The Dilemma of Mist Village

Kou continued with a tone of disdain:

"The truly wealthy and powerful wouldn't be caught dead in a dive like this."

"They target people who come to places like this—people with a bit of money, the kind whose disappearance wouldn't cause much of a stir."

"While these thugs aren't even a nuisance to us—at most, they're just bugs on the side of the road that we could squash without effort—they operate in groups. If something goes wrong, it's bound to cause a scene."

His gaze settled on Mei Terumi's face, and he lowered his voice to offer a reminder:

"For the sake of our mission's discretion, it's best to avoid such trouble if we can."

Kou rested his chin on his hand, observing the now-silent Mei Terumi, and added with a hint of mockery:

"In Konoha, this is the kind of basic material taught at the very beginning of the Ninja Academy."

He paused, his tone shifting to something that sounded almost like "comfort":

"Though, it's normal that you wouldn't know. After all, the only people who need this kind of knowledge are those on infiltration or intelligence-gathering missions—tasks where you must maintain a disguise and are strictly forbidden from causing a disturbance."

"As far as I know, most of the mission orders the Mist Village receives are essentially assassination or slaughter jobs—the kind that are grueling and pay poorly. It's natural that your academy doesn't teach it; even if they did, you wouldn't have much use for it. You'd be better off spending that time practicing ninjutsu just to survive your next mission."

Mei Terumi lowered her head in silence.

Her gaze fell upon the wood grain of the tabletop, and something churned within her emerald eyes.

It wasn't anger, nor was it shame; it was something deeper... bitterness.

Her fingers curled slightly, her nails scratching against the table to produce a faint sound.

The gap.

From Kou's words, she felt the immense chasm between the Mist Village and Konoha.

She knew clearly that there was a massive disparity in the level of ninja education between the Mist and Konoha.

To be precise, Konoha was far ahead of the other great nations in the ninja world when it came to foundational education.

Through three consecutive Ninja World Wars, every major village except Konoha had fallen into a talent gap to varying degrees, yet Konoha had never faced such a problem.

Although Konoha had entered an unprecedented period of weakness due to the Nine-Tails Incident seven years ago, that was only in comparison to its former peak.

Everyone knew that within a decade, Konoha's new generation would grow up, and the village would regain its vitality.

The foundation for all of this, beyond Konoha's own heritage and the strength of its major ninja clans, was the core of it all: an educational system that covered every single civilian-born ninja.

The ninjas cultivated by Konoha were, in terms of comprehensive quality, essentially guaranteed to crush those from other major villages.

This was the cornerstone of Konoha's strength and the key to its enduring prosperity.

Mei Terumi understood this perfectly.

While she felt envious, she didn't find it hard to accept; after all, it was a fact recognized by the entire ninja world.

What truly pained her was the subtext in Kou's words.

The Mist Village was only fit to take the jobs Konoha didn't want—the thankless, grueling tasks of assassination and slaughter.

It stung. It really... stung so much.

Because they could only receive missions related to assassination and slaughter, the Mist Village's Ninja Academy naturally focused on teaching knowledge relevant to those fields, and their training methods were tailored accordingly.

Only in this way could they better complete missions and secure payment.

And because these missions, aside from S-rank and A-rank high-level jobs, were often difficult to complete yet poorly paid, the resources available to low-ranking ninjas were extremely scarce.

To save costs and better utilize resources to cultivate elite talent, the Mist Village had no choice but to adopt a "survival of the fittest" style of education.

They poured more resources into the elites and kept their eyes fixed on high-risk, high-reward mission orders.

The world-renowned elites of the Mist—the Seven Ninja Swordsmen—were, in a sense, the "brand" the Mist Village promoted to attract more mission orders.

The Mist Village had indeed succeeded on this path.

In the ninja world, whenever someone mentioned gray-area missions involving assassination or slaughter, the first thing that came to mind was the image of a Mist ninja.

But what... was the cost?

The overly extreme path led to the Mist Village receiving an extremely narrow range of missions, turning the entire village into a factory focused on how to execute those gray-area tasks more perfectly.

The philosophy of mission-first, the slaughter of one's own comrades, the increasingly oppressive atmosphere, ninjas driven to madness in extreme environments, and the high-ranking officials who profited from it all and obstructed change to maintain their grip on power...

The Village of the Bloody Mist.

The twisted path the Mist followed ultimately led to the tragedy known as the "Bloody Mist."

To reform, one must destroy the existing order, and after destroying that order, one must rebuild a new one.

But if the Mist Village were no longer the Village of the Bloody Mist, and no longer lived off those gray-area missions, how would it survive?

Once the "reputation" of the Village of the Bloody Mist was gone, what would the new Mist Village rely on to compete with other major villages for mission orders?

It all seemed to form a circle—a dilemma that was impossible to untangle.

Mei Terumi did not believe she had the ability to solve this predicament.

At least for now, she... could not.

But there was one person who could.

Sora, Shiina Sora!!

The comrade she trusted and admired, who was also their leader.

That man, born of the Mist Anbu and recognized by every one of them, had already led them through one seemingly insurmountable predicament after another.

"If it were him, he would surely be able to do it. As long as we are together, we will surely be able to."

Mei Terumi murmured softly in her heart, a flicker of flame dancing within those emerald-green eyes:

"As long as we work together, one day, the children of the Mist will also be able to choose their own paths."

Her fingers slowly relaxed, and those tightly clenched hands now lay flat upon the tabletop.

Mei Terumi straightened her back, the light in her eyes becoming resolute once more.

"It will be possible. It will... surely be possible."

Outside the window, the mist continued to churn, and the clamor within the restaurant surged like a tide.

Kou watched the silent woman across from him, a flicker of complex emotion flashing through his black eyes.

He knew what she was thinking.

He knew everything.

But Kou merely picked up his water glass, took a sip, and said nothing.

On the table, the steam from the ramen swirled between them, slowly swallowing the words that could not be spoken.