Uchiha Chizumi turned around and saw a girl with long, straight black hair standing behind him, her face full of hesitation.
"C-Chizumi-senpai, I… I…"
Izumi suddenly froze. Under Uchiha Chizumi-senpai's gaze she grew nervous without even realizing it.
She could summon courage when speaking to other Senpais—even to Clan Head Fugaku himself—yet in front of this Uchiha Chizumi she was so tense she didn't know what to say.
"Speak."
Chizumi's voice cut through the silence.
Izumi snapped to attention and hurriedly introduced herself:
"My name is Uchiha Izumi! I entered this year's Police Force recruitment test, and when Fugaku-sama told me to choose an examiner, I… I chose you, Chizumi-senpai."
But under the sharp scrutiny of the veteran before her, her voice grew quieter and quieter, until she could no longer raise her head to meet his eyes.
"Examiner? You chose me?"
Expressionless, Chizumi looked her over.
"You look fragile, but I'll give you this—you've got courage."
He forced a smile that never reached his eyes.
"Passing my test is simple: in one month, don't give me a single reason to want to kill you. Do that, and you pass."
He paused, eyes shifting past her.
"Oh—hold on. A rat is trying to run."
Izumi: "???"
Huh—?
While Izumi was still confused, Chizumi suddenly drew the ninja blade at his waist.
A silver arc flashed through the air; a splash of crimson filled Izumi's vision.
The next instant a short man toppled face‑first to the ground—his left leg had been severed!
"AAAHHH!"
The man's shrill screams and the smell of blood filling the air hammered Izumi's nerves.
Instinctively she stepped back half a pace, cold sweat beading on her brow.
Chizumi flicked the blood from his blade.
"Uchiha Izumi."
"Ah?" Worried the man might bleed to death, Izumi jerked her head up in panic.
Chizumi frowned.
"When I call your name, you answer 'Here.'"
"…Ah—Here!"
She blurted it out in a fluster.
"That tiny voice, and you still think you can join the Police Force?" Chizumi said coldly.
"I can't even hear you. Is that the resolve you'll use to protect the word justice? Better run home and be a good little girl."
Fugaku-sama was right—Senpai Chizumi really was harsh. First meeting and she was already being scolded like a dog in a storm.
Izumi could only steel herself; her cheeks flushed red.
"HERE!!"
Seeing the chill in Chizumi's eyes ease ever so slightly, she finally exhaled.
"Um…" Izumi hesitated.
"Speak."
"Senpai, if we don't treat this man right away, he may bleed out and die."
"How long can he live?" Chizumi asked, flat and unexpected.
She answered quickly:
"He could go into shock within ten minutes."
"Plenty of time." Chizumi turned to her.
"Rookie, here's a mission."
Izumi swallowed.
"Senpai, I haven't learned medical ninjutsu. Maybe… we should take him to Konoha Hospital?"
Chizumi gave her a sidelong glance.
"Who said anything about treating him?"
"Eh?" Izumi had lost count of how many times she'd been stunned today.
"What do you mean, Senpai…?"
Chizumi handed her the ninja blade. She took it on reflex.
His face showed no ripple of emotion.
"Prove you have the resolve to join the Police Force. Take this blade, interrogate that man, and ask him—Where is the child's corpse? You have ten minutes. If you can't get an answer, go home and don't come looking for me tomorrow."
Inte… interrogate?
Izumi was dumbfounded. She glanced around—this was one of the busiest streets in Konoha. She couldn't even count how many people were here!
Interrogate a civilian with his leg sliced off, in broad daylight, right here?
And why ask about "a child's corpse"?
Was this standard procedure for the Uchiha Police? Or just Chizumi's way?
She stole a peek at Chizumi's eyes—only to find them growing steadily colder.
Izumi's heart jumped.
Warnings from Fugaku-sama and a Senpai female officer flashed through her mind:
"Don't defy his orders if you want to stay alive."
"Good luck; sometimes surviving is luck itself."
Fear took hold.
Gripping the still‑warm hilt, sweat poured from her pale forehead. Driven by raw survival instinct, she stepped forward and questioned the man clutching his severed leg:
"Y‑you… where did you hide the child's corpse?!"
Panic flickered in the man's pain‑filled eyes.
"Take—take me to the hospital! Please!"
He ignored Izumi's shaky interrogation, screaming instead:
"I'm so dizzy—there's too much blood—am I going to die? Help me! I don't want to die!"
I don't want to die, either! Izumi screamed inside.
"Where is the body?!"
She forced herself calm—Chizumi wouldn't have her ask for nothing.
"Answer me now and I can get you to the hospital. You won't last much longer!"
But the man still howled:
"I don't know any child! I don't know! Please, save me!"
"Senpai…"
Izumi tried to seek help with her eyes, but Chizumi merely stood with arms folded, watching coldly. There was not a shred of emotion in those eyes.
Suddenly she felt she couldn't breathe.
This feeling…she knew it well.
On the Night of the Nine‑Tails, facing that colossal beast, she'd felt the same suffocating despair—the sense her life might end any second.
Survival instinct again overpowered mercy. She hardened her heart, pressed the blade to the man's throat; a thin line of blood appeared.
Clenching her teeth:
"Last chance! Where is the child's body?!"
The man's eyes bulged; the sting at his neck shattered his composure.
"I… I didn't mean it… I never meant to kill her. You have to believe me! She—she was my daughter…"
"I was just playing with her. I never thought she'd die… I… I threw her into the dry well in the yard."
Izumi stared, stunned.
His broken confession revealed the awful truth: the man Chizumi had her interrogated in public had murdered his own daughter—then dumped her body in an old well.
A killer.
Chizumi's voice sounded behind her, calm and cold: "Rookie, this is your first lesson in enforcing justice as part of the Uchiha Police Force—
Always carry out my orders.
No doubts.
No resistance.
No mistakes."