Absolute Justice: Uchiha’s Crusade

Just as Izumi finished speaking—a flurry of figures suddenly flickered into view in front of the crowd.

It was Sarutobi Hiruzen, accompanied by a group of ANBU shinobi.

In truth, Hiruzen had already snapped out of his shock five minutes earlier.

But the moment he realized who stood ahead—Uchiha Keizumi—he forcibly suppressed the urge to rush in and confront him directly.

After all, he had only brought two ANBU guards with him.

With so few at his side, Hiruzen didn't have the confidence to face Keizumi head-on.

The last man to make that mistake… had been Shimura Danzō.

Even if Hiruzen believed himself free of any so-called evil...

...he still ordered a signal flare to be launched, summoning nearby ANBU reinforcements.

Only once over a dozen ANBU had assembled did Hiruzen finally lead them to the scene.

The first thing that met their eyes—

—was a headless body lying at their feet.

And in the distance—two more headless corpses.

A violent twitch rippled across Hiruzen's brow.

The dark red blood splattered across the ground kept assaulting Hiruzen's nerves, and the severed head frozen in a contorted expression made his hair stand on end. Countless thoughts surged through his mind, but they all condensed into just three words—

It's over.

There were no explicit laws about it, but it was an unspoken rule among the elite of the shinobi world: the shōzoku—those finely woven robes—were a symbol reserved for only the highest-ranking nobles.

And now, lying at his feet, Hiruzen could clearly see the lifeless, headless corpse wearing that very outfit—undeniably a shōzoku, unmistakably expensive.

All hope for a last-minute reprieve vanished from his heart.

His deeply wrinkled face twitched uncontrollably. Even his lips trembled slightly.

He wanted to speak, to say something, anything—but the words got caught in his throat.

His entire face had turned pitch black with dread.

"Hokage-sama… we arrived too late."

An ANBU ninja spoke in a low voice. "Even if the medical-nin manage to reattach the head, all they'll accomplish is giving the corpse a more dignified appearance."

Hiruzen: "…"

"You're the Hokage? The leader of Konoha?!"

One of the retainers—who'd been too shocked by Izumi's earlier speech to utter a word—suddenly found his courage and raised his voice.

"What the hell is going on in your village? Is this an attempted coup?! Daimyō-sama has granted Konoha massive funding year after year—and this is how you repay him?! Your ninja just murdered the daimyō's son!"

He hurriedly pointed at Uchiha Keizumi, directing his outrage toward Hiruzen: "It was this lunatic from the Uchiha clan! He's the one who killed Kyōsuke-sama! Your people from Konoha killed the daimyō's second son—can you even begin to take responsibility for that?!"

"And that's not all! Two more of the daimyō's retainers and one of the Twelve Guardian Ninja also died at this lunatic's hands! He's lost his mind! What gives him the right to pass judgment on the son of the daimyō?!"

But as Uchiha Keizumi turned to glance at him—with eyes utterly devoid of emotion—

The retainer immediately shut up, as if someone had grabbed him by the throat.

His mouth opened and closed in terror, silently.

In the end, not a single sound came out.

Sarutobi Hiruzen: "…"

Anyone could feel that the atmosphere had turned eerily tense.

Some sharp-eyed ANBU even noticed that Hokage-sama's fists were clenched tight, the veins on the backs of his hands trembling violently.

No one could tell whether he was furious that a mere retainer had dared to shout at the Third Hokage—

Or whether he was enraged that Uchiha Keizumi had openly executed the son of the Land of Fire's daimyō in the middle of the street.

"…Keizumi."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze turned darker than ever before—so dark it verged on predatory. He forced himself to look away from the corpse on the ground.

He paid no attention to the daimyō's retainer who was still leaping about and shouting like a madman.

Instead, he directed his intensely disapproving eyes at Uchiha Keizumi.

"Haaah—"

Hiruzen exhaled heavily, trying with great effort to suppress the fury surging within him. His face stiffened as he finally spoke, his voice low and tense: "So then… the explanation you're about to give me—does it once again revolve around that extreme concept of yours, Absolute Justice? Is your Absolute Justice really something that comes at the cost of Konoha's interests and reputation?"

He didn't even want to imagine how the nobles of the Land of Fire would react once this incident spread.

The shinobi of Konoha, wielders of great power, suddenly turned on the nobility—and dared to kill the daimyō's son!

If that was how it was seen—

Then surely the entire upper class of the Land of Fire would be thrown into panic.

Would they still be willing to support Konoha after this?

Or, more to the point—would they still be willing to support him, Sarutobi Hiruzen?

"Keizumi!"

Emotion crashing like waves within him, Hiruzen raised his voice sharply. He clenched his jaw and spat out each word: "Gyokuzenin Kyōsuke… his father is the daimyō of the Land of Fire! The man who stands at the very top of this country! The one who controls every key sector, every vital artery of the nation!"

"Even when Konoha holds a new election for the Hokage, it depends on whom the daimyō chooses to support. Without his backing, this village would never have come into being. Without him, the shinobi across the Land of Fire would still be fractured and fighting among themselves!"

"And yet you—you went and…"

Hiruzen's breathing became so rapid he felt light-headed.

His mind began to blur.

"Then tell me, Third Hokage—do you believe I should have spared him?"

Uchiha Keizumi met Hiruzen's gaze directly. And the moment Hiruzen saw those pitch-black, bottomless eyes, something surfaced in his memory—something chilling.

Startled, he quickly averted his gaze.

Hiruzen gritted his teeth.

"Keizumi, in the name of your Absolute Justice, you unilaterally sacrificed Konoha's future. Do you honestly believe that was the right thing to do? If we lose the daimyō's funding, we'll be unable to sustain our infrastructure. The villagers' healthcare, their jobs—everything will collapse."

"These kinds of complex problems… they can't be solved by Absolute Justice alone. If your extreme version of justice ends up dragging the entire village into decline, if everyone's lives grow worse day by day—then tell me: are you still justice… or are you evil?"

Those relentless questions—

That was the true voice of Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart.

"Hey, hey! You're the Hokage of Konoha—why are you arguing with a lunatic like this? Shouldn't you be arresting him already?!"

A voice suddenly cut in from the group of daimyō retainers still trembling in the background.

"Exactly! This madman killed Kyōsuke-sama! Isn't murdering the daimyō's son enough to be labeled a rogue ninja?!"

"A lunatic like this should be executed on the spot! A public execution in Kyōsuke-sama's name! His entire family should be buried with him! What kind of Hokage are you, letting this go unpunished?!"

"You're not planning to cover for this murderer just because he's one of your shinobi… are you?"

"…"

Perhaps it was the presence of Sarutobi Hiruzen that gave them a sense of security—a sense of direction.

But they weren't shinobi. They had no loyalty to the Hokage of Konoha.

Their loyalty was to the daimyō of the Land of Fire.

To many shinobi in Konoha, the daimyō and the Hokage were equals—one governed the country's economy, civil affairs, and politics, while the other oversaw its military.

But to these retainers, the Hokage's status would always be a tier below the daimyō.

Which was why, even as they clung to Hiruzen as their pillar of support, they showed little respect in their words.

Line after line of accusation caused Hiruzen's brow to furrow even deeper.

His cold, piercing gaze swept over the crowd of retainers. Though Sarutobi Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, could not overpower Uchiha Keizumi in sheer presence—his aura alone was enough to make the daimyō's men break out in a cold sweat.

"This is an internal matter of Konohagakure," Hiruzen said coldly. "I will deal with it as I see fit. And what are you, exactly, to stand here and pass judgment on me?"

He stepped aside slightly, face like stone. "If you want to avenge the daimyō's son, I won't stop you. The 'murderer' is right here—go ahead."

The daimyō's retainers: "…"

Seeing that they had finally gone silent, Hiruzen took a deep breath.

That brief interruption somehow bled off a portion of the fury that had been smoldering in his chest.

So when he spoke again, his tone had softened—if only slightly.

"Keizumi, not every mistake requires such an extreme, absolute form of punishment."

He clenched his jaw, then added, "The evils of the shinobi world won't be erased just because you go on a killing spree. What good does it do, killing more and more? Even if you killed a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand…"

"…In a world as vast as ours, how many more evildoers do you think there are?"

"If you truly want to make Konoha better, if you want the people of this village to live better lives… then slaughtering the wicked won't get you there. Too much bloodshed only fuels greater conflict. And some of those conflicts—once they erupt—will only spawn more evil!"

"You killed the daimyō's son today. Do you have any idea how much chaos that will cause? The daimyō of the Land of Fire… even his offspring—especially his offspring—are off-limits. They can't be touched!"

Without even realizing it, Sarutobi Hiruzen found himself trying to reason with Uchiha Keizumi.

In truth, he was already wavering—subconsciously intimidated by the power of Keizumi's Mangekyō Sharingan.

—If he chose to stand firm for the sake of the daimyō's son, it would mean tearing his relationship with Uchiha Keizumi apart.

—It would almost certainly ignite an unprecedented war within Konoha—and the Uchiha clan would be dragged into it without a doubt.

As always.

The choice before Hiruzen was really just two options.

And as the Hokage… there was never any real doubt which one he'd choose.

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