Sage Mode

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The news of Long Ye's execution soon spread throughout Konoha, causing a huge uproar.

The three who found it hardest to accept reality were Rin, Obito, and Kakashi.

Even after seeing the charred corpse and the Lightning Branch Sword, the three of them still refused to believe it.

Especially in Rin's eyes, Long Ye had been eternally undefeated. He had never even been injured when facing any opponent, so how could he have died for no apparent reason?

But after the Hokage and Konoha's higher-ups repeatedly corroborated the news and announced that his death had been caused by poisoning, the revelation dealt a devastating psychological blow to the three of them.

Rin was affected the most. In just three days, she had grown visibly thinner. Her lively personality had vanished, leaving only a lifeless, gloomy emptiness in her eyes.

Within a few short days, news of Shisui and Lightning Flash—who had once created miracles on missions and shaken the entire Shinobi World during the Third Shinobi World War—dying one after another reached the desks of the four nations' Kage.

Some were happy, while others were saddened.

Whether it was Shisui or Lightning Flash, either one represented a formidable force capable of intimidating any nation. Now that both had died, the higher-ups of the other countries naturally took pleasure in their misfortune.

There was, however, one exception: Mei Terumi, the Mizukage of Kirigakure.

Holding the intelligence delivered by her subordinate, she stood there in a daze for a long while before finally muttering, "Impossible."

But after her personal guard Ao confirmed again and again that the intelligence was accurate, she seemed to lose her soul. Scene after scene of the two of them traveling to the Land of Snow replayed in her mind.

The rain fell especially heavily in the