Thick storm clouds churned across the sky as a bolt of lightning suddenly illuminated the night.
A deafening clap of thunder exploded beside Merz's ears, followed by the rapid patter of rain.
By the flash of lightning, Merz finally saw the man standing before him clearly.
He froze in place, muttering in disbelief, "Yuzuru?!"
"What is it? Since you want to destroy the Divine Nation, I should be one of the people you most want dead."
"Now that I'm standing here alone, you should be happy."
Yuzuru's voice snapped Merz back to his senses. He suddenly pulled back his arm and circulated the chakra within his body, preparing to flee.
But a powerful force abruptly pressed down on him. His knees gave out, and he fell to the ground.
"H-How is this possible? Why are you here?"
"That bastard sold me out!"
"N-No, that's not right. Even if he betrayed me, it shouldn't have been enough to bring you here..."
Merz truly felt like cursing out loud.
He could not understand it. He had only made contact with a disgruntled researcher from Konoha. How had that drawn Yuzuru's attention?
The emperor of the Divine Nation. The strongest man in the shinobi world.
Why would someone like that have anything to do with people like them?
Before he could figure it out, however, an invisible force lifted his chin and forcibly tilted his face upward.
"Recently... have you discovered anything?"
Yuzuru asked.
He did not use a memory-searching technique on Merz, as it would cause tremendous damage to the target.
If Merz had not yet discovered Hikari, that might trigger a butterfly effect.
Still, there was no harm in subtly guiding him with genjutsu.
Unaware of the Dōjutsu Power spilling from Yuzuru, Merz stared into those pitch-black eyes as memories rapidly flashed through his mind.
After a long while, he spoke in a flustered voice.
"Could you be more specific?"
Yuzuru considered it for a moment before slowly saying, "For example, a woman. Or the location of some seal."
Then he added, "This is the only thing about you that still has value to me. Think carefully before you answer."
For some reason, the sight of Yuzuru filled Merz, who had always feared nothing, with an uncontrollable terror.
He did not dare hide anything and quickly explained, "I-I did find a girl. She said her name was Nanashi."
Yuzuru raised an eyebrow. "Where is Nanashi?"
Merz replied in a low voice, "In a cave near Rain City. That is my base."
Rain City was a town within the former Land of Rain. It stood on relatively high ground, endured rainfall year-round, and was not far from here.
Once he had learned the destination, Yuzuru smiled and slowly rose into the air.
"Thank you for the information."
"See you around."
A bolt of lightning struck Merz directly, taking every trace of life from him.
Only after confirming that Merz was dead did Yuzuru slowly vanish from the spot.
Boom!
Thunder rumbled outside the cave from time to time as rain poured down in torrents.
Inside, however, a campfire burned brightly, lending the cave a faint warmth.
A girl wearing a headband and a blue trench coat sat beside the fire, staring intently at the footage playing on the tablet in her hands.
"So this is what the shinobi world has become."
"Hmph. The Uchiha..."
"After a thousand years, that clan has actually been given the title of the Glorious Divine Clan. How laughable."
"They are nothing more than cowards who abandoned their companions in order to survive!"
As she watched the tablet, hatred gradually surfaced in the girl's eyes.
Back then, she had been treated as a weapon.
In the end, she had been cast aside by everyone.
She...
She had completely lost faith in humanity!
"Yuzuru's power seems to be very strong. If I project the marks onto the moon, he will notice immediately."
"Before I use the marks to control enough people, I need to find a more concealed method."
The girl frowned in thought for a while. Then, an advertisement for a game that appeared on the paused screen of her tablet suddenly caught her attention.
"That's it. What if I release a game and use it as the medium to activate Engraved Tsukuyomi..."
"Then I can place marks on everyone who enters the game without anyone noticing."
With that thought, the girl immediately raised her head and called out, "Merz!"
The response she received was an entirely unfamiliar male voice.
"He's dead."
The girl was startled. She grabbed the kunai beside her and flipped backward.
Staring warily at the man who had appeared in the cave without her noticing, she asked, "Who are you? What happened to Merz?"
The man did not seem hostile. A gentle smile appeared on his face.
"Relax. My name is Yuzuru."
"I killed Merz. I came to take you back to Konoha."
Hearing those words, a hint of hatred appeared in the girl's eyes. She asked coldly, "Why did you kill him?"
"Because he wanted to destroy the Divine Nation."
"Shouldn't he?" the girl replied in a low voice. "Human nature is inherently evil. A world like this should have been destroyed long ago."
Yuzuru knew what Hikari had endured, so her attitude did not affect him.
He continued, "I learned your story from my clan's records. Those ancestors truly deserved to die."
"Now, I am willing to represent the Uchiha clan and compensate you as much as possible for the wrongs committed back then."
The girl let out a cold laugh, her expression full of disdain.
"Compensation? I, Nanashi, am nothing more than a discarded weapon."
"I have no life and no emotions. Why would I need compensation?"
Yuzuru took two steps forward and said in a deep voice, "You are not Nanashi. Your name is Hikari Uchiha."
"What happened before will never happen again. You will not be alone anymore."
"Hikari, your parents gave you that name because they wanted you to stay far away from the darkness of war and live beneath the light."
"So come with me. You will begin a brand-new life."
"Hikari, you are the light of hope that will bring a future to the shinobi world!"
At the sound of the name Hikari Uchiha, the girl was visibly dazed.
Two blurry faces surfaced in her mind, bringing a trace of warmth to her heart.
Seeing that Hikari was wavering, Yuzuru continued, "Do you realize how many people far more innocent than you would be affected if you destroyed the entire shinobi world because of the mistakes of a few people?"
"If you truly cannot let go of your hatred, then tell me the name of the Uchiha clan leader from that time."
"I will personally take you to dig up the ancestral graves of that entire branch!"