Before Uchiha Keizumi's eyes, a familiar line of text suddenly flashed.
After carrying out this act of justice, Uchiha Fugaku, in his final moments, had "sent" him an unexpected gift.
—Fusion of Mangekyō Sharingan Power!
At that instant, Uchiha Keizumi clearly felt two streams of warmth swirling within his eyes. The ocular power from Uchiha Fugaku's Mangekyō Sharingan was being continuously absorbed and assimilated, causing him to unconsciously close his eyes.
His whole body seemed frozen in place, motionless for over ten seconds.
When Uchiha Keizumi slowly opened his eyes once more, the pattern of his Mangekyō Sharingan… had quietly undergone a strange transformation.
The twin pupils' designs looked as though two distinct Mangekyō Sharingan patterns had overlapped and intertwined—forming an entirely new pattern.
At that very moment, Uchiha Keizumi's ocular power began to grow continuously stronger, to the point that even his eyes felt a slight swelling pain.
However, that sensation of pressure lasted only a few seconds before fading away completely.
He had already fully adapted to this pair of new eyes.
"Hah…"
Feeling the changes within himself, Uchiha Keizumi muttered softly, "With such a distant blood relation… they could still fuse together? That's somewhat beyond my expectations."
As fellow members of the Uchiha Clan, there was certainly some degree of shared bloodline.
But who would have thought that such a shallow blood connection—
Would still come with such a significant 'gift'?
After Uchiha Keizumi released his Susanoo, a shadow clone that had split off at some unknown time came running toward him. The clone extended its hand, and lying upon its palm were two eyes—Uchiha Fugaku's Sharingan, which he had gouged out himself before death.
…
"Hah… once again, I'm a step too late."
Tsunade gazed at the Uchiha compound ahead, its interior a sight too miserable to behold. Seeing the desolate emptiness within, she raised an eyebrow and murmured, "Looks like that Keizumi guy still cares about ordinary civilians. He must've evacuated everyone beforehand."
Then she saw a figure walking out from within the compound—it was none other than Uchiha Keizumi!
Tsunade walked up to him.
"Keizumi, who did you get into an internal fight with this time?" she asked bluntly.
"Uchiha Fugaku."
At Keizumi's reply, Tsunade's eyelid twitched.
Curious, she asked, "What happened to him?"
As Uchiha Keizumi walked, he briefly explained the situation.
Hearing this, Tsunade let out a sigh. "The shinobi of the Uchiha Clan have been this extreme for a long time. The way your clan awakens your eyes already dooms most of you to be unstable. Whatever 'normalcy' you show in daily life is just the effort of suppressing your own obsessions."
"Ahem, I wasn't talking about you," Tsunade quickly added, realizing her words had come out wrong.
"You're not wrong," Uchiha Keizumi admitted calmly. "Only in the soil of extreme evil can an extreme Absolute Justice take root."
Then—
Uchiha Keizumi suddenly said, "There's a Police Force shinobi who was gravely wounded by Uchiha Fugaku's ocular technique. The medical-nin at the Konohagakure Hospital probably won't be able to heal him. Don't worry—it's only a mental injury. There won't be any blood."
Tsunade nodded in understanding.
"I'll go take a look."
…
In the distance—
The dispersed Uchiha clansmen had all gathered here; not only Uchiha civilians, but also many Police Force shinobi.
Among them was Uchiha Izumi.
"It's over…"
A flicker of complexity passed across Izumi's face. She could tell that it was Keizumi who had won, and Uchiha Fugaku who had lost. That meant Uchiha Fugaku had already perished in the Pure Land.
Unable to help herself, she looked forward—her gaze falling upon Uchiha Mikoto and Uchiha Sasuke, the mother and son.
Would Keizumi killing Uchiha Fugaku make Uchiha Mikoto hate him?
Would it make Uchiha Sasuke waver in his faith in Absolute Justice?
But this was unavoidable. Uchiha Fugaku had violated the bottom line of justice—justice had to impose its sanction upon him. One could not simply show leniency just because he had a wife and a son, right?
That would no longer be justice.
"Mother…"
Sasuke finally lifted his head to look at his mother's profile. He could clearly see that the tears welling up in Uchiha Mikoto's eyes could no longer be contained—they kept streaming down her cheeks.
A sudden, hollow emptiness also made Sasuke abruptly realize something in that moment.
"Father…"
Turning his head, Sasuke stared blankly at the night sky in the distance. He could not describe what kind of feeling filled his heart right now.
At that moment, Sasuke suddenly recalled certain rumors about Keizumi.
He had once heard that—
After one of Keizumi's own blood relatives committed evil, Keizumi personally carried out the execution.
Could it be that, back then, what Keizumi-sensei felt in his heart…
Was exactly the same as what he was feeling now?
Sasuke suddenly felt his vision blur.
His nose tingled with soreness.
Just then, he suddenly felt a soft, warm hand gently caress his head.
When he looked up—
He saw his mother, whose tear stains had already been wiped away, forcing a faint smile. "Sasuke, don't let confusion dwell in your heart. You must never overlook someone's wrongdoing just because you share a close bond with them—that's wrong. The first thing an excellent shinobi must learn is to distinguish clearly between right and wrong."
Sasuke could hear the faint choke in his mother's voice.
Rather than saying she was comforting Uchiha Sasuke—
It was more accurate to say she was comforting herself.
"…Mm."
Sasuke nodded heavily.
Uchiha Izumi, who had taken all of this in with her eyes, let out a quiet sigh in her heart.
Scenes like this, in truth, occurred almost every time justice was carried out—each time, in the hearts of different people.
But just as Uchiha Mikoto had said—
Right and wrong could not be ignored!
Family affection could not interfere with justice!
Mikoto-sama truly was a good mother. She endured her inner sorrow and taught her younger son by word and deed. Yet, for some reason, her elder son, Uchiha Itachi, had not inherited a single one of her virtues.
Izumi did not understand.
Just then, Izumi was suddenly startled. Within her field of vision appeared a familiar figure.
"Keizumi-senpai!"
…
At that moment, Uchiha Mikoto also noticed Uchiha Keizumi.
When she saw that only Uchiha Keizumi was walking toward them alone, she understood at once that the guess in her heart had come true.
"Fugaku…"
Uchiha Mikoto's voice trembled slightly as she asked, "Did he leave anything behind? Or… did he say any last words?"
Standing before her, Uchiha Keizumi extended the two Mangekyō Sharingan in his hand toward Uchiha Mikoto.
He spoke: "These were what he left for Sasuke."
Uchiha Mikoto froze.
The two Mangekyō Sharingan had already been carefully wiped clean—the bloodstains upon them long gone. These were Uchiha Fugaku's eyes, and also the only "corpse" he left behind.
Uchiha Keizumi continued, "In the final moment of his life, he said only that this pair of eyes should be given to Sasuke. But he's still just a child—a mentally immature child. If he were to wield such power now, it would almost certainly lead to disaster."
"As for when he will be worthy of possessing and using these eyes, that will depend on your decision as his mother."
Uchiha Mikoto stiffly took the pair of Mangekyō Sharingan.
"…I understand," she whispered.
…
The next day.
Morning.
The news that the former head of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Fugaku, had been executed by [Absolute Justice] instantly detonated across the entire Konohagakure! For many, he had been one of the village's most prominent figures!
Moreover, the Uchiha Clan—being a shinobi clan long at the center of the village's public opinion—had always drawn gossip even from the smallest of disturbances.
And now, it was the death of a former clan head who had been forced from power!
"This can't be some sinister political struggle, can it? Maybe that Uchiha plague god, after taking power, wanted to eliminate his rivals and used some excuse to get rid of Uchiha Fugaku!"
Konohagakure's rabble were never absent.
Most of the time, there was no need for anyone to deliberately stir things up; strange conspiracy theories would quietly spread in private all on their own.
"It really could be! Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence? And Uchiha Fugaku was the former clan head after all—no matter what he did, wouldn't there be room for leniency? Only when eliminating rivals would someone strike this ruthlessly!"
"I heard Uchiha Fugaku's wife was involved too—tsk, tsk, what a vicious woman! The Uchiha really are a clan of lunatics, even their women are no exception."
"It's that Uchiha Keizumi, using justice as a pretext to remove his opponents! This definitely isn't the first time he's done something like this—there must already be plenty of Uchiha who've died by his hand!"
"…"
However, the Police Force was no longer the same as before.
In the past, whenever some seemingly serious rumor or conspiracy theory spread through the village, the shinobi of the Police Force mostly remained indifferent.
Because the one who had served as the Police Force Chief—Uchiha Fugaku—
Had never cared about these so-called rumor-driven conspiracies circulating among public opinion.
But now, things were different.
When two of Konohagakure's rabble were chatting heatedly, adding fuel to the fire and fabricating more lies—
"Hey!"
An impatient, stern voice suddenly came from behind them. "What are you two talking about? Mind if I join in?"
The two villagers turned their heads in confusion—
And were immediately scared out of their wits.
"Po—"
"Police Force!!!"
A Police Force chūnin stood before them, his face expressionless, one hand resting on the hilt of his ninjatō. The blade at his waist was already half-drawn, and in a cold tone he said, "Spreading false rumors in the village and maliciously influencing public opinion—did you really think the Police Force would turn a blind eye?"
The two villagers froze, faces stiff.
"In the past… you people never cared about this…" one of them muttered in a trembling voice, as if mourning his own fate.
"We do now! Because the Police Force is no longer under that cowardly criminal Uchiha Fugaku's command! The current Police Force has completely aligned itself with Keizumi-sama's Absolute Justice!"
"You lot—spitting filth from your mouths—don't think you can keep slandering others behind their backs and remain unpunished forever!"
"Keizumi-sama has already said that tragedies like Hatake Sakumo's will never happen again!"
The Police Force chūnin said coldly.
…
"…Such a thing… will never happen again?"
Not far away—
Kakashi, who had taken in everything before his eyes, revealed a complicated look in his gaze.
"With Keizumi's extreme methods, perhaps… he really might be able to suppress this corrupt trend of rumor-mongering within the village."
Kakashi's feelings were conflicted.
The Konohagakure leadership he served had done nothing when his father suffered under unbearable public condemnation. In fact… they may even have helped fan the flames.
And yet, it was Uchiha Keizumi—who had no direct connection to him at all—who mentioned his father's fate before the Police Force shinobi, and ordered his subordinates to put an end to such unjust behavior.
A question quietly surfaced in Kakashi's heart.
—Who, in the end… is the one truly acting for the good of the village?