"I..."
"I also deeply love this village."
Meigetsu's calm breathing gradually became rapid. Gazing at Sora's handsome face, she said in a low voice, "And just as you said, the Bloody Mist policy is outdated. It's like a heavy mountain, pressing down on the Ninjas of Kirigakure, making it hard to breathe."
"The Village of the Bloody Mist..."
"It's time for a change!"
As the words fell, light and shadow fell from the sky.
Boom!
Above the horizon, a clap of thunder suddenly struck.
Blue lightning split the sky, emitting a fearsome roar.
A moment later, heavy rain fell from the sky over Kirigakure.
The pale gray fog was also pierced.
Countless raindrops, dark as ink, pelted the earth, weaving into a curtain-like flow of water, pouring down on Meigetsu.
The black-haired girl didn't react. She still looked seriously at Sora's face, allowing the falling torrential rain to soak her clothes.
Hozuki Meigetsu.
The genius Ninja of the great Hozuki Clan, the backbone of Kirigakure. She had always lived indifferently.
With talent and background surpassing ordinary people, she naturally became an Anbu Captain. At fifteen, she gradually entered the core of Kirigakure's power.
Everything seemed natural. However, just like the vast majority of Ninjas from the Village of the Bloody Mist, Meigetsu's heart also buried cruel memories she didn't want to recall.
In the falling rain, Meigetsu's gaze was sorrowful. She remained silent for a long time before muttering.
"Sora..."
"The year after you graduated, I took the Ninja Academy's graduation exam again. The first opponent I faced then was my own younger brother. He was really a lovely boy. Even now, I still remember the scene from back then when he learned to speak for the first time, calling me 'nee-chan' with a smile."
"Actually, when I found out who my opponent was, I already wanted to give up. But the moment the exam started, he pounced on me madly, his eyes ferocious and red. On the face of a six-year-old boy, there was actually such a terrifying expression."
"He..."
"He really wanted to kill me, wanted to make a name for himself by using his genius sister's reputation."
"Even when heavily wounded on the ground, he still roared wanting to kill me, like a beast that had lost its mind. I knocked him out, but the laughable thing is, this actually harmed him."
Meigetsu's voice trembled slightly as she spoke: "My brother, without the ability to resist, was quickly killed by other students who wanted to graduate. This was also Kirigakure's rule: as long as you killed one fellow student, you earned the qualification to graduate from the Ninja Academy."
"I caused my own brother's death..."
"But after the exam ended, whether it was my father, mother, or other clansmen, no one felt any sadness about this matter. They were only praising my excellence. No one even went to collect my brother's remains, just because he was a loser, garbage the village didn't need."
"At that time, I began to hate the indifference of the village. I also couldn't imagine, if we continued this cruelty for another ten or twenty years, would our village even still exist?"
The rain fell heavier and heavier.
Sora, draped in his white haori, had the dark raindrops falling before him bounced off by an invisible curtain of light. It was a veil formed by Reiatsu.
"You have changed a lot."
Sora said in a calm tone.
He knew the shadow in Meigetsu's heart, but this was the first time he heard her speak about it in such a direct manner.
"Yes, changed a lot."
Meigetsu shook her head. "Especially when on the mission, seeing the Three-Tails' Jinchuriki, that weak Konoha's Ninja, who, to protect her comrades' lives, to save her own village, could so resolutely and heroically march to her death. I felt fear, true fear."
"If every Konoha's Ninja possesses such will, then we cannot win this war. We will definitely lose miserably."
In Meigetsu's view, Rin was a useless Ninja. In the Village of the Bloody Mist, she would have probably been swept into the trash heap long ago, the kind whose body couldn't even be found.
But it was precisely such a waste who possessed a magnanimity that no Kirigakure's Ninja possessed. That sense of responsibility to face death for the sake of her comrades made her feel extremely shocked.
She felt fear.
Her already precarious faith began to collapse. It was amidst this fear of the unknown that she first thought of Sora.
That man who had spared her life countless times. That kind man who was out of place in the Village of the Bloody Mist.
"Your words today are probably enough for the Mizukage to have you executed."
Sora said impassively, like an ancient well without ripples.
"Mmm."
Meigetsu nodded without any evasion, then directly went for it: "Sora, today I have placed my life in your hands. If the village's future remains shrouded in the blood mist, I would rather die in this torrential rain."
Sora remained silent.
He somewhat understood now why, over a decade later, the entire Hozuki Clan was slaughtered by Kirigakure's higher-ups due to rebellion, leaving only Suigetsu as an orphan.
The words Meigetsu spoke today were probably one of the reasons for that cruel clan extermination.
In fact,
During the era of the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, the atmosphere in Kirigakure was quite open-minded.
Although there was no concept like the 'Will of Fire', there was something called bonds between Ninjas.
But ever since the Third Mizukage took office, the entire atmosphere of Kirigakure completely changed.
The Village of the Bloody Mist policy destroyed all the original bonds, turning Kirigakure's Ninjas into demons.
Momochi Zabuza, who killed all his classmates. Hoshigaki Kisame, who killed all his comrades for a mission. One fallen Ninja after another made the stench of blood in Kirigakure grow stronger and stronger.
"Meigetsu..."
"Live well!"
Sora suddenly chuckled lightly and said, "Perhaps one day in the future, when the war truly ends, we might stand on the peak, overlooking that peaceful world. By then, you might have a completely different understanding of this village."
As soon as the words fell, Sora's gaze subtly swept over Meigetsu a few times.
"The girl next door has grown up..."
Turning around, Sora walked away slowly, leaving only his reliable back in the dark curtain of rain.
"Grown up?"
Meigetsu was stunned for a moment, then recalled Sora's subtle gaze and subconsciously looked down.
"Eek!"
Her originally cold face suddenly turned bright red. After a moment of silence, Meigetsu, with a red face, spat out lightly: "Pervert..."
The words were fierce,
But the tone held no disgust at all.