"Elder Genji… why?!" Ameyuri's eyes widened involuntarily as he stared at the prayer beads in Gonbei's hand in disbelief. "Why would Elder Genji support that woman?! The Fifth Mizukage?! What makes her qualified to become the Fifth?!"
"Bastard! Are you trying to oppose Elder Genji's decision?!" Gonbei shouted sternly. He didn't know why Genji had chosen Mei Terumi either, but since the elder had already made his decision, Gonbei would naturally do everything he could to uphold Mei, the one Genji had chosen.
"From today onward, I am Kirigakure's Fifth Mizukage!" Mei stepped forward, her expression cold and resolute as she swept her gaze across the crowd, then declared in a firm voice, "If anyone objects, step forward. I'll give you a chance to challenge me!"
Hearing Mei's declaration, the Kirigakure shinobi gradually snapped out of their shock over Genji's endorsement, and quite a few of them began to stir.
If someone could defeat Mei under these circumstances, then even with Genji's support, she would lose the right to become the Fifth Mizukage.
Just like the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu, back in the day—after the First Mizukage, Byakuren, died, he had stepped forward decisively, defeated the successor Byakuren had chosen, and forcibly seized the position of Second Mizukage.
In another country, something like that would naturally be unthinkable. But in Kirigakure, where strength was supreme, the Mizukage was naturally supposed to be the strongest person in the village, and it was only fitting that the loser be stripped of everything by the victor.
In that situation, even the First Mizukage's dying wish and factional backing had been useless. Not to mention that Genji now had prestige but no real authority—his support was powerful, yes, but still not as weighty as the First Mizukage's had once been.
The conservative Kirigakure shinobi looked at each other, trying to push forward someone qualified to challenge Mei, but no matter how hard they thought, none of them could come up with anyone who could actually defeat the Mei of today.
A Mei Terumi with dual kekkei genkai was simply too overwhelming a figure in today's Kirigakure, where bloodline clans had already vanished. Even the conservative jōnin led by Ameyuri—who had never thought much of that woman—had to admit that her strength was indeed formidable.
Just as the conservative jōnin were all stuck in an impossible spot, a slightly hoarse voice suddenly rang out from the crowd.
"Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage!"
Ameyuri flew into a rage and viciously glared at the person who had shouted, "Ringo Ameyuri!"
It was a girl who looked to be under ten years old, with reddish-brown long hair and distinctive braids on both sides of her cheeks like rabbit ears. When she opened her mouth, she revealed the same mouthful of jagged teeth as Ameyuri.
"What? None of you dared step up, so I figured you'd already accepted it!" The girl named Ringo Kukurie grinned, clearly delighted to stir up trouble. "Or what, big brother—you don't dare make a move yourself, so you're hoping someone else will do it for you?"
Ameyuri wanted nothing more than to strangle this rebellious younger half-sister of his, but under Mei's murderous stare, he still shifted his gaze away instinctively.
Challenging Mei at a time like this might bring great rewards, but the risks were even greater. With the Second Mizukage as precedent, Mei would most likely go all out and beat the challenger to death on the spot to establish her authority.
Ameyuri was just an ordinary Kirigakure jōnin. Even among the conservatives, he wasn't ranked particularly high. If Uchiha Chizumi hadn't personally wiped out Yagura and the rest of the conservative upper ranks, it never would have been his turn to take charge of the conservatives here.
Seeing Ameyuri, the temporary spokesman, shrink back, the conservative shinobi became even less willing to step forward at a moment like this. The momentum between the two factions immediately shifted.
"Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage!" Delighted to make life difficult for the brother she hated, Kukurie started shouting again. Ao finally came to his senses and led the reformist Kirigakure shinobi in joining the chant.
The cries of support spread like a virus. With Kukurie taking the lead, even the neutral majority of Kirigakure shinobi began choosing sides one after another.
Seeing this, the conservatives finally realized the tide had turned. Left with no other choice, they each, in their own way, accepted the reality that Mei Terumi had become the Fifth Mizukage.
There was not the slightest joy on Mei's face.
Becoming the Fifth was only the first step. Next, she still had to suppress any possible voices of opposition and persuade all of Kirigakure's shinobi to carry out Uchiha Chizumi's [Absolute Justice].
The hardest part wasn't even convincing all the Kirigakure shinobi.
It was doing all of this before Uchiha Chizumi ran out of patience.
What Mei didn't know, however, was that Chizumi's patience was much better than she imagined—especially after executing so many Kirigakure shinobi. The rewards from his cheat ability hadn't even been sorted out by the time dawn was almost breaking.
[ Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once in the shinobi world! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: Mist Swordsmanship Experience Book ]
[ Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once in the shinobi world! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: Silent Killing Technique ]
[ Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once in the shinobi world! Your chakra has increased slightly! Congratulations, you have obtained: Water Surface Combat Specialization ]
…
Hundreds of notifications from his cheat ability flashed past in a spectacular flood. The Kirigakure shinobi who had died by his hand were almost all red-names with high evil values, so naturally the drop rate was exceptionally high.
Unfortunately, for Uchiha Chizumi as he was now, rewards of this level were no more than scraps—better than nothing, but barely worth mentioning.
Fortunately, Chizumi hadn't come here for the rewards anyway. He was only looking through them now because he had nothing better to do.
The giant slug at his side hadn't been waiting around idly either. It had split off three more large slugs, and now the four enormous creatures were gathered together, their feelers touching each other, like four people squatting in a circle having a chat.
Chatting with yourself sounded strange, of course. But considering that the Slug Sage had lived alone in Shikkotsu Forest for over a thousand years and only occasionally communicated with its contractors, developing a habit like "talking to itself" was perfectly understandable.
Just as Uchiha Chizumi was nearly done reading through the system notifications, and the slugs had decided that four of themselves chatting still wasn't interesting enough and were preparing to split again, figures began appearing one after another at the edge of the ruined battlefield.
Leaning against the slug a moment ago, Uchiha Chizumi straightened up and calmly looked at the Kirigakure shinobi walking toward him.
At the front were still Mei Terumi and Ao.
Behind them came more than twenty Kirigakure jōnin with grim expressions.
And behind those stood several hundred chūnin and genin, each wearing a different look on their face.