"Just happened to… fall down…"
Mei Terumi chewed over those words, her expression shifting as she recalled the blinding white light that had illuminated the entire sky not long ago. She narrowed her eyes.
"That beam of light earlier, was that your doing? Were you fighting someone in the sky?!"
Kaede casually picked up a grilled fish from the rack, examined its doneness, then took a light bite before replying offhandedly:
"More or less."
"As for who I was fighting... Don't you think instead of asking that, you should be standing there wondering what kind of intel I'll be trying to get out of you next?"
Mei stiffened slightly at his words.
To be honest, even though she was fully aware she had no means of resistance or escape, she'd never actually been taken prisoner before.
This was her first time.
Kaede took a few more bites of the fish, frowned at the taste, and put it back on the grill. Turning his gaze to Mei, he asked casually:
"Is this the Land of Water?"
"…No, this is the Land of Frost."
Mei was a little surprised by the question, but she still answered truthfully.
A hint of doubt stirred within her.
He… didn't even know what country he landed in? Even if he had been fighting in the sky, one should at least have some idea of their general location after falling.
The only explanation was that the altitude of the battle had far surpassed her expectations. So high, in fact, that one could see not just the Land of Frost but the Land of Water, the Land of Fire, and other nations beyond!
Only then would it make sense to not know where he'd fallen.
But even that seemed illogical, because at such heights, no shinobi should be able to survive. What, was he fighting on the moon or something?!
That's beyond what any ninja could do.
That's something only gods could pull off.
"Land of Frost?"
Kaede looked at her with slight puzzlement. He had no memory of such a country, and even after becoming Hokage, he'd rarely heard it mentioned.
He glanced at her again.
"Is it adjacent to the Land of Water?"
"No… It's located out at sea."
She studied him carefully. His expression didn't look like he was pretending, and really, there was no reason for him to fake something like this.
Which only deepened her suspicions.
Could it be… some kind of space-time ninjutsu?
But that wouldn't explain the meteor.
In fact, thinking it through more carefully, Kaede seemed to have been sealed inside the meteor and fell from the sky. Maybe… he really was fighting someone at an unimaginable altitude!
"Out at sea?"
Kaede furrowed his brow.
He had assumed he had landed somewhere in the Land of Water, perfect, he thought, a convenient detour to Kirigakure. But now it seemed like he'd landed much farther out. Should he still go?
Then he remembered Nagato and Obito might be hiding in Kirigakure. That settled it.
"How long would it take to reach Kirigakure from here?"
"About a month on foot," Mei replied after a moment of thought.
She then looked at him seriously.
"Are you trying to obtain information about Kirigakure? If so, I won't tell you anything."
Kaede gave her a look, sighed, and said:
"Then I guess there's no helping it. I'm not exactly skilled at extracting information through traditional methods… I'll just have to try poking around in your brain a little."
As he spoke, he began walking toward her.
Seeing his hand reaching for her head, looking as though he might literally crack open her skull, Mei panicked, her mind flashing to the intel department back home and the terrifying methods they used to extract secrets.
She stumbled back a few steps before collapsing onto the ground.
Kaede's hand paused midair. Seeing her reaction, he chuckled.
"I guess you're not such a hardened kunoichi after all. That was enough to scare you?"
Mei stared at him, chest rising and falling rapidly. She took a deep breath, forced herself to calm down, and said:
"If you were going to use a method like that, you wouldn't have bothered saving me in the first place. You could've just done it right from the start. Besides, those methods can only retrieve fragments of information at best."
Kaede raised an eyebrow and gave a light laugh.
"You're capable of calm analysis now, but in that split second just now, it didn't even cross your mind, did it?"
A flicker of shame crossed Mei's eyes.
Kaede's reputation in the ninja world was just too overwhelming. His mere presence, his words and actions, had instantly shaken her to the point of losing her composure.
Still...
Why does a man like this even exist?
Feared throughout the shinobi world, Fifth Hokage of Konoha, young, powerful, handsome, he had it all. That entrance, that aura, that face, it was like he crushed all competition effortlessly.
If only he weren't my enemy…
She felt a small pang of regret.
"Information probably isn't even that important to you, is it?"
Mei remained seated, looking up at him.
"I'm already a prisoner with no means to resist. Is intelligence really the only thing you're after?"
She leaned forward slightly. Her tattered clothing no longer fully covered her skin. With a faint blush on her cheeks, she looked at him with soft, luring eyes. Her voice dipped into a gentle tone:
"There are other… kinds of pleasure, you know."
Thud!
She suddenly fell back onto the ground, clutching her forehead, stunned by his reaction.
"If that's what you're aiming for, then you'd better work hard."
Kaede crouched in front of her, meeting her gaze.
"People trying to 'win me over' could fill ten offices. For a prisoner like you to cut the line? You've got a rough road ahead, but hey, maybe you'll pull off a surprise comeback?"
Mei: "..."
She suddenly had a strange vision in her mind:
Fifth Hokage: Kaede
Gender: Male
Age: 15
Strength: SSS
Charm: 100
Capture Difficulty: Nightmare
==========
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