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With a heavy stomp on the ground, a tremor rippled out, and with a wet splat, a spray of blood burst from underground. Hayato wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a quiet sigh.
"Hayato, are you okay?!" Konan rushed up, concern all over her face as she helped him wipe away the sweat.
"Don't worry, I'm fine! It's just… the Land of Rain has gotten way too dangerous," Hayato said with a sigh. Over the past few days, he had taken out a good number of ninjas—Sand shinobi, some from the Leaf, and even just now, an Earth ninja. Not to mention the Rain shinobi from this very country. For such a small nation, there were way too many different factions showing up. The Land of Rain was in total chaos.
"Hayato, maybe… we should just leave the Land of Rain," Konan said, biting her lip.
"Leave? If only it were that easy. The borders of the Fire, Wind, and Earth countries are crawling with ninjas. The second we show ourselves, we'll be attacked on sight. And now that the Second Great Ninja War's broken out… there's no such thing as real peace anywhere," Hayato said, shaking his head.
"Oh…" Konan nodded quietly, taking in his words.
But Hayato looked more serious than ever. Lately, the number of enemy encounters had gone up—faster and more frequent. Most of them were just Genin or a few Chunin. He hadn't come across any Jonin yet, which was the only reason he'd managed to take them all down.
But what if he did run into a Jonin? Worse, a strong Jonin? What then?
To be honest, Hayato wasn't too worried about his own safety. What scared him was the possibility of running into someone he couldn't handle… and then losing control. If that happened, he might turn into the Hulk again—go completely berserk and lose all reason. What if, in that state, he hurt Konan by accident?
Right now, Konan was his biggest weakness. And even though he was aware of that, deep down… he wanted to have a weakness like that. Because only then could he still feel like a person—not a monster.
"Konan… stay here and don't go out, no matter what. I'm gonna be gone for a while, but I'll be back soon," Hayato said after thinking for a moment.
"Huh?" Konan was stunned. She instinctively grabbed his sleeve, unwilling to let him go. She didn't know where he was going or what he planned to do, but something about it just felt dangerous.
"Hey, it's okay. Be good, alright? This chaos… it'll end soon. Trust me," Hayato said with a smile, gently patting her head.
"But… but I'm scared…" Konan whispered, tightening her grip on his arm.
"You don't need to be. I'll be fine. I swear, nothing's gonna happen to me. Even if the world ends, I'll still be fine. I told you before, didn't I? I'm a monster. A terrifying, unkillable monster," Hayato said, still smiling at her.
Konan looked into his eyes. After all this time together, she could tell—he wasn't lying. She didn't know what kind of power Hayato was hiding, but she started to believe in him, just a little more. Slowly, she loosened her grip.
"Wait for me here."
And with that, Hayato turned and left.
Once he was out of sight, his expression turned cold and sharp. He had made up his mind—he was going to take action. All that "great power comes with great responsibility" stuff? He thought that was crap. But right now, for Konan's sake, he had to do something.
First, he needed a place untouched by war. A territory where Konan could live safely and peacefully, without constantly looking over her shoulder.
And to get that? He'd need overwhelming power. Power so strong that no one would dare threaten them. Even if it was uncontrollable… Hayato believed that this uncontrollable power was enough to make his wish come true.
"....."