Hokage Office – Konoha
Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't focus on paperwork today. He sat behind his desk, a long pipe in his mouth, exhaling smoke through tightly clenched brows. Only the sharp sting of tobacco seemed to help him calm down.
The envoys from the Rain Village had been redirected elsewhere—Mitokado Homura and Utatane Koharu were handling their reception. Hiruzen knew full well that, in his current state, it was a bad idea to be dealing with foreign guests.
He needed space. Time. Time to collect himself.
Just then, a small ninja dog leapt up onto the windowsill, startling the Anbu guards inside the Hokage's office.
Before the dog—Pakkun—could even open his mouth, three gleaming blades were already pressed to his head.
The masked Anbu stared at him with cold eyes. If he so much as twitched, that dog head would've rolled.
Pakkun nearly peed himself.
Luckily, Hiruzen recognized him and spoke up.
"You're Kakashi's dog, right? Do you have a report for me?"
The blades eased back slightly—not much, but enough for Pakkun to finally breathe.
Swallowing hard, he barked out, "Kakashi told me to report on what's going on at the Academy."
Then he relayed everything Kakashi had told him.
Hiruzen froze.
He opened his mouth, but no words came out.
He'd imagined all sorts of possibilities—
– Maybe a foreign village had planted a spy to destabilize Konoha.
– Maybe there was a flaw in Chizumi's Mangekyō Sharingan that accidentally dragged up old trauma.
– Maybe the victim wasn't Sarutobi Sakurako. Maybe it was mistaken identity.
But this?
He never saw this coming.
Hiruzen fell silent. Utterly silent.
In his mind, those three Sarutobi kids were bright, full of life—the future of his clan. That teacher was supposed to help raise Konoha's next generation of shinobi.
But everything had gone so terribly, absurdly wrong.
He couldn't accept it.
"How did it end up like this…" he whispered. He was both clan head and honorary principal at the Academy, and now both had exploded into crisis. Could he really say this had nothing to do with him?
He didn't believe that.
Taking a deep breath, he cleared the haze from his eyes and looked at Pakkun.
"I understand," he said quietly. "Go back and tell Kakashi…"
"…Tell him not to get involved. Let Chizumi handle it."
As the words left him, Hiruzen collapsed into his chair, drained.
He was completely lost.
…
Ninja Academy
"Sarutobi Keishi."
With the other teachers watching in shocked silence, and a wounded child crying under his foot, Uchiha Chizumi coldly called a name. The crying stopped instantly.
That was the boy's name.
Keishi's eyes widened in horror. Fear and despair overwhelmed the pain in his broken hand and crushed face.
I'm just a kid… he thought desperately. There's no way this Uchiha guy would actually kill me, right?
He had already stabbed my hand, stomped half my face—that's gotta be enough, right?
But then Chizumi's voice came down like a guillotine:
"Your actions are beyond forgiveness."
"Wa—"
Before he could finish the word, a crushing pressure slammed down on his head.
He heard his skull crack.
Agonizing pain lit up his brain, contorting his face into a mask of pure horror.
His head felt like it was going to explode—
BANG.
The teachers were horrified. None of them moved.
They knew they should step in—this was a school, after all—but not one of them dared.
Even the three Uchiha police flinched slightly. And they were Uchiha. They thought this was over the line.
Sure, they'd have punished the kids too—but they would've at least dragged them back to headquarters first.
Compared to the teachers, though, they were calm.
Tsunade closed her eyes. She didn't stop what was happening.
She didn't even know if she was suppressing her fear of blood—or her urge to kill.
If she'd been just a little more unhinged…
She probably would've done the exact same thing Chizumi was doing.
"Tsunade-sama…" Shizune whispered nervously, stealing a glance at her.
"I'm fine," Tsunade said quietly.
Chizumi calmly lifted his blood-soaked leg and turned toward the next trembling Sarutobi child.
Each word he spoke landed like a death sentence:
"Sarutobi Shoji."
Before Shoji could even react, Chizumi had already passed him.
"Sarutobi Zonosuke. Your crimes are unforgivable."
"My—my father is a jōnin of the Sarutobi clan! You can't—!"
Slash.
A flash of steel—and Zonosuke dropped.
Shoji gasped.
Keishi and Zonosuke were dead. Why was he still alive?
Chizumi had said he would die too.
His vision blurred. The world tilted. Then—
A thin red line opened across his neck.
It deepened, blood started leaking, and finally—his head slid off.
Only in that moment did he realize…
He was already dead.
…
High in a nearby tree
"'Don't interfere,' huh…" Kakashi muttered.
Pakkun had delivered the Hokage's order. But even without it, there was no way he'd get involved.
Trying to stop Chizumi was like betting your life that the guy wouldn't kill you.
Plenty of people had made that bet.
They all lost.
"And anyway," Kakashi murmured, "the order's late. Chizumi's already done. The Sarutobi clan's gonna need another funeral—maybe four."
Watching the scene unfold, Kakashi sighed.
"Seriously though, couldn't he at least pick somewhere out of sight? Even taking them back to the station would've been better. Doing this at school is definitely going to scar the kids."
But maybe that was the point.
Maybe Chizumi wanted to terrify them.
A public execution—a warning.
And judging from the horrified faces peeking from the windows, it was working.
…
Inside the Classroom
"G-Gulp…"
Sakura clung to the wall to keep from collapsing.
She had just watched someone's skull get crushed right in front of her.
Two more had been decapitated.
Three headless corpses were lying there like broken fountains, blood gushing out in every direction.
The sight burned into her mind.
She was shaking all over.
She could clearly see—two of those severed heads were staring directly at her.
"Th-they were killed… Iruka-sensei!" she whimpered. "Three kids… three students are dead…"
"I said don't look!!" Iruka barked.
He cursed himself for not asking the Hokage to put blackout curtains in every damn classroom.
"Naruto! Sasuke! Stop peeking out! I told you to stand in the corner—not watch a murder! And Shikamaru, Kiba, Chōji—what are you all doing?! Back to your seats!"
Iruka was panicking. He wanted to drag every kid to their desk and chain them down.
He didn't want them caught in any of this.
"But sensei," Naruto muttered, "Chizumi-sensei is our teacher too. Sasuke and I just wanted to see him carry out justice…"
"Justice isn't something your age group should be involved in!" Iruka snapped. "Right now, you need to develop your sense of morality. Your worldview. Your sense of right and wrong. Without those, you can't even understand what justice means!"
…
Outside, a Rooftop Nearby
"So this is what they call the 'Lava Beast's absolute justice'?"
From a rooftop, Biwa Jūzō—former member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—trailed Uchiha Izumi and Mitarashi Anko from afar, watching everything unfold in the streets of Konoha.
He had seen that Uchiha girl—Izumi—publicly torturing someone in broad daylight.
The brutal, bloody display even made a hardened killer like him twitch.
At first, he figured she'd get into trouble for her recklessness. But to his surprise, the surrounding villagers just looked… a little scared. That's it.
No one screamed.
No one ran for help.
No one even tried to call the Anbu.
It was like… they were used to this kind of thing.
Street torture. Public executions.
Was this really Konoha?
For a second, Jūzō started to wonder if he'd fallen into a genjutsu—maybe this wasn't the Konoha. Maybe he was back in the Mist. In the Blood Mist days.
Had Konoha always been this savage?
As he processed this, Izumi and Anko suddenly stopped walking.
They turned.
And looked straight at him.
"Ah… I've been made," Jūzō muttered, unconcerned. "Well, I wasn't exactly hiding."
Anko narrowed her eyes. "You've been tailing us, haven't you?"
She glanced at his odd getup. "You're not from Konoha. Who the hell are you?"
Jūzō didn't flinch. "Guess I've been out of the game too long. You don't recognize me by the sword?"
Her gaze dropped to the massive blade strapped to his back.
The Executioner's Blade.
Even though most of it was hidden behind his body, the little that was visible made her eyes widen.
"Be careful, Izumi," Anko warned. "He's likely one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen from the Mist… If I'm right, that's Biwa Jūzō. Dangerous guy. Ruthless killer."
Izumi tensed slightly. "What's he doing in Konoha?"
She didn't have an answer, but her instincts kicked in. She drew her blade—a well-used one, stained with old blood from past interrogations.
"Whoa, calm down." Jūzō raised his hands casually. "I'm not here to fight. I'm not with Kirigakure anymore. I'm from the Rain now—came here as an envoy."
"You seriously think being an envoy will stop us?" Izumi replied coldly. "Chizumi-senpai killed an envoy from the Fire Daimyō himself. You think we'll hesitate with you?"
"…What?" Jūzō blinked.
Chizumi killed a Daimyō's envoy? This guy's even crazier than I thought. Is he even human?
"Relax. I'm not here to cause trouble." Jūzō held his ground. "If I was here to fight, do you really think I'd stand out in the open like this?"
"Anbu are probably watching me right now. If I made a move, I'd already be dead."
He paused. "You two… you're with Uchiha Chizumi, right?"
Izumi gave a brief nod. "Yeah."
Jūzō smirked. "I'm very interested in your boss. Or more specifically… in his whole 'Absolute Justice' thing. Mind introducing me?"
Izumi didn't hesitate: "No."
"…"
She stepped forward, voice sharp and cold.
"The way you talk… it's obvious you don't actually care about justice. You're just looking for an angle. A cover for whatever it is you're trying to do."
"Am I wrong, Jūzō—member of the Akatsuki?"
Her Sharingan glinted. She was staring straight at the white info box hovering above his head—seeing his future, and a few secrets.
"…"
Jūzō's face twitched.
She knew.
…
Back at the Academy
"Izumishima Kaeya."
Chizumi didn't bother cleaning his sword. His cold gaze locked on the teacher slumped on the ground, paralyzed with fear.
Kaeya—shaking, tear-streaked—was already sobbing.
"I didn't mean it… I swear I didn't mean it… I didn't know she'd actually do it… I just said something awful, okay? But how was I supposed to know she'd take it seriously…?"
"I-I didn't kill her directly…"
She looked desperately at the other teachers. "It was suicide! Under the Land of Fire law that's not murder. At worst, it's incitement, right?! Right?!"
The other teachers said nothing.
Instead, they quietly backed away, putting space between themselves and her.
"It wasn't murder! I shouldn't be executed! Just imprisoned, right?! RIGHT?! WHY ARE YOU BACKING AWAY?!"
She screamed, voice raw and cracking.
And then—
Someone stepped in front of her.
It wasn't Chizumi.
It was a woman with blonde hair, standing tall.
Chizumi paused.
"Tsunade-sama?!" Shizune gasped.
Tsunade's tone was low. "Kid… Let me handle this one."
Then she turned to Kaeya. "You. Get up."
Kaeya froze.
That voice. That woman.
One of the Legendary Sannin. A hero of Konoha.
Tsunade was here to save her—she was sure of it!
Tears of joy burst out. She scrambled to her feet, her body shaking with emotion.
But before she could speak, Tsunade cut her off.
"…I knew it."
Tsunade's eyes opened. From this angle, she couldn't see the blood on the ground. That helped her focus.
Her face twisted into pure disgust.
"If you really regretted what happened to that poor girl—Sakurako—you wouldn't look so damn relieved right now."
"You're not sorry. You're just scared."
"You're afraid to die."
Each word was spat like venom.
"You…"
"Are. Beyond. Saving."
Kaeya froze.
This wasn't the rescue she had imagined.
Then—
CRACK.
The ground beneath her split. Her eyes dropped instinctively—just in time to see it coming.
Her chest exploded inward.
A blinding wave of monstrous strength shattered her ribs. Her upper body collapsed. A grotesque crunching filled the air.
Her clothes shredded from the shockwave—though there wasn't even time for embarrassment.
Because in the next instant, her chest burst open like a ruptured dam.
Blood. Bone. Organs. Shredded flesh. Everything sprayed out in a bloody mist.
BANG!
She flew backward, slammed through a thick tree trunk.
BANG!
Then tore through a metal fence.
BANG!
And finally embedded in a wall. Her limbs and head hung limply, blood soaking half the building.
Everyone—teachers, Uchiha, students—was stunned.
Except Chizumi.
"So… that's Tsunade-sama of the Sannin, huh?" one Uchiha officer whispered, trembling. "Even with my Sharingan, I could barely see her move."
"I heard she specializes in monster strength," another said, eyeing the crater beneath her. "She definitely held back. If she hadn't, that woman would've been vaporized."
The third muttered, "Okay, but… why'd she do it? That was a kill move. That teacher's definitely dead."
Shizune stared blankly. "… Tsunade-sama…?"
Tsunade was panting.
Her arms, her clothes—covered in blood.
The fear—her phobia of blood—kicked in hard.
She didn't even know if she was soaked in sweat or blood anymore.
As she swayed—
Chizumi caught her from behind, steadying her.
"You didn't have to do that," he said flatly. "There was no need to push yourself. Executing the wicked is part of the duty of Absolute Justice."
"Shut it, brat!" Tsunade snapped, gripping his shoulder for balance. "Don't underestimate me!"
She tried to walk, but her legs were trembling. Her voice shook. She was clearly bluffing.
Her eyes were confused, foggy.
"That girl… she was already broken, already hurting that much… What kind of monster do you have to be to bully someone like that into suicide?"
"Has the shinobi world really sunk this low?"
She exhaled shakily and looked Chizumi in the eyes.
"Kid… if your absolute justice can really make this world better… if it can stop monsters like that… if it can fix the warped way people think…"
"Then don't fight alone."
"Find people who share your vision. People who believe in what you believe. Because just clearing the filth from Konoha alone has you running ragged. What about the rest of the ninja world?"
"There are others who want change too."
"You need to tell them what you believe. Lead them. Bring them into your justice."
Her voice finally steadied.
"You, Izumi, and Anko… that's not enough."
"…When the time comes—count me in."
~~~
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