The Mizukage's Targeting

As the heart of the Shinobi World, Konoha's every move was watched by the ninja villages of every nation. The Uchiha incident in Konoha did not even need interested parties to push it along; within three days, it had naturally spread throughout the entire Shinobi World.

As it spread, the various grudges and entanglements between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha were thoroughly dug up by the masses of gossip-hungry spectators.

Naturally, this had not been possible without the help of certain anonymous, warmhearted individuals from the distant Land of Water.

From the thousand-year feud between the Uchiha Clan and the Senju Clan before Konoha had even been founded, to the love-hate relationship between Uchiha Madara and Senju Hashirama—especially with Uzumaki Mito mixed in as a third party—and finally the Uchiha Clan struggling onward under the village's suppression, the sheer amount of juicy gossip left the spectators crying out in delight.

After all, having been an ordinary person in his previous life, Hozuki Shingetsu knew best what people liked to see. Every scrap of gossip about famous figures, especially romantic scandals, spread at lightning speed—and the more it was banned, the faster it spread.

Hozuki Shingetsu had actually been quite surprised by the Uchiha Clan's reaction.

What surprised him was that the Uchiha had buckled under the pressure of public opinion so early. He had originally thought they would at least hold out until the Uchiha International Arbitration Case was launched before exploding. Who would have thought?

Tsk, tsk. The Uchiha really were a little fragile.

Still, this was good too. You ate one bite at a time and played one card at a time.

There would be plenty of opportunities later.

Of course, after taking so many hits this time, Konoha had finally learned how to defend its rights through public opinion. It released several statements in succession, declaring that the current village had an excellent relationship with the Uchiha Clan, that the rumors circulating through the Shinobi World were all falsehoods, and that Konoha strongly condemned such irresponsible behavior.

In particular, they named Hozuki Shingetsu directly, calling him the "source of chaos" in the Shinobi World. Kirigakure's apparent isolation, they claimed, was merely a cover for him to stir up trouble in secret.

They even followed the example and published something called the Hozuki Clan Human Rights Report as a counterattack.

But the gossip-hungry masses had only one response... Who were the Hozuki Clan? Were they as famous as the Uchiha? Did they have any thrilling romantic scandals involving three generations?

What? They did not?

Then what was the point!

Furthermore, under the Land of Water's isolation policy, those rumors could not enter the Land of Water at all. Or rather, only rumors permitted by Hozuki Shingetsu could enter the Land of Water. Under such unequal rules, Konoha's carefully planned move punched straight into empty air and had no effect whatsoever on Hozuki Shingetsu.

No, it still had an effect.

At the very least, the Third Mizukage, Ren, truly realized at this point that he could not continue letting Hozuki Shingetsu run wild. He had no doubt that if Hozuki Shingetsu kept stirring up trouble, the boy would continue giving him all kinds of unexpected "surprises."

Objectively speaking, Hozuki Shingetsu had performed his duties as Minister of Foreign Affairs exceptionally well. He had perfectly carried out the Continental Balance Plan he had proposed. At present, while the Shinobi World was descending into chaos, every side had coincidentally begun targeting Konoha.

If this situation continued to develop, then should the Second Shinobi World War break out, Konoha would face joint attacks from at least two villages.

But something beneficial to Kirigakure was not necessarily beneficial to him as the Mizukage. The more outstanding Hozuki Shingetsu was, and the deeper the prestige he built within the village, the stronger the resistance Ren would face in his next moves.

Therefore, Ren decided to trip Hozuki Shingetsu up in advance and find a way to make him lose all popular support within the village.

Prestige was built through success after success. Once that momentum was broken and someone bungled a single matter, rebuilding it would become difficult.

Especially if that matter was extremely important and concerned everyone's immediate interests, that person would not be able to recover for at least several years.

For example... military funding.

"Bring Hozuki Shingetsu to see me." Ren smiled at the Anbu beside him. "It is time to meet our peerless Minister of Foreign Affairs in private."

The moment Hozuki Shingetsu entered, he saw Ren standing with his back to him, gazing out over all of Kirigakure through the window.

"Before I grow strong, there may yet be change!"

Hozuki Shingetsu gazed enviously at that broad Mizukage Kage Haori, silently warning himself that the time had not yet come. Until he had the strength to deal with Vortex White Zetsu, Hozuki Shingetsu would never reveal his intentions.

"Mizukage-sama, is there something you need me to do?"

"Haha, Kirigakure's genius has arrived! In the few months since you became Minister of Foreign Affairs, your accomplishments have been truly remarkable! Who in the Shinobi World does not know Hozuki Shingetsu now? With the situation in the Shinobi World being so favorable to Kirigakure, you deserve the greatest credit!" Ren turned around and warmly exchanged pleasantries with Hozuki Shingetsu.

The moment Hozuki Shingetsu saw his manner, he knew nothing good would come of today. Sure enough, after a few perfunctory words, Ren got straight to the point.

"You want me to represent Kirigakure at the Capital and deliver New Year's greetings to the Daimyo?"

"That is right. It is part of your duty as Minister of Foreign Affairs! Especially given your recent achievements, this is the perfect opportunity to report Kirigakure's accomplishments to the Daimyo!"

Hozuki Shingetsu's expression remained calm. He was not surprised in the slightest.

From the day he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, he had known this day would come.

After all, due to the terrible relationship between the Land of Water's Daimyo and Kirigakure, this sort of task had previously been assigned by the Internal Affairs Department to whichever unfortunate soul they could find. Now that he had officially assumed the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs, such matters naturally fell upon his head.

Ren had likely designated him for the task just to disgust him. After all, those previous envoys had all been cursed bloody by the Daimyo on the pretext that he was dissatisfied with the gifts. If the Daimyo had possessed any real power, he probably would have stripped them of their titles over their tribute wine.

"Oh, and one more thing. There are reports that the Daimyo intends to drastically cut military funding next year. During your New Year's visit, you must find a way to stop this." Ren added this sentence. At last, he saw the troubled look on Hozuki Shingetsu's face, and in his delight, he deliberately stressed his tone.

"This concerns the interests of the entire village. I hope you take it seriously. No matter what, during this trip, you must make the Daimyo change his mind. If you fail and the village's military funding is drastically reduced next year, then we will begin by cutting the Foreign Affairs Department's budget! Not only that, I will hold you accountable! Even if others speak up for you, I will not spare you!"

No matter the time or place, military funding had always been an extremely sensitive issue. Moreover, people all had their ugly sides. No matter how much this boy had contributed, no matter how much he had stirred up the Shinobi World, as long as everyone's interests suffered because of him—or were even merely associated with him—the enraged masses would certainly use him as an outlet. Hozuki Shingetsu's reputation would inevitably suffer a complete reversal.

Yet he never imagined that the troubled expression on Hozuki Shingetsu's face had been entirely an act.

He had long known that Ren had made no moves recently because he was surely plotting something unpleasant. Though he had not expected it to involve cuts to military funding, this matter and the previous one—being sent as an envoy to the Capital—were ultimately the same issue.

The Daimyo had no goodwill whatsoever toward Kirigakure.

And as it happened, Hozuki Shingetsu had long prepared a plan—a plan that could win the Daimyo's favor.

He had been preparing for this matter from the moment he became Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the film workers previously controlled by the Kaguya Clan were precisely a key part of that plan.

Twelve Years a Slave, filmed some time ago to drive a wedge between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha, had also begun cultivating a film culture in the Shinobi World. Nowadays, anyone with even modest means would generally choose to watch a movie and appreciate this entirely new art form.

Well, because of the Shinobi World's dreadful filming techniques and methods, the most popular film at present was actually still Twelve Years a Slave. It was said that Konoha had once demanded that major theaters pull the film, but even theaters within the Land of Fire ignored the order entirely. After all, those who could afford to run theaters in this era generally had connections to the nobility.

You were just a ninja. You should thank the heavens that the noble lords did not interfere with you, yet you wanted to meddle in the noble lords' affairs?

What nerve!

Thus, Konoha could only helplessly change the song Kill That Uchiha into The Immortal Uchiha, using it as a small consolation and a show of resistance against such rumors.

And now that the atmosphere for films had been built up to this point, as long as Hozuki Shingetsu presented that Biographical Film during the New Year's greetings, he would certainly be able to reverse the Daimyo's view of Kirigakure... no, of himself.