Page 509

She glanced unconsciously at the profile of the face beneath the hood.

"Was your mother...a great woman?"

Mei Terumi knew very little about Hiruko's past.

Unfortunately, in the past, he was more often mentioned in intelligence reports as an elite Jonin and a friend of the Fourth Hokage.

There are many elite Jonin in Konoha, so he is not actually a high priority in intelligence reports.

After he became Hokage, all information about his past was completely blocked by Konoha, making it extremely difficult for outsiders to find out.

—Especially after Danzo died from overeating.

"No, it's my useless old man." Hiruko casually changed the subject, his tone as indifferent as if he were talking about someone else, which only made Terumi Mei more curious.

But Mei Terumi didn't force him to say it.

The first ninja left quickly.

Next to enter were a ninja and a merchant from a ninja village.

They came to request the Water Shadow to arbitrate and mediate their dispute—even though they lived in the same village, lips and teeth can sometimes hurt each other, let alone people.

These kinds of minor tasks could have been handled by other junior clerks.

However, Mei Terumi is currently lacking in prestige... It would be a good thing for her to visit the grassroots and leave a friendly impression on everyone.

The matter between these two people wasn't a big deal, except that the ninja's beast was extremely greedy and often ran to the neighboring vegetable merchant's house to steal food, which made the merchant unable to tolerate it any longer.

The ninjas weren't refusing to admit their mistakes; they had lost money on merchants and even beaten up their own ninja beasts.

But that ninja beast was incorrigible, causing the ninjas a great headache.

No matter what they do, the ninja beasts just love this kind of food, and it has to be vegetables from the merchant's house.

Moving is out of the question. The ninja beast has been with the ninja for many years, and the two have a very good relationship. The ninja is unwilling to kill or abandon the ninja beast.

The two had no good ideas for the time being, so they came to seek help from the Mizukage.

Let's see if we can use genjutsu or some special ninjutsu to solve this problem—after all, ninjas' first reaction to a problem is ninjutsu.

Mei Terumi looked at Hiruko.

When it comes to genjutsu, apart from those special bloodline ninjas, Hiruko's genjutsu is the most famous.

This guy's casual way of replacing his own parts left an extremely deep impression on people.

"Forced hypnosis isn't out of the question... Wait, you sell vegetables?"

"Yes, it is."

"How about you specialize in selling a certain type of vegetable from now on?"

"Ah, this... if it can make money."

"Okay, I see."

Hiruko then looked at the ninja.

"Please summon your ninja beast." The ninja didn't understand what he meant, but he still summoned his ninja beast.

It was a cat-shaped ninja beast.

...Who knows why cats, which are purely carnivorous creatures, would like vegetables.

The ninja world is truly amazing.

Hiruko took out a tomato from the sealed scroll—this kind of thing is actually quite rare in winter; it was put in there by Rumi Uzumaki when he went out.

However, since it is an industrialized country, it is still possible to buy this product if one wants to.

Hiruko held up a tomato and waved it in front of the ninja beast a few times. The ninja beast sniffed its wet little nose but didn't react at all.

"Hmm, it seems this guy thinks tomatoes are fruit... You see, it doesn't eat them."

Hiruko ignored the ninja's bewildered expression and looked at the merchant.

"The Agricultural Association has a liaison office in the capital of the Land of Water. Turn left on the second floor, it's the off-season vegetable department. You can go there and ask."

The merchant understood Hiruko's meaning perfectly well: off-season vegetables... seemed like a potential business opportunity? So the ninja and the merchant bowed to Mei Terumi together and left satisfied.

"Can't you just solve this problem properly for once?"

"Is it indecent? I'm very serious, okay?"

Yagura and Kisame, I don't know where they went, they just left him, the Hokage, with the Mizukage.

He could resist Mei Terumi's looks, but her sweet fragrance was simply irresistible.

Hiruko scratched his head uneasily.

Mei Terumi, however, seemed completely unaware of what was happening.

Just as the two were chatting, a ninja dressed as an elder walked in.

Hiruko's eyes immediately sharpened.

Unfortunately, this elder was not from the Elders faction, but rather from the Mizukage faction.

"Fifth Mizukage." The elder bowed to Mei Mimei as soon as he arrived.

"Please don't do that... What brings you here today?" This elder seems to be very prestigious in Kirigakure; even Mei Terumi treats him with great respect.

"Well, for some reason, I heard some news... I can't ignore it, so..."

"As the elder said this, he looked at Hooded Bilge.

"Please speak, there's no need to worry, we're all on the same side."

The elder hesitated for a moment, but still told the story.

"I heard... I only heard... The Daimyo of the Land of Water heard that Kirigakure suffered heavy losses in the last war, so he wants to allocate a special sum of money to help our Kirigakure ninja get married and have children."

"This... isn't this a good thing? Is there anything special about it?" Although the daimyo of the Land of Water isn't usually such a gentle person, this sounds quite normal.

Chapter 509

"Yes...the more children there are, the stronger the village will become...but you're already this age and still not married, it's really a bit..."

“It was because of the war before, so that’s fine, but now… that’s why he hopes you can get married before next year.”

"Of course, if you don't have a suitable husband, His Highness can arrange a marriage for you."

Mei Terumi listened to the elder's message in silence, without showing any particular reaction until after the elder left. Only then did worry appear on her face, and she looked at Hiruko.

"I think...it shouldn't come to that yet, right?"

For Kirigakure to actually survive, a union between the two villages is almost inevitable.

Even from a personal perspective, Mei Terumi doesn't have a good impression of the current Daimyo of the Land of Water.

But now, the other party is basically going head-to-head with Hiruko... Regardless of whether there is any affection between the two, their child is the foundation for maintaining the future relationship between the two villages... The Daimyo of the Land of Water wants to... Of course, he may not have thought that much about it, he may simply want to annoy the Mizukage, or from the perspective of his husband's family, strengthen his control over Kirigakure, but... Hiruko's forte is the clash between nations.

He had already crossed two small countries to save her, and later, he resolved the Bird Country issue with just a few words to help her.

Others might really be unable to deal with the Land of Water, but it's hard to say about Hiruko.

"No, of course not... The peace agreement at that time was signed by everyone together."

"I will not break the contract I signed, no matter how unreasonable it may be."

"Moreover, from the perspective of the Daimyo of the Land of Water, I can understand this behavior... Putting aside the facts, our repeated disobedience is, in his eyes, irrefutable proof that Kirigakure is no longer obedient."

He couldn't just stand by and watch the ninja village slip out of his control; he had to do something... regardless of whether it was right or wrong.

"Not immediately resorting to threats of violence is already a sign of great restraint."

"but."

Mei Terumi's biggest fear is this "but".

"We can't—at least not now, I'm begging you!"

Mei Terumi always knew that the chain between Konoha and the Land of Fire was complete, and there was absolutely no chance of winning in a direct confrontation.

Even with the increasingly powerful Hiruko, they couldn't defeat him.

The eventual annexation of the Land of Water and the Hidden Mist Village was almost inevitable.

But even though both involve annexation, there are differences between joining gracefully and being forcibly swallowed with all bones broken.

Both Yagura and Mei Terumi are trying their best to avoid the latter.

No, I won't be angry.

After all, no one is the protagonist in this world.

Everyone relies on their own abilities and accepts their fate.

"But... what if there is someone who possesses absolute violence?"

When Terumi Mei heard Hiruko begin chanting the Bible, she was completely stunned.

……

The Asura Path, who was helping to clear away the ash in the Land of Rain, opened his eyes.

A few days later, Hiruko returned to the Frontier fleet in the Macross world.

Upon returning to the fleet, he first tested whether the permissions previously granted to him by the fleet were still in effect.

Hiruko contacted Catherine through his access privileges. After waiting for about ten seconds, the terminal lit up, and Catherine's face appeared on the screen.

On the screen, Catherine's desk was piled high with documents, and her eyes were surrounded by dark circles, which Hiruko could still spot at a glance, even though she had tried to cover them with makeup.

When Catherine saw Hiruko contacting her on the other side of the screen, her tired face immediately lit up with a look of surprise and joy at the reunion with her friend, and all the fatigue of the past few days vanished.

Catherine's face immediately lit up with a bright smile, as if a ray of sunshine had suddenly pierced through a gloomy sky.

“Hiruko! You’re finally back! It’s so good to see you!” she said excitedly, her voice filled with undisguised joy.

Hiruko returned a sincere smile, "Catherine, although only a few days have passed, it still feels like a long time."

It seems you've been working very hard lately.

He noticed the fine lines around Catherine's eyes and the faint blue under her eyes; even her exquisite makeup couldn't completely conceal the signs of fatigue.