​Chapter 99 (Patreon)

Chiyuki had believed her husband’s love for her and Haku would overcome his fear of Ice Release.

She had been wrong.

The moment he discovered Haku’s power, he told the rest of the village. Then he returned with a group of villagers to kill both mother and child.

“Chiyuki, don’t blame me. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. You knew you weren’t normal, so why didn’t you stay hidden in the mountains?”

The man looked as if this was hurting him more than anyone else.

He had completely forgotten how he had fallen in love with Chiyuki at first sight. Back then, he had refused to leave her alone until she finally accepted him.

“San…”

Before the desperate Chiyuki could finish, he swung his wooden club at her.

The other villagers followed, raising hoes, shovels, and other farming tools as they rushed toward Chiyuki and Haku.

Then the genjutsu ended.

Chiyuki and Matsushita Sansuke found themselves sitting inside their home again.

Haku was still sleeping peacefully, and the basin of warm water beside them remained untouched.

But the warmth that had once existed between husband and wife was gone.

Chiyuki stared at him warily.

Sansuke looked back at her with shock and regret.

“Chiyuki, what was—”

“Matsushita Sansuke, I was a fool to trust you!”

Chiyuki picked up Haku and headed for the door.

She was not a shinobi, but even she could tell that what they had just experienced was a genjutsu.

From the look on her husband’s face, he had seen the same thing.

The moment he discovered Haku’s power, he had gone straight to the villagers and brought them back to kill his own wife and son.

His fear was stronger than his love for them.

The villagers still knew nothing, so Chiyuki had a chance to escape with Haku. If she stayed until Sansuke truly revealed their secret, neither of them would survive.

She did not have time to wonder who had cast the genjutsu.

Sansuke watched as his wife ran outside without even stopping to put on her shoes.

His fists tightened, but in the end, he could not bring himself to call for the villagers.

In the genjutsu, he had been afraid that Chiyuki would kill him to keep her secret. That was why he had immediately turned to the other villagers for protection.

But Chiyuki had not attacked him.

She had simply taken Haku and fled.

As he remembered the years they had spent together, regret began to creep into his heart.

Even then, he could not bring himself to chase after her and ask her to stay.

What if the villagers found out?

They might decide he was no different from Chiyuki and Haku and kill him along with them.

“That’s enough. Let’s go.”

Yakushi Nonō quietly tugged on Honoka’s sleeve.

“What kind of husband does that?” Honoka asked through gritted teeth. “Haku only showed a strange ability, and he was ready to throw away his wife and son?”

She wanted to rush inside and beat Sansuke senseless.

During their journey, Nonō had heard Roy explain how people with Kekkei Genkai were treated in the Land of Water.

Because of that, Sansuke’s actions did not surprise her.

There were many people like him in the Land of Water.

Nonō could understand why he was afraid, but she could not feel sorry for him.

She had seen husbands die to protect their wives. She had seen parents face certain death for their children without hesitation.

She had also seen families abandon one another the moment their own lives were threatened.

People did not all make the same choice when they were afraid.

In the end, war had caused all of this.

Without the wars, the people of the Land of Water would never have learned to fear Kekkei Genkai so deeply.

There would not be so many children in the world who had lost their parents, either.

Compared to the Hidden Mist, Konoha was already a much kinder place.

Chiyuki was not a shinobi. Carrying Haku through the deep snow made it impossible for her to move quickly.

Nonō and Honoka followed her footprints and soon caught up with her. They also saw Roy following close behind.

When Chiyuki heard footsteps crunching through the snow, her heart tightened.

She thought Sansuke had already gathered the villagers and sent them after her.

When she turned around and saw two unfamiliar women, she let out a small breath of relief.

Then she remembered the genjutsu.

Everyone in the village was an ordinary civilian. None of them could use genjutsu. They could not even perform the simplest ninjutsu.

These two women had to be responsible.

Chiyuki immediately dropped to her knees and held Haku tightly.

“Please! You can do whatever you want with me, but spare Haku! He’s only a child. He doesn’t know anything!”

She believed they were shinobi from the Hidden Mist who had come to kill the remaining members of the Yuki Clan.

Chiyuki had never been a shinobi, but that would not matter to the Hidden Mist.

If there was even a chance that someone carried the Yuki Clan’s blood, the Mist would rather kill them than risk letting them escape.

“You’ve got the wrong idea. We didn’t come here to kill you.”

Nonō walked forward and helped Chiyuki to her feet.

She then glanced at the sleeping child in her arms.

So this is what Roy-kun meant.

Even as a child, Haku looked almost exactly like his mother. When he grew older, it was easy to imagine people mistaking him for a girl.

“You didn’t inherit the Yuki Clan’s Kekkei Genkai, but you should still know how it works,” Nonō said. “Some children are born with more potential than others.”

She looked down at Haku.

“He hasn’t even learned how to mold chakra yet, but his chakra is already stronger than an ordinary child’s. He will almost certainly awaken Ice Release when he grows older.”

Chiyuki remained silent.

“Even if we had done nothing, what you saw in that genjutsu would probably have happened once Haku awakened his power,” Nonō continued. “All the genjutsu did was make you believe Haku had already used Ice Release.”

“We didn’t control your husband. Everything he said and did was his own choice.”

Chiyuki already understood that.

Otherwise, she would not have taken Haku and fled without hesitation.

What she did not understand was why Nonō and Honoka had done all of this.

“Ice Release is a powerful Kekkei Genkai,” Nonō said. “You and Haku can’t remain in the Land of Water. There is nowhere here where you’ll be safe.”

“But you can come with us.”

Chiyuki finally understood.

They wanted Haku because he would inherit Ice Release.

She did not want her son to become a shinobi, but she knew she was in no position to refuse them.

If she refused, they might kill her and take Haku anyway.

Haku would grow up without his mother and still be trained as a shinobi.

Going with them was the safer choice.

At least she would be able to remain beside her son and watch him grow.

Still, another fear remained in her heart.

If they valued Ice Release that much, they might one day force her to have more children in the hope that they would inherit it as well.

But if that was the price she had to pay to stay with Haku, she would endure it.

“I’ll go with you,” Chiyuki said. “I’ll take Haku and go wherever you want.”

She tightened her arms around him.

“I only ask that you let me stay with him until he becomes an adult.”

“Of course,” Nonō answered immediately. “We aren’t the Hidden Mist. No one is going to separate a mother from her child.”

In the past, Nonō would never have dared to make that promise.

But Kushina was now the Hokage, and Danzō had been branded a rogue ninja.

Once Chiyuki and Haku reached Konoha, no one would take Haku away from his mother simply because he possessed a Kekkei Genkai.

“We didn’t find Fūshin, but we found Haku,” Nonō said with a faint sigh. “It’s time to return.”

She was still disappointed.

She had wanted to complete every task Roy had entrusted to her.

But the Land of Water was enormous, and she had no informants or contacts here. Finding one child with so little information had been nearly impossible.

However, the moment Chiyuki heard Fūshin’s name, her expression changed.

“You’re looking for Fūshin?”

She knew something.