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"Kill him! He actually controlled the Mizukage and humiliated our Kirigakure like this!"
"For all these years, our village has been in chaos—and it's all because of him!"
"Today, we won't let him walk away alive!"
"Kill him! Do you have any idea how much loss Kirigakure has suffered because of you over the years?"
…
The gathered shinobi were seething with rage. Their fury had finally reached its boiling point, igniting a murderous storm that even Genji, the elder, could no longer suppress.
"Kill him!"
"Kill him!"
With a roar of bloodlust, nearly every Kirigakure shinobi surged forward, charging toward the masked man in a frenzy.
The masked man remained unmoved. Calm. Detached. He raised a single hand and activated Kamui.
A translucent vortex materialized, rapidly swallowing his body. The next second, he had vanished from the charging mob—only to reappear unharmed, standing in another spot with the same mocking silence.
Their blades didn't touch him. Their fists couldn't connect. Nothing landed. No one could even graze the hem of his cloak.
His single eye, glowing behind the swirling orange mask, was filled with mockery, but beneath it was something colder—sorrow, hatred… contempt.
How much damage had he really done?
He had destabilized Kirigakure. Sure.
But Kirigakure had destroyed his entire world.
From the moment that tragedy happened, everything had already been sealed by fate.
The Fourth Mizukage, who had made that fateful decision, would never die peacefully.
And Kirigakure? The Hidden Mist Village would plunge into an abyss of darkness from which it might never return.
All of it was retribution—a correction for the unforgivable wrong committed long ago.
Once again, a dozen shinobi from the Hidden Mist rushed toward him.
Once again, the masked man vanished with Kamui.
And after the second round of failed attacks, the shinobi finally began to accept the truth:
What was the point of this?
If they couldn't even touch him, what use was any of it?
"Hand over the Mizukage-sama, and we will let you go," Genji said solemnly, narrowing his sharp old eyes.
"Let me go?" the masked man chuckled darkly.
That was the joke of the century.
Now, it wasn't that he wanted to leave. He could leave anytime he damn well pleased.
And they knew it.
"If I want to go," he sneered, "who among you could stop me?"
Genji was stunned into silence. The other higher-ups of Kirigakure looked at each other, helpless. It was true. They couldn't even touch the edge of his cloak, let alone subdue him.
Even Mei Terumi frowned deeply.
The masked man's strength… it exceeded her expectations.
So many of Kirigakure's elite had tried, and not one of them had succeeded in laying a finger on him. That was terrifying.
But in her heart, she knew—there was someone who might be able to deal with him.
The only problem was… revealing that person in front of everyone would be complicated.
Still, gritting her teeth, Mei Terumi stepped forward. "What exactly do you want?" she shouted. "You could leave, but you're choosing to stay. What's your real aim?"
The masked man turned his single eye toward her and said with cruel amusement, "Are you the little spokesperson Uchiha Haru chose for Kirigakure?"
"Very good. You're doing very well."
Mei's face paled instantly. Her lips trembled. "You… What did you just say?"
The masked man's words had pulled off the veil entirely.
He'd pointed directly at her connection to Uchiha Haru.
Others might not yet know who Haru was, but now… now they would ask.
And once they started asking—everything would unravel.
Sure enough, the moment the masked man finished speaking, suspicion ignited among the Kirigakure shinobi nearby.
"Mei Terumi, what does he mean by that?!"
"Who is Uchiha Haru? Why does that name sound like a Konoha shinobi?!"
"I… I…"
Mei Terumi's face flushed. She couldn't explain it. She couldn't deny it. Even if she had ten mouths, she wouldn't be able to talk her way out.
Her relationship with Uchiha Haru was not something the public knew. It had never been openly acknowledged.
If word got out… Haru would be fine. He wasn't from Kirigakure. But she?
She would be done.
How could she possibly retain her standing in the Hidden Mist?
Almost instinctively, Mei turned her gaze to Genji, hoping for help.
After all, he had met Haru last night. It was thanks to Haru's warning that they had even discovered the masked man's genjutsu manipulation over the Mizukage.
And Genji wasn't just any elder—he held real authority and respect.
If he vouched for her, maybe… maybe this could be salvaged.
But what Mei saw when she looked at Genji made her heart sink.
He was already looking at her—with the same suspicion, disappointment, and anger as the others.
His aged, trembling hand pointed directly at her.
"Mei Terumi," he barked, "you will explain yourself!"
"Who is Uchiha Haru?! Why does a Kirigakure ninja have ties to the Uchiha clan?!"
"What sort of conspiracy is going on behind our backs?!"
"You—!"
Mei's eyes widened. Her voice caught in her throat.
She had never imagined that Elder Genji—the one she had always regarded as kind, dependable, and trustworthy—would treat her like this.
Suddenly, the image of his terrifying smile from the previous night flashed through her mind, sending a chill straight to her bones.
The masked man stood quietly at a distance, his presence detached, as if uninvolved. Yet, he silently watched the chaos unraveling in the Hidden Mist Village, chaos born from nothing more than a few of his carefully placed words.
But he hadn't remained here just to mock these ignorant Kirigakure shinobi.
That would be meaningless.
And he had never been one to engage in pointless things.
No, his true target had always been Uchiha Haru.
Uchiha Haru had forced him to abandon Kirigakure.
And if he couldn't have it, no one else would either.
The plan to prevent Haru from gaining a foothold in Kirigakure was surprisingly simple.
At that point in the ninja world, every village was steeped in xenophobia. Each one guarded its secrets and feared external threats—especially powerful clans or individuals. The Uchiha may have been diminished since the massacre, but their legacy, forged through over a century of dominance and fear, still lingered.
People feared what they couldn't control.
And in a broken, bloodstained village like Kirigakure—where the Fourth Mizukage had vanished and years of brutal tyranny had eroded the people's trust—an outsider like Haru was a threat no one wanted.
A powerful Uchiha suddenly appearing in a village already teetering on the edge?
No one would accept him.
All the masked man had to do was expose Haru to the public. Once the villagers knew of his presence, the backlash would be inevitable. Haru's fate would mirror his own—exiled, hunted, rejected.
He wouldn't be allowed to stay.
With his objective accomplished, there was no reason for the masked man to remain.
A vortex spiraled open in the air. Space itself twisted unnaturally, and in a blink, his body vanished within the swirling void.
"Mei Terumi, speak!" someone roared.
"Why did you betray the village?!"
"What's your connection to Uchiha Haru?!"
Inside the Mizukage's office, chaos reigned.
Every elder, every senior official of Kirigakure, barked accusations, their faces twisted in fury and suspicion.
Genji stood silently, watching coldly.
Mei Terumi stared at the furious, accusatory faces surrounding her, and for a moment, an emotion she couldn't name swelled within her chest.
She had done so much for Kirigakure.
And this was what she received in return?
Baseless accusations and scorn?
They hadn't even bothered verifying the masked man's claims—claims made by someone who had manipulated their Mizukage for years. Yet they had accepted his words over hers without hesitation.
Even Genji, whom she once trusted deeply, a man who had learned the truth of the masked man's manipulation just the night before, stood by and said nothing. Worse, he condemned her openly, stirring the pot instead of defending her.
In that moment, Mei Terumi saw Kirigakure's leadership for what it was—ignorant, reactionary, and ungrateful.
Was this village even worth saving?
"Take her down! Lock her up! Interrogate her thoroughly—we need to know everything!"
"She's a traitor! A collaborator with an outsider Uchiha! She deserves no mercy!"
A sharp voice rang out from the back of the crowd.
"Yes, sir!"
Without hesitation, several shinobi surged forward to restrain her.
But Mei Terumi did not resist.
She had risked everything to expose the truth. She had remained when others fled. She had believed, so naively, that the village could be saved.
And now she stood abandoned.
Maybe this was what people meant when they said the greatest sorrow was not death—but a broken heart.
Then, without warning, someone appeared before her.
In the space of a breath, he was there.
No noise. No chakra signature. One moment he wasn't, and the next, he stood in front of her.
The shinobi halted instantly.
He wore a black cloak, his posture relaxed, but his aura was suffocating.
His face was young, devastatingly handsome, flawless—and his eyes, crimson and gleaming with power.
Sharingan.
Uchiha Haru.
Gasps rippled through the room.
Mei Terumi, who had already resigned herself to her fate, stared in shock.
Back when the darkness of Kirigakure's bloody era pushed many to desert or rebel, she had stayed.
She had stood firm.
Even when Haru offered her the chance to become the Fifth Mizukage under his support, she had refused—her mind on the good of the village first.
Kirigakure was her home. These people, her kin.
And yet, in the end, she was discarded like garbage, her loyalty trampled by fear and ignorance.
No one stood by her.
No one defended her.
No one—except for Uchiha Haru, the man she had guarded against, distrusted, even rejected.
He stood before her now, between her and their hatred.
His voice came gently, calm but filled with conviction. "Don't be afraid. I'm here."
Just five simple words.
But they struck something deep within her. Her heart, once raging with betrayal and hurt, stilled.
Mei Terumi looked at him—this man she barely knew, who had just stepped forward to take on the burden she had carried alone—and something unspoken flickered in her eyes.
Elder Genji's face twisted the moment he saw Haru. Dread passed through his aged features.
He had witnessed Haru's power the previous night. He knew what kind of monster stood before them.
And Haru's sudden appearance added countless new variables to their fragile situation.
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This Week Bonus Chapter - 200 Power stones
2nd Bonus Chapter - 400 Power Stones
3rd Bonus Chapter - 600 Power Stones
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📢 Support the Novel & Read Ahead!
Love the story and can't wait to see what happens next?
Join my Patreon and get access to 50+ early chapters before anyone else! 🔥
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Thank you for reading, and I truly appreciate your support! 💖
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