"It's just that this old man is already advanced in years… I truly don't have the strength to keep accompanying you," Genji said with a weary, self-mocking smile. No matter how powerful a shinobi was, the day would come when they grew old. Genji, who had been active back in the Warring States era, was now in his twilight years—like a candle in the wind.
After being frightened again and again, witnessing the Mizukage die with his own eyes, constantly forcing himself to think through how to respond to Uchiha Chizumi, and then getting drenched by the rain on top of it all… it was hard to imagine he wouldn't fall seriously ill afterward.
Genji had long since grown used to life and death. But Kirigakure—now gravely weakened—still couldn't do without him. The village had lost its Mizukage and the Three-Tails, yet it still had to carry out Uchiha Chizumi's [Absolute Justice]. The road ahead in the Land of Water would only become harsher, and Genji couldn't help worrying that Mei might not be able to hold everything together.
"The sins of Kirigakure and the Land of Water don't implicate you. Do as you please," Uchiha Chizumi said calmly.
Just as Genji was taking his leave, Uchiha Izumi—cradling Jujirō—and Biwa Jūzō, whose expression was complicated, approached one after another.
"Chizumi-senpai… Katsuyu-sama." Izumi glanced curiously at Genji's retreating back. Very few elders could walk away unscathed after standing before Chizumi-senpai. "Is it really okay to leave the Land of Water to Kirigakure's shinobi?"
"Tch…" Biwa Jūzō felt an inexplicable irritation. Even though he was no longer a Kirigakure shinobi, Izumi's words were still cutting. 'Leave the Land of Water to Kirigakure's shinobi'? Weren't Kirigakure and the Land of Water one and the same?!
But he didn't have the guts to say that to Chizumi's face. In the shinobi world, there were no shortage of examples of powerful individuals conquering a country alone—back in the day, even the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had racked up glorious feats like that.
But those "countries" had been small fry like the Land of Tea or the Land of Rice Paddies. They couldn't be compared to one of the Five Great Nations like the Land of Water. The last person who tried to stand against one of the Five Great Nations by himself was the Third Raikage—who died under a mass assault by Iwagakure shinobi!
And even then, the Third Raikage had died while covering his comrades' retreat. How could that compare to Uchiha Chizumi—who had practically stormed Kirigakure alone, killed the Fourth Mizukage (a perfect jinchūriki), and butchered the so-called "Bloody Mist Village" until it had no choice but to bow and scrape?
If Chizumi weren't solely focused on carrying out [Absolute Justice] in the Land of Water, he could have just as easily represented Konoha and ordered Kirigakure to submit. For the village's survival, Biwa Jūzō even suspected Genji and Mei would have knelt at Chizumi's feet without hesitation.
"Do you have something you want to say, Biwa Jūzō?" Chizumi asked proactively, glancing at him. "About this country's future."
As for the future of the shinobi world, Chizumi already had his own plans. But the Land of Water was the first great nation outside the Land of Fire to carry out [Absolute Justice]. It wouldn't hurt to hear what a "local righteous man" thought.
Calling Biwa Jūzō a "righteous man" sounded a little strange, but in a land crawling with barely-human beasts, someone like him was already… not bad. Chizumi couldn't expect everyone to be as unwavering as he was.
"The Land of Water's… future?!" Izumi's eyes widened. She had long believed Chizumi-senpai would change the shinobi world—but deciding the future of an entire country, and a great nation like the Land of Water at that, this quickly… was still hard for her to believe.
It was a shame Chizumi was asking Biwa Jūzō and not her. Izumi felt regret—and at the same time, a burning curiosity about what Biwa Jūzō would say.
"…The future… I haven't thought about it. That kind of decision probably isn't mine to make, as a rogue-nin," Biwa Jūzō said after a long silence, his voice dry. "But I figure… if we just kill all those bastards who deserve to die, that should be enough, right?"
"Naive! Even if you kill everyone in the Land of Water—idiot, you're strangling me!" Jujirō suddenly spoke up. He wriggled free from Izumi's arms and hopped onto her shoulder; his fat body nearly toppled her over. "If you don't uproot the evil soil that keeps breeding those criminals, sooner or later new criminals will keep being born. I'm right, aren't I, Chizumi-sama?"
Standing on Izumi's shoulder, Jujirō lifted his chin proudly. Truthfully, he wanted to stand on Chizumi-sama's shoulder—but jumping over now would look undignified.
He was one of the earliest ninja cats to follow Chizumi-sama. He couldn't let a junior like Izumi look down on him!
"Do you understand now?" Chizumi nodded slightly in affirmation, then looked back at Biwa Jūzō. Mei's volunteering had given him an idea—if he could convince "locals" to cooperate, the road to carrying out [Absolute Justice] might become much smoother.
It wasn't that Chizumi was growing lax. It was that the shinobi world's evil had nearly reached the point of no return. Any action that could add even one brick to the cause of justice—Chizumi was willing to try.
"…I understand!" Biwa Jūzō instinctively tightened his grip on the handle of the Executioner's Blade. When it came to uprooting the soil of evil, the only thing he could think of was cutting the grass by the roots to prevent future trouble. "I'll kill everyone who might possibly do evil!"
Unmasked killing intent surged from Biwa Jūzō, so intense that even Izumi took an unconscious half-step back.
In terms of strength, Izumi was no longer who she used to be—but compared to a Kirigakure jōnin like Biwa Jūzō who had crawled out of piles of corpses, she was still far too green.
"…There's no need to go that extreme." Even Chizumi paused. With killing intent like this, if Biwa Jūzō acted, he'd turn into a red-name murderer in minutes, indiscriminately slaughtering the innocent. "We only need to sever the chain of evil… Izumi will identify who deserves to die, you'll handle the execution. Jujirō will assist you. Start by testing it in a town…"
"Yes, Senpai!" Izumi was thrilled. For once, Chizumi-senpai hadn't called her a newbie—no matter what, she would get this done for him!
"That line should be mine!" Jujirō snapped, annoyed, and smacked Izumi on the head with his paw. But with that chubby paw, it felt more like he was pouting than hitting. "Leave it to me! Chizumi-sama!"
"It's the same thing!" Izumi giggled and rubbed the cat's head. Even though he was a respected Senpai ninja cat, Jujirō's personality made it hard to stay serious around him.
"…Got it." Biwa Jūzō nodded. He also wanted to see what the Land of Water would become in the future.