The sharp tachi slit the gangster thug's throat with a light, fluid motion. Before the blood could even gush out, Izumi's figure had already appeared behind him, just in time to face the second enemy.
"Die!"
The second thug didn't even notice his companion had already died. His vision blurred, and he saw Izumi appear in front of him; instinctively, he swung his blade.
"In the name of Absolute Justice…"
Unfortunately for him, within the field of view of Izumi's three-tomoe Sharingan, his movements were not merely slowed—they were practically in slow motion. After glancing once at the crimes listed in the box above his head, she proceeded with the standard sequence: genjutsu control followed by a single slash to the throat.
"…I sentence you to death!"
Compared to Jūzō's wide and unrestrained killing style, Izumi took the extra step of checking each opponent's crimes before killing. Yet her efficiency in eliminating the gangsters was not inferior to his in the slightest.
"Nicely done, meow! Wipe out all these rotten scum!"
The only one not participating in the fight, Tachibana Jirō, crouched on the railing of the warehouse's second floor, cheering loudly. Although it was actually the starving civilians who had resorted to eating cats, Tachibana Jirō—having followed Keizumi for years—understood perfectly well that grievances have their proper targets.
If not for these villains deliberately creating a famine, the civilians of Seagull City would never have been driven to hunting cats and rats just to survive.
"Caught a troublesome little rat…"
Just as Jirō was so worked up he almost wanted to jump in himself, a somewhat strange voice suddenly sounded behind him.
"…Hmm. If we're going to hold a funeral, what kind would you prefer?"
"Meow!?"
Startled, Jirō whipped his head around, only to see a muscular man with long green hair step out of the darkness. In his hands, two oddly shaped short blades crackled with blinding arcs of lightning.
"Well, if you won't say, I'll choose for you—how about a funeral of lightning?"
Kurosuki Raiga revealed a neurotic grin. Without waiting for a reply, he crossed the twin lightning blades, and the electricity coiling along them shot toward Jirō like venomous serpents.
At the very instant the lightning was unleashed, Jirō's pupils shrank. Acting on instinct, he slammed his paw hard against the railing, activating the ninjutsu he had honed countless times.
Bang!
A cloud of smoke erupted, and a figure appeared between Jirō and Raiga, catching the lightning technique with his bare hands.
"That was close, that was close—scared me to death, meow!"
Jirō's fur stood on end as he stared at the flickering lightning within the smoke. He wasn't an ordinary house cat, but even a ninja cat couldn't compare to a shinobi. If that Lightning Release had struck him, even if it didn't kill him, he would have been severely injured.
"I believe I warned you, Tachibana Jirō…"
The smoke quickly dissipated, revealing the figure who had blocked the Lightning Release barehanded. It was a handsome yet cold-faced young man wearing a Konoha forehead protector—Keizumi, who not long ago had single-handedly suppressed the entire Kirigakure.
"…the Reverse Summoning Technique is not for blocking attacks."
If any other Kirigakure shinobi were facing Keizumi at this moment, they would most likely have turned and fled without hesitation. However, Raiga was a missing-nin, and Seagull City was far enough from Kirigakure that news from the village had yet to reach him.
"Sorry, meow, Keizumi-sama! The situation was urgent—I had no other choice, meow…"
Jirō wagged his tail awkwardly. He knew full well how reckless that had been. If the one he had reverse summoned hadn't been Keizumi, but some other shinobi, taking a Lightning Release head-on at the start would have cut their combat effectiveness in half.
Of course, Jirō wasn't foolish enough to sabotage someone outright. What he summoned was merely one of Keizumi's wood clones. Otherwise, with his own chakra reserves, even if the other party cooperated, he wouldn't have been able to pull Keizumi himself over.
"A Konoha shinobi? Whatever—it's all the same. If we're going to hold a funeral, what kind would you prefer?"
Raiga cast a look of disgust at Keizumi's forehead protector, which reminded him of that tight-suited monster who had nearly wiped out the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
Because of that, his killing intent surged even higher. If earlier he had only intended to eliminate a meddlesome rat, now it was both old grudges and new hatred combined—what he hated most were Konoha shinobi.
"A heinous criminal…"
Keizumi merely glanced at the red nameplate above Raiga's head and lost interest. The man's level of evil was off the charts—so extreme that even among the "talent-rich" Kirigakure, he could be considered outstanding.
Judgment Eye!
"If you won't choose, I'll pick for you—my favorite: a lightning funeral! Lightning Release: Ligh—AAAAAAAH!!!"
Raiga had just revealed another manic grin. Before the lightning blades in his hands could even activate, he met Keizumi's blood-red eyes. The Mangekyō ability housed in Keizumi's left eye—Judgment Eye—was instantly unleashed.
In the next moment, an inhuman scream erupted from Raiga, echoing throughout the entire warehouse. Even the gangsters still fighting were startled.
Taking advantage of the moment, Jūzō and Izumi disengaged from combat, swallowing soldier pills to quickly recover their stamina and chakra.
Ignoring Raiga as he rolled on the ground like a beast, screaming and thrashing, Keizumi calmly swept his gaze across the people in the warehouse, the disgust on his face almost tangible.
Even in the notoriously infamous Kirigakure, there were shinobi with relatively low levels of evil, even some who could be considered innocent. But in this warehouse, aside from Izumi and Jūzō, almost every person capable of moving freely bore a red name—and most of them were so deeply stained that their crimes were beyond redemption.
In comparison, Raiga seemed almost ordinary among them. Especially one man who turned and ran the moment he heard Raiga's screams—the contents of the box above his head were several times more outrageous than even that beast Uchiha Itachi.
"Keizumi-sama, everyone here is utterly rotten, meow! They actually forced the city's civilians to survive by eating cat meat, meow!" Jirō shouted in righteous anger. Having followed Keizumi for so many years, this orange cat had seen countless villains—but depravity on the level of Seagull City's underground black market was unprecedented.
"I understand. You've done well."
Keizumi glanced at Jūzō, who was covered in blood, and at Izumi, who was faintly out of breath. Then, with the same calm expression, he turned his gaze toward the remaining gang leaders and thugs.
Heaven's Punishment Flame!