"I still don't want to leave."
"I want to stay by his side for a few more days."
Pain said, eyes staring fixedly at Konan, then suddenly turned his head and stared intently at Ryosuke.
"You haven't lifted the illusion?!"
From appearing, fighting, battling, even witnessing Planetary Devastation being pierced and Obito escaping via earth release, Pain, who hadn't shown any emotional fluctuation, displayed intense emotional turmoil for the first time.
Killing intent.
Scorching, intense, like a mountain collapsing and a tsunami, killing intent.
Yahiko was already dead.
Former Akatsuki companions had also successively died or left over the years.
Konan was Pain's last, and most important, family.
"It's not because of him, it's because of me."
Sensing Pain's emotional change, Konan quickly explained, "His technique has already been lifted, it's just that I followed Ryosuke all the way to now, witnessed many things, saw many people."
Konan looked around at the ruins-like Hidden Mist Village.
"I want to see the final ending before I leave."
Pain couldn't understand. After a few seconds of silence, he still chose to respect his companion's decision.
Konan said, "In ten days, I will return."
Pain slightly nodded, "Alright, in ten days, I will come pick you up."
He glanced at Ryosuke, then Pain turned around and left.
Just then, an ill-timed angry voice appeared,
"Hey! What are you doing? After fighting and killing for so long, not a single traitor has been killed. Every year I allocate funds to you all just to raise a bunch of useless trash?"
"That guy in black clothes, with diseased eyes, you stop right there, who let you leave? If you don't finish the job, be careful I dock your commission!"
Black clothes… diseased eyes guy…
Pain lowered his head and looked at the Akatsuki uniform, thought for three full seconds before realizing this was talking about him.
Everyone's eyes turned toward the back, at the Daimyō of the Land of Water protected by several samurai.
He still sat in the palanquin, with two maids beside him. One was responsible for serving tea and water, the other for peeling grapes and feeding them into his mouth.
While the ninjas fought desperately at the front, the Daimyō at the back watched like it was a performance, enjoying the ninjas' slaughter.
This scene was exactly like a miniature of the relationship between ninjas and Daimyōs for decades.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water didn't know what Akatsuki was. Even if the servants reminded him, he had long forgotten.
A wild chicken organization that didn't even have a village was not worth remembering at all.
As for the Three-Tails, the Planetary Devastation stone sphere… ninjas could always create this and that kind of visual trickery, nothing more than bluffing stuff.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water was enjoying the show very much.
Until he saw Yagura dead, Obito escape, and Pain preparing to leave, the Daimyō gradually became unhappy.
The thinking of the Daimyō of the Land of Water was very simple.
'Tricks are nice to look at.'
'But you ninjas took real money, so you have to do real things for me!'
'Crackling, a bunch of "fireworks" were let off and then you left, and every single rebel is still alive? What are you doing?'
The Daimyō of the Land of Water raised his hand, pointed at Pain, and gave a command with the aura of a superior,
"If you don't solve the problem, don't think about leaving."
As these words came out, the maids and samurai all tensed up, clearly knowing the Daimyō was truly angry, and all bowed their heads, silent as cicadas.
"Yeah, don't think about leaving."
The speaker was Ryosuke, and the main subject of the conversation wasn't Pain.
But the high-and-mighty Daimyō sitting on the palanquin.
"I almost forgot about you," Ryosuke said.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water raised his chin, "Forgot what about me?"
"Forgot to kill you."
"What!" The samurai were shocked.
They hadn't expected that a ninja would dare to harbor murderous intent toward a Daimyō. One by one they drew their katanas.
Whoosh~
A fierce wind accompanied by thunder roared in, and all the samurai along the way were punched flying one by one by Platinum Star.
Ryosuke stood in front of the palanquin.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water and Ryosuke looked at each other. Just as he was about to open his mouth to say something, Ryosuke kicked the palanquin over.
The Daimyō's long robe got tangled on the edge of the palanquin, spun twice, and he fell face down like a dog eating mud.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water was stunned.
He had lived a life of luxury, pampered and privileged, never suffered such humiliation. Lying on the ground, he froze for three whole seconds before a surge of fury rushed up.
He braced himself to get up.
"You dare, "
A blade rested on the Daimyō's neck.
It was a katana Ryosuke had casually snatched from a samurai. The blade was thin, the body streamlined, the weight just right, clearly a fine sword made by a famous craftsman.
Just too light.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water looked down at the blade, and instead of fear, became even more enraged.
"You dare kill me? On what basis would you kill me! I am the Daimyō!"
Ryosuke originally wanted to kill him with one strike, but he turned and saw the samurai united in outrage, and also saw not far away, Terumi Mei and Zabuza slightly shaking their heads at him.
"You ask on what basis, so I'll tell you."
Ryosuke took out Kado's memory disk and tossed it to the White Snake.
The White Snake waved its hand, and a large amount of wax-like liquid spread into the sky.
Ryosuke flicked his finger, a ripple struck the wax liquid, and under the high heat of the ripple, it instantly evaporated and filled the sky.
Like a giant movie screen covering the entire Hidden Mist Village.
Everyone looked up to the sky, faintly seeing one frame after another, and the more they relaxed their minds, the clearer the image, until they clearly saw, the conversation between the Daimyō of the Land of Water and Kado about drug trade.
———
"Mix drug into the salt… addiction will develop within half a year…"
"Then raise the price of salt, and very soon we'll make big money…"
"We've done human testing, people who eat the salt will die by age forty at most, after their prime… hehehe…"
"What about population shortage?"
"People addicted to drugs will have strong desires, there will be newborns all over the country, even more labor force, Daimyō-sama, you don't need to worry at all."
"Hahahaha."
Scene after scene, too realistic.
The transport routes described in detail, profit-sharing after earning money, various risk assessment measures.
Illusions can trick the eyes, but cannot fabricate information from nothing.
As long as one has a bit of discernment, they know everything they're seeing is real.
———
"Your mother..."
The most hot-tempered Zabuza turned his head and was about to curse the Daimyō of the Land of Water. Just as the last word was about to be uttered, he saw another person flying out and landing hard on the ground.
It was a samurai.
Different from the previously just injured ones Ryosuke had knocked away.
This one had a collapsed chest, blood in his mouth, clearly dead.
Ryosuke's voice was calm. He pointed at the image in the sky, "Those who still want to protect the Daimyō after seeing this, I will not show mercy again."
Samurai are not civil officials, not information-gathering ninjas. Many are just muscle-brained warriors who only know how to swing swords.
Many things they didn't know.
So, Ryosuke gave the samurai a chance.
But to witness evil and still help the villain, Ryosuke would no longer show mercy.
The samurai's eyes wavered slightly, then quickly firmed up.
That's right.
They had followed the Daimyō for years, had seen many things against conscience, however, it was the first time seeing someone poison the country's civilians with the Daimyō's authority.
But so what?
They were samurai.
They were the Daimyō's swords, their flesh bodies the Daimyō's shields. Swords and shields didn't need emotions, didn't need personal judgment.
Samurai only needed to offer loyalty to their master.
"Protect the Daimyō!"
Hundreds of samurai, eyes resolute, gripped their blades tightly, rushed toward Ryosuke, and displayed their loyalty to the Daimyō.
"Blind loyalty… really has that ancient feel." Ryosuke sighed softly.
Platinum Star appeared.
One samurai after another flew out like cannonballs.
Ryosuke no longer looked at the charging samurai. Instead, he asked the Daimyō of the Land of Water, "If you die, do you have an heir?"
Witnessing one samurai after another dying.
The Daimyō's anger gradually faded. Fear, an emotion long forgotten, quietly sprouted from within.
"I… I have three sons, if you kill me, they won't let you go!"
Ryosuke revealed a kindly smile, "The ones in the whole world who most wish for your death, are your sons. But, as long as there's an heir, that's fine."
"Ah?"
The Daimyō opened his mouth, not understanding what Ryosuke meant, when suddenly a flash of cold light swept past.
The Daimyō of the Land of Water's head fell.
The entire scene was dead silent.
The Daimyō… was dead.
How many years had it been, the Daimyō was always lofty, always lazy and luxurious, like a living immortal from another world, not even in the same class as commoners.
Everyone in Hidden Mist Village.
Loyalists, reformists, scouts from other villages, and even distant common villagers.
At that moment, all heard the thump of a head falling to the ground.
Blood clung to the dust, landing on the Daimyō's face.
Filthy, disgusting, no trace of nobility at all.
But this foul and dirty scene, landing in their eyes, combined with the tragedies of the Land of Water in recent years, made people feel an indescribable satisfaction.
Ryosuke turned to look at Pain standing on the side, "This… is the happiness brought by pain."
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