Uchiha Chiquan turned his head to look — and saw a girl with long, straight black hair standing behind him, looking hesitant and uneasy.
"Chizumi-senpai, I… I…"
Izumi suddenly choked up; the gaze coming from Uchiha Chizumi made her nervous without realizing it.
Clearly, when facing other seniors, or even Patriarch Fugaku himself, she could muster up the courage to talk.
But in front of this "Uchiha Chizumi," she found herself so nervous she didn't even know what to say!
"Speak."
Uchiha Chizumi's voice sounded out.
Izumi jolted and quickly introduced herself: "My name is Uchiha Izumi! I participated in this year's recruitment assessment for the police force. When Patriarch Fugaku told me to choose a proctor, I… I picked you, Chizumi-Senpai, as my examiner."
However, faced with the sharp scrutiny of the police force senior before her, her voice grew smaller and smaller.
By the end, she didn't even dare to lift her head to meet Uchiha Chizumi's eyes.
"Proctor? Chose me?"
Uchiha Chiquan looked at the girl, expressionless, and remarked, "You may look weak, but at least you have courage."
Uchiha Chizumi forced out a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Passing my assessment is simple. Within one month, if you can keep me from wanting to kill you, then you pass."
"Oh, wait a moment — a rat is trying to run."
Izumi: "???"
Huh?
Just as Izumi froze in confusion, she was shocked to see Uchiha Chizumi suddenly draw the ninja sword from his waist.
The blade swept through the air with a silver arc; a streak of crimson entered Izumi's view.
The next second —
She watched wide-eyed as a short man suddenly collapsed headfirst to the ground.
— The man's left leg had been severed!
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The man's shrill screams, together with the thick smell of blood filling the air, battered Izumi's mental defenses.
Instinctively, she stepped back half a step.
Sweat beaded across her forehead.
"Uchiha Izumi." Uchiha Chizumi flicked the blood off his blade.
"Ah?" Still worried the man on the ground might bleed out and die, Izumi hurriedly looked up in panic.
Uchiha Chizumi frowned. "When I call your name, you respond with 'Here!'"
"Oh… ah — Here!"
Izumi hastily corrected herself.
"So quiet, and you think you can join the police force?" Uchiha Chizumi said coldly. "I can barely hear you. Is this the resolve you have to uphold [Justice]? Someone like you should just go home and be a good little girl!"
Patriarch Fugaku was right — Chizumi-Senpai really was harsh. First meeting and already being scolded like a dog.
Izumi could only grit her teeth and force out all her strength.
Her little face flushed red.
"HEEEEERE!!!"
Seeing the coldness in his eyes ease slightly, Izumi finally let out a small breath of relief.
"Um…" Izumi hesitated.
"Speak."
She quickly reminded him, "Senpai, if we don't treat this person on the ground soon, he might bleed out and die."
"How long can he live?" Uchiha Chizumi asked lightly — a question Izumi hadn't expected.
She answered quickly, "He might go into shock within ten minutes."
"Plenty of time." Uchiha Chizumi said to her, "Rookie, here's a task for you."
Izumi swallowed nervously. "Senpai, I haven't studied medical ninjutsu. Maybe… maybe we should take him to Konoha Hospital?"
Uchiha Chizumi glanced at her. "Who said anything about taking him for treatment?"
"Eh?" Izumi had lost count of how many times today she'd been confused.
Haltingly, she asked, "Senpai means…"
Uchiha Chizumi handed her the ninja sword. Instinctively, Izumi reached out and took it.
Uchiha Chizumi's face remained calm, without a ripple of emotion. "Prove to me your resolve to join the police force. Take this sword, interrogate that man. Ask him — where is the child's corpse. You have ten minutes. If you can't get it out of him, go home. Don't bother coming to me tomorrow."
Interro… interrogate?
Izumi was stunned. She couldn't help glancing around — this was one of the busiest streets in Konoha. As her eyes swept the surroundings, she couldn't even count how many people were on this street!
Interrogating, in broad daylight, a civilian with his leg chopped off?
And why "the child's corpse"?
Was this standard Uchiha police procedure? Or was this just Uchiha Chizumi's personal way of doing things?
She tried sneaking a look at Uchiha Chizumi's eyes —
Only to find his gaze was growing colder.
Izumi suddenly trembled.
The warnings from Patriarch Fugaku, and from that female police force senior, flashed through her mind —
"Do not defy his orders, if you want to live."
"Good luck. Sometimes staying alive is a matter of luck."
Izumi was terrified.
Clutching the still-warm sword hilt, sweat trickling down her smooth, pale forehead, the primal urge to live pushed her forward a few steps. She interrogated the short man writhing and howling over his severed leg:
"Y-you… where did you hide the child's body?!"
Panic flickered in the man's pain-filled, despairing eyes.
"Take… take me to Konoha Hospital, hurry!!!"
He didn't answer Izumi's weak interrogation — instead he screamed in panic: "My head's spinning, the blood won't stop, am I going to die?! Hurry and save me, I don't want to die! Hurry… hurry and save me!!!"
I don't want to die either — Izumi screamed inwardly.
"Where did you hide the child's body?!"
Izumi forced herself to stay calm. She believed there was no way Chizumi-senpai would have her ask this question for no reason. Rapidly, she said, "Answer me now, and I'll take you to Konoha Hospital. You won't last more than a few minutes!"
The short man still shouted in terror: "I don't know about any child, I don't know anything! Please, save me!"
"Senpai…"
Izumi tried to cast a pleading look at Uchiha Chizumi — but found this senior standing there, arms folded, watching coldly.
She could not read a shred of emotion in those icy eyes.
Suddenly, she felt as if she couldn't breathe.
This feeling…
Izumi knew it well.
Back on the night of the Nine-Tails attack, when she encountered that massive beast, she had felt the same — the suffocating despair of knowing your life is about to end!
Her instinct to survive once again surpassed her sympathy. Gritting her teeth hard, she seized the ninja sword and pressed it against the short man's neck, biting down as she growled:
"Last chance! Where is the child's body!"
The sharp blade scraped a blood line across the man's neck.
The man's eyes widened in terror, and the faint pain at his neck rattled his nerves:
"I… I didn't mean to… I didn't mean to kill her. You have to believe me! You really have to believe me! She… she was my daughter…"
"I was just playing around with her. I… I didn't think she would die… I threw her… into the dry well in the yard."
Izumi froze, stunned.
The man's broken, stammered words revealed a piece of information that shook her to the core — the man whom Senpai ordered her to interrogate, right here in public, had actually killed his own daughter! And he had thrown her body into a dry well!
A murderer!
"Rookie, this is your first lesson in executing [Justice] as part of the Uchiha Police Force." Uchiha Chizumi's voice sounded calmly behind her:
"Always carry out the orders I give you."
"No doubt."
"No defiance."
"No mistakes."
…
…
(End of this chapter)