Make Your Own Choices

County Magistrate Morimura stared blankly at the two corpses on the ground, feeling his hands and feet go cold and his head grow light; he stumbled, nearly fainting on the spot.

Someone nearby hurried to steady him.

"Thank you, Dire Wolf," Magistrate Morimura said reflexively.

"My lord, I am not Dire Wolf."

Magistrate Morimura turned his head to lock eyes with a strange samurai.

Only then did he snap back to reality.

Dire Wolf was already dead.

Biwa Juzo and Raiga Kurosuki were also dead.

Magistrate Morimura's eyes were frantic as he raised a hand to point at Lin Qing: "How could you... how dare you!"

These were members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, high-ranking figures of Kirigakure.

If one could argue that Lin Qing's slaying of Suikazan Fuguki was controversial in the public eye due to the exposed human trafficking, then storming the magistrate's residence to brazenly execute two more of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen was, in the truest sense, declaring war on Kirigakure.

Furthermore, with deaths occurring within his jurisdiction, he would inevitably be implicated, and his political career—

Magistrate Morimura's train of thought came to an abrupt halt.

A shadow loomed over him.

Thud.

The Blade of Ruin slammed into the ground beside the magistrate's feet, causing the earth to tremble; the few samurai guarding him were so terrified they collapsed to the floor.

Magistrate Morimura saw a pair of boots. He stiffened and raised his head, but before he could fully meet Lin Qing's gaze, a hand grabbed him by the hair.

"Ah—!"

Magistrate Morimura let out a scream like a slaughtered pig.

It must be said that a life of luxury had given the magistrate a sturdy constitution; his scream was full of vigor, loud enough for half the county town to hear.

Heads poked out from behind window shutters, mouths agape, watching as Magistrate Morimura was dragged by his hair like a stray dog.

Because of the previous vortex, a large open space had been cleared. Lin Qing tossed the magistrate into the center of this clearing, the power of the Ripple shimmering at his toe as he kicked him.

Magistrate Morimura was filled with shock and fear; his body felt as if it were possessed, uncontrollably forced into a kneeling position. He lowered his head, his only mobile eyes wide with terror, his forehead beaded with fine sweat.

This...

This was clearly the posture of someone waiting for a second to decapitate them during seppuku!

Just then, the sound of chaotic footsteps approached from afar, and a line of torchlight drew near.

It was the samurai garrison coming to provide support. At a glance, there were one or two hundred men, with the accountant leading the way.

"Stop!"

The accountant's eyes were red with anxiety:

"You cannot kill him!"

Magistrate Morimura chimed in repeatedly: "Yes, yes! You cannot kill me!"

"Why can I not kill him?"

Lin Qing's gaze swept over the corpses of Biwa Juzo and Raiga Kurosuki.

He had already killed these two; what was one official from a remote county town?

"It is different!"

The accountant strode forward and said: "Killing a ninja and killing an official are two entirely different matters!

You killed two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, which merely makes you an enemy of Kirigakure.

But if you kill Magistrate Morimura, an official personally appointed by the Feudal Lord, you are declaring war on the entire Land of Water!

You must understand, Kirigakure is merely a ninja village. With a single word from the Feudal Lord, it could be renamed the Village Hidden in Water or the Village of Mist tomorrow.

But the Land of Water and its Feudal Lord will never change."

The accountant walked up to Lin Qing.

"Once you kill Magistrate Morimura, it is an act of true treason!"

"You have done enough today."

"Stop now."

The accountant had made it very clear.

The Land of Water and Kirigakure were not on the same scale.

Kirigakure was merely a blade, while the Feudal Lord was the one who wielded it.

No matter how many ninjas Lin Qing killed, the Feudal Lord of the Land of Water wouldn't even blink, but killing Morimura meant touching the Feudal Lord's own interests.

One had to remember that even in this barren land, Magistrate Morimura managed to provide monthly tributes to fill the national treasury.

If a talent who shares the burdens of the Feudal Lord of the Land of Water were to be killed, the Feudal Lord would surely be heartbroken.

"Do you hear me! Lin Qing, if you kill me, it will bring endless trouble! As long as you let me go, I will give you half the gold and silver in the warehouse—no, I will give it all to you!"

County Magistrate Morimura had amassed countless riches; the wealth in his warehouse was enough for a person to live a life of luxury for the rest of their days.

He gasped for air, his eardrums throbbing.

"Are you finished?" Lin Qing asked.

Over a hundred samurai held their torches high, the crimson flames reflecting off Lin Qing's face and into the eyes of the villagers watching from the shadows.

The accountant swallowed hard.

He had spent his whole life calculating accounts and reading human hearts, yet he found he could not calculate Lin Qing's next move, nor could he fathom Lin Qing's thoughts.

"I—"

The accountant opened his mouth, wanting to say something more, when suddenly, a hot, foul-smelling liquid splashed onto his face and flowed into his mouth.

It was blood.

The blood of County Magistrate Morimura.

Thud.

A head rolled to the ground.

Behind every door and window, the residents of the county town who had witnessed the scene let out faint gasps of shock.

That county magistrate who had once covered the sky with one hand had actually...

Died!

A gust of wind whistled by, causing the torches in the samurai's hands to flicker violently, yet not a single one dared to draw their blade.

The corpses of two members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were not yet cold; no one believed themselves to be stronger than Biwa Juzo or Raiga Kurosuki.

The massive blade in Lin Qing's hand exerted an unrivaled sense of oppression just by being looked at; compared to it, their own katanas were like mere toothpicks.

County Magistrate Morimura's head rolled until it came to a stop at the accountant's feet. He wanted to pick it up, but his waist refused to bend; finally, he collapsed onto the ground, cradling the head and weeping bitterly.

"Kill me! Lin Qing, just kill me too!"

The accountant wailed, his peripheral vision carefully observing Lin Qing.

Since begging for mercy was useless, he decided to do the opposite, hoping to find a sliver of a chance to survive.

Lin Qing walked past the accountant: "I will spare your life. Keep this head well-preserved, hand it over to the next county magistrate, and give him a message."

"Wh-what message?"

"Behave yourself."

The accountant watched Lin Qing's receding figure, the three words echoing in his heart. The tears in his eyes gradually ceased, replaced by a surge of complex emotions that finally settled into a heavy sigh.

Behave yourself?

Had County Magistrate Morimura truly been wrong?

Indeed, he had enacted harsh tax laws, but...

Was he greedy?

Most of the money the county magistrate extorted was handed over to the Feudal Lord.

From the perspective of the commoners, life was indeed difficult, but...

Did the commoners count as people?

In the eyes of the powerful and the ninja, commoners were merely a group of foolish livestock capable of producing grain.

Only the Lin Qing before him treated people as people.

The accountant knelt on both knees, bowing his head deeply toward the direction in which Lin Qing had departed.

"Thank you for sparing my life, my lord. Thank you..."

"For pointing out the way."

After Mei Terumi collected the bodies of the two Seven Ninja Swordsmen and retrieved their broken blades, she found Lin Qing in the warehouse of the magistrate's residence.

He was walking out of the warehouse, holding a bag of candied fruit. He ate one himself and tossed another to the horse waiting at the door.

Mei Terumi looked him up and down, confirming that other than the bag of candied fruit, Lin Qing had not taken a single valuable item. She asked in disbelief:

"You aren't taking anything?"

Lin Qing chuckled: "I told you, I am not short on money. Compared to me, you need this wealth more, don't you?"

Mei Terumi fell silent.

She understood what Sasuke had meant.

While she was observing Lin Qing, she was also being observed by him.

The man before her was even more perceptive than she had imagined.

Mei Terumi did not know how to broach the subject.

Once her thoughts and plans were spoken aloud, they would bring a death sentence upon anyone who heard them.

Lin Qing had already stirred up enough trouble as it was.

While she hesitated, something appeared before Mei Terumi's eyes.

It was a candied fruit handed over by Lin Qing.

She took it and bit down.

It was very sweet.

The worries and troubles in her heart seemed to fade away significantly.

"I am going to do something big, I want to..."

Lin Qing glanced at Mei Terumi and finished her sentence for her:

"You want to overthrow the unjust and execute the tyrant."

"You want to kill the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura, and put an end to the Village of the Bloody Mist."

"Am I wrong?"

Mei Terumi's mind went blank; the composure and calculations honed by years of ninja training vanished, leaving behind only one question:

"How did you know?!"