"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!"
A girl who looked to be only about twelve years old on the outside was frantically tugging at her pale blonde hair, muttering under her breath with the kind of foul-mouthed frustration that didn't match her apparent age.
"Those shameless, filthy pigs were definitely cheating! They had to be rigging the game! They totally ganged up on me to take me for a ride! Otherwise, how the hell do you lose a million ryō in just half an hour?!"
"And those clingy debt collectors too! It's not like I said I wouldn't pay them back—I just, y'know, slightly extended the repayment schedule! What a bunch of petty jerks!"
"Loan sharks like that aren't even short on money, so why are they always hounding me? Can't they go bother someone else?!"
"Tsunade-sama…"
The black-haired woman beside her let out a tearful, bitter smile.
"Paying off debt is just basic decency. Besides, Tsunade-sama, you've already lost so much… If we keep gambling like this, we won't even have enough left to pay for a place to sleep tonight."
The pale-blonde "girl" waved her hand dismissively.
"You're always nagging and whining. Honestly, if someone didn't know better, they'd think you were—"
She suddenly cut herself off mid-sentence. Even her pace slowed slightly.
"Tsunade-sama? What is it?"
Shizune, who was holding a small pink piglet in her arms, immediately sensed something was off. Her face paled.
"Don't tell me… another creditor is tracking us down?!"
"…I smell blood."
Tsunade's expression turned solemn. She said slowly, "A strong scent… like someone lost half their blood."
"!!!"
The moment the words left Tsunade's mouth, a figure emerged up ahead, partially illuminated by the streetlamps.
Shizune's eyes widened.
"Uchiha… Police Force?!"
She recognized that uniform at a glance.
But—wait a second…
Something wasn't right.
This was Tanzaku Town.
Not Konoha Village.
Why would there be a member of the Uchiha Police Force here, in Tanzaku Town?
Tsunade and Shizune both fell silent. They continued walking forward—
and the Uchiha Police Force shinobi ahead also walked toward them.
Suddenly, Shizune's pupils shrank.
She had just noticed—the shinobi's right hand was gripping a drawn ninja blade!
And the tip of that blade was stained… with a smear of deep red blood.
Shizune's breath caught.
Her mind raced with shock and alarm.
She immediately stepped forward, subtly shifting in front of Tsunade to block her view of the bloody weapon.
Because Tsunade suffered from hemophobia.
As they passed one another, Uchiha Keizumi cast a glance at Tsunade and Shizune.
Tsunade and Shizune, in turn, both shifted their eyes toward the Konoha shinobi dressed in Uchiha Police Force attire.
Until finally, the two sides continued on, heading in opposite directions.
"…Shizune."
Tsunade came to a stop. Her expression turned slightly strange as she spoke.
"Did you feel like… he looked familiar?"
Shizune blinked.
"Familiar?"
...
"…Keizumi-sama… do you know them?"
Tachibana Jirō glanced back in puzzlement—only to see that the black-haired woman was also turning her head to look in their direction.
The instant their gazes met midair, Jirō suddenly thought she looked somewhat familiar.
"One is Tsunade. The other is Shizune."
Uchiha Keizumi said slowly, "I do know them. I ran into them here in Tanzaku Town nine years ago. I didn't expect that after all this time, the Princess Tsunade of Konoha would still be lingering in Tanzaku Town."
"!!!"
Tsunade!
Shizune!
Long-buried memories suddenly surged into Jirō's mind, and he blurted out in shock, "Nyaa! Nine years ago, they were following right behind you, Keizumi-sama! Every time you killed a criminal in Tanzaku Town, they'd take the money from the corpse!"
"That Sannin Tsunade even pointed out several criminals to you herself—trying to get you to kill them. Sure, they were criminals, but the main reason she pointed them out was because they were her creditors, nyaa!"
Such shameless behavior from Tsunade had left the young Jirō back then utterly stunned—and thoroughly enlightened.
The memory resurfaced so vividly that he could recall every detail clearly.
Meanwhile—
Roughly a few dozen meters away, Tsunade was biting her finger in thought. Then, all of a sudden, she spun around to face Shizune.
"Shizune!!!"
Her composure was gone as she exclaimed, "I just remembered! That kid earlier—that was Uchiha Keizumi!"
"Ah???"
Shizune froze for a moment, unable to process it. "Uchiha Keizumi?"
"That's right," Tsunade said immediately.
"The Uchiha brat who nearly burned Tanzaku Town to the ground nine years ago! Don't you remember? That night, all my debts—tens of millions of ryō—were wiped clean! His appearance tonight can only mean one thing—he's here to help me again… ahem!"
Tsunade coughed lightly, then corrected herself, "I mean, it means he's here to execute justice again! What was his justice called, anyway?"
"!!!"
Shizune remembered.
Uchiha Keizumi… the "nightmare" that had hung over Tanzaku Town for a full nine years. Even now, plenty of people still remembered that "demon" from back then.
She could still recall—
That night had been a blood-soaked massacre in Tanzaku Town. Dozens were killed.
More astonishing still—every single person who died that night had been a criminal. Not one was innocent.
And the one behind it all—was Uchiha Keizumi.
Back then…
He had only been nine years old.
And Tsunade-sama could still recognize him now?
"…I think it was…" Shizune murmured.
"Absolute Justice?"
But when Tsunade eagerly turned to look in Keizumi's direction—
Uchiha Keizumi was already gone.
"Shizune! Hurry up and catch up to him! That brat's definitely going after more criminals—by the end of tonight, a bunch of my creditors might be dead!"
The gloom of losing one million ryō at the gambling tables vanished instantly.
Leaving those words behind, Tsunade's pretty face lit up with delight as she bolted toward the direction Uchiha Keizumi had disappeared.
"Eh… huh?!"
Shizune, a step slow to react, quickly spun around and ran after her.
"Tsunade-sama!"
"Wait for me!"
...
A few minutes later—
The front doors of a Tanzaku Town entertainment club burst open with a violent shove.
A richly dressed, pig-faced man was shoved forward by the samurai bodyguards he had paid handsomely to keep at his side, stumbling and scrambling in a panicked rush out of the building.
"Run! Hurry! That killer from back then—"
The man had lost all composure; his face was twisted with sheer terror and hopelessness.
Snot and tears streamed down together.
As he fled for his life, he screamed in panic, "That Uchiha Keizumi—"
"—he's back!!!"
His shrill cries nearly rattled half the street. Most people didn't understand what the name "Uchiha Keizumi" meant here in Tanzaku Town, but the few locals who did instantly blanched.
[Tap…]
[Tap…]
[Tap…]
Soft footsteps echoed faintly as Uchiha Keizumi emerged from within the entertainment club, walking at an unhurried pace, a single ninja blade in one hand. The blood on its edge was heavier now.
When Keizumi's cold gaze lifted slightly—
Rows of crimson text hovered before his eyes, each word stark and striking.
"The twisted, diseased shinobi world breeds endless evil. Nine years ago, I culled one crop. Nine years later, another has grown."
Uchiha Keizumi spoke in a flat, detached tone, "In the end, it was because nine years ago I didn't kill enough of them… nor thoroughly enough. Tonight… [Absolute Justice] will cleanse Tanzaku Town in blood."
As his words fell, and the samurai tensed to the limit, they saw Keizumi turn and start walking in another direction.
The samurai all froze, confused at the sudden shift. But before they could piece together what was happening—
The fat man they had been guarding suddenly stiffened where he stood.
He clutched at his neck in desperation, blood gushing between his fingers.
The spray of crimson splattered across the faces of several samurai, leaving them stunned and helpless.
When they finally focused on the fat man again, they saw a single shuriken lodged in his neck—precisely severing the artery.
And all of them together hadn't even noticed where the shuriken had come from.
Meanwhile, on the street, the onlookers—most of them clueless—stared wide-eyed.
"K-kill…"
"Someone's been killed!!!"
...
Nighttime, Konohagakure Hospital.
Lying in his hospital bed with eyes closed, resting but not yet discharged, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly opened his eyes—slowly, deliberately—as if sensing something. He shifted his gaze toward the window on his right.
There, perched on the half-open window frame, sat an ANBU shinobi.
The figure jumped down.
He walked to the side of the bed.
"Hokage-sama." Uchiha Itachi removed his mask, his expression complicated as he looked at the Third Hokage. He said, "No matter what orders you give, I will obey them. Even if you command me to kill Uchiha Keizumi, I will not hesitate to leave the village and hunt him down beyond Konoha's walls."
He paused, then continued, "Earlier today, I overheard what Yamanaka Inoichi and the others said. I apologize, Hokage-sama—perhaps I shouldn't have listened in. But I must say this… I don't believe what they said was right."
Uchiha Itachi spoke firmly. "I believe that when a Konoha shinobi is not loyal enough to the village, they have already committed a grave mistake. And Uchiha Keizumi is a shinobi who is disloyal to Konoha."
"Conversely, when a shinobi is truly loyal to Konoha, even if they have made mistakes, they should be forgiven. And Sarutobi Asuma is a shinobi who is deeply loyal to Konoha."
"Hokage-sama… this is my personal view on the matter. If you are not in a position to act, I can become another Shimura Danzō—a hidden blade in the shadows of Konoha."
"No matter what I may have to bear in the future, I will do so without regret."
With that, Uchiha Itachi stood silently to the side, saying nothing more.
Sarutobi Hiruzen withdrew his gaze, his eyes fixing on the ceiling. He said with emotion, "Itachi, you truly are a very special Uchiha. Not every Uchiha possesses your resolve."
"I can tell your loyalty to Konoha is pure—untainted by self-interest or calculation. And that… to be honest, truly reassures me."
Though Uchiha Itachi did not speak, he straightened his posture even more.
Clearly, Sarutobi Hiruzen's words had struck a chord.
"I appreciate your intentions, Itachi."
Hiruzen shook his head and went on, "In my eyes, you are one of the gifted shinobi who will shoulder Konoha's future. If I were to make you the 'Darkness of Konoha' like Danzō, to have a child bear a burden they should never bear, then I would be far too much of a failure as the Third Hokage."
Uchiha Itachi froze, unable to keep silent any longer. "But… Hokage-sama, Uchiha Keizumi's Absolute Justice is already, imperceptibly, influencing members of the Uchiha clan."
"They are already an extremely extreme group, and under the sway of [Absolute Justice], they will only grow even more extreme. Konoha…" He drew in a deep breath. "Konoha will be destroyed by an extremist Uchiha."
"…Itachi."
Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. "Uchiha Keizumi… he's your excuse for moving against the Uchiha clan, isn't he? Your true target… is the Uchiha clan itself, isn't that right?"
"Once Uchiha Keizumi is dead, you will also want to erase the words [Absolute Justice] from within Konoha. That would make the perfect pretext for striking at the Uchiha clan, wouldn't it?"
"So, this way, no one in the entire Uchiha clan, from top to bottom, would be able to pose a threat to Konoha, right?"
"It's too easy to see through, Itachi… especially after Uchiha Keizumi made that prophecy about you."
Silently, without a word, Uchiha Itachi acknowledged the thoughts Sarutobi Hiruzen had just exposed.
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