"Wait!" Forcing himself to remain calm, the Daimyō's eldest son suddenly realized something critical. He spoke quickly: "Father! The Fujiwara, the Taira, the Hōjō, the Nakamura—and that government building in the northeast corner…"
"If you connect those points in a line, they lead straight to the Daimyō's mansion! And…" His voice shook with horror. "He's already close! That Uchiha Keizumi—he's been cutting his way here!"
With a dull thump, the Daimyō collapsed back into his chair, his strength seemingly drained from his body.
His eyes went vacant.
"What do we do… what do we do… Will the shinobi drawn by the fifty-million-ryō bounty be enough to stop him?"
The Daimyō clutched his son's wrist. "Should we raise it to a hundred million? No—five hundred million! A bounty of five hundred million ryō, surely someone would stop him then, wouldn't they?"
Looking down at his father's desperate, broken figure, the Daimyō's heir couldn't bring himself to crush that fragile hope.
Even if there truly were shinobi strong enough to be tempted by five hundred million ryō…
Would they even make it in time?!
[—BOOOOM!!!]
At that very moment, a thunderous roar shook the Daimyō's mansion, delivering the answer to everyone inside.
It was already too late!
…
[Drip.]
[Drip.]
[Drip.]
Molten lava slid from Uchiha Keizumi's body, dripping onto the ground. Behind him stretched a blazing sea of magma, where every last mercenary drawn by the exorbitant fifty-million-ryō bounty had already been consumed.
The pungent stench of sulfur filled the air. Keizumi lazily lifted his gaze forward.
The Daimyō's mansion.
It was right there.
Outside its gates, hundreds of samurai stood, blades trembling in their hands as they tried to block his path.
But they were only warriors of decent skill—good enough to handle several common men at once. Against shinobi, however, they wouldn't stand a chance, not even against a mere Konoha genin.
Much less…
The "magma monster" before them. He couldn't possibly be a genin. At the very least, he had to be a jōnin, right?!
Never in their lives had they faced such a sight!
The waves of scorching heat rolling off him left every last samurai drenched in sweat.
With every step Uchiha Keizumi took forward, the band of samurai before him instinctively stumbled several paces back.
Pressed together in their panic, each retreat sent men shoving into one another, trampling feet, and even accidentally slicing comrades with their own blades, sparking bursts of cursing and chaos.
"Meow, tell me—why is it that such weaklings could ever become the so-called 'upper class' of the shinobi world?" Tachibana Jirō perched on top of Anko's head, treating her as his new mount. "On what basis do they carry such blind confidence, believing themselves superior by birth, convinced their lives are worth more than others, and so they toy with human lives at will?"
Anko, her mind dulled and numb from the scene unfolding before her eyes, didn't even react to the ninja cat squatting atop her head.
She murmured dully, "Because… that's what the shinobi world is. Long, long ago… it was always like this."
"Meow? If it's always been like this, does that make it right?" Jirō pressed.
He went on, "Keizumi-sama once called these self-proclaimed higher beings 'Celestial Dragons.' Meow, I don't know what that means, but from his tone of disdain, it's clearly nothing good."
"Keizumi-sama also said this: when they consider themselves superior, when they show no respect for innocent life, then their very existence is already a breeding ground for sin."
"Among their kind, only a rare few can restrain themselves. Kill them all, and surely some would be wrongly judged. Kill every other one, and there will still be many who slip through the cracks, meow."
Just as Anko froze, lost in thought at those words—
She suddenly heard Keizumi's voice.
"Konoha Police Force law enforcement. All unrelated parties, withdraw at once."
Standing calmly before the hundreds of samurai, Keizumi's tone was cold and flat. "Otherwise… you will be executed without mercy."
[Clatter—]
A samurai's sword slipped from trembling hands and fell to the ground.
Like the first toppled domino, it sent terror rippling through the others, who frantically dropped their own weapons in turn.
They were no trained shinobi.
At the moment their lives were truly threatened—when they realized that no matter how they fought, it would change nothing—
Who among them would still be willing to die for the Daimyō of the Land of Fire?
All that risk, for a meager handful of coins each month?
With terrified cries, the hundreds of samurai scattered like birds and beasts. In that instant, they felt in their bones the overwhelming, despair-inducing gap between ordinary men and shinobi.
Some even wondered in confusion why the shinobi of Konoha confined themselves to their little village. With such power, couldn't they replace the Daimyō of the Land of Fire in an instant?
But none dared to ask aloud.
The sulfur hanging in the air made it hard to breathe.
All they could do was stare in fear and dread as Uchiha Keizumi stepped into the Daimyō's mansion.
Not one of them dared to make a sound.
…
The Daimyō of the Land of Fire had already heard the chaos outside. Realizing there was nowhere left to retreat, he steeled his pampered face, forcing out the last shred of pride that belonged to the Daimyō of the Land of Fire, and clenched his teeth as he stepped forward to meet Uchiha Keizumi.
"You… are you…"
"Uchiha Keizumi?"
The Daimyō could hardly believe the courage it took to ask that question.
Beneath his loose robes, he felt every inch of his skin trembling.
The monster before him, its body flowing with magma, looked like a demon dragged up straight from hell, and it made his very soul quake.
Clenching his fists tightly, throat bobbing, the Daimyō forced out through gritted teeth, "As a shinobi of the Uchiha Police Force, your authority should only extend within Konoha. What you're doing now… is a severe abuse of power."
"And furthermore…"
With each word he spoke, more cold sweat ran down his forehead. "For you to appear before me like this—what are you trying to do? Do you intend to rebel? Does Konoha even regard the Land of Fire anymore? Do you remember what nation you were born into? I… I am the sovereign of the Land of Fire!"
"I… I… I am…"
The Daimyō found himself unable to continue.
Keizumi looked so young, and he had spoken not a single word since entering—only watching him with calm eyes.
Yet it was precisely that cold, indifferent gaze that pressed on him with unbearable weight.
Because…
It felt like the man was looking at him as though he were already a corpse.
Uchiha Keizumi finally spoke, his voice low and cold.
"You, who wear layer after layer of titles, have failed to uphold the responsibilities that come with them. Your own children have repeatedly killed and sinned, and though you knew the truth, you chose to indulge them."
"By abusing the power of a Daimyō to twist the law, you've made it harder for innocent victims to find justice, and easier for the guilty to escape judgment."
"You may not have personally committed the crimes—but the endless evils festering in the Land of Fire, most trace their roots back to you."
"Mitoin Takahito. Today… [Absolute Justice] will use your life, steeped in sin, to deliver a warning to the entire Land of Fire!"
He's mad… this Uchiha is completely mad!!!
The Daimyō's eyes went wide. His survival instinct overpowered his dignity.
He spun on his heel, geta clattering as he tried to flee—
Pathetically, clumsily.
But in the next instant, a magma hound with its jaws agape tore through him from behind, punching a gaping hole straight through his chest.
The scorching heat of the magma seared through the Fire Daimyō's internal organs in an instant, charring them to ash. His pitiful figure, which had just turned in an attempt to flee, froze stiff in that same moment.
"Ugh… cough, cough…"
The terror on his face was etched there permanently. As his consciousness blurred, snot and tears streamed uncontrollably, his despair so undignified it could not be worse.
When the magma hound receded from his body, the Fire Daimyō's frame lost all support.
He fell forward uncontrollably and crashed heavily onto the floor.
With a dull thud, his face slammed against the ground, shattering the bridge of his nose. Blood immediately spattered across his face, gradually spreading over the floor and seeping into the fine cracks of the stone.
Not a single cry of agony left his lips—for his life had been snuffed out completely in that instant.
The Fire Daimyō…
Executed.
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