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Chapter 76
🕑 Added 2025-03-07 12:00:13 +0000 UTCMei was waiting, for once, the disdain she received from Fumio was a good thing, if he liked her, then she would be in the main army, and not scouting.
She really didn't like this whole war business, it was clear it was just some attempt by the Mizukage to prevent rebellion from breaking out.
It wasn't going to work, of course.
The moment this whole thing was finished, she was going to go back and continue pushing for Yagura to step down.
If he didn't... Well, maybe it was time for someone else to be Mizukage.
But the fact that she was stuck as a scout was good in this case, she was waiting for a certain someone to show up, Ao was also being assigned to the same task, so they were going to use this opportunity to coordinate.
She knew that there was an opportunity here, she and Ao just needed to find it.
And just on time, she heard someone approaching, their footsteps not being even close to silent.
Sometimes she really was envious of Ao's Byakugan, being able to see everything around you would make life easier.
"Ao." She greeted shortly. "I take it you deduced why I wanted this meeting?"
Ao's only eye stared at her calmly.
"Of course, but I'm not sure how much we can really do, Fumio is a paranoid rat, we could maybe assassinate one or two people before he starts suspecting something."
Mei shook her head, dismissing that idea.
"No, I didn't see anyone particularly important enough to risk it, except for him, most of the diehard Mizukage supporters are back in Kiri itself." She responded thoughtfully. "There has to be something, maybe we should focus on the enemies this time? Make some kind of deal with them?"
Ao considered this for a moment.
"I doubt that would work, how much can a small nation like Wave do to help us? Besides Zabuza himself, I don't think there is anything they can offer."
Mei agreed, but this was a chance they wouldn't get for a long time, Fumio was one of the reasons Kiri fell so much, while many others obeyed the Mizukage out of fear or tradition, Fumio obeyed him because he loved exploiting the corruption and chaos in the village to further his own standing.
There were several attempts to remove him from power over the years, but none ever succeeded.
Mei turned back to her thoughts, killing Fumio would be easy, but doing it such a way that didn't lead back to them was very difficult.
And then, an idea started forming in her mind.
"Ao..." She murmured slowly. "What if... we could make something happen that would damage Fumio's position, without actually killing him?"
Before Ao could respond, he raised his hand, head turning to the side slightly.
But his expression was... confused? That was rare, Ao usually had no trouble keeping up a stony expression.
"Someone is approaching." He informed her. "But... they lack Chakra."
Mei was also taken aback by that.
Chakra was necessary for life, the sky was blue, blood was red.
That meant they had a way to hide Chakra from even the Byakugan, that was something she wasn't aware was possible.
"He is coming straight towards us." Ao continued, still looking in the direction of this unknown person.
Mei considered hiding, but if they were headed straight towards them, that meant they knew Mei and Ao were here, and since Ao only spotted them now, they must have known beforehand.
So it was best to just stay.
And soon enough, a figure stepped out of the forest.
He was wearing a simple robe, the most prominent features being the burns covering most of him, only the face not being scarred.
And of course, the eyes, rings of gold surrounding his iris.
His face was set into a placid expression, and he stopped about 15 meters away from them, hands tucked inside his sleeves calmly.
"Good evening, I am here to deliver a message." The stranger said in a polite tone.
Mei was confused, this man didn't even introduce himself, just stating that he had a message?
"And who are you?" She asked sharply, letting some of her Chakra leak into the air, it wasn't quite Killing Intent, but it certainly gave off the right impression.
The stranger looked at her for an uncomfortable amount of time, Mei started gathering her Chakra, preparing to fight or run as needed.
But after almost a full minute of tense silence, he spoke again.
"I didn't realize how angry I am." He said calmly, still keeping up that placid expression. "I suppose the Land of Water is quite lucky."
Was he mad? That did not make a single bit of sense to her.
"Angry?" Ao spoke up, mirroring Mei's feelings perfectly. "Why would you be angry?"
"Ah..." The stranger let out a huff of air, his head tilting back slightly. "Why wouldn't I be angry? How else am I supposed to feel after my people were massacred in such numbers?"
Mei pulled out a Kunai, she didn't expect to see someone from Wave to just walk straight towards them.
She looked at Ao, seeing him still staring at the man, but she knew the Byagukan would see her, so she blinked twice in rapid succession, and then clenched the hand wrapped around the Kunai twice, the agreed upon signal to prepare for combat.
She leapt towards him, molding Chakra in her lungs, a feint into a Boil Release Jutsu, not enough to seriously injure, but enough that it would give him trouble breathing and leave him in pain, good enough for information gathering.
But by the time her Kunai sank into his flesh, she was confused, he did not react, she would assume that he simply couldn't react fast enough, but his eyes never left her face, his expression remaining placid and calm.
Her Kunai sank deep between his ribs.
And Mei found herself with a hand wrapped around her throat, there was no movement she could see, one moment she was stabbing him, the next he was gripping her throat.
The air changed, the wind didn't pick up, she didn't feel any Chakra, but her lungs wouldn't move as much as they should have, every breath seemed like it was being weighed down.
And the pressure kept increasing, trees creaked as they bowed to an unseen presence, the world got darker, but the night sky was filled with light as the stars burned.
"I didn't want to be pulled down to the same level that is standard for this world." The stranger admitted. "But I am finding myself... considering it."
There was a loud thump, no, two loud thumps, like a giant rock had been smashed into the ground, the shaking traveled through the forest, both Mei and Ao flinched at the noise.
She felt something staring at her from above, something that she didn't want to acknowledge, so she forced herself not to look up.
But she would a terrible Shinobi if she ignored something like this, and with every bit of willpower in her body, she slowly looked up.
Three eyes stared down at her, burning with starlight, it was massive, the arms fading behind the tree line, its body crouched down until its hands were resting on the ground.
"Ah... Apologies, I shouldn't be allowing myself to get distracted." The stranger spoke up again, his tone still polite and calm, even with a Kunai still stuck in his lung, but now layered with something else entirely. "As I said earlier, I have a message."
Mei's gaze was torn away from the being in front of them, now focused back on the man.
"Go back to the Land of Water, every person that does not is a walking corpse." He said simply, words being stated as though they were fact. "If Kirigakure does not end the rein of Yagura and punish the people who advocated for this war, then it will not exist for much longer."
A small part of Mei was angry, she had spent years trying to carefully sway Kiri away from a self-destructive path, and now this unknown... being just walked in and ordered them to openlly rebel?
He dropped her, leaving her gasping on the ground, she shakily got up, running through the options in her head.
"I-it isn't t-that eas-" She tried to speak, to buy time, but before she could finish, the pressure intensified again.
She was smashed into the ground, the trees surrounding them broke as they too bowed against the ground until they broke under the force, dust flew up from the shaking earth.
"I do not care." The stranger denied softly. "If the people who are responsible for my people's death still walk this earth, then I will burn Kirigakure to the ground, and see if something better can grow from the ashes."
He bowed slightly towards them.
"Good night, Terumi-san, Ao-san." He bid goodbye politely. "Please, consider my message carefully."
And then he, and the entity above, vanished.
Mei let out a long gasp of air, desperately filling her lungs with air, feeling like she was drowning without it.
She slowly pushed herself onto her knees, and after taking a few seconds to catch her breath, she managed to stand up.
"Ao?" She called out quietly.
"I'm alive." He replied after a moment, voice sounding shaky. "What..."
He didn't continue, he didn't need to, Mei had the exact same questions.
She looked around the small clearing they were now in, a shiver went down her spine as she saw just how large the area that was flattened by the pressure was.
She was hoping that was a Genjutsu, but as much as she tried, she couldn't disperse it, and there was no chance that Ao's eye was fooled.
They stood there silently for several minutes, just thinking about what happened.
The best scenario was that was a Kinjutsu, something that was not usable casually, and it carried a heavy cost.
But the worst-case scenario was that... that thing could just show up whenever it wanted to, and crush half the army with a glance.
"Pass the message around." She ordered quietly. "Everyone goes home."
Ao turned towards her and nodded sharply, any argument he might have had dying before he could voice them.
"The night before the invasion starts, we leave." She told him. "Knowing Fumio, he will order everyone to attack regardless of the mass defection."
She estimated about a quarter of the army would follow her, it was incredibly risky, and if the invasion succeeded then they would be killed for betraying Kiri.
But assuming the sea invasion was a complete defeat, and that the rest of the land army was also wiped out, then Kirigakure would lose nearly 40% of their total military strength in one day.
Assuming that the rebellion left about half the fighters dead, then that meant Kiri's strength would be reduced by more than half.
That would leave them at the weakest they have ever been, they would be vulnerable to an attack from Iwagakure or Kumogakure, maybe even Konoha.
Even Suna might try something if they knew just how much damage Kirigakure suffered.
But that was better than complete destruction.
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Kaptagon (Delgadito)
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