As soon as Sarutobi Hiruzen returned, a shinobi from the Sarutobi clan stepped forward to greet him—only to spot a figure in the distance, clad in the uniform of the Uchiha Police Force.
His pupils shrank involuntarily. He quickly turned to Hiruzen and asked, "Hokage-sama, that guy...?"
"Pay him no mind."
Hiruzen shook his head with a stern expression. But anyone could hear it—his tone was not quite right.
It sounded as if he were suppressing sothing.
He walked in silence to stand beside Sarutobi Shinnosuke's coffin, quietly taking position behind his daughter-in-law, Sarutobi Nadeshiko.
At that mont—
He heard Nadeshiko speak. "You don't need to worry about , Hokage-sama. I've cald down. Everything... everything must be for the greater good of the village. Isn't that right?"
Hiruzen remained silent for a long mont.
There was so guilt in his heart—just a little. He said, "I have my own burdens to bear. Nadeshiko, you know the state of Konohagakure as well as I do. The village needs a fearso shinobi to keep the smaller, predatory nations at bay."
"Konoha has lost Sakumo, Orochimaru has defected, Jiraiya is gone, Tsunade has left, and Shisui is dead. Uchiha Keizumi is already one of the few remaining pillars of the village."
"And…"
"Keizumi's presence can also deter certain ambitious individuals within the village—including so within the Uchiha clan itself."
Hiruzen paused, then continued, "Even if Shinnosuke were still alive, he would have made the sa decision as I did. You and he were both my most trusted aides. He understood . You should too."
Nadeshiko gave a gentle nod. "I understand, Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen let out a quiet sigh. "Thank you—for the village's sake."
Then—
Hiruzen raised his voice to warn the Sarutobi clansn who, upon seeing Keizumi appear, were seething with indignation and ready to act.
"None of you are to act recklessly! He's only here to apprehend a criminal!"
…
Yamada Toshijirō had also spotted Uchiha Keizumi.
Even though he believed there was little chance he had been exposed, he instinctively stepped back a few paces.
Carefully, he hid himself toward the rear of the crowd.
"Hsss... I just rembered!" he heard one of his companions gasp in realization. "That's Uchiha Keizumi! The plague—wait, no, that guy... Is he heading this way?"
Toshijirō's heart seized with panic.
Cold sweat instantly drenched his palms.
Whatever faint hope he had left was extinguished by Keizumi's emotionless voice: "Yamada Toshijirō—drowned in debt. Four years ago, after your elder brother Yamada Shinichirō died of illness, you attempted to seize his inheritance but failed. Enraged, you murdered his wife and daughter, dismbered the bodies, and dumped them."
The utterly cold, emotionless voice landed in Toshijirō's ears like the death knell of the Shinigami himself.
He watched in horror as his companions instinctively backed away from him, staring with wide, horrified eyes.
And then—terrified of Keizumi—they quickly made way for him, revealing Toshijirō's carefully hidden figure in full.
He could only watch, helpless, as Keizumi ca to stand in front of him, quietly stopping two ters away.
Toshijirō didn't even dare to et the eyes of this young man—soone more than ten years his junior.
The steady drizzle couldn't wash away the fear in his heart.
He wiped the rain off his face and, trying to maintain composure, said with a parched mouth, "I… I don't understand what you're talking about."
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Here!!!" Izumi imdiately stepped forward from the rear.
"Interrogation."
Izumi blinked. She took a deep breath, quickly gathered herself, and responded at once, "Yes, senpai!"
She knew exactly what 'interrogation' ant when it ca from Keizumi-senpai.
After all, the first ti she had ever t him, he had asked her to interrogate a prisoner.
And all of it—was done in broad daylight, in full view of the public, using cruel and bloody torture!
This ti...
It would likely be just like the last ti.
What's more—
Izumi realized that this ti, not only was it happening out in the open, but it was also unfolding under the Hokage's watchful eyes in the near distance! This might very well be another test that Keizumi-senpai had arranged for her.
She was feeling the pressure.
But compared to the weight of disobeying Keizumi-senpai's orders, this kind of pressure suddenly seed trivial.
And then she rembered that mother and daughter—reduced to nothing but shattered bones.
The hesitation and uncertainty in Izumi's eyes visibly disappeared.
She drew her ninja blade.
Took a few steps forward.
"Hey! W-What are you doing?!" Yamada Toshijirō broke into a cold sweat. Panicking, he staggered backward again and again—only to find the cold-eyed girl continuing to close in.
"You have two choices." Izumi thought she was becoming a worse person—but against scum like this, maybe extre thods were more than justified.
She tried to mimic her senpai's tone. "One: you refuse to cooperate, I kill you, and let the Yamanaka clan extract your mories. Two: you confess everything you did four years ago, down to the last detail."
"I already told you! I don't know what you're talking ab—AARGHHHH!!!"
Yamada Toshijirō suddenly let out a bloodcurdling scream.
Clutching his groin, he dropped to his knees. The indescribable pain drained all color from his face.
"You have thirty seconds to think it over."
Gritting her teeth, Izumi followed up with a sharp kick, knocking him flat to the ground.
Her eyes focused—she thrust her blade straight through Toshijirō's left palm, nailing his hand to the earth.
"AAAGHHH!!!" Toshijirō continued to scream in agony.
"Twenty-nine."
Rembering the shattered remains that had made her skin crawl, Izumi twisted her wrist. The blade sliced clean through half of his hand.
"Twenty-eight."
"Twenty-seven."
With a swift flick of her blade, an ear flew into the air. Blood spattered—only to be quickly washed away by the rain.
"Twenty-six."
…
"Hokage-sama! They're clearly torturing him for a confession! And… they're doing it here, at Shinnosuke-senpai's funeral—right in front of you!"
One of Sarutobi Shinnosuke's friends cried out in horror to Sarutobi Hiruzen, "This is coercion! What if the man's actually innocent and only confesses because he's being brutalized like this?"
"This kind of act is already—"
Hiruzen stood with his hands behind his back, gazing off into the distance.
He interrupted, "In many respects, Uchiha Keizumi has always deeply disappointed . But… when it cos to law enforcent, no matter how extre his thods are, the results he delivers have never given grounds to refute them."
"When Uchiha Keizumi identifies soone as a murderer, that person—is a murderer. Without exception. He has never been wrong."
Hiruzen's eyes remained fixed on the girl's silhouette.
In a quiet murmur, he said, "Are you training a successor to your 'Absolute Justice,' Keizumi…?"
Even Shinnosuke's friend was stunned—he never expected the Hokage to defend the very person who had killed his own son.
And on top of that—
From the way the Hokage spoke, wasn't Uchiha Keizumi being just a bit too deified?
Was it really possible for a person to never be wrong?
…
"AAAAH! I confess! I confess!!!"
The bones of a civilian were always softer than those of a shinobi—after all, he had never undergone any rigorous training.
The pain racking his body, combined with the oppressive presence of the Uchiha Police Force, had already broken him ntally.
His fragile psyche, already on the verge of collapse from the mont Keizumi appeared, now completely shattered.
Tears and snot stread down his face as he scread in panic, "Don't kill ! Please don't kill !"
"I—I did kill my brother's wife and daughter! When I asked them for money, that damned woman looked in the eye and said she'd never lend money to soone wasting it away in gambling dens!"
"They were the ones who cast aside family! No—no, they were never really family to begin with! They were outsiders—just trying to steal my brother's inheritance for themselves!"
From emotional collapse to sudden justification, Yamada Toshijirō's state shifted drastically.
And all of it happened in less than ten seconds.
Gritting his teeth, he broke down and shouted—rage now bubbling beneath his hysteria: "I was just helping my brother clean house!"
"I didn't do anything wrong! Why the hell am I the one being arrested?!"
"Why aren't you going after that woman who stole my brother's inheritance?!"
"This isn't fair at all!!!"
"You people—!"
In his agitated state, the mont Yamada Toshijirō raised his head to glare at Uchiha Keizumi, he suddenly found himself staring into a pair of blood-red Sharingan, each spinning with three tomoe.
Those eyes devoured his entire field of vision.
His expression shifted—from fury to sheer terror.
As if he were witnessing sothing no one else could see.
"Aaaahhhhh!!!"
Izumi froze for a second. She quickly realized—Keizumi-senpai had cast a genjutsu on him using the Sharingan.
She had no idea what kind of horrifying vision Yamada Toshijirō was experiencing within that illusion—
But…
She felt no pity for him. He had brought this upon himself.
"Rookie, this... this is the 'evil' of the shinobi world," Keizumi said quietly. "Even with the blade of justice already at their throats, they show no remorse. Gentle laws will never deliver justice for the dead."
"With your Absolute Justice—deliver that justice."
"Kill him."
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