Back to the present.
The moment Ruri saw Mitsuki's thoughtful expression, she instantly knew—this guy had remembered. Her cheeks puffed up slightly, wanting to hear what kind of excuse Tsukizuki would come up with this time.
And indeed, Mitsuki had remembered. He was about to explain that he'd left in a hurry or something like that, but when he saw how different Ruri looked when she was angry compared to her usual self, he couldn't help but laugh.
"Pfft~"
As soon as he laughed, Ruri also broke into a laugh. Only, she punched him squarely in the chest as she did so.
"Ow!"
Mitsuki exaggeratedly cried out, and even Shukaku couldn't bear to watch his poor acting skills.
Ruri flicked her long hair and said, "Forget it. You're stronger than me anyway—so you can do whatever you want."
The only reason she had wanted to go fight the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist with him was because she was worried he might get hurt. But seeing how cheerful he looked, it was obvious he'd enjoyed that battle thoroughly.
Since that was the case, Ruri decided not to dwell on their earlier promise anymore.
"You've already achieved what you came here for," she said. "What's your next move?"
Hearing her question, Mitsuki suddenly wondered if he was being too easy to read. From the very beginning, Ruri seemed to be able to sense what he was thinking.
Suppressing that odd feeling, he replied, "You're sharp as ever, Ruri. I was just thinking whether I should stay here a bit longer or head toward the Land of Hot Water to help out."
"And?" Ruri pressed. "What did you decide?"
Without hesitation, Mitsuki said, "I'm planning to stop by the Land of Water first, then go to the Land of Hot Water. I'll give those barbaric Kumo shinobi a proper lesson. Since I didn't take you along to deal with the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, I guess I can bring you this time."
When he mentioned the "barbaric Kumo shinobi" Mitsuki even swung his fists a few times. He hadn't had a truly satisfying battle for a long while in Kirigakure, but if it was Kumogakure — he might actually find opponents worth getting excited about.
However, as soon as Ruri heard him mention the Land of Water something strange stirred in her mind. It was as if a voice had appeared—foreign yet strangely familiar, like she had heard it long, long ago.
"Don't go to the Land of Water…"
"What?"
"Don't go… to the Land… of Water… or you'll… regret it…"
"What's wrong, Ruri?"
Noticing her dazed look, Mitsuki leaned in, waving his hand in front of her eyes and calling her name.
"Don't… go to the Land of Water?" Ruri murmured under her breath.
Mitsuki's hearing was sharp—he caught every word she said. But he didn't quite understand what she meant.
Driven by curiosity, he asked bluntly, "You're saying you don't want me to go to the Land of Water? Why would you say that?"
Ruri came back to her senses then. Hearing his question, she realized she didn't really know the answer herself.
That strange voice—the one both familiar and unfamiliar—had already vanished. Even the headache she'd been having since this morning was suddenly gone.
In some ways, Mitsuki and Ruri were really similar.
Just like him, she decided to explain everything that had just happened inside her head without hiding anything.
"Mitsuki, just now, when you said you wanted to go to the Land of Water, suddenly inside my mind…"
…
After hearing her account, Mitsuki rubbed his chin in thought.
"You're saying that the moment I mentioned going to the Land of Water, a voice appeared, saying not to go? That we'd regret it if we did?"
Ruri nodded. "Exactly. It repeated the same words several times—I couldn't have misheard."
Now Mitsuki was stumped. The situation sounded a lot like a mind-based jutsu from the Yamanaka Clan.
But it didn't make sense—there were no Yamanaka around this camp, and if Ruri found the voice familiar, that alone ruled out the possibility of someone from that clan.
"Shukaku, what do you think?" Mitsuki turned to his partner, wanting to hear its opinion.
Shukaku, too, was intrigued by Ruri's description. Its lone tail swayed—something it always did unconsciously when thinking hard.
"Partner, if I remember correctly, you never told anyone about your plan to go to the Land of Water."
Ruri's eyes widened at that and turned toward Tsukizuki for confirmation.
"Yeah," Mitsuki said. "That was before I killed the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Back then, when I couldn't find them anywhere in the Land of Fire, I figured I'd just storm Kirigakure myself."
"You were planning to challenge one of the Five Great Hidden Villages alone?!" Ruri exclaimed, eyes wide.
No wonder she always felt like Mitsuki walked all over her—she couldn't even compare to that level of audacity.
Tsukizuki scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin. "Haha, well, the Seven Swordsmen wouldn't show themselves, so I thought I might as well wait for them at their own gate. But now that I've already accomplished that goal, this trip to Kirigakure will just be about destroying their infrastructure."
Ruri glanced at Shukaku. Now she understood why it had brought this up.
Mitsuki also caught on and said, "You mean someone might've been following me, learned I was planning to go to the Land of Water, and then somehow transmitted that message into Ruri's mind?"
Shukaku nodded. "Not necessarily following you. Given your sensory ability, this person must've used another method to learn your intentions."
Mitsuki 's eyes narrowed. "So you're saying it could be someone we know? That would explain why Ruri found the voice familiar."
A cold wind swept past them, as though casting a dark veil over the group.
The more they analyzed it, the more unsettling it felt—someone powerful might have been hiding among them all this time, silently watching their every move.
Thinking this, Mitsuki activated his Six Eyes to the fullest, instantly processing every bit of information within several dozen kilometers.
But he found nothing—no suspicious figures, no traces of White Zetsu, nothing.
That was strange.
"No… that's not it," Mitsuki muttered, changing his line of thought.
Maybe the person behind that voice hadn't spoken out of malice. Maybe the warning—"Don't go to the Land of Water"—wasn't directed at him at all.
Mitsuki felt like he was on the verge of understanding something.
Then Shukaku suddenly let out a weird laugh. "But what gives this person the right to say you'll regret it, Partner? Don't tell me it's… a prophecy?"
It had always been skeptical of prophecies, but now—even Shukaku had to admit—it might finally have found a partner worth believing in.