After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 205

Chapter 205: Death of the Mizukage

Unable to contact the legendary Naruto Uzumaki and failing to recruit the former Kirigakure Demon—if they failed in their attempt to break the Mizukage's control and he counterattacked, did Kirigakure truly have anyone capable of stopping him?

Leaving the Land of Vegetables, Mei Terumi couldn't help worrying. However, her concerns proved completely unnecessary.

The moment Mei returned to the village, she received simultaneous messages from Ao and the Elder. The content was identical: the Fourth Mizukage had disappeared.

Inside the conference room, the atmosphere was tense and uncertain. Under normal circumstances, a village Kage's disappearance should have everyone worried or at least trigger large-scale search parties. But the various measures implemented during Fourth Mizukage Yagura's tenure—while not quite causing complete distrust—had indeed eroded the loyalty of many formerly steadfast Mizukage supporters.

The greatest impact was the persecution of numerous bloodline families, which even included the Hōzuki clan. Suigetsu Hōzuki, who'd recently returned home, learned his brother Mangetsu had defected from the village.

During this time, Mei and Ao's subtle movements had actually been noticed by many in the village, yet not one person chose to inform the Mizukage. Whether they believed "the Mizukage is being controlled" was true or false, why not let them try? Even if they failed, everyone else would just watch from the sidelines.

The conference room doors swung open. Mei entered with her subordinates, exchanging a glance with Ao nearby. Both tactfully remained silent. Their goal had been to break the Fourth Mizukage's control, not actually kill him. With the Mizukage now missing, the blame would very likely fall on them. After all, their recent movements had been witnessed by the village's upper echelon.

"Ahem—"

An elderly man sitting at the conference table suddenly cleared his throat, attracting everyone's attention. This elder, called "Elder Genji," was Kirigakure's most respected elder. Besides the Mizukage, his prestige was highest.

"The Mizukage's unexplained disappearance within the village requires investigation."

Contrary to Mei's expectations, Elder Genji didn't immediately point out their faction's suspicion.

"We recently received communication from Konoha." While speaking, he withdrew a letter from Hiruzen Sarutobi and slowly unfolded it. "Currently, an organization called 'Akatsuki' is conducting tailed beast capture operations. This has been confirmed in Sunagakure."

Despite Elder Genji's apparently immobile elderly appearance, he clearly had many intelligence sources in the Land of Wind.

"Sunagakure's One-Tail Jinchūriki was captured. Now that the Fourth Mizukage has gone missing as well, they're most likely responsible."

This was the first time Mei had heard this news. She'd been outside the village on missions while gathering forces.

"Village affairs will be managed by me. Mei, you'll lead teams outside searching for the Fourth Mizukage and any clues."

Elder Genji solemnly reclaimed the Mizukage's authority for the upper echelon. No one present objected. Clearly, before Mei returned, the village's upper echelon had reached a tacit agreement. Elder Genji was highly respected. Assuming management authority with the Mizukage missing was reasonable.

"Yes."

Mei knew that regardless of her stance, the situation had already been decided. Moreover, she had no ambitions for the position at this time. Her reasons for preparing to act against the Mizukage with Ao stemmed from loyalty to the village.

"Additionally, some of the Mizukage's previous policies no longer suit current Kirigakure. After much discussion, we decided—"

Elder Genji then outlined numerous policy changes, including lifting bloodline family restrictions. These decisions resulted from upper-echelon negotiations. Mei had no objections. In fact, as a ninja possessing kekkei genkai herself, she was glad to see this.

After leaving the conference room, Mei received her mission orders, taking Ao and the other ninja back to their base.

"So, our plan?"

"Let's find the Mizukage first."

Mei's single word silenced Ao and her other subordinates. The priority was finding the Fourth Mizukage. This wasn't just about Kirigakure's reputation—more importantly, Fourth Mizukage Yagura was a Three-Tails Jinchūriki. Kirigakure had already lost the Six-Tails Jinchūriki; they couldn't afford to lose their only remaining Jinchūriki.

At the time, Mei didn't realize that soon all the Jinchūriki in the ninja world would leave their villages, one way or another.

Where was the Fourth Mizukage they'd been concerned about? The answer was simple—he was following Obito and Black Zetsu far from the Land of Water. Mei's search was destined to be futile. They'd already crossed the sea, reaching inland regions.

After opening the stone doors of a hidden base, Yagura followed them inside. This baby-faced Mizukage showed no expression—nothing more than a manipulated puppet.

"Lie here."

Obito's command was brief. With such a puppet, he wouldn't waste words. Nearby, Zetsu turned his gaze toward him.

"Have you decided?"

He wasn't concerned about Obito—just confirming his resolve. This would determine whether he needed alternative preparations.

Obito turned away from Zetsu, retrieving the container holding the Rinnegan. Opening that special sealed vessel, Obito carefully extracted one Rinnegan. Then he removed his mask, revealing the spiral-patterned face beneath.

Without hesitation, he removed the spare Sharingan from his socket, the one kept ready for Izanagi emergencies.

"Ugh—"

Though accustomed to pain, "hot-swapping" eyeballs still felt terrible. Immediately, Obito aligned the Rinnegan with his socket and pressed it in. Closing his eyelid, he felt the eye's mysterious chakra rapidly connecting with his flesh.

Then his chakra began draining rapidly from his body. Fortunately, having already transplanted Hashirama cells, Obito's chakra reserves had greatly increased. He could handle this drain.

Next came the main event. Without hesitation, Obito clasped his palms together.

"Summoning Technique: Demonic Statue of the Outer Path!"

This time, the Rinnegan's chakra consumption was no longer a trickle. Obito felt his chakra draining like water through an open floodgate. But fortunately, he successfully summoned the Demonic Statue.

Next was extracting the Three-Tails Isobu from the Fourth Mizukage's body. Under Obito's mental command, the Demonic Statue's ten fingers rapidly lit up, its mouth opening wide.

"Sealing Technique: Phantom Dragons Nine Consuming Seals!"

Executing this technique alone placed a considerable burden on Obito. In the original plan, ten Akatsuki members were meant to share this strain. Massive chakra formed several dragon heads, rapidly extending from the Demonic Statue's mouth, "biting" the Fourth Mizukage lying on the ground.

Perhaps sensing mortal danger—the previously motionless Yagura*'s face* now showed painful, struggling expressions. Inside him, the Three-Tails Isobu also resisted frantically.

"So you awakened? But it's too late."

Clearly, the Ten-Tails shell and Rinnegan's natural suppression gained the upper hand. As Obito continued extracting, Fourth Mizukage Yagura's struggles visibly weakened until they completely stopped.

Fourth Mizukage—confirmed dead.

"Phew—"

Sensing the surging ocean of chakra within the Demonic Statue connected to his Rinnegan, Obito exhaled deeply.

As I guessed—with one tailed beast sealed as reserve energy, at least I no longer need to supply chakra just to operate the Demonic Statue.

This way, he just needed to continue capturing the other tailed beasts. Obito was confident—once he captured several more tailed beasts as energy sources, even that Naruto Uzumaki wouldn't be his match.

Let them live a bit longer—