You're Not Regretful, You're Afraid of Dying

"Kill him." Uchiha Chisen's emotionless words made a thin layer of sweat seep into Izumi's palms.

She knew that Senior Chisen never joked around.

Izumi also understood that whether Senior Chisen asked her to interrogate criminals or execute them...

He was testing her resolve for [Absolute Justice]!

She recalled the photograph of the Yamada mother and daughter on the missing persons file; remembered the faint smiles on their delicate faces; thought of the shattered bones fished out of Konoha's sewers; and saw Yamada Binjiro's utter lack of remorse just now...

Izumi's gaze changed from hesitant confusion to firm resolve.

"Yes, Senior!"

As soon as she spoke, she realized that Senior Chisen had released his Sharingan Genjutsu.

Because she saw Yamada Binjiro dazedly come back to his senses from his endless hallucinations of collapse and despair.

He was shocked and terrified. His crotch was already soaked, snot and tears streamed down his face together, and his expression was so twisted it was unbearable to look at.

Izumi had no idea what kind of illusion Senior Chisen had made Yamada Binjiro see.

She only heard him muttering neurotically in panic.

She saw him trembling and crawling with both hands and feet, smearing the mud on the ground, the blood on his hands, and even his own urine across his face.

"Don't kill me, I was wrong... Don't kill me, I regret it... I won't do it again, please... I really regret it... I was wrong, boohoohoo, I know I was wrong..."

Izumi had never seen someone abase themselves so completely just to stay alive.

"Did you ever think about whether that mother and daughter you killed were just as desperate as you are now before they died?"

Izumi gripped her Ninja Sword tightly and clenched her pearly teeth. "Do you remember whether they begged you for mercy?"

"And did you... spare them?"

She gripped the Sword Hilt so tightly that her fingers turned white.

"You're not regretful."

"You're just afraid of dying."

"Human! Trash!!!"

Squelch—

Izumi's Ninja Sword pierced through Yamada Binjiro's heart. Following the killing techniques she had learned at the Ninja Academy, she viciously twisted her wrist, silently pulled out the blade, and immediately stepped to the right.

A jet of crimson blood sprayed from Yamada Binjiro's chest, and Izumi narrowly avoided it.

She watched as the light in Yamada Binjiro's eyes began to fade.

Until he went completely limp and collapsed to the ground.

There was no sign of life left.

Ding! A believer of [Absolute Justice] you cultivated successfully killed a Red Name Evil Person! Your Chakra has received a minor boost! Congratulations, you obtained: Corpse Dismemberment Experience Book ×2!

At the same time, Uchiha Izumi also received a minor Chakra boost!

"Senior Chisen, I have executed the perpetrator of the murder and dismemberment case!"

Izumi took a deep breath and let the rain wash over her blade. Suddenly, she had a strange illusion. Every time she upheld Justice by killing a criminal, her body seemed to experience an inexplicable sense of relief.

She had felt the same illusion at the Secret Research Base the day before yesterday.

It made Izumi shudder.

Could I be some kind of hidden, natural-born psychopathic killer?

Izumi startled herself with her wild thoughts. She shook her head and hurriedly asked, "Senior, how should we deal with the body?"

"Have the Konoha Military Police Force collect it."

"Yes, Senior!"

Everyone at the Konoha Funeral Hall had long been frightened into silence.

Even though they knew that Lord Hokage was inside Konoha Public Cemetery, they still felt no sense of safety.

Yet what they found difficult to understand was... amid this fear and utter lack of security, they somehow felt strangely at ease.

Izumi keenly noticed the fear in their expressions.

She pressed her lips together and suddenly spoke. "Yamada Binjiro murdered his elder brother's wife and daughter, brutally dismembered them, and threw the pieces of their bodies into the sewers. The Konoha Military Police Force failed to find the culprit for four whole years, allowing him to remain at large for many years."

"Only today did Justice for this mother and daughter finally arrive. This is the failure of our Konoha Military Police Force! But I guarantee here and now that as long as we uphold [Absolute Justice] and purge evil, incidents like this will become fewer and fewer in the future!"

Perhaps her words had some effect.

Izumi noticed that the fear in their eyes had diminished somewhat.

Though they seemed to have gained a little more confusion.

Izumi did not know what else to say, so she ended with a single sentence. "Under the cleansing of [Absolute Justice], the Shinobi World will one day become better and better."

Then she quickly turned and followed Uchiha Chisen.

With her head lowered, Izumi walked uneasily behind Uchiha Chisen. She no longer had the courage she had shown moments ago, and apologized in a voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz. "I'm sorry, Senior. I acted on my own and said a lot of things I shouldn't have..."

Only now did she realize that she seemed to have spoken badly of the Konoha Military Police Force.

However.

She did not hear any rebuke from her senior.

Senior Chisen did not even say a word.

"...Senior?"

Uchiha Chisen replied blandly, "You only told the truth."

After watching the infamous "Plague God" of the Konoha Military Police Force leave, everyone at the Konoha Funeral Hall looked at one another, then trembled as they glanced at the corpse on the ground.

They had probably only understood two things.

—They were good people, so Uchiha Chisen would not cause them trouble. And since he had already left, they could relax.

—Yamada Binjiro was a vicious murderer!

"Gulp!" Someone swallowed hard and finally broke the eerie silence. "That Yamada bastard actually did something like that... I used to go drinking with him all the time. Doesn't that mean I was in danger every day?"

"I heard that Uchiha Clan ninja say that Yamada even dismembered the bodies of his elder brother's wife and daughter!"

"Hiss, how did we never realize he was that kind of person?"

"He hid it way too well, didn't he? Good thing he was caught today... Uh, wait, it doesn't seem like he was actually caught."

"So those two Uchiha were here investigating a case."

"Come to think of it, that Plague God doesn't seem as scary as the rumors say. Didn't they say he kills wherever he goes? But aren't we all still alive..."

"..."

As they whispered among themselves, they actually forgot to hurry over and bury Sarutobi Shinosuke's coffin.

It was not until a Sarutobi Clan ninja walked over with a dark expression.

He frowned and first glanced at Yamada Binjiro's corpse, muttering, "That Uchiha guessed right again."

He was referring to Uchiha Chisen's perfect case-solving rate.

Then, the Sarutobi Clan ninja reminded the funeral hall staff, "Isn't it time for the burial?"

Only then did everyone at the Konoha Funeral Hall come to their senses.

Meanwhile, just as Uchiha Chisen walked out of Konoha Public Cemetery, an orange Ninja Cat hurriedly appeared before him.

"Lord Chisen, Coward Eye is looking for you, meow!"

Kijiro spoke rapidly.

"...Coward Eye?" Izumi, standing behind Uchiha Chisen, froze for a moment.

Kijiro said, "That's Uchiha Fugaku! Lord Chisen gave Uchiha Fugaku that nickname a long time ago. If I remember correctly, it was seven or eight years ago?"

Izumi was utterly dumbfounded.

Patriarch Fugaku...

Was he really that cowardly?