Yuto blinked at Mei's reaction, confusion flickering across his face.
"Yuto-dono… your clothes…"
Ao, visibly awkward, kept his head lowered as he spoke softly.
Prompted, Yuto glanced down. His expression froze, then flushed faintly red.
The tattered remnants from his last battle had been hanging on by threads. After his movements just now, they were slipping, moments from falling away entirely.
"...Ahem."
He coughed lightly and gestured at Ao.
Ao instantly understood. He stripped off his own blue-green robe and handed it over respectfully.
Yuto slipped it on without fuss, then tore a long strip from the hem and tied it around his waist as a sash.
"Good enough. Let's go."
His tone was calm. The robe was oversized, but it didn't hinder movement. Fashion was the least of his concerns.
Only then did Mei dare to turn back. She stole a quick glance at him, her cheeks blooming with faint pink again.
Whoosh!
Three shadows blurred away, vanishing into the forest.
As they raced forward, Yuto frowned. This pace was far too slow.
Sealed for decades, he wanted answers. The state of Kirigakure, the exact point in the timeline—he needed to know. To plan.
And asking Mei or Ao was useless. Villages kept their own calendars. Konoha's founding year marked the world's "official" timeline, but no other nation counted by it.
Even in his own time as First Mizukage, amidst endless war, who cared what year it was? He certainly hadn't.
"Where are we, exactly?" he asked Mei.
"Yuto-dono, we're still in the Land of Water. For safety, the meeting with Orochimaru was set on a small island to the west of Kirigakure."
Her tone was hesitant but respectful.
Yuto nodded. He seized Ao with one hand, Mei with the other.
"Hold on."
Boom!
He erupted into a streak of light, tearing eastward.
Ao and Mei felt the world blur, the landscape racing backward at impossible speed.
Yet there was no shaking, no drag, not even the roar of the wind.
Ao's eyes went wide, disbelief plain on his face. Speed this great should create crushing resistance—yet there was none. Not even a whisper of turbulence.
Mei, however, looked less surprised. As Mizukage, she had read the forbidden scrolls. She knew more of Yuto's powers than most. The ability to consume energy wasn't his only gift.
—
Kirigakure gates.
Chojuro paced anxiously, brow furrowed.
The Mizukage leaving the village was a delicate matter. An act beyond reproach—yet if the elders caught wind, it could become dangerous.
And they had.
Moments ago, they had summoned him, demanding Mei's presence.
He had stalled, inventing excuses. But from their tone, he knew they already suspected.
As her aide, they expected him to know where she was.
But he didn't.
So he lingered here, waiting. Hoping she and Ao would return soon. Otherwise, he would take the brunt of the elders' anger.
Just then, he noticed a black speck in the distance, hurtling toward the gates at breathtaking speed.
His face tightened. He reached for a signal flare—
But in the blink of an eye, the speck was in front of him.
No roar of air, no sonic boom. Like a ghost appearing from nothing. If not for watching its trajectory, he would have thought it had simply materialized.
"Ao? Mizukage-sama!"
Relief washed over his face.
Yuto released their hands, lifting his gaze toward the gates.
"So many years… and still the same."
Chojuro finally noticed the tall figure standing between his Mizukage and Ao.
A strange familiarity struck him, as though he'd seen the man before—yet he could not remember when.
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