Not even the Shirayama family had known how valuable their ancestral katana really was. After slaughtering them, Fuha Kuroō had even planted a similar-looking sword at the scene to throw people off—but none of it fooled Uchiha Chizumi.
"That is all. Today, in the name of [Absolute Justice], I pass judgment on you!" Uchiha Chizumi gripped the hilt of his sword, but after a moment's thought, he locked eyes with Fuha Kuroō again. For someone this evil, a quick death would only stain justice. "Feel the pain of those you harmed. This is the Eye of Judgment from Hell!"
The tomoe in Chizumi's Sharingan spun rapidly, merging into a four-pointed pinwheel pattern like a giant shuriken. Then he activated the Mangekyō technique in his left eye.
Using a Mangekyō eye technique to execute a Kirigakure jōnin was complete overkill—but with the level of ocular power Chizumi possessed now, that degree of drain didn't matter at all.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
Pinned in place by Sharingan genjutsu, Fuha Kuroō let out an inhuman scream the instant it began. Just like the victims who had died at his hands, he was now forced to personally experience every bit of pain they had suffered. Worse still, the Eye of Judgment didn't merely inflict pain—it gave him a fully immersive experience.
Inside Fuha Kuroō's mental world, he became the embodiment of those two sisters. He had to feel not only the physical agony of being raped and murdered, but also the psychological trauma of watching someone dear to him die right in front of him.
He was a cold-blooded, merciless piece of filth—but under the power of the eye technique, however deep the victims' psychological wounds had been, he was forced to experience all of it firsthand.
And that was only the beginning.
Before Fuha Kuroō could recover from that double blow to mind and body, he became the child he had kidnapped and tied up that day. The moment he realized what was about to happen next, he screamed in terror.
But no matter how he begged or threatened, the other "Fuha Kuroō" acted as if he couldn't hear him at all, grinning viciously as he swung the long blade and cut him clean in half at the waist.
The pain was so overwhelming that Fuha Kuroō wished he could die on the spot—but back when he had tested his blade, he had deliberately avoided the vital organs. That child had screamed in agony for nearly half a day before finally dying.
And now the one forced to live through it was Fuha Kuroō himself.
Again and again, he was made to relive his victims' experiences. Under any other circumstances, he would have gone mad long ago. But under the influence of the eye technique, each time he was restored to his "peak" state and forced to endure it all over again. After countless cycles of dying and living, Fuha Kuroō's body finally reached its limit.
Thud!
Still letting out those inhuman screams, Fuha Kuroō collapsed stiffly to the ground. His body twitched violently, his bladder and bowels gave way, yet not a single sound came out anymore. His consciousness was still being tortured inside the illusion, but his body had instinctively stopped accepting the pain signals coming from his brain.
"So you're still trying to play tricks." Uchiha Chizumi's face darkened slightly. Even if it was just Fuha Kuroō's body reacting on instinct, in Chizumi's eyes, it was proof that the man was trying to escape punishment. "Heaven's Wrath Flame!"
Blood flowed from Chizumi's right eye socket, and a mass of crimson fire erupted from inside Fuha Kuroō's body. That flesh—which had already lost all connection to his consciousness—was instantly burned to ashes.
But the truly horrifying part wasn't the destruction of the body.
If anyone among the Kirigakure shinobi present had been able to see souls, they would have seen Fuha Kuroō's soul screaming endlessly above his burning corpse. Originally, only his consciousness and body had been undergoing execution—but since his body had instinctively tried to reject the punishment, Chizumi had no choice but to use his soul to make up the difference.
Inside his mental world, Fuha Kuroō had suffered endlessly. Yet in reality, only a single instant had passed.
Seeing Fuha Kuroō killed just like that by Uchiha Chizumi, the Kirigakure shinobi immediately began to stir.
"That bastard really doesn't take us seriously at all…"
"Damn it! What gives him the right to kill Kuroō?! Where's his proof for any of that?!"
"That monster came here just to kill! We can't just sit here and wait to die!"
…
The Kirigakure shinobi—especially the conservatives—instantly prepared for battle. Under the pressure of the Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi and Elder Genji, they could grit their teeth and pretend to submit to Uchiha Chizumi, but that didn't mean they truly accepted it in their hearts.
Especially after seeing blood flow from Chizumi's right eye, some of them even assumed he had been injured. Their side had several hundred shinobi and could be considered "strong in numbers," while the enemy had already gone through one bloody battle after another and now had even injured his most important weapon—his eyes. Wasn't this the perfect chance to strike?
"Silence!" Mei Terumi stepped forward at once and shouted them down.
She had deliberately kept Chizumi's "judgment" ability secret from the others, precisely to stop guilty men from learning about it and becoming too afraid to face him.
So when she saw Chizumi execute Fuha Kuroō, she wasn't surprised in the slightest. It was just a shame that her original hope—asking Chizumi to give these people a chance—had completely fallen apart.
Fuha Kuroō alone had committed that many crimes, and as far as she knew, he wasn't even the worst beast among the conservatives. It wasn't hard to imagine that the conservative faction was likely about to be wiped out to the last man.
"There is no need to panic, and no need to indulge in false hope. These eyes of mine can see the sins you have committed in both your past and future. In Konoha, this has long been common knowledge." Uchiha Chizumi calmly swept his gaze across the agitated Kirigakure shinobi. Since there were quite a few white-name shinobi—and even some truly innocent people without any frame at all—mixed in among them, he added an explanation for their sake. "In the name of [Absolute Justice], I will not wrong a single innocent person, nor will I let a single one who deserves death go free!"
"As long as your conscience is clean, you have nothing to fear. Chizumi-sama's ability has already been confirmed by Elder Genji. As long as you haven't committed any unforgivable crimes, you still have a chance to atone!" Mei hurriedly added, deliberately invoking Genji's name to strengthen her argument. At the same time, she also slipped in a bit of her own agenda.
Uchiha Chizumi frowned slightly. Quite a few of those white-name shinobi were already close to becoming red-names. He had no intention of letting them off lightly.
Still, there was no need to emphasize that right now. The red-names had to be dealt with first. Some things were more urgent than others, so punishment for the white-names would have to be postponed for the moment.
In the end, it all came down to the same thing—he still wasn't strong enough.
Back then, because he wasn't strong enough, he couldn't truly complete an execution, so he had been forced to let Danzō go for the time being.
And now, again because he wasn't strong enough, he couldn't instantly carry out judgment on every red-name at once—so for now, he could only temporarily spare the white-names.