Han's Origins

Inside the dungeon.

With Mist Shadow leading the way, Liumu and his companion passed trap after trap and finally reached the cell holding Juzo Biwa half an hour later.

"Lord Mist Shadow!"

The door opened, and Mist Shadow entered first. Upon seeing him, Juzo Biwa immediately dropped to one knee and greeted him.

Then crisp footsteps rang out, and Liumu stepped inside as well.

"After being locked up for so long, have you thought things through?" Mist Shadow stood before Juzo, looking down at him as he asked coldly, "Kubikiribōchō will always be Kubikiribōchō. Even if it breaks, it can rebuild its blade through the blood of its enemies. The sword won't change, but the person wielding it can. You should know why you're still alive, shouldn't you?"

Juzo replied, "Of course I know what I owe you, my lord, but..."

As Juzo Biwa spoke, his increasingly turbulent emotions made his chakra begin to seethe violently.

"Anyone but him. He was kindhearted from childhood. He couldn't bear to kill even a snow hare, so I don't want the light in my heart... to go out."

Although Liumu only knew fragments of Juzo Biwa's story, Juzo's feelings weren't difficult to understand if he thought about it carefully.

Under Mist Shadow's leadership, almost everything the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist did provoked outrage from gods and men alike. Take the Kekkei Genkai plan, for example: sending them into an underground prison to slaughter one another was no different from killing them outright.

Even if someone truly survived to the end, so what?

It would only add another emotionless human puppet.

Juzo's hands were stained with sin, but in his eyes, the child he had rescued was the only delicate flower in a vast snowfield. He represented both hope and the last shred of humanity left in Juzo's heart.

Dying for hope wasn't frightening. What was frightening was watching one's hope sink into darkness, little by little.

By then, Juzo was already willing to sacrifice his life. But looking at his resolute expression, the Third Mist Shadow sighed helplessly, then turned and walked to the cell door. With his back to Juzo, he said, "After tonight, you can come out. Kubikiribōchō will still be yours."

With that, Mist Shadow left.

Looking at Liumu before him, a flicker of confusion crossed Juzo Biwa's face.

As far as he remembered, this man wasn't a resident of Kirigakure.

"No need to look at me like that. I came here to ask you about Han."

"Han?!"

"That's right." Liumu nodded, then added, "Her origins."

Liumu hadn't chosen to let Han out of the Time House. In any case, if he wanted, Han could learn everything happening outside through his senses.

"What are you to Han?" As Juzo spoke, a flash of shock suddenly crossed his surprised face.

"Could it be... you're one of her clansmen?"

Liumu: ???

As it turned out, Han wasn't from Kirigakure, but an orphan from an isolated region in the far north of the Land of Water.

Back when Juzo was competing for a place among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, he had happened to stumble into that place while carrying out a secret mission.

According to Juzo's recollections, Han's homeland was a true Ice City. Its people had white hair and white beards, with strong, well-proportioned bodies. Unfortunately, the Ice City had already begun to fall into ruin by then.

Fewer than twenty-odd people remained on that enormous island, and Han was the youngest child among them.

When Juzo was leaving, Han's clansmen refused to leave, but entrusted Han to him to preserve their bloodline.

By the time he returned to Kirigakure, the Kekkei Genkai plan was just getting underway.

It was also then that Han's Ice Release Kekkei Genkai officially awakened.

"Han's parents were already gone when we were in the Ice City, but they left her a small stone box."

"A stone box?" Liumu glanced over and asked, "What stone box?"

Juzo answered honestly, "I don't know. I never opened it. Besides, when I brought Han back, she wasn't even four. To help her truly become part of Kirigakure from the bottom of her heart, I buried that stone box, which represented her past, beneath an ancient tree ten li due east of the village."

"Take me there!"

"Them?"

Outside Kirigakure.

Seeing Kushimaru Kuriarare and the others by the corner of the wall at the village entrance, Juzo immediately turned to Liumu in shock.

"Oh, them." After giving them a casual glance, Liumu replied lazily, "Just some kindhearted people. Without them, I wouldn't have found you."

Under Juzo's guidance, the two arrived an hour later beneath a towering ancient tree dozens of meters tall.

Endless white snow blanketed heaven and earth. Only this ancient tree still displayed the sole sign of life in this world.

After digging out the stone box, Juzo handed it to Liumu.

He looked at Liumu expectantly, seemingly quite interested in what was inside the box as well.

"Stop looking. This isn't mine, and I won't open it either."

As Liumu spoke, the stone box in his hands suddenly vanished right before Juzo's eyes.

"Space-Time Ninjutsu?"

Liumu didn't answer his question.

Looking at Juzo's forlorn expression, Liumu gave a cold laugh and murmured softly, as though talking to himself, "Heaven watches what people do. Some things are destined, just like the Third Mist Shadow said earlier. The sword won't change, but the person wielding it can."

Under Juzo's bewildered gaze, Liumu abruptly turned his head and smiled. "Let me tell you a secret. There's a bowl-cut guy who looks unreliable, but when he decides to turn his back on his clansmen, the seven before him will never be seven again."

Juzo: ???

The wind howled, and white snow filled the sky.

Gales swept across heaven and earth, leaving a thick layer of snow on Liumu.

As he gazed at the boundless snowfield in the distance, he could faintly hear heart-wrenching sobs by his ears.

Liumu couldn't bear to disturb Han. Apart from keeping her company... all he could do was keep her company.

The three-day deadline had arrived.

Minato and the others stood on the shore. Watching the figure racing toward them from afar, they smiled and boarded the boat together.

"Ding! Congratulations to the host for completing the hidden quest 'The Sealed Family Letter.' A timely reward has been triggered. Please select a reward category."

The moment Liumu entered the boathouse, Tsunade caught his small hands and pulled him over to the fire in the center, gently rubbing them for him.

Listening to the electronic, mechanical voice in his mind, Liumu directly selected the summoning beast option.

"Where is she?"

Seeing Liumu alone, Minato, who sat opposite him, immediately asked.

Liumu chuckled and pointed meaningfully at his own head.

Minato: ???

Before leaving, Liumu had told everyone about Han. Now that he had returned alone, they couldn't help thinking that Han had been unwilling to leave Kirigakure and had therefore declined Liumu's kindness.

But...

Only Liumu knew, and this was also what left him most helpless.

Because... girls could really cry. Throughout those two days of travel, the sobbing in his mind had practically never stopped.

So, to quicken his pace, Liumu had simply left her inside.