The full-scale tailed beast hunt begins; Zhou Cheng prepares to visit Orochimaru's secret base

Zhou Cheng smiled. Are you afraid Kurama will beat you up?

"Whether you see him or not is up to you!"

Then silence returned to the courtyard!

Aside from the occasional bird flying overhead.

There was not another sound!

Zhou Cheng closed his eyes.

He recalled everything that had happened over the past few days.

He had finally obtained small portions of Isobu's and Six-Tails Saiken's bodies.

That puts four of the nine tailed beasts in my grasp.

After a while, they'll all become brand-new tailed beasts!

What pleased him most was having Isobu follow him!

With him around, I can save myself a lot of effort in all sorts of situations!

Even if Nagato attacks Konoha directly now, I won't have to worry.

With a fully formed tailed beast, and Itachi and Sasuke activating their mechs!

Plus me, that ought to be more than enough!

Enough to make sure Nagato never leaves alive!

Then Zhou Cheng paused and took a small breath.

That trip to Kirigakure finally revealed how my parents and younger sister died!

I finally learned the truth about what happened back then, too!

And Genji finally died at my hands.

With his vengeance complete, Zhou Cheng instead felt rather empty.

In the blink of an eye, several days passed.

Kirigakure, in the Land of Water.

A grand inauguration ceremony had just taken place here.

Mei Terumi had officially assumed the position of Mizukage.

Her first order was to abolish certain unreasonable regulations.

They would no longer shut themselves off from the outside world as they had before.

Instead, they would open their borders, establish good relations with other ninja villages, and exchange goods and resources.

At the same time, she adopted gentler policies similar to Konoha's, so that shinobi and civilians would no longer live