"It hurts so much, like being soaked in lava."
Uchiha Raizen gritted his teeth, struggling not to cry out in pain.
Suddenly, he realized the Azure Dragon's body had too large a surface area, with too many burned spots, so he changed form into a beastman.
A blast of leftover explosion force hit Uchiha Raizen's back, making his body involuntarily fall toward the northwest.
There.
A tall, graceful, mature woman with an elegant charm was dodging falling debris.
The woman noticed a tall figure rushing toward her from the sky. Her soft lips rounded in surprise, her heart speeding up:
"Hey, handsome, delivering yourself on a silver platter?!"
Boom!
The ground shook violently, rocks and earth crumbled.
Uchiha Raizen didn't expect to crash into Mei Terumi.
He suddenly felt his chest touch something extremely soft, accompanied by a rich and pleasant fragrance.
This scent was different from Inori's fresh, morning gardenia-like smell; it was more like a noon rose—strong, warm, full of mature and charming temptation.
Raizen instinctively looked down.
What he saw was a large, stunning expanse of pure white, pressed tightly to form a deep groove like a snowy mountain path.
This grand sight far surpassed Inori's C-cup; it might even be as large as an F. In the world of the Hidden Leaf, only Tsunade could compare.
Even though he wasn't one to be easily distracted by lust, Raizen found himself momentarily dazed, his gaze drawn as if by a magnet.
Mei Terumi laughed softly and asked, "Do you like what you see?"
"..."
Raizen cleared his throat lightly and looked away.
Then he remembered—they were still enemies.
He moved to grab Mei Terumi.
But he felt pain all over his body; his arm joints were swollen, and his cells seemed to be crying out in pain.
He hadn't expected the power of the Tailed Beast Ball to be this fierce.
If even he was hurt like this, the Three-Tails inside the canyon, which had taken most of the blast, was probably in even worse shape—likely unable to maintain its Tailed Beast form.
This thought gave Raizen some relief.
Suddenly, Mei Terumi wrapped her arms around him from behind, her voice elegant and magnetic as she smiled,
"Handsome, I'm borrowing your body for a bit."
"What?"
Raizen was confused for a moment.
Then he noticed several huge rocks falling toward him.
It turned out that Terumi Mei was using him as a human shield. What a hateful and cunning woman.
Bang!
Uchiha Raizen was hit hard and let out a muffled grunt. His body quickly fell toward the ground.
Terumi Mei completely curled into his arms, clearly wanting him to take all the impact.
Uchiha Raizen felt helpless; he had no strength to push Terumi Mei away.
Fortunately, his beast form was still stable.
With the vitality and defense from the illusion beast Azure Dragon, this kind of impact was not enough to make him lose consciousness.
So it went like this.
Uchiha Raizen held Terumi Mei in his arms, his back taking wave after wave of rock attacks. The ground cracked, and his body kept sinking down.
Until he hit an extremely hard ancient stone slab, his body finally stopped.
A bloody taste rose in his throat, and Uchiha Raizen coughed up a few drops of blood.
He said with a bad expression:
"Are you still clinging to me? When I recover, you won't be able to leave even if you want to!"
"Oh dear, don't be so fierce."
Terumi Mei slipped out of Uchiha Raizen's arms, stood up, brushed back her reddish-brown bangs, and rubbed her chest.
"Your body is really stiff; it's pressing so hard that my chest even hurts."
Uchiha Raizen twitched at the corner of his mouth. Well, that's what you get for squeezing so tight just now.
But given the situation earlier, if Terumi Mei didn't press against him, she would have to bear the impact of hitting the ground herself.
Even though Terumi Mei has shadow-level strength, her body's toughness is still like an ordinary ninja's. If she didn't want to get hurt, the only choice was to hold onto Uchiha Raizen.
"Looking at you this close, you really are handsome. Even in this half-beast form, you're tall and impressive."
Terumi Mei reached out her fair, slender fingers and touched the dragon horn on Uchiha Raizen's forehead.
"Is that a dragon horn? Can I touch it? I'm really curious."
But halfway through reaching, Uchiha Raizen's body suddenly shrank and changed back to his normal human form.
Terumi Mei's beautiful eyes showed regret.
Uchiha Raizen's expression was strange.
Terumi Mei was at most in her early twenties. Like in the original story, thinking about men and marriage at this age seemed a bit early.
Besides, with her looks and figure, if she really wanted to get married, men wanting to marry her would line up from the Land of Water all the way to the Fire Country.
"Don't look at me like that," Terumi Mei smiled gently. "It's normal for women to like handsome men, especially rare men like you who care about family, are powerful, and have extraordinary abilities. You're very popular with women."
"But unfortunately, we are on opposing sides."
"So, please let me give you a kiss that will melt you, Mr. Uchiha Raizen."
Terumi Mei lightly touched her red lips with fingers painted purple, matching her mature and noble aura, making her even more tempting.
Uchiha Raizen's eyes widened—not because of her beauty, but because he suddenly realized where he was.
It was an underground chamber, possibly a relic from some era in the Land of Water.
The chamber was airtight, so the melting ninjutsu Terumi Mei was about to use had to be the Boil Release: Skillful Mist Technique!
This technique could freely adjust the air's acidity.
Its corrosiveness was so strong that even Sasuke's Susanoo couldn't withstand it.
The dragon scales were very likely to be melted as well.
This was really bad!
Cold sweat appeared on Uchiha Raizen's forehead as he frantically tried to think of a way to respond.
He was badly injured and exhausted, unable to transform into his Azure Dragon form to break through the surface.
Watching Terumi Mei form the Boil Release hand seals with both hands, her soft red lips inhaling deeply, he thought the more beautiful the woman, the more dangerous she was.
Damn it, forget it. He had no choice but to shut this woman's mouth!
Uchiha Raizen suddenly gathered his last bit of strength and lunged at Terumi Mei, saying harshly:
"I want a sweet kiss, not a melting one, you old woman who will never get married!"
Old… old woman?!
Terumi Mei's gentle and elegant expression broke instantly, her brows darkening.
What she hated most was being called an old woman, let alone being told she would never get married.
That was crossing the line.
Even if he was a rare handsome and good man, she would make him pay for saying the wrong thing!
Just as Terumi Mei was about to release the Skillful Mist Technique, Uchiha Raizen ignored everything and pressed close.
He tightly held Terumi Mei and forcefully covered her slightly open red lips with his own.
"Mm?!"
Terumi's deep green eyes suddenly widened, filled with shock and disbelief.
Although she carried the mature fragrance of a woman, Uchiha Raizen's scent was a strong, masculine aroma.
At this moment, the man's scent entering her nose was even stronger than when she had been curled up in Raizen's arms earlier.
And the feeling on her lips—what was this? Was this a real kiss?
Though Terumi often joked about giving a melting kiss, she was only confident in words. She had never actually kissed anyone before. Worried about the situation in the Hidden Mist Village, she never had time for love.
In other words, this was her first kiss.
She never thought she would lose her first kiss in such a situation, but luckily, the other person was handsome, so it didn't seem like a bad thing.
In an instant, countless random thoughts flashed through Terumi's mind.
She felt flustered, and the boiling chakra she had gathered in her throat unconsciously faded away.
The two remained in this ambiguous position, lips close, staring into each other's eyes.
After a long moment, Terumi, struggling to breathe, let out a few whimpers.
Uchiha Raizen understood this as "let me go." He held her tighter and whimpered back, signaling he wouldn't let go.
"Whimper whimper~ (Let me go, let me go),"
"Whimper! (No, I won't),"
"Whimper… (Please),"
"Whimper! (I'm cruel),"
Terumi's face turned bright red, her eyes showing a mix of grievance and embarrassment.
Her full, graceful body had already softened like water.
**********
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