Taking Up the Mantle!!

Shedding her plain clothes, Mirai fastens on her forehead protector, and the marking gives her away instantly. Ryuki, recognising a trained ninja, snaps at Tatsumi for dragging her along. Mirai presses him on why he has been abducting so many young women, and he claims the kidnappings serve a grand aim: attaining immortality to rescue the world. Tatsumi is crushed to learn his promise of a reunion with her late mother was hollow, though Ryuki twists the lie into a threat, saying she can join her mother once he kills her. Mirai pulls Tatsumi clear of danger and takes a wound doing so.

The name of Ryuki's god, Jashin, strikes a chord with Mirai. She remembers quietly reading up on Hidan, the deathless Jashin devotee who murdered her father Asuma. When the two trade views on the man, Ryuki praises Hidan as a savior who freed his victims from the burden of a peaceful age. Mirai rejects the idea outright and swears to end Ryuki's schemes. He orders his followers to swarm her, but she cuts them all down with Flying Swallow, the technique Shikamaru passed to her from Asuma's own arsenal.

Part of the Konoha Shinden: Steam Ninja Scrolls manga adaptation, this chapter ran in the second volume of the series. It ties Mirai's arc directly back to Hidan, the immortal killer of her father, reframing an old villain through a new fanatic's eyes.