In the mountains.
The bandit leader, Hori Masaji, ran like crazy.
The recent wildness, pride, the women and wealth he enjoyed, flashed before his eyes as he gasped for breath.
The more he remembered, the more fear he felt in his heart.
Escape.
He had to escape immediately.
"Mirage! Keep making the mist!"
Hori Masaji returned to their hideout and shouted at a giant clam lying on the ground.
The clam opened its mouth slightly, releasing another large cloud of thick mist with illusion powers.
Summoning Beast: Mirage.
Originally the summoning beast of the Second Mizukage, Hozuki Gengetsu, after Hozuki Gengetsu and Mu ended up killing each other, the powerful summoning beast disappeared.
Now, many years later, it had fallen into Hori Masaji's hands by chance and had become the basis of his fortune.
Hori Masaji was just a ninja from a small village, with some talent. His fighting power was about the same as a normal Chunin from Kirigakure.
Even with Mirage, he couldn't do the terrible damage that Hozuki Gengetsu could. He could only use its natural abilities:
"Demonic Illusion: Vaporous Building"
Creating a large area of misty illusion.
Hori Masaji looked back, but didn't see Linto's figure in the mist.
But he didn't dare to relax at all.
That was Linto!
The scene of him slicing the Three-Tails with one strike was burned into Hori Masaji's memory. He would never forget it. He didn't think the mist created by the summoning beast could trap that man.
He ran back to his room, pulled a box from under the bed, and opened it. Inside were a lot of gold and jewelry, enough for him to enjoy wealth for the rest of his life.
He hesitated for half a second, then opened a drawer and took out a thick notebook.
It was a summary of his studies of the "Awakening Course."
He stuffed the notebook into the box, slammed it shut, got up, rushed to the door, kicked it open, and ran outside.
From the impact, a piece of paper with the word "Awakening" written on it, which was stuck on the door, shook and fell to the ground.
"Huh?"
Hori Masaji returned to the room. The door he had just kicked open was blocking his way again, and even the "Awakening" paper that had fallen on the ground was stuck back on the door as if nothing happened.
His spine tingled.
What happened?
Hori Masaji grabbed the doorknob and pushed it open. The "Awakening" sticker fell off, and he stepped one foot outside.
He was back inside the room again.
It was still the closed door, still the re-attached "Awakening."
Hori Masaji's scalp was numb. It felt like a ghost was breathing cold air on the back of his neck. What was happening before him was too incredible.
An illusion?
No, it wasn't an illusion.
His Chakra was flowing steadily.
But what was it then?
Hori Masaji's thoughts stopped.
Because he heard the faint sound of pages turning coming from behind him.
Hori Masaji slowly turned around and saw Linto sitting on the bed, turning the pages of the notebook he had stuffed into the box!
"Gulp."
He swallowed hard.
Hori Masaji had never thought that the sound of swallowing could sound so loud in a quiet environment, like a meteorite falling into a lake.
"I remember you."
Linto looked down, carefully reading Hori Masaji's notebook.
"For a while, after the course, you would come to me to ask questions. We talked until very late several times.
Later, you said you were grateful to me and gave me a jar of chili sauce you made yourself. That jar of chili sauce is still in my refrigerator. Sasuke and Little Momo really like to eat it."
Snap!
Linto closed the notebook.
"You ran away as soon as you saw me, which means you know this is wrong. But why did you end up like this? Is it because of..."
Linto's calm gaze fell on the box in Hori Masaji's hand.
"These things?"
Hori Masaji looked down at the box.
Yes, it was for these things.
Hori Masaji's village was destroyed in the aftermath of the conflicts between the major ninja villages. He traveled the world and saw a lot of human suffering, always wanting to do something truly "big," but he could never find a direction.
Hori Masaji lived aimlessly until one day, he listened to Linto's course.
He "woke up" immediately.
Not long after, through various coincidences, Hori Masaji signed a summoning contract with Mirage.
"This is the guidance of fate."
Hori Masaji felt that his time had come. He was excited and vowed to follow in Linto's footsteps to create a new world.
Until...
Gold and women were placed plainly before him.
The awakening idea was meant to make people, people.
But Hori Masaji wanted to go further. He had the guidance of fate, he had power, so why...
"Can't I be above others?"
Clatter.
The box fell to the ground.
Hori Masaji pulled a kunai from his waist.
"I'm sorry, Linto-sama. I shouldn't have used your name to do these things."
He wouldn't hope to fight Linto. Hori Masaji held the kunai to his chest.
Linto picked up the notebook and shook it. "Is that all you're sorry for?"
The notebook was filled with text, much of which was illegible due to the writer's overly excited emotions.
If Hori Masaji really had to apologize to someone, it should be to his past self who had ideals, and to the innocent people he had hurt.
Hori Masaji shook his head slightly.
"To my past self, to the people I hurt... to be honest, I don't feel sorry.
Because that's the rule of the world, the rule of people.
It is because of my past self that I understand how invincible 'greed' is.
Linto-sama, your ideal is really beautiful. Everyone who hears it can't help but be absorbed in it, but..."
He pressed his hand hard, and the kunai slowly pierced his chest, stabbing deeply into his heart.
"I don't think it can be achieved."
Hori Masaji fell to the ground, his eyes filled with pity as he looked at Linto.
He was pitying Linto, who had such great power but couldn't enjoy wealth and the taste of being above others because of his ideals.
He was also pitying Linto, who was pursuing a mirage-like ideal his whole life, only to fail to achieve it even in death.
"By then... Linto-sama, how sad will you be at the moment of your death?"
"One last question."
Linto pointed towards the foot of the mountain. "Your followers..."
"The same as me."
Hori Masaji said with his last strength, "Death... not a... pity..."
Thud!
His body fell against the door, and the "Awakening" sticker fell again, covering his face and obscuring his unfocused eyes.
Linto walked over, pushed him aside, and opened the door.
The thick fog outside the door had long dissipated, and Terumi Mei was leading a group of bandits up.
Whether it was out of stupidity or stubbornness, just before the door opened, Linto could still hear the bandits shouting.
Even when Linto opened the door and they saw their leader's corpse, many of them didn't want to believe it, shouting that it must be an illusion, kneeling on the ground, slapping themselves, trying to return to the "real world."
How could anyone defeat their boss in the mist?
They didn't want to believe it, and they didn't dare to believe it.
Because once they believed it...
"Ora ora ora ora ora!"
"Ora ora ora ora ora!"
"Ora ora ora ora ora!"
Star Platinum's fists fell like a storm, fairly distributed among every bandit. Its super precision ensured that each of them suffered the most severe beating to death.
"Ora!"
The last body flew high, then fell to the ground. The world fell silent.
Linto turned around and looked at the giant clam in the center of the camp.
"Can you speak human language?"
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