Kiri, in a secluded corner of the village.
Izumi stood with her back against a stone wall, casually playing with a kunai in her hand. She spun it between her fingers over and over, much like someone idly twirling a pen.
"Why hasn't Kiyohara-sensei come back yet?"
Izumi muttered under her breath.
What was the point of going on a mission if Sensei Kiyohara was not there?
"Don't be impatient. Sensei will definitely be back soon."
Itachi shook his head.
He had already sensed the commotion coming from ahead, as well as the shinobis who were continuously rushing toward the area where the fighting had taken place.
Kiyohara had been the only one to go ahead just now, while the others had remained behind.
After a powerful surge of chakra erupted, the battle seemed to have ended almost immediately.
Because of that, Itachi judged that Kiyohara would probably be returning soon.
He firmly believed that with Kiyohara's strength, dealing with this kind of situation would be nothing more than a trivial matter.
Even throughout Itachi's short life so far, he had never encountered another shinobi who was stronger than Kiyohara.
In fact, Itachi sometimes felt that Kiyohara might already stand at the very peak of the shinobi world.
There was no doubt about his overwhelming strength.
"That's right. Sensei will definitely be back soon."
Guren nodded in agreement.
Just like Itachi, Guren also believed that Kiyohara was capable of almost anything.
Even if tomorrow Kiyohara told her that he wanted to use her as his vessel and take over her body, Guren probably would not even frown.
Instead, she would regard it as the highest possible honor.
With the way her mind worked, she would only interpret such a thing as proof that Kiyohara cared about her.
Why had he chosen her instead of someone else?
It could only mean that Sensei Kiyohara valued her!
"It probably is."
Yakumo spoke softly.
Her physique was the weakest among them, and her reactions were also somewhat slower than those of Izumi and the others. As a result, she could not sense much chakra from such a distance.
At that moment, the kunai spinning in Izumi's hand suddenly stopped.
"Sensei is back."
Before her voice had even completely faded, she was already standing upright.
A tall, slender figure appeared in the distance.
Kiyohara walked out of the mist, with a small amount of dust clinging to the hem of his robes.
"Sensei!"
Izumi was the first to rush over.
Her beautiful eyes quickly swept over Kiyohara from head to toe. Only after confirming that he had not been injured did she finally relax. She raised her face and asked,
"Is it over?"
"It's over."
Kiyohara answered simply.
Guren put her hands on her hips and raised her chin proudly.
"I told you! How could those Kiri guys possibly stop Sensei? Did you beat all of them down by yourself?"
A small pink crystal flower formed between her fingertips through her Crystal Release. She tossed it casually into the air and caught it again, looking extremely pleased with herself.
Yakumo, unlike the outspoken Guren, was much more reserved.
She quietly asked, "It's good that you're all right, Sensei."
Itachi noticed that although there was a little dust on Kiyohara's robes, his breathing remained perfectly steady, and the chakra fluctuations around him were still so deep that they could not be perceived clearly.
That meant the battle just now could hardly even be considered a battle from Kiyohara's perspective.
The realization filled Itachi with both awe and an even stronger desire.
When would he be able to reach such a level?
Or perhaps, even if he trained for his entire life, he would never be able to reach such a realm?
Itachi had always been praised as a genius.
Yet he understood that Kiyohara was the true answer of the shinobi world, the absolute pinnacle of what a genius could become.
Meanwhile, Haku remained standing quietly in the corner.
There was a little more curiosity in his otherwise dull eyes.
He did not really understand what had happened, but he could clearly feel that after this man named Kiyohara returned, all the children around him seemed to relax.
Was this what it felt like to be protected?
Haku was not sure.
He only knew that the part of his chest that had remained tightly clenched for so long seemed to loosen just a little.
Kiyohara's gaze swept over several of his disciples, and he briefly explained what had happened.
Not long afterward, another figure appeared from behind them.
A deep-blue robe wrapped around a tall, graceful figure. Long reddish-brown hair fell loosely over her shoulders, and several strands were lifted by the sea breeze as she walked.
The solemn expression Mei had worn earlier amid the ruins of the Mizukage's building was gone.
The tension that had been weighing heavily on her face for so long had finally dissipated, allowing her features to relax. With the pressure gone, her already beautiful appearance seemed even more striking.
Izumi's gaze landed on Mei.
The happiness that had been visible in her beautiful eyes immediately faded at a speed that could be seen with the naked eye.
Izumi stared at this charming older woman and suddenly felt inexplicably irritated.
This woman...
For some reason, Izumi did not want Mei getting too close to her.
Her beautiful eyes narrowed slightly.
Almost instinctively, she moved half a step closer to Kiyohara until she was practically standing against his sleeve.
Then she raised her little face.
Her dark eyes stared at Mei, carrying a faint trace of the scrutiny that belonged to a young girl who had suddenly become wary of a perceived rival.
Kiyohara noticed Izumi's movement.
He simply felt that this particular disciple seemed to have a rather strong sense of possessiveness.
After all, the Uchiha clan was notorious for the intensity of its attachments.
When their love became too strong, it could easily spiral out of control and develop into something extremely obsessive.
Kiyohara decided that he would have to correct Izumi's personality more often in the future.
Otherwise, what if betraying one's sensei and becoming an ungrateful disciple ended up becoming a tradition passed down through his own lineage?
"Kiyohara."
Mei walked up to him and gave him a slight nod.
Her voice was much lighter than it had been earlier, and there was even a smile at the corners of her lips.
"Thank you for what you did today. Your accommodations have already been arranged. They're at a guesthouse in the eastern district. It's a relatively quiet place, so no one should disturb you."
She paused for a moment.
Her emerald-green eyes turned toward Kiyohara, and her tone became more sincere.
"Also, I'd like to invite you to dinner tonight. We can discuss what needs to be done afterward."
Izumi's eyebrows immediately knitted together.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.
Perhaps, "Sensei is busy," or, "We just arrived in the Land of Water and need time to rest."
In short, she wanted to find any excuse that could pull Kiyohara away from this woman.
However, before she could say anything, Kiyohara's hand had already landed on top of her head.
"Izumi."
Kiyohara looked down at her, his tone calm and even.
"You all go to the guesthouse and rest first. I'll come back later."
Izumi raised her head and met Kiyohara's dark eyes.
All the excuses she had been preparing rolled around in her throat.
In the end, she could only force out a muffled,
"Yes."
She took a step backward and watched as Kiyohara and Mei walked away side by side.
Their figures gradually disappeared into the sea mist.
After Mei left, a shinobi from the Kaguya clan arrived.
"I'll take all of you there."
The Kaguya shinobi said.
"All right."
Itachi nodded.
Among them, he was the oldest and also the calmest.
Soon, the group followed the Kaguya shinobi and left the area.
There was still a trace of unwillingness in Izumi's beautiful eyes.
She bent down, picked up the kunai she had dropped earlier, spun it viciously around her fingers twice, and then muttered unhappily,
"That woman... She's so annoying."
For once, Guren did not tease her or contradict her.
Instead, she folded her arms and snorted, clearly showing that she shared Izumi's sentiment.
Itachi silently glanced at Izumi.
He had noticed that ever since she met Mei, Izumi's emotions had become unusually obvious.
However, he said nothing.
He simply put away the scroll in his hand, turned around, and walked toward the guesthouse.
...
On a seaside street in Kiri stood a restaurant called Shioroji.
The wooden building extended outward from the cliffside, hanging over the surface of the sea.
The window of the private room had been left open.
Beyond it stretched the vast ocean, while the sound of waves crashing against the cliff below drifted upward.
A dark-blue tablecloth covered the table, with a candleholder placed neatly at its center.
Kiyohara stood in front of the window with his back toward Mei, gazing out at the glittering sea.
"Here, there's no need to hide your appearance anymore, is there?"
Kiyohara raised a hand.
After a brief change in his features, the ordinary false face he had been wearing began to transform.
The disguise gradually disappeared, revealing Kiyohara's true appearance.
His long black hair fell over his shoulders, framing his handsome features.
He turned around, pulled out a chair, and sat down.
Seeing Kiyohara return to the appearance she was most familiar with, Mei surprisingly did not show any of her earlier irritation.
After all, the greatest crisis facing Kiri had already been resolved, and the heavy burden weighing on her heart had finally been lifted.
Without Kiyohara, she doubted that everything would have gone so smoothly.
She lowered her eyes, picked up the teapot on the table, and poured him a cup of tea.
The emerald-green tea flowed into the cup.
Steam slowly rose from the hot tea, obscuring the expression on her face.
"You can tell me what you want."
Mei began to feel nervous again.
Only after the matters that came next were settled satisfactorily could she truly put the crisis behind her.
Kiyohara did not bother with unnecessary pleasantries.
He picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then calmly said,
"First, the Land of Water will provide Konoha with a certain amount of chakra ore every year. I'll have someone send you the specific list of mineral deposits later. What I mainly want is the mining rights to the two deposits in the Northern Mountain mining district and the Kiri Gorge."
Mei's brows furrowed slightly.
The ore from the Northern Mountain mining district had a stable quality and production volume, although its quality was not considered particularly exceptional.
The Kiri Gorge, on the other hand, was one of the few places in the Land of Water where chakra-conductive ore could be found.
Combined, these two mineral deposits accounted for nearly thirty percent of the Land of Water's annual chakra ore production.
Clearly, Kiyohara had done his homework before coming here.
"Second."
Kiyohara placed his teacup down.
"I need Kiri's secret technique scrolls. The techniques of the Hozuki clan, the Kaguya clan, and others. In short, the more, the better."
Mei's emerald-green eyes widened.
This man was just like those bandits from Kumogakure.
He loved collecting techniques by any means necessary!
"You... Kiyohara, do you know that those are the core secret techniques of Kiri? Even I don't have the authority to simply hand them over to someone from another village!"
"That's your problem, Mei."
Kiyohara shook his head.
He had no intention of worrying about these matters himself.
Otherwise, why had he come here to negotiate in the first place?
Mei had asked him to intervene.
Naturally, there was a price to pay for his assistance.
"Third."
Kiyohara continued, making it clear that his demands were far from over.
"Kiri will sign a long-term strategic cooperation agreement with Konoha. The specific terms can be discussed later, but the core requirement is that Kiri must maintain a consistent position with Konoha regarding military operations and intelligence exchanges. Major decisions must also be reported to Konoha in advance."
"You..."
Mei took a deep breath.
Her chest rose and fell heavily.
She had known that Kiyohara would make excessive demands.
She had even mentally prepared herself for him to take advantage of the situation.
But she had never imagined that this lion would open his mouth quite so wide.
"Kiyohara."
She bit her full, red lips.
There was a faint pleading look in her emerald-green eyes.
"These demands are too excessive. I can't collect too many secret techniques. At most, I can provide some of the less important techniques from the outer layers of our archives. That way, I'll at least have something to explain to the higher-ups in the village."
She paused before continuing in a softer voice.
"And could you perhaps be a little more lenient with the other conditions?"
Kiyohara shook his head.
"Mei, you were the one who came to me. For all these years, Yagura has been controlling Kiri and funneling the village's resources to the Akatsuki. By now, Kiri is already riddled with problems."
"If I had not intervened, you would still be fighting a war of attrition against Yagura. Once reinforcements from Kiri's higher-ups arrived, your coup would have ended in failure."
He raised his teacup and took another sip.
"I saved your life, I saved the lives of your companions, and I eliminated Kiri's greatest hidden threat. This favor is worth the price I am asking."
Mei knew that Kiyohara was not wrong.
Without Kiyohara's intervention, with only her and Mangetsu's strength, the most they could have done was fight Yagura to the point where both sides suffered heavy losses.
Once Genji realized what was happening and mobilized the Anbu, none of them would have been able to escape.
However, she represented Kiri.
She could not simply agree to everything he demanded.
For a moment, silence filled the room.
The silence seemed to represent the entire Kiri that night.
In the end, Mei slowly spoke.
"The mining rights to the two deposits can be given to you. However, Kiri must retain thirty percent of the Northern Mountain mining district. Officially, the deposit will be jointly developed by Kiri and Konoha."
Kiyohara thought about it for a moment before nodding.
"That's acceptable."
"This concerns the very foundation of the village, so I have no choice but to fight for it. These are the greatest concessions I can make. If you still think they aren't enough..."
Mei took a deep breath.
Her emerald-green eyes met Kiyohara's directly.
"Then I can only accept the consequences."
Looking at the expression on her face, as though she had already decided to risk everything for the sake of her village, Kiyohara felt a little admiration toward her.
If it had been someone else, being rejected twice in succession would probably have been enough to make them lose heart.
Mei, however, clearly understood that she was at a disadvantage, yet she was still fighting to secure benefits for her village.
That tenacity reminded him somewhat of Tsunade.
"Fine."
Kiyohara placed his teacup back on the table.
"We'll do it your way."
Mei froze for a moment.
She had originally expected Kiyohara to pressure her through several more rounds of negotiations. She had not expected him to agree so readily.
For a moment, she felt that she would never be able to understand what this man was thinking.
Unfortunately, Kiyohara immediately said something that caused her entire body to tense up again.
"The main business is finished. Now let's discuss an additional transaction. Your subordinates were disrespectful toward me earlier. We haven't settled that matter yet."
Mei's hand stopped while she was drinking her tea.
Her emerald-green eyes rose above the rim of the cup, and the wariness that had disappeared earlier returned to them.
"What do you want?"
"Nothing much."
Kiyohara leaned back against his chair.
"Spend a day showing me around Kiri."
"What?"
Mei wondered if she had heard him incorrectly.
"There is a place near Kiri that I find rather interesting. As the host, you can accompany me for a day. Consider it your way of showing me some hospitality."
Mei opened her mouth.
She wanted to ask when exactly the dignified Fourth Hokage had become so free that he had nothing better to do than wander around Kiri.
But the words reached the tip of her tongue and she swallowed them back.
Compared with the other demands Kiyohara could have made, spending a day accompanying him around the village was practically insignificant.
After hesitating for a while, she finally squeezed out a response.
"All right. I agree."
Kiyohara smiled in satisfaction.
He took a stack of neatly folded clothes out of a sealing scroll and placed them on the table before pushing them toward her.
It was a blue qipao.
The design was not particularly revealing. Its high collar covered her neck, the skirt reached down to her calves, and the slit on the side only extended to just above her knee.
Compared with the much more daring style Tsunade only wore at home, this qipao was considerably more conservative.
Its design was somewhat similar to the qipao worn by Sakura Haruno.
Mei lowered her head and stared at the qipao.
A faint blush immediately spread across her face.
"I... I don't know how to wear this."
Mei raised her head.
"Try it."
"No, I really..."
Her voice carried a hint of exasperation.
"Kiyohara, why are you such a bully?"
"Mei."
Kiyohara interrupted her.
"My patience is limited. You agreed to the deal, so you should follow through with it to the end."
Hearing this, Mei knew that Kiyohara had no intention of negotiating with her any further.
She sighed as though she had resigned herself to her fate and picked up the blue qipao from the table.
"Fine. I'll wear it."
She stood up.
Her long reddish-brown hair slipped from her shoulders, covering half of her flushed face.
"I'll go home and change."
Kiyohara also stood up.
"Perfect. I want to see your home anyway."
Mei's body visibly stiffened.
She opened her mouth, seemingly wanting to refuse, but in the end she merely lowered her eyes and muttered,
"Fine. Do whatever you want."
When the two of them walked out of Shioroji, most of the mist had already dispersed.
Mei walked ahead of Kiyohara, her pace noticeably faster than usual because she did not want to run into anyone she knew.
After what had happened with Yagura and Genji, Kiri's patrols were also unusually strict.
Later, she still had to attend a meeting.
Because of that, Mei deliberately led Kiyohara along the smaller roads.
They avoided the main streets, passed through a narrow alley, and turned several corners, deliberately avoiding the regular routes taken by the patrolling shinobi.
Kiyohara followed behind her.
Watching Mei sneaking around like this, he could not help but find the contrast rather amusing.
After a while, Mei finally arrived at her home.
She quickly took a key from her sleeve and unlocked the door.
She slipped inside first, then poked her head back out and mouthed at Kiyohara,
"Come in quickly."
Click.
The door closed behind Kiyohara.
At that exact moment, two figures wearing Mist shinobi uniforms turned the corner at the end of the street.
One had a square-shaped face and a black mole between his eyebrows. He was carrying a jug of freshly purchased liquor.
He was Ishiyama Shikishi, a special jōnin of Kiri.
The other man was tall and thin, with a perpetual three-point smile on his face. He was Ishiyama Shikishi's longtime partner, Unno Kaishui.
"Wait, isn't that Lady Mei?"
Ishiyama rubbed his eyes and stared at the door that had just closed in front of the wooden building nearby.
"Why did she bring a man home?"
Unno tossed a peanut into his mouth and gave him a mocking laugh.
"You little brat. You must have read too much Icha Icha again last night."
"When has Lady Mei ever brought a man home? The shinobi who pursue her could line up all the way from the Mizukage's office to the harbor. Have you ever seen her give any of them so much as a second glance?"
Ishiyama immediately became flustered.
His square face turned bright red.
"I read respectable classics! I've never even opened a book like Icha Icha. It's just something my friend likes."
"Right, right. Your friend read it."
Unno patted him on the shoulder, his tone becoming even more teasing.
"But there aren't any outsiders around. Just admit it."
"I said it's my friend's."
There was absolutely no way Ishiyama was going to admit to something like that.
"Speaking of which, doesn't that man's back look familiar? I feel like I've seen him somewhere before..."
Unno rubbed his chin.
Then he suddenly slapped his thigh.
"I remember now! I saw him once during the previous Shinobi World War. Wasn't he the Hokage of Konoha?"
He sounded uncertain.
Ishiyama immediately assumed that his partner was talking nonsense.
"What are you talking about? Why would the Hokage suddenly come here for no reason?"
"You must have seen someone else. Besides, when have you ever seen Lady Mei walking this closely with a man?"
"All right, enough. Let's go home and drink."
The two Mist shinobi soon walked away with their arms around each other's shoulders.
Meanwhile, Mei's home was quite different from what Kiyohara had imagined.
Her public image was that of a genius shinobi from Kiri. Everything about her movements carried a mature and alluring charm, and she handled herself with such precision that it was difficult to find anything wrong with her words or actions.
Kiyohara had assumed that her home would have a simple and austere style.
He had imagined a few shinobi tools hanging on the walls, with a table covered in scrolls and various mission documents.
The living room in front of him, however, was nothing like that.
Several unknown wildflowers were placed in a white vase on the coffee table. Drops of water still clung to the petals, suggesting that the flowers had been freshly replaced that very day.
Several handmade cushions were scattered across the sofa.
One of them even had a crooked little frog embroidered onto it.
A row of succulent plants sat along the windowsill.
In the corner, a bookshelf was filled with quite a few delicate little dolls and figurines.
Then Kiyohara's attention was suddenly drawn to a doll in the corner.
It was a palm-sized cloth doll.
The craftsmanship was not particularly refined, and some of the stitches were slightly crooked, but it was obvious that whoever had made it had put a great deal of effort into it.
The doll wore a kimono made from pieces of floral-patterned fabric sewn together.
A tiny cherry blossom was even pinned to its head.
Kiyohara bent down and picked up the doll.
He turned it over and examined it for a moment before asking Mei,
"You like this?"
Mei had just finished closing the door.
The moment her eyes landed on the doll in Kiyohara's hand, her entire face instantly turned bright red.
She rushed over, snatched the doll from his hands, and hid it behind her back.
Mei had never imagined that one day this embarrassing secret would be exposed in front of Kiyohara.
"You're not allowed to look at things like that without permission. You... You sit here for now. I'm going upstairs to change."
Kiyohara found her reaction rather amusing.
Mei hurried toward the stairs.
Her footsteps echoed rapidly against the wooden steps for a while.
Soon, the sounds of a cabinet door opening and closing came from upstairs, followed by a series of rustling noises that easily invited the imagination.
Kiyohara sat down on the sofa and waited.
About ten minutes later, footsteps sounded on the stairs again.
Mei appeared from around the corner of the staircase.
The blue qipao wrapped around her figure perfectly.
The fitted waistline made her already impressive proportions even more pronounced.
The slit on the side revealed only a small section of her fair thigh, while the fitted fabric around her hips emphasized her curves and pulled the cloth taut enough to create several faint folds.
Kiyohara leaned against the back of the sofa and looked her over.
"It fits you very well."
Mei felt the blood rush to her face under his gaze.
"When you brought this with you, did you already know my measurements?"
"No."
Kiyohara shook his head.
It was simply that Mei had such an exceptionally well-developed figure that the garment naturally fit her perfectly.
The high collar of the qipao wrapped tightly around her slender neck.
Yet somehow, the more completely it concealed her neck, the more it made one curious about what was hidden beneath it.
"It suits you very well. You should try wearing this kind of style more often."
Mei bit her lip.
She had no idea how she was supposed to respond.
Should she say thank you?
This outfit had been forced upon her by him in the first place.
Should she say that it did not look good?
But when she had secretly looked at herself in the mirror upstairs just now, even she had been momentarily stunned by how beautiful she looked.
"Take me outside and show me around."
Kiyohara said.
"Wearing this?"
Mei asked doubtfully.
"Yes."
Kiyohara nodded.
The outfit itself was not revealing.
The real problem was simply that Mei was not accustomed to this kind of style. She was not a woman who usually spent much time dressing herself up.
Although she appeared naturally charming and alluring, most of that beauty came from her innate appearance rather than deliberate effort.
Looking at Mei's conflicted expression as she walked out of the house, Kiyohara smiled.
Mei, this time, I customized the mission myself.
The two of them stepped outside.
Mei followed behind Kiyohara, feeling uncomfortable with every step she took.
"By the way, you can tell me about your experience with Lava Release and Boil Release."
Kiyohara spoke casually.
Now that Kiri would continuously provide him with resources, he had already begun considering his next plans.
His next goal was to gradually adapt to the chakra of the Tailed Beasts while simultaneously developing more Kekkei Genkai.
As for the two remaining last wills of the Jōgan Kiyohara, both would require time.
One was to resurrect Otsutsuki Kaguya.
The other was to evolve his eyes into the Tenseigan.
Kiyohara had a feeling that the latter would probably be achieved sooner.
(End of Chapter)