On the day of the final battle, the old ruins outside the Hidden Mist Village became the final battlefield.
The ruins were even more dilapidated than in Mei Terumī's memory.
Ten years ago, she was ambushed here for the first time; ten years later, she stood here again, facing the same mist and broken walls.
But this time was different.
This time, she was not alone.
Shinji was by her side.
Yagura stood at the highest point of the ruins.
At the top of a collapsed stone pillar.
His body was surrounded by the Tailed Beast's Chakra; that blood-red cloak looked like burning flames, particularly piercing in the grey mist.
The power of the Three-Tails roared within him; every breath made the ground tremble, and gravel rattled down from the broken walls.
Mei Terumī stood opposite him, bathed in blood. Some was her own, some belonged to the enemies she had broken through to reach this point—it was impossible to tell.
Her clothes had lost their original color, and her hair was plastered messily against her cheeks. But her eyes were startlingly bright.
Shinji stood by her side. He didn't speak, just stood there.
The executioner's blade had already been given to the returning Kisame Hoshigaki; he held an ordinary ninja sword, blood still dripping from the blade.
Yagura moved.
The Tailed Beast Chakra poured out like a tsunami.
A crimson tide exploded from his body, sweeping forward; wherever it passed, rocks shattered, the ground collapsed, and broken walls were leveled.
"Lava Release: Lava Melting Jutsu!"
Mei Terumī formed hand seals. A viscous, orange-red liquid gushed from her mouth, building a high wall in front of the two.
The wall was thick and dense, carrying a temperature capable of corroding everything.
The Tailed Beast Chakra crashed into it.
Sizzle—
A harsh corrosive sound exploded, and white smoke rose.
In the smoke, one could see the crimson light struggling, being consumed bit by bit.
But the wall was also collapsing, thinning and cracking at a visible rate.
She didn't look back, but she knew Shinji was there. That position by her side—there had always been someone there.
From the age of nine until now, every time she looked back, someone had been in that position.
That was enough.
In the smoke, a figure cut in from the flank.
So fast that only an afterimage remained.
Shinji's sword sliced through the outer layer of the Tailed Beast Chakra, aiming straight for Yagura's back. Yagura turned, and Three-Tails swept out simultaneously.
Shinji twisted his body to avoid them, the tails grazing past his chest.
His clothes were torn open, flesh ripped, blood spraying out. But he didn't stop, his blade turning to carve a bloody gash under Yagura's ribs.
The gash was shallow, but it was enough to create a crack in the Tailed Beast cloak.
Mei Terumī moved at the same time.
Boiling Release: Skilled Mist Jutsu—
High-temperature acid mist sprayed from her mouth, drilling into that crack to corrode the inner layer of the Tailed Beast cloak.
The crimson light struggled in the mist, being corroded into holes.
Yagura roared. The roar didn't sound like a human; it sounded like a wild beast.
The Tailed Beast Chakra surged again, pouring out crazily from within him, blasting both of them away.
Mei Terumī landed, taking three steps back before steadying herself, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth.
Shinji landed beside her, kneeling on one knee before standing up again, the wound on his chest still oozing blood.
"Are you okay?" he asked.
"I am," she replied.
The two exchanged a glance. It was brief.
But in that instant, something flowed between them.
Fifteen years of time, countless days and nights fighting side by side, those unspoken words.
Then, they charged forward together.
The final blow was struck by Mei Terumī.
Mist Release. Burning mist.
She poured all her Chakra into the mist.
The last bit in her body, originally reserved to save her life, was all squeezed out, not a drop left.
That Chakra poured into the surrounding mist, turning the entire battlefield's mist into a high-temperature molten state.
The grey-white mist began to change color, its edges rimmed with dark red light. That light flowed within the mist, as if something was burning.
The mist surged toward Yagura from all directions, toward the figure wrapped in Tailed Beast Chakra.
The Tailed Beast cloak began to collapse. The crimson light struggled in the mist, being corroded, melted, and devoured bit by bit.
Yagura roared and counterattacked in the mist, but it was useless.
Because the mist was everywhere.
Shinji appeared behind him.
The blade pierced the final weakness of the Tailed Beast cloak, the gap corroded by the Mist Release.
Pfft.
The blade sank into flesh.
Yagura's body stiffened.
The Tailed Beast Chakra dissipated like a receding tide; that blood-red cloak peeled off him, shattered, and disappeared into the mist.
He looked down at the tip of the blade protruding from his chest.
Blood dripped from the tip—his blood.
Then he raised his head and looked at the blood-soaked woman in front of him.
Mei Terumī stood five steps away from him.
Covered in wounds, her Chakra completely bottomed out, her hands shaking, her legs shaking, barely able to stand.
But she stood.
Yagura's eyes became clear for the first time.
Those eyes had been controlled by Genjutsu for decades; he had long forgotten what clarity was.
But at this moment, the moment the blade pierced his body, the force controlling him finally dissipated, and his eyes finally returned to their original state.
He looked at Mei Terumī, his lips moving: "I..."
He didn't finish his sentence. He collapsed.
His body slammed into the ruins, onto the gravel. Blood seeped out from under him, soaking into the sand and soil.
The mist cleared.
The mist tinged with dark red light slowly dissipated, like a receding tide.
The grey sky was revealed again, the broken walls were revealed again, and all the people standing in the ruins were revealed.
Mei Terumī stood where she was, gasping for air.
Covered in blood, some her own, some Yagura's, impossible to tell.
Her Chakra was completely bottomed out, her hands shaking, her legs shaking, barely able to stand.
But she stood.
Then she raised her head.
The sky. The sky that had been grey for decades, cracked open.
The crack was very thin, so thin it looked like a wound sliced open by a blade.
But sunlight leaked down from that crack.
It fell on the ruins, on the blood-stained gravel, on the place where Yagura fell, on her.
Golden. Warm.
She stood in that patch of sunlight, looking up, watching that crack.
The sunlight fell on her face, on her eyes, stinging her into squinting.
But she didn't hide; she just stood there, letting the light fall on her.
"Wuu..."
Ao knelt on the ground. That usually composed old Ninja was now kneeling in the ruins, his shoulders shaking like a leaf in the wind.
Tears flowed down the wrinkles on his face, into his beard, and dripped onto the ground.
He wept uncontrollably, the kind of crying suppressed for decades finally pouring out from his throat.
Kisame was silent. He stuck Samehada into the ground and stood beside the blade.
He didn't kneel, didn't cry, just lowered his head, watching the sunlight shine on his hands. That hand was shaking slightly.
Zabuza turned his face away, standing at the edge of the ruins looking in another direction.
But his shoulders, those shoulders that never moved, were heaving slightly. His hands were clenched tight, so tight his knuckles turned white.
Chōjūrō gripped his twin swords, tears covering his face.
He sobbed as he cried, trying to hold it back, but couldn't; in the end, he simply gave up, standing there and letting the tears flow.
And there was Kisame Hoshigaki; for the first time, there was a strong emotion in the eyes of this silent man. It was hope.
The sunlight fell on each of them, on those who had survived.
Mei Terumī stood in the center of the ruins, covered in blood, her breathing still unsteady.
But she stood there, looking up, watching that sky light leaking down from the crack.