When Asuma's words fell, the daimyō of the Land of Fire stood utterly stunned, frozen in place. His eyes, wide with disbelief, stared fixedly at Asuma's grave expression.
—His most beloved younger son had died in Konoha, far away across thousands of kilometers. And he had been killed.
Asuma's words kept echoing in the daimyō's mind.
The shock in his gaze visibly gave way to a hollow blankness.
His body swayed all of a sudden, making Asuma rush forward to steady him with a hand.
"Please accept my condolences, Daimyo-sama."
At that moment, Asuma returned the very same words to the daimyō.
The daimyō remained dazed for a full thirty seconds.
When he finally came to, his eyes were filled with burning fury and deep grief.
His tightly clenched fists had turned white at the knuckles from the force of his grip.
The veins bulging on his forehead throbbed with intensity.
His usually pale, pampered face had turned a furious shade of red.
"Hah… hah…"
The daimyō breathed heavily, his mournful and oppressive gaze fixed squarely on Asuma.
He clenched his teeth hard to keep himself from losing control, forcing out each word with effort: "What… did you say the name of the one who killed Kyōsuke and Nauma was?"
"Uchiha Keizumi," Asuma answered.
"Uchiha Keizumi… that name…" The daimyō's memory seemed triggered by something. "I think I've heard it before."
Asuma explained, "Whether in Konoha or the entire shinobi world, he's quite famous. He's a ninja of the Uchiha clan, a genius born with dual kekkei genkai. He earned considerable merit during the Third Great Shinobi War and made a name for himself."
"…I remember now."
The daimyō finally recalled, murmuring:
"Uchiha Keizumi… he's part of Konoha's Uchiha Police Force, isn't he? I remember hearing your village's Hokage mention him. Said he was a Konoha shinobi who upheld so-called Absolute Justice."
Asuma was a bit surprised. He hadn't expected the old man to have brought up Uchiha Keizumi in conversation with the daimyō.
But on second thought, it actually made sense—after all, Keizumi was among the elite in Konoha.
Not to mention, Keizumi was incredibly "discussion-worthy."
Whenever talk turned to Konoha's current situation, it was practically impossible to avoid bringing him up.
"The Hokage… has he already taken him into custody?" the daimyō asked wearily, gasping for breath.
"…No," Asuma replied. "That's exactly why I made the long journey here—to inform you in person, Daimyō-sama."
The daimyō was visibly puzzled. "Why not arrest him?"
Asuma replied, "My old man probably thinks that going head-to-head with Keizumi would cause a lot of collateral damage. Taking that guy down wouldn't come cheap."
"And the older he gets, the more indecisive he becomes. He just doesn't have the same iron will he once did. In times like this, I fear he no longer knows what choice to make."
"If he's hesitating—then I'll help him make that choice."
Asuma met the daimyō's gaze and said, "I have no interest in my old man's position, nor in Konoha's internal power struggles. But I do care deeply about the village that raised me."
"As long as someone like Uchiha Keizumi remains in Konoha, the village will remain in turmoil. His so-called Absolute Justice only leads to more deaths—lots of them—every single day."
"Even my older brother, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, was killed by Uchiha Keizumi, under the banner of that same Absolute Justice. I never imagined my old man could stomach even that."
The low, steady tone in Asuma's words gave the daimyō an even clearer image of the man who had taken his son's life.
In his mind, he was now picturing a cold, unyielding figure—one who used the name of justice to justify reckless, brutal actions.
Yet because this man's strength was too overwhelming, even the Hokage of Konoha had been forced to tolerate his presence.
The daimyō took a deep breath, trying—but failing—to calm the torrent of emotions surging through him. Clenching his jaw tightly, he asked Asuma, "When he killed Kyōsuke… did he do it under the pretense of justice, too?"
"…Yes."
Asuma didn't conceal anything, nor did he embellish. He simply nodded and admitted, "In front of many witnesses, he laid out all the disgraceful things Kyōsuke-sama had done in the past."
The daimyō held back his rage and asked through gritted teeth, "So… it was because of those things that he chose to strike Kyōsuke down—wasn't it?"
Asuma replied, "Most likely, yes."
"Why?!" the daimyō snapped, unable to hold back anymore. His long-suppressed fury burst out all at once, and his expression twisted into something nearly grotesque, his face flushed crimson.
"If he had killed a commoner, I could've tolerated it! But the one he killed was my son! One of my heirs! A noble of the highest standing in the Land of Fire!"
"Fire Country nobility is protected under the Immunity and Pardon Decree—something I added to the national charter over ten years ago!"
"As long as it's not treason, no matter what actions he took, Kyōsuke was entitled to immunity from punishment! Only I, the daimyō of the Land of Fire, have the authority to pass judgment on him!"
"He's just a member of Konoha's Uchiha Police Force—how could he not know the laws of the Land of Fire?! What gave him the right to kill Kyōsuke?! What gave him the right to ignore our nation's laws and decrees?!"
"He's not even the commander of the force! He's just a regular officer!"
"Does he not recognize the Land of Fire? Does he not recognize Konoha? Does he not recognize me, the daimyō?!"
"Hah… hah… hah…"
After unleashing his emotions, the daimyō was left with a cruel realization:
Though his title carried prestige, he held no control over the Land of Fire's military power.
That power resided entirely in the hands of the Hokage.
Even if he wanted revenge for his son, he had no forces of his own to deploy.
What was he supposed to do—hire a bunch of samurai to go after a shinobi?
What a joke.
"Asuma…" the daimyō suddenly turned to him again, voice strained.
"This time… I need your help."
Asuma's tense heart finally settled.
If even the daimyō had ended up as indecisive as his father, then Asuma would've had no choice but to confront Uchiha Keizumi entirely on his own.
...
Konoha – Uchiha Clan Compound
The elderly body of Koharu trembled slightly. She had long known that Uchiha Keizumi's methods of "enforcing justice" were extreme—those who were merely beaten up and thrown into prison by him were considered the lucky ones. More often, he simply killed them on the spot.
In the past, although Koharu had some reservations about his actions, she had never intervened. After all, those people had indeed deserved their fate.
But now that something like this had happened to one of her own clansmen—she suddenly found it hard to accept.
She hurried forward and quickly spotted it—not far from the headless corpse lay a severed head, the size of a melon, lying silently on the ground.
Koharu recognized that youthful face.
It was indeed a young member of the Utatane clan—her own blood relative!
"Hiruzen… did you just stand there and watch him kill someone? He killed a child who was still in the ninja academy—right in front of you, the Hokage! And you just stood there doing nothing?! Even if that child made some mistake… did it really warrant death? Whatever he did, surely it wasn't something worth killing him over!"
Koharu turned toward Hiruzen, gritting her teeth, and confronted him furiously.
She vaguely remembered Utatane Ryūji—a sweet-talking boy who always greeted her respectfully whenever they crossed paths in the clan. He was gifted too, as far as she recalled.
Given enough time, even if he didn't rise to become an elite jōnin, he could've at least followed in his father's footsteps as a Tokubetsu Jōnin of Konoha.
And yet now, that polite, talented youth had become a corpse—his head severed from his body.
Koharu felt dizzy, her mind spinning.
She couldn't comprehend it!
"Koharu-sama, the Hokage had no room to interfere," came a voice beside Hiruzen. It was one of the ANBU at his side. "That boy's crimes were far more serious than you imagine. Even if he hadn't been killed, under the laws of the Land of Fire, he would've faced over thirty years in prison."
Koharu's sharp gaze locked onto the ANBU who had spoken.
His mask concealed his face…
But that striking silver-white hair gave him away instantly.
—The Copy Ninja, Hatake Kakashi!
Even Hiruzen turned to Kakashi in surprise. He hadn't expected the usually quiet Kakashi to speak up on his behalf. For a moment, Hiruzen felt a flicker of comfort in his heart.
Ever since Uchiha Keizumi had exposed the truth—that Danzo had orchestrated the public pressure campaign that drove Hatake Sakumo to suicide—
Hiruzen had lived in constant worry.
He feared that Kakashi might begin to hold a grudge against him, the Hokage.
After all…
Even after Sakumo's death, he hadn't removed Danzo from power. Danzo had continued serving unpunished as the head of the Root division.
And now, hearing Kakashi speak in his defense—
While Hiruzen let out a breath of relief, a faint sense of unease crept in. From another angle, wasn't Kakashi actually speaking on Keizumi's behalf? Explaining why he had chosen to kill?
Was he offering Koharu an explanation… for Keizumi's actions?
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