Chapter 32

Mei Terumi

Life in the Hidden Mist Village was hard enough without the purge on bloodlines.

Even she had to kill all of her classmates to graduate from the academy.

…At the early age of nine.

The moment she learned of the horrid graduation tradition, she stopped her younger brother, Sento Terumi, from attending the academy.

She swore to protect him from such a hellish mindset, but she knew it was a promise she wouldn't be able to keep.

Their parents had died when they were still very young, leaving behind a massive fortune to her.

Many people had tried to work their way into her good graces, the braver ones would try to assassinate them and take their wealth for themselves.

She killed all of them who tried.

It was easy to see from an early age that Sento would need to learn how to protect himself, and she wouldn't allow him in the academy.

So she trained him.

She taught him everything they could scrounge up from their clan's library. Prioritizing boil release for fast and painful attacks that would leave any attackers guessing if attacking the two was worth it.

It never was.

Both she and Sento had grown up a fair bit, growing strong in the process. Stronger than most and two people on most people's 'do not to fuck with' list.

Then the day came when the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura went mad, she didn't waste time in amassing people to her side with the mission of killing the Blood Kage.

She had gathered a large amount of jonin to her side, but there were plenty of Loyalists who relished in the idea of a blood purge.

It wasn't even that they feared the clans or anything like that, most of the Kirigakure shinobi enjoyed bloodshed.

Slaughtering for the sake of slaughtering.

The Kiri Rebels vehemently denied the demonic lifestyle that the village forced on them all their lives. So they fought back for the sake of a brighter future.

A brighter future that would need to be built on the depression of other lands.

Though Sento was strong, she didn't want him on the battlefield. So she gave him all of the money their parents had left behind hoping he would build wealth.

Sento being the stubborn bastard he was swore that he'd help in every way he could.

Years of leading the Rebels left her without any real friends, not that she had any for the entirety of her life. She had duties that would see her busy through the night. She lacked any time to do anything.

…Except read.

She loved to read stories about a woman trapped in a life she did not want only to meet a charming man who would whisk her away where they would live happily ever after.

She became engrossed in those books, reading them quickly became the only thing she wanted to do during her breaks, and even as she would give orders and strategize attacks, all she could think about was a man coming into her camp in the dawn of night and taking her far away from it all.

It was a foolish dream for a foolish woman, but it kept her going.

Eventually, she started forcing herself to look at all the men she saw with a critical eye. There were plenty of handsome men in her forces and with such a large number of potential suitors, her hopes were rekindled once more.

Only to be destroyed when she learned most of her men fear her. When she would try to approach them, they would make excuses or go patrol. Her men feared and respected her, and because of that all the hope she built up died, and she pushed her pursuit for love into the back of her mind. Perhaps when they won the war, she would find a partner.

Winning the civil war was looking incredibly unlikely. Their forces were losing morale. Her shinobi were hungry and tired. Their weapons were dulling and all of their clients were being killed by the loyalists.

So imagine her surprise when after not hearing from her little brother in years, he returns in a very expensive-looking suit looking to fund the rebellion.

They had been losing badly and lacked the funds to afford necessary supplies and weapons. She wanted to turn him down, to not involve him, but she realized how selfish she was being, her shinobi fought hard for what they believed in. Who was she to turn down her brother's help?

So, the Rebel's fire rekindled anew. They got more than enough food and plenty of missions from various businesses connected to Sento's companies. It was also around this time that they started recruiting once again.

With the amount of benefits they offered, people came in droves to have a place in the Rebels. The influx of people allowed them to offer more people opportunities.

In doing so, they got incredibly lucky.

Zabuza Momochi, the Demon of the Mist, and the wielder of the Executioner Blade. He had led his rebellion the very moment Yagura's blood purge started but had a double agent amongst his ranks. His rebellion failed, but such a powerful man would be instrumental in taking Kirigakure.

Zabuza had accepted their offer and even brought a child in with him. The girl, Haku didn't talk much and didn't move anywhere without Zabuza by her side. Mei liked the girl, she reminded her of herself when she was younger. She would cling to her parents the same way and when they died, she had to force herself to grow up early.

Things had grown difficult when Sento told them about a problem he was having. Turns out one of the many ways he made more money was from his control over the Land of Waves. He controlled all types of trades that would occur, meaning he would have the people of Waves harvest crops for him, or gather materials, and he would sell the spoils for profit.

He had some co-workers who had set up there as well. Gato, who smuggled drugs throughout the elemental nations, and Atsuko, a woman who owned a very successful silk industry.

They were paying Sento to do work in the area. Waves was the perfect place to hide away from any shinobi coming for their heads and it also held an abundance of silkworms.

His problem involved a man, Tazuna was his name, a bridge builder. The man's goal was to build a bridge to connect the mainland and the Land of Waves and end the land's oppression. Sento needed him dead.

Personally, Mei thought that Tazuna was a fool. Building the bridge would change nothing, her little brother owned the trade network.

She did feel bad for the people suffering, but she and Sento had spent their entire lives suffering much worse. They could afford to suffer just a little longer for the good of Kiri.

Or at least that's what she told herself.

She accepted Sento's mission on behalf of the rebels and sent several shinobi to ensure Tazuna was taken care of.

Sento had invited her to his mansion while her chosen members dealt with Tazuna, and the rebellion wasn't in active battles. Their hideout was very well hidden, and she doubted the Loyalists would ever find it. So she took her brother up on his offer.

A whole week went by and the time she had spent in the mansion had given her much more time to read again. The burning desire for love blossomed in her heart, this time stronger than ever. Alas, she knew such a thing would likely never happen.

Some of her men, as well as Mangetsu Hozuki, and Chojuro, came to the mansion from the Rebels hideout to bring her back. Kiri was growing weaker and weaker by the day, and rekindling the battle immediately was the right call.

When she told her brother, he understood her situation and wanted to give the rebels a large sum of money before they left.

Then they heard the screams of the many men on the beach. A peak out of the window showed a massive beast of unknown origin, and a dragon just as large. As she focused her eyes on the man atop the beast, her mind couldn't help but jump to her first priority whenever she saw a man.

Checking off their level of attractiveness.

The boy was definitely attractive.

As he made his way toward the mansion with his allies beside him, she couldn't help but have a fleeting thought.

'Could he be the one to steal my heart?'

It wasn't even a rare thought for her. She would ask the very same question for every man she found attractive, and the answer was always no.

The door to the room was sealed by the very unattractive man Gato. Sento had seals placed on the wall to suppress chakra from leaking out, very expensive seals. Though, it also meant they couldn't sense what was going on.

As they waited for the Konoha intruders to be dispatched. They sat in silence, except Sento's co-partners, who were chatting their lives away. She considered killing them more than once. They were horrible people, and wouldn't be missed. She wasn't much better, but at least she wasn't proud of being a disgrace to humanity like they were.

*BANG*

They all turned to the door. The Konoha shinobi had managed to dispatch all the shinobi Mangetsu had brought with him?

*BANG*

All of them got on guard, she was curious to see if they would manage to get in. The door was reinforced with-

*BOOOOM*

The massive explosion obscured everyone's vision, smoke washing over the room.

When the smoke cleared, she saw the same handsome boy staring dumbfounded, like he had just found something he didn't intend to.