In a dense forest not far outside Tanzaku Town—
Three blurred figures darted swiftly through the trees.
"Phew… finally, the mission's done. An A-rank mission really is dangerous—we almost didn't make it back. Good thing Hayate's Transparent Release came through at the last moment. Without it, at least two of us would've died to get this done."
Words like that could only mean these three were Konoha shinobi returning from a mission beyond the village.
"If I'm not mistaken, Tanzaku Town should be just ahead. We can rest there tonight and head back to Konoha in the morning. Hopefully, there's a bathhouse—we could really use the chance to unwind."
"Hayate, what do you think? Hm? Hayate? Why did you suddenly go quiet?"
The speaker turned to the shinobi running beside him and asked in concern, "You're not hurt somewhere, are you?"
Under the moonlight, Hayate snapped out of his daze.
He shook his head, his expression complicated. "It's nothing… I just remembered some unpleasant memories."
Ever since his own blood brother had been killed by Uchiha Keizumi—
Hayate had been plagued by dreams of that night, over and over, to the point he began to think something was wrong with his mind.
He had requested a mission from the Hokage, hoping to leave the village for a while and settle his thoughts.
"Haah…"
Hayate slowly exhaled, feeling that the past few days outside had indeed calmed him somewhat.
But just then, the third Konoha shinobi—who had been silent until now—suddenly cried out, "Look ahead!"
The trees ahead were thinning, and through the gaps they could already make out Tanzaku Town in the distance.
However—
They saw that several places within Tanzaku Town were engulfed in raging flames!
Billowing black smoke, lit from beneath by fire, stood out starkly under the moonlight.
When a gust of wind swept toward them, carrying with it a wave of heat—
The other two shinobi still wore expressions of shock, but Hayate's face had already changed dramatically.
Because he could smell it—the acrid stench carried on the wind!
It was…
The sulfur scent unique to lava!
"Let's check it out!" The Konoha shinobi on the left surged forward toward Tanzaku Town; the one on the right immediately followed. Hayate opened his mouth to stop them, but in an instant, they were already just two receding silhouettes.
"It… it couldn't be such a coincidence, could it?"
Gritting his teeth, Hayate could only hurry after them.
…
When the three Konoha shinobi reached Tanzaku Town, they were stunned speechless by what they saw.
Lava.
Flames.
Corpses.
These three things had become the night's main theme. Their eyes swept over the scene—the street ahead was paved with bodies, streams of blood flowing downhill along the sloped road, pooling before spilling into the street's drainage channels.
The flames in the distance were growing fiercer by the moment, the sulfur stench thick enough to taste. It didn't feel like they were standing in Tanzaku Town anymore—it felt like they were right beside a volcano's crater.
One after another, blood-soaked heads rolled to the roadside, while on both sides of the street, countless onlookers stood frozen, faces etched with terror.
"All of them killed in a single blow!"
The Konoha shinobi to Hayate's left crouched down despite his shock and examined the corpses. His voice was low and grim. "Either their heads were severed by a shinobi blade, their hearts were pierced, their skulls impaled by a kunai, or their arteries sliced open by a shuriken."
"The killer didn't waste a single unnecessary movement. Without a doubt, we're dealing with a ruthless, experienced murder demon—and definitely a shinobi. From a preliminary assessment, I'd say they're highly skilled in taijutsu. Their strength is at least… jōnin level."
The Konoha shinobi on Hayate's right swallowed hard, then grabbed a nearby bystander and demanded, "Why were these people killed? Who did this?"
"Uchiha Keizumi… Uchiha Keizumi…"
The man he held onto kept muttering over and over, "He's back… that killing maniac grew up, and now he's back… he's killed even more than he did nine years ago…"
The muttered words left all three Konoha shinobi momentarily stunned.
—Uchiha Keizumi?!!
…
Elsewhere—
Tsunade and Shizune had finally caught up to Uchiha Keizumi.
Their posture, however, was rather "comical." Because of her severe hemophobia, Tsunade hadn't dared to open her eyes the entire way, nor even walk through the streets—everywhere she stepped was awash with blood.
She had to maintain her disguise as a twelve-year-old girl avoiding debt collectors, eyes shut tight while Shizune carried her on her back the whole way.
Even so, the heavy metallic tang of blood in the air made Tsunade feel deeply uncomfortable.
Her small face had grown a bit pale.
"Haa…" Tsunade tried to crack her eyelids open, her gaze falling on Uchiha Keizumi ahead. She saw the young Uchiha holding a shinobi sword in one hand and gripping someone's hair in the other, the blade already driven into the man's chest.
"Hey, Uchiha brat…" As Tsunade spoke, she saw Keizumi fling the corpse aside.
The blood spraying from the man's chest made her bite down hard on her lower lip.
"What you're doing… don't you think this is going too far? Sure, Tanzaku Town has its fair share of criminals. But…" Tsunade said in a deep voice, "It can't possibly be this many. Along the way, I had Shizune count the bodies—we were at two hundred seventy-six."
She averted her gaze from the bleeding corpse and added, "Now, that's two hundred seventy-seven."
"You're that certain not a single one of them was innocent?!"
Uchiha Keizumi silently regarded Tsunade's face, pale as paper.
This legendary Sannin of Konoha, now stricken with hemophobia, looked in the presence of so much blood like a curled-up, weakened beast—nothing like the bold, imposing figure he remembered.
"Tsunade-sama, Keizumi-sama's eyes can see through a person's past evil and future evil. Before these eyes, no sin can be hidden. Anyone who dies by Keizumi-sama's hand could never be innocent."
Tachibana Jirō, speaking in a steady, certain tone, added from the side, "Perhaps you don't know, Tsunade-sama—you've been away from Konoha for a long time. But the Third Hokage knows well that Keizumi-sama possesses this ability."
"And since Keizumi-sama upholds [Absolute Justice], he would never use such a special ability to falsely accuse the innocent. Keizumi-sama will only turn his blade toward the wicked—and show no mercy!"
"This… is Keizumi-sama's [Absolute Justice]!"
Tachibana Jirō's words left both Tsunade and Shizune momentarily stunned.
The ability to see past evil and future evil?
Shizune looked utterly baffled, unable to believe it, while Tsunade suddenly seemed to recall something.
"Mangekyō Sharingan?" she murmured slowly.
Uchiha Keizumi didn't take the bait. Holding his already dulled shinobi sword, his gaze flicked to the seven or eight bulging money pouches tied at Shizune's waist.
Shizune's expression grew awkward and embarrassed under his glance.
Keizumi turned to Tsunade and said, "If you think I've gone too far, if you think I shouldn't have killed so many people, or believe Tanzaku Town doesn't have that many criminals…"
"…then follow behind me and see for yourself just how twisted, how utterly repulsive, the evil bred by this sick shinobi world truly is."
With those words, Uchiha Keizumi strode straight into a building ahead.
Tsunade lifted her head to glance at the brightly lit, colorful sign above the entrance.
She felt a vague sense of familiarity—if memory served, this was the largest dance hall in Tanzaku Town. But since it wasn't a casino, she'd never cared to learn more about it; such places held no interest for her at all.
"Tsunade-sama?" Shizune asked softly from behind, still carrying her.
After a half-second of silence, Tsunade said, "Follow him."
"Yes!" Shizune hurried after.
…
"Uchiha Keizumi… so it really is him…" Hayate could no longer remain composed. Images from that night surged back into his mind—his younger brother had been killed by Uchiha Keizumi, and… had died right there in his arms.
"He shouldn't be in Konoha? Why is he in Tanzaku Town? The distance between Tanzaku Town and the village—even at full speed for a jōnin—would take at least a full day to cover."
The Konoha shinobi on his left looked pale, clearly having heard of Uchiha Keizumi's infamous reputation.
"That guy…"
The man drew in a sharp breath, the air thick with the stench of blood and sulfur. "Outside Konoha, he's killed more people than he has inside! Could it be because there's no one beyond the village who can keep him in check?"
The shinobi on the right suddenly spotted something and called out to the other two. "Look over here!"
Hayate and the other turned toward his voice and saw the man pick up a bloodstained Konoha forehead protector from the ground.
"There are Konoha shinobi in Tanzaku Town who've been killed by him."
He spoke gravely. "If I'm not mistaken, it was likely done under the banner of his so-called [Absolute Justice]. Tanzaku Town has many wealthy patrons who hire Konoha shinobi as bodyguards, which means… the number of Konoha shinobi he's killed today is more than one."
Those words weighed heavily on all of them.
With just the three of them—could they really stop Uchiha Keizumi?
If they all attacked together, it would likely just be throwing their lives away.
And what if he was actually [executing justice] here in Tanzaku Town?
To obstruct Uchiha Keizumi from carrying out justice…
…the consequences would be extremely severe.
"Listen! You two, get back to the village and report to the Hokage immediately!" Hayate suggested.
The other two were startled. One of them asked, "Hayate, what about you?!"
Hayate paused for half a second before replying, "I'll catch up to you soon."
"…Hayate, I know you've never let go of what happened that night. But don't lose your head over it."
"Mm."
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