Everyone dreams of soaring through the skies.
That holds true even for many shinobi.
Flying high among the clouds, gazing down at the world below, watching wisps of white drift by, it's the kind of experience that feels like something from a dream. And yet, now, it was happening for real.
As Mei Terumi felt the chakra flowing from Kaede's palm into her body, she understood clearly, her life was completely in his hands. If he willed it, this chakra that was currently sustaining her could turn into a force of destruction in the blink of an eye.
But for some reason...
She wished this moment could last a little longer.
Because she didn't know what would happen when Kaede arrived at Kirigakure. Perhaps there would be conflict, maybe even battle. And whether it ended in her death, Kaede's death, or the destruction of Kirigakure, none of those were outcomes she wanted to imagine.
Even as an elite Jonin of the Hidden Mist, even after killing countless enemies with her bloodline limit, she was still human, still a girl of only fifteen.
If only Kaede weren't the enemy...
If only Kaede were Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, leading the village to victory in the war, striking fear into the entire shinobi world, then maybe, just maybe, she would've already fallen for him.
Kaede flew fast. At full speed, it didn't take long for him to cross a large portion of the Land of Water and arrive in the skies above Kirigakure.
He descended slightly.
Activating his Tenseigan, he gazed down toward the Hidden Mist Village.
His Sage Mode sensory perception, combined with the Nine-Tails' malicious chakra sensing, was already among the most powerful in the shinobi world, but when it came to range and clarity, the Tenseigan offered a superior, far-reaching view.
His gaze swept across Kirigakure, then pierced through the top floor of the Mizukage building, where he spotted a familiar figure.
Uchiha Obito.
"So you really are here..." Kaede narrowed his eyes slightly. He didn't act right away, instead continuing to search the village in all directions, looking for Nagato's presence.
But after scanning every part of Kirigakure, above and below ground, he found no trace of Nagato.
"Not here, huh?"
Kaede frowned faintly.
He lowered his altitude again and double-checked, but still found no sign of Nagato or the Geto Statue.
"Well, whatever."
"Obito alone is enough."
A flash of azure light shimmered in Kaede's eyes.
Up until now, he hadn't had a particularly effective counter to Obito's Kamui. But things had changed, now he had the Tenseigan!
The Tenseigan granted four unique abilities:
First, the Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
Second, manipulation of Truth-Seeking Orbs.
Third, control over gravity and repulsion, similar to the Rinnegan's Shinra Tensei and Bansho Ten'in, including Chibaku Tensei.
And the final ability... the power to create spatial passageways!
Unlike Flying Thunder God, Kamui, or the Tenseigan's spatial gateway required time to prepare, making it unsuitable for battle. But once created, it could be sustained indefinitely with chakra, like the portal connecting the moon to the outskirts of Konoha.
Kaede looked down at Kirigakure, then pulled a kunai from his pocket. He tapped it lightly with his finger, leaving a Flying Thunder God mark on it, and let it fall.
Mei Terumi, still floating beside him, saw this and tensed up.
"What are you planning?"
Kaede watched the kunai fall toward the village, then glanced at Mei and replied, "No need to worry. I'm just sending you home… and cleaning up a little problem hiding in your village."
Mei was stunned. Her voice was laced with doubt.
"You're seriously doing all this just to take out a single enemy ninja who's not even one of ours?!"
She couldn't quite believe it.
All that effort, kidnapping her, traveling by sea from the Land of Frost, seemingly spending time mastering some powerful jutsu, then flying high above to avoid Kirigakure's detection, all that, just to eliminate a single infiltrator?
If that were true, it meant Kaede saw this one enemy as more important than the entire Hidden Mist.
"Well, not just that."
Kaede rubbed his chin. "I also want to have a little chat with your Fourth Mizukage, and talk peace terms. Oh, and I'll be taking back that Longsword: Nuibari you summoned earlier. Might as well grab the summoning scroll for the Seven Ninja Swords while I'm at it."
"So that's your real goal after all..."
Mei sighed.
So this "enemy ninja" story was likely just a cover. Kaede's true objective was clearly to confront Kirigakure itself. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gone to such lengths.
Right now, she had no power to stop him. Even her life was under his control. If Kaede decided to attack Kirigakure, there was absolutely nothing she could do.
"I told you, it's just a bonus."
Kaede chuckled lightly. Once he sensed the Flying Thunder God kunai had landed and stabilized, he activated the technique, and in an instant, Mei was teleported down to the village.
He followed immediately after.
Whoosh!
Mei reappeared on a rooftop somewhere within Kirigakure.
Before she could react, Kaede's figure materialized right behind her, a Truth-Seeking Orb in his hand morphing into a sleek black blade. As soon as he landed, he slashed toward the top of the Mizukage building.
Shhhhhh!!!
There was no visible blade light.
Only a ripple of distortion spread through the air, and in the next instant, the top of the Mizukage building was cleanly bisected as if it were fruit, a single diagonal cut slicing through it with surgical precision.
Kaede didn't pause.
He slashed again, faster than the eye could follow. Ripples twisted through the air, crisscrossing in a blur of intersecting waves.
CRASH!!
The upper half of the Mizukage building froze in mid-air, then shattered into countless neat fragments, scattering in all directions like shards of glass.
"So your target really was the Mizukage building... From the very beginning, you..."
Mei watched in shock, her fists slowly tightening, but then, her expression froze.
Because from the shattered debris, a single intact figure stood amidst the destruction, someone who hadn't been cut.
And it wasn't the Fourth Mizukage.
It was Uchiha Obito.
His face was dark with frustration.
After Kaede had come for him in the Land of Rain, he'd fled across the sea to hide in Kirigakure, hoping to manipulate things from the shadows, yet Kaede had found him again!
"Your eyes…"
Obito's gaze locked onto Kaede's glowing pupils. He felt a pressure, one that reminded him of Nagato's Rinnegan, an overwhelming force on a whole different level.
What kind of eyes are those?!
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Completed version available on Patreon Patreon.com/Veltoria