"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha Police Force needs to be reined in!"
Inside the Hokage Tower
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had just finished half of his paperwork, was patiently listening to a ninja's complaint.
"Today members of the Uchiha Police Force injured someone in broad daylight!
They chopped off a civilian's leg and dragged him through the streets on 'parade'—the blood trail ran for several hundred meters.
Many villagers saw it, children too.
Hokage-sama, hasn't the Uchiha Police Force already gone beyond the bounds of law‑enforcement?
Enforcers like this only make everyone in the village feel less safe."
This ninja held no special status or strength, yet he dared to complain in person only because he, too, bore the surname Sarutobi—he was a younger member of the Hokage's clan.
Hiruzen frowned. "What is the condition of the victim who was dragged?"
The ninja shook his head. "I rushed straight here the moment I saw how overbearing the Uchihas were—I didn't check on him. But … if a leg is severed and no treatment is given at once, the person may not live more than a few minutes."
Hiruzen's brows knit even tighter. A thought struck him. "Which Uchiha were present?"
The ninja hesitated. "Uchiha Chizumi… and a young Uchiha girl I don't know."
"Chizumi?" Hiruzen's tension eased.
Before his bewildered junior could speak again, Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and said quietly, "If it was Chizumi, he must have had his reasons."
"But, Hokage-sama—"
Hiruzen cut him off. "You rushed here because you're afraid Chizumi's actions will hurt your bath‑house business, correct? Go back. This is a Police Force matter. I trust Chizumi will give me an explanation soon. He has always been unconventional."
After pausing, he summed up: "Chizumi's methods are indeed extreme, but all these years he has never crossed a fundamental line."
"…Understood, Hokage-sama."
The young Sarutobi, his complaint rebuffed, left in frustration.
"Chizumi …"
Hiruzen walked to the bedside and looked out the window.
"Do you love the Will of Fire more, or the 'Absolute Justice' you speak of? I have always felt you and Itachi are the same—Uchiha who love this village deeply." He muttered to himself.
…
At the same time
In a secluded single‑courtyard house in Konoha, Izumi panted softly and released the corpse whose skin had been scraped raw from dragging.
She had wanted to leave the short man's body where it lay, but without direct orders she feared angering her senior, so she kept muttering "sorry" in her heart while forcing herself to haul the corpse after Uchiha Chizumi.
When they finally reached the short man's home, she still dared not look back at the state of the body—surely horrendous.
"Feel sorry for him?" Chizumi saw straight through her. "There's someone worse off down in that well."
He glanced at a dried‑up well sealed with a concrete slab and ordered, voice low, "Bring up the child's body from the well."
Izumi stiffened. "Y‑Yes, senpai!"
As she ran over, a pungent stench hit her—corpse odor. She steeled herself, removed the slab, and the smell poured out, stinging her eyes. Gritting her teeth, she flipped down and used chakra to cling to the wall so she wouldn't step on the corpse.
By the sunlight, she saw a quilt rolled into a ball at the bottom—something was inside. Soon she climbed out, carrying the reeking bundle, and set it gently on the ground.
"If you need to vomit, do it," Chizumi said. "Even hardened killers can't resist the first whiff of corpse stench."
Izumi's face was bloodless; she shook her head, unwilling to be crude before a pitiful child—even though the child was already dead.
Chizumi squatted, unwrapped the quilt.
Izumi's pupils quivered; she turned away and retched, emptying her breakfast.
"Look at her," Chizumi ordered. "Don't avert your eyes."
Wiping her mouth, Izumi forced her trembling gaze onto the small corpse.
Squatting, Chizumi recited: "More than a dozen blunt‑force injuries; repeated fractures in arms and legs; multiple areas mangled; blood at nose, ears, mouth—internal organs likely badly damaged."
He stood. "Cause of death: ligature marks on the neck. She suffered terribly—tortured for at least an hour before dying."
Izumi whispered, shocked, "An hour… If she'd cried for help, someone should have come—the neighbors …"
Chizumi replied simply, "The one who hurt her was her own father. To her, he was probably the person she loved most."
Izumi froze.
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Ah—Here!" She snapped to attention.
Staring into her eyes, Chizumi asked, "Do you still think that man was pitiful?"
Izumi bit her lip, head low. "Senpai, I was wrong."
Chizumi said, "The task of the Uchiha Police Force is to eradicate this kind of evil completely. Only by enforcing our Justice in absolute, thorough fashion can we crush the sickening corruption of the ninja world."
"Bring both corpses back to headquarters. Your performance today was not up to standard, but not enough to make me want to kill you. Tomorrow—meet at Ichiraku Ramen."
Izumi shuddered. "Yes, senpai."