Chapter 3: The Ninja World, Pervasive with "Evil"
Uchiha Ikeizumi's voice thundered in Izumi's ears.
She deeply inhaled the increasingly pungent smell of blood in the air.
As she slowly stood up, she could still hear the short man at her feet groaning, his cries growing weaker and weaker.
"I told you everything… Save me… Please, save me… Please, I don't want to die…"
Izumi pressed her lips together.
For a genin who had graduated from the Ninja Academy less than a month ago, this was too much stimulation and impact.
"Where's your house?" Knowing that the man was a beast who had killed his own daughter, Izumi no longer felt any empathy for him. She immediately interrogated him for his address to find the child's body.
When she faintly heard his weak voice give an address,
Izumi mustered her courage and turned to Uchiha Ikeizumi. "Senior, should we split up? I'll take him to Konoha Hospital, and you go find the child's body?"
Uchiha Ikeizumi said calmly, "New recruit, do you know what kind of punishment a person who commits murder while drunk receives here in Konoha?"
Izumi paused. "Li… life imprisonment?!"
Uchiha Ikeizumi shook his head. "It's ten years of imprisonment. After ten years, these utterly depraved villains will live freely in the sunlight again. Furthermore, if they behave well in prison, it might not even take ten years; they could be released in seven or eight."
"I ask you. Is such a punishment a deserved retribution?"
Izumi stammered, "Ten years… that's a bit short, isn't it? No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like a deserved retribution, does it?"
The moral compass of the mere twelve-year-old Uchiha genin girl instinctively told her that the sentence was too short.
Was the cost of murder in Konoha really so low?
Or was it…
That drunken murder could be forgiven?
"[Justice] that isn't absolutely executed is never truly justice, and evil will never receive its due punishment," Uchiha Ikeizumi stated. "There's no need to split up, and no need to take him to Konoha Hospital. Just take him directly to the address he just gave you."
"Oh, and."
Uchiha Ikeizumi took his ninja sword back from Izumi, sheathing the blood-stained blade, and added, "Remember to 'drag' him. You will drag this ninja world scum and follow behind me."
Izumi's face was filled with shock.
Senior Ikeizumi… he must be among the most extreme members of the Uchiha clan, right?
She swallowed hard, her gaze involuntarily drawn to the short man.
Drag him?
Hiss!
...
Izumi felt immense pressure right now.
Enduring the looks of terror or astonishment from civilians and ninjas alike, she gritted her teeth, pulled hard on the short man's collar, and tried her best to keep up with Uchiha Ikeizumi.
The short man's horrifying severed leg scraped continuously on the ground, and he screamed and struggled in terror.
Hearing it, Izumi felt utterly sick to her stomach.
But when she looked at the upright figure of Senior Uchiha Ikeizumi, recalling her hesitation during the interrogation and the suffocating feeling as his gaze grew colder…
Izumi could only try to harden her heart.
She didn't dare to look back, only imagining whether the short man's crimson blood was drawing a long line on the street.
Izumi felt the man's struggles become weaker and weaker.
She felt the looks from some Konoha civilians nearby, as if they were staring at an accomplice to a criminal.
She heard the screams grow softer and softer.
Until…
All movement ceased.
Izumi was suddenly startled. She hastily looked back, and in a fright, quickly told Uchiha Ikeizumi, "Senior Ikeizumi, he's in shock!"
Uchiha Ikeizumi paused his steps slightly. He didn't turn around, only asked softly, "Can you wake him up?"
"Let me see…"
Izumi cautiously checked the short man's breathing. Her heart trembled, and she nervously replied, "It seems… it's too late. He… this person, he's dead!!!"
Uchiha Ikeizumi said regretfully, "That's a shame."
Izumi couldn't help but be taken aback.
She then heard the senior continue, "He died too easily; it's not enough to atone for the sins he committed. My original plan was for you to drag him to his house. After retrieving the child's body, I intended to execute him in front of it."
"And," Uchiha Ikeizumi glanced back, "I was preparing to let you, the new recruit, get some practice."
Izumi was speechless.
"Se-Senior…" Izumi said weakly, "I've read the Police Force's Code of Conduct. It… it seems to mention that after apprehending a criminal, private punishment is not permitted. This seems to be a rule added by Lord Hokage to the Police Force's manual."
Uchiha Ikeizumi asked, "New recruit, do you believe that the esteemed Third Hokage represents [Justice]?"
Izumi dared not speak.
Uchiha Ikeizumi gazed at the girl, who was only half Uchiha by blood, and slowly said, "To be a good Police Force member, you must first know who the enemy of [Justice] is. All 'evil' in the ninja world is an enemy of [Justice]."
"The ninja world has been riddled with countless 'evils,' scarred beyond recognition. Only by executing [Justice] with absolute and thorough means can we set the ninja world back on its right course."
In… including Lord Hokage? —This sentence, Izumi only dared to filter through her mind; she didn't dare to utter it.
"Including the Hokage."
The next second, Uchiha Ikeizumi, as if he could read minds, spoke this astonishing and unapologetic statement.
Izumi was utterly dumbfounded.
...
What Izumi didn't know was that the moment the short man died from going into shock due to excessive blood loss,
A golden finger prompt appeared before Uchiha Ikeizumi's eyes.
[Ding! You have successfully killed a "Red Name" villain! Your chakra has received a minor amplification! Congratulations, you have successfully dropped: Gambling Skill EXP Book x2]
[Name: Uchiha Ikeizumi]
[Age: Eighteen]
[Status: Konoha Uchiha Police Force Member]
[Strength: Jonin]
[Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan, Lava Release]
[Taijutsu: Uchiha Style Swordplay, Shurikenjutsu, Kunai Combat Arts…]
[Ninjutsu: Great Fireball Jutsu, Phoenix Sage Fire Jutsu, Great Fire Annihilation, Mind Transfer Jutsu…]
[Other: Cooking, Calligraphy, Gambling Skills, Bedroom Arts…]
[…]
This was the "golden finger" Uchiha Ikeizumi had awakened when he first transmigrated to Konoha.
He could see everyone's "evil," whether it was evil they had committed in the past or evil they were about to commit in the future; he could see it all clearly.
Those who had committed unforgivable evil would have a crimson red box suspended above their heads, referred to as [Red Name].
Those who would commit unforgivable evil in the future would have a white box suspended above their heads, referred to as [White Name].
After killing them…
In addition to gaining a certain amplification of his chakra, he could also seize any ninjutsu, taijutsu, Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, skill experience, and so on from them.
The characteristics of this "golden finger" perfectly matched Uchiha Ikeizumi's adherence to [Absolute Justice].
In just a few short years, his hands had been stained with the blood of countless villains.
He had even worn out several ninja swords.
As for "Lava Release" in the [Kekkei Genkai] section, it was a beginner's gift package opened when the golden finger awakened.
The golden finger's description of the package was—A greeting from a follower of [Absolute Justice] from the sea.