While Sakura's mind spiraled with chaotic thoughts—
Ino kept her eyes fixed on the outside and continued: "I never once saw either of you care about the victim who was persecuted and killed. Just now, you even ignored her completely. Justice that doesn't care for the victim isn't justice at all, is it?"
"So stop talking as if Iruka-sensei is in the wrong. Even if he doesn't follow [Absolute Justice], he still understands better than you two what justice means—and he understands Uchiha Keizumi's [Absolute Justice] better than you do."
In that moment, Ino recalled the nightly admonitions her father always gave her.
Most of the words she had just spoken were things she had once heard from Yamanaka Inoichi.
It was through him that she came to understand [Absolute Justice]—
Even more than Naruto and Sasuke.
That was one of the reasons she had been acting "strange" of late; it was also one of the reasons she suddenly felt "disenchanted" with Sasuke.
Ino now found Sasuke a little childish.
"…This child."
From the lectern, Iruka gazed at Ino's small back and murmured, "She must have learned these principles from her father. And with what's happened recently to the Yamanaka clan, it's pushed her to grow up sooner."
Then his eyes shifted to Naruto and Sasuke, still rooted in place.
"The Will of Fire… Absolute Justice…" Iruka seemed to come to a decision. Gathering his lesson notes, he walked toward the door, muttering to himself: "I only hope the Hokage doesn't blame me. Since Naruto and Sasuke have already chosen this shinobi path, as their teacher I can only support them quietly—let them follow the road they've chosen and become fine Konoha shinobi."
Even if he himself did not embrace Absolute Justice, that did not mean he could not teach students who carried both justice and the Will of Fire.
Iruka was not bound by a narrow mindset that one could only choose either "the Will of Fire" or "Absolute Justice."
He believed the two shared a certain connection.
…
'Damn it! Damn it! Ino must have said something wrong. Sasuke-kun hasn't uttered a single word, hasn't even moved—tch… he must be angry, right?'
'What do I do, what do I do… Should I give Ino a hint to apologize to Sasuke-kun? But if he ends up hating her, isn't that even better?'
'That way, my biggest rival would be gone.'
'But still, even though Ino-pig is annoying… back then, she…'
Sakura's mind spun in frantic circles, caught between jealousy and hesitation, lost in her own tangled thoughts.
Just then, Sasuke's voice finally broke the silence beside her.
"Yamanaka Ino. That's your name, isn't it?"
"Yes." Ino gave a small nod in reply.
"I think you're right." Sasuke's cold, forced expression softened with an uncharacteristic trace of apology. "My understanding of justice—and even dead-last's—isn't as deep as yours. We really did overlook the victim just now."
Naruto, grinning broadly, thrust out a hand.
"Uzumaki Naruto! The future Hokage of Konoha, the man who'll spread Keizumi-sensei's justice throughout the village! Nice to meet you!"
Sasuke followed.
"Uchiha Sasuke. Nice to meet you."
"Yamanaka Ino." Ino pulled her gaze back from the window.
"Nice to meet you."
Sakura: "…"
For some reason, Sakura suddenly felt like an outsider, as if a thick, invisible wall had risen between herself and the three before her.
She couldn't understand why Sasuke-kun's attitude had changed so completely, why he had even gone so far as to apologize to Ino.
Nor could she understand why Sasuke-kun was now the one reaching out to her rival.
Before Ino became so "strange," hadn't she been just like Sakura, always trying to stick close to Sasuke-kun?
Everyone… had become so unfamiliar.
…
Meanwhile.
At the Uchiha Police Force headquarters—
Uchiha Keizumi arrived at the interrogation room, summoned mid-route by a ninja cat and a toad, both in a rush. They had reported that Uchiha Izumi had captured Biwa Jūzō and was trying to pry crucial information from him.
But Jūzō had demanded, by name, to see Uchiha Keizumi. Otherwise, he wouldn't reveal a single word.
And so—
Keizumi had come.
Yet what interested him was not the so-called top-secret intelligence Jūzō held. Because in the shinobi world, no one possessed more knowledge than he did—not only of the present, but of much that concerned the future as well.
What interested him was whether Biwa Jūzō, once one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, was truly a heinous red-name criminal—someone deserving to be judged and executed under Absolute Justice.
"Quite unexpected."
Those were Uchiha Keizumi's first words upon seeing Biwa Jūzō. Entering the interrogation room, he didn't spare Jiraiya so much as a glance, leaving the Sannin awkward when his attempt at greeting went ignored.
Keizumi stood before Jūzō, his gaze fixed on the white square floating above the man's head.
"As one of Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen, a shinobi infamous for cruelty and active during the Third Great War—you are still more upright than many I have met. Or rather, outside the battlefield, you are not the kind of irredeemable villain I would call evil."
His cold words reached Jūzō's ears, and Jūzō, in turn, scrutinized him seriously.
Suddenly, Jūzō's mouth twisted into a cruel grin.
"So you're Konoha's 'Lava Release Beast,' Uchiha Keizumi? Quite the man. Just standing in front of me, you make me feel a bit of pressure."
"Uchiha Keizumi, aren't you curious—"
"Let him go."
Keizumi cut him off directly, speaking instead to Izumi. "There's no point in keeping him."
Jūzō: "???"
Jiraiya: "???"
"Wait a second!" Jiraiya couldn't hold back. "On the surface he's an envoy from Amegakure, but in truth he's a spy from an organization called Akatsuki. Akatsuki is deeply tied to Orochimaru—I suspect Orochimaru even joined them. We could pry information about him from this man."
Mitarashi Anko was also taken aback. "Keizumi, this guy's real purpose in coming to Konoha seems to be seeking you out. Aren't you curious what schemes Akatsuki is plotting?"
Tachibana Jirō, as usual, hopped onto Izumi's shoulder.
Licking his paw, he spoke in his feline voice: "Meow. This one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—if I recall correctly, he only defected from Kirigakure not long ago. That means he must've only joined Akatsuki recently. In Akatsuki, he's probably nothing more than a newcomer."
Jūzō: "…"
Jirō continued, "As for intel about Akatsuki, Keizumi-sama surely knows far more than this man. And Orochimaru—meow—this guy definitely has no idea where he's hiding."
"In that case, what value does he really have? Perhaps only his blade. That could at least be sold for money."
Jūzō: "…"
Damn it! How does this talking cat know so much?!
Tachibana Jirō's words made Jūzō's expression turn oddly complex, but with his lower face painted in that strange blood-red makeup, it was hard to make out the shift in his emotions.
"Ninja cat… you're saying that Keizumi knows a lot about the Akatsuki? Among that information, does it include anything about Orochimaru?"
Jiraiya had never thought he would one day find himself asking questions of a ninja cat.
But the truth was—he was desperate to know Orochimaru's whereabouts.
"To drag the defected Orochimaru back to Konohagakure," "to find the Child of Prophecy spoken of by the Great Toad Sage"—these two had almost become the only pursuits Jiraiya lived for in the second half of his life.
"Even if Keizumi-sama does know, what does that have to do with you?" Tachibana Jirō shot him a disdainful glance and said, "Keizumi-sama has neither the duty nor the obligation to share intelligence with you, right? More than that—given you were once Orochimaru's closest friend, even if the day comes that you truly find him, are you sure you'll kill him?"
Jiraiya was stunned for a moment.
Then—
Uchiha Keizumi's voice rang out as well: "You've never searched for Orochimaru with the thought of killing him in your heart, have you?"
His gaze on Jiraiya was detached, almost cold: "To you, your anger toward Orochimaru isn't because of his crimes. It's because he defected from Konoha, because he betrayed the Will of Fire. That's what you, Jiraiya, cannot tolerate."
"This alone proves that your path and mine are utterly different. I too will seek out Orochimaru—but the reason I want to find him is to kill him. To let the innocent victims who died because of him finally close their eyes in peace in the Pure Land."
With that said—
Uchiha Keizumi turned to leave.
Jiraiya was still reeling when Jūzō suddenly shouted: "Uchiha Keizumi! Even if you know some of Akatsuki's secrets, you definitely don't know the purpose of my coming here, do you? Aren't you the least bit curious about my goal?"
He was desperate now.
For the first time in his life, Jūzō had met a shinobi so utterly dismissive of "intelligence."
He couldn't understand it.
He simply couldn't.
"If you're looking to vent, then just say it," Uchiha Keizumi replied coolly. "If you want to play riddles, I don't have the patience."
Jūzō: "…"
Why was this guy so impossible to deal with? Fortunately he was a shinobi of Konoha, not a member of Akatsuki.
If this man were in Akatsuki—and worse, assigned as his partner—Jūzō felt sure that one day he'd be driven to death by sheer frustration at Uchiha Keizumi.
He clenched his teeth and said: "Information… requires equivalent exchange. I can tell you my purpose here, but you must also tell me the intelligence I want to know."
Jūzō cut straight to the point: "I want to know about Uchiha Madara!"
This time he no longer lounged arrogantly with one leg propped up. He stood solemnly, his height nearly matching Uchiha Keizumi's, allowing him to lock eyes with him on even ground. "What do you know about the Uchiha Madara inside Akatsuki?"
Jiraiya: "!!!"
Izumi: "!!!"
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