Kirigakure.
The village established in the mist, relying on the vast sea, can be said to be the maritime gateway of the Kingdom of Water.
Among the five major countries, Kirigakure is also the ninja village that is best at water warfare. The sea and lakes are the favorite combat environments of Kirigakure ninjas.
Yagura used to go to the rooftop of the Mizukage Building after finishing his busy work in the morning and look at the endless sea, which would relax his body and mind.
The pressure work that he has been doing has also brought a lot of trouble to Yagura.
When he first took office, many senior elders criticized him. In addition, when Kisame was included in the selection of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, those elders were even more dissatisfied.
But seeing that Kirigakure Village has indeed regained its strength at a rapid speed in the past few years, these senior elders have become more honest. However, Yagura knows that these people are still watching his every move from behind, trying to catch him from behind. Hold on to your pigtails to make trouble.
This time the Daimyo of the Land of Water was assassinated, Kisame defected and abandoned the village. This was the reason for these high-level officials to launch an attack.
For this reason, Yagura had to make a compromise at the high-level meeting. After all, the whole incident, in their view, was the result of his improper recognition of people as a Mizukage.
This led to further deterioration in the relationship between Kirigakure and the noble collective of the Water Country.
Some nobles even believed that Kisame was just a murderous blade in the hands of Mizukage, and the defection of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen also happened under Mizukage's instruction.
However, due to the lack of evidence and the specific reasons why Kisame defected from the Kingdom of Water, there was not enough testimony to confirm that the Mizukage was involved in the assassination of the Daimyo of the Kingdom of Water and allowed his subordinates to commit crimes. In the end, it came to nothing.
Looking up at the boundless sea, the warm sea breeze blew against his face. Yagura breathed out softly, and the depression of the past few days also dissipated a lot.
Regarding Kisame, there are no more than five people in Kirigakure Village who know the truth.
These people are all close confidants around him, ninjas who have been guided by his own hands. Naturally, there is no need to question their loyalty to themselves and the village.
But from the beginning, he was a little hesitant about whether to get Kisame out of Kirigakure Village.
After the civil strife in Kirigakure Village, its military strength has declined. Kisame is an indispensable general for Kirigakure Village.
Although the Seven Ninja Swordsmen are jounin in the village, only the most elite jounin can join them to form a special ninja force, which symbolizes the image of Kirigakure Village.
As the outstanding figure among the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of this generation, Kisame's strength cannot be said to be weak.
However, compared to future plans, instead of letting Kisame stay in Kirigakure Village, sending him out to engage in espionage work would be more effective.
At this point, we can only step up the exploration of talents within Kirigakure and cultivate a new generation of outstanding ninjas as soon as possible to serve as the pillars and bear the future of Kirigakure Village.
According to Genshi's actions, in a few years, he will abdicate and give up the position of Mizukage, and another Kirigakure ninja will take over the position of Mizukage.
Before that, he had to make all preparations before he could safely hand over the position of Mizukage to his successor.
After thinking wildly for a moment, Yagura went down from the rooftop and returned to his office.
Ao, who was escorting the Jonin and working part-time as the Mizukage's secretary, was sorting documents there and working hard.
"Do you need a little more rest, Mizukage-sama? You have been working late at night these days. Do you want to find a medical ninja to take care of your body?"
Qing asked concernedly.
Being diligent in political affairs is indeed worthy of admiration, but if the body is exhausted because of it, it is not worth the gain in Qing's opinion.
Kirigakure Village finally got out of the shadow of the Blood Mist. Over the past few years, under the leadership of Yagura, it has resumed development at an extremely fast speed. It will soon be able to smooth out the huge trauma caused by the Blood Mist Sect to the Kirigakure Village. At this time, Ao thought that Yagura, as a Mizukage, could relax appropriately.
"Don't worry, there's nothing wrong with my health. Just look for the medical ninja to come over. I'm not as delicate as you think, Qing."
After all, he is in his prime, and even if he performs high-intensity work for half a month, it is not a problem for Yagura.
"Really? But I still hope that Mizukage-sama can pay a little more attention to his body."
"I know...but when it comes to physical recuperation, I really miss the warmth of the Ghost Country. I went there not long ago, and I came back in a hurry after talking about things, and I didn't really enjoy it. After I step aside, I will go there to recuperate for a while. "
Yagura stretched his body, remembered something and said.
"You are Kirigakure's Mizukage, is it really okay to say this?"
Ao glanced at Yagura helplessly.
"You are just too strict, Qing. According to the agreement with Master Yuan, in a few years, I should abdicate in favor of someone more worthy."
"Terumi Mei Jounin? According to her, she has indeed been very active recently under the operation of Elder Genshi."
Qing thought for a moment and understood something.
It is not difficult to see that if no accident occurs, the opponent is already the fifth generation Mizukage.
No, even if there is an accident, Yagura will sweep it away and let Terumi Mei inherit his position as Mizukage.
Because of the cooperation with the Demon Country, Terumi Mei was also an insider and consenter.
If someone else replaces Mizukage, the cooperation with the Demon Country will probably be terminated by then, which will be extremely detrimental to the future development of Kirigakure Village.
And if Terumi Mei came to power, this kind of thing wouldn't happen.
Therefore, with the dual support of Kirigakure's most respected Elder Yuanshi and the current Mizukage, it is a sure thing that he will succeed the Fifth Mizukage.
Qing also had no objection to this.
No matter who is the Mizukage, as long as he can lead Kirigakure Village to become stronger and not repeat the tragedy like Blood Mist, that will be enough.
It makes no difference to Qing who he serves under.
Usually, his relationship with Terumi Mei is relatively harmonious. After all, Terumi Mei is still working as a guard of the Mizukage, although she rarely comes here.
"Before that, I will arrange everything for Ming."
Yagura said as he sat back in his seat.
It is indeed a very regrettable thing that I can't continue to work in the position of Mizukage.
But compared to Kirigakure Village's path to reform and become stronger, Mizukage's position is not worth mentioning.
Moreover, since he is the three-tailed Jinchuuriki, he will become Akatsuki's target sooner or later.
If an accident happens to me at that time and unfortunately falls into the hands of Akatsuki, Kirigakure Village will not be leaderless and passive... We must prepare for the worst in everything.
It is also the Mizukage's duty to plan ahead and take everything into consideration.
"I always feel that Mizukage-sama is misunderstood by many people."
Qing sighed.
Carrying the banner of annihilating the Blood Mist Sect alone, it is difficult to imagine how heavy the pressure was on the other party at that time, so that he could take power through a coup.
Facts have proved that Yagura's approach is right, and the long-term pain is worse than the short-term pain.
Although the annihilation of the Blood Mist Sect greatly damaged the vitality of Wuyin Village, it brought long-term stability and laid a solid foundation for the future development of Wuyin Village.
They also secretly received new technical support from the Kingdom of Demons. Take the medical ninjas for example. With the secret assistance of the Kingdom of Demons, the medical system of Kirigakure Village has undoubtedly begun to undergo earth-shaking changes. In the past few years, the number of ninja teams who have been out on missions in Kirigakure Village has been decreasing year by year, which can be said to be an extremely wise move.
"This kind of thing doesn't matter. After all, I was pursuing the power of Mizukage at that time. Okay, let's not talk about this. Is there any good talent worthy of attention in the ninja school this year?"
Yagura asked about it instead.
The Ninja School is the most important ninja training institution in the Ninja Village. It has cultivated countless outstanding ninjas for the Ninja Village, which can be said to be indispensable.
Yagura also attaches great importance to the Ninja School.
"There are quite a few, especially the Kaguya clan. The children of their clan have achieved practical results in this year's ninja school that are difficult for genin to achieve."
Ao picked up a report, scanned the contents, and reported to Yagura Hui.
"Kaguya? That family where most of the people are mentally ill? I thought all these fighting maniacs were dead."
"Please don't tell such a terrible joke, Mizukage-sama. After all, their clan also has the blood inheritance limit. There are very few ninjas in the ninja world who can compete with them in taijutsu."
Qing said seriously.
The Kaguya clan is a ninja clan that is keen on fighting. Their clan has a blood inheritance boundary called the "Corpse Bone Vein" since ancient times.
However, due to the scarcity of such awakened blood successors, in the decades since the establishment of Kirigakure Village, there have been only a handful of Kaguya clan ninjas with corpse veins.
But there is no doubt that the taijutsu of Kaguya clan ninjas who have awakened their corpse veins will become very terrifying.
This clan's fanatical pursuit of fighting is no less than that of the Uchiha clan in Konoha.
All along, in battle, the ninjas of this family are not afraid of death, sprinting to the forefront of the battlefield, fighting with the enemy in blood.
Sometimes, even the Mizukage, who is in power, feels a headache for these fighting maniacs.
"Really? Besides that?"
"Children of the Snow Clan also excel in ninja school."
"The Blood Succession Limit...is truly a unique talent."
Facing Ao's answer, Yagura sighed.
The Yuki clan, like the Kaguya clan, are rare ninja clans with blood inheritance limits.
The ninjas of this clan have the "Ice Release" blood successor limit, but the probability of awakening the blood successor limit is higher than that of the Kaguya clan.
"Bloodline is also a kind of power, which is understandable. This is a precious asset left by their ancestors, but it is not easy to apply it skillfully."
Qing nodded, blood successor limit ninjas, in many cases, their upper limit as ninjas is to surpass ordinary ninjas.
This is an unshakable fact.
Therefore, there is no problem in considering blood as one of the strengths of ninjas.
"What are their names?"
"Kaguya Kimimaro and Haku are in the fourth grade of the ninja school, but according to the school's judgment, there is no problem for them to graduate early. The two of them already have strength that surpasses most genin. And... they both have it. Signs of awakening the limits of blood inheritance.”
Qing replied solemnly.
The Snow Clan's ice escape is very powerful, but the probability of awakening is high, so Qing doesn't think it's anything to be too surprised about.
However, the Kaguya clan's 'corpse bone vein' is an extremely rare talent.
The ability to freely manipulate the bones of the body, the hardness of its bones can even exceed the hardness of steel, making it both a sharp spear and a hard shield.
"Is that so? It seems that these two people are ranked first and second in their grades."
Yagura made this judgment.
"No, the situation may be different from what you expected, Mizukage-sama."
Qing smiled bitterly at this time.
"What's wrong?"
"The two of them ranked second and third respectively in their grade, not first and second."
"Second and third? Are there any students in the school who can surpass them?"
Yagura felt incredible.
Qing helplessly shrugged his shoulders.
"Kazuhime Mahiru... no, it should be Kazuhime Chiba. She is the chief of the fourth-year students."
"It's that kid."
When Yagura heard Ao say this, he was not surprised at all.
He had already heard from Shiraishi about Ichiki's abnormality. It would not be an exaggeration to say that she was a humanoid tailed beast in a seal.
If it were the opponent, it would not be strange to defeat someone of the same age as the Kaguya clan and the Snow clan.
"In short, we need to strengthen the teaching of outstanding students in Ninja School. In the past, due to the blood mist policy, many children who were still developing were killed in the graduation exam. We cannot let this tragedy happen again."
"yes."
Qing responded solemnly.
Although the blood mist policy cultivated a group of powerful Kirigakure ninjas, Kirigakure also sacrificed countless outstanding seeds for this.
As a result, among the younger generation of ninjas in Kirigakure, there are very few people who carry the banner.
More people killed each other with their companions when they graduated from the ninja school and died in the graduation exam.
This is Kirigakure’s painful history worth remembering throughout his life.
◎
No matter how vigilant you are when you're out alone, you can't be too vigilant.
Kisame asks himself this all the time, walking on the wild road shrouded in moonlight, surrounded by the vast dark scenery.
He was holding a corpse in his hand, which was the target of his bounty mission.
He is a Jonin-level defector ninja from Sand Hidden Village in the Land of Wind. He is on the defection list, grade A, and has a bounty of twelve million taels.
Kisame spent ten days collecting information and two days to kill the opponent for sure.
It is very difficult to catch these defecting ninjas running around.
One of the few sources of information he has now is the underground black market.
But the information is not provided free of charge; it needs to be purchased with money.
Therefore, every time a bounty is obtained, part of it must be paid to the underground black market platform.
This undoubtedly increased the pressure on Kisame to survive in the outside world.
However, as long as he got through the initial period and gradually became more comfortable with his job as a bounty hunter, Kisame could generally be considered satisfied with his current life.
At least compared to the early days, his survival pressure was greatly reduced.
Walking on the path in the wild, Kisame looked at the incomplete moon in the sky, and the teeth in his mouth began to grin.
"Here we go again, which way are we from..."
The bright moonlight suddenly dimmed, not because of the dark clouds in the sky, but because of a very suspicious fog that shrouded the surrounding environment and swallowed up the surrounding darkness.
It gave people a very cold feeling, and bursts of murderous intent were transmitted through the air, which was bone-chilling.
Kirigakure no Jutsu.
It is the vision-obscuring ninjutsu that the Kirigakure Village pursuit troops are best at.
It is said that the high-level Kirigakure Jutsu can prevent even the Sharingan of the Konoha Uchiha clan, and cannot be blown away by wind release.
During the Blood Mist Period, Kirigakure was notorious for pursuing his troops. He used extremely ruthless methods to intimidate both internal and external forces.
Even Kisame was extremely afraid of the power of this army.
As a unit under the direct control of Mizukage, they are all composed of elite ninjas from Kirigakure Village, and their strength is extraordinary.
It is undoubtedly very unwise to fight these people alone.
A large number of kunai were quickly thrown out from the thick fog, all attacking the vital parts.
Without hesitation, Kisame let go of the body of the bounty target, waved the sword Samehada he took from behind with one hand, and flicked away all the kunai that flew towards him.
As a defecting ninja, it is inevitable to be targeted by the ninjas who are chasing the troops.
Although these people did not know the truth about his defection, since they were chasing him, Kisame would not let them attack and remain indifferent.
"Water Release·Water Shark Bullet Technique!"
The water that gathered around Kisame instantly turned into an extremely ferocious shark, opening its sharp teeth and charging into the thick fog.
Wow!
The shark formed by the water flow came into contact with a tall water wall, causing the water flow to collapse, and the splashing water droplets fell to the ground like rain, bringing a sense of moisture.
After that, another water dragon flew out of the thick fog, using the water dragon bullet technique.
It is a powerful water escape ninjutsu that many Kirigakure Village ninjas are very accustomed to and skilled in.
Judging from the size of the water dragon and the chakra content in it, the ninja who performs this water escape technique is undoubtedly a jounin-level ninja.
Kisame made a sound, turned around and left the place, leaving the body of the bounty target aside without even bothering to take it away.
Bounty hunting is just a way for him to attract 'customers'. If he gets hurt here for money, in Kisame's opinion, it is very unworthy.
Even if he loses this business, he will not be so depressed that he cannot survive.
At this time, the most important thing is to think about how to successfully escape from the chasing troops in Kirigakure Village.
This group of people didn't know the truth about his defection from the Ninja Village, so they came to hunt him down as a defecting ninja. Behind him, Mizukage Yagura signaled.
Kisame had been mentally prepared for this, but every time he encountered something like this, he still felt terrible.
And this embarrassing life is just the beginning.
The road ahead will be even more difficult.
The only good thing is that the ninjas who came to hunt him down will definitely not target his water escape ninjutsu.
This was also the secret consensus between Yagura and him.
After all, Kirigakure Village has a huge ninja base, and there will always be some ninjas with special abilities who can restrain Kisame's ninjutsu.
This would inevitably put Kisame himself in danger of death.
This kind of thing will also be avoided as much as possible.
It doesn't matter if you can take some drastic measures when necessary.
The sound of whooshing could be heard from behind, and the ninja who was chasing the troops persisted in pursuing Kisame.
For Kirigakure Village, a wandering S-class defecting ninja may endanger the security and stability of the village and the country in the future.
Especially when a ninja like Kisame, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen, defected from the village, he knew too many secrets about Kirigakure. Once these secrets were leaked, it would cause an extremely unfavorable situation for Kirigakure Village.
Eliminating this dangerous and unstable defecting ninja as soon as possible is the meaning of the pursuit of the troops.
"It's so annoying. These guys, if they continue like this, they will just keep catching up with them."
Not to mention the pursuing troops from other villages, Kisame was well aware of the persistent attitude of the pursuing troops in Kirigakure Village.
Faced with the hatred and rejection of the traitors, this group of people almost reached a degree of distortion and perversion.
Once you encounter these people, it is not that simple to get rid of them.
Then he went deep into the forest, and the surrounding dense fog became lighter in color, escaping from the range of the Kirigakure Technique. The bright moonlight shone on the earth again, bringing new light to the dark forest.
The footsteps of the ninjas who were chasing the troops behind them disappeared from my ears at some point.
"Um?"
Kisame raised his eyebrows, realizing that something was not simple.
With the attitude of Kirigakure's hunting troops towards the traitorous ninja, it was impossible to let him go so easily.
Kisame was also prepared for a tough fight since he couldn't escape.
However, the ninjas who were chasing him had disappeared inexplicably, which made Kisame feel that things were getting a little weird.
While Kisame was thinking about this, there was a strange movement in the land in front of him, as if something was about to come out.
Kisame jumped back without hesitation, holding Samehada tightly, showing a vigilant look.
The guy who emerged from the soil is a normal creature that cannot be called a human being.
Half black, half white, its body is surrounded by pitcher plant-like plants, like a creature made up of two human personalities.
"who are you?"
Kisame did not let down his guard.
It would be better to say that after this strange creature came out, he became more vigilant.
As the information said, it is very good at hiding. This kind of creature will only be aware of its aura the moment it appears.
"Just call us Jue."
The half-black, half-white creature giggled.
It was the white half that was laughing and answering Kisame's questions.
"you?"
"Yes, my name is Bai Jue, he is Bai Jue, and Jue is the name after we merge. But why are you so vigilant? It's rare that we diverted the pursuing troops from Kirigakure Village for you, isn't it? Should we be grateful to you?"
Bai Jue, who is on the left half, is talking in a poor tone.
The Black Zetsu on the right half has an expressionless face, seemingly dominated by White Zetsu. He is silent there and just stares at Kisame with a pair of silent eyes.
But Kisame could faintly sense that the silent Black Zetsu was far more dangerous than the talkative White Zetsu.
"I'm not asking you for help. If there's nothing else, I'll leave first."
Kisame put Samehada behind his back and turned around to leave.
"It will be difficult for you to survive in the ninja world if you continue like this, Kisame Kisame, the weirdo of Kirigakure Village."
Black Zetsu said, breaking the silence.
"Have you investigated my information? It seems that you are well prepared."
Kisame turned slightly to the side and narrowed his eyes dangerously.
"We are from an organization, and we hope you can join. As long as you join the organization, the pursuit troops of Kirigakure Village will pose no threat to you. You have also seen our excellent ability to distract the enemy. Even Kirigakure The most elite pursuit force in the Hidden Village will also be blinded by the illusion we created."
Black Zetsu said.
He understood that for Kisame right now, the biggest pressure in life was survival.
And this kind of pressure comes from his own lack of intelligence, which makes him easily targeted by the hunting troops in Kirigakure Village. Every time he escaped from danger, he had to spend a lot of energy to escape safely from the ninjas who were chasing Kirigakure's troops.
"Sorry, although you helped me, I'm not interested in joining the organization or anything like that. Can you please stop disturbing me?"
Kisame frowned, a look of dissatisfaction evident on his face.
"Don't refuse in a hurry. We are here today just to say hello to you and solve some troublesome problems for you. A defecting ninja who leaves the village like you will definitely become the village's key hunting target. Only we can help you."
Black Zetsu followed the temptation and did not rush to recruit Kisame into the Akatsuki, but slowly began to plot.
"Huh, boring. Let's forget it this time. Don't bother me in the future. I'm not a good-tempered person."
Kisame snorted coldly, not caring about the threat Hei Zetsu said at all.
He turned around and immediately used the teleportation technique to disappear from the forest under the dark night.
"Oh, the recruitment failed. He left without hesitation. It seems that he doesn't even bother to listen to our nonsense."
Bai smiled playfully without taking it too seriously.
"No, I didn't originally expect to succeed in recruiting him at once, but our sincerity will impress him sooner or later."
Black looked desperately at the direction Kisame left. After saying this, he slowly sank into the ground and disappeared together with Bai Zetsu.
