But at this moment, the suddenly slightly chilled voice of Biwa Jūzō made Momochi Zabuza pause for a moment.
"I know you also are not satisfied with the Fourth Mizukage and the Blood Mist policy. But do not, just because he was killed by a member of the Uchiha, and just because the people who supported the Blood Mist policy are basically dead, think that you can finally breathe a sigh of relief, think that you can feel fortunate."
Biwa Jūzō fixed his gaze on Momochi Zabuza. Toward this junior of Kirigakure, he slowly spoke: "Demon. I have heard some things about your ways of doing things. In terms of the stance toward the Blood Mist policy, although you are the same as me and as Uchiha Keizumi."
"But in other aspects, your stance is completely different from ours. In the eyes of Uchiha Keizumi, you are one of the evildoers. Do not tell me that, as a member of the Kirigakure Anbu, you have not committed evil."
"The killing on the battlefield can barely not be counted as an evil deed, but during the process when you helped the Fourth Mizukage carry out ninja missions… can you really, with a clear conscience, say that you did not violate any bottom line?"
The awakening and questioning coming from Biwa Jūzō.
It made Momochi Zabuza fall into silence.
He could clearly feel that Biwa Jūzō before his eyes was emitting a killing intent directed at himself.
And the other party had already grasped the Kubikiribōchō in his hand.
Obviously, Biwa Jūzō was already standing together with the Konohagakure ninja, and he also understood very well the style of that Konohagakure ninja. His own existence was something that Konohagakure ninja could not tolerate.
"Ha…" But in the next second, Momochi Zabuza—already exhausted in every aspect of his body and already without the strength to walk out of Kirigakure—suddenly laughed.
He even laughed with some sense of release.
"Biwa Jūzō. Even if you were once a senpai I rather respected, you still cannot look down on my capacity." Momochi Zabuza raised his head with a ferocious grin and stared straight at Biwa Jūzō.
"For someone like me, the only meaning of life is to kill the Fourth Mizukage! To dismantle the Blood Mist policy!"
"My schemes within my heart, my movements in secret, were all in preparation for assassinating the Mizukage. Since that guy has already been killed, since the Blood Mist policy has basically already been dismantled, then for me, the meaning for my life to cling on in ignoble existence no longer exists."
"Do you think I would fear death? Are you deliberately reminding me because you want me to struggle with everything I have to escape, to spare me a way out like this? Hehe, if that Uchiha Keizumi were to know you were doing this, he definitely wouldn't trust you anymore, would he?!"
Saying so many words in one breath seemed to tug at the injuries in his body, and Momochi Zabuza coughed a few times.
He reached out and wiped away the blood that had already covered his chin.
His other hand, at some unknown time, had already reached toward his ninja tool pouch and taken out a kunai from inside.
Momochi Zabuza gripped the kunai tightly, panting heavily as he stared straight at Biwa Jūzō. "My life will not end in the hands of a Konohagakure ninja. Biwa Jūzō, if you are willing to be a dog for a Konohagakure ninja, that is also your choice; I have no right to interfere."
"Let me see for myself the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist's…"
[Squelch—]
Before Momochi Zabuza finished speaking, he felt the figure of Biwa Jūzō before his eyes suddenly become extremely blurry, as if in the blink of an eye the whole person had disappeared.
In a daze, Momochi Zabuza muttered, "So fast… but if I weren't injured, I definitely would have been able to react…"
With a clang, it fell.
The kunai in his hand had already fallen to the ground, and Momochi Zabuza's whole body toppled forward, blood spilling across the damp ground beneath his feet.
At some unknown time, Biwa Jūzō was already standing behind Momochi Zabuza.
He gazed at the blood on the Kubikiribōchō, which was gradually being absorbed by the Kubikiribōchō, and then let out a soft sigh.
…
On the other side.
Terumi Mei, Ao, and Genji, the three of them, had already met Uchiha Keizumi again.
To tell the truth, when this Konohagakure Uchiha ninja, with his clothes neat and without a drop of blood on him, stood before the few of them. Even Genji, who had the oldest seniority in Kirigakure and was also the most respected, actually felt a trace of nervous emotion quietly climb up in his heart.
'This old man, from such a young person… has actually felt unprecedented pressure. It is truly unbelievable.'
In his heart, Genji sighed once.
He felt that the era belonging to his own generation already seemed to have passed.
Now…
The ninja world was already the stage for these young people.
"Sir…" Genji spoke to Uchiha Keizumi. "You have already killed the muddle-headed and incompetent Fourth Mizukage of our village, and you have also killed many of the stubborn people who supported the Blood Mist policy and caused Kirigakure and the Land of Water to become more and more ruined and backward…"
Genji, relying on just a short sentence, had already defined today's matter in Kirigakure and who was right and who was wrong on both sides.
He paused for a moment and continued: "Then… should the killing stop now?"
Uchiha Keizumi looked at this aged old man.
He slowly said, "Do you think the sins of Kirigakure or the Land of Water have already been completely eradicated?"
Genji froze.
"…They should have already been completely eradicated!" After thinking for a moment, Genji solemnly nodded. At least in his eyes, it was like this, since it seemed that only the Blood Mist policy had continually obstructed the development of the Land of Water and Kirigakure, and it was also the Blood Mist policy that had continually harmed the citizens.
Uchiha Keizumi looked again at Terumi Mei. "And you? Do you think it has already ended?"
When this question was directed at Terumi Mei, Genji was already drenched in sweat, because he felt he had likely answered incorrectly.
Terumi Mei also realized that Genji had given an incorrect answer.
She could only force the words "it has ended" back down her throat.
With a tense and nervous expression on her pretty face, she answered, "Not yet!"
"Where do you say it hasn't ended?" Uchiha Keizumi asked again.
The problem was, how would she know where it hadn't ended? So many people had already died—could it really be that the sins of Kirigakure had not been brought to an end?
Then just where did more sin remain?
Could it be that this man intended to kill everyone in Kirigakure before he would be satisfied? Just what did she need to do to keep Kirigakure from being completely annihilated by Uchiha Keizumi?
Just as cold sweat poured down Terumi Mei's back… suddenly, a flash of insight darted across her mind.
But she hesitated.
"You seem to already have the answer—why not speak it out?" Uchiha Keizumi took a few steps forward, and he was now only a breath away from Terumi Mei.
This extremely close distance caused cold sweat to seep from Terumi Mei's palms.
"There is still…"
Terumi Mei bit her teeth. Whether out of the desire to survive or for some other reason, she finally gave up on hesitating.
She said, "There are still… those who used the Blood Mist policy to profit! And during the process in which the Blood Mist policy brought chaos to the Land of Water… those who took advantage of the turmoil to commit evil. These people—the vast majority of them—are fellows who hold a certain amount of power… or fellows who have a certain status within the Land of Water…"
"To be precise… it is that group of merchants, nobles, and the daimyō!"
…
Note:
The original author has put this novel on pause and, as of now, has not resumed it. If the author continues the story in the future, I will keep publishing the new updates. For the moment, this is the latest officially released chapter.