If you set aside the cruelty of the "Bloody Mist" policy and look only at the proportion of Kirigakure jōnin, it wasn't hard to see that Kirigakure's rate of producing top-tier shinobi was clearly much higher than Konoha's.
That also explained why so many Kirigakure shinobi chose to support the "Bloody Mist" policy. At the end of the day, the people of Kirigakure weren't idiots. If the policy truly brought nothing but harm, they wouldn't have kept tormenting themselves with it.
And yet, viewed as a whole, the "Bloody Mist" policy was nothing but a case where the disadvantages far outweighed the benefits. After generations of pushing it, Kirigakure had forced itself from being one of the Five Great Nations on equal footing with Konoha into the frail state it was in today.
Worse still, because of the "Bloody Mist" policy, Kirigakure shinobi could never open their hearts to comrades who might betray them at any moment, which only further deepened the village's internal fragmentation.
"Only thirty percent…" Uchiha Chizumi rarely showed surprise, but now he raised an eyebrow slightly. "So it hasn't reached the point of being beyond saving yet."
"Chizumi-sama, what are you talking about?" The giant slug closest to him lowered its body and wiggled its feelers, asking curiously.
"I'm calculating how many sinners still need to be eliminated." Chizumi's expression returned to calm as his right hand lightly stroked the hilt of his sword. "The situation is much better than I expected. Among the remaining Kirigakure shinobi, only around thirty percent need justice carried out on them immediately. The rest still have a chance to atone."
In Chizumi's eyes, the Kirigakure shinobi walking toward him looked like a mass of swaying red and white boxes. Fortunately, this time, proportionally speaking, there were clearly far more white boxes than red ones.
And most of the red boxes were self-aware enough to gather together on their own, which made Chizumi's screening job much easier.
"But aren't they here to help you carry out [Absolute Justice]?" Katsuyu sounded hesitant. If they were pure sinners, then of course they should be executed immediately. But if they were sinners helping advance [Absolute Justice], then she wasn't so sure. Perhaps those who truly repented should also be given a chance to atone?
At the very least, they could first help push [Absolute Justice] forward, and then afterward their contributions could determine whether they should still be executed.
"Justice allows no compromise! The involvement of sinners would only stain [Absolute Justice]!" Uchiha Chizumi said decisively. "Rather than expecting these sinners to help justice flourish, it would benefit [Absolute Justice] more to send them directly to meet their victims!"
"I see, now I understand!" Katsuyu exclaimed in sudden realization, cheerfully shaking her feelers. The other three giant slugs, who hadn't heard the conversation clearly, quickly moved closer and asked the other "her" what had happened.
Naturally, the Katsuyu speaking with Chizumi had no reason to hide anything from herself. She shook her feelers as she relayed the conversation to the other three, and soon all four giant slugs began swaying happily together.
For the Slug Sage, who had lived for over a thousand years, the most exciting thing had never been gaining a little more power. It was understanding more truths and gaining a deeper grasp of humanity.
That was why she thought so highly of Uchiha Chizumi, and sincerely hoped his [Absolute Justice] could spread throughout the shinobi world.
The unusual behavior of the four giant slugs immediately startled the Kirigakure shinobi approaching Chizumi. The moment they saw the four enormous creatures, their eyes widened involuntarily.
"The Six-Tails?! No—just four especially huge slugs…" Ameyuri almost wet himself from the shock of seeing what looked like four "Six-Tails." Thankfully, the difference in appearance between slugs and the Six-Tails was still obvious enough. It was only because they were both soft-bodied and had similar size and coloring that Kirigakure shinobi who had never seen the real Six-Tails could mistake them.
After calming down from the scare, Ameyuri's attention fell on the comparatively "small" figure of Uchiha Chizumi—whose presence, however, was no less overwhelming than those gigantic slugs.
Maybe it was because he had killed too many people that night. Or maybe it was simply because reputation carried weight. Even from over a hundred meters away, Ameyuri could still feel that mountain-like pressure bearing down on him.
"…Lava Release Beast…" As the oppressive weight grew heavier, Ameyuri's expression became uglier and uglier. On the way here, these Kirigakure shinobi had already exchanged information about Uchiha Chizumi countless times—but the Chizumi from the last war and the Chizumi of today weren't even remotely comparable. "Calling something like this a 'beast' doesn't even begin to cover it!"
By the time Ameyuri had finally followed behind Mei and arrived in front of Uchiha Chizumi, his heart was beating more than twice as fast as normal. His body was screaming danger. Fortunately, several of his comrades were already humiliating themselves by gasping for breath, so in comparison, Ameyuri was actually doing fairly well.
"Chizumi-sama, the surviving… the only remaining shinobi in the village are all here. I've already persuaded them. Everyone present is willing to fight to the very end for [Absolute Justice]!" Mei was still clinging to one last sliver of hope. She deliberately emphasized that everyone was willing to fight for [Absolute Justice], hoping Chizumi might take pity on the fact that, even if they had no merit, they had at least put in effort—and give these sinners a chance to atone.
After all, the only ones who could see their crimes were Uchiha Chizumi and that Uchiha girl. If the two of them said nothing, no one else would know which among them were sinners who deserved death.
Of course, Mei had never expected Chizumi to turn a blind eye to evil. But if he could at least give her some breathing room, then even if he executed them afterward, the pressure could at least be spread across different points in time.
"I understand…" Uchiha Chizumi nodded at Mei. Compared to those boxes so red they were almost black, Mei's white box looked much more pleasing to the eye. But then his gaze shifted to a middle-aged shinobi standing beside her.
"Fuha Kuroō. Eighteen years ago, you poisoned a comrade to death over a trivial dispute. Fifteen years ago, for the sake of a famous sword, you slaughtered all seventeen members of the Shirayama family at Sakura Ferry. Fourteen years ago… half a month ago, you used innocent children passing by to test your blade. Five days ago, you raped and murdered the two sisters who ran the flower shop."
It took Chizumi more than four minutes to finish listing that Kirigakure shinobi's crimes. And that was only because he'd chosen to mention the capital offenses. If he had listed everything, it might have taken over ten minutes.
From the moment Uchiha Chizumi called his name, Fuha Kuroō had instinctively tried to run. But Chizumi's Sharingan genjutsu had pinned him firmly in place, leaving him no choice but to listen in utter terror as Chizumi passed judgment on him.
Every major crime he had committed—from more than ten years ago to just a few days ago—was recited by Chizumi in perfect detail.
It was as if the god of justice himself were delivering judgment.
After all, the true cause of death of the Shirayama family was something only Fuha Kuroō himself had ever known.
~~~
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