Chapter 273: The Price of Arrogance
The world spun.
When her feet once again found solid ground, Mei Terumī discovered that her surroundings had completely, violently changed.
It was no longer that dark, damp, underground cavern.
Instead, they stood on an open coastal clearing. The ground was hard, rocky.
The salty sea breeze, clean and bracing, ruffled her chestnut hair. In the distance, she heard the loud, rhythmic sound of waves crashing against the jagged rocks.
In just an instant—a flicker of thought—they had moved from the heart of the heavily fortified Hidden Mist to this unknown coast!
Mei Terumī was too astonished to speak.
As an Elite Jōnin of Kirigakure (Village Hidden in the Mist), she instantly understood the staggering, terrifying implication of that transport.
"Space... Ninjutsu..."
To transfer a person such a long distance, across an ocean, in an instant, with such ease and grace.
This method was utterly beyond her comprehension. Beyond the scope of known jutsus.
Even Konoha's Nidaime Hokage (Second Hokage), Senju Tobirama—the legendary master of space-time ninjutsu who created the Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique)—could never do it with such effortlessness!
After the intense shock, came an even deeper, chilling sense of vigilance.
Mei Terumī took a deep breath, fighting to control her rapidly increasing heart rate. She stared at Uchiha Akira.
"Who exactly are you, Uchiha?"
Uchiha Akira stood against the relentless sea breeze, his black robe flapping loudly around his frame. He was utterly composed.
"Konoha Village."
"Godaime Hokage (Fifth Hokage). Uchiha Akira."
Hokage?
Mei Terumī's pupils constricted sharply! The name echoed ominously in her mind.
This man... is Konoha's Hokage!
Due to the internal purges of the "Village of the Bloody Mist" policy, Kirigakure had almost cut off all contact with the outside world. Their intelligence gathering was critically delayed and unreliable.
She only knew through some fragmented, scattered reports that the old Sandaime Hokage of Konoha had stepped down, replaced by a new Fifth Hokage. It seemed to be the Uchiha Clan leader.
But she knew nothing about the specifics of what had happened, only rumors.
She never, ever imagined that Konoha's newly appointed Hokage would be so young... and possess such unfathomable, impossible strength.
After a brief moment of shock, Mei Terumī forced herself to calm down. The opponent's identity made things exponentially more dangerous.
A Village's Kage personally infiltrating the heart of a hostile Village was certainly not a friendly visit.
Mei Terumī's tone grew cold, professional, and entirely defensive.
"I never thought that the famous Konoha Hokage would visit my Kirigakure in such an aggressive manner, Hokage-sama."
"What brings you to my Hidden Mist? If you are looking for Yagura, I suggest you leave."
Uchiha Akira chuckled softly at her attempt to regain control.
He turned and looked at Mei Terumī's beautiful face, which feigned composure but couldn't entirely hide the turbulent, fearful emotions within her emerald eyes.
"My purpose, Mei Terumī, wasn't it already stated in that dark cave earlier?" Akira said with mocking interest.
Mei Terumī's expression flickered, then instantly darkened. She remembered his arrogant words: that from today on, Hidden Mist would be under his control.
"Hokage-sama!" Mei Terumī's voice suddenly rose, carrying an uncontrollable surge of anger.
"Please stop making such boring, baseless jokes! Kirigakure does not surrender to whims!"
"I'm not joking." Uchiha Akira spread his hands, looking infuriatingly innocent.
"Why don't you believe me? Is it because you believe your Village still holds the power of a Great Nation?"
"You!" Mei Terumī's chest heaved with anger at Uchiha Akira's cynical, condescending attitude.
"Although our Hidden Mist is currently plagued by internal strife and is not as strong as before, it's not for an outsider like you to dictate terms!"
"Insulting Hidden Mist is making an enemy of us! Uchiha Akira, do you, Konoha, want to start a war with Hidden Mist?!"
Mei Terumī desperately tried to use the threat of a Great War—the only leverage she had left—to push back this arrogant, impossible Fifth Hokage.
However.
Hearing Mei Terumī's words, the smile on Uchiha Akira's face became even more disdainful.
"Start a war?" Akira retorted, his tone full of undisguised contempt.
"Mei Terumī, have you been in that closed-off Village for too long? Has the fog dulled your brain?"
"Just with your Hidden Mist?"
Uchiha Akira took a single, slow step forward. The action was minimal, but the imposing, crushing aura that emanated from him made Mei Terumī instinctively, involuntarily, retreat half a step.
"That so-called 'Village of the Bloody Mist'... which forced you to kill your own people... how many capable, trustworthy shinobi are left?"
"Can a Village where even Jōnin have to be decided through senseless infighting assemble a decent, cohesive army?"
"Among the Five Great Shinobi Villages now, who doesn't know that your Hidden Mist is, militarily and politically, the weakest? The most broken?"
"Where do you get the courage to mention the words 'start a war' to me?"
With every cold, calculated word Akira spoke, Mei Terumī's face grew a shade paler. Her own strategic logic was screaming the same truths.
Akira slowly, deliberately, approached Mei Terumī again.
An invisible, suffocating sense of oppression washed over her. He was standing close enough for her to smell the clean, dry scent of his robes.
"Do you know, Mei Terumī, that not long ago, Sunagakure was reduced to ruins by me? The entire Land of Wind has now been formally incorporated into the territory of my Land of Fire?"
"Now, thousands of former Sunagakure shinobi are working on construction sites, adding bricks and tiles to our Konoha?"
"And Kumogakure and Iwagakure? They don't even dare to breathe loudly now. They are cowering behind their defenses, praying that my gaze doesn't fall upon them next?"
Uchiha Akira's words, delivered with flat, undeniable certainty, were like bolts of thunder, causing Mei Terumī's pupils to widen in shock!
Sunagakure... reduced to ruins?
The Land of Wind... annexed?
Kumo and Iwa... cowering?!
This... how is this possible?! How much time had passed?! The entire political landscape of the Shinobi World had undergone such earth-shattering changes!
And the mastermind behind all of this was the young Fifth Hokage standing directly in front of her!
Mei Terumī stood frozen, her body stiff, as if suddenly plunged into an ice cellar. Her careful world had shattered.
"The current Hidden Mist is plagued by internal strife. It has no allies externally. Its economy is depressed. Its people are in a state of panic."
Akira walked right up to Mei Terumī, looking down at her. The distance between them was minimal, aggressive, and entirely intentional.
"Tell me, Mei Terumī."
"With this tattered, dying Hidden Mist as it is now."
"Who gave you the confidence to talk about 'starting a war' with me?"
Mei Terumī's body trembled uncontrollably. Her skin felt cold.
A profound, crushing sense of powerlessness welled up within her. Everything the other party said was true. Utterly, undeniably true.
But her inherent pride—the pride of a Kage candidate, the pride of the Land of Water—prevented Mei Terumī from bowing down now.
"Even... even if what you say is true!" she snapped, her voice trembling slightly.
"The shinobi of Hidden Mist will never surrender to a foreign tyrant!"
"We... we would rather be shattered jade than intact tile!"
"Is that so?"
Akira looked at her outwardly fierce but inwardly timid appearance. He chuckled softly, a low, challenging sound.
"You have spirit. That's admirable."
"Unfortunately," he said, his gaze hard, "spirit is meaningless in the face of absolute power. That is a romantic ideal that dies quickly on the battlefield."
Uchiha Akira extended a single finger and gently, provocatively, lifted Mei Terumī's smooth chin, forcing her to meet his dark, demanding gaze.
This action was full of blatant, casual aggression and possessiveness.
"You!" Mei Terumī's pretty face instantly flushed a furious crimson. Her breath caught in her throat.
"It seems, just talking is useless," Akira concluded, ignoring her reaction.
He withdrew his finger and stepped back a few paces, carefully creating the necessary distance for combat.
"Then..."
"Let's fight first, Mei Terumī. And then, perhaps, we can talk properly."
"After you have personally witnessed my strength," Akira concluded, his voice ringing with absolute certainty, "we can have a much more friendly and cooperative conversation."
Mei Terumī snorted coldly, her dignity wounded.
"If you lose," she challenged, her voice tight, "then go back to Konoha! And leave Kirigakure alone!"
Uchiha Akira laughed heartily at her bravado.
"I don't need you to tell me that, Mei. If I lost to you... I wouldn't have the face to stay anyway."
Akira looked at Mei Terumī with a challenging, half-amused smile.
"However, I can't possibly lose."
"It's you, Mei. Don't get furious... if you lose quickly."
"You!"
Mei Terumī was completely enraged by Uchiha Akira's utter arrogance and frivolous, dismissive attitude. Her full chest heaved violently with fury.
She stopped wasting words! He was insulting her, her Village, and her ambition!
Her chakra, boiling with indignation and defiance, erupted from her body without reservation!
"Then let our strength do the talking, Fifth Hokage!"
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