Uchiha Chisen walked down Konoha's main street, followed by a girl holding a ramen container and chopsticks, slurping up the already soggy noodles as she walked.
Most passersby looked distinctly uneasy when they saw Uchiha Chisen.
Parents hurriedly grabbed their children who were playing around and scolded them for misbehaving.
Clearly, these people had heard of Uchiha Chisen's "fearsome reputation."
Or perhaps their relatives or friends had broken the law and received Uchiha Chisen's special attention. They were either dead by his blade or serving hard time in Konoha Prison.
"H-hello!"
Uchiha Chisen stopped as a Konoha villager suddenly ran up and blocked his path.
The man held a box in his hands. Mustering his courage, he offered it to Uchiha Chisen with both hands, bowed his head, and hurriedly said, "Thank you for catching the men who murdered my fiancée three months ago! I've been so depressed that I never got around to thanking you. P-please accept this gift!"
Uchiha Chisen couldn't remember the names of everyone in the Uchiha Clan, nor did he deliberately remember everyone who died by his blade.
But he vividly remembered the victims harmed by "evil."
The grief-stricken man before him was a twenty-five-year-old Konoha Genin from a civilian family named Takigawa Osamu.
Three months ago, his fiancée had been sexually assaulted by drunken men and died.
Uchiha Chisen had found the three killers.
"I didn't catch them," Uchiha Chisen said slowly. "I killed them all."
The man lowered his head. "That's exactly why I'm even more grateful."
"Please..."
"Please, you must accept my gift!"
Uchiha Chisen shook his head and walked around the grief-stricken man. As he passed behind him, he spoke again. "I'm sorry this sick world, riddled with wounds from 'evil,' has disappointed you. If you've truly made your decision, there's no need to give me that gift. Give it to someone who truly needs it."
Uchiha Chisen paused thoughtfully, then added without any change in expression, "If you're still hesitating, cherish your life. I'll prove to you that this world can become a better place."
At some point, Izumi's noodle-slurping had stopped.
From Chisen's words, she had faintly guessed something. She stared in shock at the man, whose eyes were now brimming with sorrowful tears.
"Thank you... thank you," the man murmured.
Izumi watched him stagger away.
For a moment, she wanted to speak but held back.
"Chisen, sir, he... don't tell me..." Izumi ventured.
"This isn't the first case," Uchiha Chisen said. "When you've seen more of this, don't grow numb. Once you do, your [justice] will rust because of that numbness. Rusty justice is a betrayal of justice."
Izumi was about to speak when she suddenly felt something "slam" onto her head.
And it had to weigh at least fifteen pounds!
She cried out involuntarily under the impact, her neck bending.
Just then, a voice with a slightly odd inflection suddenly spoke from atop Izumi's head. "Lord Chisen, we have a situation. My children found a buried corpse on the outskirts of the village. Judging by the nearby soil, it was most likely buried last night."
Izumi froze.
The oddly inflected voice continued, "Many traces at the scene were deliberately erased. Whoever buried the body also staged the scene, which suggests they knew what they were doing. A ninja most likely committed the crime."
With that said...
Izumi watched an orange figure leap off her head and land gracefully on the ground.
"A cat?" She suddenly realized. "A ninja cat!!!"
-it was an orange ninja cat, so unbelievably fat that he looked like an enormous orange chicken drumstick.
Understanding dawned on Izumi.
No wonder he was so heavy!
Was this orange ninja cat Chisen's summoned beast?
"Lead the way," Uchiha Chisen told the ninja cat before turning to Izumi. "Rookie, keep up."
Whoosh-
Whoosh-
The ninja cat and Uchiha Chisen shot away in a blur. In the blink of an eye, only two retreating figures remained, one large and one small.
Startled, Izumi had no time to think. She tossed her ramen into the nearest trash can and hurried after them.
Izumi did everything she could to keep close behind. Though all she could see was Chisen's back, she could at least follow at a distance. She figured either the ninja cat was too fat to run fast, or Chisen was deliberately holding back so she wouldn't be left behind.
After all, Chisen was a Konoha Jonin. How could she possibly keep up with a Jonin running at full speed?
Before long...
Izumi reached the outskirts of Konoha. Only after entering a dense stretch of woods did she discover that Chisen and the orange ninja cat had stopped and were standing a short distance ahead.
"Whew..."
She wiped away her sweat.
She was a little tired.
"Lord Chisen, is this your new tagalong?" Izumi saw the ninja cat licking his paw as he spoke in a human voice. "Your last two tagalongs didn't even last a day. I wonder how long this new girl will hold out."
Izumi timidly interjected, "Today is my second day as Chisen's student."
"Meow? Huh?"
The ninja cat looked at Izumi in surprise and raised a paw toward her. She thought he was trying his best to give her a thumbs-up. "You actually made it to the second day? You've got potential, girl!"
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Here!!!"
Izumi abandoned her conversation with the ninja cat and hurriedly stood at attention, shouting her response.
Uchiha Chisen said, "Go down and bring the body up."
"Yes, sir." Izumi quickly jogged over. Only then did she notice a large pit at Chisen's feet, with numerous small digging marks around its edges, as though cats had dug it with their claws.
At the bottom lay a woman's mud-covered corpse.
Her forehead was caved in, her face covered in blood and frozen in an expression of terror, as though she had been filled with disbelief even at the moment of death.
Izumi jumped straight down.
She brought the body up.
With yesterday's experience behind her, she found it much easier this time.
"Female victim, name unknown, approximately forty to forty-five years old. Killed by a single blow from a blunt object. No other traces on her body. The killer probably cleaned them away deliberately. Definitely experienced. Most likely a ninja."
Uchiha Chisen said slowly, "Kijiro."
"Meow!" the ninja cat Kijiro answered.
"Go to the Konoha Military Police Force and get someone to bring the body back," Uchiha Chisen said. "Rookie, let's go. We'll take a walk around the village."
"Yes, Lord Chisen."
"Yes, sir... huh?"
Izumi hesitated, then swallowed and mustered the courage to ask timidly, "Sir, aren't we going to investigate?"
Uchiha Chisen said, "Walking around Konoha is investigating. Check your ninja tools and be ready to carry out justice at any moment."
Izumi: "???"
Before you continue