With the Fire Daimyo's full backing, wanted posters were plastered all across the capital.
They immediately drew massive attention.
A bounty of 50 million ryo—that number alone stunned everyone.
But what really sent shockwaves was what the "criminal" had done.
Dozens of nobles—killed.
The prestigious Yuki clan—wiped out in less than half a day.
Some people, driven by curiosity, made their way to the Yuki clan estate.
But the moment they got close, they were hit by a thick, choking stench of blood.
Even getting a whiff made some people visibly pale.
And when someone dared peek through the gates for a better look, they staggered back, completely horrified.
The posters weren't exaggerating—one of the country's most powerful clans had practically been erased.
"Fifty million ryo?! If I took that ninja freak's head to the palace, I'd be set for life!"
"Yeah, if you can even survive the attempt. This guy's a shinobi, remember? That kind of bounty isn't for average people like us."
"Obviously the Daimyo's trying to draw in every ninja in the capital to take this guy down."
"But we don't even have a name. No age. Just a few vague features and a sketch that looks like a kid's drawing. Who's supposed to find him?"
"Whatever, man—just hope this psycho doesn't come after regular folks like us."
"A guy, a girl, and… a cat? Why does that sound so familiar?"
While the commoners gossiped, laughed, or nervously speculated, the nobles weren't laughing at all.
In a flurry, they rushed to the Daimyo's estate. When they arrived, they found the Fire Daimyo looking exhausted.
"My lord," one elderly noble barked, "who is this maniac?! What does he want? Is he from another village? Is he… a ninja from Konoha?!"
"Daimyō-sama, we can't sit still while someone is targeting our class!"
The Daimyo took a long breath.
"I wish I knew the answers too," he said. "But I don't. That's why I put out a 50 million ryo bounty. The Land of Fire can't afford to sit around and hope for the best."
He narrowed his eyes at the nobles in front of him.
"I know a lot of you have secretly hired powerful ninja. It's time you stepped up."
"You all understand the principle—'if the lips perish, the teeth feel the cold.'
The Yuki clan is gone. That means the rest of you could be next…"
"Or worse… I could be next."
"We have to unite if we're going to survive this."
His words made the room fall quiet.
None of the nobles were eager to send their personal bodyguards out hunting some blood-soaked lunatic.
They paid those ninja to protect their own lives, not to chase criminals.
"What if someone attacks us while our bodyguards are away?!"
One of the nobles finally spoke up. "My lord, don't you have the Guardian Twelve? They're supposed to be elite shinobi. Why not send them after the guy? Shouldn't be hard for them, right?"
The Daimyo didn't reply immediately.
If the Guardian Twelve were still alive and loyal, would he be this panicked?
But of course, he couldn't say that out loud. That would make him look weak.
"They've already been sent out," he said with a straight face.
"But trying to catch a single shinobi in a city this big is like finding a needle in a haystack. That's why we need your help."
"You've all seen what happened to the Yuki clan."
"Then why not ask Konoha?" someone interrupted. "We've got the tech to reach them now. Ask if they recognize the guy."
The room went silent again.
After a moment, the Daimyo nodded and whispered to one of his attendants, who quickly left to deliver the message.
…
Back in Konoha
Inside the Hokage's office, Sarutobi Hiruzen had just finished listening to Shizune's report about the "seventy-nine orphans from Tanzaku Town."
He sighed.
Tsunade finally comes back to the village—and brings this with her?
Shizune quickly added, "Tsunade-sama said she'll cover all the costs. She won a few dozen million in gambling, but she's only keeping one million for herself. The rest will support the kids."
That was a relief.
At least the village wouldn't have to foot the bill.
Still…
Hiruzen frowned. "She's… quitting gambling?"
That didn't sound like the Tsunade he knew.
Shizune scratched her head. "Maybe she felt sorry for the kids. Or maybe she figured it was lucky money and didn't care how she spent it."
"…???"
As Shizune explained further, Hiruzen slowly went quiet.
He knew the Tanzaku massacre was tied to Uchiha Chizumi, but now it seemed Tsunade had also been caught up in it.
"These kids… are they also connected to Chizumi?" he asked.
Shizune nodded like a pecking chick and explained everything—start to finish.
Hiruzen was silent again.
Because, deep down, he had the horrifying realization that… this time, Chizumi might've been right.
That thought chilled him.
Was he seriously being influenced by that man's twisted idea of "Absolute Justice"?
But maybe that was exactly why so many people had been swayed by Chizumi in such a short time.
He killed—but only the worst people.
And for those who were innocent? It didn't seem like a problem.
"Hiruzen!"
Homura Mitokado burst into the office.
He stopped short when he saw Shizune still present and gave Hiruzen a look. Hiruzen nodded, motioning for her to step out.
Once the door closed, Hiruzen turned back. "What is it?"
Homura's expression was grim. "There's chaos in the capital. A shinobi has gone on a rampage—slaughtering nobles. The Yuki clan? Only two members are still alive."
Hiruzen's face darkened immediately.
"The Daimyo's people contacted us," Homura continued. "They sent over a description of the attacker and asked if he's from our village."
"They think it's someone from Konoha?" Hiruzen's tone sharpened. "Our shinobi serve the Will of Fire. We don't produce criminals who go around massacring nobility."
But even as he said it, he could practically hear the whispers of accusation from the capital's elites.
Homura looked conflicted. "…Hiruzen, I think they're right. I think the attacker is from Konoha."
"???"
Homura listed the reported traits—and the moment he did, Hiruzen's expression froze.
"Doesn't that sound like Chizumi to you? And his ninja cat?"
"…Dammit."
Homura pressed on. "Not everyone here believes in the Will of Fire. Chizumi doesn't. He believes in Absolute Justice. And don't forget—he already assassinated the Daimyo's second son."
"You really think a guy like that would hesitate to wipe out the Yuki clan? Or any other noble family?"
Hiruzen stayed quiet for a long moment.
Finally, he spoke. "…But didn't they say he was traveling with a girl? Chizumi's sidekick, Uchiha Izumi, is still in the village."
Just as he finished, a knock came.
"Come in!" Hiruzen barked.
An Anbu agent entered and quickly reported:
"Hokage-sama! A three-man squad encountered Chizumi outside the village. One of them—Special Jōnin Ryōichirō—was killed instantly. The other, Mitarashi Anko, was… taken by Chizumi. He claimed she was a fugitive and said he was re-arresting her."
Hiruzen's eyes widened. He slowly turned to look at Homura.
Homura sighed. "That female ninja with him? That's Anko."
The last thread of Hiruzen's hope snapped.
It was him. The wanted criminal ravaging the capital was Uchiha Chizumi.
"…Wasn't he supposed to be on an S-rank mission?" Hiruzen muttered.
That mission shouldn't even take him near the capital. So why the hell was he there?
Then it hit him.
He shot to his feet, face going dark. "He figured it out."
Homura's pupils shrank. "You mean… he knows who set up the ambush?"
"He knows the Guardian Twelve tried to kill him—and he knows the Daimyo was behind it."
"With Chizumi's warped sense of justice, the Daimyo is now just another criminal."
"He didn't end up in the capital by chance… He went there on purpose."
"The Yuki clan wasn't even the real target… they were just in the way."
"His real goal… is the Daimyo himself."
Hiruzen slumped back into his chair.
If the Daimyo were in Konoha right now, he'd have called every shinobi in the village to protect him.
He'd do anything—pay any price—to stop Chizumi.
But the capital was too far. Even elite Jōnin running non-stop would take a full day to reach it.
There was no time.
"Asuma…" Hiruzen whispered, closing his eyes in pain. "You thought I'd unleashed a tiger… but what I really released… was a dragon."
He didn't even know how to feel about his own son anymore.
Asuma's lies had led to this. And now the Daimyo was in danger.
Even worse, the nobles in the capital would soon connect the dots.
They might believe Hiruzen had sent Chizumi to assassinate the Daimyo—on purpose.
Hiruzen clutched his head. The political fallout could be catastrophic.
Homura offered a bitter smile. "The Daimyo has already declared Chizumi a wanted criminal. Fifty million ryo."
"Fifty million…" Hiruzen muttered. "In all the ninja world, maybe five people could even try to claim that."
Homura said nothing.
In his heart, he didn't think even five could take down Chizumi in a one-on-one fight.
"Hiruzen," Homura said quietly, "you need to send the Anbu."
"And honestly… I think you need to go yourself."
Hiruzen frowned.
If the Hokage left Konoha for days, the village would be vulnerable.
But Homura continued, "Tsunade's coming back, right? Even if she only stays a day, that's enough to calm the village down."
"Fugaku and Itachi are on our side. Kakashi's here. So is Might Guy."
"The Uchiha won't be able to stir up anything while you're gone."
"…Take Itachi off that list," Hiruzen muttered. "He's one of the few I'm still unsure about."
But he stood up. "You're right. If we don't act, other nations might take advantage of the chaos."
"And as the Hokage, I swore to protect this land.
I won't let the Land of Fire fall apart while I sit here doing nothing."
He made up his mind—he'd lead the team personally.
Before leaving, he gave orders to every key official, securing promises and guarantees.
He left quietly, telling everyone only that he'd been summoned by the Daimyo.
He couldn't risk the truth getting out.
If it did, the entire village would erupt.
…
In the center of the capital, Uchiha Chizumi calmly sheathed his shattered blade and muttered,
"Give me your sword."
Anko blinked—he was talking to her.
Without hesitation, she drew her own sword and handed it to him.
Chizumi took two steps forward.
Before him, a noble from the Land of Fire lay paralyzed on the ground, shaking uncontrollably.
If you looked past him, you'd see corpse after corpse littering the street behind him.
"N-No—please don't kill me!" the man begged, crawling backward.
"I can give you money! More than you could spend in ten lifetimes! Women—hundreds of them! Prettier, younger, bigger than the one behind you!"
The noble's face was soaked with sweat. His chins folded down his neck as he kept groveling.
"If you don't want money or women, I can adopt you! No—call you my brother! I'll make you a noble too!"
"Please! I don't want to die!"
But Chizumi didn't even flinch. No pity, no emotion.
Above the man's head, red lines of glowing text hovered—visible only to Chizumi, listing his sins in excruciating detail.
Every second, those sins burned deeper into his vision, making his eyes grow colder and colder.
To Chizumi, even listening to this man was like stepping in sewage barefoot.
Anko could only stand and watch as the man's head rolled toward her feet.
"That's… eighty-eight."
She had long since stopped trying to intervene. All she could do was count the dead.
And judging from Chizumi's demeanor, he wasn't done.
She didn't even want to imagine how many people would die before this ended.
Just then, a familiar figure appeared—Jujiro, the orange ninja cat, trotted back with a sheet of paper in his mouth.
He dropped it on the ground without a care, completely ignoring the sea of bodies around him.
"Chizumi-sama," he said casually, "the Daimyo just put a bounty on your head—fifty million ryo.
Meow~ he must be losing his mind."
"The poster doesn't say much, but for lowlifes who sniff blood for a living, it's more than enough. Someone might show up any minute now."
Anko looked down.
Sure enough, it was a wanted poster—with Chizumi's barely-sketched face on it.
"Fifty million…"
She was floored.
As a Special Jōnin, her own black market bounty was only around nine million. This was insane.
Before she could say anything else, Chizumi and Jujiro both turned their heads left, in perfect sync.
A voice rang out:
"Ha! Jackpot! Found you!"
Anko's heart jumped. She turned just in time to see a wave of shuriken and two kunai wrapped in explosive tags flying straight at them.
Behind the attack was a rogue ninja—no forehead protector, no hesitation.
He was aiming for both of them.
"Look out!" Anko shouted, stepping back.
But Chizumi didn't even move.
Her eyes went wide—he just stood there as the blades sliced right through him.
"Now… explode!"
The enemy grinned, clapping his hands.
BOOM!
BOOM!
Two deafening explosions shook the entire block.
Anko was forced back by the blast wave, ears ringing.
When she looked up…
Chizumi's upper half was gone.
Just… vaporized.
Only his legs remained, still standing perfectly upright.
"No way…" Anko muttered.
She looked at Jujiro—but the cat didn't even react. It was as if his master being half-vaporized was just another Tuesday.
The rogue ninja strutted forward, spinning a kunai with a smug smirk.
"So this is the 50-million-ryo? Pfft. Weak. I didn't even try that hard."
"What a joke. Think the Daimyo will still pay the bounty if I blew his face off?"
"Hell, those two explosive tags were just meant to say hello, not turn him into roadkill."
He kept talking—but then, slowly, his smile froze.
Because right in front of him…
Chizumi's body began to regenerate.
Chunks of flesh floated up and knit themselves together. Glowing magma-like energy pulsed through the reassembling tissues.
In under three seconds, Uchiha Chizumi stood tall again.
No burns. No blood. Not even a wrinkle on his sleeve.
Both the rogue ninja and Anko stared at him in pure disbelief.
"Wh-What the hell is this thing…?!"
The enemy tried to retreat—but it was too late.
A searing stream of lava whooshed past him, erasing half his skull in one blinding flash.
…
"Daimyō-sama!"
A government official rushed into the hall.
"Konoha has confirmed it! The rogue ninja in the capital is likely one of their own!"
"WHAT?!"
The Daimyo shot to his feet. His son stood up next to him, furious.
"Konoha's Third Hokage—how the hell does he run his village?! First that Uchiha kills my brother—and now another one's rampaging through the capital?!"
"Father, when this is over, we need to rally the clans and remove Hiruzen from power. Leaving him in charge will bring the whole Land of Fire to ruin!"
"Shinobi are supposed to protect the country—or act as our weapons. They're not supposed to turn on us."
The Daimyo grimaced. "The Hokage isn't my subordinate. It's not easy to remove him."
"If we mess up, we could damage our alliance with Konoha."
But even as he said it, the disgust on his face showed he was done tolerating Sarutobi.
"Did they say the rogue ninja's name?"
"…They said his name is Uchiha Chizumi."
"!!"
"No. Impossible!" the Daimyo snapped. "You must've misheard. That monster should've been killed by the Guardian Twelve!"
"I confirmed it three times with Konoha," the official said quietly.
The Daimyo's son went pale. "Wait… then that means—"
Silence.
If the Guardian Twelve hadn't returned by now, there were only two possibilities:
They betrayed the Daimyo and sided with Konoha.
They're all dead.
Either way, Chizumi was coming for him.
The Daimyo shivered.
It all made sense now. Of course Chizumi dared to kill nobles.
He'd already killed the Daimyo's son.
To him, wiping out entire clans was just cleaning up.
"Daimyo-sama!"
The Daimyo's son suddenly pointed at a map.
"The Fujiwara, Taira, Hōjō, Nakamura estates—plus the northeast government building… If you connect those locations, it forms a straight line…"
"Pointing right at this palace."
"He's killing his way straight here!"
THUMP.
The Daimyo collapsed into his seat like his soul had left his body.
"What do we do?" he whispered, shaking.
"Will the bounty hunters stop him? Should we raise it to a hundred million? No—five hundred million?"
"Surely someone would take him down for that…"
His son didn't have the heart to break it to him.
Even if someone was willing to try—
There was no time.
BOOM.
A deep explosion echoed across the capital.
It was already too late.
…
Molten lava dripped from Chizumi's arms. Behind him, a river of fire devoured dozens of bounty hunters.
The stench of sulfur filled the air.
In front of him stood hundreds of samurai, weapons drawn—but shaking in their boots.
They were trained warriors.
But this wasn't a man.
This was a walking volcano.
Chizumi stepped forward.
The samurai stepped back.
Their retreat turned into chaos.
People tripped, stumbled, slashed their neighbors by accident.
"Meow," Jujiro said, sitting on Anko's head.
"Why do these weaklings think they're better than everyone else?"
Anko, completely numb, murmured,
"Because… that's just how the shinobi world works. It's always been like this."
"And just because it's always been this way… it's right?"
Jujiro continued:
"Chizumi-sama calls people like them 'Celestial Dragons.' I don't know what that means, but he said it with so much disgust."
"He said, 'When people think their lives matter more than others… they become the source of evil itself.'"
"And the thing is, very few can restrain themselves. Kill them all—you'll get a few innocents. Kill half? You'll miss too many guilty ones."
Anko didn't respond.
Then she heard Chizumi's voice:
"Konoha Police. Clear the area immediately.
Civilians or not—resist, and you will be killed."
CLANG.
A samurai dropped his sword.
Then another.
Like dominoes falling, every blade hit the ground—and within seconds, the samurai fled screaming.
They weren't going to die for the Daimyo's pride. Not for a few coins a month.
They ran like terrified animals.
And all the while, Chizumi walked forward—completely unbothered.
…
The Fire Daimyo had already heard the chaos outside.
He knew.
There was nowhere left to run.
Face pale, robe trembling around him, he forced himself to stand tall—his last shred of pride trying to mask the full-body panic he felt.
Then the palace doors opened.
Uchiha Chizumi walked in.
Molten magma still dripped from his arms. His expression was emotionless—his eyes, sharp and cold.
The Daimyo's breath hitched.
"Y-You're… Uchiha Chizumi?"
It took everything he had just to say the name.
His entire body was shaking beneath his ornate robes.
This wasn't a man.
This was a monster made of magma and vengeance, walking straight out of hell.
The Daimyo gulped, then clenched his fists.
Trying—desperately—to steady his voice, he growled:
"As a member of Konoha's Police Division, your authority ends at the village borders! What you're doing now—this is beyond overstepping! This is rebellion!"
"Do you even remember what country you belong to? Who you serve? I—I am the Daimyo of the Land of Fire!"
"You… you can't…"
But the words died on his lips.
Because Chizumi didn't respond with rage or shouting.
He just looked at him.
That calm, deadpan stare pierced through all the Daimyo's titles and robes like a blade.
Like he wasn't looking at a man.
He was looking at a corpse.
Then Chizumi spoke, voice low, measured—and terrifying:
"You carry title after title. But not a single ounce of responsibility."
"Your own sons murdered innocents, and you looked the other way. You knew. You knew it all—and did nothing."
"You used your power to twist the law—to make it harder for victims to cry for help. To let murderers walk away untouched."
"You may not have committed the crimes yourself… But the rot in this country? It starts with you."
"Goen'in Takahito."
"Today, Absolute Justice will make your death the warning that shakes the entire Land of Fire."
The Daimyo's eyes widened.
He's insane…
No more pride. No more dignity.
Only fear.
Pure, primal fear.
He turned on his heels, stumbling toward the back exit.
"No—NO—STAY AWAY—!!"
His wooden sandals slapped chaotically against the palace floor.
"GUARDS—!!"
"HELP ME—!!"
Too slow.
From behind him, a massive lava beast burst from the shadows—a fire-drenched hound, jaws wide open.
It lunged straight through his chest with a horrific CRACK—
—and ripped a molten hole clean through his torso.
The Fire Daimyo's scream died mid-sentence.
He collapsed to the floor, twitching once.
Then stilled.
Burned, melted, gone.
~~~
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