When Sasuke personally saw a corpse whose head was half‑blown away collapse limply to the ground, his small face turned deathly pale with fright.
He even saw the corpse's single remaining eye bulge in its socket, "staring" straight in his direction.
A shiver ran uncontrollably through Sasuke's body.
"S‑Someone… someone's been killed…!"
Nearby, the Konoha civilians were just as alarmed, blurting out, "H‑Hurry… hurry and notify the Uchiha Police Force…!"
"We are the Uchiha Police Force!"
After taking a deep breath, Izumi stepped forward and shouted. Her declaration instantly left the surrounding villagers speechless.
Right…
The killer was a member of the Uchiha Police Force. Even if they called other officers, what good would it do?
Seeing many people's fear‑stricken faces, Izumi raised her voice again:
"The man who was just executed is Aburame Keiya—a ninja who forgot the Will of Fire and harmed innocent lives!
His crimes include, but are not limited to, trafficking in contraband drugs, murder, and desecrating corpses…
Moreover, he was the one who struck first, trying to resist arrest.
My senpai, Uchiha Chizumi, could only mete out the ultimate punishment on the spot in the name of Absolute Justice!"
Perhaps the girl's righteous tone really was convincing.
Perhaps the authority and legitimacy of the Police Force left little room for objection.
More likely, the very name "Uchiha Chizumi" was enough to make crying children fall silent.
Izumi noticed that some civilians no longer looked so panicked, and she secretly breathed a small sigh of relief.
"Senpai, what do we do now…?" she asked. Izumi could bark back at the villagers with confidence, yet the moment she faced her senpai she lost her nerve.
"A ninja cat will run back to headquarters and call people to handle the corpse," Uchiha Chizumi said flatly.
Izumi watched a ninja cat crouched at the alley mouth sprint away.
Those cats must be Chizumi‑senpai's most trusted partners and capable aides—
Ah! No, wait!
I'm supposed to be Chizumi‑senpai's capable aide!
Straightening her posture, Izumi followed after him.
Once Uchiha Chizumi had left the street, the villagers—who until then hadn't dared to raise their voices—finally plucked up their courage.
After exchanging uneasy looks, they moved toward the corpse with half its skull gone.
"Ugh, what a gruesome death… How many people has Uchiha Chizumi killed in the village this month alone?"
A chill ran up one man's spine. "Is he really a law‑enforcement officer or just a homicidal maniac?"
"I heard Uchiha Chizumi has eyes that can see the evil of the past and future. The Sharingan's weird enough as it is—maybe he really can read people's evil, and he's always hated evil to the core."
"That girl said this guy was a murderer. If Chizumi killed him, I guess he deserved it, right?"
"But it's still too extreme. Shouldn't they arrest him first and put him on trial? What if they misjudged him? What if he was innocent?"
"…That man never kills the innocent," someone suddenly interjected. "He actually isn't that frightening. He only raises his blade against the guilty—you ordinary folk who've never done evil have nothing to fear."
The discordant voice drew every gaze to its source: a man who looked thoroughly dejected. He ignored their stares; what mattered was that Chizumi-sama was being misunderstood.
Bowing his head, he tore open his own wound in public and bit out:
"If Chizumi-sama hadn't avenged my fiancée—who was raped and murdered—I'd never have made those three beasts pay."
Clenching his fists, tears burst from his eyes. His voice shook:
"You're prejudiced against Chizumi-sama just because you think his methods are harsh.
But how could you understand? To someone like me, whose life had fallen into darkness, a man like Chizumi-sama is the only ray of light proving that justice exists!
"So please—don't misunderstand him! He has never been the enemy of ordinary people like us who've never done evil!"
…
Dazed and unsteady, Sasuke trailed behind Izumi. From far behind he could vaguely hear the man's impassioned shout. He himself didn't know why he'd followed Izumi at all—Uchiha Chizumi had scared him half to death…
His little heart still pounded wildly.
"Sasuke‑kun, I'm sorry. Because of that unexpected incident, I still haven't answered the question you asked earlier about the rumors concerning your brother, Uchiha Itachi."
Izumi's voice finally snapped Sasuke out of his daze. He hurriedly focused on her—and keenly noticed that she'd changed how she addressed his brother. She used to say "Itachi‑kun," a close friend's term. Now she said "Uchiha Itachi," sounding much more distant.
Izumi's mood sank; disappointment tinged her voice. Tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear, she said slowly:
"Sasuke‑kun, the rumors you heard today are only half false. The other half…is true."
"???"
Sasuke almost forgot to breathe. His small face flustered, he stammered, "W‑Which part…is true?"
At first Izumi felt it cruel to tell him, but Sasuke was one of the people involved in that future evil. He shouldn't be kept in the dark—he had to know his brother's true nature.
"Chizumi‑senpai can see future evil," she said. "He saw your brother Uchiha Itachi's future. One year from now, the Uchiha clan will be annihilated—by Uchiha Itachi."
Under Sasuke's wide‑eyed, terror‑stricken stare—
Izumi continued unflinchingly:
"Your father, your mother, your friends, your relatives—all of them will die at Uchiha Itachi's hand; he will personally kill them.
"Your father, Clan Head Fugaku, knows; your brother Uchiha Itachi knows. Both of them have chosen to trust Chizumi‑senpai's ability.
"Your father believes his eldest son will one day wipe out the clan, yet he shelters him. Your brother believes he himself will commit the atrocity—and he's said outright that he won't regret it."
Izumi stopped, turned, and bent her knees slightly so her clear eyes met Sasuke's tear‑filled, bewildered ones.
"Sasuke‑kun… that is Uchiha Itachi's future evil: he will kill almost every member of the Uchiha clan.
"This probably isn't the answer you wanted most.
"I'm sorry, Sasuke‑kun…
"But it's the truth."