Fugaku took a deep breath, head pounding, and couldn't help but say, "Keizumi, those three were Uchiha too, just like you…"
But Uchiha Keizumi cut him off mid-sentence: "So just because they're Uchiha, they get special privileges?"
Fugaku was left speechless.
Only now did he suddenly remember—Uchiha Keizumi had even personally killed the last of his own blood relatives! Simply because his kin had fallen deep into the abyss of sin.
Compared to one's own blood, what were these three fellow Uchiha shinobi worth?
Fugaku fell silent.
"Clan Head Fugaku, please don't block the way."
Keizumi reached out and pressed a hand to Fugaku's shoulder. With a light push, he sent the unsuspecting Fugaku staggering to the side.
"Hey! Uchiha Keizumi! You—"
Several Police Force shinobi brought by Fugaku immediately cried out, unable to restrain themselves.
But Fugaku raised a hand to silence them. "...It's fine."
Though his expression was dark, he didn't let the dissatisfaction and fury welling up inside show on his face.
He could already sense that after today, the Uchiha Clan would become a powder keg—one spark away from explosion.
In such a situation, what he needed to do as Clan Head was prevent that explosion, not fan the flames. Even if Keizumi's behavior had completely disregarded his authority as head of the Uchiha Clan, Fugaku still gritted his teeth and endured it.
And in his heart, he believed this restraint was proof that he was a qualified leader for the Uchiha.
He sank into a moment of self-congratulation.
Silently, Fugaku watched as Uchiha Keizumi, Uchiha Izumi, Tachibana Jirō, Uzumaki Naruto, and Kakashi—all people who shouldn't normally be found together—left one after another.
It wasn't until he noticed Sasuke actually following after them that he could no longer stay quiet.
Frowning deeply, he called out sharply to his younger son's small retreating figure: "Sasuke! Home is to your left. Why are you walking to the right? It's nearly dark—go home, now!"
Sasuke froze at once.
His father's stern tone made him inexplicably downcast.
"Yes, Father."
Just as Sasuke pressed his lips together and prepared to turn back, Uzumaki Naruto—who had been walking away—suddenly turned around. Without warning, he grabbed Sasuke by the wrist and started dragging him in the opposite direction.
"Eh?! Dobe! What are you doing?!"
Sasuke was stunned.
Still pulling Sasuke along, Naruto turned his head to face the astonished Fugaku and said earnestly, "Uncle, this stuck-up guy kept pestering me all day about what 'justice' means. I brought him to see Keizumi-sensei so he could find out for himself. So please, let me borrow him for a while."
Under Fugaku's gaze, his younger son—tugged along by the Jinchūriki—stumbled away with him in tow.
Something about Sasuke's struggling felt a little… fake.
"I see…"
Fugaku's eyes followed Keizumi's fading figure into the distance. His expression turned exceedingly complex as he muttered to himself: "Keizumi… you once targeted Itachi with malice. And now you've set your sights on Sasuke with goodwill. Are you using Sasuke? Or… are you trying to use him to manipulate me?"
But then Fugaku reconsidered—
Was Uchiha Keizumi really the kind of person who would use others?
He realized… no, he wasn't.
Which meant—
Keizumi genuinely wanted Sasuke to understand what justice truly was.
But the biggest problem was that Keizumi's version of justice was far too extreme.
Was this kind of justice truly incapable of leading Sasuke astray in the future?
And what about Itachi...
Did he know about all this?
…
Elsewhere, Kakashi—who had completely overreacted out of concern for the Jinchūriki—had already faded back into hiding.
"No unusual activity," he said, pulling his ANBU mask back over his face. Then he addressed several of his ANBU subordinates.
"Oh, right…"
With his signature dead-fish eyes half-lidded, Kakashi suddenly added in a lazy but jarring tone to one of them, "Go report to the Hokage. Tell him Uchiha Keizumi might go on a killing spree today. But as far as I can tell, the people he's killing… are probably all scumbags."
"I only know that the first three victims were all members of the Uchiha Clan. As for the ones he's about to kill next, I have no idea who they are—but the total number seems to be around fifteen."
Kakashi hadn't peeked at the notebook Izumi held, but he guessed each page likely corresponded to one person.
That Uchiha girl had flipped through fifteen pages in total. So, fifteen targets for Uchiha Keizumi—it was a safe bet.
"Yes!"
The subordinate instantly grasped the gravity of the situation. He broke away from the Jinchūriki surveillance team and dashed toward the Hokage's office.
By the time Sarutobi Hiruzen received the message—
Dusk had already begun to fall outside.
"Pfffft—!"
The intel from Kakashi made Hiruzen spit out the mouthful of hot tea he'd just sipped.
"Fifteen people?!!"
He shot up from his seat.
The last time Uchiha Keizumi had killed this many people in one go… it had been the execution of the Daimyō's second son and several of the feudal retainers.
Now he was going on another killing spree? Hiruzen couldn't even begin to imagine what kind of disaster Keizumi was about to unleash this time!
But just as he was about to head out to investigate—
Another ANBU ninja arrived, rushing in breathlessly.
"Hokage-sama! Captain Kakashi sent me ahead to inform you—Uchiha Keizumi has broken into the Utatane Clan's compound and already killed two shinobi! Also, Uchiha Keizumi and Uchiha Izumi have separated. It seems they're splitting up to make the killing spree more efficient!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "???"
Well, that was efficient, all right.
One ANBU had just come to warn him, and the next one was already reporting bodies. And not just anyone—they were shinobi from the Utatane Clan!
Hiruzen dared not imagine how enraged Koharu would be tomorrow.
Wait a second—
Suddenly, Hiruzen remembered—
Naruto was still with Keizumi!
Was it really a good idea to let someone like Keizumi, in the middle of a murder rampage, influence Naruto?
What if he turned the kind, obedient Naruto…
…into a ruthless, bloodthirsty Naruto?
Hsssss! Would that still be the same Uzumaki Naruto he knew?
Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen grew increasingly anxious and was about to head out himself—
Yet another ANBU returned.
"Hokage-sama!"
This time, it was Yamanaka Ryōshin who arrived.
"Kakashi assigned me two subordinates and sent me to track Uchiha Izumi. That girl—she stormed into a tavern, and right in front of everyone… she cut off the tavern owner's head!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "…"
Before he could even catch his breath, yet another ANBU ninja rushed in, panting heavily as he reported, "Hokage-sama! Uchiha Keizumi has broken into the Mitokado Clan! A shinobi over sixty years old from the clan has been killed by him!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen nearly choked—
That sounded an awful lot like Mitokado Homura!
The ANBU, realizing his report could be easily misunderstood, quickly added, "Not Advisor Mitokado Homura—it was his cousin!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "…"
Suddenly, his vision seemed to darken.
Homura's cousin was still a prominent figure in Konoha.
He couldn't begin to imagine what kind of fury Mitokado Homura would bring to their conversation tomorrow—especially with him, the Hokage.
Though Homura had always been known as the most even-tempered among the four advisors…
This time, the victim was a blood relative—his own cousin!
"Hokage-sama!"
Another urgent shout made Hiruzen stagger slightly.
Before the new arrival could speak, Hiruzen's face was already clouded with fury. He clenched his jaw and demanded, "Uchiha Keizumi… who did he kill this time?!"
The ANBU was momentarily stunned, then replied, "It wasn't Uchiha Keizumi this time. It was a shinobi cat named Tachibana Jirō and a trainee member of the Police Force named Uchiha Izumi. The two of them—one person and one cat—joined forces to kill a Tokubetsu Jōnin."
[Crack—!]
In the midst of his surging emotions, Sarutobi Hiruzen crushed the leg of his desk with one hand.
"You were tailing them in secret—why didn't you stop them?! Even if you couldn't stop Keizumi, you're telling me you couldn't stop a shinobi cat and a Genin who only just graduated from the Academy?!"
He ground out the question through clenched teeth, unable to contain his frustration.
The ANBU exchanged nervous glances. After a moment of hesitation, one of them spoke up, "Captain Kakashi told us to just report directly to you, Hokage-sama… Since it didn't involve the Jinchūriki, there was no need for us to intervene. That's what Captain Kakashi said."
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a long, heavy breath.
He simply no longer knew at whom he should be angry.
His chest rose and fell with agitation. The sheer scale of Uchiha Keizumi's "massacre" today—though none of the victims were ordinary people—left him stunned and overwhelmed. Just imagining the mess Keizumi had created made Hiruzen's scalp go numb.
"Hokage-sama!"
When yet another cry rang out, Sarutobi Hiruzen's face had already turned ashen.
At this point, even if he ran out there to find Keizumi, he probably wouldn't be able to stop him.
Once [Absolute Justice] had locked onto its targets and begun its killing spree, it was already too late to stop anything.
What's more, he might not even be able to locate Keizumi amid the chaos.
Unless—he waited for Keizumi to finish killing everyone.
"Sigh—"
Having shot to his feet with a jolt, he ended up standing in vain. Sarutobi Hiruzen sat back down.
Tonight…
He probably wouldn't be getting any sleep.
…
"D-Dobe… how many is that now?"
Sasuke stared wide-eyed at the corpse before him, face frozen in terror. He had been completely paralyzed by Uchiha Keizumi's ruthless killing frenzy.
Maybe it really had been a good idea when his father called out and tried to stop him.
He'd never imagined that "carrying out justice"… could be this bloody.
"F-Forgot…" Naruto, equally stunned by the brutality, couldn't even bring himself to react to Sasuke calling him "dobe."
He had mentally prepared himself—at least a little.
But clearly… it hadn't been nearly enough.
"Let's go."
Uchiha Keizumi drew his ninja blade, casually flicked off the blood, then glanced at the two kids still too shocked to speak clearly.
Expressionless, he said, "There's one left. Uzumaki Naruto—you'll take care of that one."
"…Huh???"
Naruto was completely dumbfounded.
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