The Mist Village's Choice

This time, he's determined to make a spectacular comeback!

The Mangekyo Sharingan is superior to the Mitsudomoe, and its level advantage lies in its superiority.

Although Uchiha Obito didn't know what Uchiha Shingen was really thinking, he was certain that Uchiha Shingen, so he knew Hidden Mist Village would definitely come looking for trouble.

He never even considered killing Uchiha Shingen.

Putting aside personal factors, the relationship between the two parties was neither entirely enemies nor entirely friends; to say that they would commit murder was simply not the case.

To be frank, he's simply wanted to beat up Uchiha Shingen for a long time!

Suddenly, a member of the ANBU appeared silently in the Mizukage's Office.

"Lord Mizukage, the White Ghost of Leaf Village attended the Hozuki Clan's banquet last night."

"Understood," Karatachi Yagura said. "Don't reveal yourself, just stand by."

The ANBU disappeared, and silence returned to the office.

"Tobi, what do you think?" Karatachi Yagura asked Uchiha Obito.

The current Karatachi Yagura has no memory of being Uchiha Obito. In his memory, Tobi is his most loyal subordinate.

The Bloody Mist Village policy was something he was forced to continue, and even intensify, due to the current situation in Kirigakure.

"Lord Mizukage, the major clans, led by the Hozuki Clan, remain unrepentant and intend to resist to the bitter end. For the sake of the village's future, they must be eliminated," said Uchiha Obito.

"Of course I know they're a cancer," Karatachi Yagura sighed.

Eliminating the Hozuki Clan and several other major clans would not be difficult, but it would also mean that Kirigakure would lose a large number of elites and secret techniques—a loss that is irreparable.

In this way, the Mist Ninja Army solidified its position as the bottom of the Five Great Villages.

Of course, there are also advantages. Without these powerful clans, commoner ninjas have avenues for advancement and no longer need to rely on the Bloody Mist Village policy to maintain the fighting strength of the grassroots.

Before becoming the Mizukage, I didn't understand why the Third implemented the Bloody Mist Village policy, and what abolishing that policy would mean.

"Let me think about it some more... I need to think this through carefully..." Karatachi Yagura didn't want to take action against someone from the same village, but he knew time was running out, so he decided to give them one more chance.

Uchiha Obito watched this scene with great satisfaction.

With the Fourth Mizukage like this, who can still say he was controlled by Genjutsu?

Even Shisui's Genjutsu are nothing special, aren't they?

This is his current power!

Shingen, you just wait! This time I'll make sure you're hanging from a tree and singing "Little Sun"!

I'm completely different now than I used to be!

A knock sounded on the door.

"Come in," said Karatachi Yagura.

The door opened, and a man walked in.

The man is wearing an eye patch over his right eye.

"Oh, it's Ao. You must be having a tough time lately. Sit down and let's talk." Karatachi Yagura pointed to the sofa in the office.

"Thank you for your concern, Lord Mizukage. In fact, Elder..." Ao looked at Karatachi Yagura, his heart filled with hesitation.

The rumors that suddenly spread in the village bothered him greatly, which was why he came.

However, looking at the Mizukage with the Byakugan is a highly disrespectful act, almost like drawing a knife directly, so he hesitated about whether to do it.

Once it's done, there's no turning back.

"I know," Karatachi Yagura interrupted Ao, "So I also want to have a proper talk with you... Tobi, please step back and don't let others disturb us."

"Yes, Mizukage- sama." Uchiha Obito displayed the professionalism expected of an actor, fully demonstrating the demeanor of a loyal subordinate at this moment.

They disappeared without a word.

Karatachi Yagura stood up, and Ao became somewhat nervous.

When Karatachi Yagura was able to Mizukage amidst everyone's expectations, his outstanding leadership and shared political views were one aspect, but the decisive factor was Karatachi Yagura's strength.

He was invincible throughout Kirigakure.

Karatachi Yagura was the third powerful individual, after Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara, to perfectly control the power of Tailed Beasts.

The concept of Perfect Jinchuriki is somewhat different from that of perfect control over Tailed Beasts's power.

The former represents a perfect coexistence with the Tailed Beasts. The Tailed Beasts not only does not hinder the Jinchūriki's performance, but also helps them. This is not a relationship between a vessel and a sealed body, but rather a close friendship.

The latter, however, means that regardless of whether the Tailed Beasts is willing or not, its power can be used however it wants without any obstacles; it's a master-pet relationship.

Karatachi Yagura possesses both, making him arguably the strongest Jinchūriki of his generation.

It is said that the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki who died in Kumogakure was also like this, but this can only be said.

After all, the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki had already been killed by White Ghost of Leaf Village, and it was unknown when the Eight-Tails would revive.

"Ao." Karatachi Yagura sat down on the sofa opposite him and looked into Ao's eyes. Ao was very familiar with that look.

That look once made him believe that Hidden Mist Village had found hope.

"Fourth Hokage, as expected, you haven't changed at all!"

"There are no outsiders here, so please call me Yagura as before, Ao." Karatachi Yagura a wry smile. "I suppose you've all cursed me to death in your hearts, haven't you?"

"Fourth Hokage... no, Yagura, what exactly happened? What did you see after you became the Mizukage?" Ao was somewhat agitated. "Now the outside world is full of rumors that you were controlled by a powerful Genjutsu user!"

"Genjutsu, huh..." Karatachi Yagura chuckled. "Even rumors are circulating. Perhaps I really am being controlled by Genjutsu, after all, even I can't believe I would do such a thing."

"Stop joking, Yagura!" Ao was exasperated. Realizing his former comrade was still a comrade, he didn't believe the rumors and understood their malicious intent. "If you keep pushing him, they really will rebel!"

"It's the powerful clan led by Hozuki who's rebelling, Ao." Karatachi Yagura shook his head. "I'll show you something."

Chapter 57 The Choice of Kirigakure

Karatachi Yagura walked to his desk, opened a drawer, and took out a stack of documents.

"Qing, take a look at this."

Qing immediately noticed the "Top Secret" seal on it.

"Yagura, my identity isn't quite suitable..." Ao said, a little embarrassed.

After all, he had planned to use his Byakugan before coming here.

Moreover, he felt that this statement was not wrong. Although he was a confidant of the elder, in terms of position, he was just an ordinary Jonin without any other rank.

According to the relevant laws personally promulgated and implemented by the Second Mizukage, he is not allowed to view such materials.

"What's the point of saying all this at a time like this?" Karatachi Yagura shoved the documents into Ao's hands. "These documents will be useless in a while."

Qing stopped being coy, sat back on the sofa, and began to read carefully.

The more he looked, the uglier his expression became.

"This is... way too much..."

This stack of documents contains nothing but incriminating material about the powerful ninja clans of Kirigakure.

It's not surprising that every ninja has a lot of dirty laundry to his name.

But what this stack of documents shows is that the powerful ninja clans of Hidden Mist Village truly have no sense of awe whatsoever.

They treated the village like their own vegetable garden, controlling resources and upward mobility, and had reached the point of exploiting the commoner ninja to the point of ruthlessness.

All of this stemmed from the era of the Second Mizukage. This war-loving Mizukage caused a lot of trouble during his tenure, and the ninja clans took advantage of these opportunities to accumulate merits.

Although the Second Mizukage came from a powerful ninja clan, he didn't consider social status when selecting talent. He basically had plenty of Ninjutsu, and it was just a matter of whether you had the ability to exchange them. While ninjas from powerful clans certainly benefited, the number of commoner ninjas also grew during this period.

However, by the time of the Third Mizukage, due to his hasty ascension to power, he lacked the strength and prestige of his predecessors and instead had to rely on ninja clans. Several major ninja clans quickly rose to power and privatized the village's key departments. As a result, Kirigakure lost the most core element of the ninja village system: relative fairness.

Faced with this situation, the commoner ninjas of Kirigakure began to give up.

Anyway, even if I do a good job, I won't get an extra penny, so I might as well slack off.

Unable to change the ninja clans, the Third Mizukage decided to force them to change by reforming the commoner ninjas, thus leading to the creation of the Bloody Mist Village policy.

As this policy continued for a long time, it eventually deeply harmed the interests of the ninja clans. By the Third Shinobi World War, the number of civilian ninjas was less than half of what it was during the Second Mizukage's time. Without a sufficient number of civilian ninjas, the casualty rate of ninja clans in the war also rose sharply.

No matter how much resources you have, it's useless if the person is gone.

At the same time, the malice towards ninja clans among ordinary ninjas was deepening day by day, and the gap between the two sides was widening. In the war, it began to happen that when ordinary ninjas saw their comrades in danger, they would first check whether the other party was a ninja clan member.

The ninja clan members, accustomed to being treated as superior beings, also looked down on all non-ninja clan members, including commoner ninjas, believing that these people were inherently rude, ignorant, and greedy for petty gains.

From both sides' perspectives, the other side is no good.

They live in the same village, but they have become so hostile towards each other that they treat each other like enemies.

The Bloody Mist Village did not achieve the effect the Third desired.

However, it cannot be stopped, because if it were, the quality of ordinary ninjas would plummet.

Therefore, faced with the third disastrous defeat in the Ninja World, he knew that he, Teuchi this situation, would most likely not have a good end, and resigned to take responsibility.

Whoever is capable can take over; he had no other choice, so he quit.

He didn't want to become the first Mizukage to start a civil war while in office; that was far worse than being purged.

Qing held the documents in his hand, looking at the shocking black materials about the ninja clan, and was shocked by their extremely unsightly behavior.

This document meticulously records how, over the years, ninja clans have used their privileges to embezzle resources and merits belonging to ordinary ninjas, ruthlessly exploiting the lower classes with utterly shameless methods.

"Sakurako of the Yuki Clan was delivered to the Welcome Building?" He was stunned when he saw this.

The Yingbin Building was originally used by Kirigakure to receive foreign guests and represent the Kirigakure's prestige, but it later became almost a meeting place for several powerful ninja clans, turning into a filthy and disgusting place.

Qing knew this, but he really didn't expect that most of the women inside were actually family members of "criminals".

Putting aside the circumstances of those "criminals," what kind of nonsense is it to imprison their family members? These are all people from your own village!

Now, even members of the recently destroyed Yuki Clan have been brought in.

"This is insane..." He couldn't bear to watch any longer, closing the documents in his hand. "They really are insane..."

"Aren't you going to watch it anymore?" Karatachi Yagura asked.

"I'm not looking at it anymore..." Ao handed the documents back to Karatachi Yagura, "Does the elder know about this?"

"Maybe they know, maybe they don't." Karatachi Yagura tossed the documents onto the table. "These people are quite discreet; they've been collecting data since the Third's time, and they've only managed to gather this much."

"I only collected this much..." Qing felt a fire burning inside her.

He had no idea what he would do once this fire was released.

But he knew what would happen if the villagers and civilian ninjas of Kirigakure were to unleash that fire.

Back then, nobody cared about whether a ninja clan was large or small.

No one cares whether all ninja clans committed evil deeds.

Those who belong to the ninja clan must die!

This bloody storm will soon sweep from Kirigakure to the entire Land of Water.

"Qing, what do you think would happen to the village if I directly abolished the Bloody Mist Village policy?"

What else can you do? Let it rot!

Seeing that Qing remained silent, Karatachi Yagura smiled slightly.

"What do you want to say to me?"

"Regarding the rumors..." After a moment of silence, Qing said, "The elder told me to tell you that this was created by the Hozuki Clan."

"I know, so what?"

"Then..."

Then, when you're surprised, they roll their Byakugan at you, but how do you put that!?

A bitter feeling welled up inside.

Even if Karatachi Yagura were surprised, he wouldn't be able to convince himself to go for it.

The problem is, it's not Karatachi Yagura!

Even if we assume that Karatachi Yagura was truly controlled by Genjutsu, judging from his current actions, that person is definitely one of Kirigakure's own people who couldn't stand it anymore and wanted to destroy the ninja clan to achieve a complete overthrow.