Chapter 44 "I will never let Mingxi..."

The hug lasted for who knows how long, it felt like an eternity. Kabuto didn't seem to be letting go, and you had to remind him. You said, "Is that enough?"

Silence, still silence. After a few seconds, he finally spoke, saying, "I wish you could always treat me like this, Mingxi."

You let go of her hand and said, "The fact that you have this kind of thought means you should go to sleep. Hmm... I think you're starting to dream right now."

Kabuto felt an unprecedented peace in his heart. Even if you said these things, he wouldn't be angry. He had found a place for his soul to belong. "Then good night."

After thinking for a moment, he took your hand, lowered his head, kissed the back of your hand, and then kissed your fingers.

You can't help but think that he's really turning into a dog. Your fingertips press against his lips, gliding over his somewhat sharp canine teeth. He maintains this posture, his breath light and warm on your skin.

"It's okay, Mingxi, I can accept whatever you do to me."

You withdrew your hand. "Then let's go to sleep now."

Is that all? He seemed a little disappointed, but he still obediently straightened up, nodded at you, and then turned and left.

He's quite likable when he can understand human speech, so you go back to your room and close the door.

Shiro, who had prepared your bathwater, came out of the bathroom and said, "Mr. Zabuza's letter just arrived. This time it's urgent. Would you like to take a look, Aki?"

An urgent letter... Well, I guess I should take a look. You went to the bathroom, washed your hands, dried them with a towel, and then took the letter written by Zabuza.

The stamp on the envelope indicates that the contents of the letter are important.

You reminded him to avoid him sending you a bunch of useless spam emails, which would end up with important emails getting mixed up in the trash.

Use a letter opener to open the envelope, pull out the letter, unfold it, and after a couple of glances, you realize that it was your nemesis, Gato, who specifically sought out Kirigakure to issue a request in order to find out the mastermind behind the disappearance of the goods from the Land of Alcohol.

Sigh, sometimes luck really is a part of strength. Why did Gato have to go to Kirigakure to post a request? Wasn't he just asking for trouble?

However, it's very likely that the price of ninja requests from Kirigakure is relatively cheap. Compared to ninjas from Konoha, it's a bargain. No wonder he wanted to save money and chose Kirigakure.

After all, it's understandable to save where you should and spend where you should. You sometimes do the same thing, because your money doesn't grow on trees.

This only proves that Gato's luck is really bad. This request just had to fall into the hands of your subordinate Zabuza. Is this heaven helping you? You read the letter while rubbing your chin with your fingers, a subconscious little action when you are deep in thought.

Bai asked, "So it's something very urgent?"

"No, not really, but... it's good news, isn't it? Zabuza never disappoints me." You said, handing the letter to Haku, stretching and heading towards the bathroom. "By the way, could you prepare some stationery and an envelope for me? I need to write a reply later."

"Okay," Bai replied, watching you walk into the bathroom.

You didn't spend too much time showering, keeping it under fifteen minutes. You opened the bathroom door and walked out into the thick steam. Bai had already prepared paper and a pen for you, and you sat down at the desk to write a letter.

There's no need for any unnecessary small talk. Just get straight to the point and tell Zabuza to investigate Gato's background as much as possible, gathering as much information as possible, as this information will definitely come in handy when you deal with Gato later.

You assigned Zabuza a lot of tasks all at once. He should be able to complete this workload, right? You still have a lot of faith in their work efficiency.

Towards the end, you seemed to realize that the tone of the entire letter was too businesslike, so you added a greeting or two in the last paragraph.

—How are you doing in Kirigakure? Has no one been bullying you? If so, tell me and I'll take care of it for you.

—The mission is secondary; life is the most important thing.

It was several days later when Zabuza received the letter. He was on his way to the Land of Jade. He sat under a tree and opened the letter. He initially thought it was written by Haku, but when he unfolded the letter, he saw that it was not Haku's handwriting but Zabuza's own. Zabuza's feelings became inexplicably complicated.

The forest where he rested was quiet, with only the occasional chirping of insects hidden in the grass. He started reading from the beginning and, sure enough, you had assigned him a lot of tasks, which was very much in line with your usual style. He was already used to it, but when he saw your greeting at the end, he couldn't help but chuckle.

Why do you seem to think he's the kind of person who's easily bullied?

He was doing well in Kirigakure, after all, it was where he was born and raised, his hometown. Although there were always rumors circulating about him because he was so close to you, he didn't take them to heart. How could those bystanders understand the truth?

They are just following their own thoughts, only listening to the stories they want to hear, and arbitrarily making up stories about others, but there is no need for him to be angry about it.

Those people are not qualified to see you, much less worthy to speak to you, so how could they possibly understand you?

Zabuza stared at the last paragraph of the letter for a long time, then silently folded the letter again and carefully put it back into the envelope.

Although he won't admit it, he was indeed moved after reading your letter.

One thing is certain: if it were you, he would accept any request you made.

Zabuza made a brief stop in this forest, and then hurried towards the border of the Land of Jade. He met Gato the next morning. Gato had just finished a banquet. This banquet was obviously not the kind where you didn't even allow smoking. Compared to your banquet, this one was much more extravagant.

Kado patted his lover's thigh, signaling her to get off first, before slowly turning his eyes to look at Zabuza, his voice casual and full of arrogance.

But his arrogance is different from your pride. Zabuza can understand your pride; he is even impressed by it. As for this man before him…

He is completely incomparable to you. No, he doesn't even have the right to be compared to you. To compare him to you is an insult.

"So you're Zabuza from Kirigakure? Hmph... I've heard of you. I've heard you're very powerful. You killed all your comrades when you graduated from the Ninja Academy. You must be a ruthless person. Very good. I need someone as decisive as you. The previous ninjas were too weak and only wasted my money."

Gato's face still bore the marks of a hangover, and his disheveled appearance reminded Zabuza of a boar about to be sent to the slaughterhouse.

So, he's not really any different from an animal, is he?

Especially when he talks about killing his own partner, doesn't he know that it was a tragedy caused by an unreasonable system? But in his mouth, it becomes proof that he is a ruthless person, and he is even quite satisfied with it.

Ultimately, he didn't treat ninjas as human beings or as his own kind; he was just comparing which sword was sharper and easier to use.

"Hmm... so you should have already seen the request I gave you, right? It's very simple, just find the mastermind behind all this. If you satisfy me, I can grant you one wish." It sounded like he was giving alms, saying he could fulfill his wish, but in reality, he was very condescending.

This attitude is really unpleasant.

If it were you... you definitely wouldn't do it this way, right?

He would willingly give everything for you.

But he couldn't reveal himself yet, so Zabuza tried his best to suppress his killing intent; he couldn't kill him now.

"Hey—are all the ninjas from Kirigakure mute? I've said so much and you don't even respond? What an impolite thing!" Gato seemed to still be intoxicated and spoke very emotionally.

Zabuza said, "I'm sorry, I will complete the task you gave me."

Kado snorted coldly, not satisfied with Zabuza's attitude. He waved his hand dismissively, as if he were dismissing some trash, telling him to get out of there.

Zabuza, who left Gato's bedroom, observed the casino, seemingly conducting a serious investigation. In reality, he was looking for traces you hadn't had time to completely erase. Simply put, he was there to clean up evidence that you had stayed there. The foolish Gato hadn't realized that the ninja he had hired was a two-faced person.

Zabuza stopped in his tracks as he passed a certain room, feeling as if something was amiss. He had a feeling that you might have stayed there, and his intuition proved to be very accurate. You had indeed stayed there. Zabuza began to destroy your traces, but halfway through, he sensed something was wrong. It seemed that not only you and Haku had stayed there, but there was another person, no, two other people.

However, based on your description, you only brought Bai with you when you came to the casino. So there are only two possibilities: either he made a mistake in judgment, or you were deceiving him and hiding part of the truth from him.

It now seems more likely that the latter is true: you didn't tell him the truth.

The person who could live with you and even make you keep it a secret—Zabuza's face gradually darkened—that person was probably the Uchiha.

Then the question became, which Uchiha was it? Zabuza fell into deep thought. He would ask you that question properly the next time he met you.

He wiped away every trace you left, so even if Gato later sent other ninjas, they would have a hard time finding any useful information.

After wandering around the casino, Gato's men approached him again, saying that Gato wanted to see him. So Zabuza returned to Gato's bedroom, where they said, "It's very likely the Akatsuki. Those guys are always causing trouble and creating chaos. They're probably the mastermind behind this huge commotion!"

Zabuza, who was still thinking about how to come up with an excuse to divert Kado's attention, discovered that the other party seemed to have already decided that this was the work of the Akatsuki organization.

This saved him the trouble of explaining, but a new problem arose. Gato immediately said that Zabuza should investigate the Akatsuki organization and, ideally, bring back the heads of its members for him.

"But the mission I received was only a B-level mission, while the mission you just mentioned has reached the S-level level."

Seriously, doesn't this guy ever think before he speaks? Zabuza thought to himself, annoyed.

When Zabuza reminded him, Gato thought the other was talking back, and his expression became even more unpleasant. He said, "Do you think it's my place to remind you of this? Of course I know!" His tone was full of impatience.

It seems he hadn't considered this at all, and only said it to save face. Zabuza had long seen through the true colors of these powerful people. He lowered his head, his expression cold from where Gato couldn't see him.

"You just want money, don't you? I have plenty. All you need to do is complete the tasks I give you, understand?!"

"Yes, I understand."

If you're going to investigate the Akatsuki... Zabuza immediately thought of those two Akatsuki members around you, those two haunting ghosts.

Although Kado temporarily changed the mission content, turning his B-rank mission into an S-rank mission, and the mission reward would increase several times, Zabuza didn't seem to care much about money. He hadn't touched the salary you had previously deposited into his account much, and I don't know what he was thinking, but he just didn't want to touch it.

Occasionally he would check the account, just to look at the numbers; looking at that string of numbers, he didn't feel any particular emotional fluctuation.

Therefore, he won't be taking this mission very seriously; he'll basically just do whatever it takes to get it over with.

But he was genuinely curious about what the Akatsuki members were doing. Didn't they waver after leaving his side? Could they still move forward with determination? Didn't they question the path they had chosen?

The questions Zabuza was thinking about were exactly what Deidara was going through. After leaving you, he met his partner Sasori again. Sasori keenly noticed that Deidara was different this time. He said, "What's with that expression? Did you get ambushed on your way here?"

"What? An ambush? You think a regular ambush can hurt me? How could that be possible, huh!" Deidara hurriedly explained.

"So it wasn't an ambush?"

“Yes, didn’t I already say it wasn’t an ambush, um!” Deidara patiently answered again. Sasori of the Red Sand was half-convinced and said, “You should know that I hate it when people are late, and you’ve been late for so long this time.”

The implication is that he needs to give an explanation.

Deidara knew how stubborn his partner was, and if he didn't give an explanation, he would probably keep asking. So he said, "It's just some personal reasons."

Sasori continued moving forward, his voice indifferent, "Personal reasons, I understand. You must have gone to see that woman, right?"

What do you mean by "that woman"? Deidara didn't like Sasori's way of addressing you, and he frowned as he said, "Aki isn't 'that woman'."

"I don't care what her name is. I only know that you wasted a lot of time because of her. What kind of magic does she have that made you forget your mission?" Sasori said he didn't care, but he was actually curious about who Sasori was that made Deidara late.

Deidara touched the tip of his nose guiltily, shifted his gaze to the other side, and didn't answer immediately. Sasori of the Red Sand said, "So she's your lover?"

"W-What—a lover!? My relationship with her is not like that! Hmm!" In Deidara's view, his relationship with her was much purer, not some kind of lover relationship. It sounded so vulgar, and Deidara's temper flared up. He continued, "My relationship with her is unique, and it's hard to describe in words, just like my art."

Sasori of the Red Sand said lightly, "Then there's absolutely no connection."

The age gap between the two allowed Sasori of the Red Sand to easily provoke Deidara with a single sentence: "Tch, you know nothing about this, you can't understand it, just like you can't appreciate my art."

No, it's different. He had indeed seen Deidara's art before, but he hadn't seen you yet, so he concluded that he needed to find time to meet you.

He wants to figure out why you are so attractive to Deidara, and it's not hard to tell from Deidara's few words that you attract more than just Deidara. So, what kind of person is so charming?

Thinking of this, Sasori of the Red Sand did not voice his inner thoughts, lest he anger his partner and affect the next mission. Their mission this time was to go to the black market to collect information about Jinchuriki.

The black market sells not only goods, but also all kinds of intelligence. There are always many intelligence brokers there, and that's the target of their mission.

After this little incident, Deidara stopped mentioning you to Sasori. He always had a sense of crisis, thinking that if he talked too much about you to Sasori, it would only arouse Sasori's curiosity.

What if—and he meant what if—his partner comes looking for trouble with you? And that's not even the worst-case scenario. The worst-case scenario is that Scorpion might develop an interest in you, which is highly possible.

He doesn't want that to happen. He's experienced Scorpion's attitude towards art. What if he wants to turn you into a puppet?

Therefore, before arriving at the black market, Deidara tentatively asked, "Sasori, what were you thinking about just now? It must have just been about the mission, right?"

Sasori sneered. Deidara's little schemes were laid bare before him; how could he not see through them? He said, "What do you think I should be thinking?"

“Mingxi is a very good person. People like her should live on, not become puppets.”

"You figured out so quickly that I'd turn her into a puppet?" Sasori's voice was devoid of emotion, as if he were simply curious.

"I just thought it was possible," Deidara tried to justify himself.

Sasori of the Red Sand not only heard about you from Deidara, but he also gathered information about you through other means. This information was then pieced together to create your personal image: an enigmatic woman.

Deidara looks so nervous right now, it's obvious he considers you a very important person. So what about you? Do you also think Deidara is important?

Obviously not. How could someone like you, who is good at manipulating others, have a sincere heart?

Sasori of the Red Sand, speaking to Deidara with the air of an elder, said, "You're overthinking it. I'm not going to cause trouble for myself."

Upon hearing this, Deidara stared at Sasori suspiciously for a while. It was at this moment that they arrived at the black market, and the two of them temporarily put the topic aside and focused on collecting information.

You fell ill just when everyone was moving forward according to their plans.

The first sentence might seem serious, but it's actually just an illness that developed after working non-stop for several days, staying up late, and being exposed to cold air. Overall, it's not a big problem; it's just a fever and headache, far from being a terminal illness.

You, as the person involved, are calm, but the people around you are anxious and worried, even more so than you, as if you have some terminal illness.

Kabuto even moved his office into your bedroom, working while watching you.

You reasonably suspect that he's using this as an excuse to get into your room, so you say, "The way you're acting just makes me think there's something wrong with your head. I just have a fever, you know what a fever is, right? You're a medical student, after all."

Kabuto walked to your bedside, adjusted the height of your pillow, and then took your hand, saying, "But I'm still worried about you, Aki. I guess it's better if I keep watching over you, isn't it?"

You squeezed his palm, and he immediately opened his hand, letting you pinch the base of his fingers. You said, "You did this on purpose."

"If I could, I would wish I were the one who was sick."

Unfortunately, ninjas are not prone to illness, unlike you, who are just an ordinary person. You reach out and pat his cheek, saying, "If you say such cheesy things again, I'll throw you out."

The pharmacist nodded and asked, "Is there anything else you need?" You said you needed Shiro, and he said, "I can do anything Shiro can do."

You indicated that you do not prefer meal replacements.

In the end, Haku prepared dinner because Kabuto's cooking skills were really not good. He himself realized this and immediately said that he would work hard to improve his cooking skills.

"I will never let you down in the future, Mingxi."