"This is bad…"
Not far away, a grotesque-looking White Zetsu slowly sank into the trunk of a roadside tree.
"Biwa Jūzō has stumbled onto a secret he never should have touched. I need to get this intel out immediately."
The transmission speed of White Zetsu's information was terrifyingly fast. In less than half a minute, the data neurons had already been relayed to Zetsu's true body.
Deep inside the Land of Fire, Zetsu's narrowed eyes gleamed.
"Obito! The plan has changed!" Zetsu rushed forward as he spoke to the masked man beside him.
"One of Keizumi's subordinates just spoke your name right in front of Biwa Jūzō. If they manage to exchange information, he could learn secrets about you straight from that subordinate's mouth."
"And once he passes it on to Konan, eventually… even Nagato will know your true identity. Still, I don't think them learning who you really are would affect you all that much…"
"—Tch!"
The masked Obito clenched his teeth and cut him off. "Shut up! They must never know that 'Uchiha Madara' is really 'Uchiha Obito'!"
"If they did, how would they look at me? How would they treat me? I need the name of 'Uchiha Madara' to stand as the true hidden master of Akatsuki!"
"Yes… the plan has indeed changed."
Drawing a deep breath, Obito's tone returned to calm. "Biwa Jūzō must die. Whether or not he learned anything about me, he cannot be allowed to return to Akatsuki."
"Even his corpse must be utterly destroyed, lest anyone use it to trace information back to me."
Zetsu glanced at Obito, offering no objection, only remarking: "Without someone inside Konoha to cooperate, it won't be easy to strike."
Obito's voice hardened. "There will be an opportunity."
…
Jūzō had never imagined he would one day find himself inside the Police Force headquarters of the Uchiha clan in Konoha. But with Jiraiya of the Sannin's eyes fixed firmly upon him, he had no chance to escape.
Damn that woman… this mission for the organization is nothing but trouble!
Jūzō sprawled casually in the interrogation room chair, one leg crossed over the other.
The Executioner's Blade leaned against the wall beside him.
The cumbersome gas mask that had covered his face was tossed aside without care.
"Tch, so this is Konoha's interrogation room?" His lip curled in disdain as he judged openly, without the slightest restraint.
"If this were Kirigakure's interrogation room, the walls would be hung with bloody body parts, maybe even a few severed heads. The chair you're sitting on would be covered in spikes. And the room's temperature would be as cold as an ice cellar."
"Only in such an interrogation room can you feel any true sense of dread. But this place in Konoha…"
Jūzō shifted into a more comfortable posture, a cruel grin spreading across his face.
"This environment is more comfortable than my own living room!"
His eyes fixed on the three before him—Jiraiya, Uchiha Izumi, and Mitarashi Anko. He sneered and went on: "No matter what you ask me, I won't answer. You all know as well as I do: prying information out of one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen is anything but easy."
"I know that in Konoha there's a clan called the Yamanaka who can steal memories straight from someone's mind. But before that could happen, all I'd need to do is form a single seal—and my head would explode on the spot. You'd never get any intel from me."
"Unless…"
Jūzō smirked. "Unless you let that Lava Release beast interrogate me!"
"Heh… if that guy were here, maybe I'd slip up and reveal something important without meaning to."
"You've mentioned Keizumi-senpai again," Izumi said coldly. "So your true purpose in coming to Konoha really was to target him, wasn't it?"
Jūzō dug at his ear, then flicked the bit of grime he'd scraped out, letting it stick against the interrogation room wall.
"He's right."
Jiraiya suddenly spoke. "This man was once one of the most formidable of the Bloody Mist. 'Torture' means nothing to someone of his level. Even if you tore off his limbs one by one, he wouldn't give you a single word."
He turned toward Izumi. "We need Keizumi here."
Though Jiraiya had plenty of misgivings about Uchiha Keizumi's so-called Absolute Justice—
And though he couldn't understand the man's extreme methods—
Even knowing that Keizumi's intentions might be good, the way he carried them out was simply unacceptable in Jiraiya's eyes. There were gentler, more effective ways, yet Keizumi always chose the harshest path.
To Jiraiya, it was as if Keizumi saw the entire shinobi world as hopelessly rotten, in need of violent upheaval.
Ahem… and in truth, Jiraiya himself wasn't much different.
He too believed the shinobi world needed change. But the one to bring true, positive transformation wasn't "Absolute Justice."
It was the savior he had yet to find—
The Child of Prophecy, foretold by the Great Toad Sage!
Still, if it meant prying information about Orochimaru and Akatsuki from Jūzō's mouth… Jiraiya felt that he could cooperate with Keizumi, just this once.
…
"Today, the three of us finally witnessed you carry out Absolute Justice with our own eyes. Ruthless, uncompromising, true Absolute Justice. Even though the offenders were three students of the Ninja Academy and a sensei, you didn't hesitate to judge and execute them."
"All because they committed unforgivable crimes, showed no remorse, and trampled on the very bottom line of justice and morality."
Outside the Academy, an elite of the Uchiha Police Force spoke to Keizumi's back. "What Tsunade-sama said before—I believe she was right."
"Uchiha Keizumi, your Absolute Justice shouldn't be limited to just a few cats and kittens. If you stand for clan leader, the three of us will support you."
"When the time comes… once you become head of the Uchiha clan, you'll be able to lead the entire clan to follow Absolute Justice."
Keizumi's steps halted. He spoke evenly: "Justice must never tolerate corruption. Even a single rat's dropping can stain the word forever, leaving a blemish that can never be washed away."
"And furthermore—"
As the three Police Force shinobi froze in surprise, he continued, "Don't confine the word 'justice' to the Uchiha clan alone. When you truly understand what I mean, then you may come to me."
At his side, Tachibana Jirō turned his head and spoke in a clear, feline voice: "Keizumi-sama means you need a broader vision—justice must be seen on the scale of the entire shinobi world, meow!"
"If the three of you can only see this far, then even your belief in justice is inferior to that of Uchiha Izumi, who is only twelve years old."
"Meow. When you've figured that out, then you can seek out Keizumi-sama again."
None of the three had ever imagined they would one day be lectured by a ninja cat.
Yet as proud Uchiha, they found not the slightest urge to argue back.
"Haa… Justice on the scale of the shinobi world." Watching Keizumi's back grow distant, one Police Force shinobi, hands shoved into his pockets, said, "It's precisely because he has such vision that we want to follow his Absolute Justice."
"But… he's not wrong. Compared to what a man like him has seen, our own view is far too narrow. We can't even make out what road justice is meant to be."
Beside him, another asked, "So, what do we do next?"
The pocketed Uchiha replied, "Naturally, we carry out justice in the shinobi world. In truth, he's already accepted us—because as long as we understand his words, we can believe in justice."
"Although we three weren't the first within the Uchiha clan to follow [Absolute Justice]…" His lips curved in a proud, mocking grin. "Compared to anyone else besides Uchiha Izumi, our vision and sense of scale are at least a hundred times stronger!"
…
Inside the Ninja Academy.
Iruka stood watch over the restless students, quietly slipping to the doorway to glance outside.
He saw that Uchiha Keizumi, the Uchiha Police Force shinobi, and even Tsunade had all left.
Returning to the classroom, he coughed lightly.
"Class dismissed! Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Yamanaka Ino, Haruno Sakura—your punishment is over too."
But dismissal brought little relief to Naruto and Sasuke. They had missed Keizumi-sensei's execution of justice entirely.
It had happened just a few dozen meters away from them, yet the classroom wall—and Iruka's unyielding supervision—had been like divine barriers they could never cross.
"Damn it, we missed the whole thing!" Naruto clawed at his blond hair until it stuck up like a bird's nest, grumbling, "Iruka-sensei is so unfair… We're Keizumi-sensei's students! Of course we understand justice!"
Sasuke, hands buried in his pockets, his face cold and blank, said flatly, "True. Seems this Academy sensei's level is pathetic. I heard he's new—never taught anyone before. No wonder his teaching is so lousy."
Iruka, who hadn't even left yet: "???"
Just as he was about ready to flick both their foreheads and teach them a proper lesson…
Suddenly, a crisp, youthful voice rang out: "You… truly don't understand justice, not even if you call him 'sensei.'"
Those words left both Naruto and Sasuke stunned.
Sakura, too, looked at Yamanaka Ino beside her in disbelief.
Ino drew in a deep breath, her face carrying a complicated expression. Staring through the window at the corpses outside, guarded by several Academy instructors, she spoke from the heart: "What you regret is merely missing the chance to take part in carrying out justice. What you care about isn't the victims who were persecuted and killed by those evildoers."
"Ino…"
Sakura stared wide-eyed at Ino's profile. She had recently found Ino to be acting strangely, but because of their "rival in love" relationship, she had kept her distance and never probed further.
Not until now did Sakura realize what exactly felt strange about her "rival."
Ino…
It seemed she didn't like Sasuke anymore!
Otherwise, she could never have said, right to Sasuke's face, "You don't understand justice." Especially those words "you all"—didn't that include Sasuke-kun as well?
If it had been herself, she would have only said that dead-last Naruto didn't understand justice, while Sasuke-kun was surely the one who understood it best.
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