"I didn't expect the Third to actually approve your request…"
Outside the Mist front camp, Mei watched Huiye Lian finish packing to leave. Unease lingered in her eyes.
"Be careful, Lian. You're going too far from Mist influence. We can't support you with intel or manpower…"
"Try not to go picking fights, okay?"
"You sound like my sister after she got married—nagging nonstop," Huiye Lian laughed, then took her hand and flipped the concern back onto her.
"Instead of worrying about me causing trouble, worry about your own safety, Mei."
"Konoha won't mess with me unless they're absolutely sure they can win."
"But you? You're still on the front line. Your self-protection is weak. Your odds of running into lethal danger are way higher than mine."
"I'll be careful," Mei said softly.
"Careful isn't enough."
Huiye Lian pulled out six special [Biscuits] he'd saved over the past few days and placed them into her hands.
"Here. Like the secret medicine I gave you back at Kannabi Mountain—same deal. I tweaked the proportions."
"If something big happens, eat one and run for your life."
"I'll handle defense for you."
Mei's gaze trembled.
"So that day… when you protected me from Human Boulder…"
"That was your chakra?"
"I didn't sense it that clearly," Huiye Lian said, ruffling her hair. "I just knew you'd eaten my special medicine and needed my help."
"But from that far away… my chakra could actually tank Human Boulder?"
"Good."
"Now I can go cultivate in peace."
"Cultivate?" Mei frowned. "I thought you were leaving to find a way to remove the Flying Thunder God mark."
"Finding the solution is cultivation," Huiye Lian said calmly, brushing aside her bangs.
His gaze met her bright green eye.
"What I'm looking for isn't just a way to remove Flying Thunder God."
"It's also a way to fix the rot Kirigakure has accumulated over the years."
"If I don't go out and see how other countries and villages explore their paths… I won't find a new road that fits the Mist."
"When you return… you'll break the blood mist hanging over Kirigakure…?"
Mei's voice was quiet, but it carried weight.
"I understand."
"So live," Huiye Lian said, forming the seals for Body Flicker. He smiled.
"I'm counting on you to help me deal with half the annoying stuff later, my capable advisor."
"I don't want to. Being a normal jonin is enough," Mei huffed, turning her head stubbornly away.
"Tch. Don't be so stubborn."
Huiye Lian vanished—and his voice drifted back on the wind.
"Being a shinobi's stressful enough already. If you keep acting tough and waiting for others to say things first… your chances of never getting married will skyrocket."
N-never getting married?!
Mei looked down at her chest—already well-developed among her peers—then made a water mirror and stared at her own curvy, alluring reflection.
She swung a punch at the direction he'd disappeared.
"Bullshit! You think I need to worry about not getting married?!"
…
After parting with Mei, the person he trusted most, Huiye Lian traveled at full speed for nearly half a day. Only after confirming he'd shaken any possible tail did he stop.
He pulled out a map of the Land of Fire and the surrounding nations and checked his location.
Leaving the battlefield this time, his primary goal was to find Ryuchi Cave, then learn true Ryuchi Cave Sage Mode from the White Snake Sage.
After that came secondary goals—like getting revenge on Orochimaru and making contact with Akatsuki.
The importance of Sage Mode didn't need explaining.
As for Orochimaru… that was just because being ambushed left a bad taste in his mouth. If he was going to pressure Konoha anyway, he might as well stab back.
Orochimaru's survival instincts were cockroach-level. Even if Huiye Lian managed to corner him, killing him outright was unlikely.
But if he could trigger [Dark Harvest] and rip at that already-not-strong soul of his…
Huiye Lian would be satisfied.
As for meeting Akatsuki again…
He simply wanted to see whether Nagato—after being successfully "guided" by him—had actually brought any change to the original Akatsuki.
If Akatsuki could become a stronger, more influential pacifist group…
Huiye Lian wouldn't mind supporting them as Mizukage later.
After all, the Land of Rain sat at the borders of Wind, Fire, and Earth.
Let Nagato and Yahiko go give those three villages a headache. If Hanzo and Danzo still managed to assassinate Akatsuki's leaders in that situation…
Then Huiye Lian, as an ally who supported them early, would naturally be in position to pull Nagato and the survivors over to the Mist.
Why should a useful tool like Nagato be left to Obito?
But right now—
First, he needed to find Ryuchi Cave.
"Ryuchi Cave… Ryuchi Cave… I remember Suigetsu and the curse-mark test subjects stayed in Orochimaru's northern base, right?"
"And Otogakure is in the Land of Rice Fields…"
"If Orochimaru's using the natural energy leaking from Ryuchi Cave to create curse-mark candidates, then the northern base and Ryuchi Cave can't be too far apart."
"But to reach the Land of Rice Fields quickly, I'll have to cut straight through the Land of Fire…"
Huiye Lian exhaled.
"Whatever. I'll head that way first. If I get close enough, the curse mark's sensing might get clearer."
He put away the map, temporarily loosened the Four Symbols Seal on his curse mark, injected chakra into it, and began using the curse mark's power to sense Ryuchi Cave from afar.
At the same time, deep within a Konoha laboratory, Orochimaru set down a fresh sheet of experiment data.
He licked his lips with a thin, sinister smile.
"The curse mark has been activated…"
"How interesting."
"Is that a challenge, Lian-kun?"
"If it is…"
"I'll prepare a grand surprise for you."
Hearing that eerie laugh, Mitarashi Anko—who had been quietly in the lab for three days—shivered.
She tiptoed out.
Orochimaru-sensei was great in every way.
Except when he got obsessed with experiments.
That look in his eyes…
Was terrifying.
Advance Chapters available on Patreon
patreon.com/Inkveil_