Had Utakata met Mei Terumi before crossing paths with Menma...
He might have actually been swayed by her words and agreed to return to the Hidden Mist. But things were different now. Human beings often rely heavily on their first impressions, and Menma had painted a picture of the future—and offered promises—that aligned perfectly with what Utakata desired.
The path ahead might indeed be fraught with unimaginable hardship, and currently, there wasn't a particularly massive beacon of hope in sight.
But Utakata was willing to trust Menma this one time.
This decision stemmed not only from Utakata's own judgment...
But also from the Six-Tails' trust in Menma.
Tailed Beasts did not easily trust humans. The fact that Menma had earned the acknowledgment of multiple Tailed Beasts spoke volumes. Utakata knew there were likely profound, underlying reasons for this—secrets only the Tailed Beasts themselves understood.
But Utakata didn't care about the details.
He only needed to see the parts that mattered to him, and that was enough.
"Utakata, is there truly no room for negotiation? You have absolutely zero chance of winning this. The Leaf Village is absolutely determined to eradicate Menma Uzumaki once and for all. Are you really going to throw your life away resisting us?"
Seeing Utakata's completely unbothered, nonchalant expression, a chilling light finally surfaced in Mei's beautiful eyes. Her chakra aura flared, instantly growing significantly more oppressive.
At this moment, Mei Terumi was arguably at the absolute peak of her personal strength.
Under normal circumstances, she might just be a standard Kage-level fighter. But possessing two distinct Kekkei Genkai meant that in actual combat, Mei was undeniably a cut above the rest.
Among the Five Kage in the original timeline, Mei's combat power sat solidly in the middle. Gaara was held back by his youth and the loss of the One-Tail's power, while Tsunade was fundamentally a medical-support specialist.
Therefore, Mei possessed a considerable amount of confidence in her own abilities.
Faced with Mei's thinly veiled threat...
Utakata's expression didn't waver in the slightest.
Once this outwardly gentle and refined young man made a decision in his heart, he would never regret it, even until the day he died.
No matter what obstacles lay ahead on his chosen path, Utakata would walk it with unwavering resolve.
"Very well! Very well!"
Seeing Utakata remain entirely unmoved...
Mei nodded slowly.
BOOM!
A fierce, incredibly potent surge of chakra erupted from her. Unlike the probing, restrained exchanges they had shared earlier, Mei completely discarded her initial intentions.
She was going to capture Utakata right here, right now.
And drag him back to the village.
The Six-Tails...
Belonged to the Hidden Mist.
"You're a good man, Utakata, but... I sincerely hope you don't regret your decision!"
Mei's voice turned cold and entirely lethal as she spoke the final words.
Clap!
She slammed her hands together violently.
Instantly refining her chakra...
She didn't even need to form any hand seals.
"Lava Release: Melting Apparition Technique!"
Parting her ruby lips, she spewed a massive torrent of obscenely hot, highly acidic mud directly at Utakata.
Swish!
The acidic mud flew at a terrifying angle...
Covering a massive area as it descended.
"!? "
Utakata's eyes widened sharply.
He could instantly sense the lethal, corrosive threat radiating from the jutsu.
"Water Release: Bubble Technique!"
Utakata leaped backward, drawing his bubble-blowing pipe from his waist. With a soft blow and a surge of refined chakra...
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Swish!
Countless translucent, shimmering bubbles shot out from the pipe, flying upward to intercept the incoming attack from an angle.
BANG!
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
As the attacks collided head-on...
A piercing, agonizing sizzle echoed out. The violent clash between "water" and "fire" instantly generated a massive cloud of scorching steam, blanketing the area in a natural smokescreen.
Swish!
A figure blurred through the steam.
Mei closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
BANG!
Her slender, agile form plummeted from the sky above the steam cloud.
She drove her right leg down in a devastating, high-speed dropkick.
Utakata's pupils shrank as he hastily brought his arms up to block.
He barely managed to intercept the ferocious strike. But as the kinetic shockwave rippled outward, feeling the raw, terrifying physical power crashing into his arms...
Utakata's expression turned incredibly grave.
He had known during their initial clashes that Mei was likely holding back significantly, treating the fight as a mere probing exercise. He knew she had to be incredibly strong—she had earned Elder Genji's full trust, commanded the Mist army, and even someone like Ao of the Byakugan took orders from her without question.
Utakata thought he had already estimated her strength as highly as possible.
But he hadn't expected this. In a true, all-out physical clash...
The combat power Mei displayed completely shattered his expectations.
This level of speed? This kind of raw physical strength?
Was this really power a female ninja could possess?
Utakata stared at Mei at point-blank range, a flicker of genuine shock in his eyes.
Throughout the entire history of the ninja world, the number of truly famous, powerhouse female shinobi was incredibly small. You could literally count them on two hands.
Reading Utakata's expression...
Mei could easily guess exactly what he was thinking.
A faint, arrogant smirk graced her stunningly beautiful face. Her legend... would officially begin with this battle today.
She was going to become the greatest Mizukage in the history of the Hidden Mist.
"Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique."
There would be no more holding back.
At point-blank range...
Her lips parted slightly.
Hiss!
A highly concentrated, faintly pink mist drifted effortlessly from her mouth.
It only took a single glance.
The suffocating, hyper-corrosive heat radiating from the mist was instantly palpable.
Utakata's face paled drastically.
BOOM!
Abandoning any remaining restraint, he instantly detonated the Six-Tails' chakra.
HUM!
As the massive, corrosive chakra surged over him...
Hiss! Hiss! Hiss! Hiss!
In a fraction of a second...
He forcefully pushed himself into the dark-red, Version 2 semi-Tailed Beast State.
A wave of equally terrifying, scorching heat blasted outward from him.
Forced back by the sudden eruption, Mei had no choice but to retreat slightly to avoid the blast.
But the highly corrosive pink mist still washed over Utakata. Even with his rapid reaction time...
A fraction of the mist still made contact.
Even protected by the dense, hyper-corrosive Tailed Beast Chakra cloak...
The Skilled Mist Technique forcefully breached the protective layer, burning directly into Utakata's physical body underneath.
The agonizing, excruciating pain of the acid eating into his flesh...
Caused Utakata's face to twist into a savage grimace.
"ROAAAR!!!"
A monstrous, agonizing roar tore from his throat in his semi-Tailed Beast form.
RUMBLE!
An unimaginably terrifying shockwave of chakra blasted outward in every direction.
Fighting a short distance away, Shibuki's attention was instinctively drawn by the massive eruption. Seeing the scene unfold, his heart skipped a beat.
That female Mist ninja is actually that strong?! She forced Utakata into his Version 2 state just to survive!?
A look of pure disbelief washed over Shibuki's face.
Unlike Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade, who had been famous for decades...
Mei Terumi currently had absolutely zero reputation across the wider ninja world.