Uchiha Chizumi's voice cracked like thunder by Izumi's ear.
She breathed in deeply, the scent of blood in the air growing heavier.
As she slowly stood up, she could still hear the weak, moaning wails of the short man at her feet.
"I've told you everything… Save me… Please save me… I don't want to die…"
Izumi pressed her lips together.
For someone who had graduated from the Ninja Academy less than a month ago, this was still far too shocking and stimulating.
"Where's your home?"
Having learned that this beast had killed his own daughter, Izumi no longer felt any sympathy for the short man. She first interrogated him for his address, in order to locate the child's body.
When she faintly heard him, weak-voiced, give an address—
Izumi summoned her courage, turned to Uchiha Chizumi, and said, "Senpai, should we split up? I can take him to Konoha Hospital, and you can go find the child's body?"
Uchiha Chizumi said mildly, "Rookie, do you know what punishment drunken manslaughter carries here in Konoha?"
Izumi froze: "Life… life imprisonment?!"
Uchiha Chiaumi shook his head. "Ten years in prison. After ten years, this piece of scum will walk in the sunlight again. In fact, if he behaves well in prison, he might be out in seven or eight."
"I ask you — does that punishment count as fair retribution?"
Izumi stammered, "Ten years… feels short. No matter how I look at it, it doesn't feel like equal retribution, right?"
The moral baseline of a twelve-year-old Uchiha genin told her instinctively — that sentence was too short.
Was the cost of killing someone in Konoha really that low?
Or was it…
That being drunk excused killing?
"[Justice] that isn't executed absolutely will never count as justice. Evil will never receive the punishment it deserves." Uchiha Chizumi said, "No need to split up. No need to take him to the hospital. We go straight to the address he gave."
"Oh, and one more thing."
Uchiha Chizumi took back the ninja sword from Izumi, slid the bloodstained blade into its sheath, and added, "Remember to drag. You'll drag this shinobi-world trash, following behind me."
Izumi's little face froze in shock.
Senior Chizumi… among the Uchiha, he must be one of the most extreme, right?
She swallowed hard, her gaze drawn to the short man.
Drag him?
Hiss…
…
Izumi felt enormous pressure now.
Under the stares of civilians and shinobi — some frightened, some stunned — she clenched her teeth, grabbed the back of the short man's collar with both hands, and forced her legs to move, following Uchiha Chizumi.
The man's horrific severed leg scraped against the ground, and he screamed and struggled in terror.
The sound made Izumi's heart twist with pity.
But when she looked at the tall, straight back of Uchiha Chizumi, when she recalled her earlier hesitation during interrogation, the suffocating chill in his eyes as they grew colder—
Izumi could only harden her heart.
She didn't dare look back.
She could only imagine whether the man's crimson blood was painting a long straight line along the street.
Izumi felt his struggling grow weaker and weaker.
Felt the eyes of some Konoha civilians looking at her as if she were the accomplice of a criminal.
Heard the cries grow fainter and fainter.
Until…
All sound ceased.
Izumi jolted in alarm. She turned in a panic and hurriedly said to Uchiha Chizumi: "Senpai, he's gone into shock!"
Uchiha Chizumi paused briefly. He didn't look back, only asked softly, "Can he be revived?"
"I'll check…"
Izumi carefully leaned down and checked the man's breathing. Her heart lurched; she answered in panic, "I-it's too late. He… he's already dead!!!"
Uchiha Chizumi said regretfully, "What a pity."
Izumi blinked in surprise.
Then the senior continued, "He died too comfortably. Not enough to repay the sin he committed. My original plan was to have you drag him to his home. After pulling the child's body from the well, you would execute him in front of it."
"And," Uchiha Chizumi glanced back, "I had planned for you, rookie, to do it yourself."
Izumi was completely stunned.
"S-senpai…" Izumi said weakly, "I've read the police force's code of conduct. It says… after capturing a suspect, we mustn't administer private punishment. I think that was a rule the Hokage added to the manual."
Uchiha Chizumi asked, "Rookie, do you think that lofty Third Hokage represents [Justice]?"
Izumi didn't dare make a sound.
Uchiha Chizumi gazed at the girl, half-Uchiha by blood, and slowly said, "If you want to be a proper member of the police force, you must first know who is the enemy of [Justice]. Every 'evil' in this shinobi world is an enemy of [Justice]."
"The shinobi world has been eaten through by endless 'evil,' full of gaping wounds. Only by executing [Justice] with absolute and thorough methods can we set the shinobi world back on track."
I… including the Hokage? — Izumi dared only think this silently, not voice it aloud.
"Including the Hokage."
And in the very next second, as though reading her mind, Uchiha Chizumi stated the words bluntly, without hesitation or fear.
Izumi was stunned speechless.
…
What Izumi didn't know was that, at the very moment the short man died from blood loss and shock—
A golden finger (cheat interface) popped up before Uchiha Chizumi's eyes.
[Ding! You have successfully killed a "Red-Name" villain! Your chakra has received a slight increase! Congratulations, you have obtained: Gambling Skill Experience Book ×2]
[Name: Uchiha Chiquan][Age: 18][Identity: Konoha Uchiha Police Force Member][Strength: Jonin][Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan, Lava Release][Taijutsu: Uchiha-Style Kenjutsu, Shurikenjutsu, Kunai Combat Technique…][Ninjutsu: Great Fireball Technique, Phoenix Fire Technique, Majestic Destroyer Flame, Mind Transfer Jutsu…][Other: Cooking, Calligraphy, Gambling, Bedroom Arts…][…]
This was the golden finger that awakened when Uchiha Chizumi first crossed over into Konoha.
He could see everyone's "evil" — whether it was evil done in the past or evil yet to be committed in the future, he could see it all clearly.
Those who had already committed unforgivable evil had a bright crimson square floating above their heads — called [Red-Names].
Those who would commit unforgivable evil in the future had white squares — called [White-Names].
After killing them…
Not only would his own chakra increase, he could also steal any ninjutsu, taijutsu, kekkei genkai, secret techniques, or skill experience from them.
This golden finger's properties matched perfectly with the [Absolute Justice] Uchiha Chizumi upheld.
In just a few years, his hands had been stained with the blood of countless villains.
He had already dulled several ninja blades from overuse.
As for the "Lava Release" listed under Kekkei Genkai — that came from the starter gift pack when the golden finger first awakened.
Its description: "A greeting from a follower of [Absolute Justice] from the great sea."
…
…
(End of this chapter)