A blood-soaked chunk of flesh slid down Mitarashi Anko's face and fell to the ground with a wet plop. Dazed, she wiped at the dampness on her cheek—only to find her hand smeared in blood.
Her gaze swept the area. Three pools of fresh blood stained the earth, and scattered pieces of human flesh littered her entire field of vision.
The words Uchiha Keizumi had spoken lingered, echoing faintly in her ears.
Anko suddenly realized she might have made a grave mistake.
Breathing in the thick stench of blood that hung in the air, she cast a look back at Uchiha Keizumi with the air of one resigned to her fate.
Though his expression barely shifted, she still apologized with guilt in her voice.
"If I hadn't attacked him… maybe you could have left one of them alive?"
She suspected that Orochimaru had placed some sort of strange curse mark on these three shinobi.
And the trigger for that mark… was either killing them outright or pushing them to the brink of death.
Perhaps it was the venom from her own Multiple Hidden Shadow Snake Hands that had activated the curse mark on the last one alive.
"It doesn't matter," Uchiha Keizumi said. "With Orochimaru's style, even if that man hadn't been injured at all, the curse mark he'd planted in his body would have been activated anyway."
Anko froze. "You… sound like you know Orochimaru very well?"
"He's a 'evil' I'd long wanted to purge years ago," Keizumi replied. "Unfortunately, my [Absolute Justice] was still too weak back then. The one perfect opportunity was the day he defected—but even then, I still failed to kill him."
Anko began to understand why Orochimaru kept such a close eye on Uchiha Keizumi.
To be stared down, day after day, by a 'Lava Release beast' like him… Orochimaru must have felt as if he had a thorn lodged deep in his back.
While her mind whirled with speculation, she noticed Keizumi simply walking away, as if the three shinobi Orochimaru had sent could not stir the slightest ripple in his heart.
Anko had no choice but to shake off her thoughts and hurry after him.
She hadn't forgotten—she was still a "prisoner," only temporarily allowed some freedom of movement.
Those three shredded corpses, along with the criminals Keizumi had cut down along the way, served as constant reminders: never defy Uchiha Keizumi's [Absolute Justice]…
Otherwise…
She might very well be the next corpse.
…
"Heh… so all the curse marks were triggered? They died so quickly. I'd wager those three didn't even have the strength to resist before that brat killed them in an instant."
Somewhere in Konohagakure—
Deep inside an underground research base, Orochimaru narrowed his eyes slightly.
Clearly, he had sensed something—hence his words.
"Looks like the olive branch I extended was refused." He let his tongue, slick and wet, slip out to lick the corner of his mouth.
A sinister smile curved across his unnervingly pale face.
"As always, you see me as your enemy."
"Unfortunately for you, your rejection won't make me give up my desire for your body. In fact… it only makes me more interested in you."
"Because your growth has far surpassed my expectations! This body… is far too perfect to serve as my vessel."
"Heh… Don't you dare die before I meet you in person!"
As Orochimaru spoke with a sinister grin, his voice laced with malice, he suddenly seemed to sense something. The smile on his face slowly faded. A flicker of displeasure—and a trace of killing intent—passed through his golden, slit-pupiled eyes before he quickly masked it.
Speaking into the empty air, Orochimaru said, "Heh… You always show up uninvited. It's really quite irritating. Isn't there another way to contact me? Do you have to come here in person?"
"Konoha's Sannin… you really are sharp," came a voice.
From the wall behind him, a black-and-white figure slowly emerged.
Orochimaru turned, narrowing his eyes.
"Zetsu… Heh, you know my name, but I don't know anything about your background. Don't you think that's a little unfair?"
Without the slightest change in expression, Zetsu replied, "Don't take out your anger or dissatisfaction on me. I was sent by the 'Leader.'"
"He told me to give you a warning—no matter where you hide… Akatsuki will find you quickly. Don't think you can join Akatsuki and then do nothing. You can't enjoy the benefits of being in Akatsuki without working for it. The world doesn't work that way."
"As you can see, I'm just the messenger."
Orochimaru's eyes narrowed to slits, the killing intent in their depths no longer concealed. His tone was icy. "So… is there a task for me?"
Zetsu's voice remained calm.
"Uchiha Keizumi… the Konoha shinobi with two kekkei genkai. You've heard of him, haven't you? After all, before you defected, you were one of Konoha's Sannin."
A barely noticeable flash of surprise crossed Orochimaru's eyes.
Then, his lips curved into a smile.
"So… Akatsuki has taken an interest in him?"
More precisely—Obito has been oddly fixated on that brat lately. For some reason, the kid seems to know something about everything, to the point that it's almost become an obsession, Zetsu thought privately. That guy even suspected I was the one feeding Uchiha Keizumi information… I had to prove otherwise to him.
On the surface, Zetsu's tone remained flat.
"You only need to share the intelligence you have and follow the Leader's instructions."
Clearly—
Obito intended to use Akatsuki's resources to investigate Uchiha Keizumi.
Someone who knew so much about him…
Was far too dangerous to be left alone.
Orochimaru was about to speak, but then paused, a thought flickering in his mind. He gave a cold, serpentine smile and asked instead, "Is this really the Leader's order?"
"What do you think?" Zetsu replied.
"Heh…"
Orochimaru gave a noncommittal chuckle.
…
Half a day later.
Evening.
Capital of the Land of Fire.
Mitarashi Anko had assumed Uchiha Keizumi only needed to pass through the Land of Fire's capital on the way to some other task. She hadn't expected him to stop here entirely.
"We're here."
Those two simple words made her realize—the capital was his destination.
"Meow!" Tachibana Jirō let out a feline cry before speaking.
"Even though I was born and raised in the Land of Fire, this is my first time coming here, meow! If I'm not mistaken, Keizumi-sama, you haven't been to the Land of Fire's capital before either, meow?"
"Mm."
Uchiha Keizumi gave a brief response, his gaze calmly sweeping over the bustling scene before him.
What outsiders saw as vibrant prosperity, he saw as a place steeped in hidden sin.
With just a single glance, Keizumi spotted two red-name criminals ahead, along with more than a dozen white-name individuals.
"Even in the most prosperous, most central districts, 'evil' cannot be suppressed. Or rather… the more prosperous and central the place, the more it becomes a breeding ground for 'sin.'"
That single sentence made Tachibana Jirō begin to suspect something.
But Mitarashi Anko beside him was at a loss.
She had left the village on a mission with two fellow shinobi before the news spread through all of Konoha that Uchiha Keizumi possessed eyes that could see the evils of the past and the evils of the future.
Hearing his words now, she carefully studied each person walking past them or in front of them.
But she saw nothing unusual.
Just as doubt began to stir in her mind—unsure how to even ask—she suddenly caught sight of Uchiha Keizumi slowly drawing the shinobi blade from his waist.
The silver-bright blade still bore traces of blood that hadn't been completely wiped away.
Anko's sharp eyes noticed that the edge was slightly dulled—how many people had this sword cut down in recent days?
But…
Wasn't the bigger issue that he was pulling out such a dangerous weapon in front of so many people?
Even for a shinobi, wasn't this a bit too flashy?
Surely it would draw unnecessary trouble.
And sure enough—
In less than three seconds, two men dressed like samurai came hurrying over, hands gripping their swords. One of them barked sharply, "Hey, shinobi up ahead! What are you doing? Put that blade away! This is the capital of the Land of Fire, not some countryside place like Konoha! Don't go brandishing weapons like that in front of the important people here!"
Konoha…
Countryside…
Those two words could be used together?
Anko's lips twitched ever so slightly. Truly worthy of being capital folk of the Land of Fire.
"Hey! I was talking to you! Didn't you hear me?" The two samurai stepped directly in front of Uchiha Keizumi.
"Perfect."
Keizumi's gaze lingered just above the tops of their heads, his voice low and shadowed.
"Saves me the trouble of walking over."
The words made the two samurai uneasy, though they couldn't explain why. Instinctively, their hands tightened on their sword hilts.
Passersby, seeing this tense standoff, began stopping to watch with curious eyes.
Beside them, Anko's pupils contracted. A bad feeling surged in her chest, and she hurried to whisper a warning.
"Keizumi, these armed samurai are the capital's law enforcers. You can think of them like the Uchiha Police Force—"
But before she could finish, Keizumi spoke again, cutting her words off entirely.
"Adachi Tsugito. Ten years ago, during an enforcement operation, you mistakenly killed a man. When a male family member of the victim sought justice, you broke both his legs; the victim's female family member was then dragged into your home and, together with your colleague, Sakikawa Keiji, you violated and defiled her, driving her to hang herself out of unbearable shame."
Uchiha Keizumi shifted his gaze to the other samurai. Under the man's horrified stare, and in full view of the public, he continued in a cold, unflinching tone: "Sakikawa Keiji… Ten years ago, along with your fellow officer Adachi Tsugito, you violated a woman, causing her to hang herself."
"As members of the Capital Police Force of the Land of Fire, you knowingly broke the law, committing crimes of extreme depravity. A decade has passed without either of you turning yourselves in—proof that you feel no remorse for the evil you committed back then."
"You country shinobi, what the hell are you talking about?! Don't think that just because you're a ninja you can spout nonsense! This is the capital of the Land of Fire, not your backwater Konoha!" Sakikawa Keiji was the first to crack under the pressure.
The mix of urgency and anger on his face had already betrayed his heart.
He shouted at Keizumi, "You say I've broken the law, committed evil? That I've violated a woman? Then tell me—what proof do you have, Konoha shinobi?
"Making baseless accusations without evidence is an insult to my personal dignity under the laws of the Land of Fire! You're also guilty of spreading slander in front of the public!
"And… and—"
But the moment his eyes met Uchiha Keizumi's, an inexplicable fear welled up from deep within him, choking off the rest of his words.
Expressionless, Keizumi said, "You'll have your evidence soon enough."
"Then show—"
[Pchhk.]
In the next instant, Mitarashi Anko watched in shock as Keizumi, without a single flourish, swung his blade into the throat of the samurai standing to the left.
A Konoha jōnin against an ordinary samurai…
It was as easy as crushing an ant.
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