CHAPTER 56

"Ah~"

"Honey, little Yagura seems to be unable to hold on here~"

"Looks like we have to hurry up and tell Grandpa~"

In the Lake of Fog, hidden in a dark and unknown corner, a playful, almost mocking voice echoed.

"Yeah, that kid Yagura… success is not enough, and failure is more than failure."

"It looks like this won't end cleanly."

"Let's see how the old man plans to deal with it."

A hoarse, low voice replied in a dry tone.

Strangely, despite being less than thirty meters away from them, two of the Mizukage's personal guards were locked in combat with elite Anbu, completely oblivious to the eerie presence beside them—a peculiar humanoid plant-like creature, partially submerged in the earth.

Boom!

A massive Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu (Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique) roared toward the hidden Nepenthes-like entity, seemingly an "accidental" attack amidst the battle.

"Eh!"

"That was close! Let's go!"

The strange creature raised its hand, revealing a grotesque, pale appendage that shifted into a bladed structure before casually swatting the fireball away.

"Well, it's not advisable to linger here too long."

The hoarse voice agreed.

Then, in the blink of an eye, the eerie humanoid sank into the ground and vanished.

Beneath Kirigakure's Anbu headquarters, deep within a labyrinthine tunnel cloaked in darkness, Mizuki Ryosuke finally reached its depths.

Navigating this underground network was no small feat.

Each step was taken with extreme caution—not only to avoid potential traps but also to maintain absolute concealment. He was well aware that the enemy had access to Zetsu, an unparalleled reconnaissance expert, capable of merging with the land itself.

As he neared the tunnel's end, his heartbeat quickened.

A massive, half-closed wooden door loomed before him, guarding the secrets that had plagued him.

Taking a deep breath, Ryosuke hesitated for a moment before securing an extra layer of "insurance" for himself—contingency measures for what lay beyond.

What kind of insurance?

Only he knew the answer.

Without further hesitation, he stepped forward, pushing open the heavy wooden door.

The chamber inside was immense.

Apart from the vast, level ground, a massive circular dome enclosed the space.

Everything—the floor, the ceiling, even the structural supports—was crafted from wood, likely out of necessity given the subterranean location.

Yet, the most striking sight wasn't the architecture.

At the very center of this cavernous space stood an enormous wooden effigy—a grotesque humanoid golem, frozen in a half-seated posture.

Its design was abhorrent.

A white, unnatural material encased its colossal, soulless eyes. Two gnarled arms wrapped around its chest in a grotesque embrace, while its fanged mouth hung half-open in an eternal, silent scream.

Thick, cylindrical protrusions jutted from its back, resembling the severed roots of an ancient tree.

Monstrous.

Twisted.

Hideous.

Grotesque.

And beneath this nightmarish entity, a massive throne-like structure loomed.

Seated upon it, connected to the golem by numerous dark, vein-like tendrils, was an ancient figure.

His posture was slightly slumped, his frail frame ravaged by the passage of time.

Long black hair, streaked with gray, cascaded past his shoulders. His body, riddled with old battle scars, sagged under wrinkled, pallid skin.

The man was ancient, yet undeniably dangerous.

Even in his weakened state, he exuded an aura of unfathomable dread.

Uchiha Madara.

The Shinobi no Kami of legend. The man who once faced Hashirama Senju on the battlefield.

The true orchestrator of the shadows.

Mizuki Ryosuke, concealed by his Makyō no Kyō (Demonic Mirror Veil), felt his breath hitch.

His suspicions had been correct.

Madara Uchiha had infiltrated Kirigakure long before Yagura became the Fourth Mizukage.

It wasn't Obito who had placed Yagura under genjutsu as some careless afterthought.

It had been Madara all along.

Everything Yagura had done—his rule of terror, the purge of bloodline clans, the infamous "Bloody Mist" era—was not the result of a mere Sharingan-wielding stray.

It was the calculated design of Uchiha Madara himself.

The original tale painted a simple narrative: Obito had used his Mangekyō Sharingan to ensnare Yagura by sheer chance.

But that explanation was full of holes.

For one, Obito's Kamui ability specialized in space-time manipulation, not genjutsu.

While it was true that Mangekyō Sharingan enhanced a user's proficiency in illusions, Obito was never particularly skilled in them—certainly nowhere near the level of Shisui, whose Kotoamatsukami was an unparalleled mind-control technique.

Even Itachi, a genjutsu master, could only implant temporary illusions into an opponent's subconscious. He couldn't fully reprogram a Kage's mind.

So how had Obito managed to completely control Yagura for years?

That was the first contradiction.

The second was even more damning.

Long before Obito was chosen as Madara's "heir," Madara had already orchestrated a high-level operation within Kirigakure.

The plan to seal the Three-Tails inside Nohara Rin had required more than just a few brainwashed Anbu.

This level of coordination—securing a Jinchūriki candidate, manipulating Mist's Anbu, and arranging for a high-risk extraction—could not have been accomplished by a rogue shinobi acting alone.

Madara must have already held influence over Mist's leadership structure.

And who had that authority at the time?

Fourth Mizukage Yagura.

The only logical conclusion was that Madara had controlled Yagura long before Obito took over.

The Fourth Mizukage had never been Obito's puppet.

He had always been Madara's.

And when Madara passed the torch to Obito, he merely inherited the control that had already been established.

Now, as Mizuki Ryosuke stood in the underground chamber, staring at the frail yet unmistakable figure of Uchiha Madara, all the pieces fell into place.

Kirigakure had never been a rogue state operating independently.

It had always been part of Madara's grand design.

Everything—the oppression, the massacres, the chaos—had been engineered from the shadows.

The man before him was not just a relic of history.

He was the mastermind.

And now, the dark truth of Kirigakure had been unveiled.

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