At the gates of Kirigakure, the atmosphere was taut with tension.
Zabuza led a group of Dawn Shipping's elite ninja and appeared openly, without the slightest attempt at concealment, before Kirigakure's gates.
They faced off tensely against the Kirigakure ninja who had rushed over upon hearing the news and stood ready for battle.
Neither side made a move immediately, but an invisible clash was already taking place.
In the Kirigakure ninja's initial understanding, Momochi Zabuza was an S-rank rogue ninja who had failed in his attempt to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage—an enemy of the village.
But as time passed, especially after the cruelty of the Bloody Mist policy in recent years and the Fourth Mizukage Yagura's many unreasonable actions, seeds of doubt had long been planted in many people's hearts.
Zabuza's appearance at this moment, along with the well-equipped Dawn Shipping members behind him, made the confrontation especially delicate.
"Momochi Zabuza!" An older Kirigakure jonin clenched the kunai in his hand and broke the silence first, shouting sternly, "You traitor who tried to assassinate the Mizukage-sama—how dare you return to the village? What do you want?"
Zabuza planted the massive Kubikiribōchō into the ground and swept his sharp gaze across the faces before him, some familiar and some strange. His voice rang out loud and clear. "Traitor? I tried to assassinate the Mizukage back then precisely because I discovered something abnormal about him!"
"I returned today not to destroy Kirigakure, but to save it! To save this village, which has been controlled by a mastermind in the shadows and plunged into endless bloodshed and darkness!"
The moment those words were spoken, a clear commotion rose from the crowd.
Quite a few people stood frozen in place, unable to immediately refute him.
Because Zabuza was not wrong.
The Bloody Mist policy