'Something feels off.'
The handwriting is correct, the little verbal tics and grammar in between the lines are also the style of Iwamine.
The writing is neat, and at the end of every letter there's even a little plum blossom drawn with a calligraphy brush.
That's Iwamine's favorite flower.
In daily life, the kimono she wore, or the izakaya in the Hidden Mist Village, were always decorated with plum blossoms.
Everything looks normal, but…
Deep inside Ryosuke's heart surged a kind of awkwardness he couldn't ignore.
He closed the letter, took out his Polaroid, and with Iwamine as the target, activated the Nen ability Hermit Purple.
After waiting a moment, a pitch-black photo slid out.
In the photo there was almost no light source. At the center of the photo, the outline of a woman.
The clock in the Kazekage's office showed the time.
10:47.
Ryosuke knew Iwamine wasn't the kind of woman to sleep in late.
What's more, even if she was sleeping, what kind of normal bedroom would have not even a trace of light?
Ryosuke and Rasa exchanged a glance, and both thought of one possibility,
A dungeon.
Only underground prison cells would be that pitch dark.
'Could it be… Iwamine had already been captured?'
'By who?'
'And for what purpose?'
Ryosuke took a deep breath, stopped the blind speculation, and stood up to ask, "How far is Gorin City from Sunagakure?"
Rasa pointed in a direction.
"Straight west, two hundred kilometers. You'll see two oases facing each other, that's Gorin City. One is the North City, one is the South City."
"I understand."
Ryosuke pushed open the door and walked out of the Kazekage's office.
———
Kakashi was still waiting outside. Seeing Ryosuke's heavy expression, he instantly figured out what had happened.
Turning it over in his mind, he leaned close and whispered to Sasuke, "Iwamine ran into trouble?"
Sasuke asked in surprise, "How do you know… did you eavesdrop?"
"You don't need to eavesdrop for this."
Kakashi said, "If the Kazekage had said anything he shouldn't, with Ryosuke's personality, he'd already have cut someone down in the Kazekage's office.
Since he didn't act, it must be about someone else.
And in the Land of Wind, the only 'someone else' who could make Ryosuke worried is Iwamine, who came to help with teaching."
Kakashi looked at Ryosuke's back, thought of what he'd said last night, and softly sighed, "He's always very attentive to the people around him."
Ryosuke walked out of the Kazekage building, ready to set off for Gorin City.
This time, they didn't choose to walk slowly step by step. They had already learned what they needed to know about the Land of Wind. Saving someone was urgent; they couldn't waste time on other things.
Kakashi, Sasuke, and Rei entered the Ghost Room.
That way Ryosuke could shed all weight and fly at the fastest speed toward Gorin City.
Of course, this wasn't without drawbacks.
The Ghost Room could preserve non-living objects, but if a living being wanted to stay inside for long, Ryosuke had to continuously maintain the activation of his Stand.
In other words, while carrying living people, all of Ryosuke's abilities, including Star Platinum's time stop, as well as other Stand applications, would be affected to a certain degree.
That was also why, during the Kyoto Water Garden Festival battle, Ryosuke chose to leave Terumi Mei and the others at the base, going alone to find Oda Hideyoshi's cause.
That night, everything had happened too quickly. His enemies were Kakuzu and Hidan, two Akatsuki elites. Ryosuke had to ensure his time stop's duration was at its peak.
Watching Ryosuke's figure disappear into the clouds, Rasa's stiff face revealed a slight smile.
He knew this wasn't right.
After all, Ryosuke's friend's life or death was unknown.
But the moment Rasa thought of someone making a stupid move, touching someone they shouldn't, and how many bureaucrats and tycoons might die because of it, he wanted to laugh.
'No, don't laugh, you have to hold it in.'
He warned himself.
'Even if you want to laugh… you have to wait until they're really dead.'
Suddenly, Rasa sensed a gaze from the side. He turned and met a pair of pitch-black eyes.
Gaara.
Gaara's gaze was filled with rigidity, despair, and coldness.
Just like the Land of Wind now. The human heart had long been buried by the desert. So-called oases were nothing but mirages.
The reason Gaara had become like this was Rasa himself.
To prevent the One-Tail Shukaku from going berserk, Rasa had always enforced high-pressure control on the young Gaara.
Even adults would collapse under such pressure, let alone a child.
The man who hated the Land of Wind the most, Rasa, had personally created a human-shaped Land of Wind.
Looking into his son's eyes, guilt flashed through Rasa's heart, but his stiff face didn't show a trace. He glared coldly at Gaara, then turned back into the Kazekage building.
———
Ryosuke soared through the sky. Flying at full speed, by that afternoon he arrived over Gorin City.
Looking down from the air, Gorin City was made of two huge oases.
The two oases were separated by dozens of kilometers, each half-circular, pieced together into a full circle.
Ryosuke found an empty corner and landed silently.
A few minutes later, he came to a church.
The way the Awakening Trend was taught varied from region to region.
In the Land of Water and the Hidden Mist Village, they had openly built dedicated schools and set up corresponding courses.
In Konoha, Kumogakure, and Sunagakure, they established separate classes inside the ninja academies, where any villager interested could freely come and listen.
But in cities outside the major ninja villages, the Awakening Trend classes were more ambiguous.
Sometimes taught privately, sometimes formed into clubs after school, rarely openly promoted on a large scale.
After all, everyone knew exactly who Ryosuke's Awakening Trend was targeting. Once it spread widely, the impacts it would cause were clear to all.
In Gorin City, the Awakening Trend was taught inside a small church.
By day it was mainly for the faithful to pray, and classes were only held in the evenings.
Most of the teaching content was related to improving productivity in various fields. A small part touched on philosophy, politics, and history. The style was similar to Ryosuke's early night classes in the Mist Village.
When Ryosuke arrived at the church, it seemed a sermon had just ended.
A group of elderly men and women were gathered at the church door, each carrying a bag of free eggs, ready to go home.
Before leaving, they asked, "Will there be eggs tomorrow?"
The priest said, "Yes."
The elders all lit up with smiles, patting their chests and promising they'd be on time tomorrow.
Such firm faith.
Once they dispersed, Ryosuke walked over.
The priest looked up and saw a young face. He spoke without thinking, "Young people don't get eggs."
As soon as he said it, he realized something was wrong.
The four people before him stood tall, carried unusual airs. They didn't look like the kind of people who came for free country eggs.
One of them even wore Konoha's ninja headband. Clearly, these four were either samurai swordsmen or shinobi from a great village.
Ryosuke asked straight out, "Is Teacher Iwamine here?"
Hearing "Teacher Iwamine," the priest understood, they were looking for someone.
The nervousness on his face faded. He said, "Teacher Iwamine wasn't feeling well today, resting at home in the morning. She just came to the church not long ago. I'll take you to her."
Ryosuke heard that Iwamine had arrived at the church and let out a small breath.
"Thank you."
"No problem."
The priest said, "Teacher Iwamine has helped us so much. She gave many people in despair another direction of hope. It's because of her that I realized, problems that gods can't solve, humans can actually solve themselves."
As he spoke, he led Ryosuke deeper into the church. After winding through halls and corridors, he pointed at a slender back.
"There."
He raised his voice slightly and called, "Teacher Iwamine."
A beautiful woman turned with a smile, meeting Ryosuke's eyes.
Ryosuke closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and in a low voice without emotion whispered, "White Snake."
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