After serving two years in the harsh confines of Konoha Prison—living on plain, meagre meals every day and feeling as if she had lost well over ten kilograms—Mitarashi Anko had indeed been released by order of the Third Hokage.
She could still recall the Hokage's words to her.
—"Anko, what you call your crimes… were nothing more than Orochimaru using you without your knowledge. Five years of prison would be too much. Two years is enough to cleanse you of that guilt, and to ensure you've cut ties with Orochimaru completely."
—"Moreover, you can't even remember exactly what evil deeds you unknowingly helped him commit. Punishing you so heavily would be unreasonable."
—"Right now, Konoha needs every capable person. As Hokage, I can pardon you. I hope you'll hold fast to the Will of Fire—there's no need to dwell on the past."
Back then, Anko had asked Sarutobi Hiruzen, "What if I run into Uchiha Keizumi?"
Hiruzen's answer had been: "I am the Hokage. No matter how extreme Keizumi's personality, there are times when he must listen to me. Even if he dislikes my actions, he will ultimately understand me."
At the time, Anko believed him.
Now… she felt she had believed far too readily.
"Two choices." Uchiha Keizumi's tone was calm and composed, not at all forceful. "Choose the freedom the Third Hokage granted you and stand on the opposite side of [Absolute Justice], making yourself my enemy. Or lay down your weapons and surrender."
"Anko, you…"
The kunoichi beside her swallowed nervously and glanced at Mitarashi Anko.
"…Option two."
Anko released the thin steel wire in her hand without hesitation. It took her less than a hundredth of a second to make her decision.
Tachibana Jirō let out a surprised click of his tongue. "First time I've seen someone surrender so cleanly. I thought we'd be adding one more criminal to the list of those dying by Keizumi-sama's hand today!"
Anko's expression was complicated as she looked at Uchiha Keizumi. She said, "We were in the same class at the Academy. It's precisely because I know him that I know what I should do."
Tachibana Jirō: "!!"
He suddenly recalled… Keizumi-sama usually couldn't be bothered to remember the names of the countless criminals he had either killed or thrown into prison—there were simply too many.
Yet he remembered this Mitarashi Anko.
So that was the connection.
Uchiha Keizumi spoke in an indifferent tone. "Follow me for a while. When I'm finished here, I'll take you back to Konoha."
Anko forced a faint smile and said to her companion, "You'll have to take Ryōichirō's body back yourself and report to the Hokage."
She didn't ask what Uchiha Keizumi was busy with.
Since she had chosen to back down in her heart, she would follow through completely.
"Anko, but he killed—"
Anko cut her off. "No one who dies at Uchiha Keizumi's hand is innocent."
She paused, then added, "And the ones he throws into prison… are no exception."
Although Anko couldn't clearly remember what exactly she had done to help Orochimaru, she firmly believed she was guilty.
…
Land of Fire.
Tanzaku Town.
A tall man in wooden clogs crouched conspicuously in the middle of the street, his long white hair, bristled like needles at the back of his head, hanging down to the ground.
He ran his fingertip along the gap between paving stones, scraping out bits of dried residue. The fragments of darkened blood clung to his skin, and he brought them to his tongue for a light taste.
"…Human blood."
Jiraiya slowly straightened, sweeping his gaze across the street before him.
Although the street had been scrubbed clean, the blood in the cracks between the stones was far harder to remove. Everywhere he looked, the gaps along the length of the street were stained with dried, blackened blood.
It was as if he could see the ground littered with corpses from that night, as if Tanzaku Town were still ablaze and awash in blood.
He also noticed the complicated expressions on the faces of the passersby around him.
Many buildings on both sides of the street were nothing but charred ruins.
Casinos, dance halls, bathhouses, clubs—every kind of den of vice was either shut tight or already burned to the ground.
The bustling prosperity of Tanzaku Town was gone.
A few questions were enough for Jiraiya to learn roughly how many had died that night.
"Several hundred people… That kid Uchiha Keizumi went a little too far this time, didn't he?!" A flicker of shock and shadow crossed Jiraiya's eyes, and he couldn't help silently criticizing Sarutobi Hiruzen: The old man really did indulge him to make use of his [Absolute Justice]. And now, the consequence of that indulgence is that Uchiha Keizumi has become dangerously uncontrollable.
But after digging a bit deeper, Jiraiya suddenly found that the situation wasn't quite what he had imagined.
"All the ones who died that night were criminals?" He looked at a local resident of Tanzaku Town, frowning. "Not a single innocent caught in the crossfire?!"
Under the lure of Jiraiya's money, the resident left nothing unsaid: "When we were cleaning up the bodies, we made sure to look at every face. They were either gangsters, hired samurai muscle, ninja who bullied others, or people involved in shady dealings behind the scenes."
"There were a few bodies burned so badly we couldn't tell who they were. But… everyone we could identify wasn't a good person. That Uchiha Keizumi fellow… scary as he is, it seems he only killed villains."
Jiraiya fell silent. If what the resident said was true—that everyone killed had already deserved death…
Does this mean Uchiha Keizumi had been secretly investigating the situation in Tanzaku Town for some time?
That his massacre that night was actually a "justice-driven sweep"?
Could it be that he had been planning it for a long while?
"I see…"
Jiraiya muttered, "No wonder Tsunade didn't try to stop his extreme actions. With her personality… once she knew Uchiha Keizumi was only killing criminals, she'd likely turn a blind eye—maybe even 'unintentionally' cooperate with him."
After calming his thoughts a little, Jiraiya tried to find out Tsunade's whereabouts, only to learn that "The Legendary Sucker" of Tanzaku Town had left early the morning before yesterday.
Reportedly… she had left with a large group of children, heading in the direction of Konoha.
Jiraiya was left puzzled.
Uchiha Keizumi…
Tsunade…
What exactly was going on between those two?
…
Konoha.
Hokage Building.
"Hiruzen, why didn't you inform us about such a major incident sooner?"
Koharu and Homura had come to find Sarutobi Hiruzen. Koharu's aged face held a trace of anger as she spoke sharply, "That was Tanzaku Town! A significant portion of the Land of Fire's tax revenue comes from there! And much of the tax collected from Tanzaku Town is part of Konoha's ninja budget!"
She drew a deep breath, trying to calm herself, but failed.
Clenching her teeth, Koharu continued, "Nine years ago, Uchiha Keizumi killed dozens of people in Tanzaku Town, nearly shutting the place down. At that time, I demanded you summon him back to be held accountable, but you brushed it aside with the excuse that 'the battlefield needs a dual–kekkei genkai shinobi to stabilize the front.'"
"Back then, I already felt that your indulgence would only make such behavior more severe. And now, nine years later, just a few days ago, he's done it again."
"And what's more…"
Koharu inhaled deeply. "This time, over a hundred people are dead! And that's just the tip of the iceberg, according to the three shinobi who witnessed it—they didn't even conduct a deeper investigation."
"The tip of the iceberg they saw was already over a hundred bodies. What about the full picture? Could it be several hundred, or even a thousand corpses?"
"Hiruzen, Tanzaku Town is home to many pillar industries of powerful families from the Land of Fire! Many nobles even spend their leisure time there!"
"Can you guarantee Uchiha Keizumi didn't kill a single noble? He's the one who dared to kill the daimyō's heir!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's face was expressionless as he held his kiseru, the curling smoke from it veiling half his face.
Seated in his chair, he lifted his eyelids slightly, glancing at the still-agitated Koharu.
He said, "How could I possibly not know all that you've just said? The problem is, it's already happened. By the time I learned of it, several days had already passed. Am I supposed to go back in time and send someone to stop Uchiha Keizumi?"
With his free hand, Hiruzen rubbed his aching brow.
"Other than waiting for Keizumi to return, what else can I do? Koharu, Homura—you're Konoha's senior advisors. You tell me—what else can this old man do now?!"
"Run off to Tanzaku Town, take samples of cells from all the dead, then revive them all with the Impure World Reincarnation—and pretend nothing ever happened?!"
"Or should we send every single ANBU and Root operative in the village to capture Uchiha Keizumi under the pretext of 'arresting a criminal and rogue ninja'?!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's voice was low and heavy. "You both should know—were the people Keizumi killed… truly innocent?"
"His justice puts him above the letter of the law. If the villagers were to learn that I had killed an Uchiha who punishes evil and champions good, what would they think of me as Hokage?"
"Don't forget…"
"Uchiha Keizumi's [Absolute Justice] has already gained initial recognition from quite a number of people in the village. The times have changed."
"[Absolute Justice] is no longer seen as a plague everyone avoids."
At those words, a faint trace of pain flickered in Hiruzen's eyes.
And wasn't this one of the reasons he couldn't bring himself to take revenge on Uchiha Keizumi?
He couldn't even understand how it had come to this—why, in such a short time, so many people had come to acknowledge Keizumi's justice. It hadn't been this way before in the village.
Hiruzen felt as though he were close to grasping something important…
But that fleeting spark always slipped away through his fingers.
"Hokage-sama!" Suddenly, an ANBU operative stepped into the Hokage's office and reported, "A Konoha kunoichi named 'Shizune' has returned alone to the village. She says—Tsunade-sama will be back soon."
Hiruzen, Koharu, and Homura all froze.
Tsunade… coming back?!
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