"You wouldn't understand..."
"Maybe not. I felt the love of a father and a mother... but when I lost my father when I was just a child, several things changed. I made wrong decisions, but at the same time, right ones for the greater good... but my mother... The last time I saw my mother... she did this to me. She tried to kill me, and this scar was the last thing she left me with..."
"She…?"
"She looked at me with hatred, rage, sadness, fear, and... disappointment. I remember everything that happened when I was 14. The last thing she told me was that she had lost her son... We all have turbulent pasts, Shiori, some more than others, but what differentiates us is how we deal with them..."
"..." Those memories that the half-redhead treasured came to her mind at that precise moment when she had to see the shinobi in a new light.
"He understands my pain and made me realize that there are things more important than just resentment. He's a very valuable person to me now..." she said with an aura of tranquility and peace, which slowly faded along with her smile as she looked at young Shiozaki again. "Tell me, Shiozaki, what do you feel for him? Admiration? Loyalty? Friendship, or something more?"
"I..." With a storm in her head, the green-haired girl didn't know what to say.
"I see your gaze, and I know what you feel for him... that's why I don't consider you my friend, but rather a roadblock in my path," Todoroki said, pausing to let out a long sigh. Her head was already aching from this conversation, which she would have preferred to avoid.
Emerging from her confusion, Ibara felt a fury she hadn't known existed within her. Was she considered a nuisance by this arrogant girl? Just because of her connection to Naruto?... "What if she was right?" With that question, her body and mind froze. Did she feel the same way as Todoroki? Remembering her conversation with Yui just a few hours ago, she knew the answer.
"..." Momo felt uncomfortable being in the middle of this discussion and tried to stay as far away as possible, since she also didn't want to admit that maybe she too felt something more than companionship for Uzumaki. "What is that noise?" Tilting her head, she heard a sound like splashing.
"…!" Both Todoroki and Shiozaki were startled when they were suddenly dragged away by Yaoyorozu, who grabbed them wherever she could and pulled them through the undergrowth of the forest. Before they could ask anything, a loud crash was heard.
The three teenagers were kneeling behind the bushes, paralyzed and incredulous, seeing that the crash they heard was caused by Ragdoll's body being slammed against a tree near them. The heroine was injured and bleeding; part of her helmet was missing, and her right eye was closed by a cut that let the blood run.
The teenagers were about to rush to the pro hero's aid, but they stopped when they heard footsteps.
"Don't overreact, they asked for her alive," a dry, deep voice said, belonging to a tall man wearing a mask that covered his mouth and extended to cover his head. This mask was integrated with a metal plate bearing the image of an arrow pointing downwards, though the emblem was bisected by a horizontal line. The only visible part of his head was his strange, greenish eyes.
"It's not my fault the bitch is so fragile. The people of this place are very weak, although even their blood is useful to Jashin-sama," spoke the other silhouette with a chilling and loud voice. It belonged to a young man whose appearance, frankly, was taken from a horror movie. Part of his head seemed to be sewn shut, this being the right side of his head, which had a paler skin tone and one eye that was completely dark. His hair was silver and combed back. On his shoulder, he carried a kind of scythe two meters long, with three sharp blades of scarlet hue and a kind of cable that hung from the end of the base of the weapon.
These two strangers wore something that identified them: a completely black, high-collared cloak with red clouds drawn on it.
"Just follow the agreement, Hidan," grumbled the taller man, who looked boredly at Ragdoll, who could barely breathe.
"Huh? Don't tell me what to do, Kakuzu!" The newly recognized Hidan drew his scythe and aimed it at the wounded young woman, whose eyes flashed with fear. "Don't worry, once this is over, I'll end your pain, because you'll be my next sacrifice..." With a dark smile, he pulled a necklace from around his neck, a circle with a triangle inside. "You'll know a new world of pleasure when you become... a sacrifice to Jashin-sama!" he shouted gleefully, grabbing the girl by the hair and lifting her up, causing her to scream in pain. "To hell with the deal! This miserable woman will be my offering!" Maneuvering his weapon, he was about to finish her off, but his wrist was caught by his impassive companion.
"That's enough!" With astonishing speed, the masked man separated the silver-haired man from the pro hero, causing the latter to fall to the ground, exhausted. "If she dies, we won't get paid, so think of another way to give an offering to your imaginary friend."
"Imaginary friend?! You fucking atheist bastard! I'll kill you!" Using his scythe, Hidan launched himself at his own partner. As the two faced off, the hidden girls trembled at the mere presence of those two... monsters.
"We have to help her..." Overcoming her fear, Ibara, using her hair, caught the attention of Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. They exchanged glances and knew what they had to do. Moving as silently as possible, they approached the Pussycats member.
"Go away..." The three teenagers stopped abruptly when they heard the weak whisper of the injured woman, who was leaning against a tree. With a dull look, she glanced at the girls and shook her head. "Go away..." Through tears of pain, she could only plead with the girls to flee from these 'villains.'
"No, we'll help her," Momo whispered with determination, watching as the two strangers openly insulted each other. Thinking they were distracted, the black-haired girl had a plan to get the pro hero out of this place.
"Get help," Ragdoll said weakly as she pulled a pistol from her suit, which she raised toward the sky with trembling hands and fired.
"Huh?" Stopping his argument with his partner, Hidan saw the woman in the yellow suit fire a red flare that lit up the dark night. "Damn bitch!" Growling angrily, he grabbed his scythe and moved to kill the woman, but to his surprise, vines grew out of the ground and wrapped around him.
"Did they finally come out?" Kakuzu, for his part, wasn't surprised when three brats came out of the bushes to help the downed pro heroine. In fact, his attention was drawn to the green vines that wrapped around him. "Mokuton?" he asked curiously, looking at the green-haired teenager.
"Shiori, now!" Carrying Ragdoll on her back as best she could, Momo gave the signal to run, while Shiori stood in front of the two villains, extending her right arm, which was surrounded by a cold mist.
The ground shook. The animals and other people who were in the forest watched in shock as a mountain of ice formed out of nowhere. It easily reached about one hundred meters high and two hundred meters long, with a thickness of tens of meters.
"..." At the location of the attack, we see Shiori trembling uncontrollably and breathing heavily. Her right arm was covered in ice and had a bluish tint, suggesting hypothermia affecting the right side of her body. Losing her balance, the half-redhead almost fell, but was caught at the last second by Ibara.
"Gotcha!" Using her hair, the girl fashioned a harness to help her carry Todoroki on her back. Without hesitation, the girl ran after Momo, who was heading toward the camp. As the girls fled the scene, we observed the silhouettes of those two strangers, motionless inside the ice mountain.
At least for a few seconds, as the ice gradually began to crack.
[ If you want to read advance Chapters then go to Pat reon and support me there as I have already uploaded advance Chapters there.
PAT REON I'D:- Skythe ]