As Hiruzen Sarutobi returned, a Sarutobi clan ninja stepped forward to greet him, only to spot a figure in the distance wearing a Konoha Military Police Force uniform – a sight that made his eyes narrow. He quickly asked Hiruzen, "Hokage-sama, that guy..."
"Just ignore him," Hiruzen replied, his face grim, though anyone could tell his voice was off. It seemed like he was holding something back.
Hiruzen quietly walked over to Sarutobi Shinnosuke's coffin, standing silently behind his daughter-in-law, Sarutobi Fuko.
Just then, he heard Fuko's voice: "Hokage-sama, you don't need to worry about me. I've calmed down. Everything... everything must prioritize the village's greater good, mustn't it?"
Hiruzen was silent for a while. He felt a pang of guilt, but only a small one. "I have my own difficulties, Fuko. You and I both know the current state of Konoha. The village desperately needs a ninja with a terrifying reputation to deter the small-time troublemakers from other villages."
"Konoha has successively lost Sakumo, Orochimaru defected, Jiraiya left, Tsunade left, and Shisui is gone. Uchiha Akainu is one of the few remaining pillars of the village."
"And besides..."
"Uchiha Akainu's presence also helps keep certain ambitious individuals within the village in check, including some within the Uchiha clan itself."
Hiruzen paused, then continued, "Even if Shinnosuke were alive, he would do the same as I. You and he are both my right-hand people. He understood me, and you should too."
Fuko nodded gently. "Hokage-sama, I understand everything."
Hiruzen sighed softly. "For Konoha, you've endured much hardship."
Immediately after, Hiruzen warned the Sarutobi clan members who, upon seeing Uchiha Akainu, had become indignant and eager for action. "No one is to make a move! He's just here to apprehend a criminal!"
Yamada Toshijirō also saw Uchiha Akainu. Even though he thought his chances of being exposed were slim, he instinctively took a few steps back, carefully hiding himself behind the crowd.
"Gah, I remember now!" Yamada Toshijirō heard a companion gasp in realization. "Uchiha Akainu, isn't that the plague... I mean, that guy from the Uchiha Military Police... is he coming our way?"
Yamada Toshijirō's heart leaped. Cold sweat instantly broke out on his palms.
His last shred of hope was extinguished by Uchiha Akainu's cold voice: "Yamada Toshijirō, deeply in debt. Four years ago, after your elder brother, 'Yamada Toshichirō,' passed away from illness, you tried to seize his inheritance but failed. In a fit of rage, you murdered your brother's wife and daughter, dismembering and disposing of their bodies."
This extremely cold, emotionless voice sounded like the grim reaper's final tolling bell to Yamada Toshijirō. He saw his companions, startled, quickly distancing themselves from him, eyeing him with horror. He also noticed them, out of fear of Uchiha Akainu, quickly clearing a path for him, completely exposing his painstakingly hidden figure.
Yamada Toshijirō watched as Uchiha Akainu walked up to him, stopping two meters away. He didn't dare to look directly at this young man, who was a good ten years his junior. The drizzling rain couldn't soothe the terror in his heart. He wiped the rain from his face, lowered his head, and forced himself to appear calm, his throat dry. "I... I don't understand what you're saying."
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Reporting!" Izumi immediately stepped forward from behind.
"Interrogate."
Izumi was startled. She took a deep breath, quickly composed herself, and immediately said, "Yes, Senior!"
She knew what "interrogate" meant coming from Akainu. The first time she met him, Akainu had made her interrogate a criminal. And it was in broad daylight, in front of everyone, using brutal torture!
This time...
It would probably be the same.
Moreover, Izumi realized that this time it wasn't just in broad daylight, but also under the gaze of the Hokage-sama nearby! This might be a new test Akainu was giving her.
She felt a lot of pressure.
However, compared to the pressure of disobeying Akainu's orders, Izumi felt this pressure was nothing. Thinking back to the shattered bones of the mother and daughter, the hesitation and doubt in Izumi's eyes visibly faded. She drew her ninja blade and took a few steps forward.
"Hey! What... what are you doing?!" Yamada Toshijirō's cold sweat poured down. He stumbled backward in panic, but the cold-eyed young kunoichi pressed forward relentlessly.
"You have two options now," Izumi said, feeling like she was becoming bad, but for a scum like this, even the most extreme methods seemed justified. She tried to imitate her senior's tone: "First, you refuse to cooperate, and I kill you, then the Yamanaka clan investigates your memories. Second, you confess everything you did four years ago."
"I told you! I don't understand what you're saying... Ahhhhhh!!!"
Yamada Toshijirō suddenly let out a horrific scream. He frantically clutched his crotch and knelt down, the indescribable pain making his face go completely pale.
"I'm only giving you thirty seconds to think about it," Izumi said, gritting her teeth, and kicked him down again. Her eyes hardened, and she stabbed her blade through Yamada Toshijirō's left hand, pinning it to the ground.
"Ahhhhhhh!!" Yamada Toshijirō continued to scream.
"Twenty-nine."
Recalling the bone fragments that had made her skin crawl, Izumi twisted her wrist, and the blade instantly severed half of his hand.
"Twenty-eight."
"Twenty-seven."
Izumi swept her ninja blade, and an ear flew high into the air, the spattering blood quickly washed away by the rain.
"Twenty-six."
"Hokage-sama! This is clearly torture! And... they're doing this at Shinnosuke-senpai's funeral, right in front of you, Hokage-sama!"
A friend of Sarutobi Shinnosuke's spoke to Hiruzen in horror. "Isn't this a forced confession? Maybe that guy is innocent, but he's being abused into admitting guilt. Such behavior is already..."
Hiruzen stood with his hands behind his back, gazing into the distance. He interrupted, "Uchiha Akainu often disappoints me in many ways. However... when it comes to enforcing the law, no matter how extreme his methods are, the results he delivers always leave me with no room to refute."
"When Uchiha Akainu identifies someone as a murderer, that person... is absolutely a murderer. He has never been wrong, not once."
Hiruzen stared at the young kunoichi's back. He murmured to himself with a profound tone, "Are you preparing to train a successor for 'Absolute Justice,' Akainu...?"
Shinnosuke's friend hadn't expected the Hokage-sama to defend the man who killed his own son. Moreover, in the Hokage-sama's words, that Uchiha Akainu was being "deified" a bit too much, wasn't he? How could a person never make a mistake?!
"Ahhh! I admit it! I admit it!!"
A civilian's will is ultimately much weaker than a ninja's, as they've never undergone any rigorous ninja training. The pain radiating from all over his body, combined with the oppressive presence of the Uchiha Military Police, had completely broken his spirit. His already crumbling mental defenses, shaken by Uchiha Akainu's appearance, collapsed entirely at this moment.
Tears and snot streamed down his face as he screamed in terror, "Don't kill me, don't kill me!"
"Yes, I did kill my brother's wife and daughter! Why else would that damn woman tell me she'd never lend money to someone addicted to gambling when I asked her for it?!"
"They were the ones who disregarded family ties first! No! That's not right, they were outsiders to begin with! They just wanted to monopolize my brother's inheritance!"
Yamada Toshijirō went from emotional breakdown to suddenly trying to justify his actions, all within less than ten seconds. He gritted his teeth and shouted, even growing furious. "I was just helping my brother clean house!"
"I didn't do anything wrong! Why are you trying to arrest me?!"
"Why aren't you going after the woman who embezzled my brother's inheritance?!"
"You're completely unfair!!!"
"You..."
As Yamada Toshijirō, in his emotional frenzy, looked up at Uchiha Akainu, he suddenly saw a pair of crimson Three-Tomoe Sharingan enter his field of vision. His entire world seemed to be consumed by those Sharingan.
Yamada Toshijirō's face shifted from anger to terror. He seemed to be seeing something no one else could.
"Ahhhhhhh!!!"
Izumi was momentarily stunned. She quickly realized that this was Akainu using a Sharingan genjutsu directly on him! Izumi didn't know what terrifying images Yamada Toshijirō was seeing in the genjutsu, or what horrifying illusion he was experiencing.
But...
She felt he deserved it!
"Newbie, this is the 'evil' of the ninja world. Even when the blade of justice is at their throats, they will not repent. Gentle laws cannot bring justice to the deceased."
Uchiha Akainu spoke softly, "With your 'Absolute Justice,' bring justice to the deceased."
"Kill him."