CH_154

Raimei had long since overheard others' discussions in secret—

The current Mizukage seemed to wish for more "trash" to die in Kirigakure, keeping only the cold-blooded strong who were loyal to the Mizukage…

If you didn't take sides, in some people's eyes, you might not be an enemy for the moment. But you weren't one of them either—just a spectator, a fence-sitter… even a potential political rival, no matter how little influence you had.

Anyway, people with darkness in their hearts saw darkness in everything. Especially the Fourth Mizukage, who implemented that reign of terror…

Thinking of Karatachi Yagura, who hadn't shown his face in a long time, Raimei felt a bit disheartened.

Tōji hadn't told Raimei that the real person in charge of Kirigakure was someone else entirely… If Raimei knew, he'd have fled as far as possible without a second thought!

…

…

Another two hours of that "leisurely" chase passed, and Tōji was starting to go numb.

He stopped "chatting" with Raimei too. He just guarded against a possible sneak attack from Raimei while continuing to swim…

"Hm?"

Tōji suddenly sensed something—Raimei behind him seemed to be falling behind.

He glanced back…

Raimei had actually stopped.

"Brother, done chasing?" Tōji stopped too and turned around.

"Can't chase anymore. If I keep going, I'm still dead either way." Raimei's tone was a little disheartened.

"Just go into hiding. Your people in Kirigakure don't have the time to bother with missing-nin." Tōji could still chat with an enemy like this, mainly because there was no deep hatred between them.

At least Raimei hadn't actually hurt Tōji—far friendlier than those life-or-death "exchanges" on the battlefield.

Tōji wasn't the type to kill every god he met anyway—getting himself injured would be even stupider… So it was best for them to part ways and forget each other.

"Never mind. This is the first time I've met a shinobi like you." Raimei's tone shifted, now carrying a sense of release. "You never intended to fight to the death from the start. And now, you're confident you could kill me, yet you still advise me to defect."

In the early hours of the morning, Tōji couldn't make out Raimei's expression from that distance. But he could genuinely feel that the last trace of killing intent had vanished completely.

"We're both shinobi. Killing is more of a mission for us, not because we enjoy it. I became a spy because I had no choice—if given the option, who would want to do this…" Tōji rarely shared his honest thoughts with a stranger.

After a brief pause, Tōji added self-deprecatingly, "Konoha trains its shinobi differently from Kirigakure, so I can still be someone who's tired of killing. Of course, I can also kill without blinking—because I'm a shinobi!"

"A shinobi who prioritizes running away, huh, hahaha." By now, Raimei had probably abandoned his identity as a Kiri-nin in his heart, so his mindset was completely different.

"Come on, you're no better than me—you're already thinking about running away too." Though Tōji was still quietly on guard, he'd already stopped treating Raimei as an enemy as much as possible.

"What a pity…" Raimei's words might not have been meant for Tōji, but Tōji could hear them.

With that, Raimei swam off toward the northwest…

"What's there to pity…" Tōji felt that as long as you lived, you'd keep accumulating new regrets. Saying "what a pity" was just superfluous.

With no pursuers for the moment, Tōji continued swimming slowly westward…

In this vast ocean, there wasn't a single place to rest nearby. And aside from the tool pouch he'd "picked up" from the dead man and two Soldier Pills, he had no supplies at all.

『Looks like I'll be eating raw fish for the next few days!』

Tōji had already forgotten about Raimei, who'd just been chasing him, and still believed Kirigakure had no time to bother with him.

At this moment, he actually had the leisure to worry about his meals.