Chapter 280: Butcher's Knife Can Justice Be Upheld!
As the dawn gradually broke, the commoners of the Land of Water's capital, who had been hiding in their homes all night, finally gathered the courage to step outside.
With just a single glance, they were hit by an uncontrollable wave of nausea.
The capital was naturally prone to morning mists, but the slaughter of two to three thousand people the previous night had stained the fog with a sickening crimson tint. Looking from afar, the entire capital seemed thoroughly enveloped in a blood-mist.
Worse than the pungent smell of the bloody fog were the twisted corpses hoisted high up on the branches like public displays. The sight triggered an instinctual, deep-seated revulsion in everyone who looked.
Terumī Mei, who had just arrived, felt an equal sense of profound discomfort. Although she had taken countless lives herself, seeing thousands of corpses displayed in such a manner made her scalp tingle with numbness.
It was Ikeizumi who had summoned her here. Killing could eliminate a problem, but managing the aftermath was just as crucial. If the capital were left completely unmanaged, Ikeizumi could easily foresee a tidal wave of secondary crimes breaking out in the vacuum. That would be a desecration of justice...something he refused to tolerate.
"My lord, what should we do next?" Mei asked, standing beside Ikeizumi. If she shifted her gaze even slightly, she could see the Daimyo of the Land of Water.
The man who once stood at the absolute pinnacle of power in this nation looked no different from anyone else in death. In fact, due to the sheer terror he felt before dying, his final expression was considerably uglier than most.
"In your name, summon the remaining nobles of the capital," Ikeizumi commanded. "Order them to organize personnel to maintain stability in the city, and at the same time, teach them the philosophy of [Absolute Justice]."
Ikeizumi had actually considered letting Mei directly assume the mantle of the Land of Water's Daimyo. However, her commitment to justice had not yet been truly tested; he didn't know whether such a decision would yield good results or bad.
"There are actually nobles still alive?" Mei blurted out instinctively.
It was hard to blame her for asking. In her experience, the nobility of the Land of Water were essentially birds of a feather. Given that thousands had died the previous night, she had assumed the entire aristocratic class had been wiped clean.
"I am not a man of indiscriminate slaughter. The ones I killed were strictly those who deserved it," Ikeizumi replied, shaking his head. Mei's misunderstanding of him ran deep. In fact, by this point, the entire Land of Water likely shared the exact same misconception.
"Those nobles..." Mei hesitated, asking with uncertainty, "Will they really be willing to listen to me? Will they truly try to understand your Absolute Justice, my lord?"
Realizing she had spoken out of turn, Mei quickly tried to gauge Ikeizumi's reaction. Her anxiety was well-founded. Even she couldn't claim to be entirely free of resentment toward Ikeizumi, given that he had completely broken the Hidden Mist Village. Putting herself in the nobles' shoes, she found it hard to believe they wouldn't try to plot something in the shadows.
"If they are unwilling, they can simply leave the Land of Water," Ikeizumi said flatly. "As for the nobles who choose to stay...the moment they commit evil, it won't be long before they are sent to meet the Daimyo."
Ikeizumi knew the human heart was unpredictable, but it didn't matter. He was confident that as long as he lived, these nobles would either obey out of sheer terror or end up hanging from the trees just like their ruler. If he killed enough of them, and if he killed them ruthlessly enough, he simply did not believe the wicked could not be tamed.
"No, no... I will absolutely do my best to persuade them and make them understand Absolute Justice!" Mei promised, her head throbbing with anxiety. The capital had already ground to a near-halt after a single sweep. If Ikeizumi kept killing, she feared she would go down in history as the greatest sinner of the Land of Water.
"Let's hope so," Ikeizumi said, casting a brief glance at her before dropping the subject.
After handing the capital's affairs over to Mei, he had other matters to attend to. The Land of Water possessed numerous other cities beyond the capital. Since he had resolved to blanket this entire nation under the shroud of [Absolute Justice], he would not stop his march.
The Hidden Mist Village
"Ikeizumi, that old guy from the Mist was speaking ill of you behind your back," Kojirō reported, leaping onto Ikeizumi's shoulder to file a complaint almost the moment Ikeizumi returned to the village.
"It's fine, as long as he hasn't committed any crimes," Ikeizumi replied casually. Even back in Konoha, there were plenty of people who failed to comprehend his Absolute Justice. Why expect any different from the Hidden Mist?
"This old man was not speaking ill of Lord Ikeizumi. I was merely telling this creature that Lord Ikeizumi might very well become the fuse for the Fourth Great Ninja War," Genji spoke up, observing the man and cat with a deeply complex expression.
Genji had honestly believed he wouldn't live to see a Fourth Great Ninja War. He had lived a exceptionally long life, long enough to witness the first three global conflicts.
"The events of the capital have undoubtedly leaked by now; the Five Great Nations have spies embedded everywhere," Genji explained. "The prior incident in the Land of Fire's capital caused a massive uproar among our own nobility, but back then, they consoled themselves by treating it as an internal affair of the Land of Fire."
"But this time is fundamentally different. Lord Ikeizumi, you belong to the Uchiha clan, and the Uchiha clan is virtually synonymous with Konoha."
Genji leaned forward, his voice grave. "A ninja from Konoha is openly interfering in the politics of another nation and has directly assassinated the Daimyo of the Land of Water. This will strike absolute terror into the hearts of the Daimyos of Earth, Lightning, and Wind. They will use their financial leverage to threaten their respective hidden villages."
"The Fourth Great Ninja War is truly upon us!"
"And unlike the previous three wars, if the Fourth Great Ninja War breaks out, the coalition of the great nations will share one...and only one...objective: To kill you!"
"Only when you are dead can the Daimyos sleep peacefully. Only when you are dead can those nobles live without constant fear!"
Genji stared intensely at Ikeizumi. In his eyes, no matter how powerful Ikeizumi was, it was impossible for a single man to withstand the combined military might of the Hidden Cloud, Hidden Stone, and Hidden Sand.
This was a feat that even Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had never accomplished. To Genji, no matter how formidable Ikeizumi might be, he was ultimately just another Uchiha Madara, or another Senju Hashirama. If those legends never dared to directly face the combined ninja armies of the other great nations, how could Ikeizumi possibly win?
Ultimately, Genji's vision was severely limited by his own horizon. Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara had possessed the raw power to unify the ninja world; Hashirama simply possessed a deeply flawed ideal...an uneducated mindset not unlike Uchiha Itachi's.
As it happened, Uchiha Ikeizumi currently possessed a level of power comparable to Hashirama and Madara.
But unlike them, he was thoroughly educated.
.......
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