Kirigakure (First update!)

Pakura stammered and ultimately couldn't come up with a clear answer.

It seems to be nothing more than some shady dealings among the Mist Ninja.

That ninja named Tomoaki might have a rather unusual background. He dared to impersonate a ninja who welcomed the Konoha envoy, managed to obtain official documents, and ultimately had to Pakura up his mess.

Could he be the illegitimate son of the previous Mizukage?

Sakura Haruno thought to herself, "This is ridiculous."

The real Mist Ninja representative sent by the Mizukage Tomoaki clearly much better at dealing with people than the imposter, Tomoaki. Sakura had just seen him when he was extremely angry, and to be honest, his aura was quite intimidating. However, after calming down, this Pakura became witty and chatted amiably with Sakura Haruno.

I wonder how the Bloody Mist Village managed to cultivate ninjas with such versatile and charming personalities.

They laughed and chatted all the way. Now that they were on land, they could use their ninja foot techniques, which greatly increased their speed. Soon after nightfall, Sakura Haruno's Team followed Pakura to Kirigakure.

If it were Konoha at this moment, it would probably still be brightly lit and bustling with people.

But the Kirigakure is quiet and secluded under the cover of night.

A few dim streetlights swayed on the street.

Under the starlight, the streets flowed like a calm and peaceful river, meandering deep into the Kirigakure.

Pakura led the four of them, turning left and right, through quiet streets and alleys, until they arrived at a large house with walls. That was the temporary accommodation arranged by the Kirigakure for the distinguished guests.

He quietly took out his key, opened the door, and led them through the quiet courtyard into the house.

"You'll stay here while you're in Kirigakure. All the furniture and daily necessities have been provided for you," Pakura said with a gentle smile, nodding.

"Unless it's urgent, please try not to leave this courtyard," he added as he left.

Seeing Sakura Haruno nod, Pakura closed the door and left.

After seeing Pakura off, the Sakura Haruno's Team settled down to sleep.

The three students, exhausted from their journey and the events of noon, fell into a deep sleep as soon as they lay down. Sakura Haruno stood guard beside them, thinking about the day's events.

She and Pakura talked all the way, introducing each other to the Land of Fire and Konoha, and the Land of Water and Kirigakure. Coincidentally, the Fifth Hokage and the Fifth Mizukage, the only two female "Kage" in the Shinobi World, came to power around the same time. After the death of the Fourth Mizukage, Karatachi Yagura, the current Mizukage Mei Terumi, quickly took office.

Regarding the "Bloody Mist Village" period, which Sakura was curious about, Pakura remained tight-lipped and avoided discussing it, attributing it solely to the mistakes of the previous Mizukage. Now, with the Fifth Mizukage in power, Mist Ninja has rectified the situation, completely abandoning the bloody and inhumane policies that had been in place for over a decade. However, there are still many voices within Mist Ninja regarding the next steps, including among the higher-ups. Many ninjas who experienced the Bloody Mist Village period, or even grew up Bloody Mist Village, oppose Mei Terumi's open policies, leading to considerable confusion within Mist Ninja.

Sakura Haruno understands this quite well.

Completely negating policies from the past, even if everyone agrees they were wrong, can still leave people confused.

Mei Terumi is relatively inexperienced; she only Mizukage because of her strength, but she doesn't yet have enough prestige to suppress dissenting voices.

Another question that intrigued Sakura was how the Fourth Mizukage died. Pakura, too, remained tight-lipped and evasive. However, from the few words he uttered, the girl had a bold guess: he was killed by the Fifth Mizukage...

Perhaps Mei Terumi was able to come to power because of this.

However, while everyone feared her strength, they were not optimistic about whether she, a woman, could effectively serve as the village's leader. Some even openly disobeyed her orders.

No need for that; the ninjas Sakura encountered that afternoon were among these people.

Thinking of this, Sakura felt a chill. If they really took her away, failing the mission would be secondary; what unpleasant things might happen next would be even worse—it all depended on how much they dared to resist the Mizukage's open policy.

If they had any sense of awe, they would probably take Sakura Haruno's Team back, treat them well, and then tell them that the Mizukage had changed his mind and didn't want to see them anymore, inviting Sakura Haruno's Team back to Konoha. The matter of establishing diplomatic relations would naturally fall through and be ruined. If they were even more audacious, they might even dare to kill Sakura Haruno's Team, directly provoking a war between the two villages!

Judging from their behavior, they probably only wanted to achieve the former.

It seems that Mei Terumi's strength is still quite formidable in Kirigakure. If she goes too far, they worry that the Fifth Mizukage might retaliate and wipe them all out in a fit of rage, just as he wiped out the clans of the previous Hokage's followers with a wave of his hand...

Of course, in the end they didn't achieve any of their goals, having underestimated Sakura Haruno's strength. Sakura's appearance was indeed quite deceptive, especially when she suppressed her Chakra fluctuations. If they had truly treated her as an ordinary girl, they would have had to suffer in silence.

Is there a deeper meaning behind what's happening today?

Sakura Haruno couldn't be bothered with such sordid matters.

Where there is humanity, there is politics. Politics can be very complex, but in the world of ninjas, it can also be very pure. Pure enough that as long as there is enough power, even illogical policies like those in the Bloody Mist Village can still be implemented.

Sakura Haruno herself is a strong person, and many rules have begun to no longer apply to her; as for what happened before, she sees it as a farce. The only problem is that the actors are unaware of this and are delivering an eye-watering performance with their clumsy acting skills.

She didn't sleep a wink all night, and only managed to get a short nap when her three subordinates woke up in the early morning.

The Kirigakure, perhaps understanding her hard work leading the shift, waited until the sun was high in the sky before Pakura came to disturb them. Sakura had slept for a little over two hours, exactly the length of two sleep cycles. When she woke up, the fatigue from her night watch had completely dissipated, and she was full of energy, leading the three children out with Pakura. [Note]

When I arrived last night, I couldn't see clearly. It wasn't until I got to Haku that Sakura Haruno finally saw the true face of Kirigakure.

The streets were somewhat dilapidated and desolate, with low and sparse buildings that lacked the grandeur of a great ninja village, and were even less impressive than rural towns in the Land of Fire. There were few pedestrians on the road in the early morning, and most of them were ordinary people with pale faces. Occasionally, one or two Mist Ninja would hurry by with cold eyes.

Is this the Kirigakure?

Sakura Haruno was somewhat surprised. Even disregarding its decline, the number of ninjas was far too small.

Pakura understood the expression on her face, and explained with a smile that this was an outer village of Kirigakure, and the core area was further inside.

After walking through several streets, the buildings on both sides gradually increased, and there was a bit more life, but it was still far from Konoha. After walking a little further, I came to a huge waterfall, which was a hundred or two hundred meters wide, and the sound of the rushing water was deafening. A large bridge spanned the waterfall, leading into an unknown place behind the curtain of water.

The Kirigakure is located in the valley behind the waterfall!

"Welcome to Kirigakure!" Pakura said with a smile.

He led the way, pulling back the powerful curtain of water with one hand as if lifting a curtain, and led us through the waterfall.

Sakura Haruno narrowed her eyes slightly.

This waterfall has an extremely thick curtain of water and a huge volume of water. Falling from a great height, the water is turbulent and has a tremendous force. The impact of hitting someone is no less than being directly hit by a high-level Water Release Ninjutsu! Even if an ordinary ninja could pass through, he would have to gather his strength and charge through. To imagine that Pakura could do it so effortlessly, as if she were simply Gate of Opening, without getting wet at all, would be no easy feat!

What a masterful Water Release! Pakura, you've got some serious skills!

Pakura stood inside the waterfall, smiling as he looked at the four members of Sakura Haruno's Team. Even through the waterfall, Sakura Haruno could see his expression.

They wanted to see what the Konoha Ninja were capable of.

Sakura Haruno smiled slightly, turned to the three students, and said, "Let's go."

Konohamaru and his companions were somewhat stunned by the enormous and magnificent waterfall. They were even more surprised that Pakura had passed through it so easily: What an exquisite Water Release!

Upon hearing Sakura's words, the three instinctively followed her closely. They were still pondering how to cross the waterfall, but when they saw Sakura walk over, she didn't make any movements. She simply walked over with light steps, and the heavy curtain of water automatically parted to both sides, as if subjects were welcoming their monarch.

The water curtain, like a white veil, was drawn wider and wider until not a single drop of water fell on the entire bridge, which had been constantly washed by the waterfall for years!

Compared to Sakura Haruno's move, Pakura's method was like comparing the faint light of Fire Fly to the silvery glow of the moon. No matter how exquisite the technique was, it seemed rather amateurish.

Pakura's eyes widened slightly.

In all his years in Mist Ninja, this was the first time he had ever seen anyone cross this bridge like that!

"Don't stand there, come along." A cool yet gentle female voice came from the other side of the bridge, Konohamaru and the others snapped out of their daze and hurriedly ran over.

Pakura remained expressionless, his smile widening slightly as he led the four through a passage behind the bridge, where a bright and open space suddenly appeared before them.

Sakura Haruno followed Pakura out from the mountainside. Below them was a valley, with the plateau and rugged peaks behind it acting as a protective barrier on both sides. The overlapping mountains and swirling clouds and mist created a magnificent sight.

At the foot of the mountain lies a vast plain, where bustling villages are nestled – this is the true Kirigakure, its heartland!

The area here is much more lively than the surrounding villages. There are noticeably more pedestrians on the streets, and the Mist Ninja are moving around on the rooftops just like the Konoha Ninja. From a distance, it looks just like another Konoha.

However, once you enter the village, you can see the difference between Kirigakure and Konoha.

Along the street, one could frequently see abandoned and dilapidated courtyards, eerily deserted and devoid of human presence. Sometimes these courtyards would stretch out in clusters, forming vast expanses of wasteland. Compared to Konoha, it bore a striking resemblance to the desolate and Uchiha Clan Compound, the site of their massacre. A closer look at the walls along the street revealed dark, mottled stains—old bloodstains; some spots even tinged with crimson, suggesting they had been applied in recent years...

(First update! Guaranteed update 1/. I couldn't find the official setting for Kirigakure, so I had to look at Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, but it's Kirigakure decades later, completely different. So I had to create something original. It feels great to create a world, but I'm a little worried about being proven wrong, I'm so nervous!)

([Note] A sleep cycle typically lasts 90 minutes, so it's best to sleep in multiples of 90 minutes for maximum efficiency.)

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