Life was no more important than anyone else's, but in one's own eyes, one's life was more important than anyone else's.

Ye Zi did not know whether Orochimaru had been paying attention to the battle on his side. But whether he had or not, Ye Zi had no spare energy to inform him that they were already fleeing. Besides, he did not believe Orochimaru would be held back given his strength. Even that rock lizard, whose size was no smaller than Manda's, had only barely managed to keep him occupied.

They had been cautious on their way in, and they were just as cautious on their way out. The former was to avoid being discovered, while the latter was to avoid being injured.

In such a difficult situation, even being struck by a single kunai would cause everything to collapse.

They could not stop. Even their counterattacks and attacks had to be carried out without slowing down. Relying on nothing but a single blade and an intense desire to live, Ye Zi became a sharp blade, cutting through their encirclement with flawless precision.

No one could stop him.

Anyone who obstructed his path forward ultimately became a mangled corpse in the wind.

That blade, whose cold edge still gleamed in the thick, ink-black night, was carved into the minds of the Stone ninja and Ash ninja.

No matter how they threw themselves forward one after another, no matter how little they cared for their lives, they could not stop Ye Zi's blade, which was filled with fierce determination.

"I can't die..."

He silently repeated those words. Even when his hands were so weak and sore that he might lose his grip on the blade at any moment, even when his vision was covered in blood, he still swung every strike with all his strength. Only then would the obstacles lessen. Only then could he make the enemies truly feel his resolve...

His resolve to break through!

Ye Zi charged at the very front, while the pressure on Kushina and Kotoha was negligible. As they watched Ye Zi cut every obstructing enemy in half, they felt his will to survive even more keenly than the enemies did.

It could be considered a manifestation of his fear of death, but no one could say that he was overly afraid of dying.

Even enemies who had been utterly fearless of death finally lost their nerve.

There were some people whom one truly could not withstand. Not even dragging out their footsteps was possible.

Stepping over blood and corpses, Ye Zi left behind a trail of blood and terrified gazes as he led Kotoha and Kushina out of the Land of Ash. The ambush that had turned an unplanned operation into a planned one ended in failure.

The people responsible for meeting them at the Land of Grass border were shocked when they saw the three covered in blood and hurried over to greet them.

The Grass ninja present looked at Ye Zi, whose body was almost entirely covered in thick blood. They felt no physical revulsion whatsoever. Instead, they gazed at the youth with deep respect.

Whether that blood, so thick it seemed impossible to wash away, belonged to him or his enemies, the mere fact that he could still stand there was enough to earn their respect.

The people sent to receive them had many things they wanted to say and ask. But when they saw Ye Zi hunched over, stubbornly refusing to fall, as well as Kushina and Kotoha, who were exhausted and dazed, they could not bring themselves to say another word or ask another question.

Orochimaru's squad's first high-difficulty mission ended in failure.

The following morning, Orochimaru returned to the territory of the Land of Grass. He was utterly exhausted, but had not suffered a single injury.

The enemies who had failed to surround Ye Zi and the others had not lost their will to fight. After returning to the battlefield, Orochimaru became their sole target. Under an assault that could be said to have drawn upon the strength of an entire small nation, Orochimaru still managed to retreat unscathed. He truly lived up to the name of the Sannin.

After returning, Orochimaru merely announced that the mission had failed. In the days that followed, perhaps because he wanted Ye Zi and the others to recover in peace, he remained silent.

Once Ye Zi and Kushina had mostly recovered from their injuries, he prepared to demand an explanation from the highest-ranking official in the Land of Grass. But the Land of Grass gave him an explanation even faster.

They paid the full reward.

It was a simple explanation, but it silenced all discontent.

The purpose of accepting a mission was the reward. Now that the reward was in hand, what meaning did any dissatisfaction hold? And since dissatisfaction was meaningless, what meaning was there in investigating whether the information had been leaked, or whether it had been leaked deliberately?

At the time of parting,

Kotoha came before Ye Zi and said calmly, "I owe you my life."

Ye Zi looked at her. Not a trace of the girl he had met the first time remained. That lively young girl seemed to have been left behind on that sorrowful night. Like him once, after the great fire that night, she had grown as if she had suddenly awakened—without reason, and with a chilling ruthlessness.

"You should thank your father. I should thank him too." His tone was just as calm.

That night, he had endured torment of both mind and body before finally breaking through the encirclement, leaving behind a trail of blood and mutilated corpses. Ultimately, he had to thank Miki for the Dotonjutsu she had unleashed by exhausting the last remnants of her life.

Without that fierce wind, their lives would have withered away in the depths of the night.

A trace of sorrow flashed through Kotoha's eyes before they quickly returned to the stillness of dead water.

That expression, that gaze...

Ye Zi felt as though he were looking at his former self.

"Living is the most important thing. Those were the words someone important to me once said." He did not want to remember, so he decisively turned around and followed Kushina and Orochimaru, who were waiting for him.

Living was the most important thing...

A ray of light suddenly flashed through that dead stillness.

"We'll meet again!" Kotoha shouted at Ye Zi's back.

Ye Zi did not turn his head. He merely said silently in his heart, "Of course."

One day, he would return to that place, and so would she.

The injuries he had suffered there would have to be repaid.

She wanted to reclaim the price of her sorrow.

And he was merely a beast that always repaid every grievance.