"Lord Rei Kaguya, this is the list of clans and shinobi who have submitted applications over the past few days and are interested in the Hyuga clan's Byakugan…"
Inside the repaired Mizukage's office, a female Anbu placed a thick stack of application forms on Rei Kaguya's desk.
She spoke to him with a somewhat unaccustomed tone while he buried himself in work.
"According to the statistics, two hundred and thirty-seven qualified women have already submitted applications. There are also nearly twice as many names that failed to meet the requirements and were rejected by us… When do you plan to have that Hyuga Makoto begin working?"
"After I return from the talks."
Rei Kaguya looked at the list. Even after careful selection, it was still shockingly long.
A little helplessly, he rubbed his brow.
"Seriously. Although the Byakugan is indeed a powerful Kekkei Genkai, isn't the number of married female shinobi on this application list a little too high?"
"Um, if we are talking about the clan with the highest number of married women signing up, then the Kaguya clan is leading the entire village by an overwhelming margin, Lord Rei Kaguya…" the female Anbu cautiously added.
"Cough, cough, cough… That is probably my fault."
Rei Kaguya coughed violently because of her words.
After finally recovering a little, he leaned back in his chair and said with a tone that was half helpless and half headache.
"I have no idea where the information leaked from. I only casually said once that compared to the Sharingan, I probably preferred the Byakugan a little more. As a result, after those guys in the clan heard about it, every single one of them decided on their own that the Byakugan was the one and only perfect accessory for the Dead Bone Pulse…"
"Eh? Isn't it?" the female Anbu froze and asked in disbelief.
"Pretend I said nothing."
Rei Kaguya sighed, then turned toward another pile of documents.
"If I remember correctly, although I only opened applications for the Byakugan, quite a few people still expressed greater interest in the Sharingan, right? Have the numbers on that side been counted?"
"The total number is about the same as those applying for the Byakugan. Because you said Uchiha Shisui's usage rights would only be opened after a few more years, we did not filter applicants according to the conditions you set…"
"...Raise Hyuga Makoto and Uchiha Shisui's daily meal treatment to the highest standard."
After mentally calculating the rough workload the two unlucky fellows would face in the future, Rei Kaguya could not help shivering.
"It would not be pretty if they suddenly died young at their posts from overwork."
"Understood."
The female Anbu nodded, then vanished from the room as silently as she had arrived.
That left Rei Kaguya alone, facing the mountain of affairs piled before him.
"Damn it. Why doesn't Kirigakure have a group of civil officials good at using their brains like the Nara clan? If I have to handle everything myself, how will I have time to do research and get stronger?"
Just as Rei Kaguya irritably grabbed his hair and tried to remember whether there was anyone in the village who could help share his work pressure, a short young boy with a baby-faced appearance knocked on the door of the Mizukage's office and walked in with a somewhat nervous, uneasy expression.
"Yagura? Is something the matter?"
Seeing that the person who had arrived was Yagura Karatachi, the one who had become the Fourth Mizukage in the original timeline, Rei Kaguya's eyes lit up. He took the initiative to ask.
"Um, Rei Kaguya."
Yagura Karatachi took a deep breath and slowly asked, "You want me to attend the peace talks with Konoha together with you as Lord Third's guard… Are you serious?"
"Why would you think I'm not serious, Yagura?"
Rei Kaguya rested his cheek on one hand and asked back in a relaxed tone.
"I am a shinobi who was born, raised, and promoted during Lord Third's reign. Even if Lord Third truly was, as you said, a puppet controlled by someone's genjutsu for so many years, the person I swore loyalty to was still the Lord Third I saw during those years."
At this point, Yagura Karatachi raised his head with a complicated expression and glanced at the portrait of the Third Mizukage hanging inside the office. Only then did he continue.
"Do you really think someone like me can simply walk the same path as you, the person who overthrew Lord Third's rule and forced him to bear so much infamy?"
"What a boring entanglement."
Rei Kaguya rolled his eyes and asked without the slightest fluctuation in his tone.
"Yagura, you think you are a loyal supporter of the Third, so you cannot quite mix with me, right? Then let me ask you this. What do you think is the reason you were loyal to the Third? Was it because you believed he could govern Kirigakure better, or simply because he was the person sitting in the Mizukage's seat?"
"This…"
Yagura Karatachi was stumped by the question.
That was right.
Why exactly had he become a loyal supporter of the Third Mizukage?
Was it because the Third Mizukage had promoted him to jonin at such a young age?
No. That was not it.
As a shinobi of Kirigakure, he possessed talent and strength far beyond ordinary people. Even if someone else had been Mizukage, he could still have become a jonin early.
Then was it because the Third Mizukage had governed Kirigakure well?
Previously, Yagura Karatachi had indeed thought so.
But after Rei Kaguya placed Kirigakure's undeniable and miserable data in front of everyone, letting them all see the village's lack of future talent, and then combined that with Kirigakure's poor performance in the war against Konoha, even he, someone loyal to the Third Mizukage, could no longer say against his conscience that the Third had done well.
Then was it simply loyalty to the village and loyalty to the person sitting in the Mizukage's seat?
But if that was the case, should he not offer his loyalty without hesitation to Rei Kaguya, who had already received the Third Mizukage's recommendation and had been recognized by both Genji and the Land of Water Daimyo as the next Mizukage?
"See? Such a simple question can make even a genius jonin like you, Yagura, unable to answer. All I can say is that Kirigakure still has a long road ahead in terms of spiritual civilization."
Rei Kaguya stood up and walked to Yagura Karatachi, who was beginning to fall into self-doubt.
Looking into his eyes, he said, "There should be quite a few people in the village with similar thoughts and positions as you, right?"
"Yes."
Yagura bit his lip and answered in a low voice.
"But everyone's education should have taught them this idea: even if you must abandon your feelings and sacrifice your life, you must complete the missions issued by the village."
Rei Kaguya bent down and whispered into Yagura's ear.
"Since the idea of completing missions issued by the village stands above all else, then what meaning does your conflict have?
"Is the Mizukage the Mizukage of Kirigakure, or is Kirigakure the Kirigakure of the Mizukage?
"Is this question really that hard for all of you to answer?"
"Are you a demon who bewitches people's hearts, Rei Kaguya?"
After a long silence, Yagura Karatachi finally murmured in an extremely weak voice.
"I am only pointing out certain facts that everyone already knows the answer to deep down, but subconsciously avoids for various reasons. I am doing it to prevent unnecessary internal conflict and bloodshed."
Rei Kaguya patted Yagura Karatachi's shoulder after successfully leading him into the maze of his own thoughts.
Then, while stretching his body, which had grown uncomfortable from sitting for too long, he said with little interest.
"It does not matter if you cannot figure it out or turn the corner all at once. I am still young. I have plenty of time to make you people with somewhat stiff minds understand and accept my thoughts…
"If there is nothing else, go back and adjust your mindset first. In two days, we will set out to hold peace talks with Konoha. When that time comes, don't let them think Kirigakure only has me who can step forward and hold up the scene, Yagura."