The Third Mizukage was by no means a fraud, nor an empty figurehead.
Anyone who could ascend to the position of Kage undoubtedly possessed Kage-level strength.
That he had fallen into his current predicament was not due to incompetence, but rather a series of unavoidable—and deeply unfortunate—circumstances.
Hagoromo entering Kirigakure with a sack full of sealing scrolls might have looked like a walking time bomb, baring his fangs at the village.
But in truth, this was nothing unusual.
Every one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages already possessed a real unpredictable bomb—
Jinchūriki.
Or worse, the tailed beasts themselves.
A jinchūriki could serve as a village's ultimate military asset, yet their instability also forced the village to expend enormous manpower, resources, and vigilance just to keep them under control. Even then, incidents were inevitable.
They were weapons that harmed both the enemy and their owner.
From this perspective, the individual who distributed the tailed beasts yet left Konoha with only the Nine-Tails seemed to harbor a disturbingly dark sense of humor—likely influenced by his silver-haired younger brother.
Each village treated tailed beasts differently, but all shared one thing: fear.
Konoha never allowed Kushina Uzumaki onto the battlefield.
Kumogakure tightly restricted Killer B's movements once the war ended.
And the Mizukage's fate was the clearest warning of all.
Not long after the Seven Ninja Swordsmen departed Kirigakure on their final mission, the Six-Tails' jinchūriki went berserk.
Worse still, the rampage accidentally damaged the seal containing the Three-Tails, resulting in catastrophe.
In a single night, Kirigakure was forced to confront both Isobu and Saiken at once.
After an entire night of brutal combat, the crisis finally ended.
The Six-Tails was successfully resealed into a new jinchūriki—an act that completely drained the Mizukage of his remaining strength.
The Three-Tails, however, could not be resealed.
Instead, Isobu was confined under heavy surveillance in a lake within the Land of Water, effectively left in a wild, unsealed state.
As for the Mizukage—
At this point, he could still breathe.
But breathing was about all he had left.
Because the incident occurred entirely within Kirigakure, and because the village imposed an extreme information lockdown afterward, Konoha received no intelligence whatsoever about it.
Coupled with recent battlefield setbacks and the cumulative losses Kirigakure had suffered, the pro-peace faction within the village began to rise.
More and more shinobi realized that fighting both Konoha and Kumogakure simultaneously was impossible.
Accepting a Konoha envoy was itself a move meant to suppress the hardline war faction.
At Mei Terumī's age, she could not be the ultimate decision-maker—but her position was nonetheless pivotal.
She was widely regarded by the pro-peace faction as a future Mizukage candidate.
This was only natural.
Despite being a kunoichi, Mei's strength and talent were undeniable. Mastery of two kekkei genkai at such a young age was virtually unheard of.
Across the entire shinobi world, her case was unique.
More importantly, she genuinely wished for Kirigakure to withdraw from the war as soon as possible.
As the "rising star" of the peace faction, her role was unquestionable.
Someone like her was destined to become Mizukage—whether sooner or later was the only question.
And now, her strongest rival no longer existed.
Yagura, once her equal in influence within the opposing faction, had been sent to assassinate the Konoha envoy.
No one had expected a shinobi of his caliber to be killed—let alone by an enemy supposedly at a disadvantage.
Yagura's death was complicated.
For someone aspiring to be Mizukage, Mei had to think like one. Losing a shinobi of Yagura's strength was undeniably a blow to Kirigakure.
But for the peace faction as a whole?
One faction's loss was another's gain.
On that level, his death was convenient.
Hagoromo did not know the full details of these events.
But step by step, through observation and inference, he had arrived at a conclusion that was largely correct.
Peace forged through coercion was meaningless.
An agreement signed under threat would be broken the moment circumstances allowed. Hagoromo never believed Kirigakure could be truly forced into submission anyway.
Village politics were never that simple.
The fundamental truth was this:
Konoha's interests aligned perfectly with those of Kirigakure's peace faction.
That was why Hagoromo chose to lay everything bare—to push for a more direct, higher-level dialogue.
His target was not just Mei, but the figures standing behind her.
Originally, Mei had come only to inform him that negotiations would take more time.
The peace faction still needed to completely suppress the war faction before any agreement could be finalized.
But Hagoromo had no intention of waiting.
Once this mission ended, he planned to return directly to the Konoha–Kumo–Iwa front.
So he reverted to his usual philosophy:
Cause trouble first. Resolve it faster.
After a brief exchange with Mei, Hagoromo was escorted to meet Kirigakure's senior advisors.
These were the true leaders of the peace faction.
And there, he proposed a solution so direct that it resonated instantly.
Peace required sacrifice.
Suppressing the opposition slowly was inefficient and risky.
So why not choose a cleaner method?
One with no loose ends.
The idea was not new. Both factions had considered it.
But internal conflict was unacceptable at this stage.
A civil war was off the table.
Silently removing the war faction's leadership was the ideal solution.
Unfortunately, Mei and her allies could not do it themselves.
But just because they couldn't… didn't mean someone else couldn't.
Someone who had already demonstrated mastery over forbidden sealing techniques.
Hagoromo was willing to assist—free of charge.
But first, he needed a formal written statement of intent for peace.
With the current Mizukage effectively incapacitated, success would likely place Mei as acting Fourth Mizukage in short order.
Becoming the official Mizukage might still take years, especially during wartime—but for now, the real authority rested with the advisors.
Before any action was taken against the war faction, Hagoromo required the document.
Without it, there would be no deal.
Both sides were cautious.
Only after confirming Hagoromo's capabilities—and completing their own preparations—did the peace faction finally hand over the written response agreeing to negotiations.
At that point, all Hagoromo had to do was fulfill his part of the agreement.
Then he could leave Kirigakure, mission accomplished.
Which led to one unavoidable question:
Wasn't he supposed to be just a messenger?
So how had he, somehow, ended up participating in another village's political purge?
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