When Jin Uchiha arrived at the Konoha Military Police Force, the Intelligence Division personnel were already waiting.
An urgent intelligence report from the Kirigakure front had been rushed from the border to Konoha at top speed. The ninja delivering it had not even stopped for a sip of water. He handed the scroll to Jin Uchiha and withdrew.
Jin Uchiha unrolled the scroll and read it word by word in the lamplight.
His expression barely changed, but several police ninja in the room noticed that Jin was reading much more slowly than usual, as though he meant to chew over every word.
The scroll was brief, yet its contents were enough to shake the entire shinobi world.
Yagura, Kirigakure's Fourth Mizukage, was dead.
The cause of death was unknown, but one thing was certain: Yagura had been in some kind of uncontrollable state before he died. According to information the ninja at the front had gathered from inside Kirigakure, his behavior had been highly abnormal for a long time. Brutal and bloodthirsty, he had ruled the Bloody Mist Village through terror, drastically reducing Kirigakure's ninja population. Though he had later shown some restraint, unrest had continued to simmer within the village.
Three days earlier, Yagura had suddenly lashed out during a meeting with the village elders, killing two of them before Kirigakure's ANBU surrounded and attacked him. During the battle, he had displayed terrifying power as the Three-Tails' chakra leaked out uncontrollably. He was finally killed amid the chaos.
The report said that after Yagura's death, the Three-Tails' chakra had dispersed as well. It was still unclear whether the tailed beast had moved elsewhere.
More importantly, someone had been controlling Yagura.
The intelligence brought back from the front mentioned that when Yagura went berserk, someone had seen an abnormal blood-red