Utatane Ryūji could hardly breathe.
How does he know?!
That terrified scream echoed again and again inside his mind, clawing through every inch of his sanity.
He didn't just know what Ryūji had done the night before—he even knew it had all stemmed from jealousy. That twisted impulse that had taken over in a moment of weakness.
Is he a mind reader?! Who the hell is this guy?!
"Y-You… What are you talking about? Murder? A whole family? What about last night—I don't know what you're saying!" Ryūji stammered wildly, trying to sound confused. "You—hey? H-Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing?!"
Just as Ryūji convinced himself they had no solid evidence and that he could bluff his way through it—
He saw the Konoha Police Force ninja slowly draw his blade with a single hand.
The sound of the steel sliding free was like a blade against his spine.
And the moment that blade left its sheath, Ryūji felt a piercing cold spread across his body, stabbing into his skin like invisible icicles.
Terror flooded every cell.
His pupils constricted violently, beyond his control.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Uchiha Keizumi said, his voice steady. "This is the evil of the shinobi world. It's irrational. You'll never be able to predict what twisted motivation will give birth to such atrocities. If this evil is allowed to run free, more and more innocent people will fall victim to it."
Naruto snapped partway out of his daze.
"Do you remember the state of the victims? The fatal wounds on all four family members?" Keizumi asked calmly.
The questions brought those mental images flooding back—images Naruto himself had conjured. The memory made his skin crawl.
"I… I remember…"
Uchiha Keizumi continued, "That is the reason [Absolute Justice] exists—to purge the overwhelming amount of evil festering in this world. Tell me, Uzumaki Naruto… should Utatane Ryūji pay for this with his life?"
Naruto bit down on his lower lip. The images of the corpses flashed through his mind like lightning—again and again—until something deep inside him snapped.
Why? Why should someone be allowed to take four lives just because they were jealous?
Why should something so trivial be enough to justify slaughter?
Those two questions echoed like thunder, and from the core of his being, Naruto blurted out a single word: "Yes!"
"Then open your eyes. Watch closely."
Sunlight glinted off the edge of Keizumi's blade.
"This is [Absolute Justice]—merciless in the face of evil. Only unwavering, absolute justice can truly purge the darkness."
Hiruzen finally snapped back to reality.
Ryūji was a student at the Ninja Academy—a child of the Utatane Clan, no less. And now Keizumi was going to use such a brutal method on him…
The Third Hokage didn't even want to imagine what kind of person Naruto would become after witnessing this.
"Wait! Kei—"
But it was too late.
Too late.
Uchiha Keizumi's slash was swift—so swift that Hiruzen couldn't stop it.
Arterial blood gushed far and high, so violently that several droplets even splashed onto Hiruzen's face.
Before the eyes of everyone present, a small head rolled slowly across the ground, its frozen expression still gripped in unresolved terror.
[Ding! You have successfully slain a "Red-Named" criminal! Your chakra has received a minor boost! Congratulations! You've obtained: ×5 Clone Technique Experience Books!]
The headless corpse collapsed sideways onto the ground. Its severed neck landed facing the very spot where Naruto stood.
The spurting blood drenched Naruto's feet in crimson.
The warm, sticky sensation of the blood made Naruto recoil backward in shock.
He stared at the headless corpse, utterly stunned.
He hadn't expected this—at all. Just a moment ago, his moral compass had been thrown into chaos, and acting purely on instinct, he had blurted out a single word: "Yes!"
And then… that terrifying man had killed without hesitation!
T-This…
He really killed him!!!
Naruto's pupils trembled slightly. He had seen corpses before—he had even witnessed Uchiha Keizumi killing Root shinobi.
But this time—
This time it felt like the man had killed because of him. If he hadn't inexplicably uttered that one word, if he hadn't said "Yes," would that terrifying man still have chosen to punish the murderer in such a bloody way?
A flood of thoughts surged through Naruto's mind, making him feel increasingly uneasy.
"What are you afraid of, Uzumaki Naruto?"
A sudden, cold voice questioned him, freezing Naruto in place.
He realized something was blocking his line of sight. Looking up in shock, he saw that terrifying man standing directly in front of him!
He hadn't even noticed him walk over!
As Naruto scrambled to explain—
Another barrage of questions came at him:
"Are you afraid of evil?"
"Or are you afraid of justice?"
"Or do you believe that justice should not punish evil in such a manner?"
Naruto swallowed hard.
The pressure he felt now was overwhelming—even greater than when Iruka-sensei called on him to answer in front of the class. Cold sweat was already gathering in the palms of his hands.
He didn't even know why he was so nervous.
"I… I just didn't expect that what you call Absolute Justice would be… this absolute…"
His voice trembled as he spoke.
Uchiha Keizumi stared at the reincarnation of Asura's chakra and coldly asked: "If you have a better solution than 'a life for a life'—a way to let the innocent dead rest in peace—then by all means, speak it."
Naruto opened his mouth—
But no words of persuasion came out.
Because once again, he remembered the brutal scene of that family of four. In the moment before they died, they must have been terrified—must have suffered.
They had been a happy family of four, warm and whole—and in a single night, they were turned into mangled corpses.
And the murderer had just now refused to admit to it—even as he died. That kind of demeanor… held not the slightest trace of guilt.
Although the murderous criminal appeared terrified and panicked...
His fear stemmed solely from his actions being exposed—not from any remorse for the evil he had committed.
Was there truly a better solution than "a life for a life"?
Naruto found, after wracking his brain, that he could only come up with two options:
—Forgive him.
—Kill him.
"We did not experience the pain and despair the victims felt before they died. That means we have no right to forgive the evil in their place."
Uchiha Keizumi's voice rang out again, as if he could read Naruto's mind: "Forgiving the evildoers of the shinobi world is something Absolute Justice will never do. Because doing so would mean that Absolute Justice has compromised with evil."
"Uzumaki Naruto, get rid of that word 'forgive' in your heart."
Uchiha Keizumi's piercing gaze made Naruto afraid to miss a single syllable.
"Justice has the right to seek justice for the victims, but it has no right to forgive the perpetrators on their behalf—You must remember this sentence for the rest of your life. Carve it deep into the very core of your memory."
"If you ever forgive evil in place of its victims—then you yourself become evil. Because that is nothing more than helping evil thrive!"
Each decisive, unwavering sentence struck Naruto's young heart like a hammer blow.
This kind of black-and-white thinking made both Sarutobi Hiruzen and Uchiha Fugaku frown slightly. But the problem was—it was too correct. So correct, they had no grounds to refute it.
And yet, for a seven-year-old kid...
This kind of binary reasoning was just right—it was exactly the kind of logic he could comprehend and absorb.
"To forgive evil on behalf of the victims..."
"...is to become evil yourself..."
Naruto's eyes widened as a sudden wave of shame washed over him.
Because just moments ago, he had indeed considered forgiveness—which meant, was that thought alone already wrong?
If someone like him had such a thought...
Did that mean he was no different from the murderer?
Overwhelmed by guilt and shame, Naruto tried hard to engrave every word this terrifying man had said into his heart.
Even Hokage-ojiichan didn't refute him—so these words must be right, right?
Thousands of thoughts flashed through his mind.
Naruto stood up straight, raised his voice, and said, "I... I understand!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "..."
Now this really is a problem!
Naruto! You're not supposed to understand this!
Just as Sarutobi was about to speak up again, Uchiha Keizumi continued: "Uzumaki Naruto, you'd better remember what you've just said. Never forgive evil. Never become someone you yourself would find disgusting."
"I... I will! I swear I will!"
"Even though I'm not very good at studying, when it comes to things like this—don't underestimate me!"
On Naruto's dirty little face finally appeared a look of genuine determination.
And with it, a glimpse of the strength of character that belonged to Uzumaki Naruto.
"Um..."
But this time, Naruto's courage and resolve didn't fade so quickly.
He lifted his head, met Uchiha Keizumi's eyes directly, and in those clear blue pupils was a gaze full of yearning. He took the initiative to voice the thoughts and feelings that had risen within him.
"I don't even know why... Maybe it's because I don't want the village to become something I no longer recognize. Maybe it's because I want to do something for the village. Maybe... maybe it's because I don't want the evil of the shinobi world to reach Konoha."
"I don't want to see another person like Utatane Ryūji appear in the village... and I don't want to see more innocent people suffer from the evils of the shinobi world—"
"To be crushed by it," Uchiha Keizumi helpfully added, when Naruto ran out of words.
"Yes!"
Naruto quickly continued, "So I don't want to pull pranks anymore just to get attention from people in the village. Because all that does is trouble them! If I'm causing them trouble, doesn't that make me a kind of evil too?"
He bowed deeply to Uchiha Keizumi and shouted, "Please teach me what real Justice is! I want to earn everyone's recognition in the village through Justice! I also want to use Justice to stop evil from existing in Konoha—so people like that killer won't appear out of nowhere ever again!"
"After all... I once told Hokage-ojiichan I wanted to become Hokage someday. But it feels like pranks only cause problems for others. Maybe Justice is the way to earn their approval... But it's not just because I want to be Hokage that I want to learn about Justice! That's not it at all!"
"In short—though I can't really remember your name right now—but, but please teach me! I can even pay tuition!"
"Even if it means going through a lot of suffering, I don't mind at all!"
At just seven years old, Naruto shouted these words with all his strength.
By the end, even his throat had grown hoarse.
---
I will post some extra Chapters in Patreon, you can check it out. >> patreon.com/TitoVillar
---