Staring at the dangerous puppet, Sasori, ahead of him, Kisame felt sweat dropping from his body.
In an instant, the puppet dashed at them. As it did so, its arms opened, and from within, numerous senbons were fired.
Leaping out of the site, Kisame and his teammate, Masa, evaded the lethal sharps.
Landing on a tree bark, Kisame then had to leap again as the puppet's mouth opened far beyond what a human body was capable of, before a fire was emitted from it.
An entire tree was burned crisp, and it then fell, causing the ground to shake briefly.
In that moment, Masa was found standing behind the puppet.
"Water Release: Water Prison—"
He wasn't able to complete his technique however, for the puppet's body rotated at an impossible angle and swung its arm that had a sharp knife protruding out of its palm.
Masa had to back off, which gave the puppet a distance to prepare its next attack.
Kisame then acted.
"Water Release: Hidden Mist."
A mist shrouded the forest, though Kisame had no idea if the obscuring of vision had any significance to the puppet.
"Kisame."
Hidan was long gone by now. Moving himself next to Kisame in this brief moment, Masa proposed.
"You deal with that puppet. Direct its attention toward you, while I chase the kid down."
"It's beyond the level that one of us is capable of dealing with."
Kisame frowned.
"Exactly. That's the precise reason why. We would keep getting ourselves stalled by this puppet should we remain together."
"Are you telling me... to sacrifice my life?"
"I will be back shortly after killing the kid. What is it that you don't like about this plan?"
Masa narrowed his eyes.
"Remember. You are the tool of the village. Your life isn't yours to decide."
"So is yours."
Kisame, not backing down this time around, suggested.
"I will chase the kid. How about you deal with this puppet instead?"
"You? Kill the kid? When you hesitated just before?"
"That...!"
Beyond the mist, a red fire could be seen. Masa growled,
"Kisame! There is no time to argue!"
KIsame's head felt hot.
No one viewed him as a person, as someone valuable. He was always the disposable tool of the village...
He didn't belong in this village. Everyone despised him for simply looking different. He had no place to belong.
"...Fine, then."
Kisame remembered when he had to kill a colleague in order to graduate from the academy. He remembered the looks of the others afterward; they looked unhappy about the fact that he was the victor.
"Go."
Watching as Masa left, Kisame stared at the puppet ahead of him with a complicated expression.
__________
"Kirano-san."
The door of one wooden building creaked open. Entered, Ao and Gai, who found that all the lights were turned off.
Ao, with his guard still up, spoke the name.
"Kirano-san, we are here. We are in need of your help."
"I believe... that I am not obliged to help you."
Within the darkness, a reply was heard. Then, the sound of someone walking.
From the darkness, one short-heighted man of old age, with a messy white beard and bald hair revealed himself.
"Ao."
"Kirano-san... please."
"While I don't approve of Yagura's tyranny, I am not idiotic enough to believe that his rule can be overthrown. You know very well... that there is no one in this village who can defeat him."
"I don't ask for much."
Ao shook his head.
"I am simply asking you to hide this child. For his life."
Kirano frowned as he shifted his eyes toward Gai.
"I don't recognize seeing this one. He's a foreigner, isn't he?"
"Yes."
"Then he is another factor of danger! Why did you bring him in, Ao?!"
"He has no place to stay. He was on the verge of death before we picked him up, and now... he is on the verge of death yet again because of us."
"Tch... what did I tell you about not peering into other people's matters?! That Terumi gal, I swear...!"
Kirano fumed before sighing.
Gai, on the other hand, turned stoic, learning why they've come here.
"Am I..."
Gai mumbled,
"Am I a nuisance?"
"No, of course not."
Ao sighed.
"You are young, Gai. In the first place, it's us, the adults' fault, for bringing children like you into all of this."
"Hmph! At least you are aware!"
Kirano snorted from the side. With a complicated expression, he looked back and forth between Ao and Gai. With his arms crossed, he clicked his tongue.
"Fine! Leave the child! Don't expect much from a smith like me, however!"
"Yes, that would be more than enough. Thank you, Kirano-san."
Bowing, Ao turned and prepared to leave, ruffling Gai's hair as he did so.
"And what now?!"
Kirano, not stopping there, asked.
"Pardon?"
"What will you be doing now? Throw your life away like those fools?!"
"...Maybe."
Ao smiled softly.
"Be it one way or the other, we should see the end of this, don't we?"
Ao left, leaving Gai with this hot-tempered smith, Kirano.
Gai couldn't help but clench his hands, feeling frustrated because of his helplessness.
__________
"Your improvement is quite impressive, Zabuza."
Stabbing Kubikiribocho on the ground, Juzo remarked.
"Not enough to defeat me, though."
Zabuza, fallen on the ground, glared at Juzo while holding his chest where a deep gash was left.
His sword was long broken. With blood dripping out of his mouth, there was nothing that Zabuza could do but express his rage.
"What a surprise, Juzo, for you to take this long against the kiddo!"
"Heh, what can I say? He is pretty good."
From the side, Kushimaru said in a mocking tone, and Juzo simply shrugged it off.
Behind them, the clan leaders whom they were fighting could be seen in the form of a corpse.
The other Swordsmen, as if nothing had happened, were taking care of their mystical blades.
Even against the masters of their bloodline limits, the Seven Swordsmen triumphed. From the start, it was the fight that the rebellion couldn't win.
The Demon Brothers had also fallen. Though they were alive, they were currently being tied up along with others; Zabuza knew that they'd failed the final chance given to them.
"What now... Zabuza?"
Gozu asked Zabuza hoarsely.
"...I don't know."
That was all that Zabuza could say.
'Ao...'
By now, Ao has probably gone to free Mei. However, he couldn't help but think whether freeing Mei would make any difference.
These Seven Swordsmen were already overwhelming. Even after defeating them somehow, there still remained Karatsuchi Yagura, the tyrant and the fourth Mizukage of the village.
Zabuza's grip over his broken great sword tightened, but again, there was nothing he could do.
"Well done!"
A clapping noise reached everyone's ears. Turning, they found Seiji with a few ninjas.
"...Terumi Seiji."
Juzo frowned, but Seiji didn't look bothered by Juzo's evident dislike for him.
"Mizukage-sama will be pleased. Thanks to your hard work, the execution will go as scheduled..."
Seiji, turning to face Zabuza, smirked.
"...Tonight, that is."
"...What?"
Zabuza's eyes shook.
"I thought... it will be a public execution during the day..."
"Do you not understand, Zabuza? From the start, you folks were atop my palm."
Walking up to Zabuza, Seiji spoke excitedly.
"Isn't it obvious? To catch the parasites of the village who hid themselves in the holes we cannot find, it's natural to present an attractant, right? There was no more perfect candidate than Terumi Mei... the so-called leader of your puny faction."
Zabuza realized.
The reason why they spread the information about Mei's execution wasn't to raise the dramaticity of the event.
Rather, it was to agitate the remaining rebels', to make them come out of their own.
With them having been killed or caught, they no longer needed Mei. Therefore, they would kill her before she presented a game-changing factor.
"SEIJI!!!"
As the thought reached his mind, Zabuza thrashed within the rope that tied him, uncaring of the fact that his wound was opening because of his motion.
Seiji laughed at the sight, enjoying Zabuza's rage and despair.
"Aren't you pitiful, Zabuza?"
He then turned cold, with the laugh having died down in an instant.
"You should've remained as the Demon of Hidden Mist. What a useless piece of shit you degraded into."
Seiji then signalled to one of the ninjas, who knocked Zabuza out.
"Lock him in a single-use cell. We'll have to interrogate him for the information he gained during the years outside."
He then smiled. Looking around, he saw the civilians peeking through the windows.
He enjoyed their eyes, ones that appeared dead and bleak.
"This is our victory."
Seiji savored every bit of it.
__________
The security guarding Mei's cell was, surprisingly, not as tight.
For someone like Ao who possessed Byakugan, getting past their eyes wasn't a hard thing to do.
In fact, it was easy. Far too easy that it made him feel uneasy.
Yes, Ao knew. This was likely a trap.
Nevertheless, he continued moving. He eventually arrived in front of the destination, the cell where Mei was locked.
"Mei-sama."
"...Ao."
Mei watched as Ao swiftly took out a key that he stole from one of the guards, opened the cell, and removed her cuffs as well.
"The fact that you managed to reach me means..."
Ao nodded. Mei's face darkened.
"But Mei-sama, this is the only way."
Ao and Zabuza's so-called plan A—both of them knew from the start that the chance of success was nearly zero.
In a sense, their plan B could be considered the true plan.
"What's in your mind, Ao?"
Seeing that there still was light in Ao's eye, Mei asked.
"We communicated with the remaining ones who's been biding their time. We... requested that they make an opening for us."
"...At the cost of their life?"
"Yes."
Mei's lips quivered.
"For what?"
"As much as I hate to say this..."
Ao grabbed Mei's shoulders.
"The fate of this village—no, the entire land of water, lies on the shoulders of the foreigner."
"...Akashi."
Ao nodded.
"Chunin Yuki Nana is currently in the process of infiltrating the suspected place of the imprisoning orb, Terumi Seiji's office. Join her, Mei-sama. If we are to compare the ongoing battle to a game of shogi, you are our king."
"What about... you, then?"
Ao turned to face the hall he's come from.
It was dead silent, but his chakra-sensing ability told otherwise.
Enemies were closing in.
Ao revealed a kunai.
"I will open a path for you."
He took off the eye patch that was hiding his right eye.
Byakugan appeared; Ao was ready to go all out for the future that they envisioned.