When Uchiha Chizumi pulled his arm back, Nauma's eyes were already lifeless. He collapsed to the ground, a massive gash in his chest nearly cutting him in half.
Chizumi's face didn't change. To him, this so-called "Guardian Ninja of the Twelve" wasn't even as strong as one of Root's elite jōnin.
He looked ahead, where the rest of the group had already turned and fled—only their backs visible now.
That's right.
The moment Nauma made a move on Chizumi, raw survival instinct kicked in. The retainers panicked, grabbed Goen'in Kyūsuke, and ran for their lives.
In mere seconds, they were already over a hundred meters away, yelling frantically:
"Murder! Someone's been killed! An assassin is targeting the Daimyō's envoy to Konoha! Help!!"
"The Uchiha ninja's gone insane! He's trying to kill the Daimyō's son!"
"Where the hell are Konoha's shinobi?! Somebody help!"
"Where's the Hokage?!"
They were in full-blown chaos, desperately trying to protect Kyūsuke by keeping him surrounded.
"He's a lunatic—he's completely insane!" Kyūsuke was drenched in cold sweat, his face ghost-white.
As his retainers dragged him along, his lips trembled:
"H-How dare he?! I'm the Daimyō's son! Even the Hokage has to treat me like royalty! How could an Uchiha even think about doing this—?!"
No matter how he tried to process what was happening, he came to one conclusion:
This guy's a maniac.
Suddenly—
Kyūsuke caught a glimpse of a severed head flying past on his left.
Then another one appeared in his right peripheral vision.
He immediately recognized them—his own retainers.
He turned around in a panic, and what he saw nearly made his soul leave his body.
Two headless corpses spurted blood meters into the air. Between them stood Uchiha Chizumi, his blade soaked in fresh blood.
And those glowing, crimson Sharingan—three tomoe swirling—radiated a fear that gripped the heart.
The moment Kyūsuke locked eyes with Chizumi—
Genjutsu.
It kicked in.
"AAAAHHHH!!!"
His scream was high-pitched, almost inhuman. He tripped over his own feet and crashed hard into the ground.
His retainers stopped in their tracks, stunned.
Kyūsuke was sitting on the dirt, completely broken, screaming at nothing:
"Stay away! Don't come near me! I didn't start the fire—I just told someone else to do it!
I-I didn't know it'd get out of control! I didn't know it'd kill you!"
"You're supposed to be dead! You're already dead!"
"Stay away, stay away—ahhhhhhh!!!"
His meltdown looked like a full-on mental breakdown. Like he was seeing ghosts the others couldn't.
The retainers were shaken to the core.
They had never seen Kyūsuke—the proud son of the Daimyō—reduced to crying and drooling in sheer terror.
And then came the smell.
"Kyūsuke-sama… I think… he just pissed himself," one retainer murmured blankly.
…
Meanwhile, Sarutobi Hiruzen was overcome by a wave of dread.
The closer he got to meeting the Daimyō's envoy, the worse his gut feeling became. Something was very wrong.
Scenarios rushed through his mind:
The Fire Daimyō might drastically cut Konoha's funding next year.
He could be assigning Konoha impossible tasks.
Goen'in Kyūsuke—his second son—might be a total brat, and the meeting could blow up.
Or… something may have already happened to the envoy.
Then it hit him like lightning.
"Chizumi!"
He finally realized what he'd overlooked.
Could the envoy have run into him?
No way… that kid couldn't have done anything that bad. I mean, Kyūsuke's the Daimyō's son—he's had everything handed to him. What would he have done wrong?
But Hiruzen's face stiffened.
Because deep down, he knew he was just trying to comfort himself.
He knew the truth: the privileged never really cared about the law.
Laws in the Land of Fire?
They're made to control ordinary people. Not the elite.
"Stay close," he told the two Anbu at his side, then flickered away, reappearing dozens of meters ahead. The Anbu followed right behind.
Before long, they spotted a crowd up ahead—right where the Konoha scout said the envoy should be.
And that's when the pit in Hiruzen's stomach dropped.
He saw Uchiha Chizumi.
His face darkened instantly.
"Shit."
The ninja blade in Chizumi's hand destroyed any chance that he was just "passing by."
Hiruzen panicked.
"Chizumi! Stop!!"
He shouted.
But it was too late.
Even from a distance, he imagined he could hear the sound of a blade slicing through flesh.
He saw it clearly: a young man in lavish robes—clearly the Daimyō's son—beheaded in one clean stroke.
Hiruzen froze.
His legs stopped moving. He just stood there, like he'd been struck by lightning.
"Hokage-sama…?" one Anbu swallowed hard, voice shaking.
Hiruzen didn't answer.
He was frozen, hollow-eyed.
"That was… the Daimyō's second son…" he rasped.
"What… the hell is he doing?!"
…
"Meow. Rookie, this is what I meant," said Jujiro, glancing at Izumi. "To Chizumi-sama, titles mean nothing. Nobles don't get special treatment. His justice is absolute—no exceptions."
"Whether you're a villager, shinobi, noble, or the Daimyō's own son… if you commit a crime, you pay."
"And Goen'in Kyūsuke—what he did isn't something a few decades behind bars could fix. Death was justice's sentence."
Izumi had mentally prepared herself—
But still stood there, stunned.
After all, the man Chizumi had just killed wasn't some street thug. She had never even seen Land of Fire nobility before. The most powerful person she'd ever met was the Hokage.
But then she thought… if Chizumi-senpai once killed the Hokage's son, then why not the Daimyō's?
"Uhh…"
Izumi turned back. "Jujiro-senpai, did you hear someone yell 'Stop' just now?"
"Yup," he said casually. "That was the Third. He saw the whole thing. He watched Chizumi-sama take the Daimyō's son's head off."
"The Hokage… saw everything?!"
Drip...
A few drops of blood slid down Chizumi's sword, landing on the dirt with a soft splatter, like tiny crimson blossoms.
Goen'in Kyūsuke's head had already hit the ground and rolled a few times. His face was frozen in shock, wide eyes still holding a trace of disbelief.
His body, now headless, teetered for a moment—then collapsed, blood pouring from his neck.
[Ding! Red Name Villain Eliminated. Chakra slightly increased. Loot acquired: x10 Gambling Technique Skill Books.]
"K‑Kyūsuke-sama!!!"
One retainer sprinted forward, frantically trying to reattach the head to the body.
Another pointed at Chizumi, finger shaking, face twisted in rage.
"Y-You—you realize what you just did?!"
"Kyūsuke-sama was the Daimyō's son! One of the most powerful people in the country! His favorite child! He was next in line to be the next Daimyō!"
"Why?! Why would you kill him?! Are you trying to start a rebellion?!"
Chizumi flicked his wrist—slinging the blood from his blade.
"I didn't kill him for Konoha," he said flatly. "I executed a criminal. Why would you assume I did it on Konoha's behalf?"
His voice was calm—like he hadn't just killed royalty, but just crushed a cockroach.
"Arson. Murder—direct and indirect. Corpses dumped. Crime after crime. As long as he lived, justice couldn't be done."
"You're insane!!" one retainer snapped, voice cracking. "Even if those things are true, how dare you execute Kyūsuke-sama?! He had the highest authority in the land!"
"So what if he killed someone?! So what if he set a fire?!"
"The law of the Land of Fire grants nobles immunity! Kyūsuke-sama only made some childish mistakes—at most he should've been confined for a bit!"
"Who the hell do you think you are?! You Konoha shinobi have all gone mad!!"
"I don't know about everyone else," Izumi stepped up, biting her lip, "but Chizumi-senpai is the most clear-headed person I know! And that so-called law of yours? It's so weak, it makes me sick!"
Her pale face was flushed with anger.
Especially after hearing, "Nobles have immunity."
She couldn't hold it in anymore.
"You're asking what right he had to kill that criminal? Then I'll ask—what right does your law have to protect a murdering noble?!"
"Now I get it… this kind of injustice is exactly why the world is so full of criminals who get away with everything. It's become normal."
"Let me say this for my senpai: Absolute Justice doesn't bend to the Land of Fire's laws! It doesn't bow to power!"
"Under Absolute Justice, no one is above anyone else. If you do evil, you pay the price. And when justice is missing, someone has to stand up and deliver it."
"You lapdogs of evil have no right to question Absolute Justice."
She'd shouted so much her throat was raw.
Then she snapped out of it, realizing she might've overstepped.
She looked at Chizumi nervously—
But his face hadn't changed at all.
And then it clicked: he simply didn't think these people were worth explaining anything to.
But Izumi felt she had to say something.
Because her words weren't for the scumbags.
They were for the people of Konoha watching nearby—so they could understand what Chizumi truly stood for.
"Meow… not bad, rookie," Jujiro muttered, side-eyeing the stunned crowd. "You're getting close to Chizumi-sama's passing grade."
"Really?" Izumi brightened up. Her anger gave way to a small, proud grin. "I just said what I really felt, that's all."
"Then wipe that smile off your face already," Jujiro said flatly. "It's showing."
Just then, several figures appeared in a flash.
Sarutobi Hiruzen and a squad of Anbu had arrived.
Truth was, Hiruzen had snapped out of it five minutes ago.
But when he realized it was Chizumi up ahead, he forced himself not to rush forward—he'd only brought two Anbu.
With that few, he didn't have the guts to confront Chizumi directly.
He remembered what happened to Danzō.
Even if he believed he wasn't guilty of anything…
He still sent out a signal to summon backup.
Only after more than a dozen Anbu arrived did Hiruzen finally lead them to the scene.
And the sight that greeted him—
A headless corpse at his feet.
Two more in the distance.
His eyelid twitched uncontrollably.
~~~
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