When Sarutobi Hiruzen stepped into the narrow two-meter gap separating the two sides, his aged face was calm yet heavy. With his hands clasped behind his back, he assumed the posture of the Hokage and said to the man before him, "Keizumi, let's put an end to this farce together. There shouldn't be such conflicts between two departments of the village. You and I should resolve the subtle misunderstandings between them."
Uchiha Keizumi looked at the short old man before him, who tilted his head slightly, as if unable to meet his gaze.
With an expression of complete composure, Uchiha Keizumi said, "Once the Anbu ninjas submit to the Yamanaka Clan's memory inspection, this farce will naturally come to an end. The Police Force ninjas will not trouble the innocent within the Anbu."
The cold tone made Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow twitch, and caused many Anbu ninjas' hearts to tighten.
In the crowd, Kakashi let out a sigh.
It seemed his prediction had been correct—now that Uchiha Keizumi had arrived, things would not end so easily.
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke in a deep voice, "Keizumi, the Konoha Anbu is a secret organization. They hold many of the village's classified matters. If those secrets were to be exposed, it would be a tremendous blow to the village's safety!"
"Moreover, this also involves 'personal privacy.' No one would want their own privacy to be seen by others—especially when they've done nothing wrong."
Uchiha Keizumi said calmly, "Then what if I select specific individuals myself, and only they undergo the memory inspection—while the rest do not? Wouldn't that solve the issue?"
"Third Hokage, among the ones I select, how many do you think are innocent? How many are guilty? And how many of their so-called 'privacies' are truly worth the Hokage's protection?"
As those words fell, Sarutobi Hiruzen's pupils trembled.
Perhaps it was age catching up with him—but for a moment, he had forgotten that Uchiha Keizumi's eyes could see through the evil in others!
For Uchiha Keizumi to allow his subordinates to confront the Konoha Anbu meant that there truly were wicked men among the Anbu—men bearing the weight of sin.
And the reason Keizumi hadn't immediately dragged out the wicked men hiding within the Anbu, but had instead allowed the Police Force to come and face off against them first—
Was it to deliberately train the Police Force ninjas' courage?
To give them the resolve to raise the blade of Absolute Justice against Konoha's entrenched powers?
As this thought suddenly became clear in his mind, Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened slightly.
To Uchiha Keizumi, this confrontation might only be a test—a tempering of the Police Force ninjas' hearts and mettle.
But to him, the Hokage, it was a severe blow to his authority and prestige.
Was he really to stand before everyone's eyes and let Uchiha Keizumi single out those Anbu ninjas whose hands were not clean?
If so, Sarutobi Hiruzen would lose the trust of the entire Anbu.
Sarutobi Hiruzen drew in a sharp breath.
His political instincts told him—Uchiha Keizumi was using this incident to accomplish four different objectives.
First, to temper the Police Force; second, to capture the wicked; third, to weaken the Hokage's influence; and fourth, to undermine the power surrounding the Hokage himself.
Now, standing as the Chief Captain of the Police Force, Keizumi had finally turned the blade of Absolute Justice toward him, Sarutobi Hiruzen!
…
Meanwhile—
At the Ninja Academy.
"Little Jiraiya, with the special variable of [Absolute Justice] now in play, the matter of teaching the Child of Prophecy can no longer be delayed."
The sage Fukasaku, sitting on Jiraiya's shoulder, spoke in a grave tone.
"While Uzumaki Naruto is still young, while his sense of values has not yet been completely molded by Absolute Justice… you must teach him everything you believe in. Let him become the savior of the shinobi world—the one who will rescue it from the approaching crisis."
Shima nodded in agreement. "Under normal circumstances, of course we would wait until the Child of Prophecy was older, until the right moment appeared, before guiding him."
"But time waits for no one. Even if that Keizumi fellow has no intention of competing with us for the Child of Prophecy, his extreme ideology is already influencing him."
"Those who believe solely in Absolute Justice cannot save the shinobi world. Such an extreme mindset could even bring disaster upon it."
"Only through your guidance can he bring true change to the world of shinobi."
Fukasaku paused for a moment, then continued, "Little Jiraiya, we know you're under great pressure. What you're about to do may even put your beliefs at odds with that woman named Tsunade."
"But…"
"Those who truly act for the sake of the shinobi world are always the ones least understood. The heroes of the shinobi world are not necessarily as dazzling and upright as Uchiha Keizumi."
"A ninja bearing great pressure, dressed in tattered clothes—after teaching the Child of Prophecy, he too can become a hero honored by the shinobi world."
The two toad sages from Mount Myōboku spoke one after another, their voices resounding in both of Jiraiya's ears.
The faint hesitation on Jiraiya's face instantly vanished.
"I understand."
He said, "I'll go make contact with that child of Minato's."
…
"Hyūga Neji, has your Hyūga Clan still not settled down?"
It was lunchtime at the Ninja Academy.
Naturally, Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji would never obediently stay in the classroom to nap—they had come to the Academy's training field.
As Naruto clumsily threw kunai at the target, he asked curiously, "I remember you said before that your Hyūga Branch Family wanted to reselect a new Main Family bloodline, right? It's been so many days already—there should be a result by now, shouldn't there?"
Neji held a wooden kunai and, expressionless, threw it toward the target; the kunai struck the bullseye directly.
He answered Naruto's question calmly, "No. A kind of emotion called greed has begun to spread within the Hyūga Branch Family. Many people want to become that new Main Family bloodline. The competition is growing more and more intense."
"In the past, the clan meetings to discuss this were held once every two or three days. But in recent days, they've been held almost every day—some of the Branch Family elders even want to hold them twice a day."
Beside him, Sasuke also hit the center of his target.
Sasuke spoke up, "Your Hyūga Clan's situation doesn't sound good. If this keeps up, something's bound to go wrong. I know a bit about these kinds of internal clan disputes."
"I've got a feeling that if your Hyūga Clan continues like this, what starts as verbal conflict might soon turn into bloodshed. People obsessed with power are rarely honest people."
Hyūga Neji's young face carried a solemn look as he nodded slightly.
He agreed with Sasuke's words.
And precisely because of that, his mood had been heavy these days.
Even after all the sinful members of the Hyūga Main Family had been imprisoned in Konoha's jail, it seemed that no fundamental change had come to the Hyūga Clan.
"Hahaha! You kids sure talk about some deep topics. Are children these days all this mature already? Mind if I join in and discuss it with you?"
A sudden, shameless burst of laughter left the three kids present momentarily stunned.
When they turned their heads, they saw a strange middle-aged man with a somewhat lewd gait, stepping toward them on a pair of wooden clogs.
"This guy…"
Hyūga Neji froze for a second, then whispered, "He's Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha!"
Sasuke, hands in his pockets, asked, "You know him?"
Neji replied, "He followed me at night once."
As soon as those words fell, both Sasuke and Naruto instantly looked at Jiraiya with wary eyes.
The enthusiastic smile on Jiraiya's face immediately froze.
Crap.
He'd forgotten about that.
Back when he was trying to determine whether Hyūga Neji was the Child of Prophecy, he had indeed tailed him in secret. And because of an unexpected incident at the time, he'd even had to reveal himself and speak with Neji face to face.
He hadn't expected that the boy's suspicion and vigilance toward him would last all the way until now.
…
"Keizumi, is there truly no room for compromise?" Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep breath and said expressionlessly, "I can conduct an internal investigation within the Anbu myself. If someone truly has a problem, I certainly won't cover for them."
Uchiha Keizumi retorted with a single line that left him speechless: "A man whose two sons are both evildoers—none of your words hold the slightest credibility."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's aged face stiffened instantly.
He then heard Uchiha Keizumi continue, "I'll only say a few names. Those whose names I speak can choose to do nothing—or step forward and confess. The choice is yours."
At those words, Kakashi felt a sudden jolt in his chest.
He began frantically searching his memory—had he ever done anything evil before?
When he couldn't recall anything—
He finally let out a faint sigh of relief.
'Uchiha Keizumi… this is his final ultimatum!'—the thought flashed through Kakashi's mind.
Though Keizumi's tone sounded calm and without emotion, anyone could feel the killing intent thick in the air.
Sensing it, the Anbu ninjas' muscles tensed unconsciously.
Meanwhile, the Police Force ninjas eagerly placed their hands on the hilts of their blades.
This was the first time the Police Force had ever stood before Konoha's Hokage in such a stance.
In the past, they would never have dared.
The scale that measured "confidence" between the two sides had already begun to tilt.