Naruto: Starting as the Third Hokage with Tears in His Eyes

Chapter 628: Betting on Konoha can bring us a completely new Kirigakure!

Her beautiful long brown hair cascaded down like a waterfall, obscuring her right eye and revealing only a bright green eye.

Mei Terumi walked up to Yagura and said in a calm tone, as if inviting someone to have tea, "Lord Yagura, stay away, or you'll get caught in the crossfire."

She gently pushed Yagura, then walked alone toward the door that was already nearing its limit.

"Let these skeletons see what melting really means."

Yagura stared blankly at the slender figure heading towards destruction, momentarily lost in thought.

"boom--!!"

With a deafening crash, the steel gate was smashed to pieces. Countless twisted metal fragments shot inward, while outside, the berserkers of the Kaguya clan displayed their ferocious smiles and bone armor gleaming with a ghastly white light.

"Hahaha! Found you, little mice!"

"Crush them!"

The leader, a Kaguya clansman with two thick bone spurs growing from his shoulders, was the first to rush in, his target Mei Terumi standing at the front, his eyes filled with bloodthirsty greed.

In his eyes, this woman would be the sweetest trophy of the night.

However, what greeted him was an indescribable heat.

Mei Terumi took a deep breath, her chest bulging, and her hands formed a complex mudra in front of her.

"Lava Release: Melting Monster Technique!"

There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a soft thud.

A thick torrent of magma, shimmering with a dark red light, gushed out from her small mouth.

That wasn't fire, but a truly destructive substance from the depths of the earth, capable of melting everything.

The Kaguya clansman at the very front froze in his maniacal laughter.

He didn't even have time to let out a scream.

The scorching torrent of magma poured down on him, and his prized bone armor, which was strong enough to withstand most ninjutsu, became as fragile as paper in the face of this power.

First the armor, then the flesh, and finally the bones...

Everything was melted and evaporated in an instant.

A living, powerful Kaguya clan ninja was reduced to a sizzling, foul-smelling puddle of mud on the ground in less than a second.

And this is just the beginning.

The torrent of lava continued its relentless advance, sweeping forward in a fan shape and instantly engulfing the seven or eight Kaguya clan members who rushed in afterward.

Inside the shelter's passageways, only the gurgling sound of flowing lava and the chilling, subtle noise of flesh and bone melting could be heard.

The frenzied offensive came to a halt.

The surviving Kaguya ninjas outside the door stopped in terror. They stared at the bubbling mud in the passage, at the slowly extinguishing lava, their bloodlust and fanaticism completely replaced by an emotion called "fear."

"Th-what is that...?"

"monster……"

Inside the shelter, the guards who had escaped death erupted in heavy breathing and suppressed cheers, as if they had survived a catastrophe.

Yagura's pupils dilated as he stared in shock at the girl's back as she stood before the embers of lava.

He knew that Mei Terumi possessed two bloodline limits, but he never imagined that one of them, Lava Release, would have such terrifying destructive power.

This girl, who usually wears a charming smile but can instantly turn dark when the topic of her wedding arises, actually harbors a volcano within her that could erupt at any moment.

Taking advantage of the enemy's disarray, Mei Terumi did not rest for a moment.

She formed the hand seals again, but this time the seals were more complex.

"Boiling Release: Skillful Mist Technique!"

With a single breath, what spread was no longer lava, but a seemingly soft white mist.

But the fog carried a pungent, acidic smell and quickly enveloped the entire passageway and the plaza outside.

"Ah! My eyes!"

"My skin! My skin is melting!"

"It's acid! This fog is corrosive!"

Heart-wrenching screams echoed through the fog.

Unlike melting at high temperatures, boiling causes acid mist that is more corrosive and causes more sustained damage.

It can not only burn flesh and corrode bones, but also completely block vision and perception.

The Kaguya clan's originally well-organized offensive was completely disrupted under the cover of this acid mist, turning into a chaotic mess of headless flies.

"Thump."

Mei Terumi finally couldn't hold on any longer, and knelt down on one knee, supporting herself on the wall beside her with one hand, breathing heavily.

Using two powerful bloodline limits in succession nearly drained most of her chakra.

His face was as pale as paper, and his forehead was covered with fine beads of sweat, but his pupils burned with an unprecedented and dazzling light.

"Ha ha……"

She looked at the chaos she had created outside, a smug smile playing on her lips.

Just then, an angry roar came from outside the acid mist.

"You bitch! How long do you think these little tricks will last? When the fog clears, I'll crush every single bone in your body!"

One of Kaguya Honebami's lieutenants roared in the distance, his voice filled with the fury of being mocked.

Upon hearing this, Terumi Mei let out a cold laugh.

She ignored the other person's shouts and turned to look at Yagura, who was also in shock behind her.

His eyes were incredibly firm, as if they pierced through the flames of war and the thick fog before him, and saw into the more distant future.

"Yakura-sama,"

Her voice was weak, but every word was firm and resolute: "The era of blood mist must end."

Yagura's body trembled.

"That man..."

In Mei Terumi's mind, she saw Hiruzen Sarutobi at the negotiating table, calmly describing the new Kirigakure he envisioned: "The future he showed us, even if it's poison, I'll take a bite!"

She struggled to her feet and extended her slightly trembling hand to Yagura.

"We have no way out."

"Let's take a gamble!"

"We're betting on Konoha; they might bring us a completely new Kirigakure!"

Yagura looked at the unwavering determination in her eyes and at the outstretched hand, as if he were seeing a single piece of driftwood being offered up in a raging flood.

He was silent for a moment, then nodded heavily.

"it is good."

One word encapsulates his entire understanding.

Just as the two reached an agreement, an extreme and suffocating malice descended from the sky!

The top of the Water Shadow Building.

Kaguya Honebami felt deeply humiliated as she watched her elite troops, which she was so proud of, being blocked and even thrown into chaos by a little girl she had never taken seriously.

"waste!"

He let out a beastly roar, and huge bone spikes, like ferocious wings, suddenly grew from his back.

"Can't even handle a woman!"

He suddenly exerted force with both legs, and the tiles beneath his feet shattered with a loud crash.

He shot into the sky like a cannonball, tracing a pale parabola through the air, passing over all the chaotic troops below, and like a meteorite, plummeted straight towards the shelter shrouded in acid mist.

"Let me do it myself..."

"I'll crush your pathetic hopes!"

—From the perspective of Captain Yagura.

The excruciating pain from the severed arm almost made me faint, but I dared not fall down.

I stared intently at the cracked door, with only one thought in my mind: before it shatters, how many bone spikes can I still shield Lord Yagura from?

One? Or two?

Just as I was calculating my final worth, Mei Terumi stepped forward.

I always thought she was just a rich young lady with a powerful bloodline, but whose mind was always on how to dress up and fantasize about her future husband.

Wrong, terribly wrong.

The moment that magma spewed from her mouth, I felt as if I were facing not a woman, but an ancient dragon awakening.

The scorching heat from the passage hit me; I could even smell the bones being burned to a crisp. Those arrogant Kaguya clan members were reduced to pus like insects being trampled.

This is... the power of our Hidden Mist Village?

I was stunned.

Next came the corrosive acid mist.

Hearing the screams coming from outside, I realized for the first time that our Hidden Mist Village, besides its cold blades and bloodthirsty madness, also possessed such... magnificent ways of killing.

When I saw Mei Terumi kneeling weakly on the ground, my first instinct was to rush over and help her up.

But what she said next struck me like a hammer blow to my soul.

"The era of blood mist must end."

"We're betting on Konoha; they might bring us a completely new Kirigakure!"

I stood there, stunned, watching her reach out her hand to Lord Yagura.

At that moment, I suddenly understood.

What we are protecting is not just Yagura-sama as a person, but the future he represents and the future that Terumi-sama hopes for... a future I dare not even imagine.

Just then.

A pure, unadulterated killing intent pressed down from the sky.

I looked up abruptly and saw a huge black shadow tearing through the thick fog, hurtling towards us with an aura of annihilation.

It's Kaguya-sama: Love Is War!

It’s over.

Is the hope that has just been ignited about to be... crushed like this?

The body reacted faster than the brain.

With his only remaining right arm, he mustered the last of his strength.

"Aaaaaah!!"

I roared, turned to face the falling shadow of death, and prepared to use my body to buy them that insignificant, one second.