Naruto: We Agreed on a Simulation, But They Actually Came to Life?

Chapter 106: Chapter 106: The Mission

Genji’s office.

Terumi Mei knocked and entered.

The old man was already seated behind his desk, his yellow snake-head cane resting by his side, fingers interlaced on the tabletop.

This was the fourth time she had sat in this room.

The first time was the day she answered the questions for her graduation exam.

The second was a month later, when Genji summoned her for a brief chat about her recent progress. He had asked who she was training with, and she had answered truthfully. The old man had simply nodded after listening, neither asking more nor offering a critique.

The third time was last week. He had asked her to analyze a briefing on a border conflict. Terumi Mei had covered everything from troop deployment to supply lines, and from topographical advantages to the post-war impact. After she finished, the old man had said only two words.

"Not bad."

Every meeting was sparse on words. Yet, Terumi Mei had a feeling that each question the old man asked was a step deeper than the last.

From stance, to personnel, to strategy.

Step by step.

"Sit."

Terumi Mei sat in the chair opposite him.

Genji skipped the pleasantries. A thin mission briefing lay on the desk, and he slid it toward her.

"The missions I’ve assigned you recently have been completed well." He paused. "I intend to give you some real experience."

Terumi Mei took the paper and flipped it open.

S-rank.

Her hand paused at the edge of the page; she didn’t immediately read further.

S-rank missions were for Jonin; they were levels of intel accessible only to the high command. In Kirigakure, she knew exactly what that meant.

As for her current status—a Chunin nearly pushing into the Jonin threshold—it was outside all convention for her to even touch such a briefing. Usually, there were only two reasons to be granted access to S-rank intel.

Either you were truly needed, or you were needed to die.

She closed the briefing and remained silent.

Genji’s voice was calm and steady. "Sunagakure has recently expressed an intention for peace talks. We have decided to send personnel to a designated location to contact their representative. You will accompany two Jonin as a member of the contact squad."

*Contact*, not *negotiation*.

Terumi Mei chewed over the wording in her head.

"Am I capable?" she asked bluntly.

Genji’s eyelids flickered.

"You said you wanted to change this village."

Terumi Mei’s breath hitched.

"Changing a village cannot be done with fists alone; you must understand what the outside world looks like."

She remembered the feeling of leaving the office that day. The old man had shown no expression, saying only, "You may go." She hadn’t even been sure if she had answered correctly.

Yet, he remembered her answer.

"Departure is in two days. Gonbe will inform you of the specific location and the personnel you’ll be meeting."

Terumi Mei stood and bowed. "Yes, sir."

As she stepped out of the office, Gonbe was waiting in the hallway. He handed her a sealed slip of thin paper.

Terumi Mei took it and unfurled it. The location, the time, and the codenames of the two accompanying Jonin.

She memorized the contents and tucked the slip away, her grip tightening slightly. The weight of an S-rank mission, paired with the word "experience," sounded light, but felt heavy as lead.

***

The North Training Ground.

Kitahara Kaede was leaning against a tree trunk. By the time Terumi Mei arrived, her pace was considerably faster than usual.

He put away his kunai. "Begin."

Terumi Mei took the initiative: Boil Release.

A surge of high-temperature acidic mist erupted, covering an area nearly double what it had been six months ago. The level of corrosion was on an entirely different scale.

Kitahara Kaede raised a Water Wall to block the first wave, but the mist seeped in through the edges. His reaction window was nearly half a beat narrower than expected, forcing him to retreat two steps before landing.

Terumi Mei left no opening. Lava Release followed immediately, with molten fluid sealing off his retreat.

When Water Style collided with Lava Release, steam exploded, reducing visibility to zero.

Kitahara Kaede shifted his position within the steam. The two faced off once more.

He looked down at his sleeve; the acidic mist had eaten several small holes into the fabric, the edges still widening.

"The coverage of your Boil Release and the timing of your Lava Release were both correct," he said, looking at her. "The transition between the two bloodline limits is smoother than before. Standard Water Style can’t handle that combination."

The one eye Terumi Mei had visible brightened. The corner of her mouth twitched, but she suppressed the smile.

Kitahara Kaede pretended not to notice.

***

As training wound down, the two sat by the edge of the field. Terumi Mei took a sip of water and glanced at him.

"There’s something I should tell you." She paused. "Genji gave me a mission involving peace talks with Sunagakure. I leave in two days."

She told him the location.

Kitahara Kaede’s hand, holding the water bottle, didn’t move.

The "very soon" Pakura had mentioned was two days from now.

His expression remained unchanged. "Who are the people accompanying you?"

Terumi Mei provided the two codenames.

Kitahara Kaede cross-referenced them in his mind. Both were combat-oriented Jonin accustomed to fighting hard battles. Diplomacy didn’t require those kinds of people.

A contact squad with that kind of configuration wasn’t going there to talk.

"Stay safe."

"Genji said the danger is minimal; he considers it a learning experience."

He didn’t respond. He capped his water bottle, stood up, and began walking away from the field.

Her voice trailed after him. "Training the day after tomorrow is canceled."

Kitahara Kaede raised a hand without looking back.

***

At home, the door closed.

Kitahara Kaede sat on the edge of his bed, placing the two pieces of information side by side in his mind.

Pakura’s mission and Terumi Mei’s mission.

Same location, same time.

What did he need to do?

At that scene, within the line of sight of two Kirigakure Jonin and Terumi Mei, he had to get Pakura out.

He could not expose his identity as a spy.

He could not let Terumi Mei discover his relationship with Pakura.

He could not leave any clues for Kirigakure to trace afterward.

Three constraints, all operating simultaneously. The difficulty wasn’t achieving any single one of them, but achieving all three at once without a single one collapsing.

What if he told Pakura now?

She wouldn’t believe him. Right now, she still believed she had been given an important diplomatic appointment. If she completed it, she could escape the Land of Water and take him with her.

As for Sunagakure frequently confirming her location, she had already explained it away as "preliminary mission deployment." That explanation made sense; all the anomalies lined up. She wouldn’t doubt it.

Relying on words alone was too risky. Therefore, he had to be present at the scene.

He had to wait for the moment she saw him with her own eyes.

In that moment, she might freeze for a split second. When someone spends twenty years obsessed with a single goal, only to have that goal shatter before them, no one can recover from that instantly.

Kitahara Kaede lay on his side, staring at the ceiling.

Tomorrow, he would need to pick up a mission in the right direction to serve as cover for leaving the village early. He had traveled the routes around Kirigakure too many times; he already had several backup rendezvous points in mind.

The remaining variables were at the scene.

How many people Sunagakure would bring, the positioning habits of the two Jonin, and that one moment he couldn’t fully predict.

His mind was still racing, but a plan was forming.

He closed his eyes.

An image surfaced: Pakura standing by the window of a shack, back against the wall, head turned to look at the gray, misty sea.

He remembered the image of her smiling to herself—a curve of the lips that lasted less than a second before vanishing.

And a single sentence.

"Wait for my news."