Midori stepped forward to support Yagura.
He glanced at Genji, who gave a slight nod. With that, Midori helped Yagura exit the office. The sound of their footsteps echoed down the hallway, gradually fading into silence.
For a few seconds, the office remained deathly still.
"Gonbe."
The man at the door stepped inside.
"Gather the high-ranking officials. We will hold an ergency eting in half an hour."
Genji's voice was as calm as ever, giving no hint of the intensity of the conversation that had just taken place within those walls.
"I will announce that due to long-term health abnormalities, the Fourth Mizukage is temporarily unable to handle village affairs. The Council of Elders will assu a portion of his duties in the interim."
Gonbe accepted the order and turned to leave.
Only three people remained in the office. Genji found a chair and sat down, resting his cane by his side with his fingers draped over the handle. His gaze shifted toward Terumi i.
"You did not disappoint ."
Terumi i stood straight. "I only did what had to be done."
Genji didn't speak imdiately. i waited, sensing the atmosphere in the room shift. Genji looked away, his eyes falling on the docunts scattered across the floor.
"The Third Mizukage died under mysterious circumstances," he said, his voice trailing slightly. "And now, this situation with the Fourth Mizukage."
"Enemies on the outside, instability within, and a trail of blood debts below. How do you think Kirigakure should move forward?"
Ao, standing slightly behind and to the side of Terumi i, shifted his gaze but remained silent. He understood the weight of Genji's question.
Terumi i didn't hesitate. She understood exactly how much weight these questions carried. Every thought she had prepared rushed to the surface—the late nights spent over drafts, the point-by-point analysis of governnt decrees, and the words Kitahara Kaede had told her.
'Don't start with slogans. State the problem first, then the cost, and finally the solution.'
Terumi i took a breath. "I believe Kirigakure needs to enter a period of village lockdown."
Genji raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"
"The village has just endured internal strife, defections, the Bloodline Limit purge, and the loss of control over the ANBU," i said. Her pace was not fast, but it was steady. She consciously controlled her rhythm, ensuring she didn't sound rushed. "Continuing to clash with external forces at a ti like this will only cause internal wounds to tear open further."
She paused for a beat. "A lockdown doesn't an severing all ties. It ans scaling back high-risk missions, reducing international conflicts, auditing internal intelligence lines, and rebuilding basic trust within the shinobi system. During the First Mizukage's era, when the village's foundations were being laid, there was also a period of internal consolidation."
Genji offered no critique. "Continue."
Terumi i looked up. "Simultaneously, we must abolish the policy of purging those with a Bloodline Limit. Shinobi with Bloodline Limits are Kirigakure's greatest strategic reserve. Purging them as threats is equivalent to cutting off our own limbs."
Her voice grew deeper. "What truly alienated the people from the village was making every Bloodline Limit user feel that they could be disposed of at any mont."
Ao remained silent beside her. He had seen too much—families destroyed because of their Bloodline Limit, clans forced into rebellion. He recalled files where lives were extinguished with a single, simple line of text.
"The purge policy didn't make the village safer; it only robbed the village of its future."
Genji nodded slowly. Terumi i didn't stop.
"Third, we must reform the Ninja Academy's graduation exam system. The practice of students killing one another must be abolished." Her fist clenched montarily at her side. "The Bloody Mist exams produce nothing but lone wolves. They can kill, but they cannot trust their teammates. They have no sense of belonging to the village, aning they cannot support the long-term operation of a hidden village, let alone form a true Jonin squad."
Ao finally spoke. "The incident with Kisa was a direct result of that system." His voice was very low. "Everyone was trained to only obey orders. No one dared to question when the orders themselves were wrong."
Genji's cane tapped lightly against the floor.
Kisa wasn't born cold-blooded. The village had ground him down into a blade that only knew how to obey. By the ti he realized he was cutting in the wrong direction, the only solution he could imagine was to kill the hand holding the blade and run.
"Anything else?" Genji asked, looking at Terumi i.
i fell silent for a mont. She had agonized over whether to ntion the final point.
"We must properly rebury those who were wrongly purged during the Bloody Mist era." Her voice was softer now, but every word was clear. "Allow families to retrieve their belongings and establish a village support registry for the orphans."
She felt Ao's gaze shift toward her.
"I know this will stir up many old grievances. But if the village never admits its mistakes, it will never win back the hearts of its people."
Ao looked at Terumi i. He hadn't expected her to bring up this last point.
The first three points were thods of governance—calculations of profit and loss. This last point was different; it was an admission of guilt. It was equivalent to saying, right to Genji's face, that the village had been wrong for years.
She had truly thought through how to clean up this disaster.
Genji closed his eyes. When he opened them, he stared at Terumi i for a long ti. i stood her ground, refusing to shrink from his gaze.
"You've thought about this for a long ti."
Terumi i nodded. "If you want to change the village, it's not enough to just think about who to take down. You have to have a clear plan for what happens after they're gone."
Genji remained silent for a while. He had sat in this position for too long and had seen too many people. Many could fight; so could govern. But those who could do both were rare.
This girl possessed both.
"You may leave," Genji's voice returned to its usual tone. "I will handle the rest."
Terumi i and Ao nodded simultaneously and walked out of the office. As the door closed, the hallway was filled only with the sound of their footsteps.
After a few paces, Ao spoke. "Everything you just said... every single point hit Kirigakure exactly where it hurts the most."
Terumi i didn't respond.
Ao paused, his tone shifting. "That we've made it this far isn't solely due to our efforts. The connection with Fuguki, the situation with Yagura, and even the link between you and —Kaede's shadow was present at many of those key junctures."
There was a rare trace of emotion in his voice. "It's just a pity that with his personality, he seeks nothing and wants no credit."
Terumi i's pace slowed. She didn't answer.
Images flashed through her mind, fra by fra. The riverbank after the graduation exam; that cat, full of food from the two of them, sleeping peacefully under a tree. In the training grounds, his cold face as he pointed out every one of her flaws over and over again. The coat he draped over her head on a rainy day. Him sitting across the table, taking two bites of food and saying "It's delicious," making her unable to hide her happiness.
And that evening before their mission, when she asked if she was capable, he had looked at her and said seriously, "You are, because you're already very strong."
Her desire to change Kirigakure, and her unwavering determination to do so, was largely because of him. Every step she took forward, he had been by her side.
Now, the thing she wanted most was to go back and tell him: *We actually made it.*
She also wanted to confirm that on February 11th, he would still be sitting at that table.
At a fork in the path, Ao stopped. "Terumi i."
She turned around.
Ao looked at her, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly. "Trust and affection... can you tell the difference between them now?"
Terumi i's face instantly flushed red.
Ao didn't wait for her answer; he turned and walked away. Terumi i stood there, stunned, for a long mont.
Then, she turned and walked toward where he would be.
Her pace quickened.
...
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