Chapter 313: Confused Mei Terumī
Seeing Samui remaining silent, Akiyama Makoto didn't press her any further.
Although Samui was a Jōnin, she wasn't in the core power circle of the Cloud Village, so forcing her would be meaningless.
Makoto's target was the Raikage A of the Cloud Village.
So Makoto said, "You can write a letter to the ninja of your village. Word it however you like, but convey what I want to say clearly."
"If there are consequences because you didn't convey it clearly, then that's not something I can predict, understand?"
Samui breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed there was still room for maneuver, so that was good.
But she knew that the battle between the Cloud Village and Makoto was probably unavoidable because Cloud Village ninja would never admit defeat.
So how would this matter end?
Even with her intelligence and rationality, she couldn't guess, and could only take it one step at a time.
Soon Samui was taken away, and Temari and Karin beside Makoto also breathed a sigh of relief.
Then Temari said, "Although I said those words, the Sand Village probably won't be able to send any combat power to support us. Gaara isn't stable in the Sand Village yet."
Makoto waved his hand and said, "It doesn't matter. I will ask Chiyo to issue a statement to the public, just supporting me. She won't refuse."
Because of the geographical location, the Sand Village was unlikely to have any conflict with the Cloud Village, so such a statement would not put pressure on Chiyo.
"Will Hokage-sama be angry about this matter?"
Karin also asked worriedly. Makoto patted her head and said, "Tsunade is too happy to be angry. I have attracted the attention of the Rock Village and the Cloud Village for her."
Currently, the Cloud Village and the Rock Village still had ninja confronting Konoha on the border.
Although with Makoto's sudden emergence, the probability of war was getting smaller and smaller, confrontation itself was an act of testing the national strength of both sides.
In Konoha at this time, the girls around Makoto, except for Sakura whose team was disbanded, were all busy around the clock because of the confrontation.
Fortunately, Tsunade had become the Hokage, and Tsunade had a good relationship with the Daimyō. It seemed that the previous generation had a marriage relationship with the lineage of the Land of Fire's Daimyō.
This also reduced a lot of pressure on Konoha's financial problems. Coupled with Makoto diverting the opponents' attention for Tsunade, Tsunade's position as Hokage was really as steady as Mount Tai.
Only then did Karin and Temari nod in realization. It turned out that behind Makoto's actions, there were so many considerations.
Indeed worthy of being their family head!
"Alright, go rest and prepare. Temari can also practice the jutsu I gave you."
Temari had already learned the Yin Seal from Makoto, but it was condensed by Makoto for her. It was difficult for her to learn this move by her own talent.
Makoto was also preparing to improve Temari's talent once, and since learning the Yin Seal in advance wouldn't harm the body, Makoto naturally let Temari learn it.
Subsequently, Makoto patrolled the Land of Waves again, and at the same time used the Mind's Eye of Kagura to determine the movements of the ninja in the dark.
Sure enough, in just one day, the ninja of the great nations had begun to investigate the Land of Waves again, but Makoto wasn't in a hurry to attack them.
In the next day, Kurotsuchi contacted the Rock Village ninja who appeared in the Land of Waves.
As for what they said, Makoto didn't care.
But from the results, Kurotsuchi chose to stay in the Land of Waves. At least she was obviously very interested in cooperating with Makoto.
Originally, Makoto planned to use Deidara's intelligence as bait, but now it seemed unnecessary.
The letter written by Samui was also handed over to the Cloud Village ninja, and the Cloud Village ninja obviously had higher aggression, almost fighting with Haku who delivered the letter.
In the end, it was Zabuza's appearance that scared them away, making them choose to retreat temporarily.
Mei Terumī also got Makoto's response.
Makoto saw Mei Terumī again. At this time, Mei Terumī had obviously groomed herself, clearly not giving up the idea of attracting Makoto.
Unfortunately, after being locked in prison for two or three days, no matter how hard Mei Terumī tried, the moment Makoto saw her, he still frowned.
This made Mei Terumī's face darken instantly.
If it were a young girl, she might feel more ashamed at this time, but Mei Terumī felt more humiliation.
Makoto naturally saw the humiliation in her eyes and said with a smile, "I have two things to tell you. The first thing is that the Hyūga family agreed to help, but the price is to make Ao apologize to the Hyūga family."
Mei Terumī's face became even uglier.
She could see Ao's resentment. Originally, Mei Terumī thought it would be fine if she ignored him, but now Makoto wanted Ao to apologize—wasn't this driving Ao crazy?
"My lord—"
Mei Terumī changed her address to Makoto and wanted to say something more, but Makoto waved his hand and said, "I took Ao's Byakugan back on the battlefield. No one owes Ao. If Ao doesn't intend to apologize, I will force him to apologize with force again."
"Choose, Mei Terumī. Choose to cooperate with us, or choose to continue taking care of your subordinate."
Makoto had no good feelings for Ao, and wouldn't let Ao occupy any important position in the future pattern of the Hidden Mist Village.
He might not necessarily let Ao die unnaturally, but it depended on whether Ao was smart.
Mei Terumī bit her lip lightly, not wanting to agree, but the situation was stronger than people.
The Hidden Mist Village's action must be as soon as possible, otherwise the entire village would be doomed beyond redemption—just consider Ao sacrificing for the future of the village. Mei Terumī felt Ao would agree.
Whether he agreed actively or passively.
Mei Terumī nodded, but the look of humiliation in her eyes became thicker.
Makoto raised his eyebrows. Mei Terumī's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly squeezed out a smile and said, "My lord, is there anything wrong?"
"Alright, I know you are unconvinced, but having temper without strength won't end well."
"Come here."
Mei Terumī approached Makoto, and then Makoto released the seal on Mei Terumī's chakra.
Feeling the chakra flowing in her body, Mei Terumī immediately had thoughts of resistance.
But she forcibly suppressed this thought, and instead said softly, "Thank you, my lord."
"Very good. I was thinking that if you took action, I would simply let Zabuza be the leader of the Hidden Mist Village in the future."
Makoto's words made Mei Terumī's heart chill.
She looked at Makoto in horror, seemingly understanding Makoto's plan.
No wonder Makoto wanted to recruit Zabuza. If Makoto could solve the troubles of the Hidden Mist Village and then let Zabuza become the leader of the Hidden Mist Village, then the entire Hidden Mist Village would be almost under Makoto's control.
What should she do? Resist?
Sending away the mysterious masked man and releasing the Mizukage from genjutsu control, only to welcome a new controller?
Makoto saw through Mei Terumī's thoughts and said, "I'm not interested in power. If I were really interested, I would be Hokage now."
"In comparison, I am more interested in trade between countries, and even more interested in you than the Hidden Mist Village."
Mei Terumī was slightly stunned. Hearing Makoto's straightforward words, she was a bit astonished and dared not look into Makoto's eyes anymore.
That gaze was so burning that it made her panic.
"My lord, I don't quite understand."
Mei Terumī responded perfunctorily, but Makoto smiled and touched her face, saying, "You used beauty traps on me yesterday and today. Today I relented, but is this your performance?"
"That disappoints me too much."
Mei Terumī's heart bells rang loudly. Was everything just now a test?
Her body trembled slightly, suppressing the uneasiness in her heart, and said, "My lord, I naturally won't refuse you, but I want to take a bath first."
"Okay, go to the hot spring. There are maids there to take care of you."
Makoto pointed in a direction, and Mei Terumī turned and left immediately.
She had an impulse to leave just like this—however, until Mei Terumī arrived at the hot spring, she didn't muster up the courage to leave.
The other party was a ninja who could use the Flying Thunder God, and the other party had touched her body. Was it possible that he already grasped her position and could teleport to her at any time?
As a high-level executive of the Hidden Mist Village, Mei Terumī naturally understood some principles of the Flying Thunder God.
And she guessed right. Makoto indeed left a Flying Thunder God mark on her face, and even used genjutsu to shield Mei Terumī's perception.
Since Mei Terumī fell into Makoto's hands, Makoto naturally wouldn't let her go.
This wasn't to say that Makoto was greedy enough to want to possess Mei Terumī's body, but he wouldn't let the Hidden Mist Village be out of his control in the future.
Of course, Makoto wouldn't follow Obito's path of letting the Hidden Mist Village fall into the policy of Blood Mist and kill each other.
On the contrary, the development and growth of the Hidden Mist Village was more beneficial to Makoto, which meant that there was another village and country that Makoto could influence.
If both Zabuza and Mei Terumī were under Makoto's control, then the Hidden Mist Village would naturally listen to Makoto.
Compared to such huge benefits, Mei Terumī's mere body was no longer in Makoto's eyes.
But if Mei Terumī overcame the sense of humiliation in her heart and found her position instead, Makoto wouldn't mind letting her change her surname too.
Using the Mind's Eye of Kagura, Makoto perceived that Mei Terumī took off her clothes and entered the hot spring before withdrawing his attention.
At this time, Mei Terumī felt the pressure on her heart disappear and let out a long breath.
In front of Makoto, she had no way out.
Escape was meaningless, and even the Hidden Mist Village couldn't protect her now.
Mei Terumī clearly had powerful strength, but felt so weak that she had an impulse to cry sadly.
But she naturally couldn't do this. As a strong woman, Mei Terumī was someone others relied on in the Hidden Mist Village. She had no one to rely on.
"Eh, you are here too!"
A slender figure walked into the hot spring entrance, startling Mei Terumī.
She crossed her arms over her chest, thinking Makoto had come.
After seeing the person, Mei Terumī relaxed, glanced at the other person's chest, and a proud smile appeared on the corner of her mouth. "So it's you. I wondered who it was."
Kurotsuchi was quite happy originally. Mei Terumī's release meant that Makoto was right; he had another village's help by his side.
In this way, the matter of everyone finding trouble with the Cloud Village together became more reliable.
But Mei Terumī's personality was too annoying, and her chest size was also annoying.
Kurotsuchi stared at Mei Terumī's chest, and only said when Mei Terumī became uncomfortable, "Hehe, let me tell you a secret."
"What secret?"
Mei Terumī and Kurotsuchi had no enmity. They hadn't even met before this incident.
Now in this environment where they were frank with each other, Mei Terumī struck up a conversation with Kurotsuchi smoothly.
"Makoto-kun, most likely, likes my size."
"Karin and Temari are both his girlfriends, and I kissed Makoto-kun too, hehe."
Kurotsuchi touched her lips, and a visible blush appeared on her face.
However, this blush wasn't shyness, but shame from lying.
She and Makoto did touch lips for an instant, but that was just a coincidence.
Makoto didn't care about this either, and Kurotsuchi had let go, but saying this now to anger Mei Terumī was a good choice.
Mei Terumī sneered and said, "Impossible, he—"
Then Mei Terumī's smile disappeared. Recalling Karin and Temari beside Makoto, and looking at Kurotsuchi in front of her, Mei Terumī's face darkened.
No wonder Makoto wasn't interested in her. It turned out not because she was old or her figure wasn't explosive enough, but because Makoto liked younger ones—well, can't say that either.
Makoto himself wasn't old. He just liked his peers.
Thinking of this, Mei Terumī's chest heaved with anger. She looked at Kurotsuchi angrily and said, "You talked to me just to say this?"
"No, I'm just telling you, don't waste your efforts."
Kurotsuchi stretched her legs into the hot spring, kicking the water with her toes. Her long beautiful legs were already showing promise.
"Makoto-kun is more interested in making the ninja world peaceful, and the way is to deepen exchanges and cooperation among various countries, not letting those old fossils from the Warring States period continue to occupy leadership positions."
"Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Eh?"
Mei Terumī exclaimed in surprise. Was Makoto such a person?
Thinking carefully, Mei Terumī found that Makoto seemed to have said similar things.
But why did Makoto say he was interested in her? Was this a means of control, or did he just have other purposes?
Mei Terumī fell into confusion, but Kurotsuchi was having fun.
She was already familiar with the layout of the villa, and today she also talked to Karin and Temari.
She found that everyone was actually easy to get along with, and since there was no conflict between the two sides, feelings naturally warmed up.
"What about you? Why were you released by him?"
Mei Terumī suppressed the confusion in her heart and asked Kurotsuchi.
Kurotsuchi was stunned and said, "Didn't he tell you?"
"It's simple. Makoto-kun wants to avenge the Hyūga family and plans to blackmail the Cloud Village fiercely."
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