"I carefully questioned sixteen shinobi who survived after encountering Uchiha Chizumi and that Uchiha girl…" Genji's aged face was deeply furrowed, and his already stooped body seemed to shrink a little further without him even noticing. "None of them had committed any unforgivable crimes, and the severity of their injuries matched the seriousness of the wrongs they had committed…"
"In that case, the record here about Uchiha Chizumi's Sharingan ability is probably trustworthy as well…" Mei Terumi forced out a smile that was barely any prettier than a grimace. The situation had become so dire that she somehow felt less dejected than before. "Come to think of it, if one Uchiha Chizumi is already this terrifying, it's hard to imagine how you and the village founders dealt with Uchiha Madara back then—or the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, who was even stronger than Madara."
Hearing Mei's remark, which carried a hint of admiration, Genji—who had just been sighing and shaking his head—suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit.
How had Kirigakure faced Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara back then? He certainly couldn't tell Mei that, whether they were facing Hashirama or Madara, Kirigakure could do nothing but take a one-sided beating.
In the end, it was only because those two monsters split from each other that Kirigakure—and the other three great nations—had managed to survive to this day.
"Genji! Are you all right?!" Seeing him cough so violently, Mei hurried to her feet, afraid that this elder—who had been around since the village's founding—might suddenly collapse for good.
Even setting aside the fact that Genji was her greatest backer in becoming the Fifth Mizukage, Kirigakure, already swaying in the storm, needed every remaining pillar it had. Mei definitely didn't want Genji to fall at a time like this.
"…Cough, cough… I'm… I'm fine. Probably just caught a chill tonight." Genji waved his hand and deliberately changed the subject. "Go gather the shinobi first. I'll support you becoming the Fifth. As for Uchiha Chizumi's Sharingan ability… at this point, there's nothing left in the village that we can't accept."
Genji's words were subtle, but Mei understood what he meant. It might sound harsh, but Kirigakure was already at the point of a broken jar that couldn't be broken any further. After suffering this much damage, there really was no point worrying about whether it might get hurt even worse.
To put it bluntly, Kirigakure's life or death now depended entirely on Uchiha Chizumi's mood. Instead of trying to scheme under the nose of a monster like that, it would be better to simply lie flat and use Chizumi's hand to cut away all the rotten flesh from Kirigakure.
"That's all we can do…" Mei nodded helplessly, then looked somewhat apologetically at Genji's stooped figure. "Ao has already gone to gather the remaining shinobi in the village. Are you still able to move?"
If she had another ten years, Mei believed she could absolutely take the Fifth Mizukage's seat with her own strength and accomplishments.
But right now, her foundation was too shallow. Even with the support of an elite jōnin like Ao, she still had a long way to go before becoming Mizukage.
Under normal circumstances, Genji should have served as acting Mizukage first, and only at the right time would she take up the name of Mizukage herself.
But Mei didn't have that time to wait, and Kirigakure desperately needed a Mizukage to take charge. So all she could do was hope for Genji's endorsement.
"…Have Gonbee take my token and go in my place." Genji took a string of prayer beads from his pocket and handed it to Mei. With Mei's own strength plus his support, even the most stubborn hardliners in the village should have nothing more to say.
"Please leave it to me." Mei managed a rather strained smile, then strode out and tossed the beads to the guard outside. "Jōnin Gonbee, Elder Genji wants you to come with me."
"I understand. Please wait a moment." After catching the beads, Gonbee first checked that they were genuine, then entered the Buddha hall and respectfully dropped to one knee before Genji. "Your orders, sir?"
"Gonbee, I've decided to support Mei Terumi as the Fifth," Genji said slowly. "Take my token and bear witness. Remember this: only Mei… no, only the Fifth Mizukage can save Kirigakure. So I ask you to trust her. If anyone objects, tell them this old man unconditionally supports any order given by the Fifth!"
Gonbee looked up in disbelief. He could hardly believe Genji was offering Mei such overwhelming support. Even back when Yagura became the Fourth, Genji had done no more than express simple approval. Not only had he never given unconditional backing like this—he hadn't even stepped forward personally to show everyone he supported Yagura.
"Yes, sir!!!" Still, out of loyalty to Genji, Gonbee accepted the order without hesitation. And in that very instant, he warned himself that he had to change the way he viewed Mei from now on. After all, she had now gained Genji's full support.
As Genji's most loyal confidant, Gonbee would obey his orders without question.
"My apologies for making you wait, Fifth Mizukage." When Gonbee came out after receiving his instructions, the way he addressed Mei had already changed. The neutral, businesslike attitude he had before was now replaced by the respect of a subordinate addressing a superior.
Though it still fell far short of the reverence he showed Genji, for one of the village's few elite jōnin, that attitude alone was enough to say everything.
"Let's go." Mei had neither the time nor the energy to be polite with Gonbee. She only nodded and immediately ran toward the village, and Gonbee quickly followed behind her.
While Mei was securing Genji's support, Ao, on the other side, failed to persuade the village's shinobi as planned. The moderates—or reformists—under him still remained locked in a tense standoff with the conservatives led by Kūkūrin.
Even worse, as more and more shinobi received the summons and returned to the village, the number of conservative shinobi standing behind Kūkūrin kept growing.
Just as Uchiha Chizumi had judged, the tragedy of the "Bloody Mist" was certainly tied to Uchiha Obito—but without the cruel, bloodthirsty atmosphere of the Land of Water and Kirigakure itself, it never could have bred such a large group of brutal, bloodthirsty murderers.
In the past, these people had all been united around Yagura, who was under Obito's control. Even when carrying out missions, they usually didn't go too far from the village, so naturally the first shinobi to return were mostly conservatives.
By contrast, reformists like Mei and Ao had never been well regarded in Kirigakure. Most of their people had been assigned to garrison duty on outer islands, so even if they received the summons now, it would still take them quite some time to get back.