"Hokage-sama, the Uchiha Police Force needs to be restrained!"
Inside the Hokage Building.
Having just dealt with half of his paperwork, Sarutobi Hiruzen was patiently listening to a ninja's complaint:
"Today, members of the Uchiha Police Force injured someone in broad daylight on the street! They cut off a civilian's leg, then dragged him down the street on 'display'—blood trailed for hundreds of meters."
"Many villagers saw it. Plenty of children saw it, too. Hokage-sama, isn't this behavior by the Uchiha Police already beyond what an enforcer should do?"
"Law enforcers like this will only make everyone in the village even more uneasy, won't they?"
This ninja didn't have any great status in the village, nor any extraordinary strength… The only reason he dared come complain directly to the Hokage was because he, too, bore the name "Sarutobi."
He was a younger member of the Hokage's own clan.
Sarutobi Hiruzen furrowed his brows, immediately asking:
"How is the injured person who was dragged?"
The ninja shook his head, answering:
"When I saw how arrogant the Uchiha were acting, I couldn't help but run here to tell you, Hokage-sama. I ignored the victim's condition. But…"
"If someone's leg is severed and they don't receive treatment quickly, they probably won't live more than a few minutes."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's frown deepened.
Just then, something occurred to him, and he asked another question:
"Which Uchiha clan members were on the scene?"
The ninja hesitated:"It was Uchiha Chizumi… and besides him, there was an Uchiha girl I didn't recognize."
"Chizumi?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen's brows relaxed.
Under his young clan member's shocked gaze, Sarutobi Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and said quietly:
"If it's Chizumi, then if he acted that way, there must be a reason."
"But, Hokage-sama…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted directly:
"The only reason you rushed here so anxiously to tell me this… is probably because you're worried Uchiha Chizumi's actions will affect your bathhouse business, isn't it?"
"Go back! This is a matter for the Police Force. I trust Chizumi will give me an explanation soon enough. After all, he's always been one to walk his own path."
Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, defining Uchiha Chizumi's behavior:
"Chizumi's methods are indeed extreme. But all these years, he has never once done anything that crossed a true line of principle."
"…Understood, Hokage-sama."
The young Sarutobi left, dejected after his complaint was unsuccessful.
"Chizumi…"
Sarutobi Hiruzen walked to the window, looking outside.
"Do you love the Will of Fire more… or the [Absolute Justice] you speak of? I've always thought… you and Itachi were of the same kind, Uchiha who loved this village deeply."
He murmured to himself.
Meanwhile.
Inside a secluded single-house residence in Konoha, Izumi was breathing lightly, finally letting go of the corpse whose skin had been rubbed raw.
She had originally planned to leave the short man's corpse where it was.
But without orders from her senior…
Izumi worried that abandoning the body without permission might anger him.So…
All she could do was mutter "sorry" in her heart as she forced herself to keep dragging the body, following behind Uchiha Chizumi, suppressing her discomfort.
Until they reached the short man's house.
She still didn't dare look back at what the body had become.
It must have been… a gruesome sight, right?
"Think he's pitiful?" Uchiha Chizumi saw through the girl's thoughts at a glance. Her little expressions could never hide her heart. He said calmly:
"There's someone more pitiful than him—still in that well."
He looked toward a dried-up well covered by a cement slab, his tone sinking as he gave his order:
"Bring up the child's corpse from that well."
Izumi stiffened at the sound of Chizumi's voice.
"Yes, senpai!"
She ran over, when suddenly a pungent stench hit her nose.
This… was the smell of a corpse?
Steeling herself, Izumi carefully shifted the cement slab. The stench fully escaped, making her instinctively hold her breath, though her eyes still stung from it.
She clenched her teeth.
Flipped herself over and jumped.
Just before reaching the bottom of the well, Izumi used the tree-climbing chakra technique, sticking her feet to the wall to avoid accidentally stepping on the child's body.
In the sunlight filtering in, she saw a quilt at the bottom of the well, rolled into a ball, with something inside.
A grim guess formed in her heart.
Not long after…
Izumi emerged from the well carrying the quilt reeking of rot, gently placing it on the ground.
"If you need to vomit, go ahead. The first time smelling a corpse is like this—even hardened killers can't always hold back their body's reflexes," Uchiha Chizumi remarked, glancing at the girl's pretty face, her features already contorting.
Izumi's face was pale, and she shook her head.
She couldn't even explain it—just instinctively felt it would be wrong to act rudely in front of such a pitiful child.
Even if…
This child was already dead.
Then, Izumi saw Uchiha Chizumi approach, crouching down to open the quilt.
Izumi's pupils trembled.
She hurriedly turned her head.
—She vomited.
Even though she hadn't wanted to, even though her heart was filled with sorrow and empathy… her body's instinctive nausea overpowered her, and she ended up vomiting up her breakfast.
"Look at her," Uchiha Chizumi ordered. "Don't turn away."
Izumi wiped her mouth.
She turned back, trembling, forcing her gaze onto the small corpse.
Uchiha Chizumi crouched beside it and said:
"More than a dozen blunt-force trauma marks; both hands and feet broken multiple times; much of the flesh mangled; bleeding from the nose, ears, mouth—internal organs likely severely damaged."
He stood and continued:
"The fatal injury is the ligature mark on the neck. This child died in great pain—before death, she suffered at least an hour of torment."
Izumi murmured in shock:
"An hour… if this child had screamed during that hour, surely someone nearby would have saved her, right? There are neighbors around here…"
Uchiha Chizumi simply replied:
"The one who hurt her… was her own father. Perhaps, to her, her father was the one she loved most."
Izumi froze.
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Y-Yes!!" Izumi immediately straightened up, shouting reflexively.
Uchiha Chizumi locked eyes with her, questioning each word clearly:
"Do you still think that man was pitiful?"
Izumi pressed her lips together, bowing her head.
"Senpai, I was wrong."
Uchiha Chizumi said:
"What we of the Uchiha Police Force must do is erase every kind of 'evil' like this. Only by executing our [Justice] with absolute, thorough measures can we suppress the twisted sickness infecting the shinobi world."
"Take both bodies back to the Police Force. Your performance today was unqualified—but at least not so bad I want to kill you. Tomorrow, meet at Ichiraku Ramen."
Izumi shivered.
"Yes, senpai."
(End of Chapter)