Inuzuka Maki vaguely recalled years ago, that young man who turned Lord Orochimaru's research lab into a sea of molten rock. So many of his comrades had died by that youth's hand. If the Hokage hadn't shown up in time to stop that Uchiha with his Lava Release and Sharingan, Maki himself would probably have died that night!
Maki had thought he'd never meet that terrifying Lava Release ninja, that demon, again in his life. But to his shock, the man was standing right in front of him tonight! They had met again!
Maki swore he couldn't be mistaken about that face. Even though the man was several years older and his features were more mature, less youthful… the basic outline hadn't changed.
Maki snapped back to reality, not even pausing to wonder how the man had slipped in so silently. He quickly reached for the alarm on the wall to his left.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, his vision blurred, and he saw an arm soar high, filling his sight and blocking the alarm. It looked like… his own arm!
As the gushing blood splattered across his horrified face, a clear red line appeared on Maki's neck, and blood gushed out like a broken pipe, soaking his collar. A head, its expression frozen in shock, rolled off his neck.
Uchiha Akainu had already stepped past the headless corpse. He spoke indifferently to the wide-eyed Uchiha Izumi behind him. "Newbie, this is the ruthless method you need to embrace when following Absolute Justice. You need to possess a killing intent more absolute than 'evil' itself to purge the 'evil' of the ninja world, one by one."
"And… you must be merciless!"
As Akainu finished speaking, he flicked a sharp kunai to his left. It sliced through the air, instantly hitting a ninja who had noticed the commotion and was coming to check.
"Urgh!"
The ninja, struck in the neck by the kunai, frantically clutched his throat. The intense choking brought him endless terror. He couldn't even fathom why "enemies" would attack today. Why hadn't the Anbu on lookout sent a warning?
Uchiha Akainu paused his steps, then said to Izumi behind him, "Newbie, give him a quick end. Let me see if your resolve for justice is as firm as you claim. A little hint: this person participated in horrific human experiments and has the lives of war orphans on their hands."
Izumi's clammy hands gripped her kunai tightly. She walked towards the struggling ninja, biting her lip. "Senpai… I was very afraid of you at first, because there were many bad rumors about you in the Police Force. The first time I met you, I completely misunderstood you."
Izumi reached the ninja clutching his neck, her bright, innocent eyes gazing into his, which were filled with terror and pleading.
"But after interacting these past few days, I know that you are completely different from the rumors. You are not the 'killing demon' they speak of; everything you do is for justice."
She gripped the kunai with both hands and raised it high. Her arm trembled slightly.
"The Absolute Justice you believe in has shown me the true 'light' of goodness in this world. Your justice, Senpai, is the justice that I, Uchiha Izumi, want to follow."
Izumi's arm stopped trembling, and her eyes became steady. Senpai had said this person had the lives of war orphans on their hands and had participated in horrific human experiments.
Therefore… in the face of Absolute Justice, he… must be purged!
Izumi fiercely plunged the kunai into the struggling ninja's forehead. The force was so great it pierced through the thin metal of his Leaf Village forehead protector, sinking into his skull with a wet "thud."
Ding! Your fostered disciple of [Absolute Justice] has successfully killed a "red name" villain! Your chakra has received a small boost! Congratulations, you have successfully unlocked a new skill: "Dog Training"
At the same time, Uchiha Izumi also received a small chakra boost!
Uchiha Akainu looked at the panting figure of the young girl behind him, surprised. This was the first strange change his golden finger had experienced in years. Was Izumi's resolve acknowledged by the golden finger? Or…
Watching the girl shakily stand up, and seeing her staring blankly at the blood on her hands… Akainu already had the answer to the doubts that had surfaced in his mind.
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Here!" Izumi instinctively shouted, then snapped back to reality, her small face turning pale, knowing she'd messed up.
Oh no! Did her thoughtless shout just ruin Akainu-senpai's infiltration plan?
However, as she frantically looked back at Akainu-senpai, bracing herself for a furious scolding… she found that the expected anger and reprimand from him didn't come. She heard Akainu-senpai speak in an unperturbed tone: "Newbie, your foolishness alerted the enemy. I'm deducting one thousand and one points from you."
Izumi's face instantly went bloodless. Senpai had said that a perfect score was a thousand points, and she had only ever received ten points. Now, deducting one thousand and one points… hiss! Doesn't that mean she's in the negative?
The consequence of negative points, it couldn't be… that Senpai would kill her, could it?
"Your current score is zero points." Uchiha Akainu's gaze had already fixed on the Anbu ninja who had arrived, drawn by the sound.
Izumi froze. She stared blankly as Akainu-senpai, alone with his blade, unflinchingly charged towards the three Anbu ninja who had rushed over, her mind still echoing with "zero points."
"So… for a moment just now…"
"I had a perfect score?!"
She found that her initial psychological trauma from killing someone had instantly dissolved.
"You're Uchiha Akainu, aren't you?" One Anbu ninja immediately recognized the well-known Uchiha Akainu in the Leaf Village. Realizing the visitor meant trouble, he quickly drew his ninja blade and confronted him. "What are you doing here? I warn you, stop immediately!"
Beside him, another Anbu ninja's pupils constricted, and he immediately warned, "Be careful! His blade has blood on it! Don't look him in the eyes!"
Too late, unfortunately. Two of the three Anbu who had rushed over suddenly froze, clearly affected by the Sharingan's genjutsu.
The remaining Anbu ninja's face paled in shock. Thankfully, he was an Anbu elite and reacted quickly. Before Uchiha Akainu could close the distance, he quickly formed hand signs and muttered.
"Genjutsu Release!"
The Anbu simultaneously pulled out two shuriken and threw them at his comrades—not because he'd lost his mind, but because he didn't have the confidence to break the Uchiha clan's Sharingan genjutsu himself. He was trying to use pain to forcibly break the illusion.
He succeeded. The other two Anbu ninja groggily came to.
By this point, Uchiha Akainu, with his scarlet eyes, had already closed in. His ninja blade slashed towards one of their throats.
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing was crisp. It had been blocked.
"Huff, huff…" The Anbu ninja gripped his blade, his arm slightly bent, drenched in sweat. "The Sharingan genjutsu… it's truly terrifying. Luckily… we're the perfectly coordinated Anbu trio. Good thing one of us could help break the genjutsu."
"Is that so?"
Uchiha Akainu's voice echoed from behind them. "What made you think the genjutsu was broken?"
What!???