"R–rogue ninja…"
Kyōya's face, already pale as paper, seemed to drain of even more color. The realization struck him like a hammer: Konoha had abandoned him.
"Why… why is it that my actions make me a rogue ninja of Konoha? Isn't Uchiha Keizumi one as well? He killed so many of his own comrades in the village!"
Grinding his teeth, Kyōya raised his hand and pointed straight at Keizumi—
But before even a second passed—
[Shhk!]
A sharp ninja blade flashed past the corner of his eye.
An index finger flew high into the air.
And then dropped lifelessly to the ground.
"Don't you dare point your filthy hand at Keizumi-senpai."
The young girl shook the blood from her blade with an expressionless face, her eyes filled with contempt as she looked at Kyōya, who was clutching his mutilated hand in agony, his face twisted with pain.
That sudden act—severing a man's finger without hesitation—made Hiruzen's brow knit tightly. He thought grimly that Keizumi's subordinates, too, seemed tainted by his extreme nature.
But just then—
Uchiha Keizumi's voice cut in: "Yet from the Third Hokage's stance, it doesn't seem like he truly intends to let me take your clansmen away."
Hiruzen started at those words.
Drawing in a long breath, he made a simple gesture. Immediately, the ANBU fell back in unison to either side, no longer standing guard before the Sarutobi clansmen.
Then Hiruzen turned to Koharu at his side and spoke: "Koharu, have your people… stand down as well."
From his tone, Koharu could hear nothing but exhaustion.
She bit down hard on her lip, casting Keizumi one final, heavy look.
She spoke in a low, firm voice: "Stand down!"
The Root shinobi did not argue. Silent and expressionless, they stepped aside just as the ANBU had.
Uchiha Keizumi began naming them one by one, his face devoid of emotion.
"Sarutobi Kyōya."
Izumi immediately stepped forward. From the Police Force's standard tool pouch, she pulled out a pair of shackles. Forcing the man's mutilated hands behind his back, she bound him tightly.
"Sarutobi Tsuneyuki."
In the crowd, a Sarutobi clansman shuddered visibly.
When the others turned to stare at him in shock, Izumi knew instantly he was the one Keizumi had named.
Without hesitation, she strode forward. Lacking another set of shackles, she pulled a long length of steel wire from her pouch and bound the man's wrists securely.
"Sarutobi Mitsuji."
Mitarashi Anko stepped up of her own accord, slipping past Sarutobi Hiruzen to seize another clansman now fixed under the crowd's gaze.
When he tried to resist, her face hardened, and she twisted his wrist without mercy.
"AAAHHHHHH!!!"
His shrill scream drew not the slightest sympathy from her.
"Sarutobi Rena."
After knocking the screamer unconscious with a sharp hand strike, Anko shifted her gaze to a pale-faced middle-aged woman. From her sleeve slithered a pale white snake.
Before the woman could even react, the snake shot forward like a dart, sinking its fangs into her shoulder.
"Ah!"
The woman shrieked, desperately trying to fling the serpent away—only to feel her entire body go weak and numb.
Terror flooded her eyes as she collapsed helplessly to the ground.
"Take them all away," Uchiha Keizumi commanded.
…
"Keizumi… has won again."
Not far away, Fugaku took in the entire scene with a deep breath.
He could not understand why Keizumi always came out on top before the Hokage, while no matter how he compromised, he could never win.
For the first time, doubt flickered in his eyes—doubt in his own choices.
All these years of effort…
Had he truly walked the wrong path?
...
Before the eyes of all present, the few members of the Sarutobi clan singled out by Uchiha Keizumi were all taken away.
Some tried to resist, but when shinobi blades pressed against their necks, thin lines of blood opening on their skin, they quieted down at once.
Others hurriedly cast pleading looks toward Sarutobi Hiruzen, hoping that as Hokage he might spare them out of regard for their shared bloodline—at the very least, not hand them over to Uchiha Keizumi. Even being locked away directly in prison would have been preferable.
But when the Hokage averted his gaze, too weary to even look at them, they fell into despair on the spot.
"Sigh…"
Listening to the fading footsteps until they could no longer be heard, Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a deep sigh.
Then he turned to the three clan heads of the Ino-Shika-Chō.
With weary eyes, he said to Yamanaka Inoichi, "Inoichi, I hope you can send me a copy of your investigation report as well."
He no longer hoped that Yamanaka Inoichi would stand with him as Hokage.
All he could hope for was that the three clans of Ino, Shika, and Cho would remain loyal to Konoha for generations to come.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Yamanaka Inoichi gave a slight nod. The Hokage's dignity still had to be preserved—there was no need to tear the façade too completely.
After watching the three clans depart one after another—
Tsunade spoke up: "Old man, sometimes you need to let the younger people of the village use their talents. Don't always try to bind their thoughts or restrict their actions."
Standing with her back to two pools of blood, her tone carried heavy meaning: "The future of Konoha will ultimately rest on the shoulders of the young. After all, you can't remain Hokage forever, can you?"
"If you never let the young try their hand, how can you know they won't do as well as you?"
"Shizune, the show's over. Let's go."
With that, Tsunade turned and left.
"Yes! Tsunade-sama, wait for me!"
Cradling Tonton, Shizune hurried after her.
At the scene, only Sarutobi Hiruzen, Koharu, Jiraiya, the ANBU, the Root, and the Sarutobi clan remained. The atmosphere had sunk into a strange, stifling silence.
Until the sound of wooden cane strikes against the floor echoed.
Mitokado Homura—
Arriving late.
Equally exhausted, Homura paused for a moment at the sight of such a grand spectacle inside Hiruzen's compound. He tried to search for Uchiha Keizumi's figure but found no trace of him.
"He was here," Koharu broke the silence. "A minute ago he left—you came a step too late."
Homura's gaze fell on the corpses of a husband and wife lying on the ground.
He sighed and asked, "So many of you couldn't stop him?"
"We didn't try to," Koharu said darkly.
Homura froze.
Then Koharu recounted what had just happened.
"…Hah." Homura's expression twisted bitterly. "Indeed, there was no reason to stop him. His justice stood above all else. If we had tried to, it would only have shown that the problem lay with us."
"Hiruzen, those people taken away by Keizumi—after tonight, they are very likely to…"
Mitokado Homura's words were cut off by Sarutobi Hiruzen before he could finish.
"If they truly committed unforgivable crimes in secret, then they are no longer members of the Sarutobi clan." Hiruzen's aged face was taut, as if trying to project the iron-blooded will of the Hokage—yet the fatigue and confusion beneath could not be hidden.
—What mistake have I made, that among my own clan there are so many villains?
This was the haze in Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart.
He did not understand.
Nor could he make sense of it…
…
Uchiha Police Force.
Two officers on night duty were stifling yawns. Konoha's nightlife was never lively, and trouble rarely broke out at night. Serving night shifts in the police force was usually the easiest duty—sometimes an entire month could pass without a single case.
"Hm?"
Just then, one of the officers suddenly noticed a group of people walking toward the Police Headquarters.
And there were quite a few of them.
"Wait a second…" In the dim moonlight, he vaguely recognized the familiar face of the man in the lead. He sucked in a sharp breath, shock written all over his features.
"Uchiha Keizumi!"
The two officers stared as Keizumi and his men escorted several dejected "prisoners" inside. A moment later, they saw three more figures approaching.
"That's…"
"Yamanaka Inoichi?!"
One of them they recognized instantly. After all, the Yamanaka clan maintained a working relationship with the Uchiha Police Force.
"And the other two… that looks like Nara Shikaku and Akimichi Chōza. That's Konoha's Ino-Shika-Chō trio!" one officer muttered in awe. "I heard… the three of them chose to stand on Uchiha Keizumi's side of [Absolute Justice]."
In the past, when had there ever been a clan willing to side with the Uchiha, who were so thoroughly ostracized by Konoha's upper echelons?
But ever since Uchiha Keizumi had grown strong—
Everything had changed.
They couldn't even explain why, but somehow now, just walking down the street, they felt as if they could hold their heads higher.
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