A Fate Destined to Fall!

"By the way, you left something in my room. I brought it for you." Clang! Riu tossed the blade Xiyang had used last night onto the floor.

Xiyang looked at the blade on the ground, then at the perfectly unharmed Riu, and asked, "You! You... why are you all right?!"

Riu said, "You really aren't stupid. You knew I could phase through things, so you chose to strike while I was asleep. But you probably didn't know that my phasing ability remains active even when I'm asleep..."

"So that's how it is..." Xiyang looked despondent, yet for some reason, a part of her deep inside let out a sigh of relief.

Then she picked up the blade from the floor and fiercely drove it toward her own heart. She intended to take her own life!

Riu narrowed his eyes, stepped forward, and grabbed the blade with his hand!

Blood dripped onto the floor. Riu's hand had been cut open. He asked, "What are you doing?"

Xiyang said, "Now that I've been exposed, there's nothing left to say. I stayed by your side only to find a chance to kill you! Since I couldn't do it, I can only kill myself!"

"Are you afraid I'll go after your sister?"

"At first, yes. But after staying by your side, I realized that a man like you would never harm an innocent girl!"

"Then it's for the village."

"Konoha raised me and taught me. Knowing you might pose a threat to the village, I can't simply stand by and do nothing..."

"The so-called Will of Fire?" Riu murmured, lowering his head.

"And there's something else I still don't understand. What did you mean by what you said to me back then?"

Riu knew Xiyang was referring to his words: "I simply didn't want a woman like you to become a sacrifice of this cruel shinobi world."

"Fine. Look into my eyes!" Riu raised his head. His Three-Tomoe Sharingan shifted into the Mangekyo Sharingan.

The scene before Xiyang's eyes changed.

In Konoha's cemetery, a woman who looked almost exactly like Xiyang was paying respects before a gravestone.

"Captain Yugao, the Fifth has summoned us!" an ANBU man called from behind her.

"I know." Yugao Uzuki put on her ANBU animal mask, then vanished in a flash.

"That's... Yugao? She joined ANBU?!" Xiyang, watching from a distance, looked startled and confused.

"You can go see what's written on that grave," Riu said beside her.

Xiyang walked up to the gravestone. It read: Grave of Gekko Hayate. Erected by his lover, Yugao Uzuki. Year 61 of Konoha.

"Yugao's lover died? Year 61 of Konoha? That's... fourteen years from now?!"

"Now look at that one." Riu pointed at another gravestone nearby, one that had just been visited and still had flowers resting before it.

Xiyang followed Riu's finger and froze.

Grave of Yūhi Uzuki. Erected by her sister, Yugao Uzuki. Year 48 of Konoha.

The vision ended, and they returned to reality.

"Year 48 of Konoha? I... died?" Xiyang's face was filled with shock.

"That's right. Next year, you'll die in an ANBU mission! After you die, your sister will resolve to join ANBU!" Riu said.

"How could you know these things?" Xiyang asked, baffled.

"When the Sharingan's ocular power reaches a certain level, it can even see the future." Of course, Riu would not say that he had transmigrated here, so he casually made up an explanation.

"So you took me away to change the future where I die? A shinobi as decisive and ruthless as you would do something like that?" Xiyang found it hard to believe.

"You can consider it a whim of mine... But honestly, when I saw you truly try to kill me, I was furious. I almost didn't know what to do with you..."

Riu pinched Xiyang's delicate chin and slightly lifted her face, just as he had when they first met. An astonishing force of presence flowed through his gaze, one even more terrifying than Orochimaru's.

Riu studied Xiyang and said, "Your parents died for Konoha, didn't they? They left behind only you and your young sister. You joined ANBU and died young. In the end, your sister followed the same path. Your whole family rushed toward the flames like moths, all for some illusory 'Will of Fire.' Do you think that was worth it?"

"I..." Xiyang was left speechless.

Riu said, "What I despise most is this kind of high-sounding brainwashing! Does Konoha, basking in sunlight, truly have nothing that cannot bear the light? Even the Third Hokage, renowned for his 'benevolence'—answer me!"

Xiyang closed her eyes. She had no strength to refute Riu's words. As an ANBU operative, she naturally had access to the village's darker side. She had merely been too busy struggling onward to consider whether it was right or wrong.

Riu said, "Right or wrong are meaningless questions. Xiyang, tell me: were the days you spent at my side happier, or were the days you spent suppressing your heart and carrying out missions in Konoha's ANBU happier?"

"I don't know about something like that..." Xiyang's gaze flickered. The answer was already obvious.

"You're already a rogue shinobi of Konoha. The shackles on you no longer exist. Why can't you follow what your heart truly wants?" Riu moved close to Xiyang and whispered into her ear.

"Mm!" Suddenly, Xiyang's body trembled slightly, and a flush appeared on her cheeks.

"What's wrong?" Riu asked curiously.

"Your mouth... keep it away from my ear..." Xiyang whispered, her voice as soft as a mosquito's buzz.

Riu seemed to understand. He blew a breath of hot air into Xiyang's ear.

"Ahh~!" Xiyang let out a soft cry, and her face grew even redder.

"I see. Your ears... are they your weakness as a woman?" Riu gave a wicked smile. He raised his hand, pinched Xiyang's earlobe, and gently rubbed it, as though taking revenge for what she had done last night.

"Ah, ah, no... don't do this. Please, don't treat me like this. Please... kill me!" Tears of shyness and humiliation welled in her eyes as Xiyang pleaded.

"Kill you? It won't be that easy!" Riu forcefully pressed his lips against Xiyang's red ones.

Cool and soft, melting the moment they touched...

Riu had not expected that after living seventeen years in the real world, his first kiss would be given to a girl from a two-dimensional world!

But wasn't two-dimensional even better!

Riu gradually became more skilled, and his kiss grew fiercer.

"Mm..." Under Riu's domineering advance, Xiyang's eyes gradually became unfocused. Her right hand... still gripped the blade she had picked up from the floor. Riu's nape was right before her eyes. This was the perfect opportunity to strike.

The hand holding the blade trembled as it rose, but in the end, it fell back down.

Clang!

The blade fell to the floor. Xiyang wrapped her arms around Riu's neck and responded to his kiss with abandon.

"Huff... ha... huff... ha..." When the long kiss ended, Xiyang panted heavily. Her face was flushed, and her intoxicated eyes were unfocused. It was clear just how overwhelming that first kiss had been for her.

"That was impressive, wasn't it? There are even more impressive things to come." Riu raised his left hand and undid the button at Xiyang's collar.

Xiyang did not resist. She closed her eyes. "Can you promise me that you won't attack the village...?"

Riu's hand stopped on the button.

Xiyang opened her eyes and looked at Riu pleadingly. "As long as you promise me, I'll give you my entire world willingly!"

Riu raised his left hand and placed it on Xiyang's cheek, wiping away the tear tracks at the corner of her eyes. Yet he said solemnly, "Xiyang, no one can stop what I decide to do. So I won't give you any false promises. Sooner or later, I will go to the Hidden Leaf Village, because there is something there that I want..."

After saying that, Riu lowered his gaze to the blade by his feet and said, "Also, you didn't make the same mistake a second time just now. That comforts me, Xiyang..."

Crackle! The Lightning Release Chakra that had been gathering in Riu's still-lowered right hand disappeared!

If Xiyang had not put down the blade just now, his right hand would have pierced through her chest without hesitation!

Even if Riu cherished Xiyang, he would not tolerate her murderous intent a second time!

Under Xiyang's stunned gaze, Riu turned and left.

Watching Riu's retreating back, Xiyang slid down against the wall and sat on the floor. She knew... from the moment she put down the blade, her struggle against this man had ended in complete defeat.

"What will happen from now on? Forget it... I don't care anymore..."