pdf-ebookys Chapter 132 Kimimaro!
Chapter 132 Kimimaro!
Chapter 132 Kimimaro!
As Bai left the fishing village, he glanced back at the dilapidated wooden house.
He glanced at the beach where he had once hidden, and at the fishing boat where he had once stolen fish.
His eyes were slightly red, but he didn't shed a tear.
Ye Cang walked at the front, while the skeletal dragon had already landed on the distant reef, its bone wings spread, awaiting its master's return.
Izumikawa held Shiro's hand, his steps steady, as if leading a lost child home.
"Shiro," Izumi suddenly spoke, "do you hate those who killed your mother?"
Bai remained silent for a moment, then gently shook his head.
"I don't know!" he said. "My mother used to tell me that hatred makes people ugly."
Izumi glanced at him, a complex look flashing in his eyes.
"Your mother was a wise woman," he said. "In this world, hatred without power will only hasten your death."
Bai didn't answer. He just kept his head down and walked silently, his small figure appearing particularly frail in the twilight.
Inside the room inside the skeletal dragon's abdomen, Shiro curled up between Izumi and Yekura, wrapped in a thick cloak.
This was his first time flying in the sky, and his first time seeing the clouds below and the sea in the distance.
He stared wide-eyed at this sight he had never seen before, and the fear and unease in his heart seemed to be diluted by the vast sky.
"Where are we going?" Bai asked in a low voice.
"Go find someone." Izumi's gaze fell into the distance, to another island in the Land of Water.
"A child just like you, a survivor of the bloodline, living alone just like you."
Bai didn't ask who the person was, but simply nodded quietly and wrapped his cloak tighter around himself.
The skeletal dragon flapped its wings and soared into the sky, flying towards the homeland of the Bamboo Clan.
As dusk deepened, the fog on the sea grew thicker, enveloping the entire sea area in a hazy gray-white hue.
Inside the abdominal chamber of the skeletal dragon, the dim light from the fireplace cast a warm glow on the bone walls.
Bai huddled in the corner, wrapped in that thick cloak, only her small face showing.
His gaze pierced through the transparent sealing wall, looking out at the unprecedented scene before him, where clouds surged beneath his feet like a white ocean.
The distant horizon was tinged with a dark red by the twilight, and the mist on the sea shimmered with a silvery-white light under the moonlight.
This was his first time flying in the sky, and his first time looking down at the world from such a perspective.
Those things that once terrified him, oppressed him, and made him feel suffocated seemed to have been diluted considerably in this vast sky.
His fingers gently gripped the edge of the cloak, his knuckles turning slightly white.
Izumi sat opposite him, leaning against the bone wall, eyes closed, seemingly dozing.
Ye Cang sat by the window, one hand supporting her chin, her gaze fixed on the increasingly thick fog outside, lost in thought.
The fog is getting thicker.
The seas of the Land of Water are shrouded in fog year-round.
Especially after nightfall, thick fog rises from the sea, shrouding the entire sea area in a hazy gray-white hue.
The white skeleton of the skeletal dragon almost blended into the mist, with only the two blue chakra glows in its eye sockets appearing and disappearing in the darkness, like lanterns in the deep sea.
Bai leaned against the window, his eyes wide, trying to make out something through the thick fog.
But he could see nothing but endless grayness and the occasional cries of unknown seabirds coming from the fog.
"Are you scared?" Ye Cang's voice suddenly rang out, very soft, with a rare gentleness.
Bai shook his head, then nodded.
"A little," he said honestly, "but it's better than being alone."
Ye Cang glanced at him, said nothing, but reached out and straightened his clothes, covering his exposed shoulders.
Bai's body stiffened slightly, then relaxed. He hadn't been taken care of like this in a long time.
The skeletal dragon traversed the thick fog, leading Izumigawa on a journey from near the Hidden Mist Village to the territory of the Kaguya clan, and finally arriving at a certain island.
He did not find Kimimaro along the way, which made Izumi frown slightly, wondering if Orochimaru had encountered him first.
It doesn't matter if we encounter it; trading it back is enough. After all, Orochimaru can't cure Kimimaro's condition.
And this was the last place he thought he could find Kimimaro.
Izumi opened his eyes, stood up, walked to the window, and the veins around his right eye bulged slightly as he activated his white eye.
-
His gaze pierced through the thick fog, through the surging waves on the sea, through the rocky cliffs and forests of the distant island, and landed in a secluded valley.
That place was where the Bamboo Clan imprisoned and punished their members; outsiders rarely knew about it.
"We're here!" he whispered.
Ye Cang stood up, walked to his side, and followed his gaze.
The island felt very quiet, somewhat desolate, which made me feel uneasy.
"Is he here?" Yecang asked.
"Here!" Izumi withdrew his gaze, a slight smile playing on his lips. "As expected, I didn't find it on the road to rebellion; it came back on its own."
The skeletal dragon began to descend, its massive bone wings folding as it glided toward the north side of the island.
Thick fog churned around the dragon's bones, like water that had been parted, before closing back up at the dragon's tail.
Bai leaned against the window, gazing curiously at the land below that was getting closer and closer.
He saw the woods, the rocks, and a stream winding down the mountain, shimmering silvery-white in the moonlight.
Then, he saw someone.
A small figure stood on a rock by the stream, looking up at the skeletal dragon slowly descending from the sky.
The moonlight shone on him, casting a long shadow.
He was wearing a white shirt, the hem of which swayed gently in the night breeze, and his light-colored hair was slightly disheveled by the wind.
He didn't run, he didn't hide, and he wasn't even afraid.
He just stood there, watching quietly, as if waiting for something.
The skeletal dragon landed on the clearing by the stream, its bone claws digging into the damp earth with a dull thud.
Izumi emerged from the dragon's belly, followed by Yekura and Shiro.
Under the moonlight, the small figure finally moved.
He took a few steps forward, stopped about three meters away from Izumi, raised his head, and looked at Izumi with calm eyes.
"Who are you?" Kimimaro's voice was soft, carrying a calmness beyond his years.
"The person who came to pick you up." Izumi knelt down to look him in the eye. "How long have you been here alone?"
Kimimaro was silent for a moment, then said, "It's been a long time, I don't remember."
, 7
His voice contained no grievance, no sadness, not even loneliness.
He simply stated a fact: he had awakened the Corpse Bone Vein at a young age and was used as a weapon of war by his clan, without any other ideological guidance.
"How long have you had this illness?" Izumi asked again.
Kimimaro's eyes widened slightly, revealing a hint of surprise for the first time.
He subconsciously raised his hand and touched his chest, where a certain dull pain had never truly left.
"It's been a long time," he said, still using those three words.
Izumikawa stretched out his hand, palm up, and placed it in front of Kimimaro. A bone broke through the skin, demonstrating the power of the Shikotsumyaku (Corpse Bone Pulse).
"Come with me," he said. "I can cure your illness, and I need you!"
Kimimaro looked down at the hand, remaining silent for a moment. He had been released to fight until his illness flared up.
All I know is that he was very ill back then, and those people said he was no longer of any use and could not be used as a fighting force at all.
So he was abandoned, but his tenacious will to live allowed him to survive again, stumbling back here.
Finally, he stretched out his hand, revealing the pale white bone emerging from the skin.
Izumi's lips curled up slightly, and with a clench of his fist, the white bones shattered into powder. He then looked up at him.
"From now on, for all bones that have left the body, only draw back the chakra within them; do not bring any bones that have grown back into the body."
"Okay!" Kimimaro said, and then tried to imitate Izumi's behavior.
He withdrew the chakra from the bones in his palm, and the bones fell off his palm and onto the ground.
Clearly, he was not yet able to completely retract his control over chakra, turning his bones into dust.
Bai stood beside Ye Cang, watching this scene, a strange feeling welling up inside him.
He couldn't quite explain what it was; it was like finding someone of the same kind, or like seeing another version of himself in a mirror.
Kimimaro's gaze passed over Izumi River and landed on Shiro.
The two children's eyes met in the moonlight. Neither of them spoke, yet it was as if they had already communicated something.
Yecang glanced at Bai, then at Kimimaro, a slight, almost imperceptible smile playing on his lips.
"Let's go." Izumi stood up, took Kimimaro's hand, and turned to walk towards the skeletal dragon. "There's nothing left to miss here."
Kimimaro glanced back at the island where he had lived for a long time.
Do I feel nostalgic? Not at all, because there aren't any particularly fond memories here.
Only the scars etched into my heart occupy most of my memory.
Then, he withdrew his gaze and followed Izumi into the abdominal room of the skeletal dragon.
As dusk deepened and thick fog began to rise, the skeletal dragon carried the four of them into the air, passing through layers of fog and flying towards the Land of Snow.
Haku and Kimimaro sat side by side by the window, neither of them speaking, simply gazing quietly at the sea of clouds illuminated by the moonlight outside.
"What's your name?" Bai finally asked in a low voice.
"Kimimaro!"
"My name is Bai!"
"----Um.
Then came another silence, but this time it was no longer a lonely, oppressive silence, but a warm silence, a silence of companionship.
The flickering firelight from the stove cast a rosy glow on the two children's faces.
Yekura leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, seemingly resting.
Izumikawa sat at the very back, holding a scroll in his hand, his gaze fixed on it, but he didn't seem to be looking at it at all.
Outside the window, the sea of clouds surged, and the moonlight was like water. The skeletal dragon drew an elegant arc in the night sky, flying towards Beiwu.
And in that ever-receding fog, the deserted island was being completely swallowed up by the night.
The two have already found their positions; all that's left is to meet with Orochimaru.
As for the Mist Ninja, they don't even have the ability to fly, so how could they find us?
Perhaps, he could also meet Terumi Mei. Izumi gazed into the distance at the sea, then turned his head slightly to look at Yekura, lost in thought—