In the blink of an eye, more than a hundred conservative shinobi—enough, working together, to crush most of the nations in the shinobi world—were reduced to ashes by Uchiha Chizumi.
The Kirigakure shinobi who witnessed it firsthand instantly fell silent as cicadas in winter. Whatever objections they had once had to Mei Terumi's decision, they now shut their mouths on their own.
In front of a monster this inhuman, all resistance was pointless.
The only thing worth being thankful for was that Uchiha Chizumi followed [Absolute Justice]. Otherwise, Kirigakure probably wouldn't even have had a chance to continue existing.
As the Kirigakure shinobi finally calmed down from their agitation, Mei let out a breath of relief—but at the same time, a faint unease rose in her heart.
After personally witnessing Uchiha Chizumi's overwhelming strength, the anger that had been burning in the Kirigakure shinobi's eyes and expressions quietly died out, replaced by fear and submission before power that seemed almost divine.
Clang, clang, clang…
Accompanied by the sound of kunai and ninja blades hitting the ground one after another, the Kirigakure shinobi all knelt down, fully submitting at Uchiha Chizumi's feet.
Even Mei let out a quiet sigh inwardly before bending one knee herself, offering the highest respect to the man before her who seemed like a god.
Perhaps back then, when their predecessors faced Senju Hashirama, they had felt just this powerless too. Maybe that was why they had given the First Hokage the title of God of Shinobi.
Human strength could never truly stand against a god. At this point, that was the only way Mei could comfort herself.
"…In the name of [Absolute Justice], I will grant this land new life…"
After dismissing the Perfect Susanoo, Uchiha Chizumi slowly walked up to the Kirigakure shinobi and looked at them calmly with those blood-red eyes.
"Those willing to follow me may stay. Those unwilling may leave now."
After purging two waves of red-names in succession, the remaining Kirigakure shinobi were, for the most part, white-names across the board. There were still a few whose frames were faintly beginning to show signs of turning red, but that level of sin was still within Uchiha Chizumi's tolerance for now.
More precisely, punishing sins of that level ranked lower in priority than advancing the cause of justice in the Land of Water. Once [Absolute Justice] truly descended upon this land wrapped in sin, it would not be too late to settle those crimes then.
While the Kirigakure shinobi knelt before Uchiha Chizumi, Uchiha Izumi, after consulting Biwa Jūzō, selected a town located roughly midway between Kirigakure and the capital of the Land of Water as the first step in carrying out [Absolute Justice].
The main reason for choosing it was simple: as the largest black market in the Land of Water, it was also likely the place with the highest concentration of criminals in the country.
Before she even set foot in Seagull City, Izumi had already prepared herself for the sight of a dense sea of red frames—countless lawless criminals steeped in sin everywhere she looked.
After all, even Jūzō had specifically "recommended" it as a gathering place for scum. For all she knew, murder and arson were just everyday life here.
But to Izumi's surprise, her first impression of Seagull City was astonishingly good.
That wasn't to say there were no criminals here. Rather, the number of people with red names was far lower than she had expected.
Most of the people were just ordinary civilians in ragged clothes, their faces lined with worry. Even among the exceptions, most were white-names. Only occasionally would someone with a red name show up.
Rather than a real town, Seagull City felt more like an oversized slum. With its low mud houses, crumbling storefronts, and long-neglected roads, it was hard to believe this was supposed to be one of the largest towns in the Land of Water.
"Ahem. A few years ago, when I passed through here, Seagull City hadn't fallen this… low yet."
Faced with Izumi's questioning look, even Jūzō—thick-skinned as he was—felt a little awkward. But the next moment, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"Those vermin all deserve to die."
"Let's split up and investigate the place first," Izumi said with a nod, setting Kitsujiro down from her shoulder. "Senior Chizumi taught me that without investigation, you have no right to speak."
She looked at Jūzō seriously.
"And please don't rush into killing people, Juzo-senpai. We can't let a single bad person go—but we absolutely can't kill the innocent by mistake either."
"Tch. Fine, I got it."
Jūzō sounded impatient, but he knew Izumi was the leader of this operation, and only her eyes could identify every sinner. So he could only agree, albeit reluctantly.
"Wait, meow! I'm splitting up too? You're going off to investigate evil without bringing me, meow?"
Only Kitsujiro, now set on the ground, was visibly unhappy. He had been following Lord Chizumi the longest—well, as an old… cat. And yet these two hateful human "mounts" had made their decision without even asking his opinion!
"If we're splitting up to investigate, then the more viewpoints and directions we cover, the better," Izumi said, raising one finger and imitating Senior Chizumi's lecturing tone with a very serious expression. "And those bad guys are definitely going to be wary of outsiders."
"But if the one investigating is Senior Kitsujiro, then even the bad guys will let their guard down, right?"
"That's true… meow. In that case, for a critical mission like this, this cat really does have to handle it personally!"
Kitsujiro's feline face lit up with delight. He finally forgave these two rude juniors, then waddled off with his plump body swaying, quickly disappearing into a ruined alley.
Watching him go, Izumi rubbed her shoulder helplessly. It felt a little disrespectful to think it, but… was Senior Chizumi really not going to consider helping Senior Kitsujiro lose some weight?
"If anything dangerous happens, fire the signal," Jūzō said after a pause. "The people here aren't easy to deal with…"
After hesitating for a moment, he pulled two specially made signal flares from his ninja pouch and handed them to Izumi.
"Be careful. Don't die."
Though the Uchiha girl in front of him wasn't weak, Jūzō didn't dare let his guard down. For Seagull City to become the largest black market in the Land of Water and keep operating for decades, the power behind it had to be enormous.
In a head-on fight, Izumi—with her three-tomoe Sharingan—should have no problem dealing with an ordinary jōnin. But the shinobi hired by the black market might well be rogue Kirigakure ninja, and those ruthless bastards were no joke.
"Mm, I understand. Please be careful too, Juzo-senpai."
Izumi accepted Jūzō's kindness without refusing, but she didn't really think she would ever need those two signal flares.
She might always be playing support behind Uchiha Chizumi, but with all the growth she had accumulated so far as a believer in justice, Izumi was no longer the inexperienced rookie from the Police Force she used to be.
If it really came down to a fight, and you set aside the differences in experience and mentality, then with seventy percent of his strength tied to the Executioner's Blade, Biwa Jūzō might not even be a match for Uchiha Izumi anymore.
~~~
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