Chapter 101: Choice
The world seemed to have been put on mute, leaving only the cold rain to tirelessly wash over this slaughterhouse. The giant crater, several kilometers in diameter, looked like a dull, giant eye, staring hollowly at the gloomy sky, mocking the insignificance and despicableness of humanity.
Pakura knelt in the mud, her knees having long since lost all sensation.
At the edge of her vision, the Sunagakure squad had completely vanished into the curtain of rain. No one looked back; not a single person even paused for a second's hesitation. There were only splashes of mud and fleeing backs, as if they were escaping some impending plague.
She had been discarded.
Like a rag used to wipe a table.
The chill seeped through her soaked Ninja uniform and into her marrow, but Pakura couldn't feel the cold. Her heart seemed to have stopped completely at the pronouncement of her "death in battle." Her chest felt stuffed with cotton soaked in rainwater, heavy enough to suffocate her.
"Sss..."
The scalp-tingling sound of a snake's tongue flickering out abruptly pierced through the sound of the rain.
High on a rock at the edge of the crater, a thin figure looked down from above at the woman kneeling in the mud. Orochimaru's golden slit pupils shimmered with undisguised greed in the shadows, his long tongue licking his pale lips, like a gourmet looking at top-tier ingredients.
"What a waste..."
Orochimaru turned his head and looked at Yahiko-kun, who was holding a black umbrella beside him. His voice was as raspy as sandpaper: "Yahiko-kun, since the Sunagakure officials have already stamped and confirmed her 'death,' I should be free to dispose of this body as I please, shouldn't I?"
His gaze moved over Pakura's body like a scalpel, dissecting the value of every inch of flesh: "A Kekkei Genkai like Scorching Release... if I could conduct slice research while she's still fresh, I'm sure I'd find some very interesting Chakra circuits."
Yahiko stood under the umbrella, one hand in his pocket, his expression indifferent. He looked at the figure below who seemed to have had her spine removed and said nothing.
Orochimaru caught this silence and let out a low, eerie laugh: "Hehehe... it seems the leader has given his tacit consent."
In the next second, the swamp behind Pakura exploded without warning.
Like an evil spirit crawling out of Hell, Orochimaru instantly appeared behind Pakura. His wide sleeves burst open, and over a dozen thick, mottled poisonous snakes hissed as they lunged out, tightly binding Pakura's limbs and neck, their fangs pressed against her arteries.
The cold snake scales rubbed against her skin, the slimy sensation nauseating.
If this were the "Scorching Release User" of the past who had dominated the world, even with her Chakra sealed, she would have counterattacked in an instant based on the taijutsu instincts forged in a sea of blood and corpses.
But now, Pakura didn't move.
She felt the tightening grip of the snakes and the sharp edge of the kusanagi sword in Orochimaru's hand pressed against the back of her heart. In those eyes that once burned with fire, only dead ashes remained.
Tired.
So very tired.
Since she had been declared dead, since even Ebizo, who had watched her grow up, felt she should die, then perhaps dying here was a form of release?
At least she wouldn't have to live on with the shame of being a "discarded piece," nor would she have to face the world that had abandoned her.
Pakura slowly closed her eyes and even tilted her neck slightly, as if welcoming the final end.
"How boring." The excitement in Orochimaru's eyes cooled slightly, his tone tinged with a hint of disdain. "When the heart dies, the flavor of the Soul turns sour. In that case, just become my specimen—"
Pfft!
The kusanagi sword pierced her skin, and just as blood began to seep out, a terrifying surge of Chakra suddenly erupted between the two.
Boom!!
A massive water dragon condensed out of thin air, carrying immense force, yet it precisely avoided Pakura and slammed hard into Orochimaru's kusanagi sword.
Bang!
Even Orochimaru, one of the "Sannin," was knocked back dozens of meters by this immense force. His feet plowed two deep furrows into the mud, and the kusanagi sword buzzed and trembled.
Orochimaru steadied himself, his slit pupils narrowing slightly as he looked at the man who had attacked with a hint of annoyance and wariness.
"Yahiko-kun, what is the meaning of this?" Orochimaru sheathed his sword, his tone cold. "Didn't we agree that she would be my reward?"
King Crimson behind Yahiko slowly faded away, his black cloak with red clouds fluttering in the wind and rain. He ignored Orochimaru's dissatisfaction and walked slowly toward Pakura.
"Put away your greed, Orochimaru."
Yahiko's voice pierced through the rain, cold as ice and hard as iron: "In the Hidden Rain Village, there are only 'assets,' no 'disposables.' Since she survived, her ownership belongs to me."
Pakura, startled awake by the aftershock of the water dragon, opened her eyes blankly.
She looked up at the man standing in the rain against the light. There was no sympathy or pity in his eyes, only a nearly cruel, calm scrutiny, as if evaluating a dusty, rare treasure.
"Why..." Pakura's voice was hoarse and broken, as if she had swallowed a handful of sand. "Why save me? Isn't my death what you wanted?"
"Let you die?"
A mocking curve formed at the corner of Yahiko's mouth, as if he had heard some huge joke.
"Pakura, have you still not figured it out?"
Yahiko walked up to her and looked down at this once-mighty Sunagakure hero: "Do you think Rasa abandoned you for a mere forty million Ryo? Do you think Ebizo crossed out your name because of so-called 'insufficient funds'?"
Pakura was stunned, her dull pupils suddenly contracting.
"Use your rusty brain." Yahiko mercilessly tore away that layer of warm, hypocritical pretense. "Forty million Ryo is something one of the Five Great Nations could always squeeze out if they tightened their belts. But for Rasa, a 'hero' who returns alive with a reputation that even eclipses the Kazekage is the greatest threat to his rule."
Boom!
These words were like a mental thunderbolt, instantly clearing the fog in Pakura's mind.
The subtle suppression from the Elders in the past, Rasa's cold gaze upon her return from missions, the rumors about the "Fifth Kazekage Candidate"... all the fragments pieced together at this moment, forming a bloody truth.
"No... it can't be..." Pakura shook her head tremblingly, her lips pale, trying to deny this cruel logic. "I did it for the Village... I shed so much blood for Sunagakure... how could they..."
"It's precisely because you shed too much blood, and because your merits were too brilliant, that you had to die."
Yahiko crouched down, his gaze level with hers. His amber eyes seemed to see through the deepest darkness of the human heart, and every word was like a nail driven into Pakura's heart.
"To mediocre rulers, 'overshadowing the master with merit' is the original sin."
"A living, disobedient hero has too low a cost-performance ratio. It's far better to have a black-and-white photo hanging on a wall—dead people don't fight for power, dead people don't resist; they only become tools used to incite hatred and stabilize their rule."
Yahiko reached out and grabbed Pakura's mud-covered chin, forcing her to look into his eyes.
"Do you see clearly now? This is the logic of the great nations."
"Do you want to rot in the mud as a 'martyr' with no value, fulfilling Rasa's political calculations? Or will you stand up and make those who treated you like a discarded piece regret being born into this Hell?"
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