Chapter 4: The One Who Hurt Her Is The Father She Loves
“Hokage, the Uchiha Police Force needs to be reined in!”
Inside the Hokage’s Office Building.
Sarutobi Hiruzen, having just processed half of his official duties documents, was patiently listening to a ninja’s complaint: “Today, people from the Uchiha Police Force injured someone on the street in broad daylight! They severed a civilian’s leg and dragged him through the street in a ‘parade,’ leaving a trail of blood for several hundred meters.”
“Many villagers saw this scene, and many children saw it too. Hokage, doesn’t the Uchiha Police Force’s behavior seem to have gone beyond the scope of enforcers?”
“Enforcers like this will only make everyone in the village more uneasy, right?”
A ninja who held no significant position in the village and had no extraordinary strength… could come directly to complain to the Hokage solely because he also bore the name “Sarutobi.”
He was a junior from the Hokage’s clan.
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned and immediately asked: “How is the injured person who was dragged doing?”
The ninja shook his head and replied: “When I saw the Uchiha acting so arrogantly, I couldn’t help but rush over to find you, Hokage. I didn’t notice the injured person’s condition. However…”
“If a person’s leg is severed and they don’t receive timely treatment, they might not survive more than a few minutes.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen’s brows furrowed tightly.
At that moment, he suddenly thought of something and asked again: “Who were the Uchiha clan members present?”
The ninja hesitated and said: “It was Uchiha Ikeizumi… Besides him, there was an Uchiha girl I don’t know.”
“Ikeizumi?”
Sarutobi Hiruzen’s brows relaxed.
Under the stunned gaze of the clan junior, Sarutobi Hiruzen clasped his hands behind his back and said darkly: “If it was Ikeizumi, then he must have had his reasons for doing so.”
“Hokage, but…”
Sarutobi Hiruzen interrupted directly: “You rushed over here in such a hurry to tell me about this because you think Uchiha Ikeizumi’s behavior will affect your bathhouse business, right?”
“Go back! This is a Police Force matter. I believe Ikeizumi will soon give me an explanation. After all, he has always been so unique and independent.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, characterizing Uchiha Ikeizumi’s actions: “Ikeizumi’s methods are indeed extreme. But over these years, he has never done anything that violates principles.”
“…Yes, Hokage.”
The Sarutobi Clan junior, having failed in his complaint, could only leave dejectedly.
“Ikeizumi…”
Sarutobi Hiruzen walked to the bedside and looked out the window.
“Do you love the Will of Fire more, or the 「Absolute Justice」 you speak of? I’ve always felt that you and Itachi are the same kind of people—Uchiha who deeply love the village!”
He murmured to himself.
……
Meanwhile.
In a remote standalone civilian house in Konoha, Izumi was breathing slightly heavily as she released the corpse whose skin had been worn raw.
She had originally wanted to leave the short man’s corpse there temporarily.
But without orders from her senior…
Izumi worried that arbitrarily discarding the criminal’s corpse might anger her senior.
So…
She could only mutter “sorry” in her heart while gritting her teeth and enduring the discomfort to drag the corpse, following Uchiha Ikeizumi.
Until they arrived at the short man’s home.
She didn’t even dare to look back at the criminal’s corpse.
Presumably…
It was quite horrific.
“Do you think he was pitiful?” Uchiha Ikeizumi saw through the girl’s thoughts at a glance; the expressions on Izumi’s face couldn’t hide her feelings. He said: “There are even more pitiful ones still in that dry well.”
He looked at the dry well covered by a cement slab, his tone slightly heavy as he instructed: “Retrieve the child’s corpse from the dry well.”
Izumi was startled by Uchiha Ikeizumi’s voice.
“Yes! Senior!”
She trotted over and suddenly smelled a pungent odor.
This… was the stench of a corpse?
Izumi steeled herself psychologically and carefully moved the cement slab. The pungent smell was fully released, startling her into holding her breath instinctively, though her eyes still stung a bit.
She gritted her teeth.
Flipped over and jumped in.
Just before reaching the bottom, Izumi used her chakra tree-walking technique to make her feet adhere to the well wall, avoiding accidentally stepping on the child’s corpse in the dry well.
With the sunlight shining in, she saw a cotton quilt at the bottom, bundled into a ball shape with something inside.
She had a faint guess in her heart.
Not long after.
Izumi emerged from the dry well carrying the cotton quilt that emitted a strong stench, and quietly placed it gently on the ground.
“If you want to vomit, go ahead. The first time smelling corpse stench is like this—even some ninja who kill without blinking can’t resist their body’s physiological reaction.” Uchiha Ikeizumi glanced at the girl’s delicate face, her features almost twisting together.
Izumi shook her head pallidly.
She couldn’t explain it, but instinctively felt she shouldn’t do something so undignified in front of such a pitiful child.
Even if…
This child was already dead.
Then, Izumi saw Uchiha Ikeizumi walk over. She watched as this senior squatted down and unwrapped the bundled cotton quilt.
Izumi’s pupils trembled.
She quickly turned her head away.
—She vomited.
Even though she didn’t want to, and even felt empathy and sadness in her heart. But that physiological nausea made her unable to control it, and she directly vomited up this morning’s breakfast.
“Look at her.” Uchiha Ikeizumi said: “Don’t look away.”
Izumi wiped her mouth.
She turned her head back, her trembling gaze falling on the small corpse.
Uchiha Ikeizumi said while squatting: “There are no fewer than a dozen blunt trauma marks on the body; hands and feet have multiple fractures; many areas are bloody and mangled; nose, ears, and mouth corners have bleeding traces—internal organs are probably severely damaged.”
He stood up and continued: “The fatal wound is the strangulation marks on the neck. This child died in great pain, enduring at least an hour of torment before death.”
Izumi murmured in shock: “An hour… If this child had cried out loudly during that hour, someone should have come to save her, right? There are neighbors nearby too…”
Uchiha Ikeizumi simply said: “The one who hurt her was her biological father. Maybe for her, her father was the person she loved most.”
Izumi was stunned.
“Uchiha Izumi.”
“Ah? Yes!!!” Izumi hurriedly stood straight and shouted.
Uchiha Ikeizumi stared into the girl’s eyes, asking word by word: “Do you still think that man was pitiful now?”
Izumi pursed her lips, lowering her head.
“Senior, I was wrong.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi said: “What the Uchiha Police Force must do is eradicate all such ‘evils’ completely. Only by executing our 「justice」 with absolute thoroughness can we overpower the pathological unhealthy trends in the Ninja World.”
“Take the two corpses back to the Police Force. Your performance today was not up to par, but fortunately not to the point where I want to kill you. Tomorrow, meet at Ichiraku Ramen Shop.”
Izumi shivered.
“Yes, senior.”
……
……
