Mizukage's Pokémon Ninja Scroll

Chapter 283 The Death of the Shadow

Back in the Mizukage's office, Tachibana and Ao followed closely behind the Third Mizukage, acting as his bodyguards.

The Third Mizukage first ordered the Anbu to have Kushimaru Kurihara personally lead a thorough investigation of Yagura's subordinates.

Anyone deeply involved in this rebellion will be arrested and executed, while ordinary ninjas who are unaware of the situation will be ignored.

After giving the order and waiting for Kushimaru Kurihara to leave with his men, the Third Mizukage prepared to continue dealing with other matters.

It seems that this rebellion, which almost overthrew Kirigakure, was just a trivial matter and was glossed over lightly.

However, seemingly noticing that Tachibana Kanagawa was somewhat puzzled by his order, the Third Mizukage directly asked a question in return.

"I don't understand why I handled things in such a polarized way?"

Jianchuan Ju scratched his head subconsciously and answered honestly.

"That's true to some extent. Those who were deeply involved might have been forced into it, and executing them all seems too harsh. On the other hand, most of the uninformed people also made mistakes, and not punishing them at all seems too lenient."

The Third Mizukage simply smiled upon hearing this, showing no impatience whatsoever, and began to explain to Tachibana Kenkawa.

"The ten men Yagura brought with him must have been his most loyal and strongest subordinates. The rest were either not strong enough or in key positions and could not leave easily. The former could be killed, but the latter could not be allowed to live."

"Similarly, Yagura's actions also helped me to screen and judge those participants who were unaware of the matter. Since they were kept in the dark, I simply treated them equally and ignored their mistakes."

"Now is the time when we need people, so we should treat them gently so that they will feel guilty and grateful."

Subsequently, the Third Mizukage used this opportunity to give Tachibana Kenkawa some advice on personnel matters.

Jianchuan Ju listened attentively with nodding throughout, while Qing listened with a mixture of envy and relief.

Next, the Third Mizukage swiftly dealt with the backlog of work, with Tachibana and Kenkawa accompanying him throughout.

This old man is like a ruthless office machine, handling problems efficiently while keeping everything in perfect order.

At the same time, although the Third Mizukage did not seem to care much about his remaining lifespan, he was very eager to pass on some of his experience to Tachibana Kenkawa, and would stop from time to time to ask Tachibana Kenkawa questions and give explanations.

It wasn't until he saw a scroll marked as important that the Third Mizukage stopped what he was doing and suddenly spoke.

"The Third Raikage is dead."

His words were earth-shattering.

Tachibana and Ao looked at each other in shock, while the Third Mizukage himself held the information with a very serious expression.

"On the very day you launched your surprise attack on Kumogakure, the Kumogakure AB team received news and left the front lines."

The Third Mizukage paused slightly at this point.

It's obvious without even thinking that the so-called AB duo receiving the message was definitely orchestrated by Madara Uchiha.

However, the Third Mizukage didn't want to dwell on this matter any longer and continued to speak.

"After the AB duo left the front lines, Iwagakure suddenly turned against them on the battlefield, launching a surprise attack on the Kumogakure forces, causing a complete rout of Kumogakure. The Third Raikage, A, was ultimately surrounded and killed by the Iwagakure forces while covering the retreat of his troops."

Both Jianchuan and Ju were dumbfounded after hearing this, and Qing even blurted it out.

"Aren't Iwagakure and Kumogakure allies? What are they after?"

The Third Mizukage did not answer, but only gave Ao a disdainful look.

Then he turned to look at Jianchuan Ju, his eyes filled with a mixture of expectation and a sense of testing.

Jianchuan Ju scratched his head and thought for a moment before answering somewhat uncertainly.

"The alliance of Iwagakure and Kumogakure has been unable to break through Konoha's defenses for a long time. Onoki believes that continuing to gain advantages from Konoha would result in excessive losses for himself. Therefore, he has chosen to take advantage of Kumogakure's weakness to launch a surprise attack on his ally, hoping to reap sufficient benefits from them?"

The Third Mizukage nodded with satisfaction upon hearing this.

"That's right, I know Onoki. That kid is a master at judging the situation. When he thought Konoha was showing signs of weakness, he immediately chose to ally with Kumogakure and drove Sunagakure and us, which he considered insignificant, out of the battlefield in order to seek a greater victory."

"Now that he has discovered that Konoha's resilience is far stronger than imagined, and that it will be difficult for Iwagakure and Kumogakure alone to defeat Konoha in a short time, and even if they win in the end, it may be a Pyrrhic victory, he will choose to cut his losses in time and launch a sneak attack on his allies in the hope of gaining enough benefits from the Land of Lightning."

Both Jianchuan and Ju nodded thoughtfully.

To put it nicely, it's called assessing the situation; to put it bluntly, it's just being a fence-sitter.

However, unlike the opportunists in small countries like Kusagakure who prioritize survival, every decision they make is a matter of life and death.

The Hidden Stone Village, a large-scale opportunist, can sway the situation in the ninja world with the slightest movement, yet it remains steadfast and continues to reap the benefits.

Tachibana even suspected that Iwagakure might have reached some kind of agreement with Konoha before attacking Kumogakure, and had obtained certain benefits in advance.

After giving the two a moment to think, the Third Mizukage continued to ask.

"So, what impact do you think the defection of Iwagakure and the death of the Third Raikage will have on us?"

Jianchuan Ju and the other person exchanged a glance and said in unison.

"Konoha's peace talks!" x2

"That's right." The Third Mizukage gave a direct affirmative answer.

Konoha was able to accept various outrageous conditions from Kirigakure, partly due to the constant air force presence of Kirigakure on Uzushima Island.

However, the main reason was that the continuous large-scale battles between Iwagakure, Kumogakure and Konoha made Konoha unwilling to let Kirigakure, which had already partially withdrawn from the ninja war, return, leaving Konoha vulnerable to attacks from both sides.

The current falling out between Iwagakure and Kumogakure won't immediately allow Konoha to escape the quagmire of the northern battlefield in the Land of Fire.

However, the shift in the priority of hatred between the two villages is enough to give Konoha a chance to catch its breath again.

Konoha, which has the capacity to spare enough energy, will definitely want to regain more say at the negotiating table.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the timing of the attack on Kumogakure.

Tachibana Kanagawa was unaware that Madara Uchiha had chosen death, and in her heart, she added another mark against him.

According to the Third Mizukage's original plan, the attack on Kumogakure would inevitably be used as a bargaining chip, and would only be carried out after sufficient benefits were obtained and the negotiations were concluded.

This way, the peace talks can proceed smoothly without delaying Kirigakure's revenge against Kumogakure, but now everything is in chaos.

However, thinking about these things that have already happened is futile now.

The Third Mizukage waved to summon an ANBU member and gave him instructions.

"Send a message to Konoha and ask them to send someone to Kirigakure within ten days for final peace talks."

Ugh, my dog ​​made me cry today.

I raised this dog from a puppy to a dog that was 6 or 7 months old, and it actually bared its teeth and acted aggressively towards me.

Uncomfortable

(End of this chapter)