My Villainous Life Starting with Naruto

Chapter 32 The Other Side of the Ocean

Kaoru Asano held a pestle and vigorously pounded the seeds.

The copper-colored oil was slowly extracted with the female ninja's movements. Twenty seeds could only produce an oil as fine as a strand of hair. Asano Kaoru carefully collected it and actually accumulated half a bowl.

Tap, tap, tap.

The knocking sounded, and the female ninja knew who was standing outside just by the rhythm of the knock.

"Come in, the door's unlocked."

With a creak, Takeda Seigen entered the house and locked the door from the inside.

Kaoru Asano didn't turn around and continued to use brute force to extract oil from the seeds:

"Captain, it's impolite to enter a female subordinate's room in the middle of the night."

"Ah..." Takeda Seigen murmured in confusion, trying to use a normal tone:

"What are you doing?"

"Oil extraction".

"You're fascinated by all sorts of flower and plant seeds, but this is the first time I've seen you interested in oil."

"These are the seeds of the [black palm flower]. They're not pretty and don't smell very nice, but their oil is extremely useful... You can rub it on metal to prevent it from rusting."

Takeda Seigen paused slightly, then touched the chakra dagger tucked behind his back:

"For me?"

"For the pigs."

The man's lips curled up slightly unconsciously, and the cold-heartedness he had forced himself to maintain before entering the room vanished.

He remained silent for a long while, then said softly:

"Come with me."

Asano Kaoru put down the pestle, stood up, and without any awareness of being a spy, followed Takeda Seigen out.

They walked for a long time, leaving the Akatsuki base, leaving the underground, coming to the surface, disappearing into the boundless rain, and gradually fading into the distance.

Finally, they stopped at the edge of Amegakure.

Takeda Seigen turned around, looked at Asano Kaoru's flawless face, and calmly said:

"Kaoru, a ninja from Konoha, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"..." The female ninja remained silent, neither refuting nor responding.

"I thought you would run away." Takeda Seigen frowned. He had deliberately brought Asano Kaoru here, and the village was just a few steps away. The implication was obvious.

He would never stop Asano Kaoru from leaving.

"Where could you run to?" the woman asked, her hair wet with rain, strands of black hair clinging to her fair cheeks like fragile porcelain.

"The three leaders are all very powerful figures."

"This is the edge of Amegakure. The leader wouldn't chase you all the way to the Land of Fire."

"My mission is not yet complete, and even if I return to Konoha, things won't be easy."

"Mission...mission!" A surge of intense anger welled up within him. Takeda Seigen stepped forward, grabbing the woman's shoulders with such force that his nails almost dug into Asano Kaoru's skin.

"Your mission is to assassinate me and then replace me as the organization's number four, is that right? You…"

—Even if it costs you your own life, you must complete the mission and kill me.

Takeda Seigen hesitated for a long time, but still dared not say those words.

He was terrified that the woman would give him a positive answer, which would make his actions today a complete joke.

"Ah... a mission." Asano Kaoru said noncommittally, glancing to the side.

The sky over Amegakure is always an awe-inspiring leaden gray. It's alright during the day, but once night falls, all you can see when you look up is endless blackness, as if the sky has turned into a deep pool.

Those who enter Amegakure are like those who fall into an abyss, never able to leave for the rest of their lives, the female ninja thought to herself, and whispered:

"Stop saying such childish things... Takeda Seigen." She stopped addressing him as captain and looked directly into the man's eyes:

"Who do you think we are? We're ninjas! Killing, spying, waging war... we can do many things, but that doesn't include showing mercy to the enemy!"

"You think I'll thank you for showing me leniency? No, Takeda Seigen, I'll only laugh at your weakness!"

"The Land of Fire and two other great powers have been at war here for many years. Many people from the Land of Rain have died at the hands of Konoha. Conversely, Amegakure has also caused great damage to Konoha's forces."

"I am a Konoha ninja, and you are a high-ranking member of the Amegakure Akatsuki organization."

"No matter how well we get along, it's all an illusion. Once you find out I'm a spy, only one of us will survive!"

"Generations of blood feuds and deep-seated hatred."

"Hatred...is the greatest bond between people in this world."

Kaoru Asano felt the hands gripping her shoulders getting weaker and weaker.

I still hurt his feelings, Xun thought, feeling a pang of sorrow, but miraculously, she felt no fear.

Dying at the hands of Takeda Seigen was an ending that Asano Kaoru could accept.

The pressure on her shoulder disappeared, and the next moment, the female ninja realized that something had suddenly appeared in her hand.

She held it up to her eyes, looked at it, and asked blankly:

"This is……?"

"Seashells." Takeda Seigen's voice was gentle, as if trying to dispel the gloomy, rainy day:

"I've never been to the beach, have you?"

"I don't have any... but what does this seashell have to do with the current situation...?"

Takeda Seigen wiped the water off the woman's face and said softly:

"In a very far place, there is a country called the Land of the Sea."

"That's a remote place even further from the center of the world than the Land of Water. It's made up of islands and has a small population. I heard there aren't even any ninjas there... [Chakra] doesn't favor that place."

"But it is a wonderful place. I have heard from wandering travelers that in the Land of the Sea, the sunlight turns the sand golden and reflects it into the sky, turning the clouds into a golden palace. At the top of the huge, straight trees grows a strange fruit with an outer skin as hard as iron, but inside it is full of sweet juice. There are no ninjas, no wars, only houses built in the mountains and by the sea, and people living happily together."

The man paused, then said in a low voice:

"Let's go to the land of the sea... come with me."

The woman suddenly felt helpless. Even though she had long been an excellent ninja, at this moment, she was as flustered as a little girl who had been caught by her mother stealing candy many years ago.

Many, many years have passed, and Mom and Dad are long gone, but now, the man in front of me wants to give him a clear blue sky again.

Takeda Seigen opened his arms and embraced the woman.

The rainy night was no longer cold.

"Let's go together... leave the country where ninjas live, and go to the Land of the Sea. We've done so much over the years. I don't owe the organization anything, and you don't owe Konoha anything either."

"I have enough connections to get us out safely, but preparing the secret passage will take time."

Give me a day.

"Tomorrow, at midnight, I will be waiting for you under the red sign at Exit 6 of the base."

"Let's leave together, to the land of the sea, to that wonderful place where the beaches are full of sparkling white seashells."

"Kaoru, give me a chance, and give yourself a chance... okay?"

In the dark, rainy night, I don't know how much time had passed.

The woman closed her eyes, nodded, and wrapped her arms around the man's waist.

Her voice trembled slightly, as if she were on a grand escape.

"Um."

(End of this chapter)