The One Who Hurt Her Was the Father She Loved

"Lord Hokage, the Konoha Military Police Force needs to be reined in!"

Inside the Hokage Building.

Having just finished half his paperwork, Sarutobi Hiruzen patiently listened to a ninja's complaint. "Today, members of the Konoha Military Police Force hurt someone in the street in broad daylight! They cut off a civilian's leg, then dragged him through the streets in a 'parade.' The trail of blood stretched for hundreds of meters."

"Many villagers saw it, and so did plenty of children. Lord Hokage, hasn't this conduct by the Konoha Military Police Force gone beyond the bounds of law enforcement?"

"Wouldn't law enforcers like that only make everyone in the village feel more unsafe?"

A ninja with neither significant standing in the village nor exceptional strength could come directly to the Hokage to complain for one reason alone: his surname was also Sarutobi.

He was a younger member of the Hokage's clan.

Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and immediately asked, "What condition is the injured man in?"

The ninja shook his head and answered, "When I saw how brazen the Uchiha were being, I couldn't help coming straight to you, Lord Hokage. I didn't check on the injured man's condition. But..."

"If someone's leg is cut off and they don't receive prompt treatment, they might only survive a few minutes."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow furrowed deeply.

Just then, something occurred to him, and he asked another question. "Which Uchiha were present?"

The ninja hesitated. "Uchiha Chisen... Apart from him, there was an Uchiha girl I didn't recognize."

"Chisen?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's brow relaxed.

Under his younger clansman's astonished gaze, Sarutobi Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and said quietly, "If it was Chisen, then he must have had his reasons."

"Lord Hokage, but..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen cut him off. "You rushed here to tell me about this only because you thought Uchiha Chisen's actions would affect your bathhouse businesses, didn't you?"

"Go back! This is a matter for the Konoha Military Police Force. I trust Chisen will give me an explanation soon. After all, he has always marched to the beat of his own drum."

Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, then offered his judgment of Uchiha Chisen's conduct. "Chisen's methods are indeed extreme. But in all these years, he has never done anything that was wrong in principle."

"...Yes, Lord Hokage."

Having failed in his complaint, the younger member of the Sarutobi Clan could only leave in frustration.

"Chisen..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen walked over to the bed and looked out the window.

"Which do you love more-the Will of Fire, or this 'Absolute Justice' you speak of? I've always thought you and Itachi were alike, both Uchiha who deeply love the village!"

He murmured to himself.

Meanwhile.

Inside a secluded house with its own courtyard somewhere in Konoha, Izumi panted softly as she released the corpse, its skin scraped raw.

She had intended to leave the Short Man's corpse where it was for the time being.

But without an order from her senior...

Izumi had worried that abandoning the criminal's corpse on her own initiative might anger him.

And so...

She could only keep repeating Sorry in her heart as she steeled herself, fought back her revulsion, and dragged the corpse along after Uchiha Chisen.

Until they finally reached the Short Man's home.

She hadn't dared look back to see what condition the criminal's corpse was in.

Presumably...

It was too gruesome to bear looking at.

"Do you feel sorry for him?" Uchiha Chisen saw through the girl's thoughts at a glance. The little expressions on Izumi's face gave everything away. He said, "Someone who suffered far worse is still in that well."

He looked toward the dry well covered by a concrete slab, his tone growing heavier as he ordered, "Bring the child's body up from the well."

Uchiha Chisen's voice made Izumi jolt.

"Yes, sir!"

She jogged over and suddenly caught a pungent smell.

Was this... the smell of a rotting corpse?

Izumi braced herself and carefully moved the concrete slab aside. The pungent odor poured out, startling her into instinctively holding her breath, but the fumes still stung her eyes.

She gritted her teeth.

Then vaulted over the edge and jumped.

Just before reaching the bottom, Izumi used the chakra tree-climbing technique to anchor her feet to the well wall, lest a careless step land on the child's corpse.

By the sunlight shining down into the well, she saw a quilt at the bottom, bundled into a ball. There seemed to be something inside.

A suspicion began to form in her mind.

Before long.

Izumi emerged from the dry well carrying the quilt, which gave off a powerful stench, and gingerly laid it on the ground.

"If you need to throw up, go ahead. That's what it's like the first time you smell a rotting corpse. Even some ninja who kill without blinking can't fight their body's natural reaction." Uchiha Chisen glanced at the girl's pretty face, her features almost contorted together.

Pale-faced, Izumi shook her head.

She couldn't explain why. She simply felt, instinctively, that she shouldn't do something so disrespectful in front of such a pitiful child.

Even if...

The child had already been killed.

Then Izumi saw Uchiha Chisen approach. She watched her senior crouch down and unwrap the quilt.

Izumi's pupils trembled.

She hastily turned her head away.

-and threw up.

Even though she didn't want to do it, even though her heart ached with sympathy, the physical nausea was beyond her control. She vomited up her entire breakfast.

"Look at her," Uchiha Chisen said. "Don't look away."

Izumi wiped her mouth.

She turned back, her wavering gaze settling on the tiny corpse.

Still crouching, Uchiha Chisen said, "There are more than a dozen marks from blows with a blunt object on her body. Her arms and legs were fractured multiple times. The flesh is mangled in many places. There are traces of blood leaking from her nose, ears, and the corners of her mouth. Her internal organs were probably severely damaged."

He stood and continued, "The fatal injury is the ligature mark on her neck. This child died in agony. Before her death, she endured at least an hour of painful torment."

Shaken, Izumi murmured, "An hour... If she'd cried out for help during that hour, someone would have come to save her, wouldn't they? There are neighbors nearby..."

Uchiha Chisen said only, "The person who hurt her was her own father. Perhaps, to her, her father was the person she loved most."

Izumi froze.

"Uchiha Izumi."

"Huh? Present!" Izumi hurriedly straightened and shouted.

Uchiha Chisen stared into the girl's eyes and demanded, stressing every word, "Do you still feel sorry for that man now?"

Izumi pressed her lips together and lowered her head.

"Sir, I was wrong."

Uchiha Chisen said, "Our duty as the Konoha Military Police Force is to eradicate every last instance of this kind of evil. Only by enforcing our justice through absolute, uncompromising means can we crush the sickening corruption of the Shinobi World."

"Take both bodies back to the Konoha Military Police Force. Your performance today was a failure, but fortunately, it didn't reach the point where I wanted to kill you. Meet me at Ichiraku Ramen tomorrow."

Izumi shuddered.

"Yes, sir."