"Seishi... Mother..." Moonlight Hayate stared blankly at his brother, who lay limp in his arms, lifeless.
His death, his dying words, filled his mind with a hazy fog, temporarily robbing him of his ability to think.
He looked up blankly, meeting Uchiha Kaede's sheathed sword. Tears of grief had already begun to flow.
"Your mother's body should have been taken away by other members of the police force. Next, the police force will invite ninjas from the Yamanaka clan to conduct a joint investigation," Uchiha Kaede said expressionlessly. "If you want to see your mother, you can wait until the joint investigation is completed, which will probably take a day or two."
Mother... murdered...
Uchiha Kaede's words made Seishi's dying sarcasm come true, inflicting even greater grief on Hayate. His heart felt as if pierced by invisible blades.
Two years ago, his father had died, at the hands of Uchiha Kaede.
Two years later, his mother died at the hands of his younger brother. Now his younger brother is also dead, also at the hands of Uchiha Kaede.
Of the entire Gekko Clan, the only direct descendant of his lineage is now himself.
Hayate was already a little lost. He didn't even know whether he should seek revenge on Kaede. This devil-like Uchiha killed his father and his younger brother...
But he was executing "justice." It could even be said that Uchiha Kaede avenged his mother. And it was revenge for matricide—unforgivable by heaven.
"Senpai Kaede, he seems to be in a lot of pain, and he looks a little broken-down mentally," Izumi spoke quietly, worry on her face. "Will he be okay?"
Kaede turned and walked away, saying slowly, "Let him calm down."
"Oh." Izumi hurried to catch up.
Uchiha Kaede had killed two Moonlight Clan chunin, then led his men into the Moonlight Clan's compound and executed the former clan leader's second son, Moonlight Seishi. This news quickly set Konoha on fire.
Upon hearing the news, Sarutobi Hiruzen, smoking a pipe, was so shocked he choked and coughed.
After finally recovering, Sarutobi Hiruzen drank some water, suppressing his flurry of thoughts. Then, in a deep voice, he asked the ANBU ninja who had reported the news, "What's the specific reason?"
Just as the ANBU ninja was about to speak, there was a knock at the door.
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly realized something.
He said, "Come in."
As expected... Uchiha Kaede, who had killed three ninjas, walked into the Hokage's office as if nothing had happened, followed by a cautious attendant.
"The reason is that the prisoner Moonlight Seishi resisted arrest." Kaede didn't even wait for Sarutobi to ask. "Those who dare to resist arrest are no longer simple criminals. They must be hit hard and killed on the spot to deter other villains."
Sarutobi's expression was a little gloomy. Kaede had not called him "Hokage-sama" after seeing him more than once. He also spoke to him in such a cold tone more than once.
It was as if he, the dignified Third Hokage, was also a prisoner in the eyes of this child. This made Sarutobi instinctively uncomfortable.
Fortunately, he was emotionally stable, and the slightly gloomy expression disappeared. Sarutobi looked at Kaede and asked, "Prisoner?"
"Uchiha Izumi," Kaede said.
"Yes! Senpai!!!" Izumi took a deep breath, mentally prepared. She took the initiative to report, "Hokage-sama, Kaede-senpai and I were this morning..."
The girl's narrative was clear and concise. As she recounted the entire story, Sarutobi's brows furrowed deeper.
"Moonlight Seishi..." Sarutobi let out a long breath. "I once held that child in my arms. But I never imagined he would be so... extremely jealous. Even out of this horrible jealousy, he would turn against his closest relatives..."
Sarutobi believed it.
While he couldn't grasp some of Kaede's methods, he was certain of one thing: when it came to justice and evil, Kaede never misjudged.
This child was like a natural judge. His accuracy in determining the truth of a case was 100%.
Back then, Sarutobi had even suspected Kaede was using "justice" as a pretext to kill for pleasure. After investigating dozens of times and finding nothing, he finally accepted: some people are just born this way.
But...
"Kaede!" Sarutobi knocked on the table. "A matricide resisted arrest and you killed him—I can let it go. But why did you kill two innocent members of the Gekko Clan?"
"Those two young men—one was twenty-one, the other twenty-six. They just stood in your way, and you killed them? Is this justice, when innocent people are harmed like this?!"
Izumi keenly noticed the atmosphere was off.
Kaede looked at Sarutobi. "I warned them. But since they were determined to obstruct law enforcement, they made their choice."
"Unfortunately, they chose to stand on the side of evil. They blocked justice and condoned crime. They are no longer innocent."
He paused. "Whether it is a ninja from the gekko Clan or you, Lord Hokage—if you stand in my way... I will use absolute justice to eliminate all obstacles."
"No mercy."
Sarutobi stared deeply at him. Finally, he sighed and asked, "Kaede, how long has this back-and-forth between us lasted? This tit-for-tat over differing ideologies?"
"Five years."
"Five years..."
Sarutobi stood, walked a few paces, then asked, "You must feel it too—something is happening in the village. Even if there's no war outside, inside Konoha, it's never calm."
"As an Uchiha, you must be sensitive to this. So let me ask you: is justice on the side of the majority? Or the minority?"
"If one day, your position forces you to violate your justice—would you do it?"
Izumi felt the air itself freeze. Kaede's voice cut through it. "Justice is on the side of good people." "My position is justice. I will never betray it—nor the justice in my heart."
Sarutobi pondered. "The good people..."
He smiled faintly. "Kaede, though your answers differ from Itachi's, it confirms what I've always believed—you and that child Itachi... you both love the village."
"Hokage-sama, don't ever compare me to that bro-con," Kaede corrected, frowning.
Sarutobi: "???"