Head West!

"Damn it..."

He cursed under his breath, his fingernails digging deep into his palm.

Aikawa Yumi followed behind him, her gaze fixed on Naoki's slightly tense back.

Over the past month, she had grown used to Naoki's silence, to the distance and wariness that always lingered in his eyes. But lately, his silence had been different...

"Anu." Her voice suddenly broke the quiet, sounding faint in the night breeze. "Has that thing in your mind been getting bigger?"

Naoki's steps faltered. He didn't turn around or answer.

Aikawa Yumi quickened her pace and came up beside him, looking up at his face.

"Anu." She called to him again, her voice softer than before but unusually earnest. "Answer me."

At last, Naoki stopped.

He stood there in silence for a long time, so long that Aikawa Yumi thought he was going to answer her with silence again.

"Yes." His voice was hoarse. "It's already more than halfway there."

Aikawa Yumi's smile froze.

She opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that she had nothing to say.

More than halfway.

She understood better than anyone what that meant.

"How could it happen so fast..." she murmured. She reached for Naoki's arm, but he sidestepped her.

Naoki didn't look at her. His gaze was fixed on the darkness in the distance.

"Isn't this the outcome you wanted?"

Aikawa Yumi clenched her fingers.

No. It wasn't.

At first, she really had meant him no good. She'd thought she could profit from Naoki.

She had indeed set him on a path of no return, but if she hadn't, how could Naoki have survived until now? He would've died on the beach long ago, pecked at by fish and birds until nothing remained but a pile of bones.

She had wanted him to become her Anu and stay by her side for the rest of her life. But she'd never expected it to happen so soon—before she was ready, before she'd even gotten what she wanted, she was already afraid of losing him.

Suppressing the emotions rising within her, Aikawa Yumi stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Naoki's waist, pressing her face against his back.

"I'm sorry."

Aikawa Yumi's voice was muffled against Naoki's back, as if it had come from far away.

Naoki stood still, letting her hold him.

The night breeze swept past, carrying the scent of the distant woods and the faint fragrance of her. He could feel her fingers tightening around his waist, the warmth of her cheek against his back, and the slight trembling of her body.

"What good does being sorry do?"

Naoki's voice was unusually calm, as if he were talking about someone else's troubles.

Aikawa Yumi said nothing. She only held him tighter.

After a long time, so long that Naoki thought she wouldn't speak again, she finally murmured, "I'll find a way."

"What way?"

"I don't know." Her voice grew even softer. "But I'll find a way."

Naoki fell silent.

He didn't know whether he should believe this woman.

From the day they'd met, she had lied to him, used him, and manipulated him. She had planted that damned thing inside him, leaving him to live in terror of nightmares every day and pushing him step by step toward the abyss.

But she had also saved him.

Without her, he would've died on that beach long ago.

For the past month, she had cared for his wounds, stayed by his side, and given him shelter when he was at his most desperate.

Naoki had always felt something complicated toward this woman...

"Anu." Aikawa Yumi called to him again, her voice carrying a tentative note. "Do you hate me?"

Naoki didn't answer.

Did he hate her?

He should have.

But when he saw the bloodstains in the tavern and she was nowhere to be found, the first thought that flashed through his mind had been to go look for her...

He didn't know when he'd started caring about this woman. Maybe it was the lazy smile she gave him each day when she brought him food, or the times she barged into his room in the middle of the night and rambled nonsense, or the moment he charged into the castle after she was kidnapped. Maybe it had started even earlier...

"I don't know." He finally spoke, his voice still hoarse.

Aikawa Yumi buried her face against his back and laughed softly.

"Not knowing means... you don't hate me, right?"

Naoki said nothing.

The night breeze kept blowing, and a few night birds called out in the distance.

At last, Aikawa Yumi let go and moved around in front of him, looking up at his face.

"We're not going north. We're heading west!"

"West?"

"That's right. West!"

Naoki's brow furrowed slightly.

He knew a little about the geography of the Land of Hot Water. The country was long and narrow from north to south, with a massive mountain range running through the middle. If they headed west, they would undoubtedly be going into the mountains.

At that thought, he began to understand why Aikawa Yumi had suddenly changed her mind...

Everyone knew that the Land of Hot Water was a beautiful country, but cults were rampant there. The coastal plains were relatively peaceful, but the mountain range that ran through the country from north to south concealed many mountain folk who worshipped cults.

Looking at Aikawa Yumi's breathtakingly beautiful face in the moonlight, Naoki thought, Is that Eerie Buddha Statue finally about to reveal its true face?

At a tavern in Konoha.

Uchiha Inabi lit a cigarette and took a couple of puffs. Then he picked up his cup and took a loud sip of liquor before popping a few peanuts into his mouth.

He had been enjoying this leisurely life for quite some time, thanks to a series of events since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.

From the Uchiha Clan's active participation in the war, to their support for Namikaze Minato's rise to power, to their wise decisions on the night of the Nine-Tails Incident, and finally to Uchiha Naoki's thousand-mile raid on the Southern Border Battlefield, where he destroyed a strategically important supply convoy deep behind enemy lines, allowing Konoha's forces to sweep across the Southern Border—these events had shown everyone in Konoha that the Uchiha Clan had not only distinguished itself in battle but was also willing to make great sacrifices for the village. After all, it was no small feat for five Uchiha to venture behind enemy lines on a dangerous mission and complete it successfully...

On top of that, Sarutobi Hiruzen had actively fueled the praise, promoting Naoki even though he had practically been presumed dead. The Uchiha Clan had nearly become the backbone of the village in Konoha's public opinion, hailed as its most loyal servants.

Under the circumstances, it wasn't just the other Uchiha who had started thinking about more comfortable pursuits. Even Uchiha Inabi, one of the clan's mainstays, had begun to indulge in the pleasures of life.

Uchiha Inabi wasn't a womanizer, but he did worry about the future of the clan.

The Uchiha Clan seemed to be flourishing, but in his view, things weren't as rosy as they appeared.

He didn't understand political struggles, but he knew one thing... No matter how great the clan's reputation in the village became, it still couldn't secure a place among the village's higher-ups.

As he sat drinking alone, several Uchiha wearing Military Police Force armbands filed into the tavern.