"…We… should have been discovered, right?"
Terumī Mei's voice carried a slight tremor that even she herself had not noticed.
She felt as though her heart were being tightly gripped by an invisible hand; every beat was heavy and rapid.
She could even clearly hear the drumming sound of it pounding against her chest cavity, the buzzing hum of blood flowing through her eardrums.
It was as if her heart were about to break free of its restraints and leap out.
As an elite jōnin of Kirigakure, she had experienced countless life-and-death crises, had even participated in the Ninja World War, and carried out many missions where survival was near impossible… yet never once had she felt her psychological endurance pushed to its very limits like this moment.
The muscles on Terumī Mei's face seemed to stiffen slightly beyond her control.
She tried hard to maintain her composure, only to find that even making a natural expression had become difficult.
From deep within, a primal warning born of instinct was madly urging her to turn around at once and escape this suffocating place by any means necessary!
But the remnants of rationality pierced through that impulse for survival.
She knew very clearly that once one was targeted by such a being—one resembling a god or demon…
To run would only be a foolish act that hastened death.
Thus, she could only stand there stiffly, with an indescribable sense of awkwardness.
"Indeed…"
Beside her, Ao's condition was even worse.
He swallowed hard with difficulty; his Adam's apple bobbed violently, his mouth so dry it contained not a trace of moisture.
His expression was as stiff as that of a puppet on strings.
Ao's right hand, almost without conscious control, reached into the ninja tool pouch at his waist and gripped tightly one of the cold kunai within.
The chill of the metal handle seeped through his palm—it became the sole, faint source of security he could cling to at that moment.
"Terumī Mei-sama… what should we do now?"
All along, Ao had prided himself on being Terumī Mei's strongest confidant and strategist, always able to offer valuable advice whenever this future Mizukage candidate faced difficulties.
Yet now, his mind was completely blank.
Ao simply could not think of—before such an absolute difference in power—what meaning any scheme or strategy could still have?
After all…
The Fourth Mizukage himself had led over 30 elite Anbu from Kirigakure and had even resorted to using the power of a Tailed Beast… and the final outcome?
It was total annihilation! The fall of a Kage!
And even the defeat of a Tailed Beast!
He, Ao, an elite jōnin of Kirigakure—what could he possibly accomplish, even if he threw his life away?
Was he supposed to pull a kunai from his tool pouch and use that small piece of iron to stab to death that "lava giant" towering higher than a mountain?
What a joke!
"…Hah!"
Terumī Mei exhaled a long, heavy breath, as if trying to squeeze out all the fear and pressure within her chest.
She lifted her head with effort, forcing herself to face that cold, indifferent gaze—spanning over a thousand meters away yet still pressing down upon her heart with palpable weight.
"Since the other side has already discovered us, since there's no place left to hide…"
Terumī Mei's voice carried a kind of desperate resolve, breaking through all hesitation; though still strained, her tone was firm: "Then we might as well… take the initiative and go over there! Ask him face to face—what exactly does that Uchiha Keizumi intend by intruding into our Land of Water!"
Hearing this, Ao's brow twitched violently, and he hurriedly said, "Terumī Mei-sama! Isn't… isn't that a bit too reckless? It's far too dangerous!"
"If—if Konohagakure intends to use this as a pretext to declare war on Kirigakure, wouldn't we be walking right into the trap?"
"That Uchiha Keizumi might kill us without a moment's hesitation!"
Terumī Mei abruptly turned her head, fixing Ao with a sharp stare as she countered, "And if we don't go, do you think he'll let us go? Do you really believe, naively, that with our speed, we can escape?"
She paused, her tone growing heavier. "Don't forget… Biwa Jūzō has most likely already defected to Konohagakure."
"With that traitor, who knows Kirigakure inside and out, leading the way— even if we flee back to the village, where could we possibly hide? To him, the entire Land of Water probably holds no secrets at all!"
Ao opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, but realized that any words at this point were powerless and empty.
He could only watch as Terumī Mei took heavy yet resolute steps, moving toward the direction where Susanoo stood.
In the end, Ao gritted his teeth.
A look of grim resolve spread across his face as he followed quickly after her, his right hand still gripping tightly the kunai in his pouch.
Yet his tense body and the way his eyes darted around constantly—
Exposed the deep unease within his heart.
…
When Terumī Mei and Ao, bearing immense psychological pressure, finally arrived at that core battlefield—
That suffocating Complete-Body Susanoo was, like a vanishing mirage, dissolving into countless crimson chakra light particles that slowly dispersed into the air.
That overwhelming sense of oppression likewise gradually faded, yet the scorching heat and sulfuric stench lingering in the air, together with the scorched wasteland before them—like a depiction of hell itself—
Constantly reminded them just how real and terrifying everything that had just occurred truly was.
Their gazes instantly locked onto the figure standing at the center of the scorched earth.
He wore the distinctive uniform of Konohagakure's Police Force, its edges marked with the Uchiha clan's flaming fan crest; short black hair, and a young yet utterly cold face…
That face was not unfamiliar to Terumī Mei and Ao.
Ever since Uchiha Keizumi had "assassinated" the Daimyō of the Land of Fire and shaken the entire ninja world, his intelligence report and a clear portrait had long been placed on the desks of the upper echelons of every major hidden village.
Yet neither portrait nor written description could compare to even a ten-thousandth of the impact of facing him in person!
Especially since this man had, today, slain the Fourth Mizukage of Kirigakure!
Terumī Mei stopped her steps more than ten meters away from Uchiha Keizumi.
For a shinobi, such a distance was already an extremely dangerous alert range.
She felt the ground beneath her feet scorching hot, even a faint burning odor seeping through the soles of her shoes—but she could only endure the discomfort and focus all her attention on that young man.
At the same time, from the corner of her eye, she caught sight of three other figures.
At some unknown point, three people had appeared to one side behind Uchiha Keizumi—it was Biwa Jūzō, an unfamiliar Uchiha girl, and a plump orange ninja cat.
'So it's true… Biwa Jūzō has completely defected to Konohagakure.'
The last trace of hope in Terumī Mei's heart was shattered.
At this moment, the entire scene sank into an eerie silence.
Only the bubbling sound of magma flowing through distant rifts and the moaning of the wind across the ruins served as background noise.
Uchiha Keizumi's calm yet abyss-deep eyes gazed indifferently at Terumī Mei and Ao.
To Terumī Mei, it felt as though he were observing two lifeless objects.
It made her hair stand on end.
Still, Terumī Mei braced herself, forcing her gaze not to avert as she met his eyes in a silent stare.
Beside her, Ao was clearly unable to withstand the mental pressure brought on by that gaze. His eyes drifted involuntarily to the side, and the cold sweat seeping from his forehead slid down along his temples.
Finally—
"Take me to Kirigakure."
Uchiha Keizumi's voice sounded, calm and without the slightest ripple—yet like a boulder dropped into still water, it instantly shattered the silence.
It also made Terumī Mei and Ao's hearts skip a beat.
It did not bring them relief; instead, their hearts instantly tightened to the point of suffocation!
"…Why?" Terumī Mei forced herself to stay calm. She knew that at this moment, she absolutely could not take the initiative to mention the death of the Fourth Mizukage.
She could only ask the greatest questions in her heart, keeping her voice as steady as possible: "If I take you to Kirigakure… are you going to destroy Kirigakure? Is Konohagakure… going to use this as an opportunity to formally declare war on Kirigakure?"
She stared intently at Uchiha Keizumi's face, trying to read even the slightest trace of information from those cold eyes.
"My actions have nothing to do with Konohagakure."
Uchiha Keizumi's reply was as concise as ever, directly cutting off any connection with Konoha.
This caused Terumī Mei's heart to jolt.
Was he acting alone?
What did that mean?
Uchiha Keizumi paused for a moment, then continued, "As for whether Kirigakure should be destroyed or not… that depends on whether the current Kirigakure is already beyond salvation."
"Beyond salvation?" Terumī Mei was stunned again, puzzled by the term.
At this moment, Ao, unable to contain his confusion and a trace of anger at being looked down upon, interjected, "You say our Kirigakure is 'beyond salvation'… what do you mean by that? Since when does our Kirigakure need a shinobi from Konohagakure to pass judgment on it?"
As soon as his words fell—
"Meow~ Naturally because your Kirigakure, from top to bottom, harbors countless sins!"
A strangely pitched voice suddenly rang out.
When Terumī Mei and Ao instinctively turned toward the sound, they saw that the one speaking was the plump ninja cat crouched on the Uchiha girl's shoulder.
"…Sins?" Terumī Mei did not understand.
"In Kirigakure… the sense of right and wrong of many people has long been corroded and twisted into deformity by the Blood Mist Policy."
At that moment, Biwa Jūzō spoke.
"That policy is like the vilest plague—not only spreading within the village, but throughout the entire Land of Water. It has bred countless scum whose morality has utterly rotted away."
"In the hearts of these people… the boundary between justice and evil has long ceased to exist! Power is everything, and slaughter is the only truth."
Biwa Jūzō paused, as if recalling some unpleasant memories.