"Your Majesty, aside from a few diehards, Kirigakure is now entirely under our control." Before the Chimera Ant army, the daimyo's mansion fell quickly. After all, those there were mostly ordinary people. Although the daimyo had some shinobi in his service, their strength couldn't compare to Kirigakure's ninjas, let alone the Chimera Ants who had all but devoured Kirigakure.
So taking the daimyo's court went smoothly. As for the daimyo, Meruem didn't kill him but transformed him into a Chimera Ant and placed him under control. To ordinary citizens, the daimyo still looked like the daimyo, but in truth, the daimyo in their minds was no longer human.
However, Meruem encountered some resistance when conquering the final part of Kirigakure. Though in combat power the village couldn't stand against the Chimera Ant army, there were still quite a few capable people among them.
They were a group led by Mei Terumi, who in the original became the Fifth Mizukage, alongside Ao and the future Sixth Mizukage, Chojuro.
They discovered that an outside force had somehow infiltrated their village and that most of the village had already fallen under its control. Fortunately, they hadn't yet realized that most of the people in their village had become nonhuman.
Otherwise, to keep the secret, Meruem would only have silenced them.
No one wants to die. Today was the time when Mei Terumi and the others formally requested a meeting with the leader of the outsiders, because they had discovered, to their dismay, that they couldn't even run. All routes out of the Land of Water were sealed off by the enemy.
They were forced to hole up in a tiny area. It wasn't that they hadn't considered a breakout. Mei Terumi, after all, already had Kage-level strength—breaking through shouldn't have been hard. But to their astonishment, the enemy had countless experts. Never mind the high command—even a squadron leader was jonin class.
Mei personally fought one of those they called Squadron Leaders—a man who could transform into a minotaur. She'd thought it would be an easy win, but the result was eye-opening.
Shortly after arriving in the Naruto world, to let the Chimera Ant army move among humans, the Chimera Ant modification medics developed a method of human disguise: shifting muscles and bones to take on a human form, then reverting to their true form when combat was needed. This was for the earliest batch of Chimera Ants. Later-modified Chimera Ants only needed the "human body" trait included during reconstruction. In addition, human-modification tech had been updated to the fifth generation.
That didn't mean later modifications were inherently stronger—strength still depended on the subject's potential. But with each tech iteration, modified Chimera Ants found it easier to learn Nen; after the fifth generation, a very small number of ninja-modified Chimera Ants could both learn Nen and possess chakra.
A draw! Neither could do anything to the other. Though Mei had held back her strongest trump cards, the opponent wasn't necessarily going all out, either.
That monstrous physique and taijutsu gave her a headache, and the Water Release she prided herself on had no effect. Thankfully, she possessed two excellent kekkei genkai—Lava Release and Boil Release—which the opponent was quite wary of; otherwise, that fight would have been hard indeed.
Most crucially, there were reportedly nearly ten squadron leaders—ten Kage-level fighters no weaker than herself! Where did they even come from?
If Mei had known that Chimera Ants with Squadron Leader–level strength numbered in the dozens, even more, across the army, one wonders what she would have thought.
And above the squadron leaders was the Royal Guard—ten times stronger than a squadron leader.
After all, a squadron leader was a rank, not a precise strength label. At the very least, the current members of the Chimera Ant Twelve Stars were by no means inferior to any squadron leader.
More frightening was that the enemy had done it all without anyone knowing—and they hadn't sensed a thing.
Even Kirigakure's Council of Elders had fallen under the enemy's control.
If the Chimera Ants hadn't interfered, Mei Terumi would likely have officially succeeded as Mizukage before long. But all that was about to become a pipe dream.
In short, furious and frightened, Mei demanded a meeting with the outsiders' leader. In truth, this was a kind of veiled compromise.
What else could they do? Fight? They couldn't win. Flee? They couldn't get away. And nearly the whole village had already fallen into the enemy's hands.
Besides, even if they fled—ask for help? Who would believe them? The enemy could even publicly brand them rogue ninja. Who would anyone believe then?
Meruem didn't refuse Mei's request. He had time to spare anyway. As it happened, Meruem was preparing to go after the Three-Tails. As the Mizukage-designate, she should know where the Three-Tails currently was.
"So you're the leader of the outsiders? You're awfully young." Clad in blue, Mei Terumi struck what she thought was an alluringly seductive pose at Meruem. "Little brother, what do you think of big sis? Want to have some fun with me?"
It was a simple meeting, so the venue was the old Kirigakure council hall. When Mei saw Meruem, she was startled. She'd imagined many images for the outsiders' leader, but she'd never imagined a boy who looked barely in his teens?! And that boy had in his arms an even younger, cat-eared little girl, with another black-haired straight-cut girl at his side—did that mean the younger the outsider, the stronger they were?
Well, Meruem's appearance was indeed still that. Strength recovery had nothing to do with age. Time—what a powerful ability.
The benefit was clear: once Meruem returned to his original age and appearance, his strength would at least double.
The enemy leader looked even younger than Chojuro, whom she liked to tease. Mei couldn't help trying to flirt a little.
She knew it probably wouldn't work, but she couldn't help herself.
No surprise from the famously shota-loving Mei Terumi—she was indeed beautiful, but no wonder she hadn't married.
Who was Meruem? How could he be charmed by a mere glance? He'd need at least two.
That was a joke—Meruem had no interest at all.
In Meruem's mind, the beauties he admired in the Naruto world were basically Hinata and Temari. The rest left him cold.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am the King of the Chimera Ants. You may call me Meruem. You have two choices now: submit or die." Meruem shot Mei a bland glance and spoke, showing not an ounce of chivalry because she was a beauty. "And another thing—I'm not your little brother. I'm older than you."
And that was the truth. Meruem's standards for a mate were very high. If you wanted to seduce him, forget it. Beauty alone wasn't enough—and Mei's so-called beauty didn't match his tastes anyway.
"tsk tsk... You really are boring. Still, I need to think about it." Hearing Meruem's unromantic answer, Mei rolled her eyes. She didn't care much about Meruem's threats. She had Kage-level strength, after all.
So an old pervert pretending to be young. Mei sneered inwardly. But why can't I sense this guy's strength at all? Damn it—if I could gauge him, I'd strike and restrain him and then get out. Otherwise how do we escape? I hope Ao's scouting is going well. Good thing we have the Byakugan on our side. The leader isn't necessarily the strongest.
So that was Mei's plan. Too bad she'd met Meruem. It would never work.
For the record, the Naruto world did have old perverts who disguised their ages—but Meruem clearly wasn't one. He hadn't chosen to become younger.
Cold sweat streamed from Ao's brow, his mouth agape, eyes bulging, his whole body in spasms from excessive terror. If Chojuro hadn't noticed something was wrong and supported him, Ao might have collapsed like a pile of mud.
This was Ao's current state. With his Byakugan and as a sensory ninja, he could clearly feel the power emanating from Meruem.
It was a despair that plunged into an abyss—a terror absolute. Not only that ocean of chakra inside him, but a presence like some primordial beast from antiquity.
Meruem had already noticed Ao's covert observation and roughly understood their intent.
So Meruem deliberately unleashed his unique Nen upon Ao—malicious Nen that was even more effective than killing intent. Though he directed only a sliver at Ao, Nen more terrifying than that of the Royal Guard—Nen that in the original could turn a squadron leader into a cowering cur—wasn't something easily borne. Thanks to Ao's strong mental fortitude, he didn't break. Another might have.
Nen's peculiarity, especially against sensory-type ninjas, meant it could easily impose the user's will upon them.
"Ao, what's wrong?" Mei finally noticed Ao's anomaly. Enveloped in Meruem's malevolent Nen, Ao couldn't utter a word, only staring in pure terror at Meruem. Helpless, Mei followed Ao's gaze—to Meruem, standing before them.
"Have you reached a decision, everyone?" Meruem smiled at Mei and her party. But in Ao's eyes, it was the grin of a demon from hell.
(End of Chapter)
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