Itachi's Questions Cut Deeper Than Fire Release

Early the next morning, Uchiha Gen took Itachi to the medical access route.

The section of wooden framework he had burned through had not yet been completely cleared away.

The Transport Squad had deliberately left several severed joints in place so the Hokage Building could verify the account of the Fire Release rescue.

The scorch marks were very narrow.

They were concentrated only around the wooden joints.

The oilcloth had not burned through, and the medicine crates beside it were undamaged.

Itachi stood before the wooden framework and studied it for a long time.

"Is this the first thing you mentioned?"

"The Fire Release Rescue Record."

Uchiha Gen handed him a copy.

Itachi took it and lowered his head to read.

Location of use.

Target of use.

Witnesses.

Surrounding risks.

Outcome.

Every entry was very specific.

After reading it, Itachi asked, "What if you had lost control at the time?"

There was no preamble to the question.

Nor any childish innocence.

It went straight to the greatest danger.

Uchiha Gen looked at the severed joints.

"It would have burned the oilcloth. It might have set the medicine crates on fire, or injured someone."

Itachi looked up. "Then why use it?"

"Because if I hadn't, the elderly people and children up ahead would have been crushed to death."

"So you decided one danger could cancel out another?"

Uchiha Gen did not answer immediately.

Itachi's questions cut deeper than Fire Release.

He was not asking about a ninjutsu.

He was asking who had the right to decide which price to pay when every choice came at a cost.

Uchiha Gen said, "It isn't about canceling anything out."

"Then what is it?"

"Laying out the risks and choosing the option that's easiest to control and easiest to verify afterward."

Itachi looked down at the record.

"So witnesses matter?"

"They do."

"And rules matter too?"

"They do."

Itachi fell silent for a moment.

"What if there's no time to find a witness?"

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

"Then save people first, and write down exactly why there wasn't time afterward."

Itachi gently pressed his fingers against the edge of the scroll.

"But what if people don't believe you?"

"Then at least there's a record for others to check later."

Uchiha Gen said, "Without a record, all that's left is the powerful claiming they're right."

Itachi raised his eyes.

Those words were like a fine needle piercing his prematurely composed thoughts.

The two left the medical access route and headed toward the center of the village.

The closer they came to the area the Nine-Tails had devastated most severely, the stronger the lingering smell of burning became.

Houses had collapsed into blackened skeletons.

Enormous claw marks had torn through the streets.

Some places had already been cleared, but traces of intense heat were still visible on the ground.

There were no record boards here.

Nor any witnesses' signatures.

Only ruins.

Itachi stood before a half-collapsed wall in silence for a long time.

A small handprint remained on the wall.

It looked as though a child had once braced against it while trying to escape, but had never made it out.

Uchiha Gen did not hurry him.

He knew such scenes were not unfamiliar to Itachi.

But that familiarity only made them more dangerous.

If a child saw nothing but death growing up, he could easily come to believe that sacrificing some people was justified as long as it prevented greater loss of life.

"There was power here too."

Itachi suddenly spoke.

Uchiha Gen nodded.

"The Nine-Tails' power."

"And the power that controlled the Nine-Tails."

Itachi's voice was quiet.

Uchiha Gen glanced at him.

Itachi continued, "If a power is strong enough to kill this many people, isn't it understandable for the village to fear those who possess similar power?"

"It is."

Uchiha Gen answered quickly.

Itachi was a little surprised.

Uchiha Gen looked at the ruins.

"Fear is understandable. Anger is understandable. Suspicion is too."

He paused.

"The question is what you do after you become afraid."

Itachi looked at him.

"If fear means you no longer need evidence, if anger means you can push an entire clan to the margins, if preventing war means you can sacrifice one side first, then next time, as long as someone is afraid enough, anyone could become the price."

Wind blew through the ruins, stirring a little ash.

Itachi said quietly, "What if the conflict keeps escalating because you don't make that sacrifice?"

"Then first ask why the conflict is escalating."

Uchiha Gen said, "Is it because coexistence truly is impossible, or because someone keeps hiding evidence, spreading rumors, and stoking fear until everyone can only see the worst?"

Itachi said nothing.

After a moment, he asked again, "Then should someone with dangerous power voluntarily stop using it?"

Uchiha Gen looked at him.

That question finally reached the heart of the matter.

"If someone is bound to be suspected because he has power, could he reduce conflict by not using it?"

Itachi spoke very slowly.

It did not sound as though he was asking for himself.

It sounded more as though he was asking on behalf of someone who would one day be cornered.

Uchiha Gen did not immediately reject the idea.

"Sometimes, restraint in using power is necessary."

Itachi looked up.

"But restraint isn't surrender."

Uchiha Gen said, "If I'd refused to use Fire Release yesterday because I was afraid people would be suspicious of it, the elderly people and children might have died. That kind of inaction isn't peace. It's passing the cost on to those who are weaker."

Itachi's eyelashes stirred slightly.

Uchiha Gen continued, "Peace isn't taking one side off the board."

"Then what is it?"

"Making sure power isn't driven by fear and lies."

At last, a clear change appeared in Itachi's eyes.

The answer was incomplete.

Nor was it elegant.

It even sounded like a great deal of trouble.

Records, witnesses, rules, responsibility-every one of them was far more complicated than "kill the dangerous side."

But at least it offered another path.

A path that did not sacrifice one side in exchange for a brief silence.

Uchiha Gen handed the Fire Release Rescue Record back to Itachi.

"Fire Release can burn this place down."

He pointed toward the ruins.

"It can also open a medical access route."

Itachi looked down at the record.

"Is the difference in the user's heart?"

"That isn't enough."

Uchiha Gen shook his head.

"If we rely on hearts alone, it'll still come down to whoever believes more strongly that they're right."

Itachi raised his eyes.

Uchiha Gen said, "There must also be rules, witnesses, and responsibility."

He spoke each word distinctly. "Power can be used, but the person using it cannot be the only one who proves it harmless."

Itachi's grip on the scroll tightened a little.

He understood part of what those words meant.

Perhaps he could not fully accept them yet.

But they already differed from his original way of thinking.

On a distant rooftop, Shisui stood quietly.

He had only come to make sure Itachi had not approached the dangerous area alone.

He had not expected to overhear this conversation.

Shisui looked at Itachi among the ruins, then at Uchiha Gen.

He suddenly realized that Itachi had encountered these dangerous questions far earlier than he had imagined.

Power.

Sacrifice.

Peace.

Choice.

None of these should have weighed on a child so early.

But they were already here.

Shisui's hand slowly clenched.

Perhaps it was already too late to simply pull Itachi away from these questions.

What he needed might not be merely to keep his distance.

He needed someone beside him to help take these questions apart.

Itachi suddenly looked up toward the rooftop.

Shisui did not hide.

He landed beside the two of them.

"I heard what you were saying."

Itachi greeted him. "Shisui."

Shisui looked at him, his expression more serious than usual.

"Itachi, these are heavy questions."

Itachi nodded. "I know."

Shisui fell silent for a moment.

He had wanted to say that Itachi was still too young and should not be thinking about such things.

But after hearing that conversation, he could not bring himself to say it.

Because Itachi was already thinking about it.

And his thoughts went deeper than those of many adults.

Shisui looked at Uchiha Gen.

"We need to talk."

Uchiha Gen nodded.

He knew their first real disagreement was coming.

Shisui would want to protect Itachi.

And he had to tell Shisui that protecting Itachi did not mean leaving him alone to come to terms with death with his eyes closed.