"Please."
Queen Sara, or rather, once the Queen of Ancient Roran, now just the village chief of Roran Village, served desert milk tea for Ryosuke and his group.
She had a head of deep red hair, tied simply at the back. In her words and gestures, one could still faintly see the elegance she once had as queen.
But after the fall of Roran, with years of wind and sun, her skin had grown rougher, her hair had gained many strands of gray, and she coughed from time to time as she spoke, as if her body wasn't in very good health.
Ryosuke and the others picked up their teacups and looked at each other.
The tea was fragrant, the milk rich. After traveling so far, they were long since thirsty, wanting to drink something to moisten their throats.
But the thought of the girl who had died tragically in the explosion made the milk tea in their hands feel like scalding magma. No matter what, they couldn't bring it to their lips.
Rasa's view was that in the Land of Wind, people died every day. The girl was pitiful, yes, but misfortune was the very background color of fate. He suggested they head straight for Warsaw City, to avoid unnecessary trouble.
But Ryosuke and Grandma Chiyo opposed that.
Ryosuke's view was, "If we didn't know her, then fine. But since we did meet her, and since that child and her people died because the Akatsuki wanted to deal with us… spending a little time to inform her family, that's a kindness we owe."
"At the very least, the living should know why, and how, their loved ones died."
Grandma Chiyo's reason was much simpler.
"I want to see an old acquaintance."
That so-called old acquaintance was, of course, Queen Sara.
Ryosuke drained his cup of milk tea in one gulp, set it down, and told everything that had happened at the Roran ruins without the slightest concealment.
There was no trembling of hands making the cup fall and shatter, no wailing or crying, begging Ryosuke to return her daughter's life.
Queen Sara simply sat there quietly, her expression without the slightest change.
Only…
The light in her eyes had dimmed by more than half.
Suddenly, Queen Sara began coughing violently. She covered her mouth, but dark, blackened blood still gushed out through her fingers.
Ryosuke steadied her arm, sending a ripple through, sensing her condition,
She was dying.
Perhaps in a year, perhaps in two, perhaps just a few months. Queen Sara's life was like a candle guttering in the wind, ready to be snuffed out at any moment. This was already beyond the range of what Ripple could heal.
"Thank you, Mr. Ryosuke."
Queen Sara patted Ryosuke's hand, wiped away the blood at her lips, and smiled faintly.
"Please don't worry. Under the guidance of the Dragon Vein, I can sense the coming of death. I still have some time left… a short while."
"I once thought I was used to death, of my country, my people, my family. But when I saw my own child die, I still could not restrain my grief."
Tears glimmered in her eyes. But soon, Queen Sara wiped them away, regaining the firmness of the past.
"Mr. Ryosuke, I've heard of your name. May I ask, do you intend to occupy the Land of Wind?"
Ryosuke slowly nodded.
The tragedy of Gorin City was just the tip of the iceberg. The Land of Wind was rotten to its core.
Conglomerates and bureaucrats controlled 99.9% of the wealth, leaving only scraps and leftovers to keep ordinary people from starving, driving them to exhaustion as servants of the upper class…
"Puppets."
Seeing Ryosuke nod, Queen Sara smiled. "Then I'm relieved."
"The power of the Dragon Vein, I think Mr. Ryosuke has already witnessed it."
"If you truly intend to take control of this nation, you must maintain the seal on the Dragon Vein. Otherwise, the entire continent will be affected and collapse."
"For this, I wish to entrust you with one thing."
"Please speak."
She tapped lightly on her own head.
"I've heard, Mr. Ryosuke, that you can extract another's memories, preserve them permanently… I hope that, before I die, you will extract my memories and abilities, so that the technique to seal the Dragon Vein will not be lost."
Rasa asked from the side, "Why wait until you're about to die? Why not now?"
No sooner had he spoken than Grandma Chiyo elbowed him in the waist.
Queen Sara smiled faintly, looked out at the busy villagers outside, and said, "I cannot die yet. After such a calamity, they still need me."
If it could be passed on to the villagers of Roran, she would have done so long ago. But unfortunately, this sort of thing depended on talent, chance, and individual willpower. The villagers did not have the ability.
Only by extraction, taking her memory and ability, and handing it to the next successor, was it safest.
Queen Sara turned back to Ryosuke.
"Will you?"
Ryosuke nodded. "I promise you."
Most of the survivors of Ancient Roran had chosen to go to the great cities of the Land of Wind, chasing the bustling prosperity of nightlife.
The ones left here were like those who, after seeing friends and family leave the village to work in the cities, stayed behind as guardians, day after day watching over the seal of the Dragon Vein.
In sentiment, Ryosuke respected Queen Sara and the villagers' perseverance, and wanted to help.
In reason, to better control this land, and to explore how the Dragon Vein might enhance himself, the seal of the Dragon Vein naturally had to fall into his hands.
"I will come find you when I sense death drawing near."
Though they spoke of death, there was not the slightest fear in Queen Sara's eyes.
Perhaps just as she said, she had already witnessed too much rise and fall, too much life and death.
Living or dying, there was no difference for her anymore.
The only thing still worth her concern was the seal of the Dragon Vein.
Afterwards, Ryosuke left time to the two old acquaintances.
The last time they had met, Ancient Roran had still been prosperous and peaceful, Queen Sara still a child, and Grandma Chiyo a strong woman in her prime.
To think that meeting again, one had become a fallen queen, the other an old crone.
It could only make one sigh that time spares no one.
Ryosuke left them their space, pushing the door open as he stepped out.
———
Sasori pushed open the door and entered.
Inside the Akatsuki base, every gaze turned toward him.
The second and third squads who had gone out on missions had already returned. On the ground lay two people.
One was a slender girl with short blue-green hair and dark skin.
Sasori recognized her, Seven Tails Jinchūriki, Fū. An assassin-type shinobi skilled in ambush and flight.
The other was a man just past twenty, an unfamiliar face with crimson hair. Likely a member of the Uzumaki Clan, used as a temporary jinchūriki to seal the Two Tails.
The Seven Tails and Two Tails had been completely captured. Pain looked toward Sasori, who had entered in his true body, and asked in that same cold, emotionless voice, "The mission failed?"
Sasori swept his gaze around once, and in a voice equally cold to the extreme, replied, "Where is Tobi?"
The moment these words came out, the expressions of all the Akatsuki members in the room shifted.
Shifted into… interest.
Killing intent.
Thick killing intent.
Not the occasional murderous aura they gave off in greetings. At this moment, Sasori truly wanted to kill Obito.
Pain's brow furrowed slightly. "What happened?"
"Many things."
Hiruko was captured. Deidara died. Tobi escaped.
Deidara's final art had been presented in the worst possible form. Worse still, that art could only be presented once. There would be no second chance.
"All of it because of one despicable man."
"Tell me, where is Tobi?"
Pain handed the document in his hand to Konan. In his palm, a black rod appeared.
"You mean to stand before me, and kill another member of this organization?"
Clack!
Blades sprang from Sasori's back. His abdomen opened, steel cables dripping with poison slithered out. He stared into Pain's eyes without flinching.
"So what if I am?"
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