Just as Koharu ground her teeth, about to retort—Uchiha Keizumi's voice drifted over, chilling her whole body stiff: "So, you intend to stand in the way of justice being carried out?"
"Those who obstruct justice—shall be killed without mercy."
That single line… filled Koharu with both rage and dread.
"...You!!!"
At that moment—
Many shinobi of her clan, like Koharu herself, had been awakened by the commotion outside. They rushed out, and upon seeing the blood-stained courtyard and the countless corpses, they too were seized by the same mixture of fury and shock.
But the instant their eyes fell upon Uchiha Keizumi, that anger froze on their faces.
"Koharu-sama?"
One of them swallowed hard, his gaze flicking to her, hesitant.
It seemed to say—
As long as Koharu-sama gave the order, even if their enemy was Uchiha Keizumi, they would grit their teeth and fight to the death.
Koharu: "..."
Yet the sliver of reason buried beneath her fury warned her that even if the entire clan charged together, they might not be a match for this radical youth of justice standing before them.
To block him—
Was to walk to their deaths.
"Uchiha Keizumi…" Koharu clenched her teeth so hard they nearly cracked. "I will never forget this blood-soaked night!"
But to her dismay, Uchiha Keizumi completely ignored her.
She heard him instead speaking evenly to Izumi, Anko, and the ninja cat: "Next stop—the Mitokado clan. Once that is finished, we move on to the Sarutobi clan."
"Yes, senpai!"
Izumi was the first to answer without hesitation.
Koharu froze for a moment.
The Mitokado clan…
The Sarutobi clan…
Wait!
Could it be…
As she watched the "murderers" who had stormed into her clan compound and slaughtered so many of her clansmen now depart, realization slammed into her. Koharu immediately barked her orders: "You—gather up our dead at once! Do not hand their bodies over to the Yamanaka clan, and do not turn them over to the Police Force!"
"And you—run to the Mitokado clan right now! Get there as fast as you can! You must reach Mitokado Homura before that radical brat Uchiha Keizumi arrives!"
"You… go to the Root base! By my order, immediately summon all Root members!"
"The rest of you, follow me to find Hiruzen! Uchiha Keizumi has gone mad—his madness must be stopped! Otherwise, the entire order of Konoha, from top to bottom, will be destroyed by him! That brat is the greatest parasite eating away at Konoha!"
"Yes, Koharu-sama!"
The surviving shinobi of her clan, their faces still pale with fear, hurried to carry out her commands.
…
"Faster, faster!"
Three chūnin of the Koharu clan rushed desperately toward the Mitokado compound. They wished they could grow two more legs each; though their lungs burned and their breath came ragged, none dared to slow down.
The scenery on either side blurred past like streaming light.
The three shinobi leapt ceaselessly from rooftop to rooftop.
No one knew how long they had run, but at last, the Mitokado compound appeared before them.
"Hah… hah…" One of them, gasping heavily, stammered between breaths, "Did we… did we actually beat Uchiha Keizumi here?"
But then—
The faint breeze that brushed against their faces carried with it the stench of blood.
The three shinobi's expressions changed instantly.
Each swallowed hard, their eyes meeting for an uneasy moment, before they clenched their teeth and rushed forward.
The compound's gates stood wide open.
Through them, the scene inside was plain to see.
The three froze in place.
"You've come too late…"
Mitokado Homura cast a complicated glance at the three Utatane shinobi, then let out a long, heavy sigh. In that moment, he seemed to have aged several years.
With quiet resignation, he said, "I had already investigated my clan in private, to see if any had committed past misdeeds. I warned them repeatedly not to conceal anything."
"But in the end, there were still some who clung to false hope… and this is the price of such delusion."
He sighed again, his gloomy, grief-stricken eyes falling upon the seven corpses laid neatly in a row on the ground.
"Go straight to Hiruzen…"
With a weary wave of his hand, Homura added, "If the Sarutobi clan doesn't want to suffer the same fate as the Mitokado, then more shinobi must gather there. Only then can Uchiha Keizumi be stopped."
His words came faint, his spirit drained—less like a senior advisor of Konoha, and more like an old man who had lost all strength.
The three Utatane shinobi even thought they could hear a trace of fear in his voice.
Homura-sama… had been frightened!
…
"Tsunade-sama, didn't you say… this money was meant to support the orphans of Tanzaku Town until they grew up? But… Tsunade-sama, tonight you've already lost a full 10 million ryō in Konoha's casinos!"
At this late hour, the only places still open in the village were entertainment halls like the casinos.
Shizune, holding Tonton in her arms, wore a pained expression as she muttered behind Tsunade, "Tsunade-sama, if you keep gambling like this, I'm afraid you'll burn through tens of millions more in no time."
"Don't worry, don't worry!"
Tsunade waved her hand irritably. "As long as those orphans are in Konoha, the old man will definitely spend the money to raise them. We don't need to pay. Besides… hm?!"
Just as she was about to continue, something caught the edge of her vision. She turned her gaze.
"That…"
Tsunade's eyes narrowed. The frustration of losing 10 million ryō at the casino faded slightly, replaced by sudden curiosity. "That looks like that brat Uchiha Keizumi. And the two kunoichi behind him… who are they? Out here in the middle of the night… what is that brat up to?"
"Uchiha Keizumi?" Shizune blinked, following Tsunade's gaze.
But all she could see were a few figures vanishing quickly into the distance.
Suddenly, Shizune sniffed the air. "Tsunade-sama, there's the scent of blood!"
"Shizune, follow me."
Leaving only those words behind, Tsunade vanished in an instant, her body flickering away.
"Eh?!" Shizune froze, then hurriedly cried out, "Tsunade-sama, wait for me!"
…
Sarutobi Hiruzen had been sleeping soundly when he was suddenly jolted awake. Koharu had arrived with several of her clan's shinobi, dragging him unceremoniously from his bed.
Wearing a stern, weary expression, Hiruzen stepped outside and drew in a deep breath.
He had barely managed to return from the capital of the Land of Fire, after enduring the exhausting troubles of the day, hoping only for a good night's rest. Yet even that, it seemed, was too much to ask.
Looking at Koharu and the anxious, panting shinobi gathered behind her in the dead of night, Hiruzen's brows furrowed.
"What happened? To come to me at such an hour? Now that you've taken over Root, there's no need to trouble me whenever something arises. You can handle it yourself."
After catching her breath, Koharu's face hardened. "If it were something I could handle, I wouldn't be here. And this… this involves you, Hiruzen. That's why I had to come."
"Involves me?" Hiruzen was taken aback, his heart tightening. "Don't tell me… something has happened with Naruto?"
"It's Uchiha Keizumi!" Koharu nearly ground her teeth to dust as she spat out the name.
She recounted the "tragic events" her clan had suffered that night.
Under Hiruzen's stunned gaze, Koharu continued, "His next target… is the Mitokado clan! And after that… the Sarutobi clan! He's gone mad, Hiruzen. This is the so-called justice you indulged! Now this [Absolute Justice] has already killed your two sons, and he plans to slaughter your Sarutobi clan to the last!"
"Hiruzen! By now, he's very likely already at the Mitokado compound! Tonight… he, Uchiha Izumi, Mitarashi Anko, and that ninja cat—at my clan's compound, they killed thirteen of my clansmen. Among them were two children!"
"They even had the heart to kill such young ones. Do you really think he'll show mercy to the Sarutobi? Or do you truly believe, in his eyes, that your clan is clean?"
The bitter words spilling from Koharu's lips made Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression turn grim as well.
If Uchiha Keizumi truly meant, as Koharu said, to bathe the Utatane clan, the Mitokado clan, and the Sarutobi clan in blood tonight—
Then there was no way Sarutobi Hiruzen could allow it!
Those three clans were not only the foundation of Konoha, they were also the foundation of his own authority as Hokage.
If all three were wiped out in a single night…
The strength of the shinobi clans would be devastated, and with them, Konoha's overall power would be reduced by half.
The consequences for the village would be catastrophic!
And more than that…
This also involved his own clan, the Sarutobi. Could he really claim ignorance of the fact that some among them had dealings in the gray edges of morality?
Of course he knew. He knew exactly what his clansmen were doing.
But those who walked that gray path did so for the sake of the Sarutobi, and for the sake of Konoha itself.
And Keizumi would kill even them? Their methods might have been questionable, but they were contributors to Konoha's strength!
Keizumi's reasoning was utterly unreasonable!
If his logic were applied to everyone, how many in Konoha could be considered "good"?
"Guards!" Hiruzen's voice rang out. At once, ANBU operatives hidden in the shadows appeared. His expression was grave as he ordered, "Summon every ANBU operative! Work together with the Root shinobi—block Uchiha Keizumi's actions tonight!"
"Yes, Hokage-sama!"
"Block him?" Koharu drew in a deep breath, glaring fiercely through clenched teeth. "Hiruzen, even now, you would only try to block him? Even now, you refuse to take more decisive measures? Where is the iron-handed Konoha hero who once made the entire shinobi world tremble?"
Her clan had already lost so many of its shinobi, her dignity had been torn to shreds by Uchiha Keizumi, then trampled beneath his heel.
How could she possibly accept that Keizumi would walk away unscathed?
That brat must pay the price for his reckless tyranny!
"This is Konoha!" Hiruzen's voice was heavy. "When did you become like Danzō—driven by short-sighted hatred, blind to the greater safety of Konoha? Do you understand what it would mean if we fought Keizumi here, within the village?"
"Half of Konoha would become a sea of fire! How many civilians would die? How many shinobi would fall? How many buildings would collapse? How many roads would be destroyed? And how much damage, directly and indirectly, would that bring to the village?"
At those words, the tension straining Hiruzen's body seemed to unravel.
He exhaled heavily, his voice filled with helpless resignation. "Koharu… besides compromise, what else can Konoha do? You've seen with your own eyes the disaster I unleashed when I allowed him to walk free."
At this, Koharu ground her teeth so hard that half a molar cracked.
Blood stained the corner of her lips, red lines spreading across the whites of her eyes. "Then find a way to drive him out of the Land of Fire! You're the Hokage—surely you can do that, Hiruzen!"
"As you weigh Konoha's safety, you must also weigh ours. That brat's Absolute Justice will kill us, one by one, until none are left!"
"I, Homura, and you… sooner or later, we'll become his targets as well. He won't stop at killing only our clansmen!"
While Koharu's emotions surged, a detachment of ANBU had already arrived at full speed.
At the same time, Root shinobi—those who had been mobilized en masse—were also beginning to arrive, the quicker ones appearing first.
The commotion was so great that even in the dead of night, many clans of Konoha were roused, and many shinobi stirred.
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