Qi's Desire

"Looks like you didn't lie to me."

In the room, Qi, having just received a report from his subordinates, wore a grim expression. Before him stood Terumi Mei, still looking frail and sickly.

After the Nanaya Clan received news that a patrol from their private forces had been wiped out, Qi dispatched the Root ninja who had accompanied him to investigate. From the battle traces left behind, they immediately identified the attacker.

It was through this information that Terumi Mei finally earned a measure of Qi's trust.

The visitor was none other than the person who had nearly taken Terumi Mei's life in the Land of Water—Sasori of the Red Sands, formerly a rogue ninja from Sunagakure.

To Qi, this was absolutely intolerable. Sasori had actually set foot on the territory of the Land of Fire. It was a provocation against Konoha, and provoking Konoha meant provoking him, because he was one of Konoha's elite jonin.

Whether from the perspective of a transmigrator or that of his current identity as a ninja, Sasori of the Red Sands was a truly heavyweight figure to Qi—a genuine powerhouse and heaven's chosen, no matter which era he was placed in.

Going rogue at fourteen or fifteen might not have been all that impressive, but killing one of the Five Kage before even reaching twenty was not something just anyone could do.

What did that mean? It meant that this guy had completed, in his teens, the entire ninja advancement process that ordinary people could not finish in a lifetime.

Even Qi, with all his absurd advantages, had only managed about as much. He had entered the realm of elite jonin at almost the same age as Sasori.

What kind of prodigy was that? He was practically a monster! A Naruto-version Long Aotian!

In