The voice of Uchiha Akainu struck Izumi's ears like thunder. She took a deep breath, the smell of blood in the air growing thicker. As she slowly stood up, she could still hear the increasingly weak groans of the short man at her feet.
"I've told you everything... save me... please save me... please, I don't want to die..."
Izumi pressed her lips together. For a genin who had only graduated from the Ninja Academy less than a month ago, this kind of situation was still too much to handle.
"Where do you live?" Knowing the man was the monster who had killed a child, Izumi no longer felt any empathy for him. Her first priority was to question him for his address to find the child's body.
When she vaguely heard the man weakly give an address, Izumi mustered her courage and turned to Uchiha Akainu. "Senior, should we split up? I can take him to the Konoha Hospital, and you can go look for the child's body?"
Uchiha Akainu said calmly, "Rookie, do you know what kind of punishment a person gets for killing someone while drunk here in Konoha?"
Izumi paused. "L-Life imprisonment?!"
Uchiha Akainu shook his head. "It's ten years in prison. After ten years, these absolute villains will walk free under the sun again. In fact, if they behave well in prison, they might even get out in seven or eight years, not even ten."
"I ask you. Is that a fair punishment?"
Izumi stammered, "Ten years... seems a bit short, doesn't it? No matter how you look at it, it doesn't seem like an equal punishment, does it?"
The moral compass of the twelve-year-old Uchiha genin girl instinctively told her that the sentence was far too lenient. Was the cost of murder in Konoha really that low? Or was it... that killing while drunk was forgivable?
"Justice that isn't absolute will never truly be justice, and evil will never receive its due punishment," Uchiha Akainu stated. "There's no need to split up, and no need to take him to Konoha Hospital. Just take him straight to the address he just gave."
"Oh, and by the way." Uchiha Akainu took his ninja blade back from Izumi's hand, sheathing the blood-stained weapon. "Remember to 'drag' him. You'll drag this scum of the ninja world behind me."
Izumi's face was filled with shock. Senior Akainu... he must be one of the most extreme members of the Uchiha clan, huh? She swallowed hard, her gaze instinctively falling on the short man. Drag him? A shiver ran down her spine.
Izumi felt immense pressure. Under the terrified and astonished gazes of the villagers and other ninjas, she gritted her teeth, gripping the short man's collar tightly with both hands, and forced her legs to keep up with Uchiha Akainu. The man's horrifyingly severed leg scraped along the ground as he screamed and struggled in terror. It was truly hard for Izumi to bear.
But when she looked at the towering back of Senior Uchiha Akainu, recalling her own hesitation during the interrogation earlier and the suffocating feeling of his gaze turning cold... Izumi could only try to harden her heart. She didn't dare look back, only imagining if the man's crimson blood was drawing a long, straight line on the street.
Izumi felt his struggles grow weaker and weaker. She sensed the fearful looks from some Konoha villagers nearby, as if she were an accomplice to a villain. The cries grew softer and softer. Until...
...there was no sound at all.
Izumi suddenly startled, turning back abruptly. Startled, she quickly said to Uchiha Akainu, "Senior Akainu, he's in shock!"
Uchiha Akainu paused his steps slightly. Without turning around, he simply asked, "Can you wake him up?"
"Let me see..."
Izumi cautiously checked the man's breath. Her heart trembled, and she stammered, "It seems... it's too late. He... he's dead!!!"
Uchiha Akainu said regretfully, "That's a shame."
Izumi was stunned. She then heard her senior continue, "It was too quick a death for him, not enough to atone for his sins. My original plan was for you to drag him to his house. After we retrieved the child's body, I was going to have him executed in front of it."
"And," Uchiha Akainu glanced back, "I was preparing to let you, the rookie, get some practice."
Izumi was speechless.
"S-Senior..." Izumi weakly interjected, "I've read the Police Force's conduct manual. It mentions that after capturing a criminal, private punishment is forbidden. I think Lord Hokage added that rule to the Police Force's manual."
Uchiha Akainu asked, "Rookie, do you think the revered Third Hokage represents Justice?"
Izumi dared not speak.
Uchiha Akainu gazed at the girl, who only had half Uchiha blood, and slowly said, "To be a good member of the Police Force, you first need to know who the enemies of Justice are. All the 'evil' in the ninja world is the enemy of Justice."
"The ninja world has been eaten away by countless 'evils,' leaving it full of holes. Only by executing Justice with absolutely thorough methods can we set the ninja world straight again."
Including Lord Hokage...? Izumi could only think that thought, not daring to voice it aloud.
"Including the Hokage."
The next second, Uchiha Akainu, as if he could read minds, uttered that startling phrase without a hint of hesitation. Izumi was completely stunned.
What Izumi didn't know was that the moment the short man died from blood loss and shock, a golden finger prompt popped up in front of Uchiha Akainu.
[Ding! You have successfully killed a "Red Name" villain! Your chakra has received a small increase! Congratulations, you have successfully dropped: Gambling Skill Experience Book x2]
[Name: Uchiha Akainu][Age: 18][Status: Konoha Uchiha Police Force Member][Strength: Jonin][Kekkei Genkai: Sharingan, Lava Release][Taijutsu: Uchiha Style Kenjutsu, Shuriken Jutsu, Kunai Combat Jutsu...][Ninjutsu: Great Fireball Jutsu, Phoenix Fire Jutsu, Great Annihilation Fire, Mind Body Switch Jutsu...][Other: Cooking, Calligraphy, Gambling, Bedroom Arts...][...]
This was the golden finger Uchiha Akainu awakened when he first transmigrated to Konoha. He could see everyone's "evil," whether it was evil committed in the past or evil about to be committed in the future. He could see it all clearly.
Those who had committed unforgivable evil had a crimson square hanging over their heads, referred to as [Red Names]. Those who would commit unforgivable evil in the future had a white square hanging over their heads, referred to as [White Names].
After killing them... in addition to gaining a certain increase in his own chakra, he could also seize any ninjutsu, taijutsu, Kekkei Genkai, secret techniques, skill experience, and more from them.
The golden finger's abilities perfectly matched Uchiha Akainu's philosophy of [Absolute Justice]. In just a few years, his hands had been stained with the blood of countless villains. He had even dulled several ninja blades.
As for "Lava Release" in the [Kekkei Genkai] section, it was a beginner's gift package he received when his golden finger awakened. The golden finger's description of the package was – "Greetings from a believer of [Absolute Justice] from the sea."