Mizukage's Pokémon Ninja Scroll

Chapter 284 Leave the rest to me (Third update)

The secret agent immediately obeyed and withdrew.

However, both Kanakawa Tachibana and Aoi sighed softly in their hearts.

The previous peace talks were actually held on the front line at Uzushima Island.

However, this time the Third Mizukage sent Konoha to Kirigakure for peace talks and demanded that they meet within ten days.

Clearly, he wanted to show his face in front of the people of Konoha while he was still alive and maintain this deterrent effect.

After all, Yagura Karatachi, a key combatant of Kirigakure, has already been declared a rogue ninja, and the village may not be able to withstand the blow of losing another Kage-level combatant.

Even though the Third Mizukage is destined to die, he cannot disappear on the surface, otherwise the peace talks will be even more impossible.

For the next few days, Tachibana and Ao stayed by the Third Mizukage's side.

Watching this old man handle various matters with clear and organized steps.

This also changed the prejudice that Tachibana Kanakawa had always held that the Third Mizukage was just a mascot and that the one who was really doing the work was Elder Genshi.

During this period, Ao was appointed as the leader of the Jonin team, while retaining his position as the frontline commander and also continuing to serve as the leader of the sensory team.

Chunyu was reinstated as the Minister of the Air Force and the Deputy Commander of the Frontline.

Even Kisame Hoshigaki has taken up the position of vice-commander of the Anbu. The current Anbu commander, Kushimaru Kurihara, has lost his strength due to the loss of his arm, so he might be able to become the Anbu commander in a few years.

On the contrary, Tachibana Kenkawa, who played the biggest role this time, did not receive any new appointments from beginning to end.

Even within the Air Force, there was no talk of promoting him to the position of deputy minister. Instead, the reckless Kaguya Rosso was appointed as the deputy minister of the Air Force.

However, apart from Kaguya Rakuso and Pipa Juzo making a few complaints, no one, including Tachibana Kenkawa himself, expressed any opinion on this matter.

As Tachibana Kanagawa gradually came into contact with various events in Kirigakure, she also learned about the bizarre current situation within the village.

The three most prominent families in Kirigakure are the Yuki clan, the Kaguya clan, and the Hozuki clan, each with its own businesses.

The Yuki clan mainly deals in medicine, the Hozuki clan controls 50% of the sea fish catch in Kirigakure, and even the Kaguya clan, which seems like brutes, owns several island mines.

The remaining shops and land in the village are mostly controlled by other ninja families of varying sizes or nobles from the Land of Water.

On the contrary, Kirigakure itself has no pillar industry and, as a city that is not very prosperous, its tax revenue is pitifully small.

The commission that ninjas receive for accepting missions is the main source of income for Kirigakure.

The remaining funding gap will basically have to be covered by the Daimyo of the Land of Water. In addition, the Daimyo of the Land of Water also controls a considerable portion of the mission quota, which means that Kirigakure is subject to the Daimyo's constraints in many matters.

This is why the Third Mizukage valued Uzushima so much.

All the daimyo of the Land of Water needed was a port close to the Land of Fire for trade, and a promise that if Kirigakure stationed troops on Uzushio Island, the tax revenue from this new city would belong to Kirigakure.

It is foreseeable that this city, with its booming trade, will generate even more tax revenue than Kirigakure itself.

But now all the issues have come back to the topic of peace talks.

The Hidden Mist Village cannot do that now, forcibly building a city on Whirlpool Island despite the pressure from Konoha, since Whirlpool Island's geographical location is too close to the Land of Fire.

However, after the Third Mizukage extended an invitation to Konoha to negotiate, Konoha suspended the peace talks on the ridiculous grounds that the war was currently at a stalemate.

This continued until the tenth day after Jianchuan Ju and the others returned to the village.

The Third Mizukage reluctantly put down the documents in his hand, dismissed everyone, including the guards and ANBU, leaving only Tachibana and Ao.

At this moment, both Kenkawa and Tachibana felt the heavy atmosphere and stood obediently in front of the desk, waiting silently for the Third Mizukage to speak.

The Third Mizukage first glanced at Ao, who had his head down, then turned his gaze to Tachibana Kenkawa, a gentle expression in his eyes.

"Ju, have you made up your mind?"

This question, which seemed to have no context, was nonetheless clear to all three people present as to what the Third Mizukage was asking.

Back when they were at the front-line camp, the Third Mizukage asked Tachibana Kenzawa, "Do you want to become a Jinchūriki?" At that time, he was actually asking Tachibana Kenzawa if he had considered becoming the Mizukage.

However, Tachibana Kanakawa declined, citing her young age.

Today, Tachibana Kenkawa's strength is already the strongest in Kirigakure, no longer needing the enhancement of a tailed beast. The Third Mizukage raised this question again.

Or rather, the Third Mizukage's actions over the past ten days have all been in anticipation of Tachibana Kanagawa's response.

Do you want to become the Fourth Mizukage?

From Tachibana Kanagawa's perspective, there are actually a million reasons to refuse the position of Mizukage.

It hasn't even been a year since the Third Mizukage asked the question, and Tachibana Kanagawa is still very young, not even thirteen years old.

Tachibana Kanagawa herself is someone who hates trouble. Even if she was unwilling to become the Mizukage, and even with the assistance of Elder Yuanshi, she still had to deal with countless official duties.

Given Tachibana's current reputation in Kirigakure, she could achieve a status similar to Jiraiya's in Konoha without needing the position of Mizukage, and with even more freedom.

From the perspective of improving strength, it is now difficult to trigger new achievements. Ninja missions will be the biggest source of gold coins for Tachibana Kenkawa, apart from daily tasks. However, becoming the Mizukage means that he can no longer do missions.

In short, Tachibana Kanakawa could come up with all sorts of reasons to refuse the position of water shadow.

But when he saw the expectant look in the eyes of this dying old man, this old man who always appeared serious and cold-blooded, who had never married, had no family, no children, and had dedicated his life to Kirigakure.

Tachibana Kanagawa felt a sudden tremor in her heart, then looked firmly at the Third Mizukage and nodded heavily.

"I've made up my mind, Lord Third Generation!"

Upon hearing Tachibana's words, the Third Mizukage suddenly smiled and then burst into hearty laughter, which grew louder and louder.

His heartfelt laughter was interrupted by a series of coughs.

Tachibana and Ao immediately wanted to go forward to check, but were stopped by the Third Mizukage waving his hand.

The Third Mizukage didn't look at Tachibana and Kenzawa; instead, he muttered to himself, as if explaining to them or talking to himself.

"Actually, I never thought of depriving Yagura of his right to inherit the throne. Making Ao a Jinchūriki was just to increase the village's fighting strength. If Tachibana doesn't want to be the fourth Kage, then he can be the fifth. The village's Kage have always respected strength. It's ridiculous that Yagura actually thought he couldn't defeat Ao after becoming a Jinchūriki."

"Back then, whether it was the First Hokage, that bastard Gengetsu, or me, we all earned the Mizukage position through our own strength. What makes him think I would break that tradition?"

"If you still haven't figured it out, Tachibana, my original plan was to let Ao become the Fourth Hokage after Konoha agreed to the peace talks. Without that brat Tachibana, he would be good enough as a Kage. After that, you would have enough time to think and grow. But now... time is running out."

The Third Mizukage suddenly sat up straight, his eyes wide with anger, veins bulging on his arms, and slammed his fist hard on the table.

"Fight! We must inflict a heavy blow on Konoha!"

These words seemed to have exhausted the Third Mizukage's last strength. He collapsed into his seat, still muttering to himself, but it was no longer audible what he was saying.

"Phantom Moon. That bastard. He only beat me by half a move back then, and he still left me with such a huge mess. He deserves to die."

Seeing this, Tachibana Kenkawa cautiously approached, wanting to check on the Third Mizukage's condition.

But they found that the old man was no longer breathing, his hands were hanging limply to the ground, and there was a slight smile on his face, as if he was thinking of something wonderful.

Previously, Tachibana Kenkawa had estimated that the Third Mizukage had eleven or twelve days left to live, but now he died before nightfall on the tenth day.

It wasn't that Jianchuan Ju's medical skills were flawed, but rather that the old man understood himself better.

He worked tirelessly day and night for the past ten days, eagerly imparting his knowledge and experience to Tachibana Kanagawa, seemingly wanting to share all his understanding and experience of the position of Mizukage with her.

With such depletion, he probably wouldn't have been able to hold on until now if he weren't worried that Konoha would send someone to negotiate within ten days.

Even until the very moment before his death, the Third Mizukage showed no signs of fatigue or weakness.

Jianchuan Ju stepped forward, gently stroked the old man's eyes with her palm, and slowly closed them, as if the old man, who usually had his eyes half-closed, had simply fallen asleep temporarily.

Then he spoke softly beside her.

"Leave the rest to me."

After hesitating for a long time, I'm finally posting this chapter.

Actually, I don't have any chapters saved up right now; this chapter was just finished.

But I really don't want to end the story in the previous chapter.

So I might have to take the day off tomorrow. Um, this time it's for the novel, not for work.

(End of this chapter)