You're not sorry, you're afraid to die

"Kill him." Chisen's emotionless words made Izumi's palms break into a light sweat.

She knew Chisen never joked.

Izumi also understood that whether Chisen ordered her to interrogate a criminal or execute one...

He was testing her commitment to [absolute justice]!

She recalled the photograph of the mother and daughter from the "Yamada family" in the missing persons file, the faint smiles on their delicate faces, the shattered bones dredged from Konoha's sewers, and Yamada Binjiro's utter lack of remorse just moments ago...

The hesitation and confusion in Izumi's eyes gave way to steely resolve.

"Yes, sir!"

As she spoke, she realized Chisen had released his Sharingan Genjutsu.

She saw Yamada Binjiro dazedly emerge from the illusion of endless despair and mental collapse.

He was terrified, his crotch soaked, tears and snot streaming down his face. His expression was so contorted it was difficult to look at.

Izumi had no idea what illusion Chisen had shown Yamada Binjiro.

She only heard him muttering in frantic, neurotic terror.

She only saw him trembling and writhing on all fours. He smeared the mud from 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'm sorry... I won't do it again, please... I really regret it... I was wrong, waah, I know I was wrong..."

Izumi had never seen anyone debase himself so utterly just to stay alive.

"Did you ever think about whether the mother and daughter you murdered felt as desperate as you do now before they died?"

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

"And you... did you spare them?"

Izumi gripped the hilt so tightly that her fingers turned white.

"You're not sorry."

"You're just afraid to die."

"You! Scum!!!"

Shhk-

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

A jet of scarlet blood spurted from Yamada Binjiro's chest, narrowly missing Izumi.

She watched the light begin to fade from his eyes.

Until he crumpled to the ground.

There were no signs of life left.

[Ding! The follower of [absolute justice] you cultivated has successfully killed a "red name" villain! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: Corpse Dismemberment Experience Book ×2!]

[Uchiha Izumi has also received a slight chakra increase!]

"Chisen, I've executed the culprit in the murder and dismemberment case!"

Izumi took a deep breath and let the rain wash her blade. A strange sensation suddenly came over her: after carrying out justice and killing the criminal, she felt an inexplicable sense of physical ease.

She had felt the same thing at the Secret Research Base two days ago.

The thought made Izumi shudder.

Could I secretly be some kind of born psychopath who loves killing?

Startled by her own wild thoughts, Izumi shook her head and hurriedly asked, "Sir, what should we do with the body?"

"Have the Konoha Military Police Force collect it."

"Yes, sir!"

The staff from the Konoha Funeral Hall had long since been frightened into silence.

Even knowing that the Hokage was right there in the Konoha Public Cemetery did nothing to make them feel safe.

Yet what puzzled them was that... amid this fear and complete lack of security, they felt a strange sense of reassurance.

Izumi keenly noticed the fear in their expressions.

She pressed her lips together, then suddenly spoke. "Yamada Binjiro murdered his elder brother's wife and daughter, brutally dismembered them, and dumped their remains into the sewers. The Konoha Military Police Force failed to identify the killer for four whole years, letting him escape justice all that time."

"Only today has justice finally arrived for this mother and daughter. This was a failure on the part of our Konoha Military Police Force! But I promise you here and now: as long as we uphold [absolute justice] and purge evil, incidents like this will become fewer and fewer!"

Perhaps her words had done some good.

Izumi noticed that some of the fear in their eyes had faded.

But they seemed a little more confused.

Izumi did not know what else to say, so she concluded with a single sentence. "Under the cleansing influence of [absolute justice], the Shinobi World will one day become a better place."

Then she hurriedly turned and followed Uchiha Chisen.

With her head lowered, Izumi walked anxiously behind Uchiha Chisen, all her earlier courage gone. In a voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz, she apologized. "I'm sorry, sir. I acted on my own and said a lot of things I shouldn't have..."

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

Yet...

She heard no reprimand from him.

Chisen did not even say a word.

"...Sir?"

Uchiha Chisen said evenly, "You only spoke the truth."

After watching the Konoha Military Police Force's infamous "Plague God" leave, the Konoha Funeral Hall staff exchanged looks, then fearfully glanced at the corpse on the ground.

They had probably only understood two things.

-They were good people, so Uchiha Chisen would not trouble them. And now that he had left, they could relax.

-Yamada Binjiro was a vicious murderer!

Gulp! Someone quietly swallowed, finally unable to stand the eerie silence any longer. "Yamada actually did something like that... I used to go drinking with him at brothels all the time. Doesn't that mean I was in danger every day?"

"That ninja from the Uchiha Clan said Yamada even dismembered his elder brother's wife and daughter!"

"God, how did we never notice he was that kind of person?"

"He hid it far too well, didn't he? Good thing he was arrested today... uh, actually, I guess he wasn't arrested."

"So those two Uchiha were here to investigate a case."

"Come to think of it, why didn't that 'Plague God' look as frightening as the rumors say? Didn't people say he kills wherever he goes? But we all seem to still be alive..."

"..."

Amid their whispered conversations, the group actually forgot to hurry over and bury Sarutobi Shinosuke's coffin.

Until a ninja from the Sarutobi Clan approached with a dark expression.

He frowned deeply, glanced at Yamada Binjiro's corpse, and muttered, "That Uchiha actually got it right again."

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

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

Only then did the Konoha Funeral Hall staff snap out of it.

Meanwhile, as Uchiha Chisen walked out of the Konoha Public Cemetery, an orange ninja cat hurried up to him.

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

Kijiro spoke rapidly.

"...Coward Eye?" Izumi froze behind Uchiha Chisen.

Kijiro said, "That's Uchiha Fugaku! It's a nickname Lord Chisen gave him ages ago. If I remember right, it was seven or eight years ago?"

Izumi was dumbfounded.

Patriarch Fugaku...

Was he really that much of a coward?