After hearing all that, Ruichi merely replied with a flat, indifferent:
"Oh."
Seeing his completely unsurprised reaction, Mei Terumi finally got the answer to a question that had troubled her for years.
"So… you already foresaw this outcome when you were six years old?" she asked slowly.
"And that's why you fled Kirigakure and came to the Land of Fire, seeking refuge with your clan's so-called 'main family' here?"
"Hm?" Ruichi blinked, his mind spinning.
Land of Fire? Main family?
After digging through the dusty corners of his memory, a fragment finally surfaced.
There had been a TV-original arc where Hiashi Hyuga took Hanabi Hyuga to a diplomatic meeting with a so-called "Takigari Clan," avoiding a certain disaster involving Pain.
Later on, a character named Taketori Hōki appeared in Boruto as well.
I always thought those two 'bamboo' clans were unrelated… looks like I was wrong.
Though his thoughts were in turmoil, his face instantly returned to its usual inscrutable calm.
Mei Terumi took his silence as confirmation.
"So that's how it is. I heard they were originally one family, but later split between warmongers and moderates. The moderates changed their name and went into seclusion along the northern border of the Land of Fire. I didn't expect you to actually find them."
Ruichi was secretly delighted.
I was just worrying about how to justify the legitimacy of my bloodline in Konoha. This is like someone handing me a pillow right when I'm about to fall asleep.
When I get back, I'll ask Hinata for the exact location and go check it out.
"Well… more or less," he replied vaguely, smoothly following her line of thinking.
"But the people over there are way too boring—rules on top of rules. Konoha suits me much better."
Mei Terumi nodded, then bit her lip lightly, finally asking the question that had weighed on her heart for so long.
"Then tell me—since you understand so much—what exactly is wrong with Kirigakure now?"
In recent years, she had watched helplessly as the village slid deeper and deeper into darkness.
Comrades turning on one another.
Teachers and students becoming enemies.
Bloodline clans being purged.
Talented shinobi defecting one after another.
Ruichi met her confused, wavering gaze.
At this moment, she was not yet the Fifth Mizukage who could shoulder everything alone—just an idealistic young woman battered and bruised by reality.
What a pain…
Ruichi complained inwardly, but seeing the teacher who had once treated him kindly like this, he couldn't help feeling sympathy.
She was pushed into becoming the Fifth Mizukage before the Five Kage Summit, then stepped down early after the Fourth Shinobi World War, handing everything to Chōjūrō…
That alone tells you how miserable the job must've been.
Since he was stalling for time anyway, he might as well give her a proper wake-up call—and thoroughly mislead her while he was at it.
Maybe that way she wouldn't end up becoming that damned Mizukage who stayed single for life and ruined her own happiness.
"Sensei," Ruichi said calmly, "do you really think Kirigakure's current state is entirely the fault of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi?"
"Isn't it?" Mei Terumi shot back.
"His policies became more and more extreme, completely disregarding shinobi lives. Of course things turned out like this."
"Wrong. Completely wrong."
Ruichi raised a finger and shook it.
"This was never one person's madness. It was a carefully planned reshuffling of power."
"In order to consolidate authority and suppress old bloodline clans like the Hōzuki Clan, the Third Mizukage allied himself with ordinary shinobi clans that lacked kekkei genkai. Those people later became what you now call 'the elders.'"
"Then came defeat in the Third Shinobi World War. The Three-Tails was lost. The Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist declined. The Third Mizukage was forced to step down."
"At that point, Yagura took over. To stabilize the chaos after the war, he had to rely on bloodline clans—so the Blood Mist policy was suspended for a few years. Am I wrong?"
Mei Terumi nodded unconsciously.
Indeed, Kirigakure had experienced a brief period of calm early in Yagura's rule.
"But," Ruichi continued, his tone shifting, "those old elders weren't happy. The revival of bloodline clans threatened their interests."
"And Yagura?" He gave a quiet chuckle. "That kid was probably stuck right in the middle."
Ruichi tapped his temple meaningfully.
"Whether he was being controlled… or simply trying to maintain a balance of power, the end result was the same."
"He restarted the Blood Mist policy. The elders eagerly fanned the flames. Together, they suppressed the bloodline clans and completed a filthy collaboration."
Mei Terumi's body trembled.
So behind all that slaughter lay such cold, rational self-interest.
All the sacrifices.
All the passion.
All the hatred.
To those in power, they were nothing more than pieces on a chessboard.
These were things she had never truly considered… or perhaps had deliberately avoided thinking about.
"Shinobi…" she murmured hollowly, "are just tools."
"If you're nothing but a tool," Ruichi replied sharply, "then why grieve? Why suffer?"
He pressed on without mercy.
"That's exactly what they want you to think. Don't lie to yourself."
The wind rustled through the forest.
"Why did I run away back then? Because I saw it clearly. That village was rotten to the core."
"My clan wanted to use me as a weapon.
The village wanted to use me as disposable material."
"I owed them nothing—so I left with a clear conscience."
Mei Terumi stood there in silence for a long time.
Seven years ago, she would have angrily dismissed this as a traitor's sophistry.
But after years of purges, watching comrades fall one by one, Ruichi's words were like a kunai—ripping open the gleaming veil in her heart and exposing Kirigakure's bloody, decayed interior.
So it wasn't that she hadn't tried hard enough.
She had been walking the wrong path from the very beginning.
"…You bastard."
After a long pause, Mei Terumi finally spoke, her voice bitter yet oddly relieved.
"When you were a kid, all you ever thought about was being lazy. So how did you end up seeing all of this so clearly?"
"I only had time to think because I was lazy," Ruichi shrugged.
"Guess you could say an outsider has a clearer view."
She rolled her eyes at him, and the suffocating atmosphere eased noticeably.
"Thank you… Ruichi."
Turning her back to him, Mei Terumi's long auburn hair fluttered in the wind.
"Your words were harsh—but they were useful. When I go back, I'll verify everything myself."
"You're still going back?" Ruichi frowned.
"Then be careful. They won't tolerate tools that think for themselves. If you're exposed, you'll be the next one purged—especially with your dual kekkei genkai."
For once, his expression was deadly serious.
"Don't die, Sensei."
"Hmph. You're a hundred years too early to attend your sister's funeral."
Mei Terumi smirked, her confident, alluring, domineering presence returning.
"Next time we meet—if it's on the battlefield—I won't hold back. Even if you're my student, you're still the little man I want to melt."
"Next time we meet, I'll treat you to a meal," Ruichi grinned.
"Ichiraku Ramen in Konoha. As many bowls as you want."
"Ramen?" Mei Terumi chuckled softly.
"Then I'll be waiting for that bowl."
Before her words faded, she formed a hand seal.
Her body instantly turned into a puddle of water and vanished without a trace.
"What's wrong with ramen? It's delicious…" Ruichi muttered, staring at the spot where she'd disappeared.
"…Wait, did that just raise a death flag?"
Not long after, several figures wearing Leaf headbands leapt down from the treetops in the distance.
"Ruichi! Are you alright?!"
Kiyoshi Iwakatsu's booming voice carried from far away.
"Ah—yeah. Nothing serious," Ruichi waved lazily.
"I was just… almost steamed to death."
"…Huh?"