Tsunade arched an eyebrow. "So you saw me make no move to stop that brat Uchiha Keizumi from killing hundreds of people, and you were worried something had happened to me?"
"Ahem!" Jiraiya nodded. "That's more or less it. I acted on impulse and followed you out of concern."
"Tch. And why would I stop that kid?"
Waving her hand dismissively, Tsunade said, "Besides, nothing happened to me. If you've got time to waste, you'd be better off catching that bastard Orochimaru. Ever since he defected from Konoha, it's been far too long since I've seen him. When you catch him, make sure to land a few solid punches first—shake some sense into him."
But Jiraiya didn't leave. Instead, he stayed put, curiosity prompting him to ask, "Tsunade, are those kids behind you one of the reasons you didn't stop Uchiha Keizumi?"
A shadow passed through Tsunade's eyes.
"Jiraiya, tell me… just how bad do you think a person can be?" she asked instead of answering directly.
Jiraiya paused, rubbing his chin before replying, "A person's malice grows endlessly alongside their desires, but… I'd like to think it still has limits. The most evil person I've met…"
He hesitated, exhaled, and said with a complicated look, "Would probably be our old friend Orochimaru. His malice comes from the excesses of his ambition."
"Then you're still underestimating the evil in the shinobi world." Tsunade's voice dropped to a murmur. "Orochimaru's evil is selfish, arrogant, willful. It's the kind of evil that provokes disgust, dislike, and anger—makes you feel he's simply not on your side."
"But…"
Her gaze locked with Jiraiya's across the distance, her voice heavy.
"The evil I've seen through Uchiha Keizumi… it's the kind that makes you seethe with hatred, that makes you lose control of your own killing intent—and even fills you with a despairing loathing for this entire shinobi world."
"It makes me feel… this shinobi world shouldn't be like this. It makes it impossible for me to stay indifferent to the evil I see before my eyes, and even more impossible to ignore what's happening right in front of me."
Jiraiya was momentarily taken aback.
Tsunade's next words were as blunt as a blade: "That night, Uchiha Keizumi did kill several hundred people. The reason I didn't stop him… was because I was following right behind him—and I killed nineteen myself."
"These children… they're all pitiful souls. I can't find a better orphanage to take them in for now, so I'm bringing them to Konoha, to see if the old man will agree to shelter them."
"I can tell you exactly what happened, but I can't say it in front of them. They've only just managed to forget it all."
She paused, then continued, "It was Uchiha Keizumi who used the power of his Sharingan to make them forget. That brat nearly exhausted his own ocular power to the point of collapse just to do it."
Jiraiya: "!!"
For some reason, what he'd just heard from Tsunade didn't quite match the image he'd had of Uchiha Keizumi.
It seemed this Uchiha Keizumi had managed to influence Tsunade… in just a single day.
…
Land of Fire.
The capital.
News that a Konoha shinobi had killed three people in broad daylight was causing a stir in the capital—especially since two of them were members of the city's Police Force. The incident had alarmed many of the Land of Fire's elites… and even reached the ears of the daimyō himself.
"A Konoha shinobi?"
"Killed people in the street?"
The daimyō's brows furrowed deeply. He had expected the return of Asuma and the Twelve Guardian Ninja—but instead, he was met with the news of a murderous ninja. Anxiety gnawed at him again.
It was only thanks to the Twelve Guardian Ninja that he could sit securely in his position as the daimyō of the Land of Fire, without fear of assassination or of other nobles plotting to overthrow him.
Without their protection, he now felt like a child in a crowded marketplace with gold hanging from his neck.
The unease clawing at his heart made him irritable.
A lingering sense of dread had him pacing back and forth.
Suddenly, an idea struck him. Taking a deep breath to keep his composure, he turned to the retainer who had come to report the news.
"Announce a bounty on that ninja! Offer eight million ryō… no—make it ten million! I want every shinobi in the capital to know about this bounty."
If there was one thing the daimyō had in abundance, it was money.
Spending a fortune to remove such an unstable and threatening factor was worth every coin to him.
After all…
If someone dared to kill in broad daylight in the capital, who could guarantee that lunatic wouldn't walk straight into the daimyō's mansion next?
History in the shinobi world had its share of daimyō assassinated by ninja.
"Yes, daimyō-sama!" The retainer bowed quickly, then hurried off to carry out the order.
But before the daimyō could calm himself—
Another retainer rushed in, breathless.
"Daimyō-sama!"
He blurted out in a panic, "Something terrible has happened! The murderous ninja who killed in the streets—he's broken into the Yūki Clan's compound! And… and when he came out… his entire body was covered in blood!"
"When the Police Force samurai entered the Yūki Clan compound to investigate, they found that out of more than fifty members of the clan, only eleven remained alive!"
"All of the ninja bodyguards they had hired were slaughtered! The… the clan head of the Yūki Clan—his head was severed!"
"The eleven survivors were mostly hired maids and gardeners! They were all terrified out of their wits!"
The shocking report nearly made the daimyō of the Land of Fire stop breathing.
The Yūki Clan was a noble family with a history spanning centuries—already a regional power long before the founding of Konohagakure.
They owned extensive industries across the Land of Fire, deeply intertwined with nearly every facet of its economy.
When the Hokage of Konoha met with the Yūki Clan's leader, while not deferential, he would at least show some courtesy—after all, the clan was one of Konoha's financial backers.
And yet…
Such a prominent and powerful noble family in the Land of Fire had been wiped out in an instant by a single murderous ninja?!
With only eleven survivors—most of them mere servants—even if one or two actual Yūki blood relatives had managed to cling to life, it was still effectively the destruction of the clan.
A chilling cold shot up the daimyō's spine to the crown of his head.
Asuma…
Kazuma…
Chiriku…
And the rest of the Twelve Guardian Ninja…
When will you return? I feel no sense of safety at all…
The slight tremor in the daimyō's hands betrayed the turmoil inside him.
"You!" he barked at the retainer before him. "Catch the one who just left, and tell him—raise the bounty on that murderous ninja from ten million ryō to thirty… no! Make it fifty million! The daimyō's office will pay for it!"
"Ah?!" The retainer who had brought the urgent report froze, unable to process the sudden order.
"'Ah' what? Go!"
The daimyō's teeth clenched in fury as he kicked the man squarely in the backside, sending him stumbling out the door.
The retainer nearly collided with the daimyō's eldest son, who had just arrived.
The young man sidestepped the flustered retainer and stepped inside, looking in surprise at his father's seething state.
"Father, I heard there was a ninja who killed three people in the marketplace." The daimyō's eldest son hesitated. "Is that why you're so angry now?"
"He killed more than just three people!"
The daimyō drew a deep breath and said to his son, "That unknown murderous ninja… has just all but annihilated the Yūki Clan of the Land of Fire!"
The eldest son: "!!"
…
Meanwhile—
Mitarashi Anko was beyond numb.
She had realized that, in carrying out his justice, Uchiha Keizumi truly took no heed of any external factor. Whether it was samurai of the Capital Police Force or the noble families of the Land of Fire—in his eyes, all were evil-doers to be purged.
When she saw him butcher the Yūki Clan—over fifty people in all—until only a dozen remained alive, she understood completely…
There was no way she could ever talk Keizumi out of it.
She didn't even dare to imagine how many people Uchiha Keizumi would have to kill today to satisfy his "need" to carry out Absolute Justice.
And yet…
What puzzled Anko even more was—looking around the entire capital of the Land of Fire, why had no one stepped in to stop him?
Wasn't the daimyō supposed to have the Twelve Guardian Ninja at his side?
If she remembered correctly, the Hokage's second son, Sarutobi Asuma, was one of them, wasn't he?
So why did it feel like they had vanished without a trace?
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