Absolute Justice: Uchiha’s Crusade

"Help! Murder! There's an assassin trying to kill the daimyō's envoy to Konoha!"

"The Uchiha ninja's gone insane! He's trying to assassinate the daimyō's son!"

"Where are the Konoha shinobi?! Someone—help us, now!"

"Where's the Hokage?! Where the hell is the Hokage?!"

"…"

Their shouts were panicked and chaotic, raw with fear.

They clustered tightly around Kyōsuke, desperate to shield the daimyō's son from harm with sheer numbers alone.

"Madman… He's completely insane…"

Kyōsuke was drenched in cold sweat, his youthful face pale as a sheet.

As his attendants pushed and pulled him to safety, his lips trembled with disbelief. "H–He actually dared… I'm the daimyō's son! Even the Hokage of Konoha has to treat me as a guest of honor. He's just an Uchiha… How could he dare…"

Kyōsuke racked his brain, but only one explanation came to mind.

—He's a lunatic!!!

Suddenly—

Kyōsuke's eyes widened in horror as a severed head arced high through the air, entering his field of vision on the left.

Then another head flew into view on the right.

He recognized both of them immediately.

They belonged to two of his own retainers!

Panicked, he stole a glance over his shoulder—and what he saw drained the blood from his face.

Two headless corpses stood upright for a moment before collapsing, spurting blood more than 2 meters high from their necks. Standing calmly between them was Uchiha Keizumi, his ninja blade soaked in fresh, vivid red.

And then—those scarlet eyes.

The triple tomoe of the Sharingan burned with an almost demonic brilliance, as if reaching deep into the darkest corners of the human psyche, awakening primal terror.

In that instant, Kyōsuke's panicked gaze met Keizumi's—and locked with those terrifying eyes.

Genjutsu...

It had already begun.

"Waaahhhhhh!!!"

A shrill scream, higher-pitched than any woman's, tore from Kyōsuke's throat. In his panic, he tripped over his own feet and crashed face-first to the ground in a brutal fall.

Startled, the surrounding retainers skidded to a halt.

They were stunned to find Kyōsuke slumped on the dirt, trembling in sheer terror, his face contorted in panic and despair—screaming into empty air.

"Don't come any closer! Stay away!"

"It wasn't me who set the fire! I—I only ordered someone else to do it! I… I didn't know it would get out of control! I didn't know it would kill you!"

"Y-You… You're supposed to be dead already, aren't you?!"

"Stay away! STAY AWAY AAAAAHHHH!!!"

His wild, deranged hysteria made him seem completely unhinged, like he was seeing something that no one else could.

A chill ran down the spines of every remaining retainer.

For the first time in their lives, they saw the daimyō's son so frightened that tears and snot were streaming down his face at the same time.

And then…

A rank, acrid stench began to fill the air.

"K-Kyōsuke-sama…" one retainer stammered in a daze.

"I… I think he… he wet himself!!!"

…

For some reason, a sense of foreboding suddenly crept over Sarutobi Hiruzen.

And the closer he came to the scheduled meeting with the daimyō's envoy, the stronger that strange feeling grew—until it settled as a dull weight in his chest.

A series of grim possibilities flashed through his mind:

—The Daimyō might be planning to drastically cut Konoha's funding next year.

—The daimyō could be hiring Konoha to handle an incredibly dangerous mission.

—The Daimyō's second son, might not be the polite young man Hiruzen had hoped for—and their meeting could become… unpleasant.

—The envoy might have encountered some kind of accident!

Hiruzen's eyes snapped wide open, alarm surging through his body as a single name burst into his mind: "Keizumi!"

He finally realized what he had overlooked.

Surely the envoy hadn't run into Keizumi?

That young man… he shouldn't have done anything wrong, right? After all, as the Daimyō's second son, Kyōsuke practically lived in luxury—what reason would he have to commit evil?

But Hiruzen's expression only grew stiffer.

Because deep down, he knew these were just excuses he was telling himself.

He knew all too well: those pampered aristocrats never truly cared about the law.

The laws of the Land of Fire...

...existed only to restrain the common people.

"Stay close to me!" Hiruzen barked at the two ANBU operatives beside him. In the very next instant, his figure vanished without a sound—reappearing dozens of meters away in a single Shunshin.

The ANBU bodyguards immediately followed.

It wasn't long before Sarutobi Hiruzen spotted a group gathered in the distance. Judging by the location previously reported by that Konoha shinobi, this had to be the envoy sent by the daimyō.

And at that exact moment, the taut string in Hiruzen's chest finally snapped—the heavy weight pressing on his heart plummeted into the pit of his stomach.

Because he saw Uchiha Keizumi.

A shadow fell over his weathered face, darkening it considerably.

"...Damn it!"

The moment he saw Keizumi holding a ninja blade, the last sliver of hope—Maybe he's just passing through—was completely extinguished.

Panic gripped him.

"Keizumi! Stop!!"

He shouted in an attempt to halt him.

[Squelch—]

Even from several hundred meters away, Hiruzen could've sworn he heard the sickening slice of a blade cleaving through flesh. Worse still, he could clearly see a young man being beheaded by Keizumi in a single, clean stroke. Judging by the luxurious, extravagant clothing that set him apart from the others, there was little doubt—it was the daimyō's son.

Hiruzen froze.

His mind blanked. Even his swift advance came to a halt. He stood rooted in place, as if struck by lightning.

"...Hokage-sama?"

One of the ANBU swallowed hard and cautiously asked.

Hiruzen didn't respond.

His expression was vacant.

That was…

A strange mix of grief and fury twisted in his chest. A hoarse rasp escaped from his throat.

"That was the Daimyō's second son!"

"What… what the hell is he doing?!"

...

"Meow. Rookie, this is exactly what I told you before."

Tachibana Jirō spoke to Izumi, his tone casual.

"In Keizumi-sama's eyes, the so-called aristocracy holds no special privilege. The 'Absolute Justice' he believes in offers no clemency to the noble."

"Whether they're commoners, shinobi, nobles, or even the daimyō's son—in Keizumi-sama's eyes, they're all just people. And people who commit crimes… must pay for them."

"As for this one, Kyōsuke… the sins he committed weren't something a few decades of imprisonment could ever redeem. His death—that is Justice's verdict on his crimes."

Izumi had mentally prepared herself for this.

But even so, her eyes still widened in shock.

After all… the man who had been executed held a title far too significant.

In all her life, Izumi had never seen a member of the Fire Country's elite outside of Konoha. The most prestigious person she had ever met was the Hokage himself.

But then again… Keizumi-senpai had already killed the Hokage's eldest son. So, what was a daimyō's son in comparison?

"Um…"

Izumi glanced over her shoulder in confusion.

"Tachibana-senpai… did you hear someone yell 'Stop' just now?"

Without even turning his head, Jirō replied, "I heard it. That was the Third—he just witnessed Keizumi-sama kill the daimyō's son with his own eyes."

Izumi blinked, suddenly realizing: "Oh—so that was the Hokage…"

"…Eh?!"

Her eyes shot wide open in disbelief.

"The Hokage-sama?! He saw all of it?!"

…

[Drip…]

[Drip…]

Crimson droplets of blood slid down the blade, collecting at the tip before falling to the ground—each one blooming into a red blossom upon impact.

Kyōsuke's severed head had already landed, rolling several times across the dirt. His frozen expression still bore the panic of his final moment, and in his lifeless eyes lingered a faint trace of disbelief.

His headless body swayed slightly in place—then lost all strength and collapsed.

Blood gushed from his neck in a high arc, splattering across the ground in a gruesome wash of red.

[Ding! You have successfully slain a 'red-named' criminal! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: ×10 'Gambling Technique' Skill Books!]

"Kyōsuke-sama!!"

A voice cracked with disbelief and horror. One retainer rushed forward, frantically cradling Kyōsuke's head, desperately trying to reattach it to the now lifeless body.

Another retainer, his eyes bloodshot, pointed a trembling finger at Uchiha Keizumi and shouted: "Y-You… Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"Kyōsuke-sama was the Daimyō's second son! One of the highest-ranking individuals in all the Land of Fire! A son deeply cherished by the daimyō! One of the most promising heirs to become the next Daimyō!!"

"Why would you do this to Kyōsuke-sama?! Are you people from Konohagakure trying to rebel?!"

Uchiha Keizumi flicked his wrist lightly.

The blood on his ninja blade scattered into the air.

Expressionless, he spoke: "I am the one delivering justice to a criminal. Not Konoha. What made you think I did this on behalf of the village?"

His gaze remained calm—as if what he had killed wasn't the daimyō's son, but merely a pest unworthy of notice in the shinobi world.

His indifferent voice continued: "Arson. Direct murder. Indirect murder. Corpse disposal… crime after crime piled on his name. If he doesn't die, then justice cannot be served."

"Madman… You're a madman!"

One retainer screamed, his face contorted with rage and despair.

"The so-called crimes you claim—even if they're true—you have no right to sentence Kyōsuke-sama to death! He's the daimyō's son! He holds the highest authority in the Land of Fire! So what if he killed someone? So what if he committed arson?!"

"The laws of the Land of Fire clearly state that nobility have exemption and pardon rights! The 'mistakes' Kyōsuke-sama made as a child at worst warrant a period of house confinement!"

"You—how dare you kill him?! What gives you the right?! You Konoha shinobi have lost your damn minds!!!"

"I don't know if the other Konoha shinobi are crazy or not," Izumi said, biting down on her teeth as she stepped forward, "but Keizumi-senpai is someone with absolute clarity of mind."

She faced the distraught retainer head-on.

"And besides," she added sharply, "the so-called laws of the Land of Fire are so weak they're downright disgusting."

A trace of indignation flickered across Izumi's pale face—though she couldn't quite explain why she was getting so worked up.

Especially when she heard the words 'Nobles of the Land of Fire are exempt from punishment under the law'.

That line alone made her blood boil.

Her voice gradually rose: "You're asking what right Keizumi-senpai has to kill that criminal. Then let me ask you: what right do the laws of the Land of Fire have to pardon a noble who commits such atrocities?"

"So that's how it is… now I understand. It's because of this kind of injustice that so many criminals in the shinobi world get away with their crimes. It's even become a terrifyingly normalized consensus."

"Well, let me speak on my senpai's behalf: Absolute Justice has never been bound by the laws of the Land of Fire! Absolute Justice bows to no noble, no matter how exalted their status!"

"There is no hierarchy before Absolute Justice! If someone commits evil, they must pay the price! When justice is absent, someone must rise and stand in its place—for the sake of the victims!"

"You people who protect and enable the evil of the shinobi world—you're the last ones who have any right to question Absolute Justice! You're just insects crawling in filth!"

The Uchiha girl had spoken so forcefully that her voice had gone hoarse.

Only then did she snap back to her senses.

Had she… spoken out of turn again? Had she said things her senpai might not have wanted voiced?

She glanced up cautiously at the side of Keizumi's face—

—but there was no reaction at all. No sign of disapproval.

Izumi suddenly understood:

He simply couldn't be bothered to waste words on insects who wouldn't listen anyway.

But she felt she had to speak.

Because…

Those words weren't meant for the retainers who clung to corrupt power.

They were for the Konoha citizens gathered nearby.

If more people could hear them, maybe more would understand what her senpai's Absolute Justice truly meant.

With that conviction, she quickly talked herself into believing she had done the right thing.

"Meow… not bad, rookie. Pretty smooth with words," Tachibana Jirō said, glancing at the stunned crowd ahead. "You're getting closer to Keizumi-sama's passing grade."

"Eh? Really?"

Izumi's anger evaporated in an instant, and a hint of bashful delight crept into her voice.

She scratched her head sheepishly.

"I just… said what I was really thinking, that's all…"

Jirō narrowed his eyes into two half-moons and sighed, "Meow, would you please control your smug little smile already."

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