https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-41-Justice-That-s-Already-Late-Cannot-Be-Late-Any-Longer/13687553/
https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-43-You-re-Not-Regretting-You-re-Just-Afraid-of-Dying/13687555/
Chapter 42: Training the Successor of Absolute Justice?
When Hiruzen Sarutobi returned, a member of the Hiruzen clan stepped forward to greet him—only to freeze in place as a figure emerged from the distance, clad in the uniform of the Uchiha Police Force.
His pupils contracted sharply. Without hesitation, he turned to Hiruzen Sarutobi, voice trembling:
"Hokage-sama… that man…"
"Leave him be."
Hiruzen Sarutobi’s expression remained stoic, but his tone betrayed a tension beneath the surface—like someone holding back a storm.
Silently, he walked to the coffin of Hiruzen Shintetsu and stood beside his daughter-in-law, Hiruzen Fumiko, lingering at her back.
Then came Fumiko’s voice, calm yet edged with quiet resolve:
"Hokage-sama, there’s no need for you to worry about me. I’ve calmed down. Everything… everything must be for the village’s greater good, isn’t that right?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long moment. A flicker of guilt stirred within him—but only a faint one.
"I have my reasons, Fumiko. You know as well as I do what the Leaf Village has become. We need a fearsome presence to deter outsiders.
After Shouma fell, Orochimaru fled, Jiraiya left, Tsunade departed… and now Shisui is gone.
Uchiha Iizumi is one of the few remaining pillars holding the village together."
He paused, then added:
"And… his very existence serves as a warning to those with ambitions—within the clan itself."
He turned slightly, voice low.
"Even if Shintetsu were to return, he would do the same. You and he were both my right hands. He understood me. You must understand me too."
Fumiko gave a gentle nod.
"Hokage-sama… I understand."
Hiruzen sighed deeply.
"For the village’s sake… you’ve endured much."
Then, turning to the crowd, he issued a sharp warning to the enraged members of the Hiruzen clan who had stirred at the sight of Iizumi:
"None of you move! He’s only here to apprehend a criminal!"
---
Yamada Toshikuro had also seen him.
Even though he believed his identity was secure, his body reacted on instinct—retreating a few steps, pressing himself into the shadows behind the crowd.
"Damn it… I remember now!"
A fellow clan member gasped, voice cracking in sudden realization:
"Uchiha Iizumi… wasn’t he the one from the Uchiha Police Force? The… the plague of the village? Oh no—wait… is he… coming this way?"
Toshikuro’s heart stopped.
Cold sweat flooded his palms.
And then, like a death knell, Iizumi’s voice cut through the rain-drenched air—calm, emotionless, merciless:
"Yamada Toshikuro. Debt-ridden. Four years ago, after his elder brother, Yamada Toshikuro, passed away, he attempted to seize the inheritance. Failed. In rage, he murdered his brother’s wife and daughter, dismembered them, and dumped the remains."
The words struck like a blade.
Toshikuro’s breath hitched. His body went rigid.
He saw his companions recoil in horror, scrambling away from him—some even stepping aside to clear a path for Iizumi, exposing him completely.
He could only stare, frozen, as Iizumi stopped two meters away, silent and unmoving.
He dared not meet the eyes of the young man—only a few years older than himself—whose presence radiated cold, unblinking authority.
The drizzle did nothing to soothe the terror clawing at his soul.
He wiped rain from his face, throat dry, voice cracking as he forced out:
"I… I don’t understand what you’re saying…"
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Present!"
Izumi stepped forward from behind, snapping to attention.
"Interrogation."
Izumi flinched—then took a deep breath, steeling herself.
"Yes, Senior!"
She knew what “interrogation” meant.
She’d experienced it herself on her first meeting with Iizumi—being ordered to question a prisoner in broad daylight, using brutal, bloody methods.
This time…
It would be the same.
And worse—this time, she was doing it under the watchful gaze of the Hokage, in full view of the entire village.
A test.
A trial.
She was terrified—but not as much as she would be if she disobeyed her senior.
Then she remembered the broken bones—two small bodies, reduced to splinters.
Her hesitation vanished.
She drew her kunai.
Stepped forward.
"Hey! W-what are you doing?!"
Toshikuro flinched, stumbling backward—only to realize the girl’s gaze was unyielding, her pace relentless.
"Two choices," Izumi said, her voice colder than the rain.
"First: you refuse to cooperate. I kill you. Yamanaka Clan will extract your memories.
Second: you confess everything—everything you did four years ago."
"I said I don’t—AHHHHHH!!"
Toshikuro screamed as a searing pain tore through his groin. He collapsed to his knees, face pale with agony.
"You have thirty seconds to decide," Izumi said, then kicked him hard into the mud.
Her eyes narrowed.
With a swift motion, she plunged her kunai through his left palm, pinning it to the ground.
"AAAAAAH!!!"
"Twenty-nine."
Recalling the image of shattered bone, she twisted the blade—slicing off half his hand in a single motion.
"Twenty-eight."
She flicked the blade—his ear flew into the air, blood spraying before the rain washed it away.
"Twenty-seven."
...
"Hokage-sama! This is torture! They’re torturing someone—right here, during Shintetsu’s funeral, in front of you!"
A close friend of Hiruzen Shintetsu shouted, horror-stricken.
"This is coercion! He might be innocent! But under this pain, he’ll confess to anything!"
"This is—"
Hiruzen Sarutobi turned, hands clasped behind his back, eyes fixed on the distant figure.
He cut in, voice quiet but firm:
"Uchiha Iizumi has disappointed me in many ways. But in matters of justice—no matter how extreme his methods—his results have never failed to speak for themselves."
He paused, watching the girl’s silhouette.
"Whenever Iizumi declares someone guilty… they are guilty. He has never been wrong."
His voice dropped to a whisper, almost lost in the storm.
"Are you… preparing a successor for Absolute Justice, Iizumi?"
The man’s shock was evident.
The Hokage was defending the killer of his own son?
And worse—was he glorifying him?
How could anyone be never wrong?
---
"AAAAAAH! I ADMIT IT! I ADMIT IT!"
The man’s body broke under pressure.
A civilian’s bones were no match for the will of a shinobi—especially not under the weight of the Uchiha Investigation Corps’ presence.
The psychological barrier he’d already weakened by Iizumi’s arrival shattered completely.
Tears and snot streamed down his face as he screamed:
"Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!"
"I… I did kill my brother’s wife and daughter! Who cared? That woman refused to lend me money when I begged her—she said, ‘No one who gambles should get help!’"
"They were cold! Heartless! They didn’t care about family!"
"No—wait! They weren’t even family! They were outsiders! They just wanted to steal my brother’s inheritance!"
His voice rose in fury, spiraling into rage:
"I was cleaning up the family! I did nothing wrong! Why are you arresting me?!"
"Why not go after the woman who stole my brother’s estate?!"
"The Root… it’s unfair! You’re all unfair!"
In his anger, he raised his head—only to lock eyes with a pair of crimson Sharingan, spinning with three tomoe.
His entire world dissolved into red.
His vision filled with the Sharingan’s gaze—no escape.
From fury, his face twisted into pure terror.
He saw something no one else could.
"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!"
Izumi froze—then realized: her senior had just implanted a genjutsu.
She didn’t know what Toshikuro saw—what horrors he endured in that illusion.
But she didn’t care.
He had brought this on himself.
"Newcomer," Iizumi said, voice low and grim, "this is the true face of evil in the Ninja World.
Even when Justice stands at their throats, they still refuse to repent.
Mercy is meaningless.
Only justice can speak for the dead."
She turned her head slightly, voice like ice:
"Use your Absolute Justice.
Kill him."
...
...
(End of Chapter)
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