At the borders of Konohagakure, after years of wits and struggle against shinobi from neighboring nations, Morino Ibiki was finally sent back to the village due to injury.
Although the Third Great Ninja War had long ended, minor conflicts between different hidden villages still occurred frequently.
Every year, quite a number of Konoha shinobi would die because of such skirmishes.
But since those shinobi were not active within Konohagakure itself, even if they died outside, almost no one paid them much attention.
Morino Ibiki felt that surviving this time was already a stroke of luck. Of the several Konoha squads he had led, only six people survived, and he was one of those six.
"Phew…"
With his arm in a cast, Morino Ibiki walked out from the Hokage Building, feeling heavy-hearted.
Because this time, he had also brought back the ashes of many of his subordinates.
What puzzled him, however, was…
The Hokage seemed a little off.
After learning that so many Konoha shinobi had sacrificed themselves for the safety of the Land of Fire's borders, the Hokage showed little reaction, merely telling him to go home and rest first.
Morino Ibiki could tell—it wasn't that the Hokage didn't care about those fallen shinobi, but rather that he was simply too exhausted.
In just two or three short years since they last met, the Hokage seemed to have aged by more than ten years.
Such a change in the Hokage…
Could it be related to Keizumi?
While stationed outside the village, he had occasionally heard about some incidents that had taken place in Konoha. Though he hadn't learned much, it was enough to know that the Hokage had recently been deeply troubled by Uchiha Keizumi's Absolute Justice.
Regarding this matter—
Morino Ibiki found it hard to empathize with the Hokage. Because he was quite familiar with Uchiha Keizumi—one could even say they were friends.
"It seems Keizumi must have caused quite a stir in the village again lately—that's probably why the Hokage is so worn out."
Morino Ibiki decided to look into what had been happening in the village.
But once he did—
He was utterly shocked.
—Assassinating the daimyō of the Land of Fire, massacring the nobles, imprisoning the Hyūga Main Family, imprisoning the Konoha Advisors, killing one of the Sannin, Orochimaru, driving back Uchiha Fugaku, killing Uchiha Fugaku… one major event after another—any single one of them would have been enough to shake all of Konoha, yet all of this had happened within less than half a year!
"This guy…"
Morino Ibiki took a deep breath. On his scar-covered, fearsome face, disbelief filled his eyes.
"No wonder when we last met, he didn't tell me what he was planning to do. Back then… he was actually going to assassinate the daimyō of the Land of Fire! Indeed, if I had known beforehand, I definitely would have tried to stop him."
"And afterward, the Hokage didn't pursue the matter, and even the Land of Fire showed no response. Hah… Keizumi must have suppressed all dissatisfaction through sheer, overwhelming power. This is almost identical to how the First Hokage once subdued the entire shinobi world."
The only difference between the two—perhaps—was that Keizumi's methods were even more forceful, even more extreme than those of the First Hokage.
It was as if he were…
A fusion of the First and Second Hokage!
After some thought, Morino Ibiki decided to go see Uchiha Keizumi.
He stepped into the Uchiha clan's compound.
"You returned to the village earlier than I expected." Uchiha Keizumi looked up at Morino Ibiki, gesturing slightly with his eyes. "Not going to sit?"
"The difference in our positions is too great." Morino Ibiki shook his head and said, "If I were to sit and talk with you, and your subordinates from the Police Force happened to see it, it might undermine your authority to some extent."
With a sigh, Morino Ibiki said, "Who could have thought that in less than half a year, you would transform completely and take over the entire Konoha Police Force."
"Moreover, when I walked into the Uchiha compound, I found that there were quite a few non-Uchiha people inside. It seems your influence isn't limited to the Police Force—you're influencing the entire Uchiha clan itself. The old Uchiha were never this open."
Uchiha Keizumi said calmly, "Most of the outsiders who come here are just here to file reports."
Morino Ibiki smiled, but combined with the scars on his face, that smile looked rather unsettling.
"Keizumi, you're being too modest. For a clan as conservative and xenophobic as the Uchiha, that's already a huge change."
Uchiha Keizumi shifted the topic. "Did the Third give you a new assignment?"
Morino Ibiki shook his head. "Not for now. The Hokage seems to have been given quite a headache by you—he's bogged down by all kinds of trivial matters and has no time to concern himself with a small fry like me."
Uchiha Keizumi said, "Then come and help me."
Morino Ibiki was stunned.
Uchiha Keizumi directly extended an olive branch. Expressionless, he said, "After several purges, the Police Force has lost quite a few people. As it stands, even protecting the justice of this small Konoha has become somewhat too burdensome—let alone expanding justice beyond Konoha, radiating across the entire Land of Fire, and even the shinobi world."
"The Police Force needs talents like you—those I can recognize."
Uchiha Keizumi was straightforward. He didn't mince words and didn't hold back his praise for outstanding shinobi like Morino Ibiki.
"Ha…"
Morino Ibiki was quite surprised. "With your kind of personality, to actually invite someone to carry out justice together? Keizumi, you've changed a lot. For you—and for the Absolute Justice you believe in—this kind of change feels like a positive one."
"When did this change begin?"
Uchiha Keizumi paused for two seconds before saying, "Probably since I acknowledged a certain clumsy little girl who occasionally had her moments of brilliance. At the very least, she made me realize—there are many people in the shinobi world who yearn for [Absolute Justice]."
Morino Ibiki seemed lost in thought.
"How about it? Have you decided?" Uchiha Keizumi asked.
"…I've decided."
Morino Ibiki said, "As long as your Uchiha shinobi don't discriminate against or isolate me as an outsider, that's enough. I don't like engaging in those office power struggles—they only annoy me."
He agreed.
He switched sides.
...
"Achoo!!"
After escorting a Konoha troublemaker who had been spreading rumors into the interrogation room, Uchiha Izumi suddenly felt a tickle in her nose.
Unable to control it, she sneezed, then rubbed her sore nose.
"Caught a cold?"
Izumi muttered to herself, "Anko said my strength is now at a level comparable to a tokubetsu jōnin, and I'm even the type who specializes in taijutsu. There's no way I'd catch a cold that easily, right?"
…
[Bang!!!]
"Old man, why won't you approve my proposal to assign a medical unit to the Konoha Police Force? I spent the whole night thinking this through. The police force shinobi are always in danger, even in times of relative peace—getting injured is basically an everyday thing."
"If the police force had medical-nin under its own command, then when they get injured, they wouldn't have to go all the way to the Konoha Hospital. The medical-nin within the police force could treat their own members internally."
"In that way, the wounded could also receive treatment much faster. Isn't that a great proposal?"
Tsunade slammed her palm down on the Hokage's desk, leaving a clear handprint on its surface.
She fired off a series of sharp questions at the Sarutobi Hiruzen before her.
Hiruzen's eyelids twitched slightly.
That desk had cost quite a bit of money—he'd spent a hefty sum to hire a craftsman to make it out of precious wood.
But when he remembered that the person before him was Tsunade…
Hiruzen could only force himself to swallow the pain.
He took a deep breath, raised his head toward the aggressively questioning Tsunade, and asked with a sigh that came from his very soul, "Tsunade, if this old man remembers correctly, you once told me you would no longer interfere in Konoha's affairs. But lately, you've been intervening again and again. Why is that?"
Expressionless, Tsunade replied, "If people could hold to one belief forever, then there wouldn't be things like 'resolute in youth, indecisive in old age.'"
With those words dripping with implication, she continued coldly, "You can consider this me stepping back into shinobi affairs. So, the request in my proposal—would you really say it's unreasonable?"
Hiruzen rubbed at his brow. "It's not as simple as you think. The Police Force is already in the hands of the Uchiha clan. That's an incredibly powerful force—and it's already the greatest indulgence the village can afford to grant them."
"If that same Police Force were to have its own medical unit, Tsunade—who in this village would be able to keep them in check afterward? This old man knows you're acting for the sake of justice, but…"
"Managing a village and upholding justice are not the same thing. One must learn balance, must learn to—"
Tsunade cut him off without hesitation. "Old man, if you truly knew how to balance the powers within this village, do you think the village would have ended up like this? Since you lack the ability to balance it, you might as well let those capable within the village act freely—and leave the right to choose to the younger generation."
Hiruzen froze.
"Tsunade… you've become someone this old man can hardly recognize."
Sarutobi Hiruzen spoke.
Tsunade fell silent for a moment before saying, "As I said before, people can't remain unchanged forever. I just want to make this shinobi world a little different from what it is now—nothing more."
Sarutobi Hiruzen could more or less understand Tsunade's thoughts.
After Nawaki and Dan had both died on the battlefields of the Great Ninja Wars, Tsunade had developed a deep sense of disgust toward the endless conflicts of the shinobi world.
She was dissatisfied with the current state of that world.
But back then, she hadn't harbored any desire to change it. Instead, she chose to escape from herself—staying in the short-side streets of the Land of Fire, drowning herself in gambling, borrowing money, repaying debts, and then running from them again.
Perhaps that kind of avoidance came from being unable to see any future for the shinobi world.
And now—
It seemed that within Uchiha Keizumi's Absolute Justice, Tsunade had glimpsed a faint trace of the shinobi world's future. And that future appeared to be exactly what she had long yearned for deep within her heart.
Thus, she chose to stop running away.
There were probably many twists and struggles within Tsunade's heart that even he, the Hokage, would never know—but the result, Hiruzen thought, was surely just as it appeared.
Even so, though he believed he understood her, Sarutobi Hiruzen still shook his head firmly. "No. Konoha allowing the Uchiha clan to control the Police Force is already the greatest tolerance the village can give. If the Uchiha are granted even greater power, the village will descend into chaos."
Tsunade stared into Hiruzen's clouded eyes.
"Old man, even if the police force shinobi end up losing their lives because their injuries can't be treated in time, are you still going to cling to a balance that you can't even maintain anymore?"
Sarutobi Hiruzen repeated, "Running a shinobi village isn't as simple as you think. You're still too young."