"Did you hear? That Uchiha Plague got into another fight last night. Even the Yamanaka clan's compound got wrecked. Now they're crashing with the Nara clan."
"Yeah, it was insanely loud… I was so freaked out I couldn't sleep a wink."
"Honestly, the Hokage should just kick Uchiha Chizumi out of the village already! Why should his so-called 'justice' keep disrupting our peace?"
"Whoa there—what'd you do wrong? You sound scared he's gonna come after you or something."
"I heard a bunch of people died in that fight last night too…"
"Tch. These ninjas are always fighting each other, never mind the rest of us."
"…"
"Wow, rumors spread fast!" Izumi said, clearly annoyed. "Chizumi-senpai's always fought for justice in the shinobi world. He's never once gone after innocent people. Why are they talking like he's some kind of menace?"
Jujiro chimed in, "C'mon rookie, every household in Konoha has a TV now. What happened last night? It was all over the morning news. You're in the trainee unit of the police force—don't you know how to watch the news and read intel reports?"
"And as for all this gossip… you really must be new if you're surprised. Konoha villagers have always loved rumors. If not, Hatake Sakumo wouldn't have been bullied into taking his own life."
Just as Izumi was about to respond, a familiar figure up ahead caught her eye.
"Ah—Chizumi-senpai!"
She ran over excitedly, glancing at the time.
Whew… barely made it. She let out a relieved sigh.
"Wait—what?"
She quickly noticed Chizumi-senpai was carrying a blond kid by the collar.
No way…
"Naruto Uzumaki?!" Izumi stared in shock at Naruto's devastated little face. Wasn't he thrown into prison by Chizumi-senpai? What was he doing here?
"Senpai, he—?"
"The Third Hokage pardoned him," Chizumi replied flatly, holding Naruto up with one hand.
Naruto looked like he was on the verge of crying. "Gramps already let me go! I've been good lately, I swear! Please, just let me go… he already gave me a big lecture…"
Naruto had no idea his luck could get any worse.
It was finally the weekend. No school. He just wanted to buy that limited-edition cup ramen he'd been eyeing for weeks.
Then BAM—first person he runs into is literally the last person he wanted to see.
And of course, that person saw him too.
So now here he was, dangling helplessly.
As Chizumi stared him down, Naruto's voice shrank to a whisper. The pressure Chizumi gave off made even the Hokage seem tame in comparison.
He was officially traumatized.
"Looks like with the Third Hokage covering for you, even Konoha Prison can't hold you," Chizumi said coldly.
Instead of calming him down, Naruto's face went pale.
W-Wait… if it's not prison, then what—he's just gonna kill me?!
His knees gave out.
When Chizumi finally let go, Naruto dropped to the ground with a thud, completely frozen in place.
"Naruto Uzumaki. See this street?" Chizumi said calmly. "From today on, you show up here, same time every day. This entire street? Your responsibility to clean. For six months. Miss even one day, and you restart—another six months."
"Minor offenses are still offenses. You might not deserve death, but if you don't learn from this, one day those 'little mistakes' will turn into something much worse. And if that happens—believe me, I won't hesitate to kill you."
Chizumi didn't put any stock in the so-called 'original story'.
His presence had already thrown the entire shinobi world into chaos.
With so many butterfly effects already triggered, who could say Naruto would still follow the same path as the manga? Would he really grow up into the same person?
Rather than risk him turning into "Boruto's Dad: Problem Edition,"
Chizumi figured it was better to fix the problem now—completely and without mercy.
Cut off the risk at the root.
Naruto blinked, teary-eyed, and blurted out instinctively, "Y-You're… not gonna kill me?"
The moment he said it, he wanted to slap himself.
Why did I say that?!
Chizumi glanced at him and said quietly, "Absolute justice isn't about killing people without reason. That's not justice—that's terror. And terror's worse than evil. For your past petty crimes and your yet-unknown future, forced labor is already the harshest punishment you deserve."
Naruto just stared, completely confused.
…
Meanwhile, at the village gate…
A group of visitors arrived.
"Honored envoy, please rest at the Konoha reception inn while I notify the Hokage," a shinobi said to a well-dressed, obviously wealthy young man.
The young man, sweating buckets, fanned himself with a folding fan and grumbled, "Didn't you guys already know I was coming today?"
The shinobi bowed politely. "Konoha's had a lot of internal trouble recently. The Hokage's been swamped. I'm afraid a few arrangements may have slipped through."
"Our apologies, Envoy-sama. I'm sure the Hokage will personally welcome you very soon."
The envoy narrowed his eyes but didn't push the issue.
In this world, ninja were the ones with real power.
Daimyōs just kept the economy running and the laws stable.
Picking a fight with ninja? Not a smart move.
"One more thing," the envoy said casually, idly twirling his fingers, "Where's Konoha's casino? Point me there—I want to check it out."
"Casino…"
The shinobi's expression twitched. Remembering Koharu-sama's warning, he quickly said, "Please, Envoy-sama, don't go near the casino—or the bathhouses."
The young man frowned. "Why not?"
The shinobi took a breath and said, "There's a certain… ninja in the village. If you happen to cross paths, he might not hesitate to…"
"…kill you."
"…Excuse me?!"
"You mean to say there's a ninja in Konoha who'd dare kill an envoy from the daimyo?!"
A middle-aged retainer jumped in, shocked: "Wait—this kind of person is walking around in public?! Why isn't he locked up? If he hurts the envoy, can your village really take responsibility?!"
The shinobi's face twitched again. He had no idea why the Hokage kept letting Uchiha Chizumi roam free either.
Frustrated, he explained, "We don't arrest ninja unless they break the law. And besides… that man is also one of our official law enforcers."
The young envoy clenched his fan, a growing sense of unease making him scowl. "What's his name?"
"Uchiha Chizumi," the shinobi replied.
~~~
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