The name "Uchiha Madara" sounded vaguely familiar to Anko, but for Jiraiya and Izumi it came as a genuine shock—for the two of them knew that name all too well.
"Akatsuki… Uchiha Madara?" Jiraiya drew in a deep breath. This intelligence struck him far harder than anything concerning Orochimaru: "That man… he's still alive?"
To Jiraiya, "Uchiha Madara" belonged to the old relics of the shinobi world, not merely one generation past, but two.
The most critical point was—hadn't that man died at the Valley of the End, struck down by the First Hokage himself?
If he had not, if he had somehow survived… then just how old would he be now?
The shock in Jiraiya's eyes could not be suppressed.
He couldn't shake the sense of some bizarre conspiracy hanging over all of this—like a fog that refused to lift, obscuring truth from falsehood. And with almost no intelligence in hand regarding this matter, Jiraiya suddenly felt a foreboding unease rise within him.
"Uchiha Madara…"
"That ancestor…"
Izumi froze for a moment, then snapped back to herself: "No… the 'Uchiha Madara' that Biwa Jūzō speaks of can't possibly be the Madara of history. It's more likely that Uchiha Obito is the one masquerading under that name!"
In this tense atmosphere, with Jūzō's expectant eyes fixed on him, Uchiha Keizumi spoke with chilling indifference: "Biwa Jūzō, you're fit only to be a killing machine on the battlefield, not a spy prying for secrets."
Jūzō blinked in confusion.
"The moment you asked me that question, you had already revealed your purpose here without a word—someone in Akatsuki sent you to approach me, to probe about Uchiha Madara."
"That is your purpose. That is Akatsuki's aim." Uchiha Keizumi paused, then continued, "Let me guess—who exactly is so curious about 'Uchiha Madara'?"
"Nagato… no, he's not that sort of man. Whether Madara is truly Madara means nothing to him."
Jūzō faltered.
Nagato…
Who was that?
Meanwhile, Jiraiya, listening intently, suddenly widened his eyes in utter disbelief, staring at Uchiha Keizumi.
"Yahiko… oh, he should already be dead. Or rather, he died long ago—reduced to nothing more than a puppet."
"Konan… yes, it must be her. So, it's her, isn't it? Though you likely don't know her real name. Now that I think about it, what was her Akatsuki codename again?"
"White? White Tiger?"
"Isn't that right?"
The look in Jūzō's eyes was no longer merely one of shock. The way he now stared at Uchiha Keizumi was as though he were staring at a monster.
Every offhand remark Keizumi made—phrased casually, as if part of idle chatter—carried with it the weight of Akatsuki's most closely guarded secrets.
The impression he gave off was that Uchiha Keizumi himself was the true mastermind pulling Akatsuki's strings from the shadows.
Even information that a newcomer like Jūzō had never heard of, this man seemed to know with unsettling clarity.
"Nagato…"
"Yahiko…"
"Konan…"
"Only Yahiko is dead? Nagato and Konan are still alive?"
At the side, Jiraiya murmured these three names that struck him so deeply. His reaction was even more intense than Jūzō's. His three former disciples—had they really joined Akatsuki? From the sound of it, they might even be among its high-ranking members.
Otherwise, how could they command one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist?
Jiraiya's thoughts even leapt toward a bold conjecture.
Could it be possible—that Akatsuki was their creation from the very start? Otherwise, why would Uchiha Keizumi single out those three by name? The only explanation was that they themselves formed the absolute leadership of Akatsuki!
Jiraiya's mind was in turmoil. In just a few minutes he had learned more intelligence than he had in all his years of painstaking investigation.
…
At the Ninja Academy.
The members of the Sarutobi clan, along with Izushima Kaede's family, had hurried over and already collected the bodies.
Hyūga Neji silently watched the Sarutobi shinobi carry the corpses away.
He had witnessed everything that had unfolded from a short distance away.
And from it, Neji gained a deeper understanding of [Absolute Justice].
His instincts told him—when Uchiha Keizumi had been about to leave the Academy earlier, he should have hurried to follow and openly declared his interest in [Absolute Justice], that he too wanted to devote himself to it.
But…
Neji clenched his fists tight. From the depths of his heart, fear and inferiority held him back from taking that step.
The fear came from Uchiha Keizumi's overwhelming strength and his chillingly extreme methods.
The inferiority came from the cursed mark of the Caged Bird etched into his forehead.
Neji was afraid that because of this curse, he would be rejected, denied the chance to stand with those who upheld [Absolute Justice].
No one would have expected that the foremost prodigy of the Ninja Academy could be caught in such tangled conflict.
"…The Main House!!!"
Neji knew well that this twisted, self-contradictory mindset of his was wrong.
But he had no idea what else to do.
All he could do was direct that burning resentment toward the Hyūga main family.
At that moment, a sudden voice came from behind him: "You're Hyūga Neji, the one dead-last mentioned today—the strange one who yearns for justice?"
Neji frowned slightly and turned to see Uchiha Sasuke, hands stuffed into his pockets.
He recognized Sasuke.
He had seen him before outside the Hyūga compound, knew he was the younger son of the Uchiha clan head, and also knew that Sasuke had once killed a young member of the Hyūga clan.
Though he had just been harshly called out by Yamanaka Ino, Sasuke still wore that uniquely Uchiha mask of cold detachment.
Fixing his eyes on Neji, Sasuke said: "If you're truly interested in Keizumi-sensei's Absolute Justice, if you even admire it, then you shouldn't hesitate. People who keep twisting themselves up inside will never be able to carry out justice properly."
Neji was startled. Had this guy really seen through his inner thoughts?
Or had his feelings been written all over his face the whole time, for anyone to read with ease?
Sasuke gave Neji a once-over before speaking: "I know you're hailed as the top prodigy of the Ninja Academy these past two years. I've heard that even as a second-year, you could fight evenly against sixth-years on the verge of graduation. Back then, I even considered you one of the rivals I had to surpass."
"Heh… but now it seems surpassing someone so twisted isn't worth much. In fact, I've already surpassed you."
"I am not twisted, and I am not hesitant." Neji's eyes narrowed, his tone sharp with emphasis.
After all, some stranger had suddenly appeared, only to immediately criticize him without reason…
Anyone would be annoyed, let alone Neji, a branch family genius who had never thought himself lesser than the main family.
Exhaling slowly, Neji steadied himself. His voice dropped into a heavier tone: "What exactly are you trying to say? Stop beating around the bush."
Sasuke's lips curved into a faint smirk. "What I'm saying is—you know nothing about justice. That so-called curiosity and yearning you showed back there in front of dead-last… it wasn't really for justice. It was your longing for power. To your eyes, justice means power, and what you're truly chasing is strength."
"With that kind of mindset, even if you mustered the courage to confess your desire to Keizumi-sensei, he would never accept you. To him, someone like you isn't worthy of following justice."
Neji stiffened. "Why?!"
Drawing on what he'd learned that very day, Sasuke borrowed Ino's words, reshaping them into his own: "Because true justice… is concern for the victims, protection of the innocent, judgment upon the guilty, and upholding of moral righteousness."
"Hyūga Neji, which of those do you embody? If all you seek is power, then at the root you're nothing more than a puppet of strength. One day, you'll fall into the abyss of evil."
With that, Sasuke didn't give Neji a chance to respond. He turned sharply on his heel and walked away without hesitation.
For added flair, he even slowed his steps a touch—perfectly capturing that Uchiha air of aloof pride.
"…"
Neji stood in silence for a long while.
…
"Well? How'd it go?"
The moment Sasuke turned a corner in the corridor, Naruto was already waiting for him, eyes sparkling with curiosity. He leaned forward eagerly: "So? How was he?"
Sasuke's forced cool facade finally cracked.
His stiff expression loosened, and he gave a small huff. "Dead-last, why did you make me do something so boring?"
Naruto answered honestly, without hesitation: "Because he longs for justice, but he reminds me of how we used to be—curious, but not really understanding what justice meant. That's when someone needs to step in and tell him what true justice is. Just like Ino showed us."
"Once he understands, he'll be able to join us as a comrade!"
Grinning from ear to ear, Naruto gave Sasuke's shoulder a hearty pat. "Besides, what we're doing is adding new blood to Keizumi-sensei's justice! How could that ever be boring?"
"I think that guy's got real potential. And he's pretty strong too. Maybe he'll become the fourth believer in justice at the Academy!"
Sasuke brushed Naruto's hand away with clear distaste, his face showing the same expression. "Next time, you do it yourself."
Naruto muttered in protest, "If I could memorize that many lines, I would've done it already."
Standing behind him, Ino: "…"
She was beginning to feel these two were terribly immature.
Keizumi-sama had never once said they should be recruiting "new blood" for justice within the Ninja Academy. For them to take it upon themselves like this—wasn't that a problem?
Just then—
Ino seemed to sense something. Following the feeling with her eyes, she caught sight of a pink head of hair that suddenly ducked back out of view.
Ino blinked.
"Sakura?"
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