Uchiha Chisen's Blood Relative

Izumi found it hard to associate Patriarch Fugaku's stern, imposing poker face with the word "cowardly."

After all, Uchiha Fugaku was still quite intimidating in her eyes.

Just standing before the patriarch was enough to make one feel pressured.

"Kijiro, why did Patriarch Fugaku want to see Chisen-senpai?" Izumi shook off the strange thoughts in her mind. A sudden burst of curiosity dispelled much of the hostility from having just killed someone, and she asked again.

"Newbie, call me senpai, meow! I've followed Lord Chisen for many more years than you have!"

Kijiro emphasized this rather unhappily.

Then it replied, "I'm not too sure about the specifics either. It seems to be because of some case?"

Izumi's heart skipped a beat.

Could it be that Patriarch Fugaku had excellent intelligence and already knew that Chisen-senpai and she had barged straight into the Hokage's eldest son's funeral? Did he also know that she had executed a piece of scum at the funeral?

Was Patriarch Fugaku calling them back to hold them accountable?

Izumi grew uneasy.

Unlike Uchiha Chisen, who had long ceased to care about Uchiha Fugaku's status as patriarch, Izumi still feared and respected Uchiha Fugaku somewhat.

Not long after.

They returned to the Uchiha Clan compound, and the drizzling rain finally came to a stop.

Izumi shook the water from her hair, feeling increasingly uneasy as she followed Chisen-senpai into the Military Police Force Building.

Then, she saw Chisen-senpai push the door open without even knocking and walk into Patriarch Fugaku's Military Police Force office.

Izumi could only steel herself and follow.

"Lord Fugaku." She greeted him politely, but she noticed that Chisen-senpai beside her remained silent.

"Mm."

Fugaku nodded at Izumi, then looked at Uchiha Chisen. His poker-faced expression was complicated as he said, "Chisen, I have some bad news. You may need to prepare yourself."

"Speak." Uchiha Chisen was direct.

Fugaku hesitated before saying, "Do you know Uchiha Onigawara?"

Uchiha Chisen raised an eyelid.

Fugaku sighed, a shadow falling over his face as he slowly explained, "Something happened to him. A month ago, he left the village with two companions on a mission, but he was the only one who returned. His excuse at the time was that his two companions had both been killed by the enemy."

"However, after an investigation by the Konoha Military Police Force, it turned out that he was the one who killed those two companions. And he did not act in self-defense; he deliberately tortured and murdered them with a kind of pathological malice."

"Chisen, he is related to you by blood. That is why I called you here—to ask for your opinion."

If it had merely been an ordinary member of the Uchiha Clan, Fugaku could have dealt with the matter himself.

But...

Once Uchiha Chisen was involved.

Things became complicated.

"Related to Chisen-senpai by blood..." Izumi, standing behind them, froze for a moment. She had always assumed that Chisen-senpai was all alone within the Uchiha Clan, with no blood relatives at all.

"Meow, it's only because Lord Chisen couldn't be bothered to keep in touch with them."

Kijiro saw right through the girl's undisguised confusion.

It leaped onto her shoulder, its weight making Izumi's left shoulder sink slightly.

Kijiro whispered, "Uchiha Onigawara is the younger brother of Lord Chisen's late mother. But he isn't a member of the Konoha Military Police Force. Like Uchiha Itachi, he is an Anbu shinobi."

"But it seems that because his two companions died under overly suspicious circumstances during a mission a month ago, he was temporarily suspended pending investigation."

Izumi immediately understood.

Only then did she realize that Kijiro, this Ninja Cat senpai, knew so much strange intelligence!

It even knew about something like this!

"Is the evidence conclusive?" Uchiha Chisen merely asked a simple question, without raising any objections whatsoever. Fugaku likewise saw not the slightest trace of anger on the young man's face.

Fugaku said, "This is his testimony."

"Then kill him."

"Fine... huh???"

Fugaku suddenly processed what he had heard. His poker face finally showed a few ripples of emotion as he looked at Uchiha Chisen in surprise and reminded him, "Chisen, he is your mother's younger brother. By seniority, he is your maternal uncle, and you are his nephew."

Uchiha Chisen asked, "What does that have to do with killing him?"

Fugaku was stunned for a moment and hesitated. "At the very least, you should go see him in person and make sure there was no misjudgment."

Uchiha Chisen said, "If the Konoha Military Police Force can misjudge something this trivial, it might as well disband."

Fugaku: "..."

For a moment, he could not make sense of Uchiha Chisen. Was he this cold-blooded even toward relatives connected to him by blood?

However.

Thinking it over carefully, Fugaku had never seen Uchiha Chisen come into conflict with anyone related to him by blood. There truly had been no precedent for him to understand Chisen's stance on such matters.

Now, Fugaku understood—Uchiha Chisen would raise the butcher's blade without hesitation even against his closest blood relatives!

But at that moment, he heard Uchiha Chisen say, "If I let him continue living just because of his close relationship to me, then [Absolute Justice] will become a joke in the Shinobi World."

Was it because of the Absolute Justice he believed in again?

Fugaku fell silent for a long while before slowly saying, "Chisen, you should still go..."

—BOOM!!!

The sudden thunderous explosion shook the Military Police Force Building, cutting off Fugaku's unfinished words.

Fugaku's expression changed slightly.

Izumi nearly lost her footing.

Then, a member of the Konoha Military Police Force rushed inside. He urgently reported, "Lord Fugaku! Something happened! Uchiha Onigawara killed one of the clansmen guarding him, smashed through the wall of the holding cell, and escaped!"

Fugaku abruptly rose to his feet.

His expression was exceedingly grim.

Although many members of the Uchiha Clan were mentally unstable to begin with, someone like Uchiha Onigawara—who had not only tortured and murdered his own Anbu companions, but had also killed a clansman from the Konoha Military Police Force merely to escape... even within the Uchiha Clan, he was an extreme case rarely seen once in a decade.

Fugaku had not expected him to be so bold! By doing this, he had practically torn all pretenses apart with both the village and the Uchiha.

That meant...

—Uchiha Onigawara was going to defect from Konoha!!!

At a time when the village and the Uchiha had such severe misunderstandings between them.

If an Uchiha shinobi defected and left Konoha.

Then the entire Uchiha Clan would never be able to clear its name, no matter how hard it tried.

"Order every member of the Konoha Military Police Force to move immediately! Capture Uchiha Onigawara!" Fugaku gritted his teeth and said with a dark expression, "At any cost, stop him before he leaves Konoha!"

"Chisen, you too... hmm?"

Only then did Fugaku notice in astonishment that Uchiha Chisen, who had been in the office moments ago, had long since vanished.

"Meow, Lord Chisen left five seconds ago."

Kijiro said as it licked its paw.