"Rules?"
Uchiha Keizumi repeated the word, his tone so flat it chilled the heart: "Who made those rules?"
He tilted his head slightly, his gaze dissecting every thread of fear on Mizuno Hideki's face like a blade: "What land, what code of law, explicitly stipulates that I have no right to interfere in the Land of Water?"
Mizuno Hideki struggled to turn his stiff neck, sweeping a pleading look toward his comrades around him.
He saw sympathy in some eyes, saw indignation on more faces, but also clearly saw the hesitation in their steps, saw their instinctive retreat before that mountain of corpses and sea of blood.
He even saw Terumī Mei's tightly knitted brows, saw Elder Genji's eyes close heavily…
Why?
Why is no one stepping forward?
Where is that Blood Mist will that promised to spare nothing for the village?!
"It's… it's the successive Mizukage! And the Daimyō of the Land of Water!"
Mizuno Hideki shouted it out almost purely by instinct, his teeth uncontrollably clattering against each other with a light "clack-clack" sound.
"They are the makers of the rules! It's under their wise leadership that Kirigakure has remained standing tall, and that the Land of Water has held its place among the Five Great Nations of the shinobi world!"
"Oh." Uchiha Keizumi let out a monotone syllable, then slowly nodded, as though he were genuinely contemplating that answer.
"Then, reverse the deduction." He leaned slightly forward, the invisible pressure making Mizuno Hideki nearly suffocate. "If they were… all eliminated, would not the old rules upon which the Land of Water and Kirigakure operate collapse entirely?"
His Sharingan eyes locked tightly onto Mizuno Hideki's unfocused pupils. "When an entire nation or a shinobi village sees its old rules collapse, there must inevitably arise new ones to fill that power vacuum. This logic—correct?"
Mizuno Hideki was completely stunned.
He vaguely felt something wrong with those words, but under that soul-crushing pressure, his mind went utterly blank.
He subconsciously nodded.
"Good." The corner of Uchiha Keizumi's mouth twitched ever so slightly upward, sketching a curve devoid of warmth—so chilling it made one's blood run cold.
"Then kill them all. From this moment on, the Land of Water and Kirigakure shall be governed by 'Absolute Justice.'"
Mizuno Hideki: "???"
His mouth gaped open, his mind a tangled mess, utterly unable to grasp this leap of logic or believe what he had just heard.
"Keizumi-sama…" Elder Genji's aged and weary voice once again sounded, carrying one last effort to salvage the situation sliding toward the abyss. "Please… please listen to my words. The Land of Water and the Land of Fire differ vastly in their national conditions; their customs and histories are entirely unlike."
"The ideal of 'Absolute Justice' you uphold may… may fail to take root here, and prove difficult to truly implement."
However, Uchiha Keizumi didn't so much as spare him a glance.
His gaze, from beginning to end, was fixed unwaveringly on Mizuno Hideki.
As though he were the only one here worth speaking to.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"…Mizu—Mizuno Hideki!" Mizuno Hideki clenched his fists, his nails digging deep into his palms, trying to use pain to dispel fear and muster what little courage remained to answer.
"In Kirigakure, people like you—those who, from the depths of their hearts, believe in the correctness of the Blood Mist Policy, and willingly, tirelessly uphold it—there are many, aren't there?" Uchiha Keizumi continued to ask.
Standing behind, Elder Genji's brow twitched sharply, and he let out another cough laced with a clear note of warning.
But at this moment, Mizuno Hideki had already been overwhelmed by fear and a warped sense of loyalty.
He completely failed to grasp the Elder's hint, and instead, as if he had just found proof that he was not fighting alone, he raised his voice excitedly: "Of course! The village is full of shinobi like me!"
"We are the most steadfast supporters of the Blood Mist Policy, the Mizukage's most loyal subordinates! Invaders like you are the enemies of our entire village!"
"Even knowing full well that the Blood Mist Policy would shatter countless families, that it would cause the tragic deaths of many innocent people who had done no evil, you feel no regret?" Uchiha Keizumi's voice still carried no trace of emotion.
"Are you deaf?!" Mizuno Hideki, as though his reverse scale had been touched, completely lost control, screaming hoarsely, "I already said, the ones who died were the weak! The useless trash!"
"If they died, then so be it! Their deaths meant those limited resources could go to true shinobi! Everyone thinks the same! All of them!"
Uchiha Keizumi's gaze slowly swept across the face of every Kirigakure shinobi present.
He saw those whose eyes burned with flames of rage, wishing to tear him apart and devour him alive; he saw those nodding repeatedly, their expressions showing deep agreement with Mizuno Hideki's words.
And he also saw those whose eyes flickered, brows tightly furrowed, lips slightly parted yet ultimately silent—some even instinctively avoiding his gaze.
"Mizuno Hideki," Uchiha Keizumi spoke, "you are an 'excellent' shinobi. You've saved me a great deal of time in screening."
He was smiling? That monster from Konoha who had just slaughtered over a hundred of their Kirigakure comrades—was actually smiling?
That absurd thought flashed across Mizuno Hideki's mind; he hadn't even had time to think deeper about what the other man meant by "saving time."
The next second, an indescribable, extreme pain instantly devoured all his senses!
[Puchi—!]
It was the nauseating, grotesque sound of flesh being forcibly torn and instantly charred and carbonized by extreme heat.
Mizuno Hideki's pupils trembled and contracted wildly.
He lowered his head in disbelief.
He saw a hand, wrapped in dark-red, viscous, scalding magma, silently pierce through his chest!
His specially made ninja vest, before that arm, was like fragile parchment, instantly melted through and torn.
The steel plates in the lining used for defense gave a sizzle of lament, quickly turned bright red and softened, and ultimately became scalding molten iron, dripping into the pool of blood at his feet and raising a thin wisp of pale smoke.
He could even clearly see fragments of his organs instantaneously carbonized inside his chest cavity, and smelled the acrid, burnt stench of his flesh and entrails mixed with the metallic tang of blood.
"Guh…huh…"
Mizuno Hideki opened his mouth wide, his throat able only to produce meaningless bellows-like wheeze sounds.
Scalding fresh blood surged uncontrollably from his mouth.
He summoned his last ounce of strength, raised eyes filled with utter terror and confusion, and fixedly stared at Uchiha Keizumi standing within arm's reach.
With Elder Genji already having stepped forward to mediate…
How could he… how dare he…
[Puchi!]
Uchiha Keizumi expressionlessly withdrew the magma-swaddled arm.
As the arm left, the huge, constantly smoking, charred hole in Mizuno Hideki's chest was fully exposed to the air.
His body lost all support and slumped forward limply.
With a plop, he landed in the viscous pool of blood.
A small patch of dark-red ripples spread.
Uchiha Keizumi raised his eyes; those Mangekyō Sharingan scanned the scene, and his icy voice clearly entered the depths of every person's soul: "The Blood Mist Policy that has turned the vast Land of Water into a breeding ground of evil and nourished countless tragedies is the mortal enemy of Absolute Justice."
"Whether one is a villain, a good citizen, or an innocent drawn in… anyone who in their heart chooses to unconditionally endorse and support this policy has actively stood opposed to Absolute Justice."
"From this moment on, the execution of Absolute Justice will no longer leave the slightest leeway because some people are not notorious villains. Those who do not wish to oppose justice, who inwardly resist the Blood Mist Policy, and who themselves have not committed crimes…"
"You have three seconds to leave this area and state your stance."
"Three…"
The icy countdown tolled like a death knell. The crowd instantly erupted into chaos; strained breathing and the sound of weapons clashing rose one after another.
Terumī Mei, Genji, Ao, and the others' pupils shrank sharply—they realized that any words at this point were powerless.
Uchiha Keizumi had already given Kirigakure a chance, and not just once.
"Two…"
A large number of Kirigakure shinobi, their faces twisted with ferocity, began to channel chakra within their bodies. The edges of their kunai gleamed with cold light under the dim glow, and many others began to rapidly form hand seals.
However, at the same time, there were also some among them…
After fierce inner struggle, their eyes at last settled into silent resolve.
Wordlessly, they sheathed the kunai or ninja blades they had just drawn, or gently set them down.
Under the stunned, confused, even angry and disdainful gazes of their companions around them, they lowered their heads and took step after step backward.
Back to the edge of the battlefield.
They could not betray their own conscience to support a policy stained with the blood of their own comrades, even if it meant being branded traitors.
To make them admit they were willing to support the Blood Mist Policy—that would be more painful than death.
"One."
"Fight him! For the Village of the Blood Mist! Kill that monster from Konoha!!!"
The killing intent, suppressed to the extreme, erupted like a volcanic explosion!
The still numerous Kirigakure shinobi, those whom Genji had previously stopped, surged forth like a collapsing tide, their hysterical roars echoing as they launched a desperate charge toward Uchiha Keizumi from all directions.
A dense rain of shuriken tore through the air; ignited explosive tags flickered with dangerous firelight; raging Water Dragon Bullets formed in an instant.
All the attacks instantly swallowed the spot where Uchiha Keizumi stood.
"Wood Release…"
A chakra force vast beyond description, immense as the sea, burst outward from Uchiha Keizumi like a nuclear explosion!
The earth let out a groan of unbearable strain, trembling violently, heaving and cracking apart!
Countless massive shadows broke through the ground!
"Nativity of a World of Trees."