The Mist Village's Sky Darkened

Mist Village, Mizukage Aide the Office

Kou Sheng stared blankly at the open intelligence report on the table, then lowered his head in anguish.

The top left corner of the presentation featured the cover of the first edition of "Icha Icha Paradise."

That illustration, which he drew himself and was once proud of as "the composition is amazing," is now appearing in the public eye of the Ninja World in the way he least wanted to see.

Master Kou, who had lived a respectable life, finally faced the day of utter disgrace.

"To track my movements to the greatest extent possible, they actually went so far as to cause the Kumogakure to lose face so badly throughout the entire Ninja World..."

Doujin Rai, I never imagined you could go this far!

He roared through gritted teeth in his heart, wishing he could immediately set off for Kumogakure and give that despicable and shameless Fourth Raikage a comprehensive 4i education.

"Uh... Kong, are you alright?"

Mei Terumi looked at Koko, who suddenly bowed his head in pain, and her previously ashen face softened instantly.

She leaned forward slightly and asked with concern.

The expression change was completed in less than 0.1 seconds.

He looked up, and his usual smile returned to his face, which had been Transformation Technique.

"Oh, I'm fine."

At this moment, even on Shiina Sora's gentle face, there was a resentment that was almost solidified.

"No, you don't look like you're alright at all..."

Mei Terumi muttered a worried thought to herself, opened her mouth, and was about to ask something else.

However, before she could speak, Kou suddenly looked at her seriously and said slowly and firmly:

"Mei Terumi, I understand what you want to say."

"... well?"

Mei Terumi was slightly taken aback.

Under Mei Terumi's unexpected gaze, Koko suddenly stood up from his chair, slammed his hand on the table, and said angrily:

"That's right! I think the same way. We absolutely cannot agree to that stupid Notebook Association setting up a branch in Mist Village!"

In just one week, these tattered books have reached the point where almost everyone has one!

"This hasn't even been officially established as a branch yet, and this kind of immoral publication has already spread to this extent. If it's really allowed to continue, what will become of us?!"

As he spoke excitedly, a barely suppressed anger surfaced on his usually gentle and composed face:

"This is absolutely a conspiracy by the Kumogakure! It's a treacherous tactic used by the inherently evil Doujin Rai' to culturally invade and erode the fighting spirit and mental well-being of our fine young people from the Mist Village!"

As guardians of Mist Village, we absolutely cannot allow this situation to continue to escalate!

We must resist this severely! We must resist this severely!!!

"Kong, calm down!"

Mei Terumi quickly stood up from her chair.

She reached out and placed her hands firmly on Kou's shoulders, pressing him back into the chair.

After doing all this, she straightened up, sighed softly, and spoke cautiously in a tactful tone:

"Well, actually, I came to see you not because I wanted to boycott these publications."

Kou looked up at her with some surprise, suppressing his doubts and waiting for her to continue.

Mei Terumi slightly turned her gaze to the side, and an unnatural blush appeared on her usually cold and beautiful face.

"On the contrary... I support that association establishing a branch in our Mist Village."

"... Huh? Huh?!!!"

Koko stared wide-eyed in shock at Mei Terumi, momentarily stunned by her explosive words.

The entire office fell into a deathly silence.

After a long while, he finally recovered from this bolt of lightning, looked at Mei Terumi in disbelief, and whispered in a trembling voice:

"But didn't you just complain to me not long ago about the widespread dissemination of these vulgar books in Mist Village? Why have you suddenly changed your mind now?"

This... this can't be! It's only been a few days! How could you betray me too?!

"... Betrayal like that is going too far."

Listening to Koko's aggrieved accusations, Mei Terumi looked away guiltily and subconsciously retorted.

Seemingly anticipating this reaction, she coughed softly, turned her face slightly to the side, and murmured in a very low voice:

"Well, there's nothing we can do about it, the profits... are just too considerable."

Mei Terumi spoke, she sighed and pulled out a pre-prepared information sheet from behind her back.

"These are the sales figures for the first batch of publications brought in by the leaders of the Notebook Association this week via trade ships from Mist Harbor Mist Village."

This was before they officially established a branch in Mist Village. The merchants had only brought some samples along the way, and they were almost all sold out on the day they were unloaded.

If a branch were formally established, even excluding taxes, the basic revenue alone would likely be several times higher than before.

At this point, a look of disbelief appeared on her usually very rational face when she was working:

"Even taking all the dividends into account, the estimated revenue that this branch association will bring to Mist Village is already equivalent to one-third of Mist Village's entire annual fiscal revenue."

Moreover, this is because our Mist Village is closed off from the world, and its market is the smallest among the Five Great Nations.

The other three great nations, even the most impoverished Sand Village, have markets at least half the size of ours!

Mei Terumi placed the paper filled with numbers on the table, and muttered something strange in a low voice:

"That rather unreliable Uchiha Kuro, does he really have such great abilities?"

"Kumogakure is really going to make a fortune this time."

"No way? Is it really that exaggerated?!"

Kouchi, somewhat dazed, took the financial report from Mei Terumi's hand, quickly scanning the rows of shocking numbers, and unconsciously gasped.

Although he knew this thing was popular, he really didn't expect it to be this popular!

"This wretched Ninja World really should just collapse already!"

While mentally berating this wretched Ninja World for what felt like the umpteenth time, Koko looked up at Mei Terumi with a hint of confusion:

"Since you support that Notebook Association setting up a branch in Mist Village, why did you look so unhappy when you came?"

I thought something terrible had happened that upset you.

"... Actually, it's not wrong."

Hearing Koko's teasing words, Mei Terumi sighed deeply.

That once radiant, aloof face, which had been slightly brightened by the encouraging figures in the financial report, was now shrouded in a thick cloud of worry once more.

She looked into the eyes that were waiting for her to continue, and began in a heavy tone:

"Something really bad happened."

"Heh, is there anything worse than losing face throughout the entire Ninja World?"

He kept this to himself, dismissing it as a trivial matter.

His heart is completely numb now; nothing can stir even the slightest ripple in it, no matter what happens.

A torn bandage? That's simply not true!

Right now, I'm the most composed person in the Ninja World!!

Mei Terumi looked at Kou, who was standing in front of her with a serious expression, and said in a heavy tone:

"While we were still collecting financial reports and internally discussing whether to boycott the Notebook Association's expansion plans in Mist Village,

The Mizukage faction, led by Yagura, has just defied public opinion and, in his capacity as the Fourth Mizukage, publicly expressed his support for the Notebook Association to establish a branch in Mist Village.

Mei Terumi continued, her face full of worry:

"Not only have we completely lost the initiative in negotiating cooperation terms with Kumogakure, but more importantly, Yagura's reputation, which was practically rotten to the core in the village, has actually seen a tiny bit of improvement because of this incident..."

"Kong, are you listening? Kong?"

"Boom--!!"

Under Mei Terumi's shocked gaze, the hand that was resting on the desk suddenly exerted force!

Shavings and paper flew in all directions, and a teacup rolled off the corner of the table, shattering on the floor with a crisp sound.

"Uchiha... Obito!!"

He gritted his teeth and growled inwardly, his gaze passing through the window, his eyes coldly fixed on the silent and gloomy Mizukage Building across the square.

"Wow, that's pretty rough. I was wondering how these manuscripts bypassed me and quietly slipped into the secluded Mist Village, and how they spread throughout the entire village in such a short time..."

So it was you, you bastard, pulling the strings behind the scenes all along!

"Uchiha Kenji, you just wait! One day... I'll make you regret this!!"