"Genji... why?!" Kukurin's eyes widened involuntarily as he stared at the prayer beads in Gonbee's hand in utter disbelief. "Why would Genji support that woman? The Fifth Mizukage! What gives her the right to become the Fifth?!"
"You fool! Are you trying to oppose Genji's decision?!" Gonbee shouted with exceptional harshness. He also did not know why Genji had chosen Terumī Mei, but since the old man had already made his decision, Gonbee naturally had to do everything in his power to uphold Mei, whom Genji had chosen.
"From today onward, I am Kirigakure's Fifth Mizukage!" Mei stepped forward, her expression stern as she swept her gaze across the crowd. Then, in a firm voice, she loudly declared, "Anyone who refuses to accept it, step forward. I'll give you a chance to challenge me!"
Upon hearing Mei's declaration, the Kirigakure shinobi gradually recovered from their shock at Genji's stance, and quite a few of them began to stir restlessly.
If someone could defeat Mei under these circumstances, then even with Genji's support, she would lose the qualification to become the Fifth Mizukage.
Just like the Second Mizukage, Hōzuki Gengetsu, back then—after the First Mizukage, Byakuren, died, he decisively stepped forward, defeated the successor chosen by Byakuren, and forcibly seized the position of the Second.
In another country, something like that would naturally have been unbelievable, but in Kirigakure, where strength was revered above all else, the Mizukage naturally ought to be the strongest person in the entire village, and it was only proper for the loser to have everything taken away by the victor.
In that kind of situation, even the First Mizukage's dying words and the support of his faction would have been useless, much less now, when Genji had prestige in name only. His support was certainly powerful, but it still fell short of that of the First Mizukage back then.
However, the conservative Kirigakure shinobi looked at one another, trying to put forward someone qualified to challenge Mei, yet no matter how they thought about it, they could not come up with anyone capable of defeating the current Mei.
Terumī Mei, with her dual Kekkei Genkai, was still somewhat overwhelmingly authoritative in today's Kirigakure, where bloodline families had already vanished. Even the conservative jōnin led by Kukurin, who had never thought much of this woman, had to admit that her strength was indeed formidable.
Just as the conservative jōnin were all finding themselves somewhat stuck in an untenable position, a somewhat hoarse voice suddenly rang out from within the crowd, "Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage!"
Upon hearing that voice, Kukurin flew into a rage and glared viciously at the person who had shouted, "Ringo Ameyuri!"
She was a girl who looked not even ten years old, with brownish-red long hair and distinctive braids tied on both sides of her cheeks like rabbit ears. When she opened her mouth, she unexpectedly revealed a mouthful of sharp teeth just like Kukurin's.
"What? None of you dared to step up, so I thought you'd already accepted it!" The girl named Ameyuri grinned, egging them on with a clear relish for stirring up trouble. "Or is it that you don't dare do it yourself, brother, and are still hoping someone else will stand up for you?"
Kukurin wished he could strangle this rebellious younger half-sister of his, who had been defiant since childhood, but faced with the killing intent in Terumī Mei's eyes, he still instinctively shifted his gaze away.
If he stepped forward to challenge Mei at this moment, no matter how great the potential benefits were, the risks would only be greater. With the Second Mizukage as a precedent, Terumī Mei would most likely go all out and kill the challenger on the spot to establish her authority.
Kukurin was only an ordinary Kirigakure jōnin. Even among the conservatives, his ranking was not particularly high. If Keizumi had not single-handedly wiped out Yagura and the rest of the conservative leadership, it would never have been his turn to preside over the overall situation for the conservatives here
Seeing that Kukurin, the temporary spokesman, had chosen to shrink back, the conservative shinobi became even less willing to step forward at a time like this, and the momentum of the two camps rose and fell in inverse measure.
"Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage! Fifth Mizukage!" Ameyuri, more than happy to make things difficult for her detestable brother, started shouting again. Only then did Ao seem to wake from a dream, and he led a group of reformist Kirigakure shinobi in shouting along with her.
The voices of support spread rapidly like some kind of virus. In particular, with Ameyuri taking the lead, the majority of Kirigakure shinobi who had originally remained neutral also began choosing sides one after another.
Seeing this, the conservatives finally realized that the general trend was lost, and could only accept, each with their own thoughts, the reality of Terumī Mei becoming the Fifth Mizukage.
There was not the slightest joy on Mei's face after becoming the Fifth. Becoming Mizukage was only the first step. Next, she still had to suppress any opposing voices that might emerge and persuade all Kirigakure shinobi to carry out Uchiha Keizumi's [Absolute Justice].
Among these matters, the most difficult was not even persuading all the Kirigakure shinobi, but completing everything before Keizumi grew impatient.
However, what Mei did not know was that Keizumi's patience was far better than she had imagined. Especially after executing so many Kirigakure shinobi, the rewards given by the golden finger were not finished being sorted out until nearly dawn.
[Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once within the ninja world! Your chakra has received a slight increase! Congratulations, you have successfully obtained: Kirigakure Swordsmanship Experience Book]
[Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once within the ninja world! Your chakra has received a slight increase! Congratulations, you have successfully obtained: Silent Killing Technique]
[Ding! You have successfully carried out Absolute Justice once within the ninja world! Your chakra has received a slight increase! Congratulations, you have successfully obtained: Water Surface Combat Specialization]
…
Hundreds of golden finger notifications appeared in a spectacle like a rapidly refreshing screen. The Kirigakure shinobi who had died at his hands generally all had red-name levels of guilt, so the drop rate was naturally far from ordinary. Unfortunately, for the current Keizumi, rewards of this level were hardly different from mosquito legs—at best they were better than nothing.
Fortunately, Keizumi had not come for the rewards in the first place; he was merely passing the time by looking through them while he had nothing else to do.
The giant slug at his side was not foolishly waiting either. It split into three other large slugs, and the four massive creatures gathered together, touching their tentacles to one another, just like four people squatting together and chatting.
Although chatting with oneself sounded strange, considering that the Slug Sage had lived alone in Shikkotsu Forest for thousands of years and only occasionally communicated with contractors, developing this kind of "talking to oneself" habit was quite normal.
Just as Keizumi had finished looking through most of the golden finger notifications, and the slugs were finding that four of themselves chatting together was still not interesting enough and were preparing to split again, one figure after another appeared at the edge of the devastated battlefield.
Leaning against the slug, Keizumi straightened his body and calmly looked at the Kirigakure shinobi who were walking toward him.
At the front were still Terumī Mei and Ao. Behind them were more than twenty Kirigakure jōnin with stern expressions, and behind them were several hundred chūnin and genin with all kinds of expressions.