Days passed one after another. Just as Araki was being tortured to the brink of ecstasy and death by Himura Kenshin, the date of a major event quietly arrived.
The graduation assessment for this year's Ninja Academy class was about to begin!
A week in advance, the chunin instructors announced the news. The assessment would take place at Training Ground No. 4 outside the village, a forested area with relatively complex terrain that was well suited to a ninja's combat needs.
After all, being a ninja was not merely a profession of facing enemies head-on with blades. Tactical skill and the use of one's surroundings were equally crucial.
A more complex environment could more comprehensively select students with superior overall abilities. Only such genin could live longer.
Araki did not take the news too seriously. The gap between him and his classmates was not something a mere forest could make up for.
He could still slaughter them all the same; the forest could not affect the speed at which he drew his sword!
However, at that moment, someone unexpected suddenly came to see him.
"You are...?"
Araki hesitated as he looked at the youth before him, who was about his height, with a baby face, short light-green hair, purplish-red eyes, a stitched scar beneath his left eye, and a Mist Village forehead protector tied around his waist.
Holy shit! Isn't this the future Fourth Mizukage, Yagura? Why is he looking for me?
Araki screamed inwardly, but his expression remained unchanged, maintaining a look of confusion.
"Ahem, it's like this. Let me introduce myself. I am Jonin Karatachi Yagura."
Yagura smiled slightly. His harmless baby face actually looked somewhat cute.
"Uh, hello, Jonin Karatachi!"
The confusion on Araki's face turned half suspicious and half wary.
After all, for an ordinary Ninja Academy student, being suddenly approached by a village jonin should naturally inspire confusion and caution, right?
"It's like this. There are some important matters I would like to discuss with you. May I come in first?"
Yagura's voice was gentle, and he spoke very politely.
"Please come in, sir."
Araki quickly stepped aside.
Although the dormitories assigned by the Ninja Academy were single rooms, the conditions were truly poor. The space was cramped, and after the two entered, they could only sit side by side on the bed.
"It's like this, Araki. I have always paid attention to your performance at the academy. There is no doubt about your excellence."
Yagura began by flattering Araki.
"Not at all, not at all. Lord Yagura is the pillar of Mist Village. I still have a long way to go!"
Araki hurriedly became modest. This tactic of praising him out of nowhere made him a little uneasy. He had to strike back.
Blinking, he looked at Karatachi Yagura with a face full of admiration and said adorably:
"My dream is to become a ninja like Lord Yagura in the future!"
There, he had applied the "My Son Yagura" buff first. No matter what happened now, he should be invincible, right?
Yagura could not possibly have the nerve to offer even more nauseating praise, could he?
And indeed, Yagura could not come up with anything more exaggerated—but he could change tactics.
Yagura gave a sly smile and said, "Becoming a ninja like me is not such an easy thing. As it happens, I have a mission here that concerns the future of Mist Village. Are you willing to help me complete it?"
"Uh..."
Araki froze. This time, he was genuinely stunned, not putting on an act.
I didn't expect Karatachi Yagura's schemes to run this deep. No wonder he could become a perfect Jinchuriki in the future! Wasn't Isobu probably tricked by him too?
However, Araki was not truly a ten-year-old child, and he reacted quickly.
"Ah, it is such an important mission! But I'm not even a genin yet. I'm afraid I won't be able to help you much, sir?"
"Ahaha, this mission may be important, but it isn't actually that difficult."
The smile on Yagura's face began to look somewhat forced.
What's going on? Are Ninja Academy children these days all so difficult to deal with? Shouldn't they be scrambling to accept a major mission concerning the entire village's future? Doubting his own ability? Is he really this cautious?
"Oh, it isn't too difficult? If even I can complete it, then most ninjas in the village should be able to complete it too, right?"
At that moment, Araki was like a child full of questions, constantly questioning this major mission from every angle. Yagura's smile grew increasingly awkward, and he was nearly unable to keep making things up.
The reason Araki dared to circle around Yagura like this was that he had already more or less guessed what this so-called "major mission concerning the future of the entire village" actually was.
If nothing unexpected happened, then in the original timeline, Zabuza should have accepted this mission. That was why he went berserk during the graduation assessment and slaughtered more than a hundred Ninja Academy classmates from his year!
And this bloody fact gave the reformists within Mist Village, including Yagura, the opportunity to launch their offensive. In the end, they changed this exceptionally cruel graduation assessment system.
Zabuza, who bore all the infamy, was not some "Demon" in the eyes of everyone who knew the truth of the matter. On the contrary, he was a hero of Mist Village!
After Yagura rose to become the Fourth Mizukage in the future, Zabuza used this connection to inherit the Kubikiribōchō and become one of the new Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Under Yagura, the newly appointed Mizukage who was determined to reform, they prepared to sweep away the shadows of the Bloody Mist and rebuild a new era for Mist Village.
Unfortunately, Obito Uchiha was truly inhuman. Somehow, he used genjutsu to control Yagura, a perfect Jinchuriki. Driven by Yagura's hatred of Mist Village for causing Rin Nohara's death, he not only failed to change the Bloody Mist Policy but made it even worse.
Such a Yagura made Zabuza feel betrayed!
Back then, you were the one who spoke before me about your ideals and painted a vision of a new future for Mist Village.
I was moved by your ideals and willingly stained my hands with the blood of my companions, bearing all the sins alone, only so that the road ahead of you would become broader and smoother.
But what was the result? You became Mizukage and promoted me to inherit the Kubikiribōchō, but was this ninja sword what I wanted?
I was willing to fall into darkness not for fame and success, but for that New World you once described!
But you changed. You betrayed our ideals, betrayed my trust in you, and became even more excessive than the Third Mizukage had been!
I cannot help you find your former self again, but I will make you understand—
I, Zabuza Momochi, am still the same man who can sacrifice everything for Mist Village!
Thus, he slung the Kubikiribōchō over his back and set out alone on the journey to assassinate the Mizukage.
That lonely, silent, resolute back was just like that of the fresh-faced youth who had once been about to graduate from the Ninja Academy.
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