"Shizune, take out the money we picked up last night."
Shizune was still lost in her thoughts when Tsunade's sudden words jolted her back to reality.
She hurriedly picked up the money pouches lying on the floor and began placing them one by one on the table.
"Tsunade-sama," Shizune said, "last night we followed behind Uchiha Keizumi and picked up over forty-seven million ryō in cash. Fortunately, most of it is in high-denomination bills of at least a thousand ryō, so it's not too bulky to carry."
"But…"
Just as she was about to untie a pouch, Shizune seemed to recall something. Her hands paused slightly, and she said hesitantly, "Some of the bills are stained with blood. Tsunade-sama, your hemophobia…"
Tsunade glanced at the bulging pouches. She didn't let Shizune open them. Instead, after taking a deep breath, she said, "…Leave just one million ryō."
"Oh… huh? Ah? Eh?!!"
Shizune's composure cracked; she stared wide-eyed at Tsunade as if she were a stranger.
"Tsunade-sama, you—"
"I haven't taken the wrong medicine," Tsunade replied flatly. "Yesterday, we rescued seventy-nine children from the basement. Split forty million ryō among seventy-nine children, and each gets just over five hundred thousand. That should be enough to raise them properly from this age until they reach adulthood."
"!!!"
"Tsunade-sama, you're going to adopt them?!"
Shizune was genuinely stunned.
Tsunade, addicted to gambling as she was, would surely have seen this forty-plus million ryō as her future betting capital. By her usual logic, anyone who tried to touch that money would be sent flying with a single punch.
Yet, without any outside pressure, Tsunade herself was now deciding to give it all away.
Tsunade rolled her eyes in exasperation, poking Shizune's cheek as if scolding a hopeless child. "I don't have the free time to raise that many brats. Of course I'll send them to an orphanage! This money will go to the orphanage so they can raise them properly."
Shizune covered her cheek and muttered under her breath, "It does sound like a good thing, but… that much money… won't someone just pocket it?"
Before last night, Shizune hadn't dared to think so poorly of people. But after what happened, she couldn't help but instinctively assume the worst.
"What if…" Shizune murmured softly, "we run into bastards who want to use the children's bodies for something vile?"
Tsunade narrowed her eyes, and the memories of last night surged back—casting a dark shadow over those beautiful amber irises.
"Then we kill them."
The moment one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Tsunade-hime, spoke those words—
A sharp crack rang out. The solid wood table she was resting one hand on splintered with a web of fine cracks.
A deep handprint was pressed into the sturdy surface.
Shizune's heart tightened.
Ever since Tsunade had developed hemophobia, left Konoha, stopped involving herself in shinobi affairs, and sunk into gambling, Shizune hadn't seen her radiate this kind of killing intent.
From the Tsunade standing before her now, she could catch glimpses of the woman once famed across the entire shinobi world—"Konoha's Tsunade-hime."
Why had Tsunade-sama changed like this?
The answer came to Shizune almost as soon as the question formed in her mind—because of Uchiha Keizumi.
Ever since Uchiha Keizumi appeared in Tanzaku Town… ever since he revealed the evils of the shinobi world to Tsunade… ever since he showed her his Absolute Justice right before her eyes—Tsunade had seemed… different.
It was as if…
There was a little less self-destruction in her.
"Oh, right, Shizune—where did that Uchiha brat and the ninja cat go?" Tsunade suddenly asked.
"They should be leaving Tanzaku Town by now," Shizune replied. "That ninja cat, Tachibana Jirō, said Uchiha Keizumi was only passing through Tanzaku Town by chance this time. They're carrying an S-rank mission from Hokage-sama. I think they only stopped in last night to rest."
"Heh. Resting by killing six hundred and fifty-nine people?"
Tsunade smirked. "That brat definitely passed through Tanzaku Town on purpose. Leaving behind such a mess and walking away—exactly the same as nine years ago. Hasn't changed a bit."
Shizune quietly corrected her, "It was six hundred and forty people. Nineteen of them… were killed by you, Tsunade-sama. I couldn't stop you."
"Ahem!"
With a dry cough, Tsunade skipped over the subject. She rose to her feet and said, "Come on, let's find a proper orphanage for the children. If we can't find a decent one, we'll bring them all back to Konoha."
"With that old man's personality, he won't ignore so many war orphans. Hm… maybe we could even save this forty million ryō."
Shizune: "…"
Tsunade really knew how to bleed the Hokage dry.
Then again… wasn't that Konoha's money anyway? And considering Tsunade's grandfather was the First Hokage—
…
Meanwhile—
In a dense forest not far outside Tanzaku Town—
The lone figure and the cat weaving swiftly through the trees suddenly slowed for no apparent reason… and stopped.
Less than three seconds later, the sound of rustling movement came from behind, until an out-of-breath Gekkō Hayate appeared before them.
"Huff…"
"Gone?"
He had been no more than ten meters behind Uchiha Keizumi, yet now he looked around in confusion.
If one looked closely into his eyes, they would see deep within his pupils the faint reflection of a Sharingan's pattern.
He thought his tracking skills were impeccable—yet without realizing it, he had already fallen into Uchiha Keizumi's genjutsu.
In a daze, Hayate felt his head sink slightly. The sudden shift made his pupils contract, and as he quickly lifted his head, Uchiha Keizumi had "inexplicably" appeared before him—so abruptly that Hayate stumbled back in shock.
"Don't move a whisker, meow."
That oddly-toned voice rang out suddenly from somewhere right above his head.
At that moment, Gekkō Hayate felt as if a sharp blade were pressing against his temple.
"Meow… you… I remember you're from the Gekkō clan, aren't you?"
Tachibana Jirō's voice rang out again. "That sickly one—Gekkō Hayate?"
A fluffy orange tail slowly dangled down, swaying in front of Hayate's eyes.
In that instant, he realized that perched atop his head was a talking ninja cat. Somewhere along the way, without him even realizing it, Uchiha Keizumi had already discovered that he was following him.
And…
Hayate now suspected that he had fallen under a genjutsu—most likely from the Sharingan—and that it still hadn't been dispelled.
If Uchiha Keizumi chose to make a move…
He could be dead in an instant.
"I… mean no harm."
Although sweat streamed down his back, this wasn't him suddenly losing his nerve—it was simply that from the very moment he began "quietly" tailing Uchiha Keizumi, he had never intended to kill him.
Or rather…
He didn't have the courage.
Meeting Keizumi's gaze, Hayate gathered all the tangled thoughts in his heart and turned them into the resolve to speak.
"Uchiha Keizumi, I only want to ask you one question. Even if you refuse to answer, it doesn't matter. Even if you kill me the next second, it doesn't matter. I just want to know—why must you choose killing as the way to judge and punish those who commit evil?"
"Isn't there…"
With no blood relatives left in this world, Hayate clenched his fists and stared into the three-tomoe Sharingan before him. "Isn't there some other reasonable way? I'm not questioning the justice you uphold… but shouldn't justice take a form that most people can accept?"
When he saw Uchiha Keizumi start walking toward him—
Hayate, who thought he had gathered enough courage, realized he still felt a flicker of fear…
Because the closer Keizumi drew, the more that instinctive dread inside him swelled.
To the point where he almost couldn't meet the man's eyes.
Uchiha Keizumi stopped just a step away.
"Is your kindness and tolerance something you mean to bestow upon villains?"
His voice was cold as it rang in Hayate's ear. "When an evildoer kills an innocent person, what kind of method do you think could bring them the punishment they truly deserve? What should justice do to let the innocent victim rest in peace in the Pure Land?"
"Don't hold back. Say whatever you truly believe."
Hayate froze in place.
He had come here simply to ask why Keizumi hadn't spared his last remaining blood relative that day.
But every word thundering in his ear kept him from voicing that question.
"This twisted, sick shinobi world doesn't just breed countless evils—it has made many people numb to 'evil' itself, unable to feel enough outrage even toward the vilest, most repulsive acts."
As Gekkō Hayate remained silent, Uchiha Keizumi spoke slowly.
"Before you question why justice had to kill your closest kin, why don't you first think about what he did? Why don't you think about your mother—what her state of mind and feelings were—right before he killed her?"
"Gekkō Hayate, feel for yourself the despair your mother felt as she died at the hands of the son she loved most… That is my Absolute Justice—my answer to the doubts in your heart."
The instant Keizumi's indifferent words fell—
Hayate suddenly realized the world before his eyes had shifted completely. He knew at once—it was the Sharingan's genjutsu again.
The gap between his strength and Keizumi's was simply too great.
Twice in a row, he had been caught in genjutsu without sensing any sign of it beforehand.
Wait—
Something felt… familiar.
"This is… the Gekkō clan's compound?!"
The next second, he found his body moving without his control.
No… this wasn't his body. It felt more like his consciousness had been placed inside another.
Whose body was this?
"Mother, why?!"
A voice achingly familiar rang out from behind him. "Just because Gekkō Hayate is one year older than me, all the clan's resources have to go to him? Just because he's the eldest son, the future of the Gekkō clan must be entrusted to that sickly weakling? Does that mean he's to become the future clan head?!"
Hayate's eyes widened.
That voice from behind… it was his younger brother, Gekkō Seisui—the brother already killed by Uchiha Keizumi!
Then…
Could the body his consciousness now inhabited be… his mother's?
"He's just a frail invalid! If the Gekkō clan's future is left to him, we'll never have the chance to avenge Father! Who knows if that sickly wretch might suddenly die? Have you forgotten—you still have the man who killed your husband to take revenge on?"
Behind him, Seisui's voice grew sharper and more agitated.
Hearing this, Hayate fell silent.
So this was…
How his little brother saw him?
"Seisui," came a woman's voice from the body he was inhabiting. "Do not speak ill of your brother. Hayate may have a sickly body, but his talent surpasses yours, and his temperament is far more steady than yours."
"Seisui, you are too extreme—blinded by hatred. If the Gekkō clan were entrusted to you, with your nature it wouldn't be long before you dragged the entire clan into ruin."
Hayate recognized it instantly—it was his mother's voice.
Wait—
Was this scene… the reenactment of the moment of her death?!
"I'm sorry, Seisui. The position of future clan head belongs to your brother Hayate. This was decided long ago—"
[Thud!]
A dull, heavy blow sounded from behind. Hayate's eyes flew wide as he felt the same searing pain in the back of his skull.
His body pitched forward without his will. In his chest, disbelief swelled violently. The metallic tang of blood filled his nose, and a warm, wet sensation spread across the back of his head.
Shock.
Bewilderment.
Confusion.
Grief.
One emotion after another erupted uncontrollably within Gekkō Hayate's heart. He was certain these feelings weren't his own. Could these… be his mother's emotions?
In that moment, Hayate felt with absolute clarity everything his mother had experienced in the final moments of her life.
She couldn't understand why her younger son had suddenly lashed out to kill her.
She began to blame herself, wondering if she had somehow failed him.
In her last breath, she wanted so desperately to look upon her child's face one last time, to speak a few final words to him.
"Ha… ha… ha…"
The heavy, ragged breathing of Gekkō Seisui sounded from behind.
"This… this is all your fault… You never treated me as your real son. You handed my future over to that sickly wretch! You even forgot to avenge Father's death! Someone like you has no right to be my mother!"
"Wait… wait, calm down. Hah… I need to calm down. I have to hide your body—no one can find it… or I'm finished. Hah… I can't bury you inside Konoha. I'll have to bury you outside the village…"
Once again, Hayate felt his mother's emotions. She wanted to tell her second son—the one who had killed her—not to bury her body outside the village, because it would surely be discovered.
And if it was found, his life would be ruined.
Yet… she could no longer speak.
Even in the moment of her death, she felt not the slightest hatred for the son who had killed her.
At that instant—
Hayate's sorrow ignited into fury, and that fury sharpened into killing intent. But this killing intent was not aimed at Uchiha Keizumi—it was aimed at the utterly corrupted Gekkō Seisui.
He wanted to sever the arms that had slain their mother and demand, face to face, why he had done such a thing.
More than that—he wanted to take Seisui's head, to make his brother, twisted beyond all redemption, awaken in the afterlife.
And then, from a first-person view, Hayate "watched" helplessly as his younger brother hefted their mother's corpse onto his shoulder.
Using the Transparent kekkei genkai under cover of night, Seisui quietly carried the body beyond Konoha's borders.
Hayate watched as his brother's face twisted into a vicious snarl while he tossed the body into a deep pit, shoveling dirt over it, handful by handful—
Until the earth completely covered his mother's face.
The Sharingan's genjutsu scene ended abruptly.
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