"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha Military Police Force needs to be brought under control!"
Inside the Hokage's office.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had just finished half of his official documents, was patiently listening to a ninja's complaint: "Today, members of the Uchiha Military Police Force assaulted someone in broad daylight on the street! They severed a civilian's leg and then dragged the person through the streets in a 'parade,' leaving a trail of blood for several hundred meters."
"Many villagers witnessed this, and many children saw it too. Hokage-sama, aren't these actions by the Uchiha Military Police Force exceeding the scope of law enforcement?"
"Wouldn't this kind of enforcement only make the people in the village more uneasy?"
A ninja who held no significant position in the village and possessed no extraordinary strength was able to come directly to the Hokage to complain and report this matter, entirely because he also shared the surname "Sarutobi."
He was a junior member of the Hokage-sama's clan.
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and immediately asked, "What is the condition of the injured person who was dragged?"
The ninja shook his head and replied, "Seeing how arrogant the Uchiha were, I couldn't help but rush to find you, Hokage-sama, so I didn't notice the injured person's condition. However..."
"If someone's leg is severed and they don't receive timely treatment, they might not live for more than a few minutes."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow furrowed.
Just then, he suddenly thought of something and asked again, "Who were the Uchiha present at the scene?"
The ninja hesitated, "It was Uchiha Chisen... Besides him, there was also an Uchiha girl I didn't recognize."
"Chisen?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow relaxed.
Under the astonished gazes of the younger generation of the clan, Sarutobi Hiruzen actually clasped his hands behind his back and said slowly, "If it was Chisen, then he must have his reasons for doing this."
"Hokage-sama, but..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted directly, "You rushed over here to tell me this, simply because you felt Uchiha Chisen's actions would affect your bathhouse business, didn't you?"
"You can go back! This is a matter for the Military Police Force, and I believe Chisen will give me an explanation soon. After all, he has always been so unconventional."
Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, defining Uchiha Chisen's actions: "Chisen's methods are indeed extreme. However, over the years, he has never committed a single act that goes against his principles."
"...Yes, Hokage-sama."
The junior member of the Sarutobi clan, whose complaint had failed, could only leave dejectedly.
"Chisen..."
Sarutobi 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've always felt you and Itachi are alike, both Uchiha who love the village dearly!"
He murmured to himself.
...
Meanwhile.
In a secluded courtyard house in Konoha, Izumi, panting slightly, released the corpse whose skin had been worn away.
She had initially intended to leave the small man's corpse where it was.
But without her senior's order...
Izumi worried that discarding the criminal's body without permission might anger her senior?
So...
She could only mutter "I'm sorry" in her heart while steeling herself and enduring the discomfort to drag the corpse, following Uchiha Chisen.
All the way until they reached the small man's home.
She didn't dare to look back at the state of the criminal's corpse.
She imagined...
It must have been quite gruesome.
"Do you think he's pitiful?" Uchiha Chisen saw through the girl's thoughts at a glance; Izumi's facial expressions couldn't hide her thoughts. He said, "Someone more pitiful than him is still in that well."
He looked at the dry well covered by a cement slab, his tone deepening slightly, and instructed, "Bring up the child's corpse from the dry well."
Izumi was startled by Uchiha Chisen's voice.
"Yes! Senior!"
She trotted over and suddenly smelled a pungent odor.
Is this the smell of decay?
Izumi prepared herself mentally and carefully moved the cement slab. The pungent odor was fully released, startling her into instinctively holding her breath, yet her eyes still stung a little.
She gritted her teeth.
She flipped and jumped.
Just as she was about to land at the bottom of the well, Izumi immediately used the chakra-enhanced tree-walking technique to have her feet cling to the well wall, preventing her from accidentally stepping on the child's corpse in the dry well.
With the sunlight shining in, she saw a quilt at the bottom of the well. The quilt was wrapped into a ball, and there seemed to be something inside.
She had a vague premonition.
It wasn't long.
Izumi emerged from the dry well carrying the heavily foul-smelling futon, tiptoeing as she gently placed it on the ground.
"If you feel like throwing up, you can. This is what it's like to smell corpse stench for the first time. Even seasoned ninjas who've killed without batting an eye can't always overcome their body's natural reactions," Uchiha Chisen glanced at the girl's pretty face, her features contorted in distress.
Izumi shook her head, her face pale.
She couldn't quite explain it, but she instinctively felt it would be improper to act that way in front of such a pitiable child.
Even though...
This child was already dead.
Afterward, Izumi watched as Uchiha Chisen approached. She saw the senior ninja half-crouch and open the futon.
Izumi's pupils trembled.
She quickly turned her head away.
—She threw up.
Even though she didn't want to, and even felt a pang of empathy and sorrow, the visceral nausea was uncontrollable. She vomited up her breakfast.
"Look at her," Uchiha Chisen said. "Don't look away."
Izumi wiped her mouth.
She turned back, her trembling gaze fixed on the small corpse.
Uchiha Chisen, still half-crouched, spoke, "There are more than a dozen marks on her body from blunt force trauma; her hands and feet were broken multiple times; many areas are mangled; there's bleeding from her nose, ears, and mouth, and her internal organs are likely severely damaged."
He stood up and continued, "The fatal injury is the ligature mark on her neck. This child died in agony, suffering for at least an hour before she passed."
Izumi murmured in shock, "An hour... If this child had cried out for help during that hour, someone would have saved her, right? There are neighbors nearby..."
Uchiha Chisen simply stated, "The person who harmed her was her own father. Perhaps, to her, her father was the person she loved most."
Izumi froze.
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Ah? Here!!!" Izumi hastily stood straight and shouted.
Uchiha Chisen gazed into the girl's eyes, asking deliberately, "Do you still think that man is pitiful?"
Izumi pursed her lips and lowered her head.
"Senior, I was wrong."
Uchiha Chisen said, "What we in the Uchiha Military Police Force must do is eradicate this kind of 'evil' completely. We must carry out our [Justice] with absolute and thorough methods to overcome the sickly, perverse currents of the ninja world."
"Take the two bodies back to the police force. Your performance today was unsatisfactory, but thankfully, not to the point where I want to kill you. We'll meet at Ichiraku Ramen tomorrow."
Izumi shivered.
"Yes, Senior."
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