He didn't want to hear those damn orders anymore. He didn't want to go to war for the interest groups behind the ninja just because of some bullshit about the Will of Fire. He didn't want to fight powerful people who could take his life,
and he definitely didn't want to kill children around his age who were forced to fight each other for that same rotten reason. Some of them weren't even ten years old!!
Run—that was the most powerful thought in Kou's mind at the time.
It was pathetic. Truly pathetic.
But after seeing the cruelty of the battlefield with his own eyes, he had had that "pathetic" thought, and the intense emotions it brought on had awakened his Three Tomoe Sharingan.
With those eyes, he had seen how the chakra in the Third Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode worked.
The flow of chakra, the contraction of muscles, the conversion of energy... Everything had become crystal clear to him!
Though, with the mind he'd had at the time, there was no way he could fully understand it...
After that, his mind in a complete jumble, he had witnessed the Third Raikage's death from exhaustion with his own eyes, then returned to Konoha with the mission of reporting the intelligence.
Back then, he had been all alone. With only one thought in mind, he had shut himself away and thrown himself into research, relying on that scrap of inspiration in his head.
At the time, he had only one thought—run.
Be faster than everyone else, so no one could catch him.
Only then could he survive. He had to survive!!
After a stretch of isolated research that even Kou himself had no idea how he got through, he had used only his rudimentary studies of the Third Raikage's Lightning Release Chakra Mode to create a jutsu of his own.
Lightning Release: Swift Thunder. Its rank was... A-rank.
The jutsu's principles and effects were simple. It took inspiration from how Lightning Release Chakra stimulated the body in the Lightning Release Chakra Mode, activating the body and granting it extreme speed.
Differences in chakra flow, combined with the control provided by Hand Seals, meant it placed less demand on the user's physical strength. But it demanded greater reflexes, chakra control, and knowledge and mastery of Lightning Release Ninjutsu, making it extremely difficult to learn.
And the results were unmistakable—fast, unbelievably fast!
It had even earned the heartfelt praise of the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, who had once fought the Kumogakure A-B Combo.
At the time, he couldn't help wondering, "Could I really be a genius?"
But what happened later proved that it had merely been a miracle that had come his way...
(The chakra secreted by his brain to evolve the Sharingan: Kid, that brain doesn't belong to you!!)
In an instant, Kou was back in the Mist Village.
He climbed through the open window into his home, then glanced at the clock on the wall.
Fifty kilometers from the cave to the Mist Village. Seven seconds.
"Seven seconds..."
He silently calculated,
"Looks like I'm still just a little short of surpassing the Fourth Raikage at full power, with his charge maxed out."
"Well, add an Eight Inner Gates buff, and I should be about there..."
He murmured to himself and started toward the bedroom, but suddenly stopped as if he had sensed something.
His gaze swept across the living room. Then he quickly walked over to the sofa and sat down, casually snatching a book off the coffee table. He opened it to the first page and began to read with exaggerated seriousness.
His posture and expression made him look just like a middle-aged man waiting for a guest to arrive.
A moment later, a swirl of space warped into existence in front of him.
A man wearing the Akatsuki's Black Cloak with Red Clouds and an orange Spiral Mask stepped out of the distortion.
His foot hit the floor with a dull thud.
"Hey, you're later than I expected, Prison Soil."
Kou pretended to lift his eyes from the book's first page, then flashed Obito a roguish grin.
There was a hint of teasing and smugness in that grin.
Obito looked at Kou's familiar, punchable face. Beneath his mask, the corner of his mouth twitched.
He had planned to put Kou in his place on instinct, but then he glanced at the book in Kou's hand and choked on his words.
His gaze froze on the cover.
Kou immediately sensed that something was off.
He frowned slightly, some of the nonchalance fading from his eyes.
"What's wrong? Been coughing so much you've busted a lung?"
Obito didn't snap back. He just gave an awkward cough, then exchanged a knowing look with him.
"...No. I just didn't expect you to be into this kind of thing too."
His voice sounded stiff, like he was trying to hide something.
"Huh?"
Kou seemed to realize what was going on. He lowered his head and looked at the cover of the book he'd picked up without thinking.
It was a magazine. On the cover was a stylish young girl with a bright smile and clear eyes. Beside her, a few large words were printed:
"Fashionable Girl Photo Collection: Models must be... girls between the ages of twelve and sixteen?!!"
Kou's eyes slowly, slowly widened.
"Wait, what?!"
His voice rose a few notches, his handsome face completely bewildered.
"I don't remember buying this! Who left it in my house?!"
He turned the magazine over and over, as if trying to make sure it wasn't some kind of genjutsu,
Meanwhile, at Mei Terumi's home
The bedroom was softly lit.
Mist billowed outside the window, filtering the moonlight into a hazy white glow.
Mei Terumi wore a pale purple nightgown. It was loose and comfortable, but did nothing to hide her curvy figure.
Her face still retained a hint of youthfulness, a striking contrast to her mature figure.
She stretched languidly, then picked up her pen and finished the last letter at her desk.
She stood and walked over to the bookshelf, intending to pick up the magazine she'd loved as a girl and make up for the youth she'd spent buried in training and missions.
Her fingers swept across the shelf, past one book, then another, then a third...
"Hm? That's strange. Why is one missing?"
She murmured to herself, a trace of confusion flashing in her emerald eyes.
"Did I leave it at Sora's place when I visited him?"
She thought it over. She had brought a few magazines with her the last time she'd gone to Sora's home to discuss something, intending to flip through them while she waited for him.
She'd left in a hurry, so perhaps she'd forgotten them there.
"Well, I'll ask him for it after I finish this trip!"
She chuckled softly, her smile full of relief and anticipation.
She took a magazine from the shelf and held it in her hands, then nestled into the soft blankets and began reading with relish.
The mist outside continued to billow, and the night remained deep.
At that moment, at Kou's home
Kou lifted his head and met Obito's meaningful gaze.
"I'm done for..."
Kou silently murmured to himself, his eyes vacant.
"Kids, your Uncle Kou here might have just suffered a tiny bit of social death..."
(There's another chapter today—three updates in total.)
Before you continue