Gen’nosuke’s thin blade left one bloody mark after another across Hong Malu’s body, yet even that was not enough to vent his anger.
"You damn Hong Malu! What do you mean by this? Do you look down on the Uchiha? Or do you not believe what I’ve told you? Do you think I won’t keep my promises?"
"Are you worried that the Uchiha won’t truly accept you? Or are you afraid that even after returning to the Uchiha, you won’t be able to live a good life?"
Gen’nosuke still refused to believe that Hong Malu genuinely did not want to join the Uchiha.
But some things were simply like that.
What you treasured might very well be something someone else considered completely worthless.
Covered in wounds, Hong Malu still looked completely unconcerned.
"Lord Gen’nosuke, calm down. Who could possibly not admire the Uchiha?"
"I believe everything you’ve told me, too. I believe that the wonderful life you’ve described would truly be given to us."
"But you never once asked whether we actually wanted to go with you and live that kind of life."
Hong Malu respected Gen’nosuke.
Naturally, he also respected the Uchiha whom Gen’nosuke was so proud of.
But respect did not mean that something was important.
Some things, and some people, could be wonderful without being particularly important to you.
What Gen’nosuke wanted to know now was why such a wonderful promise was not important to Hong Malu.
Why didn’t he treasure it?
"Why?"
"Hong Malu, tell me why."
"What is there about this land that has brought you nothing but poverty and disaster for so long that makes you unwilling to leave?"
"You could obviously have something better."
The thin blade returned to Hong Malu’s neck.
At Gen’nosuke’s question, a strange light flashed through Hong Malu’s eyes.
His smile grew even brighter.
"Perhaps that’s the difference between people like us at the bottom and nobles like you."
It was an answer that sounded meaningful without actually explaining anything.
Gen’nosuke could not accept it.
"Hong Malu, what do you mean?"
A strangely captivating smile appeared on Hong Malu’s face.
He looked radiant, almost mischievous.
He had no intention of answering Gen’nosuke’s question just yet.
Instead, he brought up something else.
"Lord Gen’nosuke, there’s actually something you don’t know."
"Our meeting was fate, but it was also inevitable."
It was a little secret.
Hong Malu had originally intended to keep it secret for the rest of his life if today’s plan succeeded.
But now that the plan had failed, there was no harm in telling Gen’nosuke.
Fate truly was a strange thing.
"Oh?"
Gen’nosuke clearly did not understand.
Hong Malu blinked.
"Lord, our meeting wasn’t actually an accident."
"It began with an assassination."
"It’s just that we never expected that your arrival would be because you were searching for us."
"And the very person we had intended to assassinate ended up giving us the means to survive."
Gen’nosuke was even more surprised.
"What did you say?"
Hong Malu tilted his head, looking as though he were about to tell a very long story.
"Sigh. After following you to where we are today, I’ve finally understood something."
"Many of the world’s secrets aren’t really secrets at all."
"Some people simply learn them earlier, while others learn them later."
As he spoke, Hong Malu still had the leisure to straighten Gen’nosuke’s disheveled hair.
It was almost as though he were telling him:
Lord, appearing in public with your clothes and hair in such a mess is terribly improper.
"You see, Lord Gen’nosuke, you thought you had secretly infiltrated the Land of Rivers."
"But you didn’t know that the moment shinobi from the Land of Fire set foot in the Land of Rivers, the wealthy people here had already received the news."
"At that time, the only people who knew absolutely nothing were people like us at the bottom."
As Hong Malu spoke, he continued tidying Gen’nosuke’s hair and clothing.
Once every strand of hair was back in perfect order, Hong Malu looked quite satisfied.
"At the time, the important figures of the Land of Rivers fled this impoverished land like frightened birds."
"After all, whenever foreign shinobi arrived, what they brought with them was always disaster."
In Hong Malu’s heart, Gen’nosuke’s image had always been perfect.
It was simply unfortunate that this disgraceful appearance was now something his own actions had caused.
As Hong Malu continued telling his story, he could not express the apology he felt in his heart.
Gen’nosuke, meanwhile, did not reject Hong Malu’s touch.
This was the first genuine friendship he had experienced since his reincarnation.
Although he was furious that things had ended up like this, he still treasured that friendship.
"What does any of this have to do with me taking you away?"
"Hong Malu, stop changing the subject."
Unfortunately, two people could share a friendship without truly understanding one another.
Hong Malu shrugged.
For the first time, he voiced his dissatisfaction with Gen’nosuke.
"Lord Gen’nosuke, you’re still as impatient as ever."
"You’re always eager to express your own thoughts, but you never seem willing to properly listen to what the people beneath you are thinking."
Hong Malu’s blunt sincerity gradually soothed Gen’nosuke’s agitation.
At last, Gen’nosuke genuinely wanted to hear why he had failed rather than cling to some self-deceiving explanation.
"All right."
"Go on, Hong Malu."
Hong Malu was delighted.
At last, he had a chance to properly tell Lord Gen’nosuke about his ideals and ambitions.
His excitement caused the Fear Power lingering over the battlefield to tremble.
Even the sky seemed to brighten slightly.
"Lord, people like us who live at the bottom don’t have particularly reliable sources of information."
"But the important figures and great merchants are much more sensitive."
"From the moment you people appeared, you introduced far too many uncertainties for those important figures."
"Even if it was merely to reduce their own risks, those people would naturally prepare to relocate their wealth and withdraw."
Hong Malu spoke slowly and patiently.
Unfortunately, interrupting others was still a habit Gen’nosuke had never managed to change.
"Important figures! Important figures! You keep talking about important figures!"
"How many of them are there, anyway?"
"So what if a few of them run away? What does that have to do with you?"
"You’re a Kekkei Genkai clan. Sooner or later, you’ll become important figures yourselves!"
Gen’nosuke’s impatience was something Hong Malu always tolerated.
He did not mind.
As long as Lord Gen’nosuke was willing to listen, he was satisfied.
It was just that there was no longer enough time.
If there had been, he would have wanted to spend a very, very long time telling Lord Gen’nosuke about the life he had imagined for himself.
"Haha."
"But Lord Gen’nosuke, you don’t know the funniest part."
"Those few so-called nobles controlled more than ninety percent of the wealth in the entire Land of Rivers."
"When they acted to protect themselves, they took enormous amounts of wealth with them."
"That made life even more impossible for people like us, who were already desperately poor."
"So what?"
"What does that have to do with refusing to join the Uchiha?"
"Nothing."
"But that’s what brought us together!"
"At the time, enormous quantities of supplies were being taken out of the country."
"The Land of Rivers was already impoverished, so prices soared."
"People like us, who were already struggling to survive, naturally couldn’t keep going."
As he spoke, Hong Malu straightened Gen’nosuke’s sleeve.
Then he used his own sleeve to wipe the blood from the thin blade.
"Do you know what we did, Lord?"
"When people can no longer survive, they naturally start looking for someone to blame."
"And someone told us that it was because of your arrival that this place had become like this."
At this point, Hong Malu solemnly nodded.
His expression seemed to say:
It’s all your fault.
"Some influential person told us that if we stopped you from entering the Land of Rivers, everything here would return to normal."
"So we young people with red eyes prepared to assassinate you."
"That was how we met."
The more the conversation wandered, the more confused Gen’nosuke became.
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