“What level is it?”

  ——I don’t know. Probably top-secret, the kind cssified from Kirigakure Year 20 to 46.

  Kita answered truthfully, and Terumi Mei nodded.

  “It’s not here. This is just the vilge mission archive. Anything at that level isn’t stored here.”

  ——You know where it is?

  Kita indicated with her extra shadow clone, a bde pressed lightly against Terumi Mei’s back, while her true body stood to the side, signaling the same message.

  “Pnning to assassinate the Mizukage? Bold of you.”

  ——I’d be too timid to confront Uchiha Madara otherwise. Tell me where it is—that’s important to me.

  “Then tell me—are you really a rogue ninja from Amegakure?”

  Deep down, Terumi Mei wanted to believe she was a rogue, and also that she had once served a minor nation.

  ——Why do you ask?

  “Who you are, where you came from, where you’re going—I know nothing. But you carry the Mizukage seal of Kirigakure. Don’t you think I deserve to know why?”

  Terumi Mei asked boldly, showing no weakness.

  Kita shrugged, unsealed her sleeve, and allowed the Mizukage seal to fall into her hand. In less than a second, she returned it to Terumi Mei.

  ——I’m giving it back. In a sense, it helped me once, so consider it used. Now tell me—where are the sealed files?

  “I can’t sense how it was used.”

  By inputting Kita’s chakra into the Mizukage seal, the corresponding seal carried by the Mizukage would detect it and allow a response—reinforcements if needed.

  ——When I was caught by the Hidden Leaf, the Third Hokage spared me because of this seal.

  Kita answered honestly.

  “I see… so you are a rogue ninja from Amegakure, then?” Terumi Mei said, arms folded, staring at Kita.

  Her insistence on this point was unwavering. Kita surrendered, retracting her weapon and canceling the shadow clone, but she had no intention of telling the full truth.

  ——I’m just temporarily using Amegakure.

  “You’re even wearing an Amegakure headband while gathering intelligence in other nations? Who do you work for? What’s your mission? Are you investigating Uchiha Madara, or is your superior?”

  A woman’s sixth sense was formidable.

  Kita thought.

  ——I am a ninja from Amegakure. Only Rain allows non-humans to become ninjas. I’m grateful for that, truly. Are you satisfied?

  “Then why betray them?”

  ——Because I found a new path.

  “Studying Uchiha Madara?”

  ——Makes sense.

  That sounded reasonable. Terumi Mei stowed the seal and stopped questioning, saying lightly, “This way.” She led Kita to a bnk wall, input her chakra, and a small hidden door appeared.

  When the lights flicked on, Kita saw a bookshelf with scrolls, books, and boxes beled with the names of past Mizukage. Terumi Mei cleared a box, collected all the scrolls and books reted to Fourth Mizukage Yagura, and handed them to Kita.

  “Only someone with the Mizukage’s chakra can enter here. You’d never find this by searching outside.”

  Truly, the ability to unlock something with a specific person’s chakra—biometric technology of a sort—was unique to Kirigakure. Without the Fifth Mizukage’s help, Kita’s covert theft would have been impossible.

  Kita held the box, unsure whether to feel grateful or something else. Terumi Mei didn’t dwell on it.

  ——It’s supposed to be sealed files, but they’re more like private diaries. Come with me.

  She led the way, closing the stone wall behind them as she input chakra.

  After leaving the secret chamber and the Mizukage's Office, night was deep, and streets were empty. Terumi Mei stopped at a pce familiar to Kita—the site where she had broken a window a year ago.

  Inside, lights turned on. The room was bright and simply furnished, designed to make sixty square meters feel like eighty. Of course, the Fifth Mizukage’s home was far rger than sixty square meters.

  “Set it down,” Terumi Mei said, tossing the key onto the table by the door.

  “You can copy it here. Originally, you wouldn’t have been allowed to take it with you.” She kicked off her shoes, entered barefoot, naturally took a drink from the fridge, and leaned against it, observing Kita.

  She had removed her shoes at the entrance—a polite gesture—before stepping onto the waxed floor. The cardboard box sat on the table.

  “You’re interesting. You enter the vilge’s secret chamber without batting an eye, but in my home, you start being courteous.”

  Kita replied lightly.

  ——Thank you.

  “No need. The Mizukage seal is worth it.”

  Terumi Mei said calmly.

  ━━━━ ? ━━━

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