Kirigakure.
The first thing Mei Terumi did after returning was submit her mission report.
Just as she had expected, she did not see Yagura.
That made her even more certain of what Bai Ye had told her.
If things really were as he had said, what did Yagura's absence at this moment mean?!
She was no fool!
Perhaps...
Yagura really was being controlled!
With that thought in mind, Mei Terumi broke from her usual routine and went straight to Genji.
He was currently the most respected person in Kirigakure, a man who had been there since the village's founding.
He was now Kirigakure's highest-ranking elder.
In truth, he was already somewhat dissatisfied with Yagura's rule.
Genji had watched Kirigakure come into being, then grow stronger as it absorbed the people around it!
But ever since the Third's time...
Kirigakure had begun implementing the blood mist policy, and everything had changed once that policy appeared.
The Third Mizukage's original blood mist policy had indeed produced a number of elite ninja.
That was undeniable.
Though cruel, it had not been intended to kill off Kirigakure's entire younger generation.
The graduation requirements back then had been harsh, but at least they had not been like Yagura's.
His seemed designed to wipe Kirigakure out altogether.
Even the initial devastation of the Ninja Academy had already deeply displeased Genji.
Making the students slaughter one another so that only a handful could graduate had left Kirigakure with no new generation ready to take over.
A whole series of chain reactions had followed.
For instance, betrayal had become utterly commonplace in Kirigakure.
That was an absolutely devastating blow to the village.
After all, anyone could be killed by their own comrades at any moment.
Under those circumstances, who could possibly entrust their back to someone else?!
Then