Sin Score: Red Name!

An hour later, Izumi realized that when Chisen-senpai said they were going to "look around," he really had meant simply "wandering around" Konoha.

She had not seen her senior display any professional investigative skills.

Nor had she seen him search for clues or evidence.

She felt as though she had followed her senior around the entirety of Konoha, even making a full circuit of the Uchiha Clan compound and lingering briefly inside the Hokage Building.

Izumi had remained dazed and wooden throughout, completely unable to understand what her senior was doing—or what she herself was supposed to do.

Just as Izumi hesitated to speak...

She noticed that her senior had stopped.

Finally!

They were no longer wandering around aimlessly!

Izumi nearly burst into tears.

"Senpai, this is..." But she quickly realized something was off. Looking ahead curiously, Izumi saw that this was the compound of Konoha's Gekko Clan, wasn't it?

Konoha had many ninja clans of varying sizes. The Uchiha Clan was among Konoha's foremost great clans.

The Gekko Clan before them, meanwhile, was a small ninja clan in Konoha.

It had a little over a dozen ninja, and possessed the Transparent Release Kekkei Genkai.

"This is the last place we haven't visited that is out in the open," Uchiha Chisen said flatly. "If the killer isn't here, then they can only be in those two places."

"Those two places?" Izumi was curious how Chisen-senpai had identified the killer merely by wandering around. She was even more curious about the two places he had mentioned.

"Anbu. Root."

Uchiha Chisen's succinct reply left Izumi dumbfounded.

"Huh? Uchiha Chisen! You cold-blooded creature who kills without batting an eye—how dare you show your face here?!" Just as Uchiha Chisen was about to step into the Gekko Clan compound, an abrupt furious shout rang out from the side.

Turning to look.

They saw two Gekko Clan ninja rushing toward them, Konoha forehead protectors on their brows and chunin vests on their bodies.

They swiftly blocked Uchiha Chisen's path, glaring at him with eyes full of hatred.

Izumi noticed that the atmosphere had become tense. "Senpai, do they have some kind of..."

Before she could finish asking.

One of the Gekko Clan ninja shouted, "Uchiha Chisen! You'd better stay away from here! Our Gekko Clan does not welcome you!"

Uchiha Chisen's right hand had remained on the hilt of his Ninja Sword the entire time.

His calm gaze swept over the two of them as he said, "The Konoha Military Police Force is investigating a case. Uninvolved parties, step aside immediately. Otherwise, you will be obstructing law enforcement. Those who obstruct law enforcement will be killed without mercy."

Uchiha Chisen's tone was equally calm, but the sudden, terrifying killing intent made the hair on Izumi's body stand on end.

She saw that Chisen-senpai's thumb had already pressed against the Sword Guard of his Ninja Sword!

An inch of the gleaming silver blade had already emerged!

The two Gekko Clan ninja also felt immense pressure. The cold sweat on their foreheads and their involuntarily clenched fists told everyone exactly how tense they were.

But...

Rather than making them retreat even half a step, the scene only intensified the hatred in their eyes.

"Two years ago... it was just like this!" One of the Gekko Clan ninja forced himself to withstand the pressure, gritting his teeth as he glared. "You bastard, you also claimed you were investigating a case. You brazenly slaughtered your way into the Gekko Clan compound... killed our clan head at the time, Lord Gekko Yuichiro! You even killed two of our uncles and elders!"

Izumi's clear eyes gradually widened.

This...

So Chisen-senpai and the Gekko Clan had such a history!

Gasp! That was absolutely a blood feud, wasn't it?

"Uchiha Chisen, you..."

"No recollection." Uchiha Chisen slowly drew the Ninja Sword from his waist. As he strode forward unhurriedly, he said coldly, "I never deliberately remember whom I have killed. Those who obstruct [Justice] are even less worthy of remaining in my memory."

His gaze passed through the gap between the two Gekko Clan ninja and landed on a figure within the Gekko Clan compound ahead.

Gekko Seisui—last night, dissatisfied with his mother favoring his elder brother Gekko Hayate too much, he quarreled with her. In an emotional loss of control, he murdered his mother with a blunt weapon, then secretly disposed of her body in the early hours of the morning. Sin Score: Red Name!

The scarlet panel was exceptionally conspicuous in Uchiha Chisen's eyes.

That was also one of the reasons he had drawn his sword.

"Three seconds. If you don't move aside, you die." Uchiha Chisen did not stop. "Three, two..."

"Bastard! You arrogant bastard! Do you think our Gekko Clan would..."

Uchiha Chisen had already passed the two Gekko Clan ninja.

He lightly flicked the blood from his Ninja Sword.

"One."

A pair of calm, unruffled eyes, like those of a judge who had emerged from hell, stared at the terrified Gekko Seisui not far ahead.

At the same time, two bodies fell behind him with a synchronized thud.

"Newbie, this is the second lesson you need to learn." Uchiha Chisen stepped into the Gekko Clan compound, speaking coldly to the utterly stunned Izumi behind him. "Anyone who obstructs [Justice Execution] is a lackey of 'evil' and an enemy of justice. After a warning proves futile... kill without mercy."

Izumi stared blankly at the two decapitated corpses on the ground, blood spraying everywhere.

The splattered scarlet blood had even reached the edge of her feet.

Izumi's pupils trembled faintly.

When she stiffly raised her head, she saw that Chisen-senpai was already holding his bloodstained Ninja Sword. He lightly shook the blood from its blade as he walked toward a young man of the Gekko Clan.

Izumi did not know what she was thinking.

As if possessed, she moved her feet over the wet ground, stepped through a pool of blood, and left a long trail of bloody footprints as she followed Uchiha Chisen into the Gekko Clan compound.

A voice had been warning her in Izumi's mind—once you go in, there will be no turning back. You cannot accept Uchiha Chisen's Absolute Justice.

But... she still followed closely behind Chisen-senpai.

And took out a Kunai.

Clutching it tightly in her hand.

"Phew, I finally got half a day off from Lord Hokage. It's been half a month since I last saw Mother. This is the perfect chance to pay respects to Father with Mother and Seisui."

As a member of the Third Hokage's directly subordinate Anbu, Gekko Hayate was carrying the offerings he had just bought as he headed toward the Gekko Clan compound.

However.

When he arrived before the clan compound, Gekko Hayate froze completely, and the offerings in his hands fell to the ground.

Before his eyes—

Many Konoha villagers had gathered around the entrance to the Gekko Clan compound, trying to crane their necks for a look inside. Yet they seemed wary of something and did not dare approach, only watching from afar.

Two headless corpses at the entrance were especially conspicuous, with two severed heads rolling beside them.

Their faces still bore bewildered expressions.

Gekko Hayate vaguely heard some villagers discussing something about the "Uchiha," the "Konoha Military Police Force"...

And he heard a name that made his pupils suddenly contract.

—"Uchiha Chisen"!!!

That was his...

Father's murderer!