At that moment, Deva Path Pain spoke: "He is a very dangerous shinobi. The path he believes in is also an extremely dangerous ideology to us. Absolute Justice and Akatsuki's ultimate goals are inherently in conflict."
"This latent threat must be eliminated as a priority. Anywhere in the shinobi world, if any of you encounter Uchiha Keizumi, you may assassinate him on sight. If you lack confidence, contact me by ring."
Uchiha Obito suddenly cut in, his voice hoarse as ever, still posing as Uchiha Madara.
"That newcomer who came into contact with that Uchiha brat—doesn't he know roughly where the brat is? Through him, couldn't we easily learn the precise location?"
Placed in the past, such a tone would have made Konan uneasy.
After all, this was the legendary ninja.
But the current Konan only let a faint, cold smile touch her lips as she listened.
She did not interrupt Obito, allowing him to continue posturing here.
"Most likely the newcomer is being coerced by Uchiha Keizumi," Deva Path Pain said. "Without Uchiha Keizumi's permission, he can't even meet with other members."
"Hehe, so this is an order to hunt down Uchiha Keizumi…" Orochimaru licked his lips and interjected, "Why not change tactics—can we capture him alive?"
All eyes turned to him.
Orochimaru continued in a sinister tone: "If any of you can capture Uchiha Keizumi alive, bring him to me. I can offer a significant price for his capture. I have long coveted his body."
The final ambiguous words sent a chill through Uchiha Obito.
Deva Path Pain was silent for two seconds before speaking. "…Agreed."
…
"Hehe, this just got interesting." Orochimaru unilaterally broke off the illusionary projection and narrowed his eyes: "Why did that righteous brat run off to the Land of Rain?"
Orochimaru suspected the other party knew he had joined Akatsuki and had gone hunting him by going to Akatsuki.
That would fit the brat's style. Even when he was still weak, he acted with such ruthless decisiveness.
If so… perhaps Uchiha Keizumi stole some secret intelligence about him from that new spy.
But the brat did not know much, otherwise he would not have gone straight to the Land of Rain—he would have come directly to this human experiment research base.
With that thought, Orochimaru grew less anxious.
"I just wonder, between the famed Mangekyō Sharingan of the Uchiha clan and that eye only a sage can possess…"
"Which is stronger?"
The greed and covetousness in Orochimaru's eyes could not be concealed.
Whether it was the Rinnegan of Akatsuki's leader, or Uchiha Keizumi's Mangekyō, he wanted both in his hands.
Unfortunately…
The Rinnegan was likely hopeless. The power that eye possessed was not something he could handle at present.
On the contrary, Uchiha Keizumi's Mangekyō was something to look forward to.
Especially since that brat was already under Akatsuki's kill order.
"Better not let him get killed!"
"Hehe…"
…
Konohagakure.
When the lingering smoke and dust gradually cleared, Tsunade's frosty expression was laid bare directly before Utatane Koharu.
Koharu had never expected that one day Tsunade would reveal such an icy attitude toward her.
Moreover, she was actually forcing her to release the captives in a tone of threat!
From Tsunade's overbearing stance, it was clear to see—
If she did not release them…
Tsunade would take action!
Realizing suddenly that the death of Sarutobi Nadeshiko was not so simple, Utatane Koharu's aged face grew all the more unsettled. She had the impression that the entire Konohagakure was saying she had been in the wrong.
As if not a single person believed Uchiha Keizumi was the murderer, as if no one thought Uchiha Keizumi could make a mistake.
Was she truly the only one in the whole of Konohagakure who was still clear-headed?
Drawing a deep breath, Utatane Koharu spoke to Tsunade: "Root will not release them, because this was Hiruzen's order. Besides…"
Koharu added a few words: "My Root is not Danzō's Root. My subordinates are not that extreme."
She knew that saying this was already showing a somewhat softened stance, implying she would not subject the believers of Absolute Justice to cruel torture.
After all, the pressure from one of the Legendary Sannin like Tsunade was quite heavy.
All the more since even Jiraiya seemed to feel that Root's actions were inappropriate.
The combined pressure of two of the Sannin forced Utatane Koharu to give ground.
"You're getting old—if you've gone hard of hearing, I can treat you for that."
But Tsunade unexpectedly said this: "I said, release them."
When Tsunade stepped forward a few paces, several Root shinobi simultaneously shifted slightly closer to Utatane Koharu's position.
Koharu's face darkened, and she spoke unwillingly: "Tsunade, you're already over 40. By rights, you should scorn Uchiha Keizumi's kind of black-and-white justice."
"Why do you choose to stand on his side? Your grandfather was the First Hokage, and the Will of Fire was what your grandfather left behind. Do you mean to betray the Will of Fire and believe in Absolute Justice?"
Tsunade said expressionlessly: "The Will of Fire has its limits. When you realize it has limits, yet refuse to improve it, instead stubbornly clinging to those old rules and old thoughts…"
"Only you old fossils would do such a thing."
These words, which in the eyes of others were utterly heretical, left Utatane Koharu and Jiraiya both dumbfounded.
This…
If Tsunade spoke any more harshly, it would practically mean overthrowing the First Hokage's Will of Fire!
"Koharu-sama?"
Seeing this member of the Konohagakure Sannin drawing ever closer, a Root shinobi had already retreated to Utatane Koharu's side.
"…"
Utatane Koharu grit her teeth, feeling the hostility radiating from Tsunade.
Then she glanced at Jiraiya, not far off—even if he would not strike hard together with Tsunade, he would certainly not stand with Root.
"…Release them!"
Utatane Koharu could only force down the grievance in her chest to say these two words.
In the past, at most she had conceded only under Uchiha Keizumi's coercion.
But now...
Faced with the pressure of other believers of Absolute Justice besides Uchiha Keizumi, she actually had no choice but to give way!
The suffocation and fury in her chest nearly left her breathless.
The Root shinobi exchanged glances, but could only obey Utatane Koharu's command, releasing Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Neji.
Falling to the ground, Sasuke immediately ran to support Neji.
"Cough, cough…"
When Tsunade had landed heavily, Neji had already been jolted awake. He endured the pain in his abdomen, coughing heavily a few times, then lifted his head and said to Tsunade: "Tsunade-sama…"
"Isn't it also a crime for Root shinobi to deliberately harm others?"
Tsunade's gaze fell on Neji.
Then she glanced again at Utatane Koharu, whose face had suddenly darkened even further.
"A little brat of the Hyūga clan, always eager to stir up trouble, are you?"
Tsunade's lips curled upward.
"Of course it is!"
Under Utatane Koharu's wide-eyed, incredulous gaze, Tsunade spoke words that shocked without fail, pointedly saying: "Not only are those Root shinobi who harmed this brat guilty of evil; the ones who indulged and ordered those Root shinobi to cause harm are likewise guilty of evil."
"All of them, from top to bottom, must pay the proper price for this. And this is not even some rule privately altered by [Absolute Justice], because this is the real, solid law of the Land of Fire!"
At this point, Tsunade's gaze once again fell on Utatane Koharu.
She spoke without the slightest scruple: "Old woman, as the leader of Root, you indulged your subordinates in harming others. By the law of the Land of Fire, even if you didn't act yourself, you are still one of the masterminds."
"My suggestion is that you make a trip to the Uchiha Police Force."
"As for those subordinates of yours who harmed others…"
"They need even more to 'report' themselves to the Police Force. I give you only two choices: either go and surrender yourselves, or be thrown in by me."
Tsunade's words, without the slightest concealment of her own stance and without the slightest mercy, left Utatane Koharu trembling all over in fury.
She had clearly already yielded, had even agreed to release the person, so why did Tsunade still insist on clamping down on her without letting go?
How was this behavior any different from Uchiha Keizumi's mad-dog ways of clamping onto someone and never letting go?
She was absolutely imitating Uchiha Keizumi!
"Tsunade, don't go too far…" Utatane Koharu took a deep breath, gritting her teeth as she said: "Even if I myself voluntarily went to the Uchiha Police Force to turn myself in, do you think the Police Force would dare to keep me? Do you think Uchiha Fugaku would dare to throw me into the Konohagakure prison? You clinging onto me like this is nothing but useless effort!"
Hm?
Wait a moment…
Utatane Koharu's expression suddenly changed—she actually let herself be led astray by Tsunade, actually felt as if she had really committed a crime!
"What's there to be afraid of, meow? If coward-eyes Fugaku doesn't dare keep you, doesn't dare throw you into the Konohagakure prison, that's indeed reasonable enough. But me, I'm not afraid of you, you old thing, meow!"
A sudden voice rang in the ears of everyone present.
The tone sounded exceedingly strange, not like the voice of a human.
And at that moment.
One figure after another flashed closer, sealing off all four directions front, back, left, and right.
Utatane Koharu hurriedly looked around.
Her pupils shrank slightly.
Everywhere she looked, more and more Uchiha Police Force shinobi were rushing over from who knew where after receiving the news, encircling Utatane Koharu and the several Root shinobi with her in a tight ring!
Every single Police Force shinobi was fully armed, carrying all sorts of ninja tools on their bodies, with numerous scrolls and explosive tags hanging from their waists, and several had even summoned their own contracted beasts.
Anyone who didn't know better would think they were headed out to fight on some battlefield of the ninja world.
Utatane Koharu even saw on the shoulder of one Police Force shinobi a very fat orange cat.
That orange cat looked rather bedraggled, its fur messy, covered with fallen leaves and dead branches.
It seemed as if it had hurried back into the village from outside, and without the slightest hesitation had immediately run to the Police Force to call in reinforcements.
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