Mizukage's Office.
Only Karatachi Yagura and Araki were in the room.
The Third Mizukage's corpse lay in the middle of the floor.
Yagura had dismissed all the Anbu ninja to stand guard outside, forbidding anyone from entering and disturbing them.
Then he sat on the sofa and let out a deep sigh. "Tell me, what exactly happened today?"
From when Araki had come for help, saying that the Third Mizukage had been ambushed and gravely injured, to when Yagura had just witnessed the Mizukage's death with his own eyes, everything had been too coincidental. It all gave him the feeling that it had been arranged beforehand.
Araki's reaction upon hearing the question directly confirmed it.
With a grave expression, he said, "The Third Mizukage was actually killed while traveling to the Land of Lightning."
"What did you say?!"
Karatachi Yagura shuddered.
Araki did not waste words. He extended a finger, gathering a blue-green wind blade at its tip, then lightly flicked it to slice open the Third Mizukage's robes.
That conspicuous lump of pale matter, clearly not part of his body, was exposed before them without concealment.
"Look!"
Araki pointed at that piece of White Zetsu's body. "The first time I saw the Third Mizukage in Kumogakure, I realized something was wrong with him."
After that, Araki did not hide anything, recounting all of his actions to Karatachi Yagura.
This included his conspiracy with Sasori, as well as his promise to give the Mizukage's corpse to Sasori as puppet material afterward.
Upon hearing this, Karatachi Yagura's expression shifted from shock to anger, then silence and contemplation, before finally turning into approval and relief.
After a long while.
He softly praised, "You did well."
Putting himself in Araki's place, even Yagura himself might not have handled the situation as thoroughly as