Chapter 210: Mei Terumī: Why Should We Help You Without Any Benefits?
“……We…… we’ve probably been discovered, right?”
Mei Terumī’s voice carried a slight tremor that she herself hadn’t noticed.
She felt her heart gripped tightly by an invisible hand, each beat heavy and rapid.
She could even clearly hear the drum-like thuds against her ribcage and the buzzing of blood flowing in her eardrums.
As if her heart was about to break free of its restraints and jump out.
As an elite jonin of Hidden Mist Village, she had experienced countless life-and-death crises, even participated in Ninja Wars, and carried out many near-death ninja missions…… but never once had she felt her psychological endurance pushed to the brink like now.
Mei Terumī’s facial muscles seemed somewhat uncontrollably stiff.
She tried to maintain composure, yet found it hard to even make a natural expression.
Deep in her heart, a primal warning from biological instinct was frantically urging her to turn around immediately and flee this suffocating place by any means!
But lingering reason pierced through this survival impulse.
She knew very well that once targeted by that god-demon-like existence……
Running away was just a foolish act that would accelerate death.
Thus.
She could only stand there rigidly, with an indescribable sense of awkwardness.
“Indeed……”
Ao beside her was in an even worse state.
He swallowed hard, his Adam’s apple rolling violently, feeling his mouth parched without a trace of moisture.
His expression was as stiff as a marionette.
Ao’s right hand almost uncontrollably reached into the ninja tool bag at his waist, gripping a cold kunai tightly.
The icy touch of the kunai’s metal hilt transmitted through his palm, becoming his only meager source of security at this moment.
“Lady Mei Terumī…… what do we do now?”
Ao had always prided himself as Mei Terumī’s strongest confidant and strategist, always able to provide valuable advice when this future Mizukage candidate faced dilemmas.
But at this moment, his mind was a blank slate.
Ao couldn’t think of anything…… in the face of such absolute power disparity, what meaning did any scheme or strategy hold?
After all……
The Fourth Mizukage, with over thirty elite Kirigakure Anbu, even unleashing the Tailed Beast’s power…… what was the end result?
Total annihilation! The Kage’s fall!
And the Tailed Beast’s defeat!
He, Ao, an elite jonin of Hidden Mist Village, even if he staked his life, what could he do?
Was he supposed to pull a kunai from his ninja tool bag and stab to death that “Lava Release Ferocious Beast” taller than a mountain with this short iron shard?
What a joke!
“……Hah!”
Mei Terumī exhaled a heavy breath of turbid air, as if squeezing out all the fear and pressure from her chest.
She struggled to lift her head, forcing herself to meet that cold gaze crossing over a thousand meters yet still pressing substantially on her heart.
“Since the opponent has already discovered us, since there’s nowhere to hide……”
Mei Terumī’s voice carried a resolute determination of breaking the cauldrons and sinking the boats, though her tone was still somewhat tense: “Then why not…… we go over proactively! Ask him face-to-face what Uchiha Ikeizumi wants by intruding into our Land of Water!”
Ao’s brows jumped fiercely upon hearing this, and he hurriedly said: “Lady Mei Terumī! This…… isn’t this a bit too reckless? It’s too dangerous!”
“What if…… what if Konoha is using this chance to declare war on Hidden Mist Village, wouldn’t going over be walking right into a trap?”
“That Uchiha Ikeizumi might kill us without hesitation!”
Mei Terumī whipped her head around, her gaze sharply fixed on Ao as she countered: “If we don’t go, will he let us go? Do you naively think our speed can outrun him?”
She paused, her tone growing heavier: “Don’t forget…… Juzo Biwa has likely defected to Konoha.”
“With him, a rogue ninja who knows Hidden Mist Village like the back of his hand, leading the way, even if we flee back to the village, where could we hide? The entire Land of Water probably holds no secrets for him!”
Ao opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but found any words pale and powerless at this moment.
He watched as Mei Terumī took heavy yet determined steps, proactively walking step by step toward the direction of that Susanoo.
In the end, Ao could only grit his teeth.
A tragic, all-in expression appeared on his face, his right hand still tightly gripping the kunai in his ninja tool bag, as he quickly caught up to Mei Terumī.
But his tense body and constantly scanning eyes.
Exposed his extreme inner unease.
……
When Mei Terumī and Ao finally arrived at that core battlefield under immense psychological pressure.
That suffocating Perfect Susanoo was dissipating like a vanishing mirage, turning into specks of crimson chakra light particles, slowly fading into the air.
That massive oppressive presence gradually weakened, but the lingering scorching heat and sulfur scent in the air, along with the hellish scorched ruins before their eyes……
Constantly reminded them how real and terrifying everything that had just happened was.
Their gazes instantly locked onto the figure standing in the center of the scorched earth.
Wearing the uniform unique to the Konoha Military Police Force with the Uchiha clan’s flaming fan crest on the edges, black short hair, a young yet icily cold face……
This face was not unfamiliar to Mei Terumī and Ao.
After Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “assassination” of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire shocked the Ninja World, intelligence and relatively clear portraits of him had long been placed on the desks of high-level officials in major ninja villages.
But portraits and textual descriptions were far from one-ten-thousandth of the impact of facing him in person!
Especially since he had killed Hidden Mist Village’s Fourth Mizukage today!
Mei Terumī stopped a dozen meters away from Uchiha Ikeizumi.
This distance was already an extremely dangerous alert range for ninjas.
She felt the ground under her feet scalding hot, even a faint burnt smell from her soles, but she could only endure the discomfort, focusing all her attention on that young man.
At the same time, her peripheral vision caught three other figures.
At some point, three people had arrived behind and to the side of Uchiha Ikeizumi—none other than Juzo Biwa, an unfamiliar Uchiha girl, and a plump orange ninja cat.
‘As expected…… Juzo Biwa has completely defected to Konoha.’
Mei Terumī’s last shred of hope shattered.
At this moment, the entire scene fell into a weird silence.
Only the distant “gurgle” of lava flowing in gorges and the wind whistling through the ruins as background noise.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s calm yet deep eyes like a cold pool indifferently fixed on Mei Terumī and Ao.
To Mei Terumī, it felt like appraising two lifeless objects.
Making her hair stand on end.
Mei Terumī steeled herself, forcing her gaze not to flinch, silently meeting his eyes.
While Ao beside her clearly couldn’t withstand the mental pressure of that gaze, his eyes involuntarily drifting aside, cold sweat beading on his forehead and sliding down his temples.
Finally—
“Take me to Hidden Mist Village.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s voice rang out, flat without a ripple, yet like a boulder into dead water, instantly breaking the silence.
It also made Mei Terumī and Ao’s hearts skip a beat.
This didn’t relieve them; instead, it shot their hearts to their throats!
“……Why?” Mei Terumī forced herself to stay calm, knowing she absolutely couldn’t mention the Fourth Mizukage’s death first.
She could only voice her greatest doubts, trying to keep her tone steady: “If I take you to Hidden Mist Village…… are you going to destroy it? Is Konoha…… using this chance to formally declare war on Hidden Mist Village?”
She stared tightly at Uchiha Ikeizumi’s face, trying to read any hint from those icy eyes.
“My actions have nothing to do with Konoha.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s reply remained concise, directly disassociating himself from Konoha Village.
This stunned Mei Terumī.
Solo action?
What did that mean?
Uchiha Ikeizumi paused, then continued: “As for whether to destroy Hidden Mist Village…… that depends on whether the current Hidden Mist Village is beyond saving.”
“Beyond saving?” Mei Terumī was stunned again.
Puzzled by the term.
At this point, Ao beside her couldn’t hold back his confusion and a hint of indignation at being belittled, interjecting: “You say our Hidden Mist Village is ‘beyond saving’…… what do you mean? Does Hidden Mist Village’s state need judgment from a Konoha ninja?”
No sooner had his words fallen……
“Meow~ Naturally because your Hidden Mist Village, from top to bottom, harbors countless sins!”
A strangely toned voice abruptly sounded.
When Mei Terumī and Ao instinctively looked toward the source, they saw it was that plump ninja cat squatting on the Uchiha girl’s shoulder speaking.
“……Sins?” Mei Terumī didn’t understand.
“In Hidden Mist Village…… many people’s sense of right and wrong has long been eroded and twisted to deformity by the Bloody Mist Policy.”
At this moment, Juzo Biwa spoke up.
“This policy is like the most vicious plague, spreading not only in the village but throughout the Land of Water. It breeds countless moral degenerates.”
“In these people’s hearts…… the line between justice and evil has long vanished! Power is everything, killing is truth.”
Juzo Biwa paused, as if recalling some unpleasant memory.
After a few seconds, he took a deep breath and continued: “Killing without cause, looting by force, raping women and children, slaughtering kin with Bloodline Limits, all justified as ‘eliminating unstable factors’……”
“Such evil deeds may exist elsewhere in the Ninja World. But nowhere is it as widespread and rampant as in the current Land of Water.”
“The tragedies played out here daily are counted in the ‘tens of thousands.’ Each number behind is a living person’s life.”
“Those whose souls have been thoroughly twisted by the Bloody Mist, their existence only brings more chaos and pain to the Land of Water. They are like tumors attached to the nation’s body, constantly spreading and eroding everything.”
“It was precisely because I could no longer tolerate the Land of Water becoming like this that I chose the identity of ‘Kirigakure Rogue Ninja,’ becoming a fugitive…… seeking another possibility.”
Juzo Biwa’s rough palm unconsciously rubbed the cold, familiar hilt of the Executioner’s Blade.
His facial muscles tightened, his expression unprecedentedly serious and solemn.
“After defecting, I chose a path that I believed might steer this Land of Water ship, deviated too far from course, back on track.”
“That is…… let ‘Absolute Justice’ thoroughly cleanse this already filthy Land of Water.”
This was the first time Juzo Biwa had so bluntly and at such length dissected his inner thoughts and motives before others.
Mei Terumī listened in silence.
She had previously learned from intelligence about Uchiha Ikeizumi’s “Absolute Justice” ideology and was not unfamiliar with it.
But hearing such “idealistic” remarks directly from a former Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, a rogue ninja known for his ruthlessness, still delivered a huge shock.
At this time, Ao beside her couldn’t restrain himself, eyes wide as he glared at Juzo Biwa: “Juzo Biwa, bringing a Konoha ninja to Land of Water soil and killing the Fourth Mizukage—is that your way of steering the Land of Water back on track?”
Facing Ao’s accusation, Juzo Biwa’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.
Juzo Biwa said: “The current Hidden Mist Village, from the top Mizukage to many ninjas below, their souls and hands have long been rotten to the core by the Bloody Mist.”
“Killing that Fourth one who steadfastly enforced this policy, severing the most crucial link in this corrupt chain—is that wrong?”
This audacious statement left Ao dumbfounded instantly.
His mouth agape, yet momentarily unable to find words to retort.
Mei Terumī was also pulled back to reality from her complex thoughts. She looked at the ever-expressionless Uchiha Ikeizumi and tentatively asked: “So…… the mighty ‘Lava Release Ferocious Beast’ Uchiha Ikeizumi, your purpose in coming to the Land of Water……”
“Is not to invade Hidden Mist Village on behalf of Konoha, but to help our Land of Water, to carry out a great cleansing for the Land of Water? And to end Hidden Mist Village’s Bloody Mist Policy?”
This inference left her feeling dazed.
This was completely different from her worst imagined outcome—”Konoha massive invasion, Hidden Mist Village engulfed in war!”
Even……
Carrying a absurd “good intention”?
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s calm gaze met Mei Terumī’s probing one, his answer utterly candid: “You can understand it that way.”
These simple words completely dumbfounded Mei Terumī.
This……
This utterly overturned her bottom line understanding of ninja village relations and ninja behavior!
A top powerhouse from another village comes to foreign soil, kills another village’s Kage, then tells you—he’s here to “help” with internal cleansing?
“Wh…… why?” Mei Terumī felt her thinking in chaos, subconsciously asking the core question, the point she couldn’t comprehend most.
“What you do…… what benefit does it bring to yourself, to Konoha? Without profit driving it, why interfere in our Land of Water’s affairs?”
In her view, any ninja action inevitably involved interests.
The village’s interests, the ninja clan’s interests, personal interests.
Even touching on any one could explain it.
Yet Uchiha Ikeizumi’s answer extinguished all her speculations: “Executing Absolute Justice, seeking justice for countless wronged innocents, personally sending those heinous villains who trample lives into the infinite hell they deserve……”
His voice remained flat.
“For such things, why would one need benefits to have the motivation?”
Mei Terumī: “……”
Mei Terumī was speechless.
This Konoha Uchiha ninja, his logic……
Felt……
Extremely abnormal!
……
……
