Chapter 91 (Patreon)

“According to what I remember, Yagura Karatachi only became the Fourth Mizukage after he was made the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki. If that’s true, Kirigakure shouldn’t have a Mizukage in office right now.”

Near the end of the Third Shinobi World War, Kirigakure sealed the Three-Tails inside Rin. She later threw herself in front of Kakashi’s Chidori and died, shattering Obito and driving him into darkness. That tragedy eventually set in motion the events that led to Minato’s death.

The Three-Tails had also vanished following Rin’s death. The only uncertainty was how long it would take for the beast to reform.

If the rumors about tailed beasts requiring three years to revive were true, then Yagura had not yet become the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki.

“When did Obito place the Fourth Mizukage under his control?”

Roy searched through his memories.

After Itachi joined the Akatsuki, he and Jūzō Biwa had once fought Yagura inside Kirigakure.

Jūzō had used the Executioner’s Blade to block a Tailed Beast Ball head-on, creating a scene Roy had never forgotten. Itachi then used Amaterasu to severely wound Yagura.

Despite that, they had not attempted to capture the Three-Tails.

If Obito had already been controlling Yagura at the time, then the entire battle made little sense.

Unless Obito had deliberately arranged Jūzō’s death simply to make room for Kisame.

The most reasonable explanation was that Obito had only taken control of Yagura after that battle—sometime after Itachi joined the Akatsuki following the Uchiha Clan Massacre.

Yagura had been gravely wounded by Amaterasu. Obito could have taken advantage of that weakened state and used his Sharingan to place him under complete control.

There were still six years before the Uchiha Clan Massacre occurred in the original timeline. That meant Yagura would likely become the Three-Tails’ jinchūriki within the next year or two before taking office as Mizukage.

Once Roy had sorted out the timeline, he decided to create a little trouble for Obito.

He glanced back at the merchant ship, which was still taking on passengers, then used Shunpo and silently appeared aboard Mei Terumī’s ship.

At that moment, Mei was still staring at the merchant vessel in the distance.

She had been among those who watched Nonō drift toward the harbor. From what she could sense, Nonō possessed roughly the strength of a chūnin, and her chakra had been almost completely exhausted.

That was precisely what bothered her.

Even if Nonō had mastered some unusual ability that allowed her to fly, how had she continued gliding so smoothly after running out of chakra? Shouldn’t her movements have become unstable? At the very least, she should have begun losing altitude.

Her curiosity toward Nonō was why she had continued watching the merchant ship long after returning to her own vessel.

She never realized that someone else was now observing her.

Not until Roy slipped into her consciousness.

The ship vanished from her surroundings, replaced by the beach she had left only moments earlier.

Mei had never experienced an inner world like this before, but she immediately concluded that she had been caught in some form of genjutsu.

“Kai!”

She disrupted the flow of her chakra in an attempt to break free.

Nothing happened.

At the same moment, Roy’s figure appeared in front of her.

“Water Release: Water Trumpet!”

“Spraying water at someone the moment you meet them is rather rude, don’t you think?”

Roy twisted aside, easily avoiding the stream of water. He then pointed one finger toward Mei.

“Bakudō #1: Sai.”

Without so much as an incantation, an invisible force seized Mei’s arms and twisted them behind her back.

“What?!”

The completely unfamiliar technique caught her off guard. She struggled against the restraint before taking a deep breath and preparing another attack.

“Boil Release—”

Before she could unleash her kekkei genkai, Roy crossed the distance between them and pinched her mouth shut, flattening her lips until they resembled a platypus’s bill.

“Would you let me finish speaking? Spitting water wasn’t enough, so now you want to melt me? You’re a shinobi of the Hidden Mist. Why are you even more hot-tempered than those people from Kumogakure? No wonder you’ll still be unmarried in your forties.”

Mei had initially been shocked that he recognized her kekkei genkai so easily. Realizing that she was helpless against him, she had already begun forcing herself to calm down.

The moment she heard his final remark, however, she started struggling even more fiercely.

To a fourteen-year-old girl, being told that she would remain unmarried even in her forties was no different from receiving the most vicious curse imaginable.

“Settle down. You don’t want to watch your village be completely destroyed, do you?”

Roy continued, “I mean you no harm, but you need to stop trying to spit techniques at me. Blink three times if you understand.”

Mei blinked three times.

Roy released her mouth, took several steps back, and dispelled the Bakudō restraining her arms.

“Who are you?” Mei demanded. “What exactly do you want?”

“Even if I gave you my name, it wouldn’t mean anything to you. Let’s talk about Kirigakure instead. The Fourth Mizukage hasn’t been selected yet, has he?”

Mei’s expression did not change in the slightest, but Roy caught the brief flicker of shock and suspicion deep within her eyes.

His deduction had been correct.

Yagura had not yet taken office.

When Mei opened her mouth to speak, Roy raised a hand and stopped her.

“I don’t have time to answer your questions. Listen carefully to what I’m about to tell you.”

Mei fell silent.

“For certain reasons, someone bears an intense hatred toward Kirigakure. Once the Fourth Mizukage takes office, that person will secretly place him under his control and use him to persecute your entire village.”

Roy’s expression became serious.

“You should arrange for more ANBU to protect the Mizukage.”

“That enemy possesses a Space–Time Ninjutsu that allows attacks to pass straight through his body. However, he can only remain intangible continuously for five minutes. If you want to strike him, you’ll need to force him to reach that limit and seize the brief opening before he can reactivate his technique.”

“Your best option is to overwhelm him with numbers. Keep attacking without pause and deny him any opportunity to counterattack.”

Before Mei could fully process everything she had heard, Roy continued.

“You shouldn’t tell anyone else about this. Use a cipher or some other discreet method to inform Elder Genji. And…”

Roy suddenly realized that he did not know which powerful shinobi in Kirigakure could currently be trusted.

Only three members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist remained. He had no idea whether Jūzō Biwa had already defected, and Fuguki Suikazan’s loyalty to Kirigakure was out of the question.

“Is Mangetsu Hōzuki still alive? Can he be trusted? Also, has Ao learned to use the Byakugan properly yet?”

Roy paused before shaking his head.

“Forget it. You probably don’t know much about them yet either. Just inform Genji and Yagura in secret. Don’t let anyone discover what you know, or you won’t live long enough to spend half your life alone.”

Hearing him mention her future marriage prospects yet again, Mei’s anger momentarily overwhelmed her shock.

“I’m going to kill you! Don’t think I’ll spare you just because you’re handsome!”

Roy had already delivered the necessary warning, so he withdrew from her inner world.

The beach disappeared.

Mei found herself standing on the bow of her ship exactly as before. She had not moved a single step.

She immediately turned, intending to find the elders of her clan and tell them what she had experienced.

Before she could take a step, however, she stopped.

“Was he warning me that most people in the village can’t be trusted? That I’ll be silenced if anyone discovers what I know?”

Mei could believe that spies had infiltrated Kirigakure, but the idea that most of the village could not be trusted seemed absurd.

The problem was that she had no way of knowing who the spies were.

If even one person she considered trustworthy turned out to be an enemy agent, she would be walking straight into a trap.

After considering it carefully, Mei decided that Elder Genji was the only person she could safely approach.

She even had some reservations about Yagura.

Just then, the world before her shifted once more, and the beach reappeared.

“Oh, right. Here’s one more piece of information, free of charge.”

Roy had returned.

“You should still have a chance to bring Kisame Hoshigaki over to your side. Fuguki Suikazan has already betrayed Kirigakure, and he has no qualms about exploiting those who remain loyal to the village.”

“Kill Fuguki and give Samehada to Kisame. If you do that, you’ll gain another powerful shinobi capable of helping you defend Kirigakure against future invaders.”