Senior Chisen Was Clearly Carrying Out Justice!

At that point, even the Anbu probably had yet to tally how many people had been killed or wounded at the Secret Research Base that night.

But Uchiha Chisen knew.

Sixty-three people had died in total!

The numbers of Anbu ninja and researchers were almost evenly split.

Under the scouring force of the Magma Torrent, more than half the Secret Research Base had been "cleansed" by searing magma. He had not left a single red name alive-except for the Anbu ninja who arrived afterward.

The "rewards" those researchers at the Secret Research Base had given Uchiha Chisen were all "research knowledge," most of it related to the Sharingan and wood style cells.

There were also many findings from human experiments that made even Uchiha Chisen frown.

They made him feel as though his mind had been sullied.

The "rewards" dropped by the red-named Anbu ninja, however, were much more normal: ninjutsu or Taijutsu Experience Books.

"And then there's Teacher Shinosuke's 'legacy.'"

"An S-rank Sealing Jutsu... Three Directions Sealing."

There was not a trace of a smile on Uchiha Chisen's face. No matter how many times a red-named person dropped a reward, he never felt pleasantly surprised, nor did it bring him any joy.

The more red-named people there were in the shinobi world, the stronger he could become by carrying out justice. But that also meant the shinobi world was growing ever more hopelessly diseased.

Uchiha Chisen stripped off his clothes.

He stepped into the bathroom.

He turned on the tap.

He let scalding water hot enough to burn an ordinary person's skin pour freely over his body.

Uchiha Chisen kept his scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan open.

Even when the scalding water dripped into his eyes.

It did him no harm.

"Teacher Shinosuke, when justice is confined to Konoha's interests, it ceases to be justice. Only by purging the entire shinobi world with [absolute justice] can we stop more people like you from falling into the abyss without even realizing it."

He murmured those words.

The next day.

Early morning.

Izumi was jolted awake by another nightmare. This time, she had dreamed that, at the Hokage's command, thousands upon thousands of Anbu ninja had come to arrest her and Senior Chisen.

What awaited her and Senior Chisen was the cruelest torture in the entire village!

Even her mother, the only family she had, had been implicated and become one of the village's prisoners.

And then...

Izumi woke in fright.

The moment she woke, she hurriedly scrambled out of bed. She pulled back the curtains and cautiously peered outside. Only after finding no Anbu ninja keeping watch did she finally breathe a sigh of relief.

"It was a dream!"

Izumi was still shaken.

She patted her cheeks, hurried through washing up, changing, and eating breakfast, then said goodbye to her mother, Uchiha Hazuki. The moment she stepped outside, something suddenly occurred to her.

"Gasp!"

"Senior Chisen didn't seem to say where we should meet last night!"

Should I go to Ichiraku Ramen, the place Senior Chisen mentioned a few days ago?

What if he isn't there?

Hmm...

"I'd better go to his house." Izumi decided to ask some of the older men and women in the Uchiha Compound.

The Uchiha Compound was only so big, after all. Surely she could find out where he lived!

However.

Izumi suddenly noticed that something felt off about the atmosphere in the Uchiha Compound.

Despite the early hour, many people had already gathered in small groups.

They seemed to be arguing heatedly about something.

Curious, Izumi edged closer to listen.

"I heard the Third Hokage's Eldest Son died... Do you know whether that's true? Lots of people have been talking about it this morning, and apparently Uchiha Chisen was the one who killed him!"

"Who knows! I only just heard about it myself."

"Uchiha Chisen... First he killed a Root ninja, and now he's killed the Hokage's eldest son. I think he supports us Uchiha rebelling against the village leadership too, doesn't he?"

"But I heard several elders from the Radicals, led by Elder Setsuna, offered him an olive branch, and he turned them down."

"Say, now that Uchiha Chisen has killed the Hokage's eldest son, won't the village use this as an excuse to move against us Uchiha?"

"Tch, that obnoxious bastard really knows how to stir up trouble..."

"..."

Izumi broke into a sweat as she listened.

Oh no!

How had last night's incident somehow gotten out?

It had only been one night and half a morning, hadn't it?

Izumi instinctively felt something was wrong, as though someone had deliberately leaked the news to the villagers, but she had no proof.

Stopping to ask along the way, Izumi finally found out where Uchiha Chisen lived.

"So this is Senior Chisen's house?"

She looked up in puzzlement at the unremarkable two-story house before her.

It felt a little too plain.

"You're pretty early today, rookie." The sudden voice nearly made Izumi jump.

She turned around.

And found that Senior Chisen had somehow appeared behind her!

Izumi hurriedly replied, "I already have zero points in your eyes, Senior Chisen. If I'm late again, I'm afraid I'll end up with negative points. So... so I wanted to leave home a little earlier."

Uchiha Chisen nodded. "Let's go."

"Yes, sir!"

Izumi followed cautiously behind Uchiha Chisen. She was worried he might overhear some of their clansmen's unfriendly comments, and her fears soon came true.

She and her senior passed several Uchiha Clan ninja, who seemed so engrossed in their discussion that they failed to notice the two of them.

They were discussing nothing other than the rumors about last night.

As Izumi passed them, her delicate brows suddenly knitted.

After casting a worried glance at her senior's back, she suddenly gritted her teeth and turned around. "What nonsense are you talking about! Senior Chisen didn't kill the Hokage's eldest son for no reason! He's not some murderous maniac! He was carrying out justice!"

Oh... oh no...

Izumi's breath nearly caught. She had never imagined she would suddenly argue with other people without thinking first.

When she realized that the Uchiha ninja in the heated discussion had turned puzzled looks toward her.

Izumi broke into a cold sweat.

But...

Those Uchiha ninja were even more nervous than she was. Their expressions stiffened one after another, because they had finally noticed that Uchiha Chisen was standing right in front of them!

By now, Izumi had thrown caution to the wind. She said, "The Hokage... Lord Hokage's eldest son was running a Secret Research Base! And he carried out all kinds of experiments that could never see the light of day!

"He even killed Konoha volunteers who willingly became test subjects! He also abducted many war orphans to use as test subjects! His hands were drenched in blood, and sin had long since eaten away at his soul!"

"Good is good, and bad is bad! He was bad! Even being Lord Hokage's eldest son... even that doesn't change the truth! The Hokage's eldest son admitted it himself!"

"A man like that had been living freely in Konoha, beyond the reach of the law, and no one ever dared bring him to justice."

"Instead of seeing that as a tragedy, you're saying Senior Chisen killed people indiscriminately?"

"What are you people even doing?!"

I'm...

I'm done for!

Izumi realized that, in taking it upon herself to defend her senior so heatedly.

She had inadvertently revealed things that seemed to be secrets.

Gasp.

I think I just ruined the reputation of Lord Hokage's eldest son, too.

What I just said... surely it won't immediately...

Spread all over Konoha?