Kiri… Kirigakure!?
For the people of the Land of Demons, this was definitely an answer that surpassed the limits of their imagination.
The Land of Demons was an inland country. It had no noteworthy relationship with the Land of Water, far overseas.
Their understanding of Kirigakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, remained only at the very shallow and stereotyped title of the Village of the Bloody Mist.
Therefore, they had more than enough reason to feel ten thousand points of suspicion and confusion toward the words spoken by Kisame Hoshigaki, whose appearance alone looked extremely Kirigakure-like.
"B-But I never sent a request for help to Kirigakure of the Land of Water…"
As the ruler of the Land of Demons, Miroku had more experience dealing with others in the end.
She did not blindly express unease toward Kisame and Shisui's appearance based on her own stereotypes. Instead, she used a very tactful method to express her confusion about why the two of them were here.
"Is that kind of question important, Priestess-sama?"
Shisui Uchiha tilted his head and looked toward the soaring flames in the distance as he casually asked in return.
"For the current Land of Demons, whether we are shinobi from which country, which village, or where we obtained the Land of Demons' request for help… is any of that truly important?"
"…You are not wrong, young man."
Miroku was not a pedantic person.
After reacting, she immediately nodded and approved of Shisui Uchiha's answer.
"In that case, if you two can help the Land of Demons put down Mōryō's rebellion, we will issue the request and payment to you according to the same standards we used when requesting aid from Konoha, Sunagakure, and the other shinobi villages…"
"As for payment, we can discuss it in detail after the mission is over, Priestess-sama."
Kisame Hoshigaki looked toward the direction of the city blazing with fire.
"For now, please explain the specific mission requirements first. Do you need us to escort you away from Mōryō and that pile of strange stone statues chasing you, or… do you need us to help you defeat him completely?"
"Although I very much want to request that you help us defeat Mōryō completely, that cannot be done here."
Miroku shook her head and spoke in a complicated tone.
"Please escort me to a shrine located within the Land of Swamps. Only there will we have a chance to completely destroy Mōryō's evil soul."
"What is special about that shrine?"
Shisui Uchiha's eyes focused as he asked in a low voice.
"I apologize. That is a secret passed down through generations of priestesses of the Land of Demons. I cannot tell you two for now."
Miroku shook her head and did not answer Shisui's question.
Seeing that, Shisui did not continue pressing her. He merely turned his head and swept his gaze over the guards around them, almost every one of whom was injured, then asked Miroku in a calm voice.
"Then, Priestess-sama, is your desire to reach the Land of Swamps extremely urgent?"
"…The sooner the better. If we continue allowing Mōryō to run rampant outside, who knows how many more atrocities he will commit?"
"In that case, please dismiss these guards under your command first, Priestess-sama. We will take you and your daughter to the Land of Swamps together and complete this mission."
The moment Shisui Uchiha said this, the priestess's guards immediately became displeased.
Ignoring the injuries on their bodies, they stepped forward together and loudly questioned him.
"Hey! You two! Do you think we would agree to such an absurdly suspicious suggestion!?"
"Exactly! Who knows whether you two are followers of Mōryō pretending to be reinforcements!? And you actually dare say that you want to exclude all of us from the escort!"
"You simply want to abduct Lady Miroku and Lady Shion and steal the power on which the Land of Demons was founded, don't you!?"
Faced with the guards' fierce agitation, Shisui wanted to offer a simple explanation.
But before he could speak, Kisame Hoshigaki narrowed his eyes and unleashed, without reservation, the enormous killing intent he had accumulated during his time carrying out missions as a Kirigakure Anbu.
In an instant, every guard shut their mouth, then sat back on the ground with faces full of shock and terror.
"If we had come with the goal of taking the priestess, all of you would already be corpses on the ground right now. Where would you find the chance to say such pointless nonsense?"
Kisame Hoshigaki glanced at the few people among the guards who had behaved most disgracefully and shouted the loudest just now, then sneered in disdain.
"Before you run your mouths without knowing what is good for you, at least weigh your own value first."
"M-Monster…"
The young man Taruho, who was carrying Shion on his back, collapsed to the ground with trembling legs, muttering to himself as his whole body shook.
Seeing this, Shisui Uchiha helplessly shook his head.
He walked forward and picked up Shion, who was also too frightened to move. Then he looked at Miroku, whose delicate brows were tightly furrowed and who had fallen silent.
"Order them to find a place to hide and treat their injuries first, Priestess-sama… Since you intend to race against time and reach the shrine in the Land of Swamps, ordinary injured people like them are nothing but pure burdens to us."
"Then what about Shion!? Why do you still want to take Shion with you!?"
Miroku clenched her teeth and glared into Shisui Uchiha's eyes.
"She is still only a child. She should not be dragged into something this dangerous…"
"This child has also inherited the priestess's bloodline."
Shisui Uchiha responded to Miroku's anger in an incomparably calm tone.
"You said it yourself, Priestess-sama. The shrine in the Land of Swamps is a secret passed down through generations of priestesses. It is the key to defeating Mōryō completely… Then, would Mōryō possibly spare this child, who may also have inherited the priestess's power and knowledge, while she has only a few injured ordinary people protecting her?"
"…No. I'm sorry. I was too anxious."
Concern caused confusion.
Miroku took a deep breath and, unwillingly but honestly, acknowledged that fact.
"Then for her, the only choice right now is to remain by our side and complete this mission with us… Only that way will we have the spare strength to protect both mother and daughter at the same time."
Shisui carried Shion on his back.
While silently apologizing in his heart to the young girl, he said this to Miroku.
"Shion…"
Miroku hesitated and cast an inquiring glance toward her daughter.
She wanted to see whether her daughter, who could predict the future of her own death in a special way, would activate her ability at this moment and thereby allow Miroku to learn some information about the two from Kirigakure.
But to her surprise, there was no special light in Shion's eyes from activating her ability.
After listening to Shisui Uchiha's words, Shion only looked back at her with a gaze that was frightened, but also carried a little happiness.
Mom, now we don't have to separate.
Shion… did not foresee death?
Then did that mean… she no longer needed to worry about Shion's safety during this operation?
Miroku relaxed with complicated feelings.
Then she looked at Shisui Uchiha, who was carefully adjusting Shion's position on his back so the girl could feel a little more comfortable, and asked in a much gentler tone.
"Then how will you make me believe that you have the strength to do this, young man?"
"…These eyes should be enough as an explanation, right?"
Hearing this, Shisui Uchiha turned his head and looked in Miroku's direction.
In the brief moment of that turn, the pupils in his eye sockets had silently transformed into black and red three-tomoe.
"The Sharingan!? You are from the Uchiha clan!?"
At first, Miroku felt joy because of the famous Sharingan in Shisui's eyes.
But immediately after, as if realizing something, she stared at Kisame Hoshigaki beside him in disbelief.
He was wearing a Kirigakure forehead protector and waiting in boredom for the conversation on their side to end.
"W-Wait!? Why would someone from the Uchiha clan be acting together with a shinobi from Kirigakure? Don't tell me that during the war outside that just ended, Kirigakure already turned the Uchiha clan into its property!?"
"Ah, that. In a certain sense, you could probably say that."
Kisame Hoshigaki thought of that unlucky man, Hyuga Makoto, who had already begun working around the clock.
A malicious smile could not help appearing on his vicious face.
He made no attempt to hide the teasing look he threw at Shisui Uchiha, making the Uchiha clan's genius boy's face redden as he hurriedly lowered his head and changed the subject.
"D-Don't waste time here, Kisame. Hurry up and take Priestess-sama on the road. Mōryō's ghost army is not far behind us. I don't have that much chakra to waste dealing with disposable cannon fodder."
"Hah. When Lord Fourth assigned the mission, he never planned to have you deal with the ghost army in the first place, Shisui…"
Kisame shrugged indifferently.
Then he casually wrapped an arm around Miroku's waist.
Amid the Land of Demons priestess's startled and helpless cry, he leapt into motion together with Shisui Uchiha.
Under the moonlight gradually climbing to the peak of the sky, they raced toward the Land of Swamps.
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