Under the cover of night, the Hidden Mist Village was shrouded in a thin, reddish haze.
The massive commotion erupting from the Kaguya clan's territory had drawn the attention of most shinobi within the village—including, of course, those who had been watching the area from the very beginning.
Yagura Karatachi, the current Jonin Commander and the future Fourth Mizukage, was one such man.
At this moment, Yagura was acting under the orders of Elder Genji. His mission was singular:
To scout whether the shinobi sent by Konoha's Root possessed the ability to crack the Third Mizukage's ninjutsu.
If they did, he was to observe and secretly intervene to protect them, with his primary objective being to avoid exposing his own involvement.
If they did not, he was to kill these Konoha shinobi before the Third Mizukage could capture them and extract any intelligence through interrogation.
Elder Genji seemed to have known about the existence of these Root ninjas for a long time. He was also well aware that a group of Mist shinobi, led by Yagura himself, was secretly plotting a coup against the Third Mizukage.
However, one point that deeply perplexed Yagura was Elder Genji's ambiguous attitude.
The Elder neither expressed approval nor opposition to their actions. Even when Yagura contacted the village's prestigious bloodline clans, Genji would intentionally feign ignorance. Yet, shortly after clans like the Hozuki explicitly refused to join, their heirs would secretly contact Yagura to pledge their support.
Such behavior made Genji look like a "fence-sitter," swaying indecisively between the new generation of Mist shinobi and the Third Mizukage.
Yet, Yagura knew better. Elder Genji was not that kind of man. This elder loved the Hidden Mist; he had supported the village since its founding and saw its internal flaws and potential for improvement with piercing clarity. He was eloquent, and his strength was frighteningly immense.
But even so—even for a powerhouse who was in no way inferior to Konoha's Second Hokage, a political titan once defined by his iron-fisted rule—he now seemed to be in dread. He was afraid of something... or someone.
Is it the Third Mizukage?
No. Yagura knew that even though he was old and frail, Elder Genji's strength was by no means lower than the Third Mizukage's. But if not him, then who?
Who could make the Elder fall into such a state of hesitant, lingering fear?
What exactly was he afraid of?
Yagura didn't have the answer.
But regardless of what monster waited ahead, he was determined to change the Hidden Mist!
In the night, Hunter-nin reinforcements leaped across the curved walls of the cylindrical towers throughout the village, converging from all directions. In the center of the district sat the Pursuit Operations Command Center.
"Is there intelligence on the intruders yet?!"
"Yes! Reports from the front say there are four intruders, all dressed in black tactical jumpsuits. The leader wears a full-face mask, while the three behind him wear bird, cat, and bear masks. Their heights are 174, 181, 165, and 149 centimeters, respectively."
"Their movement speed is incredible! A single stride covers the distance of three for an average person!"
"Our men tried to intercept them, but before they could even get close, they were blown back by a gust of wind. They've fallen several lengths behind and are struggling to keep up!"
"What about the other side?"
"The one from the Aburame clan turned into insects and vanished! We can't track him at all!"
Fuguki Suikazan listened to the reports flowing in from various directions, his expression darkening.
Upon hearing his subordinates mention that the intruders used Wind Style, he couldn't help but recall that Byakugan brat he had encountered two months ago. That boy's Wind Style had left an extremely deep impression on him.
That terrifying Wind Style sphere the brat had spat out before his "death" had left every single member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen injured. They had barely managed to escape the Land of Fire. Not long after returning to the village, Juzo Biwa had succumbed to his severe wounds and deep toxic erosion.
Just like that, two of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been taken out in a single mission.
And now, the assassins infiltrating the village were Wind Style users again. This immediately soured Fuguki Suikazan's mood. "Damn it... why does Konoha have so many Wind Style shinobi? Isn't that supposed to be a rare affinity only found in the Land of Wind!?"
He spat a curse, shook his head, and exhaled a heavy breath to refocus on the situation. He was just about to command the Hunter-nin to block the intruders' path when three figures came sprinting down the western main road.
The leader was quite short, only 1.43 meters tall, wearing a light green combat suit. He had a youthful, boyish face, but carried a massive iron staff on his back, decorated with a hook and green flowers at the end.
Behind him were two others: a man with a wild appearance dressed in ronin attire, and a youth with long, shoulder-length white hair and purple eyes.
"It's Yagura... and Kanryu and Mangetsu Hozuki?"
"Suikazan!" From a distance, Yagura Karatachi waved at Fuguki Suikazan. Fuguki's expression tightened. No one else knew that, as the leader of the Mist Hunter-nin, he had actually already joined Yagura's coup organization in secret.
But since they were in public, he had to maintain a stern face. He barked out in a low, heavy voice:
"Yagura Karatachi! What are you doing here?!"
Yagura shot Fuguki a meaningful look and pretended to be ignorant of the situation. "I saw the commotion and came to help. What happened?"
"This is none of your business!"
"Don't be like that. We're comrades of the same village, after all. Judging by your looks, are you chasing someone?"
"That has nothing to do with you!"
"I am the Jonin Commander. Theoretically, you are my subordinate!"
"The Hunter-nin do not report to the Jonin Council!"
"Ha? What's that supposed to mean?!"
"What do you mean, what does it mean?"
"Are you looking for trouble? Do you have some kind of grievance against me, Suikazan?!"
"You're the one being weird, you brat! Do you have a death wish?!"
Quickly, under the bewildered gazes of the surrounding Hunter-nin, the Jonin Commander and the leader of the Hunter-nin actually began a heated shouting match, reaching a point where it looked like they might actually trade blows.
On the other side, Hyuga Yu, who was leading his team in their escape, withdrew his gaze from the confrontation and let out a sigh of relief. His eyes lingered for a moment on Yagura Karatachi and the indifferent, white-haired youth behind him. Then, he signaled to the team behind him. "We're going this way!"
Taking advantage of the opening created by Yagura's "sudden appearance," Hyuga Yu's team quickly shook off their pursuers and arrived at a Konoha safe house hidden within the village.
It was a shop located on the edge of the central district, run by a merchant from the Land of Craftsmen who sold ninja tools. It was situated right next to the Terumī clan's estate.
Upon reaching the safe house, Hyuga Yu, whose face was becoming increasingly pale, immediately pulled a scalpel from his tool pouch. He cut through the black tactical suit pressed against his chest, revealing a stab wound that had nearly pierced him through. Inside the wound was a "drop of blood plasma" that had splashed off the Third Mizukage's blood wings—a sample he had forcibly contained using his cyan chakra.
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