Although Ikeda's will had grown stronger, her personality remained that of the shy little girl she had once been, with little change.
Kurenai Yuhi, sitting beside him, looked at Mirai with a subtle expression. Her gaze was not that of a teacher toward a student, but rather one of appreciation and curiosity toward a peer.
Although Kurenai Yuhi knew that Mirai was very powerful, she had been shocked beyond measure when she heard that he had returned to the village.
Perhaps, after hearing the news about Mirai, ordinary people would think that his greatest achievement had been killing the elite Nagano Shinichiro. After all, one elite Shinichiro and five ordinary Shinichiros would not require much effort.
However, from the perspective of someone as perceptive as Kurenai Yuhi, Mirai's true terror lay in the Rain incident—how he had endured the assault of dozens of ninjas and three others.
Three ninjas—one proficient in ninjutsu, one skilled in assassination, one wielding the Thunder God Sword—along with more than fifty other ninjas. Even an ordinary Shadow-level figure would have felt their scalp tingle when facing such a squad.
Yet Mirai had destroyed such a force all by himself!
Moreover, most importantly, there was the Rain Village. The tolerant demigod Hanzo and Pepper Hanzo were stationed there.
Although Hanzo himself had not appeared for a long time, his remaining influence still kept the other ninja villages from daring to bully Echo Village too severely.
Yet Mirai had escaped unscathed, killing and fleeing. That was not merely a matter of simple strength.
Furthermore, she clearly remembered that when Mirai had fought Zhang, he had also been pushed into battle, and in the end, he had used a trick to kill Zhang.
However, that situation had been even harder to handle than Nagasaki. In other words, Mirai