Water Shadow's Plan (1)

Not long after, news spread throughout the ninja world that members of the Kirigakure assassination squad had killed the elite Konoha jonin Shirokumo Hayama.

As a veteran elite jonin of Konoha, Shirokumo Hayama could be considered one of the village's signature figures. Although his strength and reputation fell short of top-tier ninjas like the Sannin, the White Fang of the Leaf, or the Yellow Flash, he was still a ninja just below that echelon.

The ninja world was not large, and every village had spies deployed in others to varying degrees. Soon, the names of Uesugi Shinji, Kisame Hoshigaki, and Rin Onodera entered the sights of the high-ranking officials in every village; they were no longer nobodies in the ninja world.

Especially within Kirigakure, many ninjas heard that Uesugi Shinji had taken down Shirokumo Hayama alone during the mission, and they concluded that Uesugi Shinji already possessed strength not inferior to members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

However, almost no one knew that within Uesugi Shinji's squad, the strength of both Kisame and Rin had also reached the level of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.

It was just that they had not been jonin for long, and they had always carried out assassination missions in a low-profile manner, so very few people understood the extent of their true power.

After Konoha, the largest village in the ninja world, received this news, its high-ranking officials were greatly shocked. Many pro-war ninjas believed that Konoha could not swallow this insult and must retaliate against Kirigakure.

However, the Hokage of Konoha at this time was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and he happened to be the leader of the dove faction.

Because he did not want to reignite the flames of war, the Third Hokage used his own prestige to suppress the opinions of the pro-war faction, choosing to smooth things over.

Internally, he mourned the sacrifice of Shirokumo Hayama and the others, while pacifying the emotions of the village personnel.

Externally, he issued a statement of strong condemnation and protest against Kirigakure's actions, which served as a lukewarm response.

Although this handling by the Third Hokage temporarily spared Konoha from war with Kirigakure, it allowed other villages in the ninja world to see the weakness of Konoha's administration, secretly sowing the seeds for other villages to coerce Konoha into submission through the threat of war in the future.

The clash between Uesugi Shinji and Shirokumo Hayama at the Konoha border was merely a relatively major event during this period; local conflicts throughout the ninja world were countless. Sunagakure had still been unable to find the whereabouts of the Third Kazekage and the simultaneously missing genius puppeteer, Sasori of the Red Sands.

The entire Sunagakure was leaderless for a time, and some among the village's high-ranking officials had already proposed inviting the retired elders Chiyo and Ebizo to come out of seclusion to preside over the big picture, but this proposal did not receive the approval of the majority of the high-ranking officials.

Many Sunagakure leaders discovered that in this situation without higher-level constraints, the restrictions on the power in their own hands were greatly reduced, and they did not wish for a new direct superior to appear so soon.

However, it was precisely this shortsightedness of the majority of Sunagakure's high-ranking officials, who only saw their immediate interests, that would lead to a major loss for Sunagakure in the near future!

Kirigakure, Mizukage's conference hall.

There were only three people in the hall. Besides the current leader of Kirigakure, the Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura, there was an elderly, bald man and a young female ninja with long reddish-brown hair.

The bald elder was the Kirigakure elder "Genji." He was a key figure who had held important positions in the village since its founding, and in terms of age, he was even older than the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki.

Because of his profound seniority, everyone in Kirigakure respectfully addressed him as "Genji."

Although Genji was advanced in age and his strength was no longer worth mentioning, and his power within the village could not be compared to the Fourth Mizukage who held the reins of Kirigakure, his personal influence and status were vaguely higher than those of the Fourth Mizukage.

Beside Genji, the female ninja with long reddish-brown hair looked less than twenty years old. With fair skin and beauty, she already possessed the temperament of a mature, elegant woman despite her young age.

She was the future Fifth Mizukage, and currently the most dazzling rising star in Kirigakure—Terumi Mei.

Terumi Mei possessed both "Boil Release" and "Lava Release" Kekkei Genkai, a talent extremely rare in the history of ninjas. Coupled with her outstanding comprehensive abilities, she held high prestige among the new generation of ninjas in Kirigakure, to the point that even young jonin like Ao, who were already considered the backbone of the village, were willing to serve as her subordinates.

Although the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of Kirigakure were famous and well-known to the major powers of the ninja world, in reality, within Kirigakure, the prestige of the young Terumi Mei had already steadily surpassed that of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen!

The high-performing Terumi Mei naturally entered the sights of Kirigakure's high-ranking officials, and the one who paid the most attention to her was the elder Genji. Genji took the initiative to promote Terumi Mei to become a core figure of Kirigakure, even regarding her as the candidate to be groomed as the Fifth Mizukage.

Although the Fourth Mizukage Karatachi Yagura appeared to be a youth on the outside, possessing a deceptive baby face, he was actually already middle-aged, so beginning to groom a candidate for the future Fifth Mizukage at this time was not abrupt.

(Note: In the officially authorized spin-off "Boruto," Karatachi Yagura's granddaughter Karatachi Kagura appears, clearly indicating that Karatachi Yagura's age is not actually young.)

Moreover, in the last year or two, Genji had noticed that the Fourth Mizukage's behavior was somewhat abnormal, and the management of Kirigakure seemed to have a very extreme tendency. In terms of policy, he continuously suppressed various Kekkei Genkai clans, and the methods for training young ninjas had become even more cruel and harsh.

As the last remaining elder-generation high-ranking ninja of Kirigakure, Genji also harbored a desire to have Terumi Mei gain more say in Kirigakure as soon as possible, so as to restrain the Fourth Mizukage, whose actions were becoming increasingly unfathomable.