Meanwhile, under Kisame's command, the battered remnants of Kirigakure's forces finally returned safely to the village.
Whether for the ninja who had gone to war or the villagers who had remained behind, this had been a thoroughly crushing military operation.
Mothers had lost their children, wives had lost their husbands, children had lost their fathers, and warriors had lost their lives. Grief and despair weighed on everyone's hearts, refusing to fade for a long time.
Yagura counted as 1,000 ninja, while the Seven Ninja Swordsmen together counted as 1,500. Kirigakure had lost 4,500 to 0 on the coast of the Land of Fire.
This humiliating defeat was enough to scar every Kirigakure citizen for life.
Inside the Mizukage's office, the senior officials and Jonin stared at the vacant Mizukage seat, unable to recover for a long time.
It would have been manageable if they had merely suffered casualties. But now Kirigakure had even lost its commander-in-chief. With no leader and no pillar to rely on, that was the real problem.
Their most urgent task was to find a new pillar as quickly as possible—someone to lead them onward and stabilize both the village's military and civilian morale.
Elder Genji looked around, his gaze sweeping across each ninja's face before finally stopping on Kisame's shark-like visage.
After clearing his throat, he reminded him, "Kisame, didn't Lord Mizukage tell you before that, once you returned to the village, you were to awaken the Third Mizukage immediately?
"And have the Third Mizukage take control of Kirigakure's situation again?"
Kisame suddenly remembered and nodded. "He did say that."
The moment those words were spoken, the eyes of several older ninja in the office lit up. That was right—they still had the Third Mizukage.
As long as the Third Mizukage could return from the "dead"