"Rise," Kaguya spoke. Himari felt her whole body and soul shaking at the commanding voice.
She saw the apostle standing up and going behind the Goddess. Her eyes didn't leave him until he was in his place. When she looked up, she saw the Goddess, and Himari felt a heavy pressure on herself.
"Is this the girl you have found?" Kaguya asked, but Akane didn't reply. For a moment, no one said anything, and Himari felt the pressure on her body increasing.
"No, you didn't find her. It seems she appeared here because of some fate." Kaguya continued, and Himari felt the pressure decrease on her. Even though she tried, for some reason, she couldn't look up and match Kaguya's gaze after looking at her once, and Himari saw the Goddess moving towards her.
"You have a lot of resentment and hatred buried in your heart."
Kaguya lifted Himari's head with her finger on her chin to make Himari match her gaze. As if peering deep in her heart and seeing all her secrets, Himari stared in eyes. She felt hypnotised, and words left her mouth without even thinking.
"Y-Yes,"
"Not only hatred and resentment, but you also long for love you didn't receive from your blood relatives and want to have happy moments in your life."
"Y-Yes."
Kaguya let go of Himari and went back to where she had stood before. Himari, who heard everything, tried to open her mouth to ask something, but no words came out. It was like something was preventing her from speaking. Even though her head was filled with a lot of thoughts, she couldn't say or do anything.
"My lady, may I?" Akane, who was standing beside Kaguya, spoke up, and Kaguya nodded at his words.
"Deal with this."
Saying those words, Kaguya disappeared from the place, and Himari felt the weight on her body leave. She started to pant heavily and tried to make sense of the situation. Kaguya, who had disappeared from her vision, was just a few metres away, but only Akane could see her. She was sitting on the sofa with popcorn in her hand to enjoy the show.
"You have two options."
"First, you can disappear from where you are and be sent to a different place where you can start a new life with no"
"Second, you surrender yourself to the Goddess. In return, you will be protected until you can stand on your own and take revenge."
"After that, you will have to follow all the orders you will be given. "
Akane spoke as he stretched both of his hands. The number one floating on his left hand and the number two floating on his right hand.
Himari stared at Akane and then at his hands. Even though the situation around her was too absurd, she understood that she had two choices now:
First, to drop everything in her heart and start a new life while surrendering to the Goddess;
Second, to take revenge while being protected, while also surrendering to the Goddess.
Himari didn't ask what would happen if she didn't choose any. She was smart enough to know that if she didn't choose any, there wouldn't be any problem. She would just die later, as he had said before.
'Destined to die...'
Himari didn't have to take a lot of time to think of an answer. She had already suffered enough to drop the idea of living a quiet life, away from everyone. Without wasting any more time, she moved and held Akane's right hand.
Looking at the scene, Kaguya smiled as she understood what Akane planned to do.
"He got one pawn without even looking around."
'Hook, Line and Sinker.'
Akane thought and inwardly grinned at Himari's choice, but outside, his expression remained the same. He nodded at Himari and said, "Since you have chosen this option, be prepared. Because from now on, your life will be anything but ordinary and full of unexpected things."
"When you wake up, you will see a blond-haired woman. If she mentions the Goddess, you will understand that everything that has happened is real."
"For now, you don't have to worry about anything. Don't ask any questions or look for anything. Everything will be sent and known to you when it's time."
As soon as Akane finished the words, Himari saw the surroundings fading away. Before she could respond, she felt herself falling deep into a hole, and Himari stretched her hand to hold something, but she couldn't catch anything.
Akane left the dreamspace without saying anything to Kaguya. In the outside world, he opened his eyes. Looking at Tsunade's clone, he opened his mouth and said, "When Himari opens her eyes, she will be shocked. Whisper 'the Goddess' in her ear and say 'Don't do anything'. I will tell the rest later."
Even though Tsunade was curious about what had happened in the dreamspace, she didn't ask and dispersed herself to send the memory to her main body.
In the Daimyo Manor, Tsunade, who had been treating the Land of Daimyo's daughter, was now waiting for her to regain consciousness. She received memories of the clone, and wondered what nonsense Akane had prepared.
Some moments later, she sensed Himari waking up.
A glint flashed in her eyes, and everyone in the room saw the Land of Daimyo's daughter raising her hand as if trying to grasp something and shouting, "No."
Himari, who was falling into a dark hole, opened her eyes, and the ceiling came into her sight. Looking at the ceiling, she thought of the events that had happened, but for some reason, she couldn't remember the faces, even if she could remember the conversation.
Turning her head, she looked around, and her eyes fell on the blond-haired woman, who walked towards her. The words from the Apostle came to her mind, and she saw the woman putting her hand on her head and whispering, "The Goddess."
Himari's eyes widened at the words, and a relieved expression appeared on her face. Tears appeared in her eyes as she understood that everything that had happened before was real, and from now on, she wouldn't have to worry about dangers to her life.
Tsunade looked at the girl who broke down in tears.
"Everyone, leave." She said in a strong tone and released some chakra to show how serious she was.
This time, Akemi tried to go against it, but she felt as if her neck was being gripped by a predator. When she met Orochimaru's eyes, she understood why she was feeling that way and also the fact that she had to leave the place.
Orochimaru took away everyone in the room, and Himari, who didn't notice anything, kept on crying. Looking at her, Tsunade wondered what had happened in the dream and a few moments later, a Zetsu appeared from the ground and said, "Dream."
Tsunade understood what it meant, and she created a clone. The clone took her place, and she knocked herself unconscious. As soon as she did, she appeared in a different place and saw Kaguya and Akane standing together.
"What did you do?" Tsunade asked, and Akane showed everything that happened in the dreamspace. When Tsunade was done watching everything, a strange silence appeared in the place.
"My lady, huh!"
Ignoring the plan he made, what he did and how he was about to manipulate a person,n for his use, Tsunade was mainly focused on the scene of Akane kneeling and kissing Kaguya's hand. Hearing her words, Akane chuckled, and Kaguya raised her brow.
"You really know her," Kaguya said, making Tsunade look at her, and Kaguya continued, "We made a bet, and he said that you would focus on this most."
"And what did he get?" Tsunade asked with a curious face and saw Akane grinning in response. Kaguya also smiled and didn't say anything, and looking at them, Tsunade humphed in response.
"Anyways, why are you doing this? I am sure you have a big plan behind this, right?"
"To help me," Kaguya said before Akane could say anything. Hearing her, Tsunade turned to Kaguya and wondered if she would finally know more about Kaguya.
"Well, you will know the plan soon. Telling right now would take away everything, and it would take a while to fully explain everything."
Tsunade stared at Akane with a deadpan expression. She knew that it wasn't about time, but he was going to do something that she might not like.
"Result will be positive." Akane, who knew what Tsunade was thinking, assured Tsunade, and Tsunade rolled her eyes at his words. She decided to know about it later. For now, she wanted to know what she should do and how they should plan from now on.
"So, what should I do now? It seems Teacher sensed that something was wrong, and that's why he asked me to perform this mission."
"I think they plan on killing her and then blaming it on Konoha. You already know that all villages have been preparing for war. They just need a spark to start it and blame everything on Konoha."
Tsunade nodded at Akane's words. From the Iwa Ninjas and Rain Ninjas, she understood that all of them were preparing for war, and it wasn't a short-term war, but a long-term war.