Chapter 36: Justice Over Kin

Keizumi and Izumi returned to the Uchiha clan compound. The light drizzle had finally ceased.

Izumi shook the water off her hair, her unease growing, and followed Keizumi-senpai into the Police Force building.

Then she watched as Keizumi-senpai pushed the door open without knocking and strode straight into Clan Head Fugaku's Police Force office.

Left with no choice, Izumi steeled herself and followed.

"Fugaku-sama," she greeted politely. But she noticed that Keizumi-senpai remained silent.

"Hm."

Fugaku gave Izumi a brief nod, then looked toward Uchiha Keizumi. His expression was still stiff, but his eyes were filled with complex emotion.

"Keizumi, I have some bad news. You might want to prepare yourself mentally."

"Go on," Uchiha Keizumi said bluntly.

Fugaku hesitated, then asked, "Do you know 'Uchiha Onigawara'?"

Uchiha Keizumi lifted his eyelids slightly.

Fugaku sighed, a shadow clouding his expression, and slowly said, "He's in trouble. A month ago, he left the village with two comrades on a mission. But only he returned. His excuse at the time was that both of his teammates were killed by the enemy."

"But after the Police Force conducted an investigation, we found that it was actually he who killed them. And it wasn't in self-defense—it was a deliberate, sadistic murder driven by some kind of twisted malice."

"Keizumi, he's related to you by blood. That's the only reason I called you here—I wanted to ask for your opinion."

If it had been an ordinary member of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku could have handled the matter himself.

But—

When the person involved was connected to Uchiha Keizumi,

Things weren't so simple.

'Related to Keizumi-senpai by blood…?'

Izumi was stunned. She had always assumed that Keizumi-senpai was completely alone within the Uchiha clan, without any family ties.

"Meow, that's only because Keizumi-sama can't be bothered to maintain contact with them."

Jirō immediately saw through the curiosity she couldn't quite hide.

He leapt onto the girl's shoulder, and the weight made Izumi's left shoulder sink noticeably.

Jirō whispered, "Uchiha Onigawara was the younger brother of Keizumi-sama's late mother. He's not a member of the Uchiha Police Force—he's actually a shinobi in the ANBU, like Uchiha Itachi."

"But due to some irregularities in a mission a month ago, and the strange circumstances surrounding the deaths of his teammates, he was temporarily suspended and is under investigation."

Izumi suddenly understood.

Only now did she realize how much bizarre and detailed intel this ninja cat senpai possessed.

He even knew things like this!

"Is the evidence conclusive?"

Uchiha Keizumi asked flatly, not even showing the slightest doubt. Fugaku couldn't detect even a flicker of anger on the young man's face.

Fugaku replied, "That's what his confession says."

"Then kill him."

"…Alright—huh?!"

Fugaku suddenly reacted.

For the first time, that stiff, paralyzed face of his twitched with surprise. He looked at Uchiha Keizumi in astonishment and reminded him,

"Keizumi, he's your mother's younger brother. By family ranking, he's your uncle. You're his nephew."

Uchiha Keizumi asked, "And what does that have to do with 'kill him'?"

Fugaku was momentarily stunned. He hesitated, then said, "Shouldn't you at least go see him with your own eyes? Just in case this was a misjudgment?"

Keizumi replied, "If a case this simple can be misjudged, the Police Force might as well disband."

Fugaku: "…"

For a moment, he couldn't quite figure Keizumi out. Could he really be this cold-blooded, even toward someone related to him by blood?

But—

Thinking it over, he realized he had never actually seen Uchiha Keizumi interact with any blood relatives. There wasn't any precedent from which to infer Keizumi's attitude.

Now, Fugaku understood—

Even when facing his own kin, Uchiha Keizumi wouldn't hesitate to swing the blade.

But then he heard Keizumi say: "If I let him live simply because we're closely related, then Absolute Justice would become a laughingstock in the shinobi world."

So it was because of that again—

Because of his unwavering belief in Absolute Justice?

Fugaku fell silent for a while, then slowly said, "Keizumi, you should still—"

[—BOOM!!!]

A sudden explosion shook the Police Force building. The roar was so loud it cut off whatever Fugaku was about to say.

Fugaku's face shifted slightly.

Izumi nearly lost her balance.

A member of the Police Force burst in, breathless and panicked, shouting, "Fugaku-sama! It's happened! Uchiha Onigawara killed one of the clan members guarding him, broke through the wall of the detention room, and escaped!"

Fugaku shot to his feet.

His expression was extremely grim.

While many Uchiha clan members had unstable mental states, someone like Uchiha Onigawara—who not only sadistically murdered his ANBU teammates, but also killed a fellow clan member just to escape detention—was an outlier so extreme, you might not see one like him in a decade.

What shocked Fugaku even more was how bold he had been!

Doing something like this meant he was essentially tearing all ties with both the village and the Uchiha clan.

That meant only one thing—

Uchiha Onigawara was defecting from Konohagakure!

And at a time like this, when tensions between the village and the Uchiha were already dangerously high…

If a single Uchiha ninja defected from the village,

The entire clan wouldn't be able to clear their name even if they jumped into a river.

"Order the entire Police Force to mobilize! Capture Uchiha Onigawara!" Fugaku growled through clenched teeth, his face dark.

"No matter the cost—he must be stopped before he leaves the village!"

"Keizumi, you also—hm?"

Only then did Fugaku realize, stunned, that Uchiha Keizumi—who had been in the office just moments ago—was already gone.

"Meow. Keizumi-sama left five seconds ago,"

Jirō said, calmly licking his paw.

...

"Huff... Huff..."

A disheveled figure was hiding in a shadowy alley within the Uchiha clan compound, struggling to steady his breathing, trying to suppress his presence as much as possible.

A bead of sweat slid slowly down his cheek. The corners of his eyes—lined with faint crow's feet—narrowed slightly.

His crimson Sharingan, marked with three tomoe, was carefully scanning his surroundings for any sign of movement.

"It's already been three minutes. Why hasn't that guy come out to meet me yet…? Didn't he say this was the agreed-upon time?"

Uchiha Onigawara gritted his teeth and squeezed out a muttered sentence only he could hear.

His tone was full of frustration and anxiety.

As soon as he noticed a flicker of movement in the distance, he shifted even deeper into the shadows, tucking himself into a blind spot from multiple angles—just enough to barely conceal his presence.

"Damn it, where the hell are you?!"

To escape from the detention cell inside the Police Force Headquarters, he had killed a fellow Uchiha officer. The Police Force must have already mobilized in full force to hunt him down.

If that man didn't show up soon...

He would definitely be captured!

Fragments of memory flashed through Uchiha Onigawara's mind—back when his crimes had been exposed and he was suspended by the ANBU for investigation.

That was when a young man wearing a bizarre mask approached him.

"Heh heh... Uchiha Onigawara, you tortured and murdered two of your own comrades. Do you really think those idiot shinobi in Konoha would still have a place for someone like you? What awaits you is twenty years in prison? Thirty? Or maybe life?"

"I won't lie to you. Precisely because your special bloodline holds value, the great lord wishes for you to join us. He promises that your... sadistic tendencies will be fully indulged under our banner."

"All you need to do is leave Konoha. Is there really anything left here worth your attachment? As long as you're willing to defect, I'll be there to pick you up at the right moment."

"Oh, right. Almost forgot—I'm sure you're no stranger to the identity of that lord."

At the time, Uchiha Onigawara didn't know who the man really was.

But for someone to bypass the surveillance around him and meet face to face—this was no ordinary operative.

Until he saw a small white snake slither out from the man's sleeve...

That was when Uchiha Onigawara realized who had extended this olive branch.

As a proud member of the Uchiha clan, Uchiha Onigawara had no intention of serving under a Konoha rogue. Once the 'spy' planted in Konoha came to extract him from the village, he fully intended to kill that spy and disappear from the village forever!

"Tch... my special bloodline..."

Uchiha Onigawara's eyes narrowed.

"They're really after that brat Keizumi's Lava Release kekkei genkai. But since they don't dare make a move on him, they're settling for me instead, huh?"

Truth be told, he had no idea why his overly extreme nephew possessed two kekkei genkai.

After all, neither he nor his late sister and brother-in-law had ever awakened any Lava Release.

Of course, that didn't stop Uchiha Onigawara from trying to use Orochimaru's spy to flee Konoha.

But still...

"Where the hell is he?!"

Just as Uchiha Onigawara clenched his jaw in mounting rage, his three-tomoe Sharingan caught a glimpse—of a single drop of blood-red 'rainwater' falling from the sky.

[Drip—]

A bloom of crimson spread out on the damp ground beneath his feet. In that instant, Uchiha Onigawara's gaze sharpened.

He jerked his head upward.

And just then, a shadow plummeted from above at high speed.

Reacting on instinct, Uchiha Onigawara lunged forward and caught the falling form, afraid the noise might alert the Police Force and bring them swarming down on him.

"This is..."

But as soon as his hand made contact, his pupils constricted in horror—for what he had caught was a still-warm corpse!

Blood was pouring from the neck. The mask on the face slid off, revealing a frozen expression of terror.

Uchiha Onigawara broke out in a cold sweat.

He didn't recognize the face, but he did recognize the mask—the same mask worn by Orochimaru's spy in Konoha, the one who had contacted him just half a month ago and offered him a chance at escape.

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