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NAJ Chapter 21: The Test of Absolute Justice
🕑 Added 2025-06-07 06:09:00 +0000 UTCIzumi didn’t even know where she had summoned the courage from, but somehow, she managed to ask Keizumi the question: "Senpai… how do you judge whether someone is evil…?"
Uchiha Keizumi replied, "A heart as clear as a polished mirror."
Izumi froze.
Uchiha Keizumi walked directly toward a large tree, and half of his body seemed to merge into it. His voice echoed in Izumi’s ears: "I possess a special ability. My eyes can perceive the evil within all living things in this world. And the root of this ability to distinguish good from evil lies in the clarity of my own heart and deeds—it is judged through the lens of my own moral compass and values."
Izumi’s beautiful eyes widened in astonishment.
Could this… be the power of the Sharingan?
"Rookie," Keizumi continued, "a shinobi who takes up arms to protect their family, who walks onto the battlefield and even kills many in the process—would you say that person is evil in my eyes?"
As Uchiha Keizumi posed the question, his figure had already fully slipped into the genjutsu-cloaked forest ahead.
Izumi hurried to follow. She pursed her lips and softly answered, "Senpai, I don’t think so."
"Indeed, they are not."
Uchiha Keizumi replied calmly, "The standard of judgment is based on the principles I held before I awakened this ability. A person must shape their abilities to serve their own will—not let their abilities shape who they are. Otherwise, justice becomes evil wearing a lamb’s skin."
The moment Uchiha Keizumi finished speaking, the scene before his eyes changed drastically.
A sizable secret base appeared before him.
The air was thick with the scent of various strange chemicals.
And faintly, there was even a trace of blood.
"Who are you people?!"
A startled voice suddenly rang out from ahead of him.
He saw—
A Konoha ninja stared at them in shock. But when his gaze fell upon Keizumi’s crimson Sharingan, his breath caught in his throat for several seconds.
[Inuzuka Maki — Research staff at an Anbu secret experimentation facility. Participated in seventeen human experiments over the years. Formerly one of Orochimaru’s many assistants. Directly or indirectly responsible for the deaths of eleven war orphans. Notoriety level: Red-Named!]
"I remember you."
Uchiha Keizumi’s voice was ghostly, like a shinigami walking out from the underworld. Step by step, he closed the distance and said: "Years ago, during the Third Hokage’s raid on Orochimaru’s human experimentation lab, I was there. What a coincidence… I saw you then."
"Looks like the Third Hokage didn’t keep the promise he once made to me—to secretly execute all of you. Instead, he sheltered you… and put you to use here like disposable tools."
"…It’s you? That Lava Release shinobi?!"
A distant memory exploded in Inuzuka Maki’s mind like a cannon shell.
His eyes widened in terror.
His entire face was filled with horror.
Inuzuka Maki dazedly recalled that boy from years ago—the one who had turned Orochimaru-sama’s research base into a sea of molten lava.
Back then... many of his comrades had fallen at that boy’s hands.
If not for the Hokage's timely arrival, stopping that Uchiha boy with both Lava Release and the Sharingan...
Inuzuka Maki feared he, too, would’ve died that night!
He had believed he would never cross paths again with that terrifying, demon-like Lava Release ninja.
And yet...
Tonight, that very figure stood right before him!
They had met again!
Inuzuka Maki could swear there was no way he could mistake that face.
Even if the boy had grown several years older; even if his features had matured and lost much of their youthful softness... the basic contours remained unchanged.
He quickly snapped out of his shock. Without even having time to consider how the other had slipped in silently, he instinctively reached for the wall to his left, trying to activate the alarm.
"Huh?"
But just as his vision blurred for a moment, he saw an arm raised high, blocking both his line of sight and the alarm.
It seemed to be...
His own hand!
As blood splattered across his horrified face, a deep red line appeared on his neck. Blood surged like an unsealed pipe, staining his throat crimson.
His frozen expression remained as his head rolled cleanly from his shoulders.
By the time his body hit the ground, Uchiha Keizumi had already stepped over the headless corpse.
He spoke in a detached tone to Uchiha Izumi, whose pupils were visibly trembling behind him.
“Rookie, this is the kind of ruthless resolve one must possess to uphold Absolute Justice. You must harbor a killing intent even more complete than ‘evil’ itself if you want to eradicate it from the shinobi world.”
“And you must show no mercy.”
As he finished speaking, Keizumi flicked a sharp kunai over his shoulder toward the left.
The kunai flew through the air, striking a ninja in the throat just as he approached to investigate the commotion.
“Urgh!!”
The ninja clutched his neck in a panic, the suffocating pain plunging him into utter terror.
He didn’t even understand—
Why were there enemies tonight?
Why hadn’t the ANBU guards posted outside raised any alarm?
Keizumi paused briefly, then looked back at Izumi and said, “Rookie, finish him off. Show me how deep your commitment to justice runs—if your words weren’t just for show. Let me give you a reminder: that man participated in inhumane human experiments and has the blood of war orphans on his hands.”
Izumi’s small hand trembled with cold sweat as she gripped her kunai tightly.
She stepped toward the fallen, writhing ninja, biting her lip hard as she said, “Senpai… I used to be very afraid of you. There were a lot of disturbing rumors about you in the Police Force. The first time we met, I had a lot of misconceptions about you.”
She reached the injured ninja and locked eyes with his terrified, pleading gaze.
“But after spending these past few days with you, I’ve come to realize… you’re nothing like the rumors. You’re not the ‘murderous demon’ they made you out to be. Everything you do is for the sake of justice.”
She raised her kunai high, both hands clutching it tightly.
Her arm trembled slightly.
“The [Absolute Justice] you believe in… has shown me a light in this world that truly belongs to the kindhearted. Your justice is the justice I, Uchiha Izumi, want to follow.”
Her arm stopped trembling. Her gaze steadied.
Senpai had said this man’s hands were stained with the lives of war orphans. He’d said this man had taken part in inhumane experiments.
Then...
In the face of [Absolute Justice]—
He...
Must be purged!!!
With brutal force, Izumi drove her kunai into the forehead of the ninja at her feet. The impact was so fierce it pierced through the thin metal of his Konoha forehead protector and sank straight into his skull with a sickening thud.
[Ding! Your cultivated [Absolute Justice] follower has successfully slain a 'Red Name' criminal! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have acquired: New Skill — Dog Training.]
[Simultaneously, Uchiha Izumi also received a small chakra boost!]
Uchiha Keizumi looked, somewhat surprised, at the back of the panting girl.
This was the first time in years that his golden finger had shown such a strange reaction.
Was this... the golden finger acknowledging Izumi’s resolve?
Or was it—
Watching her unsteadily get to her feet, then seeing her staring blankly at the blood on her hands... Keizumi had already found the answer to the question in his mind.
“Uchiha Izumi.”
“Present!!” Izumi shouted instinctively, then instantly realized what she’d done. Her face turned ghostly pale—she had just messed up badly.
Crap!
Had her brainless shout just ruined Senpai’s infiltration plan?
However...
When she looked at Keizumi in a panic, bracing herself for a barrage of scolding—
What she heard instead was a flat, emotionless voice: “Rookie, your stupidity alerted the enemy. Minus one thousand and ten points.”
Izumi went pale on the spot.
Senpai had said the maximum score was 1,000. She had only received a ten before—and now he was deducting 1,010?
Hiss... Doesn’t that mean her score was now negative?
And the consequence of a negative score might be...
Would Senpai kill her?
“Your current score is zero,” Keizumi said as the silhouettes of ANBU approaching the scene appeared in his line of sight.
Izumi froze.
She stood there dumbly, watching as her senpai charged toward the three ANBU who had come to investigate the noise, wielding his blade without hesitation—just one man, one sword.
And in her mind, a single phrase still echoed—
"Zero points."
“So... just for a moment there...”
“I actually had a perfect score?!”
The psychological shadow of her first kill vanished in an instant.
“You—are you Uchiha Keizumi?” one of the ANBU demanded, instantly recognizing the well-known name within Konohagakure. Realizing the intruder meant trouble, he drew his blade and took a stance: “What are you doing here? I’m warning you—stand down immediately!”
Beside him, another ANBU’s pupils contracted. He called out urgently, “Careful! There’s blood on his sword! Don’t look into his eyes!”
Too late.
Two of the three ANBU froze mid-step, clearly caught in a genjutsu cast by the Sharingan.
The third ANBU’s face changed drastically.
Fortunately, he was an elite. Reacting with lightning speed, he formed hand seals just before Keizumi reached striking distance and shouted: “Genjutsu Release!”
At the same time, he pulled out two shuriken and hurled them toward his own teammates—not out of madness, but because he had no confidence in breaking a Uchiha’s genjutsu. Instead, he aimed to use physical pain to snap them out of it.
It worked.
The other two ANBU snapped back to awareness, dazed.
But by then, Keizumi—with blood-red eyes glowing—was already upon them.
He slashed his blade straight for one of their throats.
[CLANG—!]
The clash of metal rang sharp and clear.
Blocked.
“Huff… huff…” The ANBU, holding his blade to parry the blow, was drenched in sweat, his arms trembling slightly.
“Damn Sharingan genjutsu… terrifying stuff. Good thing we’re a tight-knit three-man ANBU team. If even one of us can break free, the rest can be saved.”
“Is that so?”
Keizumi’s voice came from behind them: “What made you think the genjutsu was ever broken?”
What—?!
