Mei gave me a wary look when she managed to recover herself. She stood protectively in front of the small child that she was trying to keep safe.
We may have made a tentative alliance for the moment but she did not know me. For all she knew our alliance died at the moment that he did.
It was a respectable stance to take especially considering the current political climate. The Hidden Mist was many things but sane was probably not the correct word to describe them. Bloodthirsty and frankly idiotic is probably a more accurate statement.
How does a sane government make it a requirement for their trained soldiers to kill each other on their graduation day? They don't would be the correct response to that question.
Obito the fucking nerd that he is really did a number on the Hidden Mist. Or maybe it was Madara playing around with their lives that left them in their current state.
It was rather difficult to gauge a proper timeline with the knowledge that I had access to. The Hidden Mist had its moments but it was certainly not Kohona and it was not the center of the plot.
All I knew about the current climate was that the bloody mist policy was probably still in effect considering Mei's age. Again it was a truly genius plan of slaughtering their best ninjas because of their absurd potentials.
Well, I suppose that's not technically fair most Clan ninjas were mobs but then a majority of ninjas were lesser than them so would you consider them trash?
The fact that they had a super special ability linked to their very bloodline made them better than most. The current political climate made that a detriment as opposed to the positive that it was.
Madara or Obito really wanted to fuck the Mist over here. I could only find some dry amusement in the silliness of it all.
"Well, you don't have to worry about me young lady I assure you I hold no malice in reference to you. The only reason I killed these ones was because they sentenced me to die." I reassured the tense ninja in front of me but I don't think my attempt was appreciated.
The blood dripping down my frame or the death of her own clan members was probably getting to her. At least she didn't strike at me but I had no idea whether that was because she was rational or simply fearful at her current state.
She may have become the victor in her little bout with that Swordsman but she did not come out of it without any scratches. She was far weaker than her current peak and she still had a weak link to take advantage of.
Again she could probably speed blitz me but she also knew that I had other tricks up my sleeve. She was also not the type of ninja to fight hand to hand for the most part.
"Okay if that's the way things are going to go I'm fine with it. I have mine and you have yours and we split ways here." She let out lightly and she slowly started to back away with the child. I gave her a disarming smile filled with teeth which had her flinching.
I suppose it was not quite as disarming coupled with my newfound fangs.
"See that would be the proper decision to make but I'm afraid you've caught my attention." I let out with an amused smile on my face. Obviously she did not take that statement very well and she tensed up much further.
I Imagine she was wondering if she could throw a Ninjutsu at me without her family member being caught in the range.
"I'm not very interesting. Just your average lady just your average Ninja. I'm sure you can find something else to catch your attention." She let out with a determined and firm look on her face.
She may not be ready to fight me but if it came down to it she would do everything in her power to protect her ward. Again admirable but utterly pointless in this case.
"Oh, I'm not a fool young lady. The words average certainly don't apply to someone like you. I'm afraid I have to insist upon us having some sort of discourse." Again I let off with a small smile on my face this time with far less fang.
I may recognize this world and I may recognize the plot and schemes that are happening behind the scenes but this girl represented an opportunity.
She was a leader born and bred. She might consider herself a no-name ninja nothing in the grand scheme of things but her identity was rather special.
Sure there was a certain amount of luck that led to the birth of a truly powerful figure but that luck had to be stroked by potential. Mei was someone with that potential and that was something I found so very interesting.
I was not going to allow her to slip away from my fingers right in front of me. Where would the interest be in that? It'd be far more entertaining to see where this plot goes.
So I had to convince the young lady that I had her best interest in mind. Before she could offer up any more resistance I figured the carrot would be appropriate here.
"Well, I can see that you are certainly tense. I can assure you that I only have your interest in mind but those are rather empty words so I might as well make an offer. Tell me young lady out of all of these corpses who is the most important to you?" I let out with a far more familiar mysterious smile.
The tense mood around Mei increased even further and she was probably assuming I was making a threat.
I mean it was certainly possible I could use a completely different method to draw her attention here. The stick to the carrot that I'm about to offer. I could masquerade the corpses around here in some facsimile of an actual person using my blood.
That would certainly be a rather horrific sight but not one I felt like in the moment. Like I said she may not have had a lot of screen time but I did enjoy the character Mei Terumi. So she got a shot at this carrot instead of the stick.
"What are you planning?" She spat out as she gripped on the kunai in her hand. The trembling of her fingers made me think she wanted to throw out the Jutsu at any moment instead of standing around talking as she was.
Mei may have been an iron wall to my eyes but the small child behind her was rather blatant in her interest.
The child was looking at one particular corpse with longing and sadness radiating off of her. She kept her silence whether that was from her trauma or a respect for the woman in front of her. But it was absolutely clear that that particular corpse was important to her and since that child was important to Mei that meant it was also important to Mei.
A ghost of a smile bloomed on my face but I suppose it was not quite time to use that information to my advantage.
"Nothing nefarious my dear that I can assure. I'm just interested in entrusting you with a deal of sorts. Not in a trading of goods but an exchanging of services." I let out with a sharp smile filled with my fangs fully on display.
I'm sure it's a rather unnerving image to see but it would certainly sell the image that I'm selling.
"Great not interested done deal let's get on with our lives." Mei spat out with disdain clear. This time at least she made no movement to leave the area.
I suppose my questions about the corpses surrounding us got to her and she doesn't want to leave her dead relatives with me. A good choice if only because it leads into my own goals.
"I'm afraid that's not going to cut it, my dear. You have not even given my offer a fair chance. If you hear my offer and still don't want to deal with me then I suppose that's that but at least hear me out." I purred out with a sickeningly sweet smile upon my face.
Oh, what fun this turned out to be watching her squirm as she's forced to face my deal.
"Fine spit it out I have places to be," Mei spoke out with a certain amount of bitterness about her.
She was not happy about being forced into this position but she would at least listen to what I had to offer. Although she was most likely to dismiss anything I said strictly because of the situation she found herself in.
It was a good thing that my offer was not something that you could oh so easily dismiss.
"Well, I suppose if we must get rid of these pleasantries that we can get right into it. You really are such a bore young lady mayhaps you should relax a little." I let out with some sadness and melodrama thrown out for flair.
She would be so much more fun if she played along with my little game but I suppose the situation is not ideal for her.
I turned toward the small child behind her. I gave the young child a toothy grin but made sure to imbue as much politeness as I could. There's no point in scaring the young one after all.
"Tell me youngling this woman the one lying right here. Is she important to you? What would you be willing to give me if I could give her back to you hale and healthy as she once was?" I questioned out with that toothy grin upon my face.
The young child shuddered at my smile I'm assuming my sight was not that pleasant. That was truly a shame as I was trying my very best to be as disarming as possible.
Before I could say anything more a kunai was thrown right at my face. I may have been showcasing a rather relaxed meaner but I never stopped using the reinforcement spell upon myself. So I was able to pluck the kunai out of the air just as easily as the other ones.
Although I will say Mei put quite a bit of power behind her own throw. It's such a shame she's injured as she is or she would have been able to throw this straight through my eye.
The woman in question was looking at me with a snarl upon her face. I suppose I should have left the youngling out of our little game if I wanted her to stay calm and docile.
"You asked me to listen about your deal and I'll listen but you leave her out of this!" She shouted out with the fury that was boiling inside since the moment her relatives died.
I turned to her dropped the kunai on the ground and smiled.
"Right my apologies I suppose I should be a bit more clear about what I'm offering. I will bring this woman back to life hale and healthy without any negative context in which Resurrection is usually associated with. All I'm asking in return is for you to allow me to follow you as you seem such an interesting case. So how about that? Is my offer worth your time do we perhaps have a deal?" I turned to Mei as her mind spun the mile a minute.
She was not a naive child who would accept any deal offered to her no matter how tempting it was. No, she realized something funky was going around here but she was struggling to find what that issue was.
Was I perhaps trying to trick her to find the location of the Rebel base? Was I perhaps offering some sort of sick deal that would give her everything she thought she wanted but in a twisted sort of way?
She clearly knew that my own amusement was the main motivating factor here but I was not sure if she realized that this contemplation was a part of that amusement.
She might even rightfully assume that I don't have all my marbles in order. Whatever the case may be she had to think about what was being offered.
The child on the other hand had no such qualms about what I was offering. Her eyes shined with hope and the trembling of her body stilled. She was looking between myself and Mei over and over again trying to showcase her own stance on this.
She did not appreciate the intricacies of this deal or the troubles that might follow if she agreed. All she knew was I was offering her exactly what she wanted.
A chance to be with this person once more regardless of anything else. So Mei really should have seen this coming when the child snapped.
"Deal!" The small child shouted out and a smile bloomed on my face.
Mei whipped her head and looked at the small child in shock she was too lost in her own thoughts to notice the little one's determination. She should not worry so much I was not offering anything truly harmful to them I was just drawing amusement from what was going on.
"Then the deal is struck." I let out with amused laughter bubbling out of me.
I turned to the corpse that might have held some sort of relevance towards Mei and casted a rather unique skill that I would never be capable of as Zeltrech Resurrection.
The body glowed a holy golden that had me taking a step away from it for a moment. The vigorous damage that was exposed upon that was erased like it never happened.
The once corpse jumped up with a startled gasp that was shared with the rest of the audience here. Then the child said something rather interesting.
"Mom!" She shouted out with such glee and childish naivety tears shedding from her eyes.
The world seemed to stand still as everyone except the child took in the situation happening around us. Well, would you look at that we might meet Mommy Dearest depending on if this child was Mei's sister or not?
Whatever the case may be I managed to showcase a rather unique skill to Mei, Mazel Tov.