Slash!
The Kubikiribōchō (Executioner's Blade) severed the head of a bandit. Jūzō Biwa stuck the heavy blade into the ground and looked helplessly at Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone beside him.
He couldn't help but ask, "We're only an hour's full-speed sprint away from crossing the border into the Land of Rain, so why bother getting involved and causing trouble with these bandits?"
The Wood Clone pulled the ninja blade out of the bandit leader's chest.
It flicked the blood off the blade and replied emotionlessly: "[Absolute Justice] cannot ignore evil that can be eliminated within the scope of its ability."
After speaking.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone turned its head and said to Jūzō Biwa, "Release all the innocent people who were kidnapped and tied up in the bandit's lair."
Jūzō Biwa: "..."
He was a proud member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist! A proud Elite Jōnin of the Hidden Mist! A proud new member of the Akatsuki organization!
It was one thing to be dragged along to deal with a bunch of bandits, but how could he be ordered around by a Wood Clone?
He slightly widened his eyes and stared at the Wood Clone.
He stood perfectly still.
But then he realized that Ikeizumi Uchiha's Wood Clone completely ignored him, heading straight into the depths of the bandit's stronghold. Jūzō Biwa snapped back to reality—oh, it wasn't commanding him to be free labor; it was just asking him to assist.
He should have said so earlier!
Jūzō Biwa cleared his throat, hoisted the Kubikiribōchō onto his shoulder, and quietly followed.
Breathing in the faint scent of blood in the air, Jūzō was stunned as he entered the bandit's lair.
He watched in astonishment as numerous prison-like structures came into view. Inside the small, cramped wooden cages, many men and women, stripped of their clothes, were imprisoned. From what he could see, he estimated there were over thirty people here.
He also saw that two or three people had already died inside the cages, yet the bandits hadn't moved the bodies. As a result, the corpses were rotting and emitting a sickening odor.
If Jūzō Biwa hadn't crawled out of the piles of the dead from the Bloody Mist Village.
He would have thrown up his breakfast from the pungent smell.
"Most of the bandits in the Land of Fire engage in robbery, theft, and the sale of slaves," the Wood Clone's voice resonated faintly. "Or rather, most bandits in the world of ninja engage in these atrocious acts. Few people bother to deal with them because there are too few ninja and the world is too vast. Moreover, most of them collude with local feudal lords, and the samurai those lords employ are even less likely to suppress the bandits."
It asked Jūzō Biwa, "You previously gave me a chance to visit the Land of Water, indicating that you resent the atrocities caused by the Blood Mist Policy's iron fist in the Hidden Mist Village, and the evil acts that challenge your inner moral compass."
"If you encountered these same bandits in the Land of Water, knew what they were doing, and knew that ordinary people of the Land of Water were being persecuted by them, would you still think of it as too much trouble?"
Jūzō Biwa was silent for a few seconds.
"I think I understand why you have such polarized public opinion in Konoha," Jūzō Biwa said with a sigh. "People who are helped by your justice and have a clear conscience will support you. People who don't want you meddling and have skeletons in their closets wish you would choke to death just by drinking water."
Lost in a daze, Hinata realized it was lunchtime when she saw many Academy students taking out their elaborate bento boxes. She should be eating her lunch too.
But when she reached out, she felt nothing. She suddenly realized there was no one left at home to prepare a bento for her.
Although a Main House Special Jōnin had been instructed by Hiashi Hyūga to look after Hinata.
That person clearly had no experience in taking care of children.
Hinata reached into her pocket and felt a few banknotes—her allowance. The pangs of hunger in her stomach forced her to leave the Ninja Academy and prepare to buy lunch herself.
"Achoo—"
She sneezed, shrinking her neck and glancing up at the leaves on the roadside trees, which were already turning slightly yellow.
'It seems like autumn has arrived... Although Father was strict with me, he always reminded me to put on an extra layer of clothing in the fall so I wouldn't catch a cold...'
Hinata muttered wistfully to herself.
As she walked, she found herself at a place called "Ichiraku Ramen." Smelling the aroma from outside, Hinata secretly swallowed, plucking up her courage to walk in.
"H-Hello..."
Just as Hinata was about to speak to Teuchi, the owner of Ichiraku Ramen, she suddenly saw a tall figure with an extremely familiar outfit. Beside him was a very fat orange cat that looked like a large orange chicken leg from behind.
The banknotes Hinata had just pulled out of her pocket fluttered to the ground.
Visible fear surfaced on her delicate little face.
When she saw the figure slowly turn around, and their cold eyes met, the terror in Hinata's heart reached its limit.
Her body's instinct made her step back uncontrollably, and a layer of tears welled up in her bright eyes.
The desperate tears seemed ready to pour out at any moment.
A powerful sense of anxiety and dread made Hinata's body tremble.
She...
She had seen the man who put her father in the Konoha Military Police prison!
Ikeizumi Uchiha's gaze moved from Hinata Hyūga down to the banknotes, which amounted to five thousand Ryo.
He took a step forward, and just as Hinata was about to burst into tears, Ikeizumi Uchiha bent down and picked up the paper money.
He handed the money back to Hinata, who took it with a trembling hand.
"Four bowls of classic ramen, large portions," Ikeizumi Uchiha said to Teuchi.
Teuchi was about to reply, but Ikeizumi Uchiha interrupted himself: "Wait... make it nine bowls."
Kijirō looked at Ikeizumi Uchiha, then at Hinata Hyūga, who was too frightened to move behind him.
It hesitated and asked curiously: "Ikeizumi-sama, doesn't that seem a little off? Normally, it's two bowls for me and two bowls for Ikeizumi-sama. Meow, even if Ikeizumi-sama wants to treat this Hyūga Main House brat to a bowl today, that's only five bowls, meow."
After a few seconds of pause, having received no reply from Ikeizumi Uchiha, Kijirō coughed awkwardly.
It changed the subject and said earnestly to the trembling Hinata: "Brat, there's no need to fear Ikeizumi-sama so much. If Ikeizumi-sama wanted to arrest you, he would have done it yesterday. Why would he leave you until now, meow?"
Twenty minutes later.
Kijirō retracted everything it had said earlier.
The cat stared wide-eyed in shock as Hinata Hyūga ate four bowls of ramen by herself and continued eating. It couldn't help but look at the girl's somewhat flat stomach, displaying an undisguised expression of existential doubt.
"It looks like we'll have to add a few more bowls."
Ikeizumi Uchiha, who was already finished eating, said calmly, completely unsurprised.
Kijirō: "???"
Kijirō then watched as seven-year-old Hinata ate five more large bowls of ramen, stacking the empty bowls high.
Finally, the girl said in a slightly trembling voice, "I'm full."
Feeling seven-tenths full, Hinata was completely bewildered and in a trance. She didn't even know why she had sat down, accepted the terrifying man's treat, or why he was buying her ramen.
Perhaps it was because she couldn't refuse. Under his gaze, she could only grit her teeth and continue stuffing ramen into her mouth, even drinking all the broth.
Before she knew it, she was seventy percent full.
Next to her, Kijirō was silent for a few seconds before asking, "Meow, was Hiashi Hyūga abusing you on a daily basis?"
Kijirō had never imagined that a person could eat an amount of food that was larger than their own body size combined!
Is she a starving ghost reincarnated? Or has she really never eaten since she was born, meow?
It was quite reasonable for him to suspect Hiashi Hyūga was abusing her!
"...Huh?"
Hinata didn't quite process the question.
At that moment, she heard the terrifying man sitting next to her speak: "Hinata Hyūga, you should leave the Hyūga clan compound for now."
Hinata froze.
Ikeizumi Uchiha's tone was indifferent: "With so many people in the Hyūga Branch House, there will always be fanatics who resent you. After all, you are Hiashi Hyūga's eldest daughter and the Hyūga Main House heir. Never underestimate the extent of human wickedness. If you don't want to die for no reason, don't stay there."
"I will arrange a new place for you to live."
(End of Chapter)
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