"Who is this person?" Mei Terumi asked Ao beside her as she gave chase.
Ao shook his head, his expression grave. "I don't know. He's been hiding underground the whole time. I never saw his face."
Mei Terumi asked, "What about his abilities?"
Ao said, "So far, I've only seen him extend his arms at will. I suspect he can lengthen any part of his body, and he also has a sword with a will of its own."
With that, Ao turned and pointed toward Chōjūrō.
Mei Terumi looked in that direction and saw Chōjūrō trading blows with an agile sword, neither side gaining the upper hand.
"That sword...! Could it be the Kusanagi Sword... the Void Longsword?"
"The Kusanagi Sword?" Ao was startled. "I remember that being Orochimaru's sword, wasn't it? Could this mysterious person be her?"
Kirigakure had had a particular fondness for famed swords ever since its founding. The Mizukage had a habit of collecting them, and the Secret Technique chamber held records of all sorts of ancient famed blades. Yet the divine weapons of the Kusanagi Sword series had always eluded their grasp.
Mei Terumi pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
"It's too early to draw conclusions. We've never fought Orochimaru, so we can't be sure which Kusanagi Sword she uses. Legend has it there are eleven in total. The most powerful is the Totsuka Blade, while the sharpest and most convenient is this Void Longsword..."
Despite saying that, Mei Terumi had already begun to suspect deep down that this mysterious person was Orochimaru...
But she did not want to admit it, at least not in front of Ao...
After all, she now shared the same status as Orochimaru...
They were both Xia Yu's wives.
As a member of the "same family," Mei Terumi