Inside Kirigakure's conference room.
"Sir, we still haven't declared our stance in this war. What's our target?" the Third Mizukage's assistant asked him.
"Ask our future Fourth Mizukage." The Third Mizukage smiled and looked at a figure seated nearby.
The figure sat with his back to everyone, a cigarette pinched between his fingers. He raised his hand and took a light drag. A coiled dragon was tattooed on that hand...
He tossed the cigarette to the floor and stomped on it several times with his Bean Shoes.
"Konoha, obviously." He slowly turned his chair around and spoke in an indifferent tone.
"Yagura, what do you have in mind?" The Third Mizukage looked at the figure before him. Though he felt a headache coming on, he ultimately let it slide.
This boy had escaped from Konoha. He was one of the orphans Kakuzu had taken away before. Apparently, he had suffered years of unimaginably brutal punishments in Konoha, and the tattoos on his body covered his old scars.
According to Yagura, his food was what pigs excreted after being fed. He slept on the dirt floor of Konoha's eighteenth underground prison level, and wore clothes the prisoners hadn't washed in three years. On top of that, he endured all kinds of torture every day.
The Third Mizukage's heart had broken hearing it. Fortunately, Yagura had escaped and displayed extraordinary talent, completely outclassing the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist—in a certain respect.
Yagura's strength, temperament, and the support of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist had prompted the Third Mizukage to name him the Fourth Mizukage on the spot. Once this war was over, he would step down and hand the position to him.
"Konoha? Konoha is at the height of its power right now. Can we beat them?" the