Chapter 85: Yagura Karatachi

The Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi—

He was the previous Mizukage's disciple, his prized student, precisely because Yagura was a Perfect Jinchuriki.

What did it mean to be a Perfect Jinchuriki? It meant having a personal nuclear power plant. In the shinobi world, aside from the Uzumaki and Senju clans, the chakra of most humans could never hope to surpass that of a Tailed Beast. Therefore, a Tailed Beast was not only a nuclear weapon but also a nuclear power plant.

Being a Perfect Jinchuriki signified a cooperative relationship where the Tailed Beast was willing to coexist with its host and lend its power. Possessing a nuclear power plant as an energy source provided an overwhelming advantage in battle.

When others had exhausted their chakra, he still had reserves. How could one fight that? Furthermore, as the Kage of a village, his own chakra levels were already substantial.

He possessed an even greater advantage that others lacked: if he were ever caught in a genjutsu, the Tailed Beast within him could easily awaken him.

That was why Ao was so utterly shocked that Yagura Karatachi could be controlled by genjutsu. It meant that what the Uchiha named Nagi had said was true.

What concerned him even more was the intelligence Nagi had provided: the person controlling the Fourth Mizukage was a member of the Uchiha clan who possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan and used space-time ninjutsu.

Ao discreetly shot a look at Terumi Mei, who understood instantly. After the meeting concluded and the news of the Kaguya clan's rebellion was confirmed, they silently returned to their own clan's territory.

The surrounding established families also remained silent. Everyone understood the principle of one's lips freezing when the teeth are gone, but no one wanted to be the first to stick their neck out and try to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage.

Failure would mean the annihilation of their entire clan. Even if they succeeded, their clan would suffer devastating losses, and the position of Mizukage would simply fall into the hands of another family.

This was why, when Zabuza had attempted to assassinate Yagura, these families had all secretly provided him with a degree of support.

After returning to their clan compound and entering a meeting room covered in sealing talismans, Terumi Mei impatiently questioned Ao.

"How did it look, Ao-sensei? What did you see?"

Although Ao was a Jonin, he had been Terumi Mei's teacher when she was young. It was only after she became the Mizukage that Ao was appointed as her right-hand man.

"Mm, the situation is not optimistic," Ao said. "It's just as that Uchiha Nagi informed us. The Fourth is indeed being controlled. There's a strange chakra mass within his brain…"

"How is that possible? He's a Perfect Jinchuriki! Didn't the Three-Tails wake him up?" an old man exclaimed, shooting to his feet. He was one of the elders of Terumi Mei's clan.

"Could the Tailed Beast have been extracted?"

"Impossible. He would die without his Tailed Beast."

"Dammit, I knew something was wrong! Why else would he conduct such a purge of his own village…?"

The men around them began to argue amongst themselves.

"Quiet."

An old man seated at the head of the table, the Great Elder of Terumi Mei's clan, struck the floor with his cane, signaling for silence.

"Ao, what were the precise details of what you saw? Is the Tailed Beast still inside him?"

Ao took a deep breath and delivered a piece of news that left everyone in disbelief. "The Tailed Beast inside him is also under genjutsu…"

"How can that be?"

"Controlling both the Mizukage and the Tailed Beast simultaneously?"

"What kind of monstrous genjutsu would that require?"

"It's possible," the Great Elder stated with grim certainty. "Have you all forgotten the Night of the Nine-Tails Attack in Konoha all those years ago? According to the intelligence sent back by our spies afterward, the eyes of the Nine-Tails that night bore the pattern of the Uchiha clan's Mangekyo Sharingan."

"In other words, Mei, the information that Uchiha Nagi gave you and Ao is true. Someone proficient in space-time ninjutsu has taken control of the Fourth Mizukage."

Terumi Mei immediately interjected, "Then we should wake the Fourth Mizukage, shouldn't we? Let Kirigakure return to normal?"

A strange, cunning smile crept across the Great Elder's lips. "Wake him? Why would we wake him? This is the perfect pretext to drive him from power…"

The eyes of the other elders lit up, and they nodded in silent, smiling agreement. Only Terumi Mei, still unversed in the filth of high-level politics, was left stunned…

"Nagi-sensei, is this what land is?"

Setting foot on the mainland for the first time, Kimimaro was filled with curiosity, his eyes darting everywhere. The Land of Water was composed of islands, large and small. In his imagination, he had pictured the mainland as just a slightly larger island.

He never expected it to be boundless.

The vast land around them was covered in farmland, growing all sorts of fruits and vegetables—a sight unseen in the Land of Water. The coastal soil of the Land of Water was alkaline, and the small plots of arable land in the interior were dwarfed by the ever-expanding population.

"Eat whatever you want. Don't hold back," Uchiha Nagi said with a smile, gesturing to the food on the table.

They had arrived in the Land of Waves and, after coming ashore, were now eating in a tavern. Seeing as Kimimaro was his first student and future enforcer, Uchiha Nagi had generously ordered a mountain of dishes and meat.

Having never seen so much delicious food before, Kimimaro swallowed hard, but his respect for his teacher was paramount. His stomach rumbled with hunger, but he didn't so much as touch his chopsticks until Nagi gave him leave.

Once Nagi spoke, he quickly snatched a roasted chicken and took a huge bite, his mouth filling with grease as a blissful smile spread across his face.

Uchiha Nagi smiled and ruffled his hair. Children were so easy to please. A hearty lunch was enough to fill him with happiness.

"Sensei, you should eat too…" Kimimaro said, a little embarrassed as he tore off a chicken leg and offered it to Nagi.

"Let's eat together," Nagi chuckled, and they began to eat.

His Shikotsumyaku was truly no joke. As a taijutsu-type constitution, Kimimaro, despite his small size, ate several times more than Uchiha Nagi.

After they had eaten and drunk their fill, Nagi settled the bill, and they walked out of the restaurant, satisfied.

"Please come again!" the shop owner said with a wide smile. Uchiha Nagi had tipped him a little extra.

Serving ninja often resulted in unexpected income, as most of them were quite generous.

The cost of living in the ninja world was actually quite low, but most civilians still couldn't afford much. The main consumers in this world were the lofty ninja lords.

A single one of their explosion tags cost three hundred ryo, while a civilian's monthly expenses might only amount to the price of that one tag. Sometimes, the number of explosion tags used in a single battle could feed a civilian family for several months.

To give another example, in Konoha, a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen cost sixty ryo, and a beer was thirty. Considering the high prices in Konoha, the most prosperous village in the Land of Fire, one could easily imagine that prices outside a ninja village were several times cheaper.

Currently, Uchiha Nagi was carrying several million ryo he had saved from before, plus the ten million he had won from the rich sheep Tsunade at the casino. He could live lavishly in the Naruto world for a year or two without any issue.

The next time he saw Tsunade, he absolutely couldn't miss the chance to fleece that sheep. She was just too loaded…

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