The dawn of victory was right there—almost within reach. The instant Meika charged into the pitch-black alley, clutching his daughter, his e
The dawn of victory was right there—almost within reach.
The instant Meika charged into the pitch-black alley, clutching his daughter, his eyes—still unaccustomed to the darkness—snapped wide in alarm. Instinctively, he ducked his head.
A blood-stained glint of steel jutted out from his chest.
A ninja blade?!
A moment later, a bird-headed mask loomed into view behind him.
"Meika, you really are a slippery one, aren't you~"
The mocking voice rang out as the bird-masked ANBU stepped back, releasing the ninja blade. The blade, which had pierced straight through Meika's back, missed his daughter by mere millimeters.
Watching the blood from his wound drip down the blade and onto his daughter's innocent little face, Meika's fading gaze suddenly softened.
He ignored the ANBU's taunts. With trembling hands, he reached inside his jacket and struggled to pull out a wallet—now punctured by the blade and soaked in blood.
Not far away, the bird-masked ANBU's expression was cold and detached behind the mask. He had no intention of finishing the job—better to let this guy bleed out on his own. After all, work was work, but his own life came first.
As the ANBU watched from the shadows, Meika shakily opened the wallet and pulled out a family photo, now stained with blood.
In the picture, he had his arm around his wife, grinning like a fool. His beautiful wife cradled their daughter, her gentle smile brimming with love for life. Their adorable little girl, in her mother's arms, waved her chubby hands and laughed with pure delight.
He remembered now—he'd bought a big cake that day. His daughter had been so happy.
With one last, lingering look at the photo, Meika ignored the blood gushing from his lips and gently tucked the picture into his daughter's arms. What he didn't know was that the blank piece of paper stuck to the back—the one he'd always considered a joke—was slowly being saturated with his blood.
Having done all he could, Meika gently set his daughter down, turned toward the center of Kirigakure, and began to form hand seals, slow and deliberate.
The bird-masked ANBU had vanished again.
Meika didn't know where the enemy was.
But it didn't matter—he just wanted to unleash one last Lava Release at this damn village.
"Lava Release: Lava Monster—"
But before he could finish the seals, two shuriken whistled through the air, striking both his hands with pinpoint accuracy.
From behind a distant flowerbed, the bird-masked ANBU's cold voice echoed once more.
"Can't you just die quietly? Seriously, you're such a pain. Don't worry, I'll send your whole family to join you soon!"
The message was clear: Meika's daughter was marked for death, too.
Yet just as he spoke, a pair of pitch-black eyes snapped open in the darkness of the alley.
"Yo—Third Gear!
Gum-Gum… Giant Pistol!"
The words had barely left his lips when a massive fist, crackling with blue lightning, shot out from the shadows.
In the stunned eyes of both Meika and the bird-masked ANBU, the fist tore through time and space, smashing into the distant flowerbed.
Boom! The flowerbed shattered like loose sand, debris flying everywhere.
The colossal fist didn't stop—dragging the ANBU, mask shattering, it slammed him straight into the towering office building beyond.
Barely clinging to life, Meika stared at the ruined office building, his vision going black.
What the…?
No way. I must be dying and hallucinating!
But the long arm that snapped back into the alley behind him would beg to differ.
A playful bolt of lightning zapped across Meika's face.
Snap!
The lightning gave the dying Meika an impromptu ion perm.
Smoke curling from his head, Meika slowly turned to see the figure crouched in the alley.
Wait—
That green-haired mystery powerhouse?!
So he wasn't bluffing—he really could save lives!
Regret and bitterness flooded Meika's heart.
But it was too late for that now—he didn't have much time left.
His wife was probably already waiting for him by the River of Forgetfulness.
The thought made him cough up a mouthful of blood.
"Cough… Sir…"
Before he could finish, Rinjin stepped forward, raising a hand to stop him.
"You want me to save you, right? No problem!"
He stood and pulled out a large lump of strange, white flesh from his ninja tool pouch, ready to staunch Meika's bleeding.
Seeing this, Meika trembled and waved his hands, backing away desperately.
"No, I… I want to…"
"What? Oh—I get it! You want me to pull the blade out!"
"No, cough—"
"Then what do you want?"
"I want… to entrust my daughter to you!" Meika forced out the words with his last breath, rapid-fire.
"…"
Rinjin was dumbstruck.
Again?
First Rie's mom, now you people just won't stop, huh!
Uzumaki Mito was one thing, and Tsunade—well, at least she'd be drop-dead gorgeous till she was seventy. That's worth drooling over!
But you?
As Rinjin grumbled to himself, Meika summoned his last ounce of strength.
"My daughter… Mei Terumī… I leave her in your hands!"
With that, his eyes closed, and he fell back, chasing after his wife in the next world.
Ah, damn…
Staring at the gradually cooling corpse, Rinjin's expression grew complicated.
Mei Terumī?
That Fourth Mizukage who could spit out all kinds of wild things from her mouth?
Suddenly, Rinjin's eyes lit up.
If he trained her well and sent her back to Kirigakure, wouldn't he have a direct line into one of the great hidden villages?
Or better yet, why not keep her here—let her succeed Rie and become the Second Amekage of Amegakure?
Not a bad idea!
After all, this little girl had inherited Meika'sLava Release. Her future potential was nothing to sneeze at.
And for the record, he definitely wasn't thinking about her legs…
With that, Rinjin made up his mind.
This time, call me the Honest and Trustworthy Young Master.
...
On the rooftop of the Mizukage's office,
Rinjin carried the peacefully sleeping Mei Terumī on his back, gazing out at the burning Kirigakure, brows furrowed.
Something about this didn't sit right.
Time passed. In the blink of an eye, a week had gone by.
Land of Earth, Iwagakure.
Ōnoki sat in the Tsuchikage's office, brow furrowed deep in thought.
Recently, a major incident had rocked Iwagakure.
The archive room—where all the most sensitive documents were kept—had been robbed!
But this was no ordinary thief.
Whoever it was had come prepared: not only did they slip past the ANBU guards unnoticed, but they also managed to steal a mountain of classified files right under everyone's noses.
Then, a familiar scene played out.
On the black market's shadowy bounty boards, a flood of Iwagakure's classified intel suddenly went up for sale.
It was hard not to recall what had happened to Amegakure not long ago.
As Ōnoki's expression grew darker, an ANBU agent appeared before him, dropping to one knee.
"Third-sama, we've found the thief who stole the intelligence!"
"Where?!" Ōnoki shot to his feet.
"He's already dead, but based on his belongings, he was almost certainly an Amegakure spy!"
Hearing this, Ōnoki's brow furrowed even deeper.
Amegakure's mole?
The next second, a certain smiling face flashed in his mind.
Shimura Dantan—younger brother of Konoha's high-ranking Shimura Danzō, Daimyō of the Land of Rain, and the true ruler of Amegakure.
Rumor had it, he also went by the alias Sakuhō Rinjin.
The realization made Ōnoki slam his fist on the desk and growl,
"Damn Amegakure! Trying to profit off the war's chaos—you bastards!"
A string of uniquely Iwagakure curses rang out from the Tsuchikage's office.
And as Ōnoki fumed,
In a dark corner somewhere, a shadow flickered and vanished.
~~~~❃❃~~~~~~~~❃❃~~~~
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