Gulp...
Chino swallowed hard and forced herself to speak.
"Nowaki... I'll fight him with you."
Nowaki gave a bitter smile.
"It's pointless. The two of us alone can't possibly defeat Uchiha Mirai."
"You still have your origins to uncover… and a blood feud to settle. You shouldn't die here."
Chino fell silent at his words.
It was true—she had things she still wanted to accomplish. But no matter what, she could never abandon her comrades for the sake of those goals.
With that thought, her eyes turned red once again, and her chakra began to surge wildly.
Seeing this, Nowaki could only grit his teeth and draw out every ounce of power within him.
They both understood: against someone like Mirai, they had to go all out from the start.
Because… they might only get one shot.
...
"Still planning to resist?"
Mirai's expression remained calm as he slowly approached them, step by step.
Chino formed a hand seal.
"Blood Dragon Ascension!"
Several massive blood-red dragons surged forth, roaring as they charged toward Mirai.
But he merely waved his hand casually, and all of the dragons disintegrated into the air, as if they'd never existed.
Nowaki shouted, "Typhoon Style!"
A colossal storm erupted from Nowaki's body, sweeping outward and tearing the entire arena apart in an instant.
Watching from nearby, Moegi Kazamatsuri quickly used Wood Style to shield herself, her face full of shock.
This level of Wind Style… she had no way of countering it.
These two were that powerful? If not for Uchiha Mirai's timely arrival, she would've been dead without a doubt.
But even in the face of such a devastating jutsu, Uchiha Mirai remained completely unaffected.
It was as if the storm had been sealed away from him entirely. Not even a single strand of his hair moved.
He kept walking—slow, steady—until he stood directly before Nowaki and Chino.
"Kneel."
With that single, emotionless word, an overwhelming force crashed down on the two of them.
Bang!
Their knees hit the ground at once. The chakra within their bodies stopped flowing altogether.
Only now did they truly realize… Mirai was even more terrifying than they had imagined.
His power had reached a level completely beyond their understanding.
...
"Now speak," Mirai said calmly. "Why did you do all this?"
Nowaki and Chino were both stunned.
They had assumed that someone of Mirai's rank and strength would simply kill them on the spot.
Yet here he was—giving them a chance to explain.
Clutching onto that thread of hope, Nowaki quickly began,
"Emperor… there's a reason for everything we've done."
Seeing that Mirai wasn't stopping him, he continued,
"Chino and I used to be part of the arena. But one day, Chino discovered her true identity—she's a descendant of the Chinoike Clan. So we escaped together."
"After that, we started investigating the clan's history."
"Along the way, we met others who shared our ideals. With their support, I founded the Lightning Group."
At the mention of the name, Nowaki's tone grew heavier.
"After we formed the group, we settled in a place called Bamboo Village."
"Between our investigations into the Chinoike Clan, we helped the villagers with their daily problems."
"They often complained to us that their hard work was being stolen by the local elites. Eventually, they started encouraging us to fight back… so we robbed a few of those so-called rich families."
"But the operation got exposed. The Divine Nation's ninja forces stationed in the Land of Hot Springs began hunting us down."
"A lot of our comrades were badly injured."
"We returned to Bamboo Village, hoping for some shelter… or at least medical supplies."
"But instead, the villagers treated us like enemies and even reported our location to the ninja forces."
"In the end… only Chino and I survived."
...
Moegi Kazamatsuri felt a rush of mixed emotions.
She had believed Chino and Nowaki were dangerous criminals, but now… their story painted a different picture.
No wonder they held so much hatred for the people of Bamboo Village.
Uchiha Mirai's expression remained unreadable.
"Continue."
Chino looked at Nowaki, then spoke up.
"I'll take it from here."
"After escaping Bamboo Village, we stumbled upon old records about the Chinoike Clan."
"A long time ago, the Uchiha Clan exiled them to a place called Valley of Hell."
"But when I got there, I found nothing left. The Chinoike Clan had been wiped out—completely."
"That was when I lost all hope in this world."
"So I used my powers to turn the villagers from Bamboo Village into human bombs."
"I made them explode in crowded places, all to spread fear."
"Until today…"
Nowaki quickly added, "Chino only targeted those who betrayed us. The explosions were meant to cause panic, not hurt innocent people."
But Chino sighed.
"Nowaki… there's no need to explain. What we did… we deserve to die for it."
Mirai is the ruler of the shinobi world. What would explanations even change?
She never expected that instead of judging them on the spot, Mirai slowly nodded.
"I'll look into your story."
"If it turns out to be true… I'll act like none of this ever happened."
Chino blinked in disbelief.
"Why? Are you really going to let us go? No matter our reasons, we did break the Divine Nation's laws..."
Mirai's voice was flat. "The reason is simple. I stand above all."
"I act according to my own desires."
"If it were me, I would've gone even further than you did."
Nowaki, Chino, and Moegi Kazamatsuri were all stunned by those words.
Was this really something an emperor would say?
As they stood frozen in shock, Mirai added, "Also… Chino. What happened to the Chinoike Clan isn't what you think."
"If you want to know the full truth—I'll tell you everything."
----------------
I recommend that you check out my new fanfic "The Shimura Actually Has Ice Release". It's really good. In short, the protagonist is Danzo's son, so Danzo supports him, he has good mentors, bloodline limit and so on, I won't say much about his background, the fanfic will explain it in the first chapters. I would recommend to check it out, quite a nice fanfic, no system, no harem, no excessive power, I like his backstory, especially that he has support, so his power has backup, and the relationship with Danzo without much emotion, more like Danzo's dream of becoming a Hokage, transforming to make his son a Hokage.
Pls Drop some Power Stones
Fanfic is finished on Patreon (476 chapters in total.)
Patreon(.)com/Jixo (for only $4.50, read this entire fanfic)