Kirigakure.
The struggle for the Fourth Mizukage quickly turned into internal conflict.
Any shinobi qualified to become Mizukage was frequently targeted by assassinations. Even their subordinates and family members could not avoid bloodshed.
Karatachi Yagura, disciple of the Third Mizukage and a powerful Water Release elite jonin, became the first victim of this internal chaos.
As the strongest competitor for the Fourth Mizukage position, Yagura was besieged by numerous rivals. Assassinations against him emerged endlessly.
The powerful Yagura skillfully resolved them one by one and did not encounter much danger.
But because of one moment of negligence, his parents and family died.
The grief-stricken and furious Yagura wanted revenge.
But after only ten days of investigation, he gave up.
There were simply too many suspects.
And all participants had been silenced.
Considering that the planner himself might have even found a way to clean his own memory, with the dead unable to testify, Yagura would never be able to find the true murderer.
Yagura knew that if he wanted revenge, he could only expand the scope of his strikes.
For example—
Kill everyone involved in the Mizukage competition.
Although most of them would be collateral damage, at least the true murderer would not escape.
But these shinobi competing for Mizukage were all powerful Kage-level shinobi. Behind each person stood large groups of supporters or shinobi clans.
As the current strongest shinobi in Kirigakure, Yagura believed he had the ability to assassinate these Kage-level shinobi.
But before he could kill everyone, he would be surrounded and killed by their joint forces.
In the end, not only would revenge fail, he himself would be killed.
He finally decided to abandon his pointless dignity and stop fantasizing about relying on his own strength to become Mizukage.
Only by becoming Mizukage could Yagura use power openly to kill these people, wipe out their supporters and clansmen, and avenge his family.
He found Lord Genji, the oldest and most senior shinobi in Kirigakure, hoping to receive his support.
Genji looked at the seemingly young Yagura before him.
He was so shocked that the teacup in his hand fell onto the table.
The proud Yagura, who had believed himself destined to become the Fourth Mizukage, performed the great bow of dogeza toward Genji without hesitation the moment he saw him.
And he did it in front of servants and guards who had yet to leave.
Yagura said nothing.
But his action had already said everything.
Genji's firm neutrality wavered.
He stroked the snake-headed cane gifted to him by the First Mizukage and silently thought.
Yagura did not speak either.
He simply bowed to the ground and waited quietly for Genji's decision.
This was a decision with enormous impact.
Genji represented civilian shinobi and shinobi from small clans.
This was the most powerful force in Kirigakure.
Starting from the ninja academy established by the First Mizukage Byakuren, Kirigakure had accumulated a large number of civilian shinobi.
Although they had suffered heavy losses under the terrifying attrition rate, they had still accumulated a group of powerful shinobi.
Gathered under Genji's protection were also the small shinobi clans.
Their shinobi were even more outstanding.
In the environment of a shinobi village, small clans could make up for the resource gap that could not be crossed during the Warring States Period.
They produced shinobi comparable to those of great clans.
For example, in this defeat, the Terumī jonin had performed excellently.
Not only had he shown outstanding performance in the war, what was even rarer was that after the defeat, he stood up and organized his subordinates to break through Konoha's obstruction and return safely.
On the way, he even wiped out a group of Hyūga shinobi and luckily obtained one intact Byakugan.
Because they did not know preservation secret techniques and were worried the Byakugan might be damaged during transport, and because the Terumī jonin's subordinate Ao had lost one eye in battle, that Byakugan was placed into his eye socket.
In the future, this would become a strategic-level Byakugan shinobi.
A Byakugan shinobi belonging to Kirigakure.
These outstanding shinobi all placed themselves under Genji's protection.
They also obeyed Genji's neutrality policy, which he had maintained for forty years, giving up the competition for Mizukage and using obedience and battle in exchange for their own safety.
This policy had already continued for nearly thirty years.
That was enough time for two generations of shinobi to grow.
Genji's neutrality had become an accepted fact in Kirigakure.
In truth, it was not that the three great clans lacked ambitious people.
They had all considered devouring Genji's forces to strengthen themselves and realize their personal ambitions.
But in the end, these people all chose to give up.
Thirty years ago, the three great clans had indeed spared those weak civilian shinobi purely out of respect for Genji.
Twenty years ago, the three great clans all discovered that eating Genji's force would very likely cause severe losses to themselves, making the gains not worth it.
Ten years ago, everyone knew Genji's strength surpassed the Hōzuki clan's, even though the Second Mizukage at the time had been born from the Hōzuki clan.
Today, the three great clans had to unite to guarantee absolute advantage.
No one in Kirigakure still thought about swallowing Genji's force.
But no one worried that Genji would turn around and threaten them either.
Because this force was too scattered.
Although Genji had enough prestige, he did not have enough leadership ability.
He could not organize them into an invincible fighting force.
So Yagura's request was not for Genji to support him.
It was for Genji to hand his strength to him.
Yagura would organize all shinobi and form military force capable of overwhelming the three great clans.
This was absolutely the most significant change.
Once this step was taken, there would be no way back.
Either they would successfully change the shackles of shinobi clans ruling everything in Kirigakure, and Kirigakure would step onto a broad road from then on—
Or the civilian shinobi's forces would be crushed, and Kirigakure would sink beyond recovery.
Genji thought.
Yagura waited.
The atmosphere grew heavier and heavier.
The guards behind Genji could not endure this oppressive atmosphere.
Very soon, they were drenched in sweat, and their calves began trembling.
The maids serving tea and water, on the other hand, felt nothing at all.
They were merely shocked by Karatachi Yagura's youth and his great bow.
As for the change in atmosphere, they were completely unaware.
After a very long time, Genji sighed and asked,
"Do you think now is the suitable timing?"
Yagura's originally mountain-still body suddenly trembled.
He quickly sat upright and answered seriously and firmly,
"Yes, Lord Genji. The timing has matured."
"The three great clans each lost more than a thousand people this time. Each clan also lost one Kage-level shinobi."
"Their strength has undoubtedly been cut in half."
"My lord, if we cannot seize the opportunity created by Konoha this time, when will Kirigakure ever welcome true change?"
Genji sighed deeply.
"Yes. The opportunity is rare."
"But if only you had come to find me fifteen days ago… how good that would have been."
Yagura stared blankly.
Grief appeared in his eyes as he murmured,
"I'm sorry."
Genji shook his head and continued,
"Now that you've come to find me, I cannot help worrying."
"After you become Mizukage, will you slaughter wantonly inside the village?"
"You know this. I do not oppose killing."
"From twenty years ago, I already knew that Kirigakure must go through a fierce slaughter and clean out the three great clans controlling most of the resources before it can gain true rebirth."
"Only enough spilled blood can nurture a newborn Kirigakure."
Although the history of the shinobi world was short, Genji had relied on his own age and experience, comparing Kirigakure's strength and decline with the other four Great Shinobi Villages, to obtain the most correct answer.
Every powerful shinobi village had not appeared from nothing.
They had all distributed resources downward to the greatest extent, allowing as many children as possible to obtain sufficient resources.
Only after several times, even more than ten times, the number of powerful shinobi emerged from among them did they dominate the shinobi world.
The first to prosper was naturally Konoha.
Konoha, known as the cradle of geniuses.
The Ino-Shika-Chō clans, Aburame clan, Inuzuka clan, Sarutobi clan, and Shimura clan—
During the Warring States Period, only Sarutobi Sasuke had been a famous shinobi among them.
Back then, they were the same clans.
Why couldn't they grow geniuses?
Wasn't it because Uchiha Madara had acted ruthlessly, killing off or driving away large numbers of shinobi clans and distributing resources to Konoha's many current clans and civilians?
Together with the Senju clan offering up their own capital and opening the ninja academy to spread ninjutsu knowledge, this created an endless stream of genius shinobi.
The Land of Wind's Sunagakure did not distribute resources in such a bloody manner.
The Second Kazekage found another path, opening up the puppeteer route that traditional shinobi disdained.
When puppeteers became Sunagakure's strongest shinobi force, Sunagakure also became the strongest shinobi village beneath Konoha.
Of course, change without bloodshed was not thorough.
The Third Kazekage was a Magnet Release shinobi famous for suppressing puppeteers.
After he took power, Sunagakure's resource distribution rapidly reorganized, and its strength growth immediately stagnated.
In the last war, they even lost their entire foundation.
Sunagakure's middle generation actually had only two Kage-level shinobi.
As for the younger generation, there was only Sasori of the Red Sand.
This shinobi village that started the Third Shinobi World War had a group of old fellows near fifty years old serving as leader-level shinobi on the battlefield.
No matter how one looked at it, they were about to collapse.
Even more impressive was Kumogakure.
A, the Third Raikage of the Yotsuki clan, worked hard for thirty years and finally took back all power from the shinobi clans.
This included even the Yotsuki clan itself, which dissolved its clan power structure.
More than thirty years of continuous bloodshed and struggle had caused Kumogakure to perform poorly in two wars.
But in these recent years, they had risen rapidly.
Excellent new-generation shinobi of Kumogakure continuously emerged.
Powerful tailed beasts were also sealed into practical jinchūriki, forming strong deterrence on the battlefield.
So if Kirigakure wanted to become powerful, the three great clans had to decline.
They had to release the resources they occupied, wasted, and squandered, distributing them evenly to more children.
The three great clans' shinobi would never automatically surrender their benefits.
Therefore, killing was necessary.
"However, the killing cannot be endless!"
Genji stood up and took his snake-headed cane, striking the floor heavily and producing a dull sound.
With furious eyes wide open, he said,
"It absolutely cannot be like Iwagakure, killing all of its own bloodline limit clans, cutting off the elites, leaving no successors!"
"The inheritance of bloodline limits is extremely important."
"The shinobi village era created by Senju Hashirama is an even crueler era of great competition."
"If Kirigakure does not have stable Kage-level shinobi, we cannot directly face the four Great Shinobi Villages on the continent."
"We can only remain stifled in this small island country and struggle to maintain ourselves."
"Bloodline limit shinobi with higher ceilings are very important. They absolutely cannot all be killed."
"Can you guarantee it?"
"Karatachi Yagura, can you avoid being blinded by blood hatred, carry out restrained and measured killing, and leave the foundation of a powerful shinobi village for the Fifth Mizukage?"
Hearing Genji's question, Yagura's eyes widened round.
Must he abandon hatred?
…
When Karatachi Yagura walked into Genji's residence, the three great clans finally realized that they might unite.
It was also at this moment that they suddenly discovered they were no longer Kirigakure's strongest force.
The clan leaders unwilling to fail quickly gathered together.
They sent out every shinobi to monitor Genji's residence, waiting for the final result of this incident.
When waiting for bad news, the atmosphere was always especially oppressive and tense.
The new Yuki clan leader, To, finally could not suppress his irritation.
He questioned the other two clan leaders.
His tone carried an uncontrollable complaint.
"Who exactly did it?"
The Kaguya clan leader, Kaguya Yoshi, froze and subconsciously asked,
"Did what?"
Hōzuki Gengetsu answered irritably,
"He's asking who killed Karatachi Yagura's parents."
Kaguya Yoshi shook his head.
"It wasn't us."
"When our Kaguya clan kills, we kill the whole family. But we never do assassinations."
"Heh. With our Kaguya fighting style, even if we wanted to assassinate someone, we couldn't."
To sneered.
"If it were other Kaguya, I would believe that."
"But you…"
"You, Kaguya Yoshi, are the Kaguya clan's anomaly."
"Didn't you successfully assassinate your grandfather, father, and older brother to take power?"
"Hahahaha. So that's how it's spread outside."
"I'll say it again. That is not the truth."
"They were infected by plague and unfortunately died of illness."
"Hehe. A plague that only killed three people?"
"Then just treat it as hereditary disease."
"I…"
Hōzuki Gengetsu helplessly shook his head and said to To,
"Why are you arguing reason with Kaguya Yoshi? It's not like you only learned today how shameless he is."
Then he said solemnly to Kaguya Yoshi,
"No joking now."
"Now that things have reached this point, we no longer have the qualification to keep fighting among ourselves."
"We must exchange intelligence."
"I, Hōzuki Gengetsu, announce in the name of my clan's honor that we did not assassinate Karatachi Yagura's parents."
Kaguya Yoshi sighed and also said solemnly,
"I, Kaguya Yoshi, announce in the name of the Kaguya clan's honor that we did not assassinate Karatachi Yagura's parents."
To's beautiful eyes widened.
But he immediately restrained his expression and declared the same thing in the name of his clan.
"The three of us didn't do it. Then who did?"
Announcing in the name of clan honor was an extremely serious attitude for shinobi clans.
They absolutely would not lie.
The three clan leaders were stunned.
They had always suspected the others.
Precisely because they were certain they had not done it themselves, even after discovering Genji and Yagura's meeting, they could still sit here steadily and wait for the final result.
Because all of them understood that the union between Genji and Karatachi Yagura was actually not stable.
It was not that Genji's credibility was poor.
Rather, small-clan shinobi and civilian shinobi did not understand Karatachi Yagura and lacked even basic trust in him.
The pain of having his family destroyed was the only anchor point that allowed Genji's shinobi to empathize with Yagura.
And this anchor point was very easy to destroy.
Just hand over the murderer and the murderer's clan leader.
Civilian shinobi would see it and think—
When their families died, no one cared.
But when Karatachi Yagura's family died, even a great clan leader had to pay with his life.
They would deeply realize that Karatachi Yagura was completely different from them.
The gap in status was like heaven and earth.
How could they still empathize?
Without empathy, this alliance would naturally collapse.
But now, they discovered that the murderer was not one of them.
This was bad.
Before this, even they themselves had firmly believed it was one of the three of them.
If they explained that they had not done it, who would believe them?
"Damn it."
Kaguya Yoshi suddenly stood up.
"Then we can only fight with our lives."
"No more waiting. It's useless."
"I'm going back to gather my clansmen. What about you?"
Hōzuki Gengetsu sighed mournfully.
"I'll also return home and gather shinobi."
To's face was pale.
He tied his long, beautiful hair behind his head into the mid-height ponytail used by the Yuki clan when fighting.
Without saying a word, he walked out of the room.
Kirigakure's civil war was already unavoidable.
The three clan leaders resolutely returned home to gather their clansmen and prepare for battle.
But the unresolved mystery in their hearts still troubled them.
Who exactly did it?
If they knew who it was, they would beat him to death first.
He had doomed all of them.
None of the three clan leaders noticed that in the corner of the meeting room where they had held their discussion, a shy black-and-white pitcher plant was hidden underground.
After confirming that the three clan leaders had chosen war, it silently left through the ground.
Of course, Karatachi Yagura's parents had been killed by Black Zetsu.
A small matter like killing one or two old shinobi was something the grand and simple Lord Madara would never think of.
Naturally, Black Zetsu handled it in his place.
One thousand years.
Black Zetsu had lived for one thousand years and worked hard for one thousand years.
Because of his innate limitations, he fundamentally could not accumulate power.
Black Zetsu could only strengthen himself in intelligence and wisdom.
He learned the most exquisite conspiracies from nobles.
What he excelled at most was killing one or two key people lightly at critical time nodes, guiding the situation toward the direction he hoped for.
Kirigakure falling into chaos, withdrawing all strength and cutting off connections with the outside world—
Only this could leave enough empty space and lay the foundation for Uchiha Madara to control Kirigakure.
After all, Uchiha Madara was an old man who was about to turn seventy-six.
His body had already completely collapsed.
Logically, one did not necessarily die of old age at this age.
But Uchiha Madara had died and revived once.
He had also nourished a pair of invincible Rinnegan.
And his body carried the flesh and cells of Senju Hashirama.
With such three heavy burdens, anyone else would have died in their prime long ago.
Only Uchiha Madara could persist until seventy-six.
Relying on the chakra supplied from Nagato through the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Uchiha Madara could still live healthily and lively.
At least for another five years.
But from then on, he could no longer leave the Demonic Statue's life support.
Perhaps he could still cut the connection a few more times.
But the duration would be very short, and he could not engage in high-intensity battle.
To complete control over Kirigakure, Black Zetsu needed to prepare the preconditions as well as possible.
Satisfied with his work, Black Zetsu left Kirigakure.
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