"Pfft!!!"
"What?!"
In a small town of the Land of Fire, not far from Tanzaku Town—
Jiraiya was so shocked that he spat out the sake in his mouth.
He shot to his feet and strode over to the table beside him, slipping right in among the guests. When he pulled a wad of cash from his robe, the displeasure on their faces immediately melted away.
Patting the bundle of bills, Jiraiya forced a casual smile. "Drinks are on me for your whole table. So—mind telling me exactly what happened over in Tanzaku Town?"
Under the irresistible lure of money, Jiraiya transformed into "Information-Gathering Jiraiya."
From the mouths of the guests at that table, he quickly pieced together a wealth of details.
The forced ease on his face flickered with an unmistakable heaviness—and more than a little astonishment.
Returning to his own table, Jiraiya held his empty sake cup, brows drawn tight. "With that kid's extreme personality, it's actually not impossible he'd kill hundreds. Especially in a place like Tanzaku Town, a gathering ground for all sorts. But… hundreds of dead? That's far too excessive, too over the top."
"Has the old man really not tried to rein in that kid's behavior? After all these years, you'd think he'd have managed to make the boy at least a little more normal. Unless… the old man's been indulging Uchiha Keizumi all along, maybe even trying to use his [Absolute Justice] to intimidate certain people in the village."
"In the end, that kind of indulgence only made the boy more reckless—until even the old man couldn't control him anymore. This… this is just like with Danzō."
To Jiraiya, that possibility was all too real—Sarutobi Hiruzen had a precedent for this.
Danzō was the result of Hiruzen's overindulgence.
And from what Jiraiya knew of the Third Hokage…
It was entirely possible for him to step into the same trap twice.
"No…"
Jiraiya had barely sat down—hadn't even warmed the seat—before he was back on his feet.
He slipped a bill beneath the empty sake cup and walked straight out of the tavern, brows furrowed in thought.
"Tsunade's almost certainly in Tanzaku Town. Even if she no longer involves herself in shinobi affairs, if she were to run into a kid this out of control, odds are she wouldn't resist stepping in. That's just the fiery, headstrong woman she is."
The more he thought about it, the less right it felt. Maybe the only way to get any clarity was to head to Tanzaku Town himself.
As for his main goal—[tracking down Orochimaru]?
When hundreds of people die overnight, it's hard to say which matter is more urgent.
For now, he decided to take on the one that seemed easier to check first.
Besides, Tanzaku Town wasn't all that far.
…
Half a day later.
[Puchi—]
A sharp ninja blade pierced straight through the chest of a Konoha shinobi carrying out a mission outside the village.
The man's body trembled as he gripped the blade with both hands, but with a slight twist of the weapon, all strength drained from his body. Several of his fingers snapped under the strain.
As he collapsed helplessly to the ground, his vision dimming into darkness, he mumbled in a bewildered tone, "W-Why…? We're from the same village…"
Uchiha Keizumi pulled the blade free, flicked the blood clean, and slid it back into its sheath.
"Because you committed a crime—nine years ago, during the Third Shinobi World War, you killed an innocent family of five for your own momentary pleasure."
Keizumi's voice was cold. "Perhaps, back then, that family of five also asked the same question you just did—Why? Why would a Konoha shinobi, a fellow citizen of the Land of Fire, slaughter them?"
The Konoha shinobi, his consciousness fading, was filled with bitter regret.
Who could have thought that something from nine years ago would come back for him now…
Who could have thought anyone would bother with such a 'trivial matter'…
And who could have imagined that, despite him never telling a soul, the Uchiha before him knew it all in perfect detail!
[Ding! You have successfully slain a "Red-Name" villain! Your chakra has slightly increased! Congratulations, you have successfully obtained: "Shuriken Throwing Technique" Skill Book ×2!]
"The odds of a ninja being a good person are really low, meow!" Tachibana Jirō remarked from the side.
On the way to the capital of the Land of Fire, he and Keizumi-sama had already run into five or six Konoha shinobi.
Keizumi-sama had left only three alive; the other three had become unburied corpses.
Among the three spared, one had committed crimes—though not enough for execution. Keizumi-sama had severed one of his legs; even if reattached, it was unlikely he would ever move freely again.
Tachibana Jirō cast a contemptuous glance at the corpse on the ground. He had nothing but disdain for such sinful people and felt no shred of pity for them.
Just as he was about to continue on the road, he noticed that Keizumi-sama had made no move to depart.
Tachibana Jirō froze.
Before he could speak, Uchiha Keizumi, as if reading his thoughts, said impassively, "When Konoha shinobi go on missions, unless they are powerful jōnin, they usually operate in teams of three, at the very least in pairs."
That single sentence was enough for Tachibana Jirō to immediately understand.
He clicked his tongue. "Keizumi-sama wants to see if the other one or two have committed any crimes?"
"Mm."
Uchiha Keizumi's tone was indifferent. "Ninja possess power far beyond that of ordinary people. When such a person carries sin yet continues to live, the evil they will cause in the future will only be worse. And the number of innocents who will suffer from their evil will grow."
Just as Tachibana Jirō was about to speak, a shout from the distance drew both his and Uchiha Keizumi's eyes in that direction.
"Ryōichirō! Anko and I have alrea—"
The sudden shout cut off abruptly.
A Konoha kunoichi had appeared without warning, her eyes going wide in shock as she stared at the scene before her.
In her line of sight—a Konoha shinobi wearing the uniform of the Uchiha Police Force stood beside a corpse, blood gushing from a wound in its chest. The man's blade was sheathed, yet the flecks of blood spattered across the hem of his clothes told her clearly enough: the "killer" was this Uchiha Police Force shinobi.
The corpse at her feet was none other than the "Ryōichirō" she had just called out to.
She had just witnessed an act of "fratricide" between shinobi of the same village—
And the victim was her own comrade, with whom she had been sent out of the village on a mission.
Horrified, the kunoichi hastily drew the blade from her waist and leapt back several steps. Her eyes, wide with fear, fixed on the side profile of Uchiha Keizumi as she shouted, unable to hide the tremor in her voice, "Who are you? Why did you kill a fellow Konoha shinobi?"
Before Keizumi could answer, another figure came rushing in.
This newcomer was clearly more seasoned than the woman.
Upon seeing the body of a comrade on the ground, his pupils contracted sharply. Without hesitation, he drew four kunai, each tagged with an explosive seal, and hurled them toward Keizumi at lightning speed.
[Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!]
The four kunai landed with precision, embedding themselves into the ground at Keizumi's front, back, left, and right.
Each had not only an explosive tag affixed to it, but also a fine steel wire trailing from the end.
"Don't move!"
Mitarashi Anko's voice was low and cold as she warned, "If you make any unnecessary movement, I'll detonate them immediately—"
She didn't finish the sentence.
Anko suddenly noticed that the "unknown enemy" was wearing the uniform of Konoha's Uchiha Police Force. And that side profile… it looked familiar.
There were only a handful of Uchiha shinobi whose faces she recognized.
As a few names flashed through her mind, her sharp eyes went wide.
"…Uchiha Keizumi!!!"
In an instant, cold sweat beaded down her back. Anko couldn't help regretting her rashness.
"Uchiha Keizumi?" the kunoichi beside her, despite her fear, also froze for a moment.
A second later, her expression mirrored Anko's almost exactly.
"Long time no see, Anko." Keizumi stepped over the corpse of the Konoha shinobi at his feet. Even though his steady approach was a blatant disregard for her warning, the sweat-soaked Anko didn't dare detonate the tags.
Keizumi's voice was calm, almost quiet, but it made cold sweat run down her forehead. "If I'm not mistaken, you should be in Konoha Prison, not out here moving about freely."
At that moment, Tachibana Jirō's voice rang out in realization, "I remember now, meow—you're that disciple of Orochimaru, aren't you?"
"Two years ago, Keizumi-sama ran into you. He discovered that, without your own knowledge, you'd carried out several evil deeds for Orochimaru. But even judged by the standard of [Absolute Justice], your crimes weren't enough to warrant death. Keizumi-sama merely threw you into Konoha Prison and ordered you to spend five years there reflecting on your actions."
Tachibana Jirō narrowed his feline eyes, speaking in human tongue as he stared at Mitarashi Anko. Licking his paw, he continued, "It's only been two years. Meow, don't tell me the flow of time in Konoha Prison is different from that outside?"
"Or perhaps…"
"Just like that brat Naruto before, you were released early under a 'special pardon' by the Third Hokage? No wonder the old man handled it so smoothly back then—it turns out he'd already done it once before."
Mitarashi Anko: "…"
Her silence confirmed Tachibana Jirō's guess.
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