A Hair's Breadth from Death

Ueno Kei hesitated, then stepped forward and glanced at Yuhi Kurenai, who was sadly stroking the pale, bloodless face of Kurama Yakumo.

He hesitated before saying, "Teacher Kurenai, I... I..." Ueno Kei suddenly felt tongue-tied. He didn't know what to say. Comfort Yuhi Kurenai? That would be ridiculous. He was the one who had directly killed the girl.

Apologize? That would be even more absurd. Never mind that if he hadn't killed her, she would have killed him. The girl had already made her deep hatred of Konoha clear.

For a Konoha ninja, killing anyone who opposed Konoha was only natural. There was nothing wrong with it.

Ueno Kei suddenly realized that whatever he said now would sound so feeble and powerless.

Yuhi Kurenai slowly shook her head, her expression sorrowful. Bitterly, she said, "Kei, you did nothing wrong. You don't need to apologize. I'm just... sigh."

Yuhi Kurenai cut Ueno Kei off. She knew that if he hadn't acted decisively, they might both have died here.

What Ueno Kei didn't know was that Yuhi Kurenai had been holding back all along, out of concern—and so she hadn't used her full strength. It was just like Kurama Yeqiong and Kurama Yewu earlier.

They were jonin. Could they really have been defeated so easily by Kurama Yakumo?

Not at all. Kage Level power was like the nuclear weapons of Ueno Kei's previous life: it couldn't be used lightly, and there weren't many of them. That meant jonin were naturally a village's main force.

The number and strength of a village's jonin were direct measures of its military power. Having jonin meant that the village's core forces were solid.

Some ninja villages had only two or three jonin to show for themselves.

So here was the question: even if the monster inside Yakumo was terrifying and contained immense power, could it really take out two jonin in an instant?

It seemed unlikely. Setting aside whether the monster's strength could compare to a Tailed Beast, could a ten-year-old child's body really serve as its vessel and withstand much of its power?

At most, it could probably handle a jonin's worth of chakra.

In the end, they had underestimated her and couldn't bring themselves to act. Both the Kurama Clan and Yuhi Kurenai felt guilty toward Kurama Yakumo: the deaths of her parents, her lonely childhood, and her fate of being confined.

No matter how good their reasons were, those ironclad facts couldn't be changed.

Besides, Yakumo had struck without warning, attacking her uncle and uncle. Kurama Yeqiong hadn't anticipated that her power would suddenly increase, and that was how she'd gotten the upper hand.

But Yuhi Kurenai hadn't been taken by surprise.

Rather, she herself had wanted to atone. Deep down, she'd wondered whether letting Yakumo take her revenge might free her from her hatred—and make the monster disappear on its own.

It sounded almost reasonable, and it reflected Yuhi Kurenai's hesitation, as well as her deep guilt toward Kurama Yakumo.

Ueno Kei watched Yuhi Kurenai in silence. Even he could tell she didn't mean what she'd said.

From an ethical standpoint, he would have understood if Yuhi Kurenai resented him. After all, Yakumo had been her beloved student, no matter what she had done.

That didn't change the close bond between them. But to Yuhi Kurenai, Ueno Kei was just a stranger from the village.

At least Yuhi Kurenai still seemed rational. It looked as if she wouldn't suddenly turn on him and attack. Ueno Kei's concern might have seemed ridiculous: whatever Kurama Yakumo's former status had been, she was now an enemy of Konoha.

As a Konoha jonin, Yuhi Kurenai had no reason to attack someone who had eliminated a potential threat to the village. Still, there were always exceptions.

At least Ueno Kei wasn't the type to trust others easily. Putting his life in someone else's hands on the basis of trust wasn't impossible, but in his case, it would have been laughable.

The unease that had plagued Ueno Kei since he killed Kurama Yakumo eased a little.

As long as Yuhi Kurenai didn't suddenly attack him, he wouldn't care even if she resented him later.

"Teacher Kurenai, shouldn't we..." Ueno Kei fell silent for a long while. Seeing that Yuhi Kurenai still hadn't moved, he asked tentatively.

Yuhi Kurenai let out a soft breath and gently wiped the tears from the corner of her eye.

She said, "Yes. The mission is complete, so we should return to the village."

Yuhi Kurenai took one last look at Kurama Yakumo's body, cut in half. Her expression was complicated. Her thoughts were in turmoil, and, honestly, all she wanted was to be alone for a while. But she knew that some things had to be dealt with immediately.

"I'll check on the two members of the Kurama Clan first. They're important, so if possible, we should take them back to the village." Yuhi Kurenai turned to Ueno Kei, said this, then got up and walked toward Kurama Yeqiong and Kurama Yewu, who lay unconscious nearby.

Ueno Kei nodded slightly.

Yuhi Kurenai went over to the Kurama brothers and examined them. When she found they were badly injured but not in mortal danger, she breathed a small sigh of relief, then bandaged their wounds as best she could.

Ueno Kei glanced at Yuhi Kurenai, his gaze flickering, then turned his eyes to Yakumo's body.

For some reason, Ueno Kei felt a restlessness he couldn't shake, as if something was wrong. Frowning, he tried to figure it out.

What had he overlooked?

No! Ueno Kei suddenly shivered.

He looked around. Everything was still gray and hazy, an endless expanse. The platform beneath his feet was still there.

So the space hadn't collapsed. But the caster had already been killed, hadn't she? He'd never heard of a technique remaining active after its caster died!

Ueno Kei suspiciously glanced at the body of Kurama Yakumo at his feet.

At that sight, Ueno Kei's expression turned ugly.

The clothes were still the same, but the body was no longer Kurama Yakumo's. The face clearly belonged to someone he didn't recognize.

A chill ran through Ueno Kei.

He immediately shouted, "Teacher Kurenai... watch out, Kurama—"

A cold sensation struck Ueno Kei's back. In the nick of time, he jerked to the left. His pupils contracted as he let out a piercing scream.

An unknown tentacle slashed viciously across Ueno Kei's back.

If Ueno Kei hadn't shifted his body slightly, the tentacle would have pierced straight through his left chest.

Even so, Ueno Kei was gravely wounded. It tore a terrible gash across his body, and the impact felt as if it had battered his internal organs. He spat out blood with a wet gasp.

An ordinary person would have died on the spot.

As a ninja, Ueno Kei was much sturdier than an ordinary person, but that couldn't save him from death.

It was only because he had practiced the Wind Wing Heart Technique for years, strengthening his organs and body far beyond an ordinary person's, that he hadn't died instantly. But if too much time passed and he couldn't stop the bleeding, he would still die.