Chapter 101 (Patreon)

Roy had considered whether he should abduct—no, rescue Chino, who had been treated as a tool by her own father. In the end, however, he abandoned the idea.

For one thing, he didn’t know the exact location of the island that housed the underground shinobi fighting arena. The shinobi they had encountered earlier had not transported their captives directly to the island, so there was no trail for him to follow.

Secondly, while he was in Konoha, he had never seen any intelligence indicating that the Chinoike Clan had been massacred.

Perhaps Oyashiro En had yet to make his move. Or perhaps he had already slaughtered the clan and left their former territory with Chino.

The two of them were probably still traveling from place to place while conducting business.

Even if Oyashiro En had already taken control of the island, Chino and Fūshin wouldn’t escape until many years later according to the original story.

There would still be time to find Chino in the future.

Of course, the most important reason was that Roy missed Kushina and Kaorui.

He had been away for almost half a month. It was only natural that he wanted to return home as soon as possible.

There was also another concern—the people traveling with him.

They were all either women or children, making them prime targets for human traffickers.

Orochimaru might have been a master of abduction, but people like him didn’t roam the shinobi world kidnapping others without a reason.

Roy could deal with ordinary traffickers, but things would become troublesome if they encountered an entire squad of jōnin.

After all, Nono wasn’t Kushina. She had no tailed-beast chakra for him to draw upon. Even if he took advantage of his invisibility to launch surprise attacks, defeating a dozen jōnin would likely exhaust him to the point where he needed to rest.

Jōnin might have appeared to be little more than disposable soldiers in the original story, often falling in large numbers, but that depended entirely on who they were fighting.

In reality, anyone who attained the rank of jōnin—especially within one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages—possessed combat experience and reflexes far beyond those of an ordinary shinobi.

Roy might be able to kill several of them with surprise attacks, but the survivors would quickly devise a way to counter him.

Although he existed as a spirit, that didn’t make him immune to harm. Large-scale Fire Release and Lightning Release techniques could still pose a threat to him.

In a world as dangerous as this one, knowing when to exercise caution was essential for survival.

When she heard that Roy wanted to return, Nono was slightly surprised, but she immediately turned the boat around. As for why he had decided not to search for the girl named Chino, Roy-kun must have had his reasons.

She didn’t need to question him. All she needed to do was follow his instructions.

Meanwhile, after returning to Kirigakure, Mei Terumī spent several days conducting a secret investigation. However, she couldn’t find any shinobi with a kekkei genkai matching the characteristics she had observed. She also eliminated the Hōzuki Clan and its secret Hydrification Technique as possibilities.

With no other leads, she began searching through Kirigakure’s records on unusual abilities found throughout the shinobi world.

Although Kirigakure’s performance during the Third Shinobi World War had been poor, it was still one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Its intelligence archives contained detailed information about shinobi from every nation.

This was especially true for those with unusual abilities. As long as they had appeared on a battlefield, Kirigakure was certain to possess some record of them.

While comparing the abilities listed in the archives, Mei eventually came across information about the Yamanaka Clan’s Mind Body Switch Technique.

It wasn’t an exact match for what she had experienced, but among the countless unusual techniques recorded in the archives, it was by far the closest.

She shifted the focus of her investigation to Konoha’s Yamanaka Clan.

The same secret technique could develop in different directions depending on its user. Mei suspected that the person she had encountered must have some connection to the Yamanaka Clan.

However, a record concerning one of the clan’s members during the Second Shinobi World War soon caught her attention.

More precisely, it was the ability of that Yamanaka shinobi’s companion that interested her.

“An assassination carried out through the soul?”

Following that clue, Mei uncovered another record.

“Dan Katō. A shinobi of Konoha and the user of the secret Spirit Transformation Technique. The technique allows him to separate his spirit from his body, enter an enemy’s body, and either control or kill them.”

Mei narrowed her eyes.

“A spirit…”

The more she considered it, the more certain she became that she had found the answer.

Back on the boat, her physical body hadn’t moved at all, yet her surroundings had changed from the deck to the beach she loved visiting. When her consciousness returned to her body, she couldn’t find any sign of the caster nearby.

Once genjutsu was ruled out, the Spirit Transformation Technique’s effects matched what she had experienced almost perfectly.

“A new user of the Spirit Transformation Technique has appeared in Konoha. I’ve found you!”

A fierce glint flashed through Mei’s eyes. That man had dared to curse her by claiming she would never find a husband. He would have to endure her wrath for that insult.

Yet beneath her anger, there was far more curiosity.

The other party knew far too much about Kirigakure and her abilities.

He had even known that Fuguki Suikazan, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, would betray the village—something that Mei, despite being a native of Kirigakure, had never heard so much as a whisper about.

What puzzled her most was his position.

If he was a Konoha shinobi, then shouldn’t he have been pleased to see Kirigakure suffer retaliation and lose a considerable portion of its military strength? Even if he didn’t take advantage of Kirigakure’s weakness, he should have watched from the sidelines.

Why would he go out of his way to warn her?

Could the avenger who possessed Space–Time Ninjutsu also bear a grudge against Konoha? Perhaps that man intended to make Kirigakure and the avenger destroy each other, allowing Konoha to reap the benefits afterward.

According to the information he had given her, there was still time before the Fourth Mizukage fell under someone else’s control.

Mei therefore decided to travel to Konoha and uncover his true objective herself.

Under ordinary circumstances, it would have been difficult for a Kirigakure shinobi to enter Konoha. Recently, however, the Hokage had publicly announced that anyone possessing Uzumaki Clan scrolls was welcome to bring them to Konoha and study fūinjutsu.

As a result, Mei didn’t need to worry about her safety while visiting the village.

Not unless Konoha was willing to disgrace itself before the entire shinobi world.

“You want to travel to Konoha to study fūinjutsu?”

Genji stared at Mei Terumī in astonishment.

As a prodigy of the Terumī Clan and someone the council of elders had devoted considerable resources to nurturing, Mei’s standing was even higher than that of some shinobi clan heads.

If she weren’t still so young, Genji might already have considered recommending her for the position of Fourth Mizukage.

Yet now she wanted to travel to Konoha.

What if the entire announcement was a trap?

If Mei entered Konoha and never returned, all the years Kirigakure had spent nurturing her would be wasted.

Besides, the claim itself sounded absurd. The Fifth Hokage, a surviving member of the Uzumaki Clan, was supposedly willing to personally teach her clan’s secret techniques to outsiders?

That sounded like a story meant to deceive fools.

Even if Kushina were genuinely willing to teach her clan’s fūinjutsu to outsiders, Konoha’s leadership would never allow her to hand such valuable knowledge to potential enemies.

There was clearly something wrong with that announcement.

“Genji-sama, I have a reason why I must go. This matter concerns the future of Kirigakure as well. Both Iwagakure and Kumogakure have already sent people to study in Konoha and safely welcomed them back. Kirigakure is the only village that has made no move. If we continue to fall behind, we may suffer greatly when it comes to fūinjutsu in the future.”

At the mention of the other two villages, Genji fell silent.

Even so, he couldn’t dismiss the possibility that Iwagakure and Kumogakure were cooperating with Konoha to put on an elaborate performance. Their true objective might be to divide Kirigakure and Sunagakure between them, reducing the Five Great Shinobi Villages to only three.

Otherwise, Konoha’s reason for making such an offer was impossible to explain.

Could they truly be doing all this for the enormous tuition fees?

What a ridiculous idea. Even if every other village in the shinobi world suffered from financial problems, Konoha certainly didn’t.

More importantly, even if Kirigakure intended to send someone to study fūinjutsu, Mei had no talent for sealing techniques.

Why was she involving herself in this at all?

Wouldn’t it be better for her to focus on developing her two kekkei genkai?