11

3 Months Later~~~

Terumi Mei arrived home with exhaustion, although her body had been bandaged, the blood that overflowed through it still stained her clothes.

"What's wrong with you? Why are you hurt so badly? Come, lie down and rest, I'll help you change the bandages.!!", Raizel said as he lay her down on the bed.

After covering her with a quilt, he turned around and headed for the shower, took a basin of water, and came over to help Mei clean her face.

"What kind of civilian... are you", She said hoarsely, "You even know how to treat someone"

Raizel kept his face stoic as he continue to wipe off the blood, "I grew in a slum of the bloody mist. It's the basic requirement for someone like me"

"Yeah. It's tough for everyone", she said and weakly closed her eyes, letting Raizel wash her face.

"Let's go to the hospital", Raizel said and tried picking her up

"No... Medical ninjas are very scarce and cannot receive too many patients. One less patient... means one more gets to live another day"

Raizel hands paused for the first time, and then he continue wiping the blood off her hands. His emotions could not be more complicated.

"... Raizel... I am tired... really tired. Things are getting worse and worse with Yagura... He is getting more and more restless. I don't think we will win against him... What do you think? when will it end?"

These words were just words for Raizel, but for her... these words meant everything. Raizel felt a kind of unwillingness and longing from her words.

"I don't know; maybe someday", Raizel said as he continue wiping the blood, "Maybe you will be the one to finish it, maybe someone else will...

"Maybe it won't end", Mei said as her eyes teared up, "Help me take a shower"

Raizel nodded and made her sit up as he help her to the bathroom while loosening her clothes knots. She can remove these clothes with just a simple touch now. He waited outside in case she fall inside.

And she did. In an instant, exhaustion rushed in like a tide, causing her to fall asleep on the bathroom floor as shower water keeps pouring on her.

He ran inside and picked her naked body and brought her out, he put her down while wiping her body with a wet towel before putting some dry clothes on her.

She barely smiles, "You are quite a gentleman", she said in pain, "Thank you"

...

A week Later~~

After Terumi Mei left, Raizel also get up, walked to the gate, and looked at Terumi Mei's departure figure. After confirming that she really left, he took out a small note from his arms.

"Yin!"

After his call, a goshawk suddenly swooped down and landed on Raizel's shoulder.

"Go, bring this information to Konoha!"

Raizel said as he rolled up the paper and bind it into its claws and then threw the goshawk away.

The goshawk disappeared into the sky.

Raizel nod, and went back to the house, "Wake up", He said to no one in particular.

And the guard assigned by Mei right outside the house to watch over Raizel, suddenly jolts awake, "What happened? Did I doze off... Sigh. He does nothing all day long, it's so boring, no wonder I doze off", The Kiri shinobi muttered in frustration.

...

"Your task today is to attract the pirates. So that we can steal their food, understand?"

Walking on the road, Terumi Mei deliberately slowed down so that Raizel could keep up.

"Why are we doing this again", Raizel asked hesitantly, really afraid of getting involved in this.

Mei looked at Raizel shivering from fear, "I am being investigated by the higher-ups. How else do you think we can get enough food?"

"I don't know... how about go and steal from Mizukage?!... or maybe steal from somewhere else"

She rolled her eyes, "And how do I do that?! I am not a sensor. Mizukage's men will ambush me really fast. And I am not gonna steal food from my own people, they are innocent"

"Then why don't you use that technique where you ninjas transform into others and then attract those pirates yourself!!!"

"It's called transformation technique, and I can't do that because a shinobi was spotted among the pirates time and time again. He might see through my disguise"

Raizel didn't say anything but gritted his teeth, his eyes were full of fear and emotions.

She sighed, "If you are this afraid then we can..."

"I will do it... Even if I am a waste I know that in this cruel village, no one would be willing to adopt a useless waste. I have to stand on my own", He said and kept moving

She smiled a bit and nodded her head, "This is how the world works, I am happy you understand that...!"

He asked looking at her, "Stealing from the weak. Does that makes you strong?"

She nodded, "That's right because they are weak, we are going to kill them so that we can live. We wouldn't have taken the risk if these pirates were strong", She stare at him, "This is how strong feast on weak"

An hour later, the two arrived at their destination. At the end of the island where boats travel.

She looked here and there, "Listen, go with the merchants on the ship, Even if you have a dense and great amount of Chakra. It's not active. If their shinobi comes in person they will immediately figure out that you are a civilian. If that shinobi does not come, you just need to be afraid and they will still identify you as civilian"

She gave him a money pouch, "Travel on that ship, if they do not attack the merchant ship within a week, we will do something else"

Raizel nodded.

"Here, this is all our money, if you can't attract the pirates, we might have to starve, so do not lose it..."

"Wait, what?..."

She was gone, leaving him alone on the edge of the island.

Mei from her hiding place looked at Raizel. She narrowed her eyes, "Is he really not a spy? Was I wrong?", She muttered, "The man I placed to watch over him also came up with nothing"