Yuki Sumi: I Decided to Take My Talent to Konoha

Somewhere in a forest in the Land of Fire.

Mizukage White Lotus was like a furious lion. He never imagined that bitch Hozuki Sakuya would dare defect.

Just now, Hozuki Sakuya had taken advantage of his inattention and frantically fled in one direction.

By the time he and Yuki Sumi caught up, Hozuki Sakuya was near the Naka River, gazing intently toward Konoha.

"Hozuki Sakuya, are you planning to betray the Hidden Mist Village?" White Lotus roared.

"I don't want to betray the village and bring shame upon my clan." Hozuki Sakuya turned to look at White Lotus. "But—I will never return to the village."

"Mizukage-sama, this is the last time I'll address you that way. Kirigakure is conservative, closed off, and terrified of the Will of Fire. The very mention of fire changes your expression. You're afraid. You're afraid that the Will of Fire will awaken Kirigakure's people and make them stop obeying those rotten, dark orders. You fear they will no longer be the blades in your hand."

"Nonsense! What do I have to fear?" White Lotus roared in humiliation and rage as Hozuki Sakuya exposed the side of himself he feared most.

"You fear that we are young." Hozuki Sakuya looked at him with a trace of pity in her eyes. "Today, I chose death, yet I am still young. You may cling to life, but you are already old. Have you read How Konoha Was Built? That line, 'Where the leaves of Konoha dance, fire lives on without end'—have you ever considered why, among the five great shinobi villages, only Konoha is so prosperous? How can Kirigakure not reflect on the Will of Fire?"

"The village's affairs are not as simple as you think—" White Lotus was about to continue when Hozuki Sakuya interrupted

him. "Uchiha