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Chapter 50 — Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique
Mei Terumī stood beside Konan.
She stared at the monuments to the Yuki and the Kaguya, breaking the silence: "Ordinary people don't come here. Do you know them? Or were you friends with some Yuki or Kaguya?"
Konan shook her head and replied, "The Yuki and the Kaguya didn't die on a battlefield — they died at the hands of their own village. Isn't that tragic?"
"Tragic...?" Mei Terumī's fox-like eyes showed a complicated expression. "Of course it's tragic."
"Like the Uchiha in Konoha — actions that seriously weakened a village and pleased its enemies are undoubtedly tragic."
"But... what's done is done. The living must keep moving forward; they cannot drown in past mistakes."
"Move forward? Mistakes?" Konan sneered and looked back at the densely packed tombstones they had passed. "So many died and felt that pain, yet the wars continued — isn't that itself a mistake?"
Mei turned to face the rows of stones, her expression complicated. "This is the fate of shinobi, the fate of the villages. To secure more missions, more bounties, and develop the village, war is often inevitable."
"You should understand: resources in the shinobi world are limited. If you take an extra mouthful, someone else will have less. If others disagree, then war decides who gets the larger share."
Mei smoothed away the softness on her face; her gaze hardened. "For the sake of profit and development, the Five Great Shinobi Villages, including Kirigakure, have no choice. Small countries and hamlets that can't even sit at the table have no choice either — they will be consumed."
Konan murmured, "So even knowing it's wrong, nothing changes. Small nations have no choice — and neither do the Great Villages..."
At that moment, through her brief exchange with one of the Five Kage, she had gained a deeper grasp of the shinobi world: everyone scrambles forward by any means. If you don't keep up, you become the one who gets eaten.
No wonder Alex always said that only by unifying the shinobi world could true peace be achieved.
Mei suddenly asked, "So you must be from a small country or village, then?"
Her presence exploded outward; a fierce pressure fixed on Konan. "This world only respects strength. Whoever has the bigger fist makes the rules and eats more resources! Do you think Kirigakure's weakness means anyone can trespass so brazenly?"
"Even if a village is weak, it's not for every stray to provoke!!"
"Lady Mizukage!" A Kirigakure Anbu wearing a wave-patterned mask dropped down from a tree behind Mei, keeping his distance from the massive tombstones. "The cemetery has been cleared — all civilians have been evacuated."
Mei nodded, face cold. Their earlier talk had merely bought time for the Anbu to move the villagers away to avoid the coming conflict. She didn't yet know who the intruder was, but whoever it was could not be underestimated.
Suddenly, the gray-black ground under Mei's feet became pure white.
Sheets of paper rose up and covered her in an instant, draping tightly and molding to her body like a mummy of paper. The S-shaped silhouette was conspicuous — front and back curves exaggerated, exposed in a way that left little to the imagination.
Alex's eyes widened involuntarily; he sucked in a breath. It wasn't his fault — Mei's figure was simply overwhelming. The wrapping even resembled a provocative play style, too arousing for his sensibilities.
"Hmph." Feeling the change in Konan's palm, she snorted. Then she manipulated the paper and squeezed the paper-mummified Mei with full force.
Pop! Pop!
Two exaggerated bulges in the front expanded to the limit and burst like balloons.
Mei's form flattened under the pressure, but no blood spurted and no flesh flew — only a spray of water scattered into the air.
It was a water clone.
Neither Konan nor Alex was surprised. The Mizukage of one of the Five Kage could not be so easily killed.
Mei's silhouette vanished; the Anbu in the tree disappeared as well. Around the huge monuments it seemed only Konan remained.
Hiss!
At that moment Konan felt a sting on the back of her hand. Looking down, a black spot bloomed at the center of her hand and began to spread, emitting a wisp of white smoke. Black spots then erupted across her skin, and white smoke seeped from each burned patch.
Konan's transformation could no longer hold; she reverted to her true appearance and stood motionless. Every breath burned — nose, mouth, and lungs ached as if scalded.
"This is the Mizukage's Boil Release..." Konan stared at her blackened arm. "No wonder it's powerful — it can corrode even paper bodies."
Although she had activated Paper Release and gained immunity to physical attacks, she could not resist corrosive acidic mist. The floating white sheets, under the mist's erosion, quickly blackened and disintegrated until they vanished.
This was a deathly acidic mist said to even corrode Susanoo. It had been released in secret when Mei first approached Konan, and now she continued to pump it out from the perimeter — the acid concentration near the monuments spiking rapidly.
The black characters on the twin monuments to Yuki and Kaguya were pitted and illegible. The stones themselves visibly shrank.
Everything around them — life and corpse alike — dissolved swiftly.
Black speckles spread across Konan's body until only her face remained relatively intact, but it wouldn't last long.
Through the acid-scarred haze came Mei's cold voice: "So it's you — Akatsuki's White Tiger."
Konan's Paper Release was unique — only one person in the shinobi world wielded it. Mei had recognized Konan the instant she saw the white paper. Breaking the transformation to force Konan's true form confirmed the Mizukage's suspicion.
Mei squinted through the fumes, puzzled that the person inside looked younger than expected. She quickly dismissed the thought. In any case, the person was indeed Akatsuki's White Tiger.
Mei's voice sharpened: "You destroyed Konoha, and now you come to destroy Kirigakure? Any person or organization that dares to harm this village will be put to death by Kirigakure's Mizukage!"
She exhaled sharply, and a dense gust of acid fog blasted outward — the acidity around the monuments surged to extreme levels.
Konan's face blackened in an instant. Her corroded form collapsed into a heap of black ash and dissolved into nothingness under the intense acid.