"Seisui... Mother..." Gekko Hayate stared blankly at his younger brother, who lay limp in his arms, showing no signs of life.
His brother's death, and the words his brother had spoken before dying, left his mind in a fog, temporarily robbing him of the ability to think.
He raised his head dazedly and met Uchiha Chisen's eyes as Chisen sheathed his blade.
Two trails of grief-stricken tears had already slipped down his face without him noticing.
"The other members of the Konoha Military Police Force should have taken your mother's body away by now. Next, the police force will invite ninja from the Yamanaka Clan to conduct a joint investigation."
Uchiha Chisen said expressionlessly, "If you want to see your mother, you can wait until the joint investigation is over. It should take a day or two."
Mother...
Had been murdered...
Uchiha Chisen's words turned "Gekko Seisui's" dying taunts into fact, plunging Gekko Hayate into even deeper grief. It felt as though countless invisible blades were piercing his heart.
Two years ago, his father had died at Uchiha Chisen's hands.
Two years later, his mother had died at his own younger brother's hands. Now his brother was dead too, once again killed by Uchiha Chisen.
Of his branch's direct bloodline within the entire Gekko Clan, only Gekko Hayate remained!
Gekko Hayate was utterly lost.
He did not even know whether he should seek revenge against Uchiha Chisen.
This demon-like Uchiha had killed his father and his younger brother...
Yet he had been carrying out "justice."
One could even say that Uchiha Chisen had avenged his mother for him!
And...
It had been vengeance for the unforgivable crime of matricide!
"Chisen, he looks like he's in so much pain. He seems to be having a bit of a mental breakdown," Izumi whispered, worry on her young face. "Will he be all right?"
Uchiha Chisen turned to leave and said slowly, "Give him some time alone."
"Okay." Izumi hurried after him.
Uchiha Chisen had killed two Chunin from the Gekko Clan, stormed into the Gekko Clan Compound with his subordinate, and killed the former clan head's second son, "Gekko Seisui"-the news soon sent shock waves through Konoha.
When Sarutobi Hiruzen, his pipe between his lips, heard the news...
He was so shocked that he choked and broke into a coughing fit.
After finally recovering, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately took a sip of water. Once he had calmed his turbulent thoughts, he asked the Anbu Ninja reporting to him in a grave voice, "What exactly caused this?"
The Anbu Ninja was just about to speak when a knock came at the door.
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly guessed something.
"Come in!" he said.
Sure enough... Uchiha Chisen, who had killed three ninja, walked openly into the Hokage's Office as though nothing had happened, with a cautious little follower trailing behind him.
"The reason was that the criminal, Gekko Seisui, resisted arrest." Without even waiting for Sarutobi Hiruzen to question him, Uchiha Chisen said, "Anyone who dares resist arrest is no longer an ordinary criminal. We must strike hard and execute them on the spot to deter other wrongdoers."
Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression darkened slightly. This was not the first time Uchiha Chisen had met him without first addressing him as Lord Hokage.
Nor was it the first time he had spoken to him in such a cold, blunt tone.
It was as though, in this boy's eyes, even he, the esteemed Third Hokage, was a criminal.
That instinctively made Sarutobi Hiruzen uncomfortable.
Fortunately, he kept his emotions under control. His slightly darkened expression faded, and he looked at Uchiha Chisen and asked, "A criminal?"
"Uchiha Izumi," Uchiha Chisen said.
"Yes, sir!!!"
Izumi drew a deep breath. Having mentally prepared herself along the way, she took the initiative to report to the Hokage on Chisen's behalf. "Lord Hokage, this morning, Chisen and I..."
The girl's account was clear and logical, and her wording was concise.
Once she had explained everything from beginning to end...
Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow furrowed deeper and deeper.
"Gekko Seisui..." Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a heavy breath. "I even held that child in my arms once. But I never imagined he would be... so extreme and consumed by jealousy. To think that such terrible jealousy would drive him to do that to his own family..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen believed her.
Although he could not quite grasp some aspects of Uchiha Chisen's conduct, there was one thing he could be certain of-when it came to matters of "justice" and "evil," Uchiha Chisen never made an incorrect judgment.
This boy...
He was like a born judge. His accuracy in determining the truth of a case had already reached one hundred percent!
Back then, Sarutobi Hiruzen had also suspected that Uchiha Chisen used "carrying out justice" as an excuse to indulge in killing.
Only after investigating dozens of times and finding nothing amiss...
Had Sarutobi Hiruzen realized that someone could truly possess such a gift.
The Uchiha really did produce one talented individual after another!
But...
"Chisen!" Sarutobi Hiruzen tapped the desk, his expression stern. "A man who murdered his mother resisted arrest, and you killed him through violent means. I can let that pass. But why did you kill two innocent members of the Gekko Clan?"
"Those two young men were twenty-one and twenty-six. They merely stood in your way, and you killed them? Is harming the innocent like that still justice?!"
Izumi keenly sensed that the atmosphere in the Hokage's Office was not quite right.
Meeting Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes, Uchiha Chisen said, "I warned them beforehand. But since they insisted on obstructing law enforcement, that meant they had made their choice."
"Unfortunately, they chose to stand on the side of evil. They obstructed justice and condoned wrongdoing, so they were no longer innocent."
He paused, then continued, "Whether the ones standing in my way are ninja from the Gekko Clan or you, Lord Hokage... I will use absolute justice to eliminate every obstacle!"
"Without mercy!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen gazed deeply at Uchiha Chisen. At last, he sighed and asked, "Chisen, how long have we been having these confrontational conversations over our conflicting beliefs?"
"Five years," Uchiha Chisen replied.
"Five years..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen stood up. With his hands clasped behind his back, he took a few steps, stopped, then asked, "Chisen, you must be able to sense that things are happening in the village that no one wants to see, aren't you? Although there are no longer any large-scale conflicts in the shinobi world, the waters within Konoha have never quite settled."
"As an Uchiha, you should be particularly sensitive to this. So, may I ask you something? In your eyes, does justice... stand with the majority of the village? Or with the minority?"
"If one day your allegiances forced you to act against justice, would you do it?"
Standing to the side, Izumi could already feel the atmosphere in the office growing so heavy that the air around them seemed about to solidify.
"Justice stands with the good people."
Uchiha Chisen gave a third answer, then continued, "My allegiance is to justice. I will never betray that allegiance, much less violate the justice in my heart."
Sarutobi Hiruzen looked thoughtful. "The good people..."
He smiled faintly. "Chisen, although your answer differs somewhat from Itachi's, it makes me feel more and more that you and that boy truly are the same kind of person. You both love the village dearly."
"Lord Hokage, insulting people is wrong," Uchiha Chisen corrected him with a frown.
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "???"
Before you continue