[Hokage] Terukawa

"Your great mind seems to have been kissed by the God of Conspiracy." Yang Yi admired - the tone was emotional, the attitude was sincere, coupled with the inexplicable body language... it really made the fists itch.

"Just think you're praising me."

"Of course I'm praising you - just let it be a conspiracy, if it works? It's hard to protect yourself, and it doesn't matter whether it's moral or not."

He put on the slightly frivolous smile when we first met again, and even his tone was light.

"Besides, you didn't want to kill them, but to save them. There are only five people who can save people from me. If I were that brat, I'd have to kneel down and say something to you." master'."

I glanced at him and thought: Well, this is probably the preferential treatment from my allies—a few hours ago, the title of "little brat" was still assigned to me.

However, I have to admit that I can really feel Yang Yi's inexplicable sense of humor, and because of this, I slightly relax my tense spirit.

"Has it been 10 minutes since Zhashan?" I can't continue his stalking, but I can talk about the business directly.

"It's almost the same." Yang looked at the sky, "wait another half an hour?"

"It doesn't even take that long. I've got a lot of confidence in the... motley crew."

I commented indifferently.

"The illusion I cast on them through the snow was just a hand-crafted, unrefined, and the sound of the explosion of the mountain was enough to wake them up. Among them, there will always be some people who will cower in the corner, not daring to move for several hours; People will choose to flee down the mountain after regaining their senses...maybe they will come back to check the situation in a few days; some people will take courage and courage after a short wait and see, and grope into the house."

"What a miserable 'pro-guard'. You can't get any useful information when you're alive, and after you're dead, your body will be surrounded by 'people'."

Yang Yi was stupefied, his brows were raised and he was sobbing, which made me want to push his head into the snow.

"They can hardly tell the difference between 'SS' and 'Chief'."

Maybe you can tell the difference, maybe you can't tell the difference-what does it matter?

Chaos, chaos is coming.It is enough to know this.

------

About four 10 minutes ago.

"It can be fried. I keep this device to blow up mountains. Isn't it very forward-looking?"

Pharmacist Nonoyu's smile became much more sincere, and the gesture of opening his arms was also extraordinarily generous.

"It's true that Anhe used the sealing scroll, but I actually made some other preparations..."

I, Yang Yi, Jing Yi, Qing Yi, and Yang Er, who were working hard to carry out the documents and books of the pharmacist Nonou, and other miscellaneous important items from the cave: "..."

"'Other preparations'?—with all due respect, you seem to be looking forward to it?"

Yang Yi explained his actions briskly while throwing a fish tank into the filing cabinet.

"Don't get me wrong, this fish tank was originally placed in this position, and the water in it has long since dried up. The fish seems to be lying comfortably on one side, and it is stuck firmly."

"Don't worry, it was fished for me by one of the dead 'Pro-Guards'."

Pharmacist Nonoyu said casually.

"Actually, I piled nearly [-] detonating symbols in it—Captain Yang Yi, you are right. I am too curious what it will be like when so many detonating symbols explode at the same time."

Oh, the detonating talisman, it is reasonable to use it here, the threshold of power is low, and it is easy to control... huh?

My hand holding the dead cactus shook: "How many detonating symbols???"

"You may not believe it, but there are indeed nearly two thousand."

Pharmacist Nonoyu spread out his hands, looked at my suspicious expression for a few seconds, and then slowly added a sentence:

"The battlefield after the war is a treasure."

"Two thousand...all picked up?" I widened my eyes.

"How can there be such a good thing? Most of it comes from the combat supplies of the robbed Yuren."

Yang Yi scoffed.

"By the way, the backer is tied up below, not to mention that the two of them haven't figured out who entrapped themselves until now, and their heads are really not very bright-but this is also good, otherwise I will let them go directly there. to bliss in a warehouse."

"Then we will lose the cover that attracted the attention of Sanshoyu Hanzo... When a strong person starts to fear, fear and even suppress and persecute the young people around him, it means that he is old." 'Akatsuki' was caught by Sanshoyu Hanzo Being so targeted at least shows that they have done a good job.”

My heart skipped a beat, and I wanted to sigh a little.

"I don't want to kill them, at least I don't want them to die here. Letting them go is indeed beneficial to us. I hope they can live longer...Will it be useful to worship the Great God and pray for them every day from today?"

"Then I suggest you go to the kingdom of ghosts to apply for a wizard."

"...shut up."

The relatively relaxed working atmosphere probably had some positive effects, and Yakushi Nonoyu sorted out his belongings quickly.Not long after, we gathered in the highlands of Shanyin.

What should be said has already been said, so there is no dialogue here, only the fingers of Yakushi Nonoyu who met each other and squeezed together——

And the muffled sound that followed.

Like underground thunder.

------

"'That woman must be dead'—those people will think like this, besides, there must be 'that woman is finally dead'," Pharmacist Nonoyu flipped through his notes, "It doesn't take a lot People, just one person with such an idea is enough. The mountain will be messed up."

"If you completely let it go and ignore it, you will probably die a lot, right?" Yang Yi thought thoughtfully, "But for those two 'Xiao', this situation is probably in the right place...but you, Pharmacist, have such a large-scale Is the chaos you want to see?"

"No, mass chaos is certainly not what I want to see—but you know better than I what it is that gathers on this mountain."

Pharmacist Nonoyu ticked off the word "Alliance" on the page with the blood oozing from his bitten finger.

"Drunkards who kill their wives and children, scoundrels who stab their parents to death, bawds who force women into prostitution, who buy and sell children, as well as gamblers, hooligans, prostitutes and criminals. I don't care about these garbage at all. I don't care what hell I'm rooting for when I die."

"I see the same thing, but I guess that's not the only reason?" Yang Yi raised his eyebrows.

"Hasn't Captain Black Fox already gone?"

"You think he's going to have a more overflowing conscience than you? Well, it's reasonable. The first time I saw him, he was just that big. He was a little one standing next to Namikaze Minato, so precocious. It’s enough to be included in the ghost story. I was ordered to observe him for a long time, but it’s not surprising..."

"...I think you misunderstood me."

Pharmacist No Naoyu was silent for a while, and interrupted in time.

"I don't think Captain Black Fox is the kind of person you said. In my impression, he is just..."

"only?"

"Just don't like to be the kind of 'playing with chess pieces.' Last string of numbers."

She began to organize the jumbled pages.

"In other words, he needs to have a clear idea of ​​what he's doing ... in order not to be a 'player'."

Yang Yi's eyes flashed.He took half a step, and then stopped as if he had some scruples.

Pharmacist No Naoyu looked up at him as if: "You are curious about him, but also vigilant...so why don't you catch up and see what he is going to do? Don't worry, with the three of them here, I can't escape. "

------

I admit that I'm not a nice person, but at a time like this, hiding behind the scenes and enjoying myself as if nothing happened-I can't do it yet.

Nothing in this world is free.Benefits come with risks, gains come with costs—however, only a few people can correctly realize that the risks imposed are still risks, and the costs passed on are still costs.

So I will take a good look at this, and take a good look at these... the "price" that was passed on.

After choosing a foothold, the small warehouse that was locked up overnight when I came here is now where I can see it with my head down.

I used the proprietary technique to break the Chakra seal grafted from the pharmacist Nonoyu.It will take a few minutes for the bandits to come down, and they should be able to recover some energy.

If you can't escape like this... then you can't escape.

"Hide well. The people on the mountain are coming down." Yang Yi, who arrived later, grabbed me.

I retreated half a step, got down on the ground and burrowed into the crack of the rock.

"I want to come and see them, not only to speculate on their next move, but also to control the situation, that's all," I said after adjusting my position, "So I won't do unnecessary things."

"Excessive things", Yang Yi knew it well.

What does it mean...are we going to play a brutal RPG where we "lead the way" and "guidance" for those two exhausted and scarred young ninjas?

——As for which road to lead to... After all, the probability of Huangquan Road is higher.

I vetoed this proposal.

The reason is that I just want to kill Shimura Danzo, and I'm not really a pervert.This kind of game of playing with other people's lives is not on my list.

…not to mention they are just the victims of too good a job and too bad luck.

"Okay, I can probably understand what you are obsessed with," Yang Yi said lightly, "but forgive me, do you really think that we can change their situation by 'clicking on it'?"

"...No," I was silent for a while, "I don't think so."

"The embarrassing position, the immature and even ridiculous way of dealing with the world, and the most fatal lack of strength," his eyes froze on the small warehouse where commotion had already been faintly spread, and his tone was calm and calm, as if he was just narrating a story It is an indisputable fact, "They are not doing well enough - on the contrary, what they think and do can hardly be better. If these four things go hand in hand, no ninja village in any country can tolerate their existence. If they Today, I was lucky enough to escape the pursuit of the Land of Rain. Tomorrow, it will be the Land of Thunder, the Land of Earth, the Land of Wind, and the Land of Fire. Because they are located in the strategic area of ​​the Land of Rain, the great powers will not show up in the open. Although they will attack it on the surface, they will each secretly care about its value as an 'extended hands and feet'.

"'Sanjiao Hanzo can't tolerate people' is only the most superficial and superficial understanding-in fact, I know that the old man once handed the olive branch to 'Xiao' on behalf of Yuyin at the beginning. Medicine Master and I paid close attention to that matter. "

I wasn't very surprised, but I still turned my head to look at the past - because I vaguely constructed the skeleton of the whole incident.

"But they refused." It was supposed to be a question.

"But they turned it down, they turned it down themselves."

Yang Yi repeated.

"And what we did afterwards was nothing more than an extension of this foundation. They would even reject Yuyin, let alone other countries?

"This kind of position, this kind of power, from the moment when the superiors found it impossible to attract them into their arms and control them, and it was difficult to even establish a long-term stable cooperative relationship, dawn has been the same as dusk. Death has been The most gentle fate, being played, used, twisted and abandoned as a tool is the future that can see the end at a glance."

An understatement.

But I felt my hands and feet were stiff and my whole body was cold.

"Their situation will not be improved by our 'point to stop', because we are not really in charge. If the people who really control life and death don't treat them as human beings... A tool without an owner, who will use it and not use it?"

The bandits from the mountain broke into the warehouse... But my eyes were fixed on the outer wall of the warehouse, my mind was in a mess, and I had no time to pay attention to the details.

I didn't want to turn my head to look at Yang Yi's face, but I could hear his speaking speed was very steady, and the tone of his voice could even be called peaceful.

"...I have already made my words clearer. Those two people don't have to stay here, but before letting go of the weapons in my hand, I want to know exactly what you think."

He pronounced the word "stay" very heavily.

At the end of the words, the tone suddenly became serious.

"The pharmacist profiled you. I don't care what other people think, but I want to get an answer from you about this matter."

"..." I opened my mouth, but couldn't say anything for a while.

What should I say?

From "Xiao"'s point of view, the two of them have just experienced misleading and plotting, and guiding them again in a short period of time may cause counterproductive...?

From the perspective of the "Alliance", letting them go can attract the attention of Sanshoyu Hanzo, so that he has no time to delve into the changes in Xingshou City...?

From the point of view of "direct lineage", do you want to move out of yourself?

Or... From the perspective of "I", I don't want to let myself cross the bottom line so painlessly?

The sound of commotion came from below.Shouts, scolding, cursing, flesh and blood being pierced, spattered, crying... There were also unusually cold threatening sounds belonging to a man and a woman.

The pale winter wind has gone and returned.

"Before I answer your question, I would like to ask you to answer a question." I said.

"Please."

"You who were once regarded as a tool by Shimura Danzo, why can you say that kind of thing so calmly?" I controlled my voice to be as calm as him, "And you who can say this kind of thing calmly, are the same as you What's the difference between Shimura Danzo?"

"Good question, quite sharp. Answering this question seriously needs to be combined with our actual experience, which is the direct cause and opportunity of defection."

He answered quickly and smoothly, without any hesitation.

"Shimura Danzo felt that we knew too much, and decided to kill us, but he didn't want to lose too many people, so he designed to separate me from my teammates—like pigs raised in separate pens. They noticed that When I arrived, I noticed it too. They broke out to save me, and cut off their own tongue in order not to be traced by the curse mark. I was the only one who escaped this disaster, because I entered the root much longer than them Long ago, there was no such thing as a 'curse mark'. I was sad, but more angry, so we took this road. Simple as that."

Yang Yi spread his hands, carelessly.

"Our way of thinking is very close, so I know you must be doing a lot of guesswork in your head...Unfortunately, sorry, the truth is far less complicated than you think. We were just pushed, that's all."

It turned out that they could not speak because their tongues had been cut off.

The root will also launch an encirclement and suppression against "our own people".

Pushed...angry?Rage is right.

The many noises lingering in my ears are even more disturbing, and I don't know what happened in the dark little shabby house.

My mind is uncommonly confused, not because there are too few clues, but because there are too many.All kinds of things related to Yang Yi are piled up and put together, but the logical chain formed is intermittent, without cause and effect, but... there are flashes of inspiration.

"I'm in a hurry..." I read a few words in a low voice, and it's not hard to imagine how much blood was smeared behind this understatement, and how many lives were killed-after all, it was enough for these people to grit their teeth and hang on to their hatred .

...I seem to understand his thoughts.

Force them to see what kind of path they can walk out by themselves?

I thought for a while and tried to straighten out the logic: "But extreme situations can only lead to extreme choices, and extreme choices are usually difficult to lead to ideal endings. Conflicts that could have been resolved will be intensified. I don't think you— "

My voice suddenly froze.

The cold air seems to linger with my end sound.

"—An ideal ending?"

The man crouching beside me suddenly spoke, his tone rising with inexplicable excitement—compared to just now, he seemed to be a different person.

"..." I pursed my lips, turned my gaze to the commotion below, and stopped talking.

"Ah, I see, so that's what you really wanted. You wanted to give them the 'ideal ending'—you wanted to save them."

He said vaguely.

"Not because of their precarious state of mind, not because of Jiraiya who inexplicably looks after war orphans during times of war, not even because of our city...just because you want to save them."

"..." I gritted my teeth, and finally opened my mouth, "That's right, that's what I thought—you got the answer you wanted. I don't know what opinion Captain Yangyi wants to express to me?"

"Hmm... quite a sense of accomplishment? It's the first time I got something out of your mouth. The young people nowadays are really amazing."

The voice next to his ear was flirtatious and rambunctious—he always couldn't tell the truth from what he said in this tone, and even judged his emotions became much more difficult.

"Impatience can't catch big fish." I taunted.

"People like us always want to be watertight. A short time is enough to flash countless thoughts. I am not interested in the 'big fish' that is watertight and exquisite. Give me some time and I can think of it for you... I express Clearly. I want 'Your Thoughts', which are far more interesting than 'Big Fish'."

I... I was rarely able to think of words to refute for a while, because what he said was indeed very 'similar'.

Fortunately, I'm already very good at silence, so this probably won't seem obtrusive...probably.

Silent, but not quiet.

I didn't ask him any more, because the chaos below seemed to be turning into a small massacre.

A ninja without chakra and a ninja with chakra are completely different creatures, and I saw red snow starting to emerge from the ground.

A warm, dry hand was put on my shoulder at this moment.

"Stay here and observe how they deal with it. This will affect my attitude towards them in the future. They are students who come and go, so they should be measured."

"..." I raised my hand and patted Yang Yi's hand off, "Of course I know."

"Is that so, the 'controlling the situation' you said didn't mean to stop the massacre from happening? It seems that the pharmacist's profile is not very accurate."

Yang Yi laughed "haha" twice, raised his eyebrows and touched the back of his hand.

"Why are your hands cold and damp? You're just talking to me. You're not so nervous that your hands and feet are cold and your palms are sweating, right?"

...How could there be such an annoying person in the world?

I finally raised my head and gave him a gouging look, and said coolly, "Maybe it's because of dizziness."

Yang Yi hesitated for a second, and then "pull" was written in his left eye, and "light" was written in his right eye.

Seriously, but you can't say it, so people are not allowed to talk nonsense?

I wasn't in the mood to continue talking ambiguous nonsense with him, so I just watched the bloody incident on the mountain path with a sullen face.

Those two young men dealt with it quickly and cleanly, without torture, venting anger...not even revenge.For those who escaped, they ignored them and let them go away; for those who were insane, they just used their arms as usual—like a sickle cutting through wormwood, silently and decisively cutting through "thorns" and "thorns".

They should be calm - very calm.I thought so.They only used physical skills, and didn't even pick up the knives on the ground.In this way, these crazy ordinary people will not be easily scared away by powerful sword skills or exaggerated ninjutsu.

The less you go...the more you stay.

They kill and retreat, accompanied by verbal stimulation.When have the villains, motivated by pure hatred and disgust, faced such sharp words and force?

For ninjas, it's just an extra blanket of warm red snow.

The howling gradually subsided, and the cursing gradually decreased.After a while, even the crying stopped intermittently.

At the corner of the broken warehouse, there was a young girl sitting on the ground crying softly.Perhaps it was because the fear had not faded away, she tried a few times, but she couldn't stand up, and the thatch pile under her moved.Seeing this, the girl frantically dug out a thin old woman with silver hair in this awkward posture lying on the ground.

The girl is still wiping tears.The old woman's spirit seemed much better. She wiped off the blood from the young girl's face, and held her hand again... probably to comfort her.

I was a little dazed looking at it, and when I came back to my senses, I roughly checked the corpses on the ground. There were 33 people in total.

What Yang saw was naturally not old women and young girls.His gaze was fixed on the back of "Xiao" who staggered away for a long time, until they walked down this high slope.

Immediately, he looked back at me: "What are you looking at?"

"Look at the living and the dead," I said.

That old woman was the one who told me to leave the leaky corner and go to her, and she was still alive.

"They handled it pretty well."

Yang Yi nodded slightly.

"I didn't kill them all blindly, and I didn't let them go without knowing what to say. Those who died here are basically villains with red eyes... If this is part of your 'ideal ending', I can barely agree."

"The ideal ending?" Seeing that the two people below finally left, I relaxed a little, and immediately twitched the corners of my mouth with a smirk, "It's too early to mention the ending now."

"It's good that you are clear. The ideal moment is not equal to the ideal ending. Even if every link is perfect, the ending may not be what you want to see. I hope you have calculated the cost of losing control."

I saw Yoichi put the two kunai back into the ninja bag behind his waist, his dark eyes were as calm and deep as a well.

"Although I have always opposed...but I admit that I also hope that they can achieve the 'ideal ending' you have imagined. Such words will inevitably appear arrogant and cold, but I hope you can understand-if I have the same relationship with you General chips and backing, I may not be less moral and compassionate than you.

"Life in exile was like a file, and unfortunately none of us had a real backbone.

"Looking back, we can't see the shore. Looking forward, we can't find the way. Our time is running out, and the hope we can find is close at hand. The first city may be our only chance in this life. Now we are so close to success, I Will stop at nothing to hold the straw in my hand."

"That was one of the... reasons that prompted you to make that promise?"

"You think it is. After all, there is nothing more attractive than 'home' to us."

I quietly watched him organize the ninja bag.

There are various marks on those ninja tools, from Konoha-style to Yuyin-style. Some of the individual objects have broken cones, some have curled the blade, some have cracks all over the body, and many of them can’t tell what they are. There are metal fragments, but the shape has been roughly polished so that it is still easy to hold.

Most of them are... salvaged from the battlefield.

As if sensing my gaze, Yang Yi raised his eyes, half-smiling: "Why, I've never seen such a poor man? To be honest, if it wasn't for defecting, I wouldn't know there are so many weapons around me."

He lowered his head and pulled out a rusty belt buckle.

"I tore it off in a hurry. I threw it as a hidden weapon and pierced the enemy's eye socket directly. The price is that I have to hold the belt for the next month, otherwise the pants will fall off."

"It smells like a scavenger," I nodded seriously-there is actually no essential difference between Ronin and scavenger, "But you should know that a personal relationship is a personal relationship, and a position is a position. It is impossible for me to provide you with weapons. aid, you have to figure out your own way.” So it’s better not to be miserable.

"Tch——I knew it." The tidying action did not stop, but it was obviously not as meticulous as before.Yang didn't even raise his head, apparently he understood clearly in his heart.

I looked at it for a while, and Fang slowly said: "...But I personally intend to exchange some collections of weapons with you. I don't have a lot of money, so I don't bring much, but I still have some kunai and shurikens. .”

"You..." Yang Yi paused, and raised his head after a few seconds, showing a smiling face, "What kind do you want?"

"... from the country of water."

"Ah, you are planning to return to the kingdom of water."

"Huh? Why...you watched me when you were at the roots?...Forget it, it's your honorific name, why don't you just blink."

……

On the way back to Sanyin Highlands.

"Yang Yi." Out of consideration for high-risk occupational diseases, I did not reach out to pat Yang Yi on the shoulder, but called his name, and pointed to the city shadow in the distance when he turned around to ask.

Yang Yi stopped in his tracks and turned his head to look into the distance.

At that time, the snow will disappear, the wind will stop, and the thin sunlight will gently cover the cold mountains and water, but it will be enough for the vegetation to grow and the snow to melt.

The old city wall of Xingshou City stands silently between the black rocks and the white snow, old and strong.

I heard Yang Yi let out a long breath, and for a moment I couldn't tell whether it was a sigh or a sigh.

"Yasaka Terukawa, your name."

Suddenly, he spoke in a very calm tone.

My eyes were slightly open, although I was a little surprised, but not very surprised - ever since he casually said the phrase "return to the land of water", I have already had a calculation in my heart.

"I 'saw' you once...about eight years ago."

He made a "you know" look.

"At that time, you were talking about the topic of 'justice in war' with a newcomer in the same period in Anbu. Sorry, because the topic was so funny that I volunteered to work overtime for ten minutes for the first time, and heard your discussion from the beginning tail."

This topic... I subconsciously began to scratch the ground with my toes, but after a brief shutdown, my brain began to quickly recall relevant memories.

...It should be Etsu Inoue, right?

"To be honest, that teammate of yours is not very interesting. From his words, you can tell that he must be from the most standard Konoha family. In contrast, it seems that you are especially quiet, but I remember that you ended the discussion with only one sentence. "

Most of the forgotten memory began to become clear again, I remember that sentence is——

"You were holding the knife at the time, your little face was expressionless, and you said, 'All life is suffering, everything is difficult'-with all due respect, the visual effect is simply explosive."

As Yang Yi spoke, he couldn't help but raise the corners of his mouth.

"My first reaction at the time was: Where did the parents of this kid come from? Why are they talking about these things in front of their children every day? ——If such a young child can understand, I will put them in the dormitory on the spot. Eat the mosquito coils!

"Later, I 'watched' you for a while... Looking back on these past events now, it is already a different feeling."

"Another thought?"

Yang Yi just looked at me with dark pupils, and his eyes rolled.In this way, even the flying eyebrow peaks show a bit of gentleness.

"...I just feel that... eight years have passed, you seem to have changed, and it seems that you haven't changed at all. I don't know if this is good or bad, but..."

He nodded his head.

"Take it easy."