While Mei Terumi and the others attended the Five Kage Summit, Kisame had kept busy, recruiting quite a few comrades from the battlefield into his faction. He was beginning to rival the Elder faction.
Unlike certain shinobi villages that upheld the will of fire, Kirigakure, which had once enforced the blood mist policy, had a very simple way of choosing its Mizukage.
As long as someone was strong enough-stronger than every other ninja in the village-they could claim the Mizukage's seat.
This meant that although Genji's words carried considerable weight, they were far from decisive. Ultimately, what mattered was the strength of the candidate for Mizukage.
As things stood, Kisame, who had tangible battlefield achievements to his name, clearly carried more weight than Mei Terumi, who had attended the Five Kage Summit.
After all, the Five Kage's surprise attack on the Akatsuki had been more like an outing, accomplishing nothing of substance.
Having shifted entirely from operating in the open to working in the shadows, the Akatsuki was now harder to deal with than before.
Under these circumstances, the S-Rank Wanted Ninja Shinnō was naturally placed under the responsibility of the ANBU led by Kisame.
Shinnō, who was being "held" by Kisame within Kirigakure's territory, had been researching scientific ninja tools while also repairing the severely damaged Sky Warship.
The funding, of course, came jointly from Kirigakure and the Tailed Beast Merchant Association, with the former covering the bulk of it.
If it had only been a matter of repairing the Sky Warship and researching scientific ninja tools, Zou Hyuga would not have readily left the laboratory. But Shinnō's message had mentioned another important matter.
As the Zero-Tails Jinchūriki, Shinnō had discovered the whereabouts of Fū, the Seven-Tails Jinchuriki.
After his battle with Toneri at sea, Zou Hyuga had chosen