"Kill him." Izumi's palms got a little sweaty hearing those words from senior Uchiha Akainu, delivered without a hint of emotion.
She knew Akainu-senpai never joked around.
And Izumi also understood that whether Akainu-senpai was telling her to interrogate a criminal or execute one, it was all a test of her resolve towards Absolute Justice!
Remembering the photos of the "Yamada family" mother and daughter from the missing file; recalling those two delicate faces with their gentle smiles; thinking of the bone fragments pulled from the Konoha sewers; and seeing Yamada Minijiro's unrepentant attitude just now...
Izumi's eyes shifted from hesitant and bewildered to determined and resolute.
"Yes, Senior!"
As she uttered those words, she noticed Akainu-senpai dispelling the Sharingan genjutsu.
She saw Yamada Minijiro snap back to reality, dazed, from his endless hallucinations of collapse and despair.
He was both shocked and terrified, his crotch soaked, snot and tears streaming down his face, his expression so twisted it was hard to look at.
Izumi didn't know what kind of genjutsu Akainu-senpai had shown Yamada Minijiro.
She only heard him muttering nervously and fearfully.
She saw him trembling and squirming, using his hands and feet, and she even saw him smearing the mud on the ground, the blood on his hands, and even his own urine all over his face.
"Don't kill me, I was wrong... Don't kill me, I regret it... I won't do it again, please... I really regret it... I was wrong, boo hoo hoo, I know I was wrong..."
Izumi had never seen anyone debase themselves so much just to survive.
"Did it ever occur to you if that mother and daughter you killed were as desperate as you are now, right before they died?"
Izumi gripped her ninja blade tightly, gritting her teeth. "Did you remember if they begged you for mercy?"
"And did you... let them go?"
Izumi's grip on her sword hilt was so strong her fingers had turned white.
"You're not actually regretful."
"You're just scared to die."
"You! Scum!!!"
Splat—
Izumi's ninja blade had pierced through Yamada Minijiro's chest. Following the killing technique she learned at the Academy, she twisted her wrist fiercely, then silently pulled out the blade, immediately stepping aside to her right.
A gush of crimson blood spurted from Yamada Minijiro's chest, just missing Izumi.
She watched as Yamada Minijiro's eyes began to glaze over.
Until he completely slumped to the ground.
With no more signs of life.
[Ding! Your nurtured 'Absolute Justice' believer has successfully killed a 'Red Name' villain! Your chakra has received a slight boost! Congratulations, you successfully dropped: Dissection Experience Book ×2!]
[At the same time, Uchiha Izumi also received a slight chakra boost!]
"Akainu-senpai, the killer in the dismemberment case has been executed!"
Izumi took a deep breath, letting the rain wash over her blade. She suddenly had a strange feeling, a peculiar sense of "satisfaction" after carrying out justice and killing the criminal.
She'd had the same feeling the day before yesterday at the secret research base.
This made Izumi shiver.
Could she be some kind of hidden, born-a-villain, crazy killer?
Izumi was startled by the wild thoughts in her head. She shook her head and quickly asked, "Senior, what should we do with the body?"
"Let the Anbu or the regular police force handle the retrieval."
"Yes, Senior!"
The folks at the Konoha Funeral Home were already too terrified to utter a sound.
Even though they knew the Hokage was right there in the Konoha cemetery, they still didn't feel safe at all.
What they couldn't quite understand, though, was that amidst this unsettling fear, they actually felt a strange sense of peace.
Izumi keenly noticed the dread in their expressions.
She pursed her lips, then suddenly spoke up, "Yamada Minijiro murdered his elder brother's wife and daughter, dismembering them cruelly, and throwing their body parts into the sewers. The police force failed to find the culprit for four whole years, letting him roam free for ages."
"It's only today that justice for this mother and daughter has finally arrived, albeit late. This is a lapse in duty for our Uchiha Police Force! But I assure you, as long as we uphold Absolute Justice and purge evil, similar incidents will become rarer and rarer in the future!"
She wondered if her words had some effect.
Izumi noticed that the fear in their eyes had lessened a bit.
But they seemed a little more confused.
Izumi didn't know what else to say. She just ended with one last sentence: "Under the baptism of Absolute Justice, the ninja world will eventually get better and better."
Then she quickly turned and followed Uchiha Akainu.
Izumi walked behind Uchiha Akainu with her head bowed low, feeling nervous and no longer as brave as before. She apologized in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz, "I'm sorry, Senior. I spoke out of turn and said a lot of things I shouldn't have..."
It just hit her that she might have been talking ill of the Uchiha Police Force.
However.
She didn't hear her senior's rebuke.
Akainu-senpai didn't even say a word.
"...Senior?"
Uchiha Akainu's tone was flat: "You merely spoke the truth."
After seeing off the notorious "Plague God" of the Uchiha Police Force, the people at the Konoha Funeral Home couldn't help but exchange glances, then nervously eyed the corpse on the ground.
They probably only understood two things.
—The Uchiha were good guys, Akainu wouldn't bother them, and since he was gone, they could relax.
—Yamada Minijiro was an utterly wicked murderer!
"Gulp!" Someone swallowed hard, finally breaking the strange, eerie silence. "That Yamada guy, he actually did something like that... I used to go out drinking with him often, so I was in danger every day, wasn't I?"
"The Uchiha ninja said that Yamada guy even dismembered his brother's wife and daughter!"
"Hmph, why didn't I notice he was like that before?"
"He hid it so well! Good thing he was caught today... Uh, actually, he wasn't really 'caught.'"
"So those two Uchiha were investigating a case."
"Speaking of which, that 'Plague God' doesn't seem as scary as the rumors say. Didn't they say he kills everywhere he goes? But we all seem to be alive, right?"
"..."
Amidst their whispers, for a moment, they actually forgot to quickly proceed with Sarutobi Shinzo's funeral.
Until a ninja from the Sarutobi clan walked over with a dark expression.
He frowned, first glancing at Yamada Minijiro's corpse, muttering, "That Uchiha was right again."
He was referring to Uchiha Akainu's perfect case-solving rate.
Then, the Sarutobi ninja reminded the funeral home staff, "Isn't it time for the burial?"
Only then did the Konoha Funeral Home staff snap back to attention.
Meanwhile, as Uchiha Akainu stepped out of the Konoha cemetery, a reddish-orange ninja cat appeared before him in a hurry.
"Akainu-sama, 'Chicken-eye' is looking for you, meow!"
Kikujiro spoke rapidly.
"...Chicken-eye?" Izumi, behind Uchiha Akainu, was stunned for a moment.
Kikujiro explained, "That's Uchiha Fugaku! That's a nickname Akainu-sama gave Uchiha Fugaku a long time ago. I remember, it was about seven or eight years ago, wasn't it?"
Izumi was speechless.
Lord Fugaku...
Is he really that much of a 'chicken'?