konoha for this mission, aren’t you?” Hiruzen said. “With those eyes of yours—capable of seeing through the ‘evil of the future and the evil of the past’—you can instantly identify who the enemy spies are. Before they even get close, their identities will be exposed.”
“These spies, more or less, all have blood on their hands. And to fulfill their missions, they’ve surely killed more than just Konoha shinobi. No doubt they've taken the lives of innocent Konoha civilians as well. For someone like you, Keizumi, isn’t this the perfect chance to carry out justice?”
“That’s why, after giving it serious thought… I believe you're the best choice.”
Uchiha Keizumi narrowed his eyes slightly, staring at Hiruzen as if in thought.
The old man instinctively averted his gaze—not out of guilt, he told himself, but simply out of caution… for Keizumi’s Mangekyō.
Keizumi weighed the scroll in his hand and asked, “When do I leave?”
“Today,” said Hiruzen.
Just as Keizumi turned to leave with the scroll in hand, Hiruzen suddenly called out to him.
“Keizumi—Daimyō-sama already knows what you’ve done. In his eyes, you’re the man who killed his son. He may act impulsively... but you should know that nothing he does will pose any real threat to you.”
“I just hope… for Konoha’s sake… that you won’t turn the blade of your [Justice] against the Daimyō. Konoha needs him. The Land of Fire needs him. If something were to happen to the Daimyō, the entire country would fall into chaos—and that chaos would breed even more evil.”
“So—”
“Er…”
Before Hiruzen could finish, he realized Uchiha Keizumi’s silhouette had already vanished from sight.
“Sigh…”
He let out a deep sigh.
All he could do now was pray that the Daimyō would stubbornly stick to his childish, naïve little plan.
