Sougen flipped through documents he had already read many times, clicking his tongue in admiration. His grandfather truly had a way with words. He actually managed to convince the Fifth Hokage's substitute to send the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki to the front lines. Wasn't the old man usually annoyed by young brats hovering around Fujiwara?
Had he suddenly changed his mind?
Yagura Karatachi sat across from Sougen, holding a flawless white chess piece and waiting for Sougen to make his move.
But despite the wait, Uchiha Sougen showed no signs of playing.
"Clan Leader Uchiha, are we going to continue this game or not?" Yagura was getting angry.
Who stops playing in the middle of a game?
"What's the rush? There's no time limit on this game," Sougen said, putting the thin sheet of paper back and picking up a piece, considering his next move. "By the way, Lord Mizukage, are you ready? If all goes according to plan, we'll begin our operation today."
Yagura's brow furrowed.
"An operation today? Why am I just hearing about this now?"
Sougen placed a chess piece, looking surprised at Yagura on the other side.
Suppressing the urge to curse, Yagura's face changed several times before he finally held back the words "Tell me my ass!" and forced a polite smile. "This is the first I'm hearing of it."
"Oh! Then I must've made a mistake. I thought I had already told you, Lord Mizukage. That's my oversight; I apologize." Sougen laughed insincerely, showing no real remorse. "But it's no big deal. Anyway, you don't have much to pack. You can travel light."
Yagura's face twitched as he held back his frustration.
Under the eaves, he had to bow his head.
These past few days, he had tried multiple times to draw upon the power of the Three-Tails, but found that he couldn't use it at all. The Three-Tails seemed like a stone, not only unable to provide power but also showing no sign of life. No matter how he tried to stir it in the sealing space, it remained motionless.
This made him deeply aware of just how terrifying the Uchiha Clan was.
Although the Three-Tails was still sealed within him, it was no longer his. It didn't even belong to the Hidden Mist Village anymore!
"So, since the operation is today, does that mean we've identified the Hidden Mist command center?" Yagura asked, trying to keep his composure while placing a chess piece. He didn't have much to pack, but he still needed to prepare mentally. He had been planning how best to swiftly and decisively inform all the Hidden Mist ninja of the village's surrender and alliance with the Leaf to pursue the mysterious figure.
"Of course, we've confirmed it. If we weren't certain, we couldn't execute this beheading tactic, could we?"
Just as Uchiha Obito had manipulated Yagura to decapitate the Eastern Border Defense Forces' command center, Sougen planned to use the same tactic to end this war.
"When exactly are we making our move today?"
Yagura raised his gaze beyond the eaves to the cloudy sky. It was around 9 or 10 in the morning. Judging from Uchiha Sougen's leisurely attitude, they wouldn't act right away. Would it be after lunch? Or in the evening? It couldn't be at night, could it?
"It depends. We'll set out whenever our guest arrives," Sougen gave him an unexpected answer.
Yagura's eyes narrowed as he glanced at the stack of documents and letters beside Sougen. "Are you waiting for the Leaf's Nine-Tails Jinchūriki? Just for a mere Jinchūriki... is it worth the wait?" He spoke sincerely; he himself was a Jinchūriki, yet now even his own tailed beast seemed to belong to the Uchiha.
To Sougen, having one more or one less Jinchūriki shouldn't make any difference.
"It's a chance for the kid to gain some experience. These big events don't happen often. If he misses this, who knows when the next opportunity will come? Besides, for a Jinchūriki, witnessing the battlefield early on is beneficial."
Sougen spoke with a smile.
He didn't particularly care why the village had sent the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki to him, but since he was now under Sougen's command, he had his own plans. The Nine-Tails itself didn't interest him much; at least for now, the tailed beasts were of little use to him.
Otherwise, he wouldn't have left the Three-Tails inside Yagura. It would be more useful as a "summon" or "power bank," wouldn't it?
Though he wasn't interested in the Nine-Tails, he was intrigued by Naruto.
He liked this clever and perceptive Naruto. As for the elusive Asura chakra, he had some interest but it wasn't his main concern. His focus was still on Naruto himself.
He wanted to see if Naruto could grow up without losing the cleverness of his childhood, and what kind of person he would become.
Would he, under the influence of the Asura chakra, continue to be the sunny, cheerful Naruto, who didn't seem like a normal person?
Or perhaps, would Naruto follow a completely different path?
"Training the next generation?"
Yagura tightened his grip on the chess piece, his heart full of envy and jealousy.
This was the Leaf, after all—a place where one generation continuously passed the torch to the next. In contrast, his own Hidden Mist Village was nearly bled dry by internal strife. Fortunately, there were still a few promising young talents among the younger generation: Hōzuki Mangetsu, Mei Terumi, Zabuza Momochi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Ringo Ameyuri. If this group could grow up steadily, perhaps the future of the Hidden Mist could still hold some promise.
Offshore, Nameless Island.
The island wasn't large, but it had the rare feature of a fresh water source. That was why, during the third relocation of the Hidden Mist's command center, they chose this uninhabited and unnamed island. As for the constant relocation of the command center, the Fourth Mizukage explained it as a precaution against the Leaf's potential use of the same beheading tactic to attack their command.
Frankly, the younger members scoffed at this reasoning.
For instance, the young prodigy of the Hōzuki Clan, Hōzuki Mangetsu, publicly mocked the Mizukage for losing his courage against the Uchiha. Surprisingly, the usually ruthless Fourth Mizukage didn't punish Mangetsu, instead stubbornly continuing to order relentless attacks on the Leaf ninja.
He seemed to care little about the casualties and didn't leave the command center, almost as if Mangetsu was right—his spirit had been broken by the Uchiha.
The waves crashed against the rocks. A beautiful woman stood on a boulder, her reddish-brown hair flowing behind her, her emerald-green eyes lively and captivating as she gazed at the approaching small boat.
The boat was indeed small.
It could only carry five to seven people at most.
But the small boat was fast. With Hōzuki Mangetsu, an expert at manipulating water, there was no need for a sail; the boat surged through the waves as if propelled by rockets, quickly reaching the shore.
Hōzuki Mangetsu, Zabuza Momochi, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Ringo Ameyuri disembarked.
Mei Terumi glanced at them. Not bad.
Except for Mangetsu, they were all wounded, but none had suffered severe injuries or lost limbs.
"What are the results of this round?" Mei Terumi asked.
"A mixed bag," Mangetsu replied, stretching his limbs. "I took out two teams, but they were just small fry—no Uchiha or Hyūga." New ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄhapters are published on novel(ꜰ)ire.net
"I was targeted by someone from the Hyūga Clan. Their Byakugan is extremely annoying. My Silent Killing technique was completely useless." Zabuza, whose face was wrapped in bandages with only his cold eyes visible, complained bitterly. Unlike Mangetsu, who at least had some kills to show for it, Zabuza didn't get a single one.
"I took down a team of Fire Style users from the Leaf. They weren't Uchiha, seemed to be from the Sarutobi Clan," said Kisame, his shark-like face displaying a chillingly fake smile. Zabuza grunted in displeasure beside him.
Ringo Ameyuri, who shared the same reddish-brown hair as Mei Terumi but lacked her social skills, was curt. So curt, in fact, that Mei had no idea what she meant by "bad luck."
Left with no choice, Mei had to turn to Mangetsu.
"Ameyuri ran into that Uchiha woman again! Her Lightning Style was completely countered by that woman's Wind Style. If I hadn't been passing by, Ameyuri wouldn't have made it back." Mangetsu clicked his tongue. "The Sharingan's genjutsu is really nasty. If I didn't have decent survival skills, I would've been slashed by her."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
The Uchiha clan's Jōnin were their most troublesome enemies. The genjutsu from the Sharingan was truly difficult to deal with, and combined with their Fire Release techniques, which could rival ordinary Water Release techniques, even prodigies like Hōzuki Mangetsu and his group had suffered quite a bit in recent fierce battles against the Uchiha.
"Is it... Uchiha Chisao?" Terumi Mei frowned.
Ever since the war between Konoha and the Mist started, intelligence had naturally been flowing between the two sides. Both were aware of the standout young fighters as time went on. On the Mist side, it was undoubtedly Hōzuki Mangetsu and his peers.
As for Konoha, most were from the Uchiha clan, while some were from the Hyūga, Aburame, and other clans.
Uchiha Chisao was one of them. His rare Wind Release techniques were incredibly sharp, and he had taken down many skilled Mist shinobi. Including this time, Ringo Ameyuri had twice nearly been killed by him, but fortunately, different people had intervened to save her on both occasions, preventing a premature death.
Considering that Zabuza had recently been targeted by the Hyūga's Byakugan, it wasn't hard to conclude that Konoha was deliberately sniping at the Mist's young talents.
"Is that even a question?"
Hōzuki Mangetsu glanced over, "Does our Mizukage have any countermeasures?"
Terumi Mei pressed her lips together, ultimately saying nothing.
What countermeasures? Recently, the Mizukage had done nothing but order the troops to attack without any real strategy.
Hōzuki Mangetsu's face darkened.
The thought he had suppressed several times resurfaced uncontrollably.
"Maybe we should just get rid of the Fourth Mizukage!"