Chapter 275: Exterminating the Underground Black Market
The sharp katana sliced through the gang thug's throat with a light, fluid motion. Before the blood could even spray forth, Uchiha Izumi's figure had already appeared behind him, perfectly facing a second enemy.
"Die!"
The second thug hadn't even noticed his companion was dead. His eyes merely blurred before finding Izumi standing in front of him; he instinctively swung his blade.
"In the name of [Absolute Justice]..."
Unfortunately, in the field of vision provided by Izumi's Three-Tomoe Sharingan, the thug's movements...while not completely frozen...were essentially in slow motion. Following the standard procedure, she read the crimes within the box above his head, controlled him with genjutsu, and delivered a fatal throat-slit. "...The death penalty is carried out!"
Compared to the wide, sweeping strikes of Biwa Jūzō, Izumi took the extra step of checking a target's crimes before killing them, yet her efficiency in neutralizing the thugs was not a shred lower than his.
"Well fought, meow! Wipe out every last one of these rotten bastards!"
Kojirō, the only one who hadn't joined the fray, squatted on the railing of the warehouse's second floor and cheered loudly. Although it was actually the starving civilians who were eating the cats, Kojirō...having followed Ikeizumi for years...knew the difference between the root cause and the symptoms.
Had these villains not intentionally manufactured the famine, the civilians of Seagull City would never have been desperate enough to hunt cats and rats for food.
"Caught a meddling little rat..."
Just as the excited Kojirō was itching to jump down and join in, a slightly peculiar voice suddenly echoed behind him. "Hmm... if I were to hold a funeral, what kind of service would you prefer?"
"Meow-aoo!?"
Startled, Kojirō spun around to see a physically robust man with long green hair stepping out from the darkness. In his hands, two strangely shaped short blades pulsed with piercing lightning.
"Well, if you won't say, I'll pick one for you. A funeral held with lightning!"
Kurosuki Raiga bared a neurotic smile. Before Kojirō could speak, he crossed the twin Kiba blades. The lightning dancing on the edges pounced toward Kojirō like venomous snakes. "Lightning Style: Lightning Dragon Strike!"
However, the instant the lightning surged, Kojirō's eyes widened, and he instinctively pressed his paws hard against the railing, activating the jutsu he had tempered through countless repetitions.
POOF!
A cloud of smoke erupted, and a figure appeared between Kojirō and Raiga, actually catching the Lightning Style discharge with his bare hands.
"That was close, that was close! Scared me to death, meow!"
Kojirō's fur stood on end as he watched the lightning flickering within the dissipating smoke. Though he wasn't an ordinary house cat, a ninja cat couldn't truly be compared to a high-level shinobi. If that lightning had hit him, he would have lost a layer of skin even if he survived.
"I believe I warned you once, Kojirō..."
The smoke cleared rapidly, revealing the front of the figure who had blocked the attack. It was a handsome yet cold-faced young man wearing a Konoha forehead protector...Uchiha Ikeizumi, the man who had single-handedly suppressed the entire Mist Village not long ago. "The Reverse Summoning Jutsu is not meant to be used as a personal shield."
Had any other Mist shinobi been facing Ikeizumi right now, they likely would have turned and fled without hesitation. However, Raiga was a rogue ninja, and Seagull City was far enough from the Hidden Mist that news of the village's suppression hadn't reached him yet.
"Sorry, meow, Lord Ikeizumi! It was an emergency, I had no other choice, meow..."
Kojirō wagged his tail and gave a dry laugh. He knew he had done something reckless. If the target of the Reverse Summoning hadn't been Ikeizumi...if it had been a ninja who took a Lightning Style hit to the face right upon arrival...even with full strength, they'd be lucky to be operating at half-capacity.
But Kojirō wasn't stupid enough to truly sabotage his master. He had only summoned Ikeizumi's Wood Clone. Otherwise, given Kojirō's chakra reserves, he couldn't have pulled the real Ikeizumi over even with the latter's active cooperation.
"A Konoha ninja? Forget it, they're all the same. If we're holding a funeral, what kind do you like?"
Raiga looked at Ikeizumi's forehead protector with disgust. It reminded him of that leotard-wearing monster who had nearly wiped out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
This realization only heightened Raiga's killing intent. If he had merely wanted to eliminate a meddling rat before, now it was about settling old and new grudges together. He hated Konoha ninja most of all!
"An utterly heinous individual..."
Ikeizumi merely glanced at the red box above Raiga's head and couldn't even be bothered to look further. This man's level of guilt was off the charts, standing out even among the "talents" of the Hidden Mist. "Judgment Pupil!"
"If you won't choose, I'll pick my favorite: a lightning funeral! Lightning Style: Light...AAAAAAAAGH!!!"
Raiga had just revealed a neurotic grin, and the Kiba blades in his hands hadn't even had time to discharge when he met Ikeizumi's blood-red eyes. The Mangekyō ability residing in his left eye...the Judgment Pupil...activated instantly.
The next moment, Raiga's near-inhuman screams echoed through the entire warehouse, startling even the thugs currently engaged in combat.
Biwa Jūzō and Uchiha Izumi took the opportunity to disengage, swallowing soldier pills to rapidly recover their stamina and chakra.
Ignoring Raiga, who was howling and rolling on the ground like a wounded beast, Ikeizumi calmly surveyed the people in the warehouse. The look of disgust on his face was almost palpable.
Even within the notorious Mist Village, there were ninja with low guilt levels who could be considered innocent. But in this warehouse, aside from Izumi and Jūzō, almost every single person capable of movement bore a Red Name. Most were "Deep Red" or "Purple-Black"...the truly heinous.
By comparison, Raiga almost looked ordinary among this lot. Especially one fellow who, upon hearing Raiga's scream, turned to flee...the content in his head-box was several times more atrocious than that of even Uchiha Itachi!
"Lord Ikeizumi, the people here are rotten to the core, meow! They forced the civilians to eat cat meat just to stay alive, meow!"
Kojirō loudly voiced his indignation. In his many years of following Ikeizumi, the fat orange cat had seen countless villains, but none quite as depraved as those in the Seagull City underground.
"I see. You all have done well."
Ikeizumi glanced at the blood-soaked Jūzō and the slightly panting Izumi. Then, he turned a calm, chilling gaze toward the remaining gang leaders and thugs.
"Heavenly Wrath Flames!"