...
"Any other questions?"
Mirai looked at Ayako as he spoke.
Ayako immediately shook her head. "Please forgive me. We will follow your every command."
Right now, she was overwhelmed with emotion.
She had no idea how powerful the man before her truly was, but judging from the way he effortlessly restored her vitality, she knew that being saved by him was an incredible stroke of luck for both her and Karin.
As long as they remained by his side, there was no doubt in her mind—they would finally escape the hellish life they had endured.
Seeing that Ayako had no further doubts, Mirai shifted his gaze to Karin.
"Do you want to follow me?"
Feeling his eyes on her, Karin nodded vigorously, like a pecking chick. "I do!"
The man before her had not only rescued them from the clutches of the Kusagakure shinobi but had also wiped out those despicable and cruel ninja entirely.
With just a wave of his hand, he had restored her mother's frail, withered body to youthful vigor.
And most importantly…
He was incredibly handsome!
He was exactly the kind of hero she had always dreamed of.
How could she possibly refuse to follow someone like him?
Besides, Karin had already made up her mind—if someone was going to bite her for healing, she wanted it to be someone she actually liked.
...
Seeing that both Karin and Ayako were willing to follow him, Mirai raised a hand, and a vast amount of golden sand lifted them effortlessly into the sky.
Once airborne, he clapped his hands together.
A raging inferno erupted below, engulfing the entirety of Kusagakure in flames. The bodies of the fallen shinobi were incinerated along with the village itself.
Watching the scene unfold, both Karin and Ayako were momentarily dazed.
It was like something out of a dream—something they would never have dared to imagine.
...
In just half a day, Mirai brought Karin and the others back to Konohagakure.
The moment they caught sight of the village from above, their faces filled with astonishment.
Ajisai had lived her entire life in the sealed-off Amegakure, growing up at the very bottom of society. The most impressive structures she had ever seen were the towering buildings built around the village's drainage pipes.
As for Karin, she had been born in Kusagakure and later imprisoned in a shabby straw hut. In her mind, the Kusagakure leader's wooden residence was already the pinnacle of luxury.
Now, gazing upon Konohagakure, she felt as though she had stepped into a dream.
And Ayako…
She was a kunoichi from Uzushio and had visited Konoha before on missions. However, the village she remembered looked nothing like this.
But it wasn't just Konoha that had changed.
Flying over the shinobi world, Ayako saw how drastically everything had transformed.
The land was crisscrossed with wide, smooth roads—so spacious that even six horse-drawn carriages could travel side by side without congestion.
The roads themselves were made from some unknown material, despite the recent rainfall, there wasn't a single trace of mud.
Caravans moved in an orderly fashion, their merchants showing no signs of fear or anxiety.
Some of them weren't even hiring shinobi escorts—a scenario that would have been unthinkable before.
And then there were the steel tracks stretching endlessly into the horizon, with strange metal carriages occasionally passing by, emitting plumes of smoke. There were no horses pulling them, yet they sped across the landscape with ease.
Ayako's heart was filled with curiosity.
What exactly had happened in the shinobi world while she was imprisoned?!
...
After circling Konoha from above, Mirai led Karin and the others to his estate.
He selected a courtyard for them and smiled.
"You can stay here for now."
"If you have any questions, feel free to ask the servants who handle the cleaning."
"I'll have someone send over a layout of the estate later. Take your time familiarizing yourselves with it."
Ayako bowed respectfully. "Understood."
Mirai waved a hand dismissively. "I'll be going now. I'll check in on you later when I have time."
With that, he turned and left.
As soon as he was gone, Karin and Ajisai couldn't contain their excitement. They eagerly explored their new quarters, marveling at everything around them.
For them, this place was nothing short of magical.
Meanwhile, Ayako couldn't shake a peculiar feeling.
To possess such a vast estate in Konoha… Could Lord Mirai be the head of the Uchiha Clan?
"Karin, Ajisai, you two enjoy yourselves for now. I'm going to look around."
With that, Ayako stepped outside.
Mirai had said they could ask the servants if they had any questions.
Outside the room, she quickly spotted a servant standing by the door, waiting.
For a moment, Ayako hesitated.
Even the servants here were dressed far better than anyone she had ever met before.
Noticing her pause, the servant smiled warmly. "Lady Ayako, how may I assist you?"
The kind and gentle tone put her at ease.
She cautiously asked, "May I ask you some questions?"
The servant's smile widened. "Of course."
Feeling slightly more confident, Ayako asked, "Is Lord Mirai the head of the Uchiha Clan?"
The servant shook her head. "No, the current Uchiha Clan head is Lord Shisui."
Ayako blinked in surprise.
Not the clan head?
"Then… is Lord Mirai the Hokage?"
It seemed unlikely, but given his status—
After all, he lived in such a grand estate and had returned to the village without so much as a single checkpoint stopping him. His position in Konoha had to be incredibly high.
It wasn't impossible that he was the Hokage, right?
However, the servant merely smiled and shook her head again.
"Lord Mirai is not the Hokage. The current Hokage is the Fifth, Lord Minato Namikaze."
"The Fifth…?"
Ayako was stunned. Had two generations of Hokage changed since she was imprisoned?
Sensing her curiosity, the servant kindly continued, "Lady Ayako, you need not worry."
"Lord Mirai is the Emperor who stands above the Hokage."
"Everything in the shinobi world belongs to Lord Mirai."
Ayako froze. "Eh?!"
An emperor above the Hokage?
The entire shinobi world… belonged to Lord Mirai?
She understood every word spoken, yet when put together, it made no sense at all.
Overwhelmed by curiosity, she couldn't help but ask, "Could you tell me everything you know about Lord Mirai?"
The servant's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "Lady Ayako… You don't know about Lord Mirai?"
Ayako silently shook her head.
The servant gasped, as if she had just heard something unbelievable.
"That's truly unexpected."
"But no matter—I'd be more than happy to tell you all about Lord Uchiha Mirai…"
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+80 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo