Chapter 316 Meet Terumi Mei For The First Time

At that moment, Yamato appeared with Naruto unconscious on his back, standing beside Riku.

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Shen in front of them. "How could he end up like this?"

Yamato couldn’t believe that the man who had once wielded such overwhelming power had withered into such a decrepit, feeble old man.

Riku gave a faint smile. "This is what he was supposed to look like. He used a forbidden regeneration technique to keep his body young."

"But now that his chakra has been sealed, he’s reverted to his original state."

He looked up at the dying husk of the Zero-Tails.

"This thing dares to call itself a Tailed Beast? It’s just a monster."

Even though the Zero-Tails could rival a true Tailed Beast after absorbing enough chakra, without that chakra to support it, it was nothing more than a low-tier beast—a puppet created by Shen.

After speaking, Riku raised his hand. A dense ball of lightning chakra formed in his palm.

The sphere of crackling energy spun rapidly, and then—

Boom!

A bolt of thunder shot forth.

The Thunder Pillar was so fast that it obliterated the weakened Zero-Tails in an instant, reducing it to ashes.

In his final moment, Shennong saw the fruit of decades of effort—the culmination of all his planning and obsession—shattered in a single flash of lightning by Riku.

Rage twisted his withered face. With trembling limbs and a body barely able to move, he took a step toward Riku, intent on striking him one final time.

But the moment he stepped forward, his body gave out completely.

A surge of lightning erupted from Riku’s body.

Crack!

The blast struck Shen, and in the blink of an eye, his body was reduced to nothing but ash.

The battle was over.

Yamato stood still for a long time, staring at Riku in disbelief. He couldn’t reconcile the boy he once knew with the warrior standing before him.

Riku had always been powerful—even as a child, he’d possessed strength near the peak of Kage level. But now... this was different.

Now, Riku had transcended human limits.

This wasn’t just the strength of a shinobi. It was something greater.

As the dust settled and the battlefield fell silent, Yamato and Riku were preparing to leave when several figures approached.

Terumi Mei appeared with Ao and Chojuro at her side.

The land around them—once a dense forest—had been reduced to a barren wasteland stretching for kilometers.

The sheer scale of destruction was staggering.

Massive canyon-like cracks had split the terrain surrounding Kirigakure for dozens of kilometers.

The entire landscape had changed—altered by a single battle.

It was the first time Riku had seen Terumi Mei in person.

She was, without question, beautiful and captivating.

Her long wine-red hair fell gracefully around her shoulders, with bangs partially veiling her face. But even beneath that fringe, the glimpse of her features hinted at an even deeper allure.

In terms of age, she was about the same as Kakashi—likely around thirty. But her figure rivaled even Tsunade’s in elegance and strength.

The deep-blue battle kimono she wore suited her perfectly, blending regality with readiness.

Of course, none of that truly mattered to Riku. What he really wanted to know was why she had come.

Yamato’s expression darkened slightly when he saw her.

He didn’t know much about Kirigakure’s internal affairs—after all, the village had always maintained a closed-off policy. Konoha and the Hidden Mist rarely interacted, and even someone like Yamato, an elite from Konoha’s ANBU, knew little about their current state.

He hadn’t even known that the position of Mizukage had changed hands.

But what he did know... was that this woman was dangerous.

The moment Terumi Mei arrived, she looked Riku over, then smiled faintly.

"Riku, Hokage’s personal guard... Your strength far exceeds the legends."