"Absolute justice?"
"What kind of childish, make-believe idea is that?"
"In the world of adults, there are only interests. Justice? In the end, it's just another way of pursuing those same interests!"
In the Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
Ōnoki, the Third Tsuchikage, listened to the intelligence report delivered by Kitsuchi and couldn't help but let out a scoff.
"Still… Konoha has produced yet another genius…"
"First there were Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, then Senju Tobirama, Shimura Danzō, and Sarutobi Hiruzen."
"During the Second Shinobi World War, Hatake Sakumo and the Sannin rose to fame one after another."
"In the Third Shinobi World War, there was the Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato."
"And now, there's another one—Uchiha Keizumi—waving the banner of so-called absolute justice."
"The ninja world really does favor the Land of Fire."
Ōnoki couldn't help but sigh. Compared to Konoha's constant stream of talent, Iwagakure was truly facing a generational gap. He had finally found a promising successor, but the kid was obsessed with explosions.
Unlike Sarutobi Hiruzen, Ōnoki genuinely wanted to retire. But the problem was, there simply wasn't a single shinobi in Iwagakure capable of shouldering the burden of Tsuchikage. So he could only grit his teeth and carry on.
"Father, should Iwagakure declare war on Konoha?"
Kitsuchi looked at Ōnoki with concern. Just like the Land of Lightning, the Daimyō of the Land of Earth had been constantly pressuring Iwagakure, even going so far as to threaten their funding in order to force them to take action against Uchiha Keizumi.
"Declare war on Konoha…"
Ōnoki frowned, clearly troubled.
The Third Shinobi World War had ended only seven or eight years ago. Even though Iwagakure had the largest number of shinobi among the Five Great Nations, that amount of time simply wasn't enough to recover their strength.
During the Third Shinobi World War, Iwagakure had piled up tens of thousands of shinobi just to wear down the Third Raikage. Although they had ultimately succeeded in killing him, that day-and-night battle had cost Iwagakure two to three thousand casualties.
"No. We can't declare war on Konoha. At most, we do what we did during the Third Shinobi World War—send Iwagakure's shinobi to pile up and crush that Uchiha brat!"
After a moment of silence, Ōnoki decided he was unwilling to directly declare war on Konoha.
He had no desire to trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War—nor did he want to bear the blame for starting it.
"Declare war on just that Uchiha brat?"
"Using the name of an entire village to declare war on a single person?"
Kitsuchi stared at Ōnoki, dumbfounded. Looking across the entire ninja world, there had never been a case of a major hidden village declaring war on a single shinobi.
"But if we do that, Iwagakure's reputation…"
Kitsuchi hesitated. Ōnoki's idea was good—but it was a bit humiliating.
"Oh, give it a rest. What happened with the Third Raikage during the last war already cost Iwagakure all its face. Losing a bit more won't matter."
"Oh, right. Go contact the Akatsuki. The last time we hired them, they did a decent job."
"Have those people from the Akatsuki give it a try—see if they can assassinate that Uchiha brat directly!"
Iwagakure had hired the Akatsuki before. In fact, before Deidara defected from Iwagakure, the relationship between Iwagakure and the Akatsuki had been fairly good.
"Yes!"
Seeing that Ōnoki had made his decision, Kitsuchi didn't say anything further.
The Daimyō of the Land of Earth did influence Iwagakure's funding, but the village wasn't at the point of blindly obeying the Daimyō's every command. Declaring war on Uchiha Keizumi in the name of the village, and even contacting the Akatsuki to deal with him—Kitsuchi felt that was already more than enough.
Meanwhile, over in Sunagakure, when Rasa received the pressure from the Daimyō of the Land of Wind, he didn't even bother to look at it twice.
No special reason—he was busy panning for gold in the desert.
The Land of Wind was poor. So poor that even the Daimyō's treasury didn't have much money.
As the Kazekage, Rasa was working tirelessly. The moment he opened his eyes each day, he had to think about how to feed the entire village. When he occasionally had free time, he still had to check on his son, Gaara. Where would he find the energy to care about the Daimyō's attitude?
Genji of Kirigakure and Sarutobi Hiruzen both came to the same conclusion—that the Fourth Shinobi World War might be triggered by Uchiha Keizumi.
But aside from strengthening their border defenses, the three great ninja villages didn't make any major moves.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Keizumi had completely pushed "absolute justice" to its extreme.
Every city in the Land of Water had undergone a baptism of absolute justice. Every place Keizumi passed through was left steeped in the smell of blood.
Without exaggeration, Uchiha Keizumi had likely become the person who had killed the most in the entire ninja world.
After sweeping through the entire Land of Water, the number of lives taken by Keizumi had already exceeded thirty thousand. As merchants spread news from city to city, his name had become so terrifying that it could make children stop crying.
"Keizumi… aren't we killing a bit too many people this time…?"
Even Tachibana Jirō, perched on Keizumi's shoulder, hesitated.
He was a firm believer in absolute justice, but watching tens of thousands die under its banner still made him worry about Keizumi's mental state.
"Too many?"
"This is just one country—the Land of Water. The ninja world is far bigger than just this one nation."
Keizumi showed no signs of being affected by the killing. On the contrary, as the evil within the Land of Water was continuously purged, he felt his mental state becoming better and better.
"Then in the future, should we come back regularly to the Land of Water to clean out the evildoers?"
Seeing that Keizumi was unaffected, Tachibana Jirō asked another question. Having lived in Konoha for so long, he understood that even under absolute justice, evil would never truly disappear.
"No. I'm going to establish a police force in the Land of Water."
Keizumi shook his head. If evil wasn't restrained, it would only continue to grow.
To curb the birth of evil, there had to be a powerful law enforcement organization—one that made everyone understand that if they committed wrongdoing, they would definitely be punished.
In Keizumi's view, the existence of a police force was precisely that kind of deterrent.
"A police force?"
Tachibana Jirō's mouth opened slightly in shock. He hadn't expected Keizumi to want to bring the Uchiha Police Force into the Land of Water.
"But… won't manpower be an issue?"
Jirō thought of another problem. Although the Uchiha clan had begun to embrace absolute justice, the number of clan members who had truly passed the test was still quite limited.
"Even if we don't have enough manpower, we still have to do it!"
"If we don't even try, then the Land of Water will only return to what it used to be!"