Though Ashidzu had been mentally prepared, his shrine maiden's unreserved words still sent cold sweat cascading down his body.
In today's shinobi world, anyone who dared impersonate the First Mizukage Yuto would have to be tired of living.
Moreover, the most widely circulated portraits in the shinobi world were of Yuto and Uchiha Madara.
Whether you encountered them was one thing. But you had to recognize these two, or you might not even know how you died.
"My apologies, Lord Yuto. Lady Chiyome's usual personality…"
Ashidzu wiped cold sweat from his forehead and hastily explained.
But before he could finish.
Yuto raised his arm and waved it dismissively, cutting Ashidzu off directly.
Yuto looked with interest at Chiyome, who sat above with a proud expression.
"Doubting my identity is a perfectly normal thing. I heard many people in the Land of Demons say you have the ability to foresee the deaths of others."
"I wonder if that is true or false."
Yuto wore an inscrutable smile as he looked at Chiyome.
Mentioning the ability to foresee others' deaths.
The slight pride on Chiyome's face returned to cold indifference.
"You came here wanting me to foresee when you will die?"
"If that is the case, then I'm sorry. I haven't seen a vision of your death. Moreover, my ability is beyond my control. It randomly shows me the deaths of those around me."
Chiyome spoke with a blank expression and flat tone.
Hearing their shrine maiden's somewhat impolite words, Ashidzu's mouth twitched, fearing that Yuto might take offense.
As for Chiyome not foreseeing his death, Yuto felt no surprise whatsoever.
"It seems there's been a misunderstanding."
Hearing Chiyome's words, Yuto paused briefly, then opened his palms with a helpless tone:
"Currently in this shinobi world, there may not be anyone capable of killing me. Even if I were truly killed, it would merely be a different form of injury."
Chiyome and Ashidzu both froze at Yuto's words.
Though Yuto's voice was extremely calm, they could sense from him an absolute confidence!
At this moment.
Though Yuto stood in place without moving an inch, Chiyome and Ashidzu felt a pressure rising from deep within.
"Randomly foreseeing those around you?"
Yuto was quite interested in Chiyome's ability. A mysterious gleam flickered in his eyes, and a sudden thought struck him.
The moment the thought arose!
Chiyome's originally grayish pupils contracted sharply, turning entirely purple, with mysterious purple patterns spinning within.
At this moment.
In Chiyome's vision, Yuto across from her suddenly moved, appearing before Ashidzu as if teleporting. Ashidzu hadn't even reacted!
His entire body exploded, blood and severed limbs spraying in all directions, staining half of Chiyome's body red.
But immediately after, the entire scene shattered like glass, breaking into countless fragments that dissipated.
Chiyome's head snapped up. Her purple pupils returned to their original gray. She reflexively stood from her spot, gasping for breath.
"Lady Chiyome, what's wrong?"
Seeing their shrine maiden's abrupt behavior, Ashidzu paused in surprise, then quickly asked with concern.
Chiyome gasped for breath and looked up at Yuto, who still stood quietly in place, a trace of fear in her eyes.
"Miss Chiyome, I wonder what you just saw."
Yuto wore a faint smile as he spoke.
Chiyome was silent for a moment, glanced at Ashidzu beside her, then looked up at Yuto across from her.
"I saw you kill Ashidzu, but the entire world suddenly shattered like a mirror."
Chiyome took a deep breath. Though her eyes still held a trace of fear, she forced herself to calm down quickly.
But even so, Chiyome's eyes and face still showed undisguised shock.
Through the future scene she had witnessed, Chiyome knew that the man before her, wearing a gentle smile, was someone who feared nothing.
Even in the vision, when he killed Ashidzu, his expression had not changed one bit from start to finish.
Moreover!
Her death-sight ability, which had always been one hundred percent accurate, had shown her an image of shattering and dissipation.
This had never happened before. How could Chiyome not be shocked!
Ashidzu wore a stunned expression. He had died inexplicably?
"This man, what on earth…"
Chiyome looked at Yuto, her mind churning like a storm.
After hearing Chiyome's words, a thoughtful gleam flickered in Yuto's eyes, but soon a light laugh crossed his face.
"It seems my guess was correct. So-called prophecies are merely one of many possible outcomes in the future."
Yuto spoke softly, as if talking to himself or perhaps to Chiyome.
He remembered that in the original story, Chiyome's prophecy had once foreseen that Naruto would die at the hands of a demon called Makyo, but the outcome had been changed.
This proved that so-called prophecies were merely one possibility of the future.
The only difference was that such possibilities had an extremely high probability of occurring.
Based on the original story, Yuto could draw certain conclusions, but he followed the principle of "seeing is believing." After all, this was a real shinobi world!
If Chiyome's foresight was truly one hundred percent accurate, that would itself prove something deeply unsettling.
That everything had already been predetermined!
And now, after some probing, Yuto could finally put his mind at ease.
"As the only country in the shinobi world with a shrine maiden, the Land of Demons surely holds many records about shrine maidens. I want to examine the records passed down through your generations."
Yuto looked at Chiyome ahead and spoke in a flat tone.
The moment these words came out, both Chiyome and Ashidzu's expressions changed.
"Those materials can only be viewed by successive shrine maidens…"
Ashidzu also stood and moved to shield Chiyome, his tone somewhat agitated.
But before Ashidzu could finish.
Chiyome suddenly reached out and pressed Ashidzu's shoulder, her body trembling slightly, her voice carrying a quiver:
"Ashidzu, agree to it."
Ashidzu paused, turning to look at Lady Chiyome behind him with disbelief on his face.
But!
When Ashidzu saw Chiyome with her head lowered, her expression hidden by her hair, the words he wanted to say were swallowed back down.
"Yes, Lady Chiyome."
Though unwillingness filled Ashidzu's heart, he knew that if Lady Chiyome acted this way, there must be an important reason.
"Please, Lord Yuto."
Ashidzu stood and led Yuto toward the room's exit.
Yuto's smile deepened. In that moment, Yuto suddenly realized that the ability to foresee the future was not necessarily a bad thing.
At the very least, the other party could quickly understand that Yuto's words were not a negotiation.
Properly handled, such an ability could become a tool to constrain the other party.
Of course, to achieve this, one had to truly be willing to kill the other party. Otherwise, Chiyome would never see a vision of their death.
Watching Ashidzu lead Yuto away, Chiyome collapsed to her knees as if her legs had given out.
Just now, she had truly seen the future!
But the more this happened, the more Chiyome felt fear – a fear of the unknown.
Before Yuto came to the Land of Demons, Chiyome had believed in her prophetic ability with absolute certainty. If she saw someone's death, then that person would inevitably die in the same circumstances.
But now.
With Yuto's appearance, Chiyome suddenly realized that he could not only trigger prophecies but also change their outcomes.
As he had said, her so-called prophecies were merely events with a high probability of occurring in the future.
"Have I been wrong all along?"
Chiyome collapsed limply on the ground, trembling, her face pale.
What had happened today was a devastating blow to Chiyome, who had always believed in fate and thus treated others with cold detachment.
Chiyome wanted to convince herself that fate was real. But if that were true, then according to the vision she had seen, Ashidzu should have died here today.
But he hadn't!
After she interrupted Ashidzu's words and had him lead Yuto away, Ashidzu had not died as her prophecy had foreseen.
The reason, naturally, was that she had cut off what Ashidzu was saying, which had not displeased Yuto.
If this had been before, Chiyome would never have interrupted Ashidzu, because in her eyes, he was already a dead man.
But after hearing Yuto's words, Chiyome suddenly wanted to try.
And the result had actually changed!
That meant… I, I before…
"The ones I could have saved, I should have saved!"
Tears suddenly welled in Chiyome's pale gray eyes as she collapsed to the ground, sobbing:
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…"
As a child, Chiyome had foreseen the death of a playmate through her prophecy. She had tried to save them but failed. That was when she had developed her belief in fate.
Now that this belief in fate had been shattered, Chiyome suddenly realized that if she had tried harder back then, she could have saved that playmate!
Similarly, those others whose deaths she had foreseen – she could have saved them too. But she had ignored their fates.
"Chiyome, you are the next shrine maiden of the Land of Demons. So be brave. All the citizens of the Land of Demons will love and respect you as they loved your mother."
"So from today on, don't throw tantrums anymore. The people of the Land of Demons need you to protect them."
A gentle voice slowly sounded.
"Don't worry, Mother. I will definitely protect the people of the Land of Demons." A childish voice followed.
In a trance!
Chiyome seemed to hear the conversation between herself and her mother from her childhood.
"Mother, Chiyome has disappointed you."
Chiyome whispered through her sobs, her white shrine maiden robe already soaked through.
[
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