Naruto: Tales of Ashihara
Kakumei – Arc 4: Might Makes Right
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Chapter 94 – Orochimaru vs Kakumei
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In the land of Water, a week has passed since the reported death of the 7th Hokage. Having answered a call for action by Konoha, the Mizukage is mobilizing his ninja forces to participate in a counter attack on Kakumei. United in the main hall of the elite training center of the village is the younger able generation of Chunin and Jonin.
In front of the troops, Chojuro is wearing his hat and haori. He looks through the crowd, counts the effective, and thinks of what advantage he can bring to the Union. He's joined by Suigetsu Hozuki, the wandering mercenary hunter who serves as his right hand. Having received word about the case of Sasuke's son, the swordsman interrupted his missions and returned to provide his help.
In the hall, Teru Uchiha is happily chatting with Mio, his teammate. They're simply talking about little matters and futile things but find a feeling of comfort in such discussions. Next to them, Mariko Uchida tries not to pay attention to them and maintains a soulless face expression, hiding the awkward impression she has to be third wheeling in this squad.
To interrupt the chat, Mizuno, sensei of the team and mother of Mio, walks in the scene and gets her daughter's attention. Pulled out of this conversation since his interlocutor is being distracted, Teru makes a grumpy face and looks around to find something else to occupy his mind until Mio can get back to him.
As he gazes across the room he notices another much more experienced and talented team than his. Kaori, Yukiko and their sensei Kokoro. What gets his attention is the fact that the 3rd and last member of the team, Takeshi Minamoto, is also here even though he's out on hunter-nin missions most of the time.
Teru sees this young man silently staring at the ceiling, worried by internal thoughts. He then sees him look down to see the Mizukage and Suigetsu, and promptly disappear only to reappear next to these two, barging in their conversation. These 3 ninjas, among the bests of the nation, are likely talking about the motivation, cause and purpose of the global offensive they're setting up.
After a little minute of serious discussion, Takeshi lightly smiles and raises his hand to lay it on the Mizukage's shoulder, whom he already surpassed in size, to thank him. He then turns around and looks in Teru's direction. Suddenly he disappears again. But this time, attentive enough, Teru can notice that the Minamoto is starting a forward movement before vanishing, which means he's simply moving too fast for the eye and not using any illusion or transportation.
Teru looks around to find him quickly, but fails to follow. When he brings his attention back to his team, he notices Takeshi standing right behind Mariko and covering her eyes with his hands.
"Guess who?" he asks her with a flirty voice.
She doesn't answer but quickly guesses, which makes her smile uncontrollably. A smile that she hurries to hide away to keep her cold image in front of her teammates. Takeshi steps away from her and simply nods to greet Mizuno, whose attention he got by blitzing in.
"Uh… What's happening?" Teru asks, confused by the young jonin's behavior. "Why are you doing that with Mariko? You act way too familiarly."
"Keep calm, mini Kobo!" Takeshi answers. "She's my girlfriend."
At this information, Teru reacts by simply raising an eyebrow. Mio makes a little jump up, out of surprise. Mizuno was already aware. Mariko just looks away, embarrassed that the character she is to her teammates gets broken with this news.
"Your girlfriend?" Teru exclaims. "How? Since when?"
"A bit less than 2 weeks ago." Takeshi answers while laying a hand on Mariko's shoulder. "What about you two?" he adds, staring at Mio and Teru.
At this question the two teenagers years olds just look at each other silently, as if they were both waiting for the other to say something. They're also questioning their own selves. Does it really look that much like they should be a couple? Not that they don't agree, but they never dared to say it to each other. Maybe they're still too young for that.
"Anyway, what are you even doing here?" Takeshi brings up, not expecting an answer to his previous question, while staring at Mio. "Aren't you still a genin?"
"Um… I passed the local exam and got the results just last week actually." Mio explains.
"Yes, she did." Mizuno proudly adds. "So, whatever is in the works here will be her first job as a Chunin."
"Well…" Takeshi says while looking through the room with a serious face. "This is gonna be one hell of a first job."
Mizuno gets serious as well and starts to show visible concern that her daughter and other students don't fail to notice. In Takeshi's mind, Tentoki is just as worried by what is to come, and thinks of what they'll have to do.
"Takeshi…" he tells his yamabushi. "It seems like this mission will be the right time for you to finally break your current limits."
From this comment, the young Minamoto understands that he may soon finally get to use Koton, but he hides his excitement. He's more worried about his best friend, Izuna Uchiha, who's been captive for a week now.
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At the same time, in the Land of Lightning, troops of Kumo are uniting on the south border for the same reason as in Kiri. For this land it is more complicated however as interior politics kept them away from any implications with Kakumei so far.
In this crowd, mostly aged and experienced ninjas are gathered, with just the best teams of the newest Chunin generation. The Raikage himself isn't present as he's already on the way to Konoha with his assistant. In front of the troops is Killer Bee, heating them up with some provocative and prideful singing.
Behind him arrives Y, an extremely smart young lady who serves as the Raikage's advisor. She wears the same green gown as the previous advisor, Mabui, and has long curly brown hair. She interrupts Bee's chants and gets him back down to Earth.
"Mister B, you do know that you're not allowed to participate in this, right?" she tells, to his disappointment.
"Uh? Whaaat?" he exclaims. "How am I supposed to avenge my best friend and save that grumpy fox then? I have to come. It's personal, ya know?"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have to hold back." Y replies. "We can't risk delivering another Biju to the enemy."
"What the hell! You're making the same mistake as in the 4th war now!"
"No. This time, we're the hunters, and they're targets."
"… But you're not denying that we're going to war again…" Bee suddenly gets serious. "My boy Naruto wouldn't have wanted this… There has to be a way to bring him back. Dying's not him."
Y doesn't answer. She's actually aware of a safety plan that she elaborated with the Raikage but can't talk about now. Instead she just holds Bee's shoulder and leads him off the little stage they've set in front of the gathering.
In the crowd, among the numerous old ninjas is one very tall swordsman, with long dreads coming from under a bandanna on his head. His name is W, and he's an elite ninja of Kumo. One of the finest that came after the war. Next to him is Atsui with his team of 3 chunin: Narui, Maroi and Kaminari. Narui stares curiously at the 1.90 meters tall ninja who stands by their side, at his neglected outfit, and at the red blade in his back.
W notices her attention, but doesn't care. He instead stays focused on Y, the woman on stage, that he lovingly stares at. Maroi, annoyed by the lack of familiar faces around and intimidated by the many adults present, slams her thighs with her open hands and angrily stands up.
"Place sucks! There's only grumpy ass bitches around!" she exclaims, with her usual overly vulgar tone. "Where's Tarui, Yurui, Toroi and their butt-naked sensei?"
"They're conveniently on a mission." her sensei Atsui answers.
"Even if they had been here, they're way too young to represent Kumo in such a scenario." W comments, getting the team's attention. "Our new implication in this conflict is what will conclude it. We are not here to help the Union, but to end Kakumei. Child ninjas don't carry the will to accomplish this purpose."
"Why us, then?" Narui answers, unsatisfied by this man's remark.
"Honestly, Narui, I think you and I make a pretty efficient research and protection team with Atsui-sensei." Kaminari explains, to justify their presence. "And Maroi, you're a way better medic than you'd admit to be. So despite our young age, we deserve to be here."
"Pfffft…" Maroi complains. "This sucks… Why can't Aoki's team be here then?"
"You know it's impossible." Kaminari adds. "With what happened, we can't tell if Ru will ever be a ninja again. Aoki is still injured. Yukai too. Plus he basically became this nation's greatest hero. They can't join us."
"Who said we can't?" a female voice yells behind them.
They all turn around and see Aoki and Yukai, perfectly well and prepared, standing there proudly.
"Aoki, you bitch!" Maroi exclaims with a friendly voice before jumping to her bestie's shoulders.
Kaminari stays perplexed, surprised to see them. Atsui, Narui and W all make happy or proud faces, glad to see them back. Considering what they've been through recently, their presence is quite pleasant.
During this last year, the 3rd member of their team, Ru, frustrated by his failure at the International Chunin exam and lack of charisma and importance compared to his teammates, has let himself fall in a new path. He, in spite of himself, caught interest from a man nicknamed the Blood master.
This man was a smuggling lord who secretly led the mercenary activities in the whole land. He saw Ru as an opportunity, and manipulated him into deserting his land to become a mercenary. Ru's desertion was followed by a series of events that led to a vicious battle for reason between Aoki and him, and another deadly fight between Yukai and the Blood Master himself.
In the end, Aoki used brand new skills she learned with the 4th Raikage to smash Ru down, make him hear reason and see himself as more than the 3rd of the team. She made it clear that he was her rival just as much as Yukai, regardless of his goals, and that his presence in the team and village is undeniably needed and desired.
Back to the right side, Ru is currently waiting for his judgment. This battle, however, he will never forget even if he's forgiven, for Aoki's last strike left a permanent scar on his face that will always remind him of the reason he's still alive. Having accepted this lesson, he now always wears a porcelain mask to hide his damaged face.
About Yukai, his opponent, the Blood Master, turned out to be the last remains of the Chinoike clan in the land, and unleashed the mystic power of the Ketsuryugan, a red eye that can manipulate blood and rival the Sharingan. With only his raw determination and pride, Yukai stood his ground until victory and single-handedly took down this S-rank mastermind, who was then finished by the Raikage himself.
Since he brought down the biggest darkest enemy of his land, Yukai is regarded as a national hero, as much as Naruto Uzumaki after defeating Nagato for Konoha. So, for Maroi, Narui and Kaminari to see them ready to go for another ultimate mission so soon is quite special. But Yukai can't pass on this occasion. It is about avenging the Hokage who inspired all his dreams, and saving the young man from Konoha with whom he made a sermon.
And so, the nations of the Shinobi Union are getting ready to bring their help to Konoha, in an effort to avenge their hero, Naruto Uzumaki, and get back what was taken from them.
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Other nations of the world are however not much aware of the recent dramatic events. In the land of Sound, in Otogakure, at this very moment, an explosion arises near the center of the village. Standing on the roof of the main lab building of Orochimaru is Jugo who stares in the direction of the explosion and sees the shadow of a creature appear in a misty cloud.
Sennin Modo
He uses his Sage transformation to activate his complete Sage Mode, and forcefully leaps off the roof, towards the explosion. At the building's entrance, Orochimaru and Karin come running to see what is happening. They see the chaos in the distance, hear the sound of repeated violent collisions, and feel the ground shaking.
After just a minute, they see Jugo fly across the air at tremendous propulsion speed and crash into and through the lab building. He doesn't come back from there. Right after him arrives the one who defeated him, landing in front of Orochimaru. It is Mikitaka in his Biju cloak, slightly damaged, who quickly heals his injuries. In his back, 6 huge and sharp tails.
On his cheek, Orochimaru notices the revolution symbol. The Mitsudomoe of Kakumei.
"Karin, go heal Jugo, and get Gentsuchi out of here." he orders before stepping forward.
"Girl, you really look a lot like Orochimaru." Mikitaka comments on Orochimaru's feminine appearance.
Not interested in small talk, and already feeling enough under attack, the snake scientist crawls forward to engage the enemy. Karin doesn't wait and hurries inside to do just as she was asked. She hurries through the building and finds where Jugo crashed. Fortunately she finds him awake and standing, but in a much younger form.
To heal his injuries, he used his abilities to restore his cells into a younger body that doesn't need the damaged parts. And so he now looks like a 15 year old version of himself. Karin is confused but relieved, she helps him up and thinks about the second part of what they'll have to do. Still, she's worried that Orochimaru may not be strong enough for his opponent.
Outside, the snake woman already went all out and nearly neutralized Mikitaka who's now bonded in wood tentacles restraining his movements. As a final touch, Orochimaru makes a wooden coffin that he encloses around the enemy to hide him away from the sun. This prison, however, doesn't hold long before being promptly shattered.
Out of it emerges Mikitaka in a new stage of his transformation. He's now much bigger, covered in a dark mantle, has a red glowing mouth and eyes, and 9 tails. Orochimaru makes a shocked face, unable to believe it.
"Is that… The Kyubi?" he exclaims, frightened by what it may mean has happened in Konoha.
Before he can think more about it, he's repelled by a powerful sound wave emitted by the jinchuriki's scream. As he flutters through the debris, he gets his hands together and performs a jutsu.
Kuchiyose no jutsu
A colossal mist cloud appears and settles, revealing Aoda, the giant poisonous snake. As soon as here, the animal dashes forward and enrolls himself around Mikitaka, trapping him before attempting to crunch his shoulder and spread his venom. But the Biju cloak is too thick for the snake's teeth to break through. Unharmed, Mikitaka grows bigger and bigger, too much for Aoda to handle.
He then violently spreads his tails apart and sends the colossus snake off in the air, to crash further in the village.
Doton – Dochu Senko
Before landing, Aoda swiftly plunges into the ground like a worm and makes his way back to the enemy underneath. He promptly emerges from under his feet and hits him in the lungs with a headbutt, which sends the beast man fluttering through the village and landing on nearby hills. Feeling disrespected, Mikitaka asks for his sovereign's help and prepares an ultimate strike.
Bijudama
He rapidly loads up a Biju chakra orb that he fires and sends through the village toward Orochimaru. Aoda swiftly bends his long body to avoid the ball that passes between his tail and head, and goes on. The snake's attention remains locked on the enemy who's running to him, and so Aoda doesn't immediately notice the lack of blast resulting from the orb's crash. Orochimaru notices it and turns around.
Chimatakami
He sees a giant black portal appear and absorb the orb, which causes him to panic and search for the portal's output. Mikitaka instantly stops his run and stares with a vicious smile as the Bijudama emerges from a portal just above Aoda. The summoner sees it, but not soon enough. He only has time to alert his snake who, to save his summoner, shakes his head to send him flying away. The orb crashes down on Aoda whose summoning is immediately undone. Orochimaru is still struck by the blast that burns and pushes him even faster and further.
"Such power! It's really the Kyubi!" he exclaims before losing consciousness and crashing at the backdoor of his lab.
Mikitaka, satisfied by his new might, jumps around and laughs maniacally. Looking at the small unconscious body of his opponent lying down, he prepares a final attack to finish him. As he loads up a new Bijudama, he's interrupted when he feels something stabbing through his armor.
Kongo Fusa
Karin, back to the entrance of the building, uses her adamant chains to stab, bind and seal the Biju chakra of Mikitaka. He resists as much as he can while Karin does her best to hold the jutsu. Fortunately, she manages to do so until he's forced out of his transformation. She falls on her knees, nearly exhausted by this effort and looks forward, seeing a black space rift appear and transport the invader away.
She feels relieved, but still wonders about what happened. The enemy just left without achieving anything else than damages. Was he just a diversion? More important for now, she should heal her master first.
She quickly finds the body of Orochimaru lying defeated and crouches next to it. Thinking she should heal him as quickly as possible, she looks to her own body to find a place where she can still take a bite. Orochimaru, barely conscious, stops her.
"Would you really do that once again for me?" he asks. "Even after all the losses and suffering I've caused you?"
"Shut up! You're dying. Someone's gotta do something." Karin answers, quick to react.
"… No need. Let go. This body has reached its end anyway." Orochimaru replies. "It is time for me to take the sage form now. Keep your strength for Gentsuchi."
"Gentsuchi?" Karin questions, just now being reminded that she didn't find her.
She stands up, ready to run back in the building, but is suddenly hit and thrown away, by Gentsuchi's fainted body tossed to her. Out from the debris comes Meinu Imai, aka Killin' Kiss, carrying a giant scroll and a few others. The scroll in which Orochimaru sealed everything he stole from Suto years ago.
"You looked better as a man, Orochimaru." she says while staring at the snake woman's immobile body. "But I gotta admit, you're a pretty well built lady."
After these words, she merges the scroll into her right arm, and pulls out a short sword from there. She reaches Orochimaru's side and looks down at him.
"You're… Meinu Imai. The cursed huntress of the Wind." the snake woman says.
"Flattered that you know about me." she answers. "My reputation's gonna get even better once everyone knows I killed the last Sannin."
"The last? What do you mean?" Orochimaru questions in confusion, still unaware of Tsunade's passing.
Giving no answer, Meinu rapidly slits Orochimaru's throat with her blade and lets him bleed out to death. Karin stares in shock at Killin' Kiss who shows an odd but joyful smile while the blood of the snake splashes onto her. Frustrated by this provocative behavior, the Uzumaki yells out and promptly stands up.
Kongo Fusa – Kogeki (Attack Mode)
She unleashes her adamant chains again, in a smaller version, and uses them solely to attack Meinu who gracefully dances her way through the shaking and vibrating chains. The bounty huntress gets past the spikes of the chains and leaps up, out of range.
Suiton – Suidan
While Karin is busy with her chains, Meinu fires a huge water bullet at her, which pushes her a few meters away. In anger, Karin quickly gets up and tries another jutsu.
Doton – Tobi Tsubute (Flying stones)
She causes a range of stones to emerge from the ground and fly toward Meinu, who counters with the same element as soon as she reaches the ground again.
Doton – Tojinbo
As soon as her right hand makes contact with the soil, countless columns emerge from all around them, quickly forming an improvised maze in which they're both trapped. Karin stands up and uses her Kagura Shingan to locate Meinu. Just as she catches a glimpse of her chakra, she sees her exactly next to her.
She quickly gets up and, due to the short range between them, is drawn into a hand-to-hand fight that she can't keep up with. Using only her one right hand, Meinu makes her superiority clear. She very soon gets Karin to her knees, and catches her by the ankle before breaking it by bending it too far. Karin, surprised by the pain, screams it out, just before taking the final strike.
Futon – Daitoppa
Meinu expels a huge wind wave right to Karin's face and sends her flying through the many pillars she summoned earlier. The Uzumaki ends up landing, defeated, afoot of one column. Not yet done, Meinu steps forward and raises her sword, ready to finish Karin like she did for Orochimaru.
"We got all we wanted." says Oshio's voice in her mind. "We made enough victims. I'm bringing you back now."
"My dear Oshio… You're getting softer." she answers. "Let me show you the way." she adds as she presses her blade against Karin's neck.
Before she can stab through and eliminate her, all the pillars suddenly get frozen in ice along with the soil. Meinu leaps back many times to avoid its effect. She uses her sword with Futon to slice through the icy pillars and destroy them, revealing who performed this jutsu.
Between Meinu and Karin now stands Naomi Yuki, the Hyoton user who's been hiding in this village for over 6 years with the other last member of her clan.
"You? Frostbite, isn't it?" Meinu recognizes her. "Quite a surprise to find you here, but now that we're at it…" she pretends to lower her guard. "… I have a few questions for you, on behalf of another person."
"Another person, huh?" Naomi says in a mean voice. "Let me guess, the Chimera?"
"I see you know your reasons to hide." Meinu replies. "So you certainly know what he wants?"
Naomi doesn't let the conversation go longer and attacks again. She throws a series of ice needles to Meinu who easily catches all of them in the palm of her right hand. Once done with these, she receives a physical offensive from Naomi who now comes with an ice blade that she confronts with her blade. In Meinu's mind, she keeps hearing Oshio.
"This fight doesn't matter, tell me where I should send you." he says.
"Nah Oshio, I still got a job to do here. Can't let this opportunity slip away."
"Yes you can! I sent you here! You serve only me and Kakumei! No Chimera or anybody else!" Oshio gets angry.
Meinu ignores him and keeps resisting, but Naomi notices the apparent diversion.
"You're talking with someone aren't you?" she guesses. "Who's it?"
Meinu, using this chance, tilts her head, to show Naomi where to look. The ice bender naively looks down and sees the tattoo of Kakumei on her right thigh. At its sight, she gets her answer but unexpectedly falls into an illusion that stops all her movements for a moment. Since she had the upper hand in the fight, it only brings her to her knees and leaves time for Meinu to step back. Unable to move without breaking the Genjutsu first, she's an easy prey to Kiss's blade.
Hyoton – Rinnami (Cold Wave)
A freezing wind wave suddenly flies through and nearly instantly congeals the ground and Meinu's body, up to her chest. Still able to move her head, she looks aside and sees a young girl, with extremely white skin and white hair.
"And here she is! The last Yuki." she comments.
"Shimo… you should have stayed hidden." says Naomi who broke the illusion and slowly stood up.
"… No. I've heard of her." the young girl coldly answers, about Killin' Kiss. "I want her dead."
Behind Shimo, Jugo arrives running, still in his teenager form. Meinu Imai looks around. She sees the 3 opponents still standing with her paralyzed in the middle, and thinks of her best option. She also sees Karin who's surprisingly standing up already.
"Ok Oshio, maybe get me outta here now." she asks in her mind. "I'll leave the stuff I got to Minoka. But after that, you gotta send me to the land of Earth, where my girls are waiting for me."
Without a word, Oshio complies and transports her away with a space rift, back to Hikari's castle. The battle is now over in Otogakure. Shimo runs to get by her mentor's side and Jugo goes to get Gentsuchi who's still severely injured. Karin comes closer and gets on her knees next to her.
Jugo manages to wake Gentsuchi up, just enough for her to be able to take a bite, and gets her head closer to Karin's chest that she reveals to show an unharmed spot where there is still room for a bite mark.
Gentsuchi proceeds to heal herself by feeding on Karin's chakra. As soon as she bounces off the ground, angrily looks at the devastated place and notices the dead body of her master, Orochimaru.
"Nooo!" she exclaims, immediately stripping to free the cursed seal on her shoulder, ready to use it to revive her master.
"Don't!" Karin stops her. "He'll bring his own self back now, with the body stored in the hideout of the west… We can be thankful that the intel they stole wasn't of use to us anymore."
"So he's finally getting the sage form?" Gentsuchi says, excited.
Jugo and Karin don't answer, too pissed off to be hyped. Naomi looks around to see the broken village, and thinks of the reason she first came to Oto.
"We can't stay here." she tells Shimo. "We've been discovered. It's not safe anymore. Not without Sasuke's guarding eye."
"What happened to him?" Gentsuchi exclaims. "It's his son's friends who just raided here. Why didn't he help us?"
Jugo, Karin and Naomi just quietly and sadly stare at each other, unaware of what may have happened to the one who was guaranteeing them his protection until now.
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A few hours later, in the village of Hikarigakure, the eldest son of Sasuke is sitting in front of his brother who's still strapped to the wall. Both of them now have bands covering their eyes, except one of them will take them off to soon unleash a new power, while the other will remain eyeless.
The older one raises his left hand and uses the Rinnegan in his palm to see the sorry state in which his brother was put by Minoka. He has nerves and blood vessels torn out of his flesh, exposed to be studied. Oshio lowers his hand, not wanting to see this, and speaks.
"My friends just killed Orochimaru, but I guess it is safe to assume he will find a way to show up again anyway…"
He gets no answer, despite knowing that Izuna is awake. The silence doesn't surprise him. He's been coming here to chat the whole week, and never got a single answer. Unbothered, he goes on, since he just finds an odd comfort in being able to speak to a blood relative.
"It seems like the news isn't going fast. Barely no one other than the land of Fire got the news of Naruto Uzumaki's death. And they're still unsure about our father… But the Fire Daimyo got the information. Bastard looks like he's already prepared to die… … And Konoha named our mother as the replacement for the Hokage."
"How dare you call her 'our' mother?" Izuna suddenly speaks, which startles Oshio.
"Oh… I thought Minoka ripped your vocal chords out or something. You can still talk actually. And you can also hear me. This is… reassuring."
Oshio stands up, a bit unsettled by this uncommon reaction from his brother, and prepares to leave. Just when he goes, Minoka enters the room with the scroll brought by Meinu that contains all the research of Suto, and greets him happily.
"Whatever you're doing to him is fueling an incredible hatred that you won't be able to resist when it strikes you." Oshio warns her.
"Like he's ever gonna strike back!" Minoka answers to reassure herself. "I can't stop now. I found something crazy. This guy has an insane stock of chakra somewhere around his forehead, but it's completely locked and impossible to open. It's growing incredibly fast and I'm just waiting to see it open. Imagine what you could do with all that chakra in your hands?"
Oshio looks at Izuna again, and thinks. This source of chakra could be the unfinished Byakugo, but how could it still be growing? Intrigued by what his brother may be setting up, he doesn't mention it, and keeps his thoughts for himself.
"Anyway…" he says. "What about this scroll? Is this what you were looking for?"
Minoka makes a happy face and joyfully jumps around. Without a word, her cheerful reaction is enough of an answer. She thanks and hugs Oshio who stays bleak and waits for her to stop. She steps away and enthusiastically prepares her lab to receive the new material she'll make with this new intel. Oshio takes one last discreet look at his brother, and leaves back to his village and duty.
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End of Chapter 94 – Next Chapter: The Union counter attacks